He slid down the trunk, breath ragged, vision flickering.Amidst the pain, he forced himself to focus.
"Vitalis," he slurred, channeling his healing magic.A soft pink glow spread across his chest. The Vitalis stage of healing was potent—mending broken bones, repairing organs, and stabilizing critical conditions. Yet the process was far from immediate.His ribs began to set slowly, the magic knitting them back together, but the restoration was incomplete.
The troll was already closing in.It raised a crushing foot, ready to stomp him into oblivion.
Without time to waste, Adrian shifted his concentration to the ground beneath him. Manipulating the earth, he pushed himself sideways in a desperate bid to evade the blow. Dirt and debris erupted as he tumbled across the camp's open ground, narrowly avoiding the fatal stomp.
The sudden movement, however, siphoned his focus away from the healing magic.The repair slowed.
Adrian's adrenaline surged, dulling the pain in his body and allowing him to move again. He pushed himself up, no longer thinking about the wounds—only about survival and escape.
Fully focused now, he sprinted back toward the camp, weaving through the wreckage and tents. Behind him, the troll barreled after him, its heavy footfalls shaking the earth.As it closed in, Adrian slammed his foot down, channeling mana through his legs and into the ground. A wall of earth erupted behind him, separating him from the monster.
The troll didn't slow.It crashed through the barrier like it was paper.
Adrian kept running. With each meter he passed, he repeated the motion—mana, earth, wall. Again and again.The troll burst through each one, relentless and tireless.
But Adrian noticed something—it was getting hurt.Its forehead was battered, blood now streaking down its face. It kept charging headfirst through the walls, and the damage was adding up.
Then, without realizing it, Adrian found himself at the entrance of the cave.Two guards stood there, blocking the way. Still. Watching. Not letting him through.
That's when it clicked.This was a trap.
The guards hadn't been asleep. They were pretending.The two left at the gate… they were bait.All of it—a setup to draw him in, to leave him with nowhere to run.
No… he thought, chest heaving. I wasn't running to the cave—I was too focused on the walls. I led myself right into their hands.
He turned just as the massive troll crashed through his latest wall, close enough now that he could feel the shockwave of its steps.
Now what?
"Well… let's hope I can concentrate enough not to kill myself doing this," Adrian muttered under his breath.
With a swift motion, he swept his hand across the floor—and the ground beneath the trolls gave out.Caught off guard, they stumbled and fell.
Adrian leapt over their collapsing forms and dashed into the cave, sealing the entrance shut behind him with a thick wall of stone.
Inside, the atmosphere changed.
The cave was crowded—not with warriors, but with trolls tending to chores. Some skinned fresh kills, others worked rough cloth.These weren't fighters. They barely reacted before his presence set them off.
"Aluha no mi no advanturar!" they roared in unison, their bellow echoing off the stone walls as they charged.
Adrian ducked and weaved between them, using the same ground-sweeping trick from before.The more agile trolls went down first, their balance stolen from under them.He didn't stop. Every movement was survival, every step calculated.
Finally, he reached the throne room.
Without hesitation, he pressed both palms to the wall and pulled the stone around him into a solid sphere—round, thick, reinforced.He sealed himself inside just as the roar of shattered rock echoed behind him.
The troll. The massive one. It had broken through the entrance wall and was charging straight at him.
But it was too late.
Adrian slammed his palms and feet against the ground, closing his eyes as he activated Mana Sense.Threads of mana, finer than string, spread out from him like a web, piercing deep into the cave walls—ten meters down, at least.
Then came the second part.Matter Manipulation.
Cracks spread through the stone. Quiet at first, then louder—like thunder rumbling from the earth itself.A second later, the cave collapsed. Entire chambers caved in on themselves.
The big troll never stood a chance—its roar was swallowed by falling rock.Trolls screamed and scattered, but only a few sections of the cave remained intact. The sleeping quarters, by chance or instinct, survived.
Adrian didn't move.
Inside his stone sphere, he was safe—barely.The rock groaned and fractured with each impact, but he stayed ahead of the destruction, constantly reshaping and reinforcing the ball around him.
Sweat ran down his face.His body screamed from the strain.
But he held.