Warriors will die if they charge.

Marcus mimicked the dwarf's movements, took a few steps, jumped up, taut his rope-like muscles, and slammed the sharp end of his war club into the troll's knee.

The sharp iron spike tore through the stuffy air, piercing the troll's hard, silver-armor-like shell. The hammerhead struck the kneecap, and the force transmitted back from the handle made Marcus feel numb in his hand and a buzzing echo in his head.

Damn, it's so hard!

Just as I was amazed by the troll's exoskeleton armor, I noticed that the right leg that was pounding suddenly lifted up.

It's like a child kicking a ball in anger, toes pointing forward, kicking blindly without regard for balance.

He quickly rolled over to dodge, dodging the troll's kick.

Although the monster was blind, it still retained the instincts of a wild beast. Knowing the approximate location of the attacker, it raised its leg and stomped hard on the ground.

The large, silvery-white foot flashed incessantly before Marcus's eyes. The priceless stomping might be even more precious than a girl's foot attack, but he dared not use his cheek to enjoy it.

Taking advantage of the moment when Marcus drew the fire, Kelly appeared from the side, gripped her sword with both hands, and with all her might slashed at the troll's other supporting leg, cutting a wound less than ten centimeters long.

"Really hard!"

She cursed, but her hands didn't slow down; she made a few more shallow cuts on the troll's leg.

No swordsmanship or skill is needed; the only way is to use strength to attract the troll's attention and lure it towards the ditch outside the platform.

The stray dog's claws diverted some of Marcus's firepower. The troll knew there were two annoying little bugs at his feet, but he only had two legs. If he stepped on them with both legs at the same time, he would fall down.

So it bent down, pressed its knee-length arms to the ground, and kept slapping, searching for the location of the small insect.

"left!"

The troll couldn't understand human language, but it could feel the pain of a rock hitting its left hand. It roared hoarsely and increased the speed of its slapping.

"right!"

A man's voice rang out, and another cut appeared on the right side from a piece of metal.

The blind monster began to learn to identify threats by sound; sharp, piercing sounds were the most threatening. The hard rock hitting its bones hurt terribly.

Kelly, who had been swinging her sword with all her might several times, had sweat beading on her forehead and her stamina was clearly waning.

Her steps faltered slightly as she dodged the blow, and even though she raised her sword to parry, she still touched the troll's broad fingers.

As her fingers struck the sword, Kelly first felt her hand go numb. Then, the troll, having pinpointed the location of the little bug, excitedly slapped the ground with his other hand, like a mating gorilla, and raised his right hand to throw a punch at the bug's location.

A burly figure suddenly knocked Kelly away, and Kelly raised her shield to block the troll's fist.

The figure was quickly knocked away as well. Marcus shook his left hand and found it limp and almost numb; it was clearly broken.

"Damn it, stray dogs really are a bunch of unreliable guys."

The troll continued to pound on the platform, inching closer to the cave entrance.

Marcus glanced at the stray dog ​​squad. Oha, who had charged ahead, seemed to have recovered somewhat, squatting on the ground and gritting his teeth as he adjusted to the injury on his back. Duncan caught Kelly, who had been knocked away, and poured medicine into her mouth.

A sturdy, mountain-like figure slowly came into view. The dwarf was no more than an adult's waist in height, extremely small compared to the trolls, yet his resolve was as firm as a mountain.

Marcus shook his hand, spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, untied the leather straps of his round shield, braced himself with his war club, and stood up firmly.

Bardin gripped his one-handed axe and glanced at Marcus, who had walked up beside him. Marcus's limp left hand didn't look like it could continue fighting.

"You need treatment, tough guy."

"Tough guys don't need treatment, Bardeen."

"Heh... let's teach this troll a lesson!"

The dwarf charged forward first, deftly dodging the troll's wildly swinging arms, and with astonishing speed swung his axe, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound in the silver armor.

Bardin successfully diverted the trolls' attention from the mine entrance to the aqueduct. Marcus, who had already fought alongside the monster once, kept a distance from it and engaged in close combat, allowing the dwarf to fully utilize his short and agile characteristics, hovering around like a fly and trying to bite the trolls' vital points with his war club.

Bardin hesitated noticeably during his final attack, coming within arm's reach of the aqueduct—he couldn't swim.

Marcus saw the reason for Bardin's hesitation, roared and charged at the troll, his war club flashing with silvery-white fragments, and struck deeply into the troll's chest, thick, sticky blood gushing out.

The troll's forward slap, combined with the dwarf's leaping strike to the back of the knee, caused the monster's center of gravity to shift noticeably forward.

The feeling of weightlessness in his left foot threw the troll into a panic. Bardin roared and howled, his axe flashing in a fierce arc towards the monster's ankle as if chopping down a tree.

