Mud Troll.
Unlike ordinary trolls, which are known for their excellent regenerative abilities and are giant-type monsters that emit a foul stench, mud trolls are unique creatures.
Their vision has degenerated, relying instead on their sense of smell and hearing. As a result, their eyes are red, and their noses are large and hollow.
Their ears are long and pointed, open outward to easily capture echoes.
It’s not just their appearance; mud trolls differ from ordinary trolls in their habits, diet, and even their blood.
Their blood is acidic.
Aslan held a longsword in his left hand at an angle and firmly gripped a mace in his right hand.
Against mud trolls with acidic blood, slashing weapons, which are the primary means of attack, are not very effective.
Given their numbers, weapons can break quickly, leading to immediate danger.
For this reason, the mace was a good choice. Aslan stepped closer to the trolls, gauging the distance to the monsters.
‘Three at 15 meters, one at 20 meters.’
Following behind, a smaller troll with a hunched back and three trolls about 2 meters tall. Aslan noted their positions and slowly approached.
The low growl of the troll.
The sound of Aslan’s footsteps.
The distance closed gradually until it was about 2 meters from the nearest troll.
Aslan used his planted foot to leap backward.
Bang!
The troll, leaping high, slammed down on the empty spot. Aslan calmly twisted his body and swung the mace upward.
Thud!
Crack!
The mace shattered the troll’s jaw, splattering acidic blood, and Aslan swung it back without hesitation, resting it on his shoulder as he turned.
Swish!
The longsword followed with a light spin. The blade sliced through the troll’s knee, causing it to stagger and block its companions.
Aslan raised his lowered eyes to measure the distance to the trolls.
‘Enough.’
He brought down the mace resting on his shoulder with a force that belied his size and speed.
Crunch!
The troll’s head caved in, splattering brain matter mixed with acidic blood on the ground, and its eyes rolled away.
Growl!
Two more trolls charged. Aslan glanced to both sides and moved swiftly.
There was no need for minor spells.
The means were sufficient.
He thrust the mace toward the face of the first charging troll. The mace, accelerating upward, shattered the troll’s jaw. The troll, holding its crushed face, writhed in pain.
“Huh.”
Aslan took a short breath and turned his body toward the troll charging from the right. He swung the longsword briefly. The swing was very low.
“Whoo.”
The longsword crushed the troll’s ankle with a thud. As the troll staggered, Aslan exhaled, pulled the sword back, and kicked its leg. The troll lost balance and fell.
Swipe!
He swung the sword he had pulled out with the kick. The sword precisely sliced through the back of the neck, separating the falling troll’s body and head. The acidic blood rolling on the ground emitted a foul smell.
Sizzle.
The blood melted both the sword and the ground. Aslan glanced at the blood and turned his eyes to the smallest troll charging at him. He lightly flicked the longsword.
The acidic blood mixed with molten metal. The boiling metal splashed onto the face of the troll charging low, causing it to flinch.
About a second. A very short time, hardly a gap. But it was enough for Aslan.
Crunch!
He leaped forward, closing the distance, and brought down the mace. The small juvenile mud troll scattered a handful of brains over its shoulder and died.
Aslan ignored the dead troll and the sound of air being torn behind him, gripping the longsword in a reverse grip. He twisted his body as he gripped it.
The troll with a crushed face charged in an unstable posture. The unstable posture could easily be toppled by slightly changing the direction of the force.
The ankle caught on the reverse-gripped blade was pulled, slamming its owner to the ground.
Gurgle!
The troll, grotesquely fallen backward, let out a short cry before its head was crushed by the mace and it died.
The mace, having crushed three heads, was slightly corroded and emitted a foul metallic smell. Aslan lightly shook it off and tucked it into his waist.
“···Huh.”
About 15 seconds. That was the time it took for Aslan and the trolls to start fighting.
No one had a watch, but they could feel that the battle had ended in a very short time.
They, Harold Crow and his two subordinates, Angie, looked at Aslan with different expressions. Only Harold, with his different facial muscles from a human, showed no sign.
