Trolls are powerful creatures, known for their immense size, strength, and regenerative abilities. At Rank 1, they could survive losing limbs. At Rank 2, those limbs would grow back entirely after a day. At Rank 3, legends spoke of trolls capable of regenerating their heads in hours, though no book in the Kingdom of Brilliance would ever confirm it.
Seraphina, however, had the Codex of Alchemical Arts, which allowed her to glean deeper knowledge about her ingredients.
A Rank 2 troll evolved into a Rank 3 plague troll when it survived virulent disease to the point of becoming a walking breeding ground for it. Such creatures were living disasters, feared by villages and towns alike. They carried plagues that spread for miles simply through breathing, and even passing nearby could devastate an entire kingdom.
Anyone attempting to strike at close range would likely die of poison or disease within a day, making them catastrophic threats in the eyes of the general population.
"Am I going to be fine?" Bastion asked, concerned.
Sure, he had high resistance to poisons and bodily status effects, but this was a Rank 3 creature. The last time he'd faced a status condition from an enemy two ranks higher, it had affected him, even if only minimally. Prolonged exposure, however, could be fatal.
"You'll be fine," Seraphina said with confidence. "As long as I bathe you in my Eternal Flame and you drink an antidote after you've done the deed."
Bastion turned to his quarry and watched it dumbly looking under a boulder for whatever had disturbed its sleep. It may be a Rank 3 creature, but plague trolls were an exception and were closer to peak Rank 2 most of the time. Their stats mostly went into Vitality to survive their own disease, with only enough Strength to move their bulk. They also weren't particularly intelligent.
He considered his options and immediately gave up on trying to subdue the creature. He didn't have a Rank 3 rope to tie it down with, and any attempt at containing it might only enrage it. His best chance at getting its heart was to knock it out.
Bastion rode on his diamond steed, Steve, storing his sword and shield before pulling out the Rank 2 cannon, his only real way to hurt the thing. He loaded Seraphina's most powerful explosive, the one made of Inferno Core, and dashed forward.
With a mighty leap, Steve jumped 10 meters, soaring past the troll's head. Bastion seized the opening, used Reinforce, tightened his grip on Steve, and fired straight into the creature's ear hole.
BANG!
The troll, still looking around for its supposed attacker, never noticed the ambush and took a 90mm slug to the brain. It collapsed immediately, losing consciousness as it hit the swamp face-first with a heavy thud.
Bastion suffered through the recoil but managed to hold steady. He was Rank 1 now, and with Reinforce active, he could resist the blowback with the help of the cannon's air cushion.
He had Steve drop him onto the creature's back before swapping for his sword with Weapon Slot and started hacking away. Shallow cuts opened across the troll's back, but aside from splashes of yellow ooze, he wasn't making any real progress.
"This is going to take forever," Bastion muttered.
He applied Diamond Edge to his sword and swung with Slash while Reinforce was still active.
At last, he managed to cut through the creature's skin. He slashed deeper, peeling away the patch of hide before working on the muscles. Once he was through, he noticed the edges of the wound already starting to regenerate, so he quickly moved on to the ribs.
Before he could make any real progress, the troll suddenly pushed off the ground and rolled onto its back.
"Woah—" Bastion blurted as he jumped off.
The same arm that flipped the troll over swept across and caught Bastion mid-air, swatting him hard and throwing him into the distance.
The troll sat up, seething over the injury on its back. It looked around wildly, then spotted its fleeing attacker.
ROAR!
It bellowed, rose to its feet, and charged straight at Bastion.
Steve chased after his rider and caught Bastion mid-air before running in circles around their quarry.
Bastion caught his breath and took a moment to shake off the impact before checking his stats.
[Health]: 589/715
[Mana]: 422/575
"Getting hit by a train only does about a hundred points of damage?" Bastion exclaimed. "Neat."
He activated his Quick Slot, downing a health potion, a mana potion, and a stamina potion before diving back into the fight.
"I can't believe it regenerated in less than a minute after I blew its brains out," Bastion muttered, swapping weapons and reloading the cannon.
