Chapter 237 235:

Chapter 237 235:

n(-O/-v--e/.l./B)(1-/n

Hellish flames climbed up the trees and roared through the brush.

The disastrous wildfire that Val had started was spreading through the forest quickly, but he didn't seem concerned in the slightest.

He was confident that he'd be able to move on to the second layer of this dungeon before the fire could catch up to him.

He darted through the forest at an incredible speed, appearing almost as if he were teleporting from one place to another. Every second, he covered hundreds of feet, making him seem like a flash of lightning in the dark forest.

In just half a minute, he reached another clearing. At the center of this open area was a monstrous troll, sitting on a round rock slab. The creature was tall and burly, its biceps were the size of watermelons and its thighs were even bigger than that. Jagged tusks with pointy ends protruded from its lower jaw, and it had eyes that glowed a menacing red.

This monster... Who was it?

It was Gorgoroth, The Acidic Overlord!

Val had discovered its location earlier when he used his Heavenly Eye skill to locate the vines. Thus, he was able to come straight to it after setting the forest on fire like an arsonist.

Gorgoroth was a troll that had undergone mutation. It was unique. First off, it was 1 and a half times taller than an average level 40 troll. This was evident in its intimidating presence, and according to the details about the mutated troll Val scooped up using 'Detect,' Gorgoroth had strengths that went beyond the typical troll.

It was crazy strong, had a skill that could eat through metal like it was nothing, and to top it all off, it could heal itself really fast. We're talking "blink and you'll miss it" fast.

"Its regeneration is excellent, but even that won't help if it's six feet under."

Val squinted his eyes at the troll and charged into the clearing with a burst of speed. The troll could heal at an extraordinary rate, but the premise was it had to be alive. Val was confident he would be able to kill it before its regeneration kicked in.

And he had to do it within 15 seconds.

After all, he had stepped out of the forest's canopy and appeared in open ground. The giant eye overhead have noticed him and placed a curse on him. The curse has already started working. In 15 seconds, he would be teleported to the most dangerous area of this dungeon's second layer.

With a sense of urgency, Val sprinted towards the troll at maximum speed.

As soon as Val made his appearance in the clearing, the troll's eyes locked onto him.

Guriyah!

Gorgoroth let out this roar that could shake the heavens and then, it flexed its muscles. A wave of grayish aura burst out from its skin and washed over the clearing like a tidal wave of doom. The grass and the small shrubs in the clearing came in contact with it and instantly withered away as if life had been plucked out of them.

Now, most people would've freaked out by now, but Val just wore a smirk on his face despite seeing a disastrous wave of acidic aura rushing towards him.

Val was speeding toward the troll like a bullet from a gun, not slowing down even a bit. The troll's nasty acidic aura was rushing toward him, but Val had a plan up his sleeve.

He activated his unique ability to manipulate blood, and with a mere flicker of focus, he created a sturdy, thick shield made of dense, almost solid blood right in front of him, just in the nick of time.

Smash!

The corrosive aura hit the shield full-force, making it vibrate like it was hit by a sledgehammer. Almost immediately, cracks began to form on the surface of the shield, and it started to melt away at an alarming rate, turning into vapor and mist.

Val saw this happening but didn't back down despite the risks involved.

He had zero intention of letting that shield disappear as it was the one thing standing between him and the troll's corrosive aura that could melt him to the bones.

Thus, he immediately channeled his blood into the shield.

As a result, the damaged shield was restored to its original state.

Consequently, a back-and-forth struggle began.

The troll's aura kept melting the shield, and Val kept reconstructing it using his own blood.

He had plenty of blood to spare, so using a bit to maintain the shield didn't faze him one bit.

Not to mention, thanks to his shield, Val was able to block the incoming corrosive tide and keep on pushing forward.

Step by step, he was getting closer and closer to the troll, with a look on his face that screamed, "You don't have what it takes to stop me."

The troll looked visibly shaken, and why wouldn't it be? Its acidic aura had always been its trump card, its unbeatable weapon. Everyone and everything that had dared to challenge it in the past had been melted to a puddle when it used this skill. But here was Val, just casually pushing through like it was a walk in the park.

The troll instantly realized that Val was stronger than all the opponents it had faced in the past combined. Val also seemed quite desperate in his attempt to bridge the gap between them. It seemed that as long as the troll got in his melee attack range, victory would be his. The troll was no genius, but even it could determine it shouldn't let Val succeed with what he was up to.

The troll figured that if Val wanted to get close to it, then the best strategy it could exercise was to simply back away from him.

However, Val saw through it and activated the Shadow Bing spell. Before the troll could move even an inch, its own shadow suddenly came to life, rising up from the ground and coiling around its arms and legs like serpents. In a panic, the troll grabbed at the shadows binding its left arm with its beefy right hand, and yanked them hard. They were torn apart, and its left hand was freed. It its feet and slammed into the ground with a Bam!

Then, as if caught in a brutal cycle, the tentacles hoisted it back up, continued to struggle, tearing at the shadows binding its legs to free itself and regain mobility.

Calculating that the troll would break free from his shadow-bind spell before he could get close enough, Val decided to take another course of action.

Tentacles of blood burst from his back, stretching out toward the troll. They wrapped tightly around its torso and neck, then yanked it toward the ground with incredible force. The troll was lifted off its feet and slammed into the ground with a Bam!

Then, as if caught in a brutal cycle, the tentacles hoisted it back up, only to slam it down again, over and over.

Each time it was lifted and slammed into the ground by Val's tentacles, the troll felt more and more disoriented.

Suddenly, its powerful regeneration ability kicked in to clear its foggy mind, but just as it started to regain some sense of clarity, it was slammed into the ground again by Val's tentacles, leaving it in a state of confusion once again.

The cycle continued; the troll would regain clarity for a split second, only to be slammed back into confusion.

12 seconds gave passed since the beginning of the battle.

He had to deliver the killing blow within 3 seconds!

Val threw the shield away as there was no corrosive aura leaking out of the troll anymore and leaped forward with all his strength, closing the remaining gap that existed between them in a split second.

Then, he swung his sword, Voidslayer.

The troll had skin like armor and bones several hundred times denser than a human's. Especially its skull and ribcage, which were thousands of times denser than an average human.

But with Voidslayer's defense-negating effect, its sturdy body was like paper.

The blade sliced through the troll like its defense was non existent, drawing a red line that stretched from its head to its groin. From the line, the troll separated into two, its inside sprawled out onto the ground in a choatic mess

Instantly, a series of notifications sounded.

[You have slain Gorgoroth, The Acidic Overlord.]

[Experience gained: 1500.]

[Rewards obtained: Acidic Overlord's Hide and Moonlit Amulet.]

[Acidic Overlord's Hide: A hide imbued with immense defensive powers and corruption. Useful for crafting armor and other defensive equipment.]

[Acidic Overlord's Moonlit Amulet: A magical item that grants 3 second immunity against that harms the soul.]

[Third task completed!]

[No task concerning the dungeon's first layer remains]

[Please proceed to the dungeon's second layer for further details.]

Val sighed. Gorgoroth was a powerful dungeon boss. It was bound to have many cores in its body. However, he didn't get the chance to extract them as the curse of the Abyssal Eye that have been staring at him for almost 15 seconds now triggered, teleporting him away to God knows where.