But the most bewildered was Harold. Harold Crow glanced at the dead monsters and looked at the weapon in his hand.
A large, forward-curving two-handed sword. It was a weapon without shortcomings. He had handled many of its kind.
‘···If I had fought···.’
But even with that weapon, Harold Crow thought he couldn’t fight like that.
Even if he had great strength or special abilities, he couldn’t fight like that.
That was, in a word, extreme efficiency.
Among the countless combat options available at the moment, the most efficient and effective choices.
Choosing and perfectly executing those resulted in that scene.
As Harold’s thoughts reached that point, words flowed from his mouth.
“A master of combat···.”
Hearing that, Aslan raised his head, and Harold’s subordinates looked up in surprise.
The dark-skinned man, Ecul, was born and raised in a village in the Earldom of Warpole. To him, a master was a clear position, and Carlson, who came from another region, also knew well what a master meant.
A master is someone who, with a few conditions, could kill everyone in the world.
A master can fight a priest bare-handed.
A master’s skills transcend perception.
Various rumors and hearsay filled their heads, so Ecul and Carlson looked at Aslan belatedly.
Aslan silently watched them, holding a longsword in his left hand. A faint sense of fatigue floated in his cool turquoise eyes.
He just watched, not denying it.
In the affirmative silence, they were shocked.
“Decided?”
After a while, it was Aslan who spoke. He shook out the longsword he had drawn and tucked it into his waist.
“If you refuse the offer, I’ll have to take care of you too.”
The added words were chillingly indifferent. They felt a shiver run down their spines and flinched.
“A master of combat?”
Except for Harold.
Harold, rather calmed, asked.
Aslan gazed at the dragonkin’s appearance.
The distance was within arm’s reach, but Harold Crow’s tail was low. His fighting spirit was the same.
“···If that helps your decision-making, then yes.”
His seemingly languid eyes swept over them, then added.
“I am a master of combat.”
Then Harold took a step forward.
Now Harold could admit his defeat.
He could understand the gap.
He approached and bowed his head.
“I will accept the offer.”
*
After that, they fought trolls as they advanced through the mine.
Harold Crow fought as actively as if his previous attitude had been a lie, and his subordinates at least did as much as they were told.
Angie also occasionally buried an axe in a troll’s head, killing it.
[LEVEL UP]
They stopped when Aslan’s level increased.
Aslan, who had just killed a troll and stuck his melted longsword into its head, stopped when he saw the system window that appeared before him.
‘Finally.’
Twelve years since falling into Eternal Dominion. Aslan had lived at level 1 all this time.
Given that the level of monsters living in Geladridion was not easy, Aslan had fought through several near-death experiences.
The process was arduous, painful, and agonizing.
So what he finally gained was valuable and moving.
Aslan closed his eyes and raised his head.
Eternal Dominion was a game where the main level could only be increased during the main quest.
Having not even seen the shadow of the main quest, Aslan had to live at level 1.
‘But not anymore.’
As the level increases, the player’s character gains physical abilities beyond human.
Aslan, who had silenced countless priests and survived at level 1, was now happy to tell his party that he was no longer prey but a predator.
“Let’s stop here for today and start preparing camp.”
“···Here?”
The dragonkin asked in a rather polite tone and looked around.
A wide-open cavern and long passages extending on both sides.
It wasn’t generally a good place to camp.
It was a mine, after all.
“I don’t mean to undermine your judgment, but isn’t this place too wide?”
The dragonkin’s trailing words made his subordinates look awkward.
The dragonkin’s polite demeanor, who usually spoke informally even to guards, was strange.
But the words themselves made sense, so they looked around uneasily.
Only Angie watched Aslan without much reaction.
It was understandable. Aslan wouldn’t have confidently suggested camping here if he hadn’t played the game.
If this place wasn’t used as a tutorial for setting up camp in the game.
Of course, he couldn’t say that, so Aslan made up a suitable excuse.
