Chapter Ten *Troll
“Careful!”
The knight instructor walked ahead, sword in hand, smiling faintly: “Do not go near the cage on the right. It houses a fourth-rank beast, a Purgatory Hellhound. It could snap off your little heads in one bite. Given your current strength, it’s better not to get close to it.”
Immediately, the group of youths looked over in terror. In the depths of the cage two wavering orchid-blue lights flickered, and a massive canine creature at least as tall as a person slowly approached, its body low to the ground and wrapped in tendrils of deep crimson light. A Purgatory Hellhound — a legendary fourth-rank beast so powerful that even a terrestrial knight might not be able to take it on alone.
And great knights like Gray basically only served as dinner for the hellhounds.
(The Order of the Radiant Knights: knight ranks from weakest to strongest are—trainee knight, knight, great knight, earth knight, sky knight, Radiant Knight, and Knight Commander; where Knight Commander is the highest office in the order, and Radiant Knight is the title denoting the order’s most powerful members)
…
Soon after, more than fifty trainees arrived at the center of the beast pen. Ahead stood a huge circular cage, half of it sunken into the ground, like a gigantic arena—except this was an arena without spectators. There were still some bloodstains on the floor; it seemed another group’s trial had only recently ended.
“Prepare to undergo the trial.”
The knight instructor gave a lazy smile and said, “You are new recruits, so you only need to challenge a first-tier monster. In the Blood Castle, there are four types of first-tier monsters: the fire beetle, the antler rabbit, the hard-shelled tortoise, and the *troll. After each recruit enters, a random cage will be opened and a first-tier monster will be released. Kill the monster, and you succeed in the challenge; otherwise… you will only become the monster’s food.”
“Now, Trainee No. 1, Chris, enter.”
“Yes, Instructor!”
A youth holding a longsword stepped slowly into the small cage, and just as he readied himself, the cage ahead opened. Instantly, a beetle covered in fiery spots scuttled in with a chirring sound — the Grade-1 monster the instructor had mentioned, the Fire Shell Beetle.
“Hmph!”
A tall youth sneered, “The Fire Shell Beetle’s carapace is very thick and it can spew blazing flames. I wonder if the oft-boastful Chris can really be as calm and confident as he claims this time.”
“Hahaha, Chris has awakened second-rank Starforce, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Hmph, I’m not so sure about that.”
Some of the youths looked worried, others appeared to be watching a spectacle. It seemed many of the students were ones Loran hadn’t seen before. Though they wore the student uniform, each of them clearly bore the air of being pampered and privileged.
“Chh!”
The fire beetle suddenly flapped its wings, its speed skyrocketing as it split the air and lunged toward Chris like a rocket. Chris reacted just as fast; star-source energy burst through his body as he flipped, and at the instant he dodged the beetle’s impact he swung his arms. The greatsword crashed down hard onto the beetle’s back.
“Klang~~~”
Sparks flew. Though the sword strike was fierce, it only left a shallow scratch on the fire beetle’s carapace. The beetle flipped its body and turned around; a blast of searing flame burst forth and with a loud “pong” sent Chris tumbling through the air.
“Waaa…”
Chris’s face was blackened and charred; trembling with pain, he staggered back, narrowly avoiding several more rams from the fire beetle. Star energy surged as he launched another sword strike, but again it only carved a furrow along the beetle’s back and could not deal any serious damage.
“Idiot!”
The instructor watched, exasperated, and said, “Not even a great knight can cleave through the fire beetle’s carapace with a single sword blow. Who do you think you are, to think you can break its defenses? Remember, you can only strike at the vulnerable parts beneath its shell-wings when the fire beetle is flying!”
“Ah!”
Chris let out a muffled grunt as he was knocked over again by the fire beetle’s powerful charge, but he was no fool. As he rolled over, he suddenly rolled outward along the ground; though awkward, he avoided the beetle’s lethal fireball. The next second, the fire beetle buzzed over again. This time Chris was quick-eyed and quick-handed. With a low shout, star-source energy surged into his right arm and infused the longsword, and with a sudden motion he hurled the sword like a throwing blade!
“Poof—”
With a thunderous crash, the fire beetle’s body was torn apart, cleaved cleanly in midair by that single sword!
“Huff huff huff…”
Chris’s face was dark with anger, his expression indescribably ugly. Embarrassed, he walked out of the cage and, with an apologetic look, said, “Sorry, Instructor—I underestimated it…”
“Hmph, you fool from the Klan family. If I hadn’t warned you, you’d already be a corpse.”
“Yes, thank you, Instructor…”
Chris gritted his teeth; the arrogance that had been on his face moments before vanished, and he no longer dared to underestimate his opponent.
The knight instructor looked coldly at the group of trainees and said, “I don’t care whether you come from the frozen plains as commoners or from noble families with titles—once you’re here, your status changes. Since you’ve entered the Blood Cage, death walks beside you; I expect you to shed your pampered, weak attitudes!”