At one point, Bastion managed to circle the creature completely and inspect his handiwork. Unfortunately, all that remained was a fresh patch of skin where he had removed hide, flesh, and muscle. He wouldn't be able to continue where he had left off.
"I need more time," Bastion thought. "Looks like it's time to try one of Seraphina's toys."
He circled once more, then leapt toward its head the moment he reached the troll's blind spot and fired his cannon. With a heavy thud, the creature collapsed onto its back, unconscious for the second time.
This time, Bastion climbed onto the creature's face and used his Inventory to pull out a special item. It was a Rank 2 bomb Seraphina had used to take down the Blood Knight, only this one was much larger, roughly the size of a backpack.
He pried open the troll's mouth with his sword and stuffed the explosives inside, then sent mana to a smaller timed charge. With a leap, he landed on Steve and dashed away.
BOOOM!
The bomb detonated with a deafening roar, tearing the plague troll apart. Putrid chunks of flesh and splintered bone flew in every direction, while flames and smoke engulfed the swamp, leaving a grisly, nauseating scene.
Bastion came back to inspect the aftermath and found the troll headless but twitching. This thing was still alive.
"Better hurry," Bastion muttered as he leapt onto the troll's chest and went to work.
He cut through skin, muscles, and cartilage, finally exposing the creature's heart, a swollen, pulsating mass coated in blood, pus, and festering tissue, still throbbing violently. He severed the arteries that fed it before carefully storing it in a small, empty magic bag.
Before he had a chance to leap away, Seraphina sent him more requests.
"Bastion! While you're there, would you mind harvesting a few more things?" she asked sweetly.
"Yes, honey," Bastion replied, voice heavy with reluctant compliance.
He set to work. With his sword, he carefully sliced away portions of the troll's pus-filled tissue and regenerating organs, each piece stored in the magic bag. He excised sections of liver, spleen, and muscle, all riddled with the disease that made this troll so uniquely dangerous. Blood and yellow-green pus flowed freely as he worked, soaking his armor and dripping onto the swamp waters.
Despite the mutilation, the creature's regeneration kicked in almost immediately. Flesh stitched itself back together, arteries reformed, and bone began knitting beneath the torn muscles. It was as if the troll was healing around him even as he harvested, forcing him to move quickly and methodically to gather every requested sample before the body replaced it.
Once Seraphina was satisfied, a drenched Bastion leaped off the creature and dashed away on Steve. Before he could reach the group, however, Seraphina unleashed her Eternal Flame, bathing him in intense fire.
He sizzled as the fluids soaking into his skin were burned away, leaving his armor blackened and crusted with charred soot, streaked with scorched patches, and smelling sharply of singed flesh and swamp filth.
Lilia then stepped forward, casting Mystic Mend to heal, Mystic Veil to cleanse, and Mystic Downpour to wash. Her healing waters drenched Bastion from head to toe, removing any lingering residue. He was bathed again in Eternal Flame before Elyra stepped forward and cast Clean, completing his sterilization.
"Here," Seraphina said, tossing him a potion. "A Rank 2 Antidote. Just in case."
As Bastion drank from his Quick Slot, Seraphina vaporized another potion over him, renewing the protective coating to guard against poisoning through surface contact.
Bastion handed the magic bag containing the spoils to Seraphina before checking his status. He hadn't gained a level, indicating that the creature was still very much alive.
"It's still alive," Bastion said. "Should we kill it?"
"It would take us a week to finish it off," Seraphina replied, shaking her head. "We'd need to completely drain its energy before it could actually die. Just cutting off limbs isn't enough. We'd have to do the equivalent of dissecting it in an active volcano if we wanted to finish it today."
"Can't your Deathflare negate regeneration?" Lilia asked.
"It only deals bonus damage; it can't stop regeneration. I'd run out of mana a hundred times over trying to kill it. It's two ranks above me, so there's not much I can do," Seraphina replied.
"Then we better get out of here before it decides to take revenge and chase us," Ariel concluded.
With everyone in agreement, they mounted Steve and plunged deeper into the swamps of the Great Forest.
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