“They don’t come here much. The land’s poison is weak.”
“Is that so? Then···.”
At Aslan’s suitable words, the dragonkin didn’t add any more. Fatigue was setting in.
His subordinates also looked around uneasily but didn’t speak up. It was due to the transcendent martial prowess Aslan had shown on the way.
Eventually, no one objected, and a modest camp was set up. Being a mine, they couldn’t light a big fire, so they just laid down their luggage and spread out blankets to rest.
As the gathered party lay down on the blankets and fell asleep, Aslan, who had volunteered for watch, sat with his eyes closed.
Sitting comfortably, he was meditating.
Meditation, a perk obtainable by maxing out the survival skill to level 20, allowed for a 4-hour meditation that provided the same effect as 8 hours of sleep.
Knowing that no monsters would attack also helped, but Aslan could volunteer for watch thanks to this meditation.
In what felt like a brief moment, but actually 4 hours later, Aslan opened his eyes.
His vision was clear. He felt some mental fatigue, but it was chronic and unavoidable. As soon as he opened his eyes, Aslan checked the position of his weapons and looked at the party.
Except for Harold, whose back barely touched the blanket because it was too small, and Angie, who seemed to be having a nightmare and was tossing and turning, everything seemed fine.
Aslan alternated his gaze between the two and then raised his eyes.
Rest was sufficient, so now it was time to do something really important.
Aslan opened the system window.
The faintly glowing system window was filled with some text, symbols, and folded menus.
[Ongoing Main Quest]
[Escape with Angela Tail]
Aslan ran his hand over the newly appeared main quest and then tapped the list labeled “Character.”
‘First, it’s best to increase strength and health.’
A single level-up gave 3 ability points. Aslan pondered which of the six abilities to increase and looked at the changed window.
A faint outline of a person and several long bars next to it.
From basic things like stamina, mana, endurance to detailed things like fatigue, hunger, and thirst, Aslan dragged his finger down a suitable part.
What he dragged down was different from Aslan’s expectations.
So different that Aslan’s eyes widened, and his hand stopped in mid-air.
“Huh?”
Eternal Dominion had several abilities.
Strength, governing the body’s power; agility, encompassing dexterity, movement, flexibility, and reflex speed; health, covering the body’s toughness and regenerative abilities.
Then there was mana, enabling magic use and increasing magic efficiency; will, increasing the limit and total amount of combat perk skills; and luck, governing drop rates, probabilistic evasion, and critical hits.
There were six abilities in total.
[Aslan]
[■] [■■] [■■]
[Mana] [Will] [Luck]
[Remaining Points: 3]
But under Aslan’s name, only three abilities were displayed.
The other three were blacked out and distorted.
Aslan stared at it and then firmly pressed the blacked-out area where strength should be.
‘Nothing happened.’
The remaining points didn’t decrease, and there was no feeling of overall strength increasing.
Aslan, bewildered by this phenomenon, calmly pressed the intact word “Mana” below.
[Remaining Points: 2]
The points decreased, and a strange energy-like sensation flowed through his body. The energy, emanating from his heart and brain, pulsed with his heartbeat.
Mana works fine.
Luck and will should too.
He couldn’t understand, but the phenomenon was clear. Just as Aslan was about to accept it.
“···Huh, huuuaaak!”
Angie screamed and woke up.
Despite the loud scream, the rest of the party didn’t wake up, and only Angie, drenched in sweat, sat up, visible beyond the system window.
Gasping for breath, Angie slowly raised her head and met Aslan’s eyes.
The emotion flickering in those golden eyes was fear.
Just as Aslan was about to say something after reading that emotion.
[Aslan] [Angela Tail]
A new name appeared next to Aslan’s name.
‘···What?’
Seeing that, Aslan forgot what he was about to say and, as if entranced, pressed the air with his finger.
[Angela Tail]
[Strength] [Agility] [Health]
[■■] [■■] [■]
[Remaining Points: 3]
Then, the exact opposite window appeared.
