Dungeon Diver: Stealing a Monster's Power

Chapter 98

The massive troll in front of me lets out a roar as it turns.

I've fought trolls before, but nothing quite like this. These must be a unique desert variant... and supersized!

The beast begins charging at me with flailing limbs and its heavy club showing off a newly grown pair of red eyes and sharpened teeth. With my blade on fire, I activate bloodlust and berserker just for good measure while charging right back at it.

In two clean cuts, I slash a fiery "X" across the monster's front side, cutting it into 4 pieces. The massive chunks of burning flesh hit the hard orange rock floor with a thud. I watch the remains burn to ash.

While deactivating my skills, I turn to my team members.

"These are going to be a bit tough. We need magic to defeat them, preferably fire."

Nessa smirks and raises her sword.

"Looks like I'm all set then!"

She lights it on fire, then Maria speaks up.

"I've fought similar monsters back in basic training! Ice magic works too, it's just not as effective as fire."

I nod slowly, then turn to Abby and Bruce. The green-haired girl speaks first.

"There's a troll dungeon in the capital. I've trained there a few times."

Bruce gulps and turns to her.

"So... How do you beat them...?"

Abby grins.

"It's pretty simple. Brute force."

I open my mouth with a confused look on my face but tighten my lips and hold back as Bruce replies while swinging his hammer around.

"Oh yeah? So I can just smash 'em to bits?"

Abby nods with a light chuckle.

"Kind of. Once their MP runs out, the regeneration property they possess also loses its effect. The longer we can keep them fighting, the better chance we have of killing these trolls off."

They both nod at each other with a serious stare.

I smile.

"Well, looks like the two of you have some work to do."

The troll dissolves and I pick up the mana crystal it drops. The five of us sit around planning our descent into the canyon while enjoying a small break to eat and drink some of our rations.

I continuously keep track of our surroundings with enemy detection, but we aren't disturbed at all for over 25 minutes.

Eventually, our moment of peace is over, as another impossibly large desert troll stomps into our general vicinity. Maria perks up.

"Let me take a crack at this one!"

We all sit back and enjoy the show.

Maria glows bright blue as she draws her silver sword at the bellowing giant. The beast readies its club and runs at her.

In the blink of an eye, Maria slices the trolls left arm clean off leaving a large amount of Ice residue behind. The severed limb freezes and shatters as it hits the ground. The injured area is another problem entirely though. The flesh around its wound ripples and shakes regenerating at rapid rates to counteract the ever so slowly moving Ice magic creeping towards its neck.

Maria jumps in for another slash, taking out the monster's right leg and injuring its left. An explosion of Ice brings the beast to its knees as it roars and angrily swings its club while trying its best to keep the Ice magic at bay.