“Yes, Instructor!”
The group of trainees trembled.
“Cadet No. 2, Peiqi, enter!”
“Yes, Instructor!”
A trainee wielding two daggers entered; he also seemed to be a noble youth, an innate arrogance evident in his features. Once he stopped, he directly unleashed Star Source power—streams of starry radiance enveloped his body, and the twin daggers were sheathed in a layer of cold light.
“Clang!”
In the distance, the sound of chains unlocking rang out as the door of a small cage swung open. A half-human-tall monster burst forth—its body bristling with poisonous spines and clutching a gnarled bamboo tube. It was the legendary first-rank demon beast: the Troll!
Beasts—creatures that roam beyond the Empire’s borders, from the wildlands. Though some have invaded imperial territory, the Order of the Radiant Knights has generally kept them at bay. So even noble scions of the Empire haven’t necessarily seen a beast in person; even a first-tier beast is quite rare. That alone shows how formidable the Crimson Castle must be to keep so many of them.
“Be careful, the *Troll is very fast!” Outside the arena, the knight instructor barked.
“Hmph, how fast can you be…”
Inside the arena, Peiqi snorted coldly, but before he finished speaking a shadow flickered before him. In an instant the troll had dashed from his left to his right, and with a muffled pop-pop-pop it kept pulling venomous spines from its body—then—three spines in quick succession were all driven into the right side of Peiqi’s face, one even piercing straight through his eye.
“Ah…”
Peiqi let out one final, dreadful scream and thus finished the last stretch of his life. The troll lunged forward, sank its teeth into the corpse’s neck, blood spattering, and bit off a large chunk of flesh which it swallowed—looking utterly ravenous.
“Tidy it up!”
The instructor frowned. He raised a hand, and two large knights holding shields immediately entered the cage, drove the troll back into the cell, and then dragged away Peiqi’s corpse.
…
And so, trainee after trainee entered to challenge; most won, only a few unlucky ones were killed by first-tier beasts. Finally, the instructor looking at the roster called out Lolan’s name: “Trainee No. 22, Lolan, enter!”
“Yes, Instructor.”
Loran stepped into the arena carrying his steel sword and small round shield, and the students outside turned their heads, whispering and speculating one by one.
“Is this the boy who defeated a second-tier Star Source force trainee despite not having an awakened star vein?”
“Hmph, I heard he was a savage captured by the hunting knights from outside, hehe… I didn’t expect him to come this far, but you can’t cheat in a duel with a first-rank beast. This kid’s true strength is about to be exposed.”
“Just wait and see, the troll will surely pierce that pretty little face of his with a poisoned arrow, just like Page’s fate.”
…
“Clang!”
Ahead, the cage was opened. Sure enough, Lorán’s opponent was still the troll—a troll with blood around its mouth, seemingly the very one that killed Page. Having just tasted fresh flesh, the troll was now in a frenzied state. The moment the cage door swung open, with a whoosh it burst out and, in the simplest and fastest move, charged straight at Lorán, opening its mouth and firing three rapid “puff puff puff” blasts in succession!
Loran had been on guard for some time, his muscles tense. The moment the troll fired the poison arrows he had already judged their directions: one aimed at his forehead, the other two at his abdomen. He ducked suddenly; as one poison arrow whistled past, his small round shield shifted to the right, and with two clanging sounds he knocked the troll’s arrows aside.
At the same time, Loran rushed forward without hesitation and slammed into the troll’s front; the small round shield thrust hard forward, producing two close-range clanging sounds as it knocked away the second strike. At the same time he spun, and the steel sword in his right hand became a flash of white cold light sweeping across—its blow struck the troll’s head with a “pang,” instantly spraying blood and shearing the troll’s entire ear to pieces!
“Squeak, squeak, squeak—”
Stung by the pain, the *troll went utterly berserk; with a kick of its legs it lunged at Loran, not forgetting to shoot another arrow through the air.
At that moment Loran’s mind was wholly focused on the fight; he never let down his guard against the troll’s poisoned arrows, its most terrible mode of attack. The small round shield swept across in a flash, blocking another arrow from the troll, but then the troll completely abandoned its bow, even throwing away the quiver. It spread its sharp claws and raked Loran’s right arm, leaving a trail of wounds, then opened its mouth and bit down.
“Ah…”
For a moment, many of the onlooking students cried out in alarm — to them, Lorán could no longer avoid that bite.
Yet right there in the arena, Lorán’s reaction was astonishing. He crossed his arms and with the sharp edge of his round shield gave a “pang” as he sliced the compact troll off his arm. Immediately he slammed downward; the small round shield struck the troll squarely at the neck with a “pang,” knocking it to the ground, and at the same time his steel sword fell through the air!
“Plop!”
The blade was sharp, and with a heavy, powerful slash, blood sprayed everywhere as the troll’s head was cleaved off by Loran with a single stroke!
…
“Nice trick!”
Outside the arena, the knight instructor showed a faint smile.
