'Has he not broken free yet?' Vlad realized, watching as the Troll King halted mid-attack, his massive arm falling limp at his side.
'Did he resist the mark just long enough to attack?' Vlad wondered, his thinking confirmed by the absence of the system notification.
Each time one of his subjects broke free, Vlad received a system notification, but there was none this time.
"Throw away your weapon," Vlad bellowed, yet the Troll just stood there staring him down, denying him of his control.
Troll King was actively resisting his control, but for some reason, he was not attacking, and the only possible explanation could be that the beast was focused on breaking free from the Sovereign's Mark.
Vlad shifted his gaze from the lumbering giant to the hobgoblin who lay unmoving against the wall, his skull caved in, blood pooling beneath him.
Just as he took a step forward to save him, a cold system notification appeared before him, informing him that Kragg was dead.
'Well, there goes my chance to successfully do this raid on the first try,' Vlad lamented, his mind already going over the things he needed to improve to succeed.
Vlad was ready to end this try and return for the second attempt, but it seemed the surprises were not over, as he and every player in the Grimroot village received a system notification informing them of their doom.
{The Dark Troll King will escape from Grimroot Dungeon in ten minutes. All players are advised to brace for the arrival of the Grimlord and his goblin horde.}
"What?" Vlad snapped, his eyes darting back to the Troll, who stood there, his pitch-dark eyes oozing with darkness, a twisted smile stretching across his face.
'The Troll should die in ten minutes, and the only way he is...' Vlad thought, his mind calculating every possible answer.
'Evolution,' It took but a moment to reach the only possible answer, 'The threat of approaching death had made the Troll king enter the state of evolution,'
'Since only ascending to the second Rank will allow the troll to deal with the poison coursing through his blood,' Vlad thought, his jaw tightening as the gravity of the situation settled upon him.
This also indicated that poison alone would not be enough to kill the troll king. Even though the poison was not showing any signs of slowing down as it ate through the giant's health bar, Vlad knew that it would not be enough.
He could be certain because if the poison alone was enough, then the system would not have given the ten-minute deadline.
So that meant he had to survive and deal an unknown amount of damage to have a chance at taking down the troll king.
'Why would Lucid do this? I solved the puzzle, killed Swail, and acquired the only possible means to kill the Troll king,'
'So why set the Dark Troll King free?' Vlad questioned, thinking that Lucid might be playing a joke on him or just denying him the reward of clearing the dungeon.
'Or maybe this Troll is special, a plan-B of Lucid just in case players were able to find the truth about Swail and kill him,' Vlad thought, and as he recalled the unique titles the Troll King possessed, titles far too grand for a mere boss of a level ten dungeon, he realized he just might be right.
The Dark Troll King had three titles Pure Blood, Mutated, and Abomination.
Pure blood granted one the ability to grow quicker, which was nothing serious, and Mutated allowed the beast to have a small chance of having a rare evolution on Rank Ascension.
While rare in combination, these two titles were not extraordinary on their own. However, Abomination was an anomaly, a title that marked beings who defied nature itself, whether through unnatural growth, heightened intelligence, or terrifying adaptability.
While it was unlikely, all three titles combined could create something far more dangerous, something unnatural and special.
'It seems I am right,' Vlad thought, watching as the ominous darkness oozed from the Troll King, growing denser with each passing moment.
'I am not going to lose weeks just because of a chosen, even if it means you are the key to a major world event,' Vlad thought, his eyes turning colder as he picked the great sword.
Vlad knew his limitations better than anyone. He knew he had no chance against the Troll King in a battle, even if it failed to resist the mark and allowed him to attack freely because removing his head or piercing his skull was not something he could achieve.
However, he was also not an average player, and if anyone could survive and win against an anomaly like the troll king, then it was him.
Vlad downed another container of the blackwater venom on the blade. He knew it would not help much, but he needed every little edge he could get in this impossible battle.
Vlad pushed his senses to the limit, his heartbeat slowing down as he focused on the Troll who just stood in the distance, his form lumbering, his eyes cold and dull.
Vlad used reinforcement skills, and his arms, blade, and legs were cloaked in a pulsing white aura.
He rushed forward, activating his Dash skill, and as if waiting for him, the skull whip lashed out, slicing through the air and striking the ground a few meters from his path.
The skull at the end of the whip shattered, sending its shard at breakneck speed in all directions.
Vlad skillfully parried and deflected each shard that came at him, his movements precise and controlled. Meanwhile, the Troll King drew his arm back and lashed out with the whip again, aiming directly for Vlad's legs.
'I need to do better,' Vlad thought, the cracking sound of the metal chain striking the floor echoing through the chamber.
'I need to predict his movement, or else I am as good as dead,' Vlad thought, his focus razor-sharp.
His eyes tracked every motion of the giant, analyzing each shift in muscle within milliseconds. His body reacted instinctively, weaving through the attacks, narrowly evading the wild swings of the skull whip.
He closed the distance and swung the heavy, jagged blade, landing the first strike on its right elbow, the damage pitifully low. He stepped to the right, on the blind spot of the Troll, landing another slash before ducking to avoid a backhand swing.
The Troll King jerked his whip back, the clash of interlocking chain links ringing through the air, accompanied by the sharp howl of wind.
The weapon met the floor, sending cracks through the solid floor, missing Vlad's leg by a hair's breadth, who avoided it by using the great sword as support to jump.
He pushed against the Troll and landed after a flip, his eyes narrowing as he couldn't help but question a few strange things.
'Why is he not breaking free of the Sovereign's Mark? And Why is he only targeting my legs?' Vlad thought, puzzled by the troll king's behavior.
The absence of system notification confirmed that the troll king was still under the control of the Sovereign's Mark. However, he was clearly actively resisting it, yet he was not breaking free from its effect.
'Is he trying to evolve with the Sovereign's Mark?' Vlad thought, his mind instantly reaching a horrible conclusion.
'It should not be possible for him to acquire some trait or ability like the Sovereign's Mark, but if he is chosen, then logic won't work on him,' Vlad concluded, his jaw clenching as another realization hit him.
The troll king could kill Vlad, and the Sovereign's Mark would not vanish on his death. Why he was not actively trying to kill him could be that he could not be bothered or wanted him to see how his efforts meant nothing.
'This Bastard,' Vlad cursed under his breath.
The giant raised his head, its pitch dark eyes, two bottomless abysses stared him down. As if mocking Vlad, the Troll smiled, his features twisting his already ugly face.
'Summon Goblin Legion'
The darkness burst forth from the Troll King like a tidal wave covering a radius of ten meters with it as its center. The darkness rose, and from them stepped out Goblin warriors, archers, and brutes.
Now, every piece was in place, completing the picture that gave all of the answers. Vlad's theories were not just theories anymore; it was certain that the creature before him would become a calamity that would bring chaos to the world of Ascension.
The death of Swail and the absence of the demon king artifacts will not affect the future.
The demons would rise again, and maybe they would reach higher heights than they did under Swail, a cowardly creature by nature who wished to build an empire rather than spread pure carnage and chaos.
Vlad felt his heartbeat grow louder as he imagined a future worse than the one from his past life. The sheer thought that his actions might have changed the future for the worse sent a cold chill down his spine.
But the fear of uncertainty only lasted for a second before being replaced by pure determination.
"I have sacrificed everything for a better future," Vlad growled through clenched teeth. "And, It will be better, no matter, if I have to go against Lucid himself,"