Chapter 29 Testing The Waters

It let out a deafening roar and charged towards Ralphie who rushed out to meet with it.

Ralphie grabbed his sword tightly and struck the troll king.

His sword, trained over years, and the troll king's fist, which had gone through not-so-many battles, clashed!

**BOOM!

Ralphie's two-handed sword strike, and the opponent's fist, which glowed brightly clashed head-on and caused a boom under the ground.

However, the one to step back first in that monstrous clash, was Ralphie.

This was expected. Trolls were monsters specialized in brute strength.

The troll king's strength stat was already higher than Ralphie's, and coupled with its Titan Punch Skill, there was no way for Ralphie to withstand it.

,m "Kuhk!"

**KROAAAAAR!

Ralphie couldn't believe it. The opponent's attack did not contain a lot of mana, even for a strength-enhancing skill, it was too powerful.

Evan nodded as if he expected it.

'Let's be serious, it's a troll king, one with the foreshadowing skill and had prepared a lot for this battle. It has probably learned an advanced martial art as well. It won't be easy to beat it in a contest of strength.'

Ralphie's eyes changed. His stance became more meticulous, and his sword twisted at a weird angle and aimed for the opponent's heart. Synchronizing his breathing and mana, he focused everything on the sword tip.

Although he lost in the earlier clash of strength, he was still a Grandmaster level existence, one over level 350, and one of the ten great swordsmen of the great western empire.

Even though he was slightly surprised, it did not last for long and he quickly recomposed himself. If he did not kill this troll, Evan and Laurene were going to die, he could not have that happen.

However, the surprise was the same for the enemy. It seemed that he had realized that Ralphie was not like the other humans it had fought, but a trained sword master. It frowned and charged forward again.

**BAAMMM!!!

Another clash.

Although Ralphie tried to add a fake to his hand or shoulder movements, it seemed that it wasn't that effective against an opponent who had learned an advanced martial art. He was the one to retreat in the second clash as well.

However, with this, he was finished measuring the opponent. The opponent really was not hiding any of his power.

'Besides that punch skill, and his ability to reduce his size, there's nothing else, more importantly, this thing is a lower level than I am.'

He did not have appraisal like Evan and had to guess, but if Evan had heard his thoughts he would have shouted in shock.

He had accurately guessed the opponent's power and skills, in one go. Even though the troll king tried to hide it, Ralphie still noticed it was steadily manipulating its size.

It increased right before it attacked and decreased right after.

Ralphie decided to end it quickly before it could use any of the trump cards it prepared.

On top of his sword, mana and aura intertwined and created a light-blue whirlpool of ice.

Perhaps the troll king realized that Ralphie was now doing a full-out attack, it gathered whatever energy he had in his body and prepared to counterattack.

**BooOM!!!

A greater clash than before, one that made Evan and Laurene realized that they had to hide behind some rocks to prevent themselves from being caught in the crossfire.

'There's no way Ralphie would let that happen but better safe than sorry.'

Ralphie swung his sword multiple times in quick succession. The speed was barely perceptible, the troll king could barely see it, however, it could feel it.

That if any of those strikes hit, it would not end well.

It reduced its size and tried to dodge, however, Ralphie didn't let up, he continued attacking at speeds the troll king could barely perceive.

There wasn't much difference in their speed stats, but there was a difference in how well they utilized those stats.

He struck out with another attack, activating his strong-arm skill this time.

His sword instantly pierced through the skin's resistance and his aura infested the troll's body and messed up its energy circulation.

**KYAAAAAK!

When it let out a bloodcurdling scream and stepped back, he shot the mini-ice whirlpool enveloping his sword forward! It blocked the attack aimed at its head with its arm, but the ice froze its entire right arm completely.

The troll screamed and swung its arm toward us. Although there was no way he would be hit by it, when its menacing claws cut through the air, they drew glowing traces of black aura, which flew toward him. Ralphie then skilfully manoeuvred its body and dodged the attacks before he fired out another ice attack.

"Not enough!"

He still had most of his mana remaining. He gripped his sword tightly and fiercely circulated his mana at an unbelievable fast speed. In an instant, another whirlpool of ice shot up around the sword.

It seemed to disregard the ice freezing its right arm as it swung its arms violently.

With every swing, five aura streams shot toward Raplhie. In the end, dozens of aura streams were flying toward him. Ralphie hurriedly moved away to dodge them, and that was when Evan's shout came in.

"Ralphie, the aura attacks have a homing ability!"

As someone who played the game and battled this troll countless times, Evan knew its skills and effects without having to appraise it.

|Titan Punch;

Type: Racial Skill

Effect;

Condenses energy around one's fist to enhance the power of punches. Creates aura attacks shaped like little fists with the homing feature, the number depends on the number of fingers available. |

'Wasn't it supposed to be strong physically? How? He's just playing with auras!'

Ralphie gritted his teeth and discharged more ice-based attacks.

"Blizzard!"

His body shone with a blue light and discharged ice. Countless spears of ice flickered and dealt ice damage to the troll king, freezing it and slowing its movements.

**KUOOOOOOOO!

Even so, it managed to raise its left arm against him! He instantly widened his eyes and moved to dodge its thick arm.

'Although it is weaker than the true dungeon boss, troll emperor, it is still true that it was stronger than Ralphie in terms of pure strength.'

Evan was analysing the fight between the two. If Ralphie faced its attack with his sword, he couldn't guarantee his shoulder's safety. Therefore, he made his best effort to dodge.

**BooOM

The punch that missed, destroyed a part of the wall, Evan was also surprised, the power of the troll was more than he expected.

It used its aura to stop the freezing of its right arm and stared at Raplhie murderously.

"Ha! Round 2 Begin!"