Chapter 104 - Troll Positions

Troll Positions."Brave words for a puny human!" the one at the far left said with a mocking laugh, its gruff voice grating on her nerves. "What are you going to do with that silly stick of yours? We are well-trained against such weapons, silly human."

The rest of the Trolls joined him in mocking her.

Cheng Xiu looked at the Trolls that laughed at her declaration and counted them out. There were approximately 20 Trolls at present in the ring. If she wanted to meet the Quest goal of 30 kills, she had to kill 10 more. The captive was not here yet, and she was her Quest goal too.

Cheng Xiu guessed that the 10 she needed would come with the captives if she could kill these 20 here.

Her eyes went to their weapons and their physique.

All the Trolls carried clubs with them and had sturdy feet and bodies. The female and male looked the same. There were no visible differences, not that it would matter unless it turned out that the female Trolls could give birth instantaneously to defeat her in numbers.

For her own sanity, Cheng Xiu prayed that was not the case.

"Come on then, Little Human Cultivator!" one of the frontline Trolls laughed. "Let us see your might!"

Cheng Xiu took a step forwards and found herself pushed to the concrete floor on her knees.

The Qi in her body circulated faster to accumulate the change in pressure.

Cheng Xiu took a deep breath and then stood up, ignoring the pain that wracked her body and her concentration.

The Trolls started to laugh.

"The great and mighty Human," the first female voice mocked her. "Cultivating to reach the greatness of all things. And yet, you don't even seem to have the capability to stand on your own!"

Cheng Xiu gritted her teeth, and let her body adjust to the pressure slowly. There was no time crunch this round, which she was thankful for. Her mind was not as sharp as it normally was.

Cheng Xiu opened her eyes and looked at the place the mockery came from. "I am known in these parts as Selafia. What about you guys?"

The Trolls gasped as one.

"You…you have a name!" the female Troll shouted. "How can this be!"

Cheng Xiu raised her eyebrows. "Did you not capture another Cultivator? Did she not introduce herself?"

Cheng Xiu took a small step forwards as she asked so. She needed to adjust to the Ring Pressure as much as possible before these Trolls attacked her.

Cheng Xiu was a little surprised at the turn of events. In the last two rings, she had somewhat adjusted to the pressures of the ring before she got a Quest, but this time, her body had only just entered the ring, and it was bombarded with enemies and pressure.

She wondered if it was because it was the last ring. Did this mean, after she finished the third ring, she would get a Soul Shard? Though she wanted to believe that the Other World was very generous, it could not be that generous. She imagined that she would have to fight the red-robed Martial Artist.

Cheng Xiu took another step to the front.

"So what is your name?" she asked the leader through a straining voice. Or at least she thought it was the leader. It was the only Troll with a greenish band on its wrist, so she assumed it was.

The leader Troll looked at her with disdain in her eyes. "Silly human! Why would I tell you such things?"

"Why were you guys so surprised that I had a name?" Cheng Xiu asked as she took another step forward.

The leader snorted. "Because naming things require intelligence!"

Cheng Xiu rolled her eyes as she took another step forwards. "Anybody can name things. Even 2-year-old children could."

The Troll growled. "What audacity!"

"Let us eat her already!" the female-voiced Troll said.

The leader nodded. "My dear fellows! Capture that Human! The one that does the deed shall have her one entire leg tonight!"

Cheng Xiu shivered as her stomach rolled.

The Trolls cheered in a high voice.

The two trolls at the front raised their clubs, and ran towards her, screaming.

Cheng Xiu held up her spear, ready to strike them.

The Troll at the left swung the club to her skull as it was the first to reach her.

Cheng Xiu stepped back and bent backwards to avoid getting in harm's way.

She saw a wooden club come her way to her sides from her peripheral vision and twisted away.

The pressure of the Ring was still too high for her, and Cheng Xiu had to put in a great number of effort to get to the other side of the weapon.

She raised the spear and used it to block the attack to the back of her head.

She spun the spear around in her hand until the head faced the Troll, and aimed towards its chest.

The Troll tried to back away, but her spear found its mark, and the blade of the spear thrust into the creature's chest cavity, and pierced through its heart.

The Troll spits out yellow blood, and fell to the floor and became a heap of flesh.

The other Troll aimed the Club at her neck but it ended up hitting her back as she tried to move away from the attack.

Cheng Xiu stumbled forwards as her legs nearly gave out under the pressure her body felt at having made two steps instead of the one she was making until then.

Cheng Xiu used the pole of the spear to balance herself and spun on the spot. She hit the Troll that attacked her back right in the neck with the spearhead.

Yellow blood spilt out of its wound and splattered across her body.

Cheng Xiu stepped back instinctively in disgust, and nearly fell on her knees again at the sudden pressure that she felt in her body.

The Leader Troll spit on the ground in disgust. "Pathetic losers! Lost to a human! You three, go!"

Cheng Xiu turned around to face the incoming attack.

Three Trolls ran towards her with their clubs raised.

Cheng Xiu split her legs to balance herself and faced them head-on, the spearhead turned straight at the incoming enemies.

The troll on the right zigzagged to the left and the one on the left zigzagged to the right as they got to hitting distance at her.

Cheng Xiu's attention was, however, on the Troll in the middle. She instinctively knew that this was the one that would give her the most trouble.

The left one took a swing at her head, the right one at her neck.

The one in the middle circled her faster than her eyes could follow.

Cheng Xiu guessed what the Trolls were planning to do, and boldly fell to the ground, and rolled away from the front.

The pressure was great, but the satisfaction at seeing the three clubs collide, and send the Trolls back because of the impact of their attacks was even greater.

Cheng Xiu had been right to have guessed that the one in the middle would try to use the distraction of the side Trolls changing their positions to attack her.

When the Mid Troll had disappeared from her sight, Cheng Xiu had guessed that it would either attack from above or from behind her, as those would be her blind spots.

They couldn't attack her from the under, because the space required to accommodate a third person was less in that angle, and these Trolls did not look like the flexible kind.

The Trolls from the sides changed position again as Cheng Xiu got up to her feet.

The Mid Troll tried to kick her in the guts.

Cheng Xiu used the pole of the spear to stop the attack and spun the spear in her hand. She raised it to jab the spearhead into the extended leg.

The Troll was able to see her action but was not able to prevent it.

The troll on the left swung its club hard towards her head in an attempt to kill her before she could harm their brethren.

Cheng Xiu twisted away, closer to the Troll audience that she had going for herself.

The Mid Troll swung it to her head, while it gave the troll to the right a signal.

Cheng Xiu ducked.

The two Trolls at the sides tried to attack her head together.

Cheng Xiu closed her eyes, and concentrated on the Qi around her, sensing the clubs coming her way before it could happen.

Cheng Xiu staggered to the side and used the spearhead to slice the throat of the right Troll that was the closest to her.

Cheng Xiu dodged once, twice, and a third time as the troll at the left aimed at her head. There were tears in its eyes.

It made Cheng Xiu realise that the right Troll must have died.

She felt sad for the lost life for a brief moment, but in the end, she knew that to complete the Quest she had to kill 27 more. In the end, this was a VR game, and she had to remember that. Or else she might never be able to finish what she started.

The Troll jumped at her with its club held high above its head with both hands and aimed straight at her head.

Cheng Xiu's eyes flashed.