Marcus was slapped and sent flying to the other side of the canal, where he plunged into the water along the smooth, wet rock wall.

The terrifying troll, propelled by the dwarven lumberjack's strength, plunged headfirst into the water, splashing up a huge spray.

Bardin gripped his axe tightly, shouting Marcus's name, his eyes fixed on the smooth edge of the platform. If the troll dared to reach out and touch the shore, he would be met with the dwarf's axe.

But unexpectedly, the troll seemed to be a sculpture dissolved in water, a handful of silvery white gushing out from the depths of the canal, gurgling and surging like a fountain, spewing out cold, mercury-like liquid, dyeing the canal silvery white.

Suddenly, a distinct ripple appeared on the surface of the galaxy. Bardin gripped his battle axe tightly with both hands. The ripple broke open, revealing a figure with a gleaming axe blade aimed at Marcus's forehead.

"Bardin, dwarves probably wouldn't kill their comrades-in-arms, would they?"

Bardeen laughed heartily and dragged Marcus, whose body was soaked in silver slurry, ashore:

"Well done, you're a tough guy, Marcus!"

Marcus, now a little silver man, smiled as if he had survived a catastrophe. The moment the troll sank into the water, he felt a subtle unease.

It's not a change in the canal, but rather something from an underground spring deeper within it, or even something far more profound...

Although it's strange that trolls are easily soluble in water, at least the problem is solved.

Just as he was about to respond to Bardin's praise, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the three stray dogs had transformed from a near-death, injured figure into agile and nimble elites.

Duncan, holding a crossbow, aimed at the back of the dwarf's head, slowly approached, and said to Marcus:

"A canal flowing with silver... It seems we must say goodbye now, Marcus. It was a pleasure playing cards with you."

Kelly loosened the black ribbon from her ponytail, tucked her wine-red hair over her shoulder, and looked alluring and captivating.

"I didn't expect you guys could actually handle this troll, shooting it in the eye and then luring it into the ditch. You have a smart head, but your judgment of people isn't very accurate, you honest Marcus."

Oha, barely able to stand with his tomahawk, gazed at the galaxy with a greedier look in his eyes than ever before.

"The smelting furnace is fake?" Marcus braced his right hand on the edge of the platform. Sure enough, betrayal, feigning death, and double-crossing were commonplace among adventurers.

Looks like next time I'm tempted by credit cards, I'd better go solo with rye wine.

"Of course it's true, but the troll is real too. Yesterday you said you'd smash the goblin's head open with your own hands, and I thought, since you're so powerful, you could definitely take care of this troll, right?" A sly glint appeared in Kelly's crimson eyes as she smiled and walked to the edge of the platform, exclaiming in amazement at the silver-flowing waterway:

"The goblins said they dug out something strange in the cave; it turned out to be the thing that made the trolls fall into the water. How amazing!"

She turned her head to look at the dwarf who looked like he'd just eaten shit: "You agree, don't you, the infamous Bardeen Troll Slayer?"

"I knew the blueprints looked weird. I thought I'd misread them because I was drunk the night before last," Bardin muttered. Seeing Marcus's hand resting on the edge of the platform, he shook his head almost imperceptibly and reached for the smoke bomb at his waist.

"Stop talking nonsense, kill them, and with a river flowing with silver, I'll soon become the richest man in the Griffin Kingdom, hahaha!" Oha laughed wildly, raising his axe high and unleashing a thunderous strike from above towards Marcus's skull.

Duncan hesitated for a moment, then pulled the trigger—his target: Bardeen's eye socket.

Kelly hummed a cheerful country tune as she scooped up the silver flowing through the ditch with her hands, her eyes filled with pure joy.

The axe with a tiny notch looked bigger and bigger in Marcus's eyes. He leaned back, feeling the silver flowing through his hair, and the rustling sound of water buzzing in his mind.

But suddenly, he felt that his body could no longer lean back, time seemed to stand still, and the axe aimed at his cheek froze in mid-air.

The damp and cold cave was filled only with the gurgling sound of the silver water flowing through it. The glowing moss on the rock walls dimmed, and the entire cave fell into absolute silence.

Suddenly, a crisp clapping sound rang out at the entrance.

"Excuse me for disturbing you, heroes who have accomplished such a great feat. Your brave and fearless attitude is something I admire greatly. What is it that makes a group of intelligent beings treat another life as prey without any burden, and write life as a bargaining chip on a piece of paper?"

The man's steady voice paused for a moment, as if he were pondering this serious question.

Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he pounded his palms, the crisp sound echoing in the cave.

"Oh, I see, it's money, right?"

Marcus's gaze swept across the shadows at the cave entrance. There had been nothing there before, but now a man in a simple black coat stood there.

who is it?

At the same time, a notification flashed before his eyes.

Blood Silver

Status: Completed

[Reward: 1 Rare Card Ticket]