A sudden pain emanated from Klaus's abdomen. That's when he noticed that the armor he was wearing had broken and there was blood flowing out of his stomach, so he immediately took the armor off and covered the wound with his hand.
[Cure potion: Use or store?]
Although trolls possess a self-healing function, Klaus wanted to try the effectiveness of this bottle of Cure potion, so he clicked the word "use" on the panel with his mind.
In the next second, a purple glass bottle fell in front of Klaus and he immediately caught the potion bottle with his hand. He then opened the lid and drank the potion in one gulp. A cold and sweet sensation flowed from his throat to his stomach.
A tickling sensation came to the small of Klaus's back, and when he looked down, he realized that the wound that was bleeding a moment ago had completely healed. All the exhaustion in his body had also miraculously disappeared, and at that moment he felt physically energized.
"It's simply amazing," Klaus couldn't help but exclaim, "If only the rewards could be a little more."
Just then, Lyme's voice came.
"Klaus, so there you are." Lyme burst out of the woods, "I just heard the sounds of a fight. Oh!"
Lyme couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the dead black iron snake.
"Klaus, don't tell me you killed that black iron snake."
"Yes, I killed the black iron snake," Klaus admitted.
"A human?" Lyme looked at Klaus with wide eyes.
Klaus nodded.
"That's pretty impressive of you."
Lyme noticed the broken armor on the ground, so he asked with concern, "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine."
"Let me check your body." As a sorcerer, it was Lyme's duty to heal his people. So he squatted down to check Klaus's belly, but he didn't find any wounds other than the residual blood he saw on Klaus's stomach.
"Blessed by the God of Earth, your wounds are healing themselves unimaginably fast."
Klaus didn't tell Lyme that he had just used the Cure potion gifted by the system, so Lyme thought that Klaus's wounds were healing on their own.
"Lyme, I think you should go and call the rest of the clan." Klaus said, "After all, dealing with this Black iron snake can't be done by just the two of us."
"You stay here and keep watching over it, I'll be back soon."
Soon, Lyme arrived with the other trolls, and it took them some time to drag the Black iron snake back to camp. When the trolls returned to the camp with their loot, they immediately used their weapons to break down the massive Black iron snake.
The trolls gathered around the fire, eating the roasted snake meat while excitedly talking about Klaus's solo killing of the Black iron snake. Everyone saw young Klaus as their new idol, and even his brother was impressed.
To reward Klaus, Abe ordered the hardest scales from the Black iron snake's head to be cut off and used to make new armor for him.
Klaus went back to his tent to sleep after eating the snake meat. When he woke up the next morning, the panel automatically opened up and appeared in his sight.
[Combat Value: 50/100]
[Strength Value: 50/100]
[Agility: 50/100]
[Physical Strength: 100/100]
[Luck Value: 0/100]
"The other stats haven't changed, but physical strength has completely recovered. It might have something to do with consuming snake meat."
Just as Klaus was thinking, noisy voices came from outside the tent, so he closed the panel and immediately stepped out of the tent.
Klaus saw Abe with a grim face talking to Rand about something, and other trolls gathered around them. Just as Klaus wanted to ask what was going on, Abe announced bad news to the group.
It turned out that in the morning, Elder Klein never returned after taking the three trolls out. Abe sent Rand to look for them, but Rand ended up finding the bodies of Kane and three other trolls in the woods.
Their bodies had been dismembered and hung from a tree, and the word "vengeance" was written in blood on the trunk.
"Rand detected the scent of Snake Man." Abe said, "It's them."
"But what do they mean by leaving the word 'vengeance'?" A troll questioned, "Is it because of that Black iron snake from last night?"
"Yes." Abe said in a deep voice, "I found markings on the body of that Black iron snake that belonged exclusively to Snake Man, which means that Black iron snake should be a hunting beast tamed by Snake Man. That's why the vengeance was taken."
"I killed that black iron snake. Let me face them." Klaus said angrily.
A wave of hatred ran through Klaus's entire body. The trolls and Snake Man had always been at odds, and now Snake Man had killed his people. Klaus vowed to kill those damned snakes to avenge Kane and the others.
"No!" Abe dismissed his suggestion. "Our trail has been discovered by Snake Man. We must get out of here as soon as possible before they strike back at us."
So everyone followed Abe's decision and prepared to evacuate. Just then, there was a rustling sound from the woods, and sharp arrows rained down towards the trolls.
"It's the servants!" Abe shouted, "Prepare for battle!"