Chereads / The Systems Challenge / Chapter 57 - The Boss Troll part 1

Chapter 57 - The Boss Troll part 1

Elmo almost sighed. If he wasn't facing such a large creature he probably would have. The creature was large, maybe about 15 feet tall, greenish skin, black stringy hair, and what appeared to be crudely made clothing, that might have been patched together by animal hides. Or at least, Elmo hoped it was animal hides.

The creature roared at them, showing yellow stained teeth that even at the distance they were from it, carried it very pungent bad breath with it. A stench so bad that Elmo couldn't help but feel a little nauseous from it.

The creature also looked almost like it was sculpted out of a rock. Especially where parts of it looked like it hadn't been fully formed by whoever sculpted it.

"View stats," Elmo muttered under his breath. He was aware of the others with his group taking their positions along the front line, clearly ready to help fight this behemoth.

A window appeared in front of him, listing what information he could get about the creature. Not as much as he'd like, but it was still better than nothing.

Stone Troll

Level 15

HP264/264

MP 59/59

Stamina 417/417

Str 45

Dex 24

Con 47

Mag 32

Int 45

Wis 21

Agi 29

Vit 72

Endurance 58

Physical Resistance 40%

Magical Resistance 15%

Strike of a Juggernaut

Thick Skin

Unarmed Combat

Unarmed Disarm

Shockwave

Vital Spirit

Keen Nose

Dodging Strike

Meteor Strike

Earth Attribute – Stalagmite

Earth Attribute – Rock Burst

Earth Attribute – Rock Spray

Earth Attribute – Petrify

Minor Regeneration – Fire

Weakness – Light, Holy

Status Condition – Sluggish

Stone Trolls are one of the more dangerous of trolls. They are blessed with an abundance of vitality and durability. Rumored to have been carved out of the deepest and hardest stone that can be found through the darkest of magic, their physical appearance and tough skin lend credence to that rumor. They will attack any creature they encounter without hesitation, unless it is another troll.

Their weaknesses lie in that they will often sleep until they're disturbed before they go on a rampage. Until the become fully awake, they have been known to exhaust themselves fighting their opponents. They will die immediately if they are exposed to direct sunlight, and so dislike almost any source of light. While it hasn't been confirmed that they are created with dark magic, they are more susceptible to holy attribute attacks. Furthermore, they will heal over time, any damage they receive except through actual fire. While they don't fear fire, despite it being a source of light, they will still be unable to regenerate while they are either on fire themselves, or are being exposed to fire in any way.

Elmo relayed what he saw on the window in front of him. Not all of it made any sense to him, but he knew that letting everyone know about it would only help their efforts in defeating this monstrosity. Especially since he didn't care to see anyone die if he could help it.

"How do you know this?" Elwin asked him.

"His system, of course," Kim replied before Elmo could. "Everyone has skills and all that. You don't need to know the specifics." Then to Elmo she commented. "You know, I wish you'd brought my armor after the fight with the goblins yesterday. I know you said it was ruined when we we walking here, but even if it wouldn't help, I think I'd still have felt better with it on."

"Guess you can go get it if you'd like to run off for it," Leon teased. "I'm sure you can get back in time to watch us deal with this little guy."

"Leave this to you?" Kim asked. "If I do that, then who's going to witness your demise?"

"Enough banter," Owen called to them. "We should attack now. Remember what Elmo said? It's sluggish right now because it just woke up. If we can wear it down, I don't care how strong it is, it won't be able to do anything then."

"I'm in first!" Bart called out, running ahead, wielding has staff.

Elmo wasn't sure what to make of it, but while it looked like a little stick compared to the troll, when Bart swung it at the beast, it let out a solid 'Clack!' that echoed through the room, but didn't seem to have any real effect, other than drawing the trolls attention. Though, Elmo had expected the staff to break, it looked like it was still in one piece.

As the others rushed forward, Elmo began using his Absorb spell. If nothing else, he thought he could help by eliminating it's MP so it couldn't use the spells it clearly had. Though, he couldn't be sure it wouldn't regenerate it's MP the way it apparently could with it's HP.

As each of his Absorb spells hit the troll, he lost focus of the fight occurring around the troll. Instead, he felt a rush each time he used the spell, as he could feel the HP,MP, and stamina from the troll enter his body. Each time it felt like a rush. Almost like he'd done something that created a rush of adrenaline. Which, Elmo had to admit, he hadn't really done much of in his life.

However, he kept up his end of attacks. At the very least, he knew that it would be helpful, since the troll could only attack so many of them at once. Although, part of his regretted not selecting Brimstone Fire, since that would really have helped them keep the troll from regenerating.

Which merely meant that they would need to figure out something to do in order to keep it from regenerating, otherwise they might have a really long battle on their hands. Especially if it stopped being sluggish.

Eventually, however, Elmo had to take a break from his usage of Absorb. He was feeling like he was running out of breath and needed a moment to catch it. Though, he used that pause to check his MP. If nothing else, he would be interested to see how it was faring.

"Status," he gasped, the world around him seeming a little blurry.

What he saw in his stats, surprised him.

HP 59/24

MP 79/98

Stamina 69/12

Clearly he'd gotten a chunk of it's stats, but at the same time, he wondered if he shouldn't do something to get himself from feeling like he did at the moment. Even his mind was having trouble working properly.

Did I absorb some of it's sluggishness? Elmo wondered as he continued to struggle to regain his breath. Or was it because of my stamina and HP are higher than what their maximum is? Kind of like what his tutorial told him about his MP being higher than twice it's max?

Elmo wondered if he'd made a serioius mistake with using absorb. Although, since he could still move, he decided he should at least try to use some of the stamina up. If nothing else, it would allow him a chance to see if working it down would help him or if it might be the sluggishness from the troll instead. Regardless, he knew he needed to do something, otherwise, he might find himself in serious trouble that he pretty much had gotten himself into.

Although, on the other hand, if he couldn't use the absorb spell like he had been, he could at least use some of his other spells. Especially Scorch. It might not create a flame, but he hoped that it would have the same effect on the troll's regenerative abilities.

However, Elmo first had to reduce his stamina and see if that would help him see his surroundings clearly, instead of just a blur. If nothing else, it would help him understand what had happened to him.

Although, while he wanted to run, in essence in a circle where he was, he found that his equilibrium was impaired by whatever was happening to him, which meant he could only stumble in a circle. Though, with each step, he felt like he was about to fall over. If he really had tired to run, he doubted that he'd have been able to keep from falling over with the first step.

The world felt like it was balanced precariously on a ball, like elephants he'd once seen at a circus do, that was making the world tilt as the weight kept shifting, to create a new point for gravity to pull him in.

Elmo wasn't sure how long he had stumbled in a circle, but he found that eventually, his mind started to clear. However, even though it was a noticeable difference, he still found himself unable to keep from stumbling.

He tried momentarily to shake his head, but that forced him to stop walking as suddenly the world around him started to spin out of control and he nearly fell down right there.

When the world stopped spinning so much, he realized he was looking straight at the combat area. While the edges of everything was still bleeding into its surroundings, he could see that the combat was still going strong.

Elmo suddenly felt like he was a mouse in a room full of cats that just hadn't noticed him yet. Almost like he was still only alive because their attention was on something else. Not that he could get himself out of the situation. With what he'd done to himself, he realized if he died, then that was because he'd had an incident of pure stupidity take him over.