Chapter 43

The mountain troll painfully covered its left eye. One could still see light blue liquid dripping from the rough skin between its fingers, possibly indicating a continuous bleeding effect from the gunshot. A venomous glint flashed in the remaining triangular right eye. The muscles in its right arm, holding the tree-trunk club, visibly and rapidly swelled, stretching the thick, bluish-gray skin to the point where even the large pores were clearly visible.

Without warning, the mountain troll roared in pain and hurled its weapon at Das. The club spun rapidly through the air, emitting a dull "whoomph, whoomph" sound! This was the mountain troll's special ability: Throw Wood to Kill!

Although Das had decent agility, his perception was lacking. If it had been Fang Senyan, he would have sensed the impending danger the moment the mountain troll's arm muscles expanded. However, Das could only react when he saw the throwing motion. The massive weapon was already hurtling through the air and struck the tree Das was hiding behind.

With a resounding crash, the tree and the club exploded together, scattering leaves and bark everywhere. Das was inevitably knocked down and fell to the ground like a stone. He struggled to get up, but his entire body was numb, making it difficult to move normally.

The knockdown state lasted a full five seconds. Even with Das's natural constitution mitigating some of the abnormal status effects, he would still be struggling on the ground for at least four seconds!

Having thrown its club, the mountain troll silently charged toward Das with bitter hatred. Its massive feet pounded the ground, splashing mud with each step, covering four or five meters at a time. Although Das was more than thirty meters away, by the time he finally regained control of his body after the agonizing four seconds, he could already smell the indescribable stench of the mountain troll and felt that the monster was within seven or eight meters of him!

Das immediately rolled away and performed a standard tactical dive. He remained calm. If he had just two more seconds, he was sure he could use his extraordinary agility to outrun the monster and create some distance. But at that moment, he heard an indescribable muffled roar, and felt as if his chest was blocked by an unimaginable force. An invisible impact came from behind, and as it arrived, he felt as though he was frozen stiff, unable to move!

The mountain troll had unleashed its special ability for the third time:

Heart-Rending Shriek!

Das despaired... Although he had 24 points in agility, plus the added benefit of Basic Footwork Lv6, being slowed by 70% was equivalent to having only 7 points of agility, not even accounting for the reduction caused by the difficult terrain! The mountain troll, on the other hand, had 9 points of agility. Even worse, Das's constitution was only 9 points, which meant the 70% slow debuff would last a full 9 seconds...

For Das, with only 90 hit points, the mountain troll only needed half a second to finish him off! Nine seconds was far too long!

Still, Das refused to give up. Despite being slowed by 70%, he continued to crawl and scramble forward, his fingers digging deep into the mud. He couldn't help but cry out in despair:

"Crowbar! You idiot! Without me, how could you melee types have killed this monster?"

Crowbar's face turned ashen again. His facial muscles twitched, but he waved his hand at the three surviving subordinates and said:

"Go!"

His voice was chilling and filled with murderous intent. He immediately charged toward the fray.

At this moment, the mountain troll chuckled grotesquely and kicked Das! The kick felt like a small mountain had slammed into Das, sending him flying five or six meters before he slammed heavily against a tree and slid down. However, it seemed that Das's strength also exceeded the critical value of 18 points, so the mountain troll didn't deal additional crushing damage. Even so, the blood gushing from Das's mouth indicated that he was severely injured.

Immediately after, the mountain troll raised its massive foot again, as if it wanted to stomp Das into the ground! Fortunately, at that moment, a faint green light appeared on Das's body, indicating that he had used some kind of rapid healing drug to raise his hit points. He rolled away with difficulty, barely avoiding the stomp. However, his body was inevitably stiff and in pain, and his left arm was brutally broken with a snap, causing him to scream in agony.

The mountain troll was enraged that its sure-kill stomp had failed. It let out a series of angry roars from deep in its throat and swung a punch downwards. Das, drenched in cold sweat, dodged with all his might. The tree he was leaning against was not so lucky, as it was snapped in half with a loud crack. By now, Das was exhausted and could no longer avoid the mountain troll. He could only close his eyes and await death.

Just then, a large hand reached out, grabbed Das's hair, and yanked him backward.

Das felt a gust of wind on his face and a sense of suffocation. Then, he smelled the characteristic stench of the mountain troll, and felt slight vibrations from the ground. A large splatter of mud hit his face and body, stinging his exposed skin. He felt a "collision". At the critical moment, Crowbar had used his talent ability: Blink, and grabbed Das by the hair, saving him from the brink of death, but Crowbar's talent ability Blink entered a cooldown period of two hours, and he could not use it anymore.

The repeated missed attacks infuriated the mountain troll. It roared loudly and took a step forward, swinging a powerful backhand. But a figure flashed in front of Das, taking the hit! It was Gree, a member of the Symbiosis Society, who had the highest constitution among those present, reaching 16 points. Therefore, he was honored to be used as a punching bag by Crowbar.

Under Crowbar's strict orders, Gree reluctantly rushed forward to take the hit, even though he wanted to see Das, the idiot who dared to point a gun at his head, turned into a pile of minced meat. Fortunately, the mountain troll had lost its giant club, so although Gree spat out blood and staggered around after being hit, he was able to shake his head a few times and crawl behind a tree, seemingly unscathed.

After witnessing this scene, Crowbar's eyes shone with a strange light. He forcefully dragged Das backward, shouting:

"Everyone, keep it up! This idiot is useless without its tree trunk! Don't be fooled by its size."

Das felt like the few seconds of slow caused by the mountain troll's "Heart-Rending Shriek" were as long as centuries. He gasped for breath and tried to escape. Taking advantage of the mountain troll's distraction, he finally endured until his movement speed returned to normal. Das didn't say much, glanced at Crowbar, and dragged his injured arm as he disappeared into the darkness.

Next, the members of the Symbiosis Society skillfully demonstrated a classic team effort. Facing the enraged mountain troll, they exploited the blind spot created by its missing eye, employing classic guerrilla tactics, focusing on harassment with limited attacks. Whenever someone was hit and had to withstand the mountain troll's attack, the others would immediately cover for them, sharing the damage as evenly as possible.

Of course, their impressive stockpile of medicines and medical supplies was also amazing. Fang Senyan determined two things while watching coldly: First, the bandages and other recovery items used by the Symbiosis Society restored at least fifty hit points. Second, the cooldown time for these items did not exceed three minutes. It was worth mentioning that the high-quality US military field bandage that Fang Senyan had used earlier had a cooldown time of five minutes. It seemed that the Symbiosis Society hadn't been entirely honest with him.

Soon, the distinctive bursts of Mauser gunfire echoed from the distant woods. Das understood the principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold." After a hasty recovery, he reappeared and aimed for the mountain troll's remaining right eye, hoping to relieve some of the pressure on the members of the Symbiosis Society. The mountain troll, having learned from its previous experience, frequently guarded its right eye, diverting a lot of its energy. This gave the members of the Symbiosis Society hope for victory, and they gritted their teeth and persevered.

As time passed, the mountain troll's body didn't show any obvious injuries, but both its attack frequency and damage output noticeably weakened. This was likely due to excessive use of its special abilities, resulting in significant mental fatigue! It covered its missing left eye, panting heavily, as thick saliva dripped from the gaps in its yellowed and sharp teeth, scattering on the ground. If a contractor accidentally stepped on it, it would feel like stepping on a large area of sticky glue, disgusting and clinging. (If you like this work, you are welcome to come to qidian. to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)