Drip, drip, drip…
The noise of the water droplets hitting the ground was the only sound that Ray could hear inside the cave. This only made the cave even more eerie and creepy.
He continued following the light source, which was now getting brighter and brighter as he walked, indicating that he was following the right path. Ray was also glancing at his tracking system every now and then, but it wasn't showing anything noteworthy.
'The opening must be around this corner…' The back part of his brain said as Ray reached a turn. But just before he could make a turn, Ray suddenly stopped walking, almost like a reflex, and he immediately hid behind a boulder that was right next to him.
He then looked at his tracking system, which had vibrated just before he turned around the corner, and saw a large red dot right on its boundary.
He squinted his eyes and pressed his finger on the tracking system's screen, enlarging the red dot, which showed the body structure of the lifeform.
'Well, shit…' Ray couldn't help but curse in his mind as he stared at his wrist.
Ray then slowly poked his head over the boulder and narrowed his eyes as he stared at what appeared to be a giant humanoid creature that was sitting in front of the opening of the cave, munching on some kind of an animal.
Splat! Splat!
Blood was dripping down from the animal and onto the humanoid creature's hands, but it couldn't care less and continued eating.
"Yup, that's definitely a higher troll." Ray whispered softly as a frustrated chuckle escaped his lips.
A higher troll. The boss version of a normal troll monster. One of the only monsters whose appearance resembled that of a human being, although it was massive in size and was extremely ugly.
It was also a powerful foe to face when you're a beginner D-rank hunter. Of course, Ray was a reincarnator who had enough experience to take down the most powerful of the dungeon bosses, but at the end of the day, he was still a D-rank hunter. He had limitations, both his skill and power, and facing something as powerful as a higher troll in his first monster fight after reincarnating would definitely prove to be a challenge.
'Well, I guess it's a challenge that I must accept…' Ray shook his head and clenched his fist. He knew that the path he took in this life was something foreign to him, but he also knew that the familiar life that he lived repeatedly had not helped him to succeed in his mission. That was the reason why it was necessary for him to take this risky approach. He had to change, both for himself and for the sake of humanity.
'Alright…' Ray closed his eyes and slowly breathed in and out for a few seconds before opening them.
Whoosh!
Ray suddenly popped out from behind the boulder and threw a specialized grenade in the direction of the higher troll.
"GRA?" The higher troll could only utter a noise of confusion and caution as the grenade exploded with a bright white light that lit up the entire place, followed by the emission of black smoke, and all of a sudden, the higher troll's body had now been enveloped by light and smoke.
Swoosh!
Ray rushed forward and into the smoke, as bolts of lightning shot out from his fingertips and shot straight at the creature, whose loud screams could be heard from within the clouds of smoke.
"GRRRAAAR!!"
Zap! Zap! Zap!
Ray continued to shoot lightning bolts from his fingertips, and the screams of the higher troll continued to echo inside the walls of the cave.
All of a sudden…
'Duck.' The front part of his brain told Ray, and he immediately dived on the ground as the massive arm of the higher troll exited the clouds of smoke and whipped above him before entering the clouds once again.
"You didn't like the lightning strikes, did you?" Ray snickered as he got up on his feet before immediately leaping backwards, evading the large fist of the higher troll that had slammed down onto the spot where he was standing just a second ago.
Lightning attacks. One of the weaknesses of a higher troll. And since Ray was a neutral type, this meant that he could wield any elemental attacks, including lightning. Of course, being a neutral also had its disadvantages. Simply put, it was a jack of all trades but master of none. You wouldn't be able to achieve the complete mastery of any elemental attacks if you are a neutral. But then again, not many people become masters anyways.
"GRRRAAAR!"
The monster continued to scream as it swung its large hands over and over at the ground, aiming for Ray, who continued to evade the creature's attacks with super fast reflexes.
Zap! Zap! Zap!
Ray continued to shoot out lightning bolts from his hands as he moved through the smoke clouds, and all of a sudden, the tracking system watch on his wrist began to vibrate, as an automated voice echoed in his ear. "Warning! Your mana level is at 50 percent. Decreasing rapidly!"
"Ah, shit.. already?" Ray clicked his tongue with a dissatisfied expression on his face before doing a backflip and leaping backwards, evading the fist of the troll monster which slammed into the ground, forming a huge crater on the spot that he was previously standing on.
This was what worried Ray the most. It wasn't that he couldn't defeat the higher troll on his own. He definitely could, and he was confident enough in his abilities to do so. But it would just take too much mana consumption to defeat just a single higher troll, especially since the elemental attacks drain more energy if the user was a neutral compared to a more compatible one.
He had bought just a single energy bar because he had thought that he would just be dealing with multiple smaller monsters before eventually taking on the boss monster. Ray was confident in defeating smaller and less powerful monsters such as trolls, lizardmen and goblins with simple physical attacks, which would only drain his normal energy that he could quickly regain by taking a rest and consuming nutrients. He could then utilize his mana to take down the boss monsters, while still having the energy to move and evade quickly.
At least, that was supposed to be the plan. Unfortunately for him, his first opponent happened to be a higher troll, and if this battle continued the way it was going now, Ray was certain that it would be his last opponent for the day.
"Fuck you, you big ugly piece of shit!" Ray shouted loudly at the enormous monster that was covered in smoke as he took his pistol out, adjusted the setting to electric, and pulled the trigger, causing countless balls of electricity to shoot out from the barrel and collide onto the higher troll's body.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The sound of the electric balls colliding with the monster echoed throughout the cave, followed by the ear-piercing roar of the higher troll.
"GRRRAAAR!"
'Oh, he's definitely angry now…' Ray thought to himself as he threw another grenade underneath the creature, which exploded immediately, causing electrical currents to burst out.
Zap! Zap! Zap!
"GRRRAAAR!"
The loud and ear piercing screams of the higher troll were combined with the noise of the electric current hitting the creature's body, and Ray picked up the energy bar that he had bought and gobbled it down without wasting any time.
He then looked at his wrist, at the tracking system which was showing him that his mana energy had increased to 90 percent.
"Now that that's been dealt with…" Ray cracked his knuckles as he spoke. "...Time for round two."