Chapter 51: Annihilation (Please keep reading)

“Traitor! You bunch of traitors! ROAR!” The half-ogre Hou was fuming with rage. The multi-lump giant wood club, which he had previously treated like a precious treasure, was now being slammed against the ground with heavy thuds.

Having reclaimed more than half of the tax, his former prestige had returned. Without Gawain's suppression, the explosive temper inherent to ogres was surging back.

“Open the gate, or I’ll smash it!” Hou threatened viciously.

*Creak! Creak!*

Before the half-ogre could take action, the crude gates of the goblin encampment opened automatically.

A tall, hunched figure emerged, swaying unsteadily as he walked.

From a distance, one could sense that he was at least as tall as the half-ogre, with a slender yet towering frame. His arms were incredibly long, nearly dragging on the ground, and his fingernails were over ten centimeters long, curved like black, long daggers. His skin was a dark green, and his broad back was covered in black lumps.

A troll.

The guardian of this goblin tribe was, unexpectedly, a troll.

As the troll emerged, a goblin was impaled on his right hand. As he walked, he brought the goblin to his mouth, chewing with loud, crunching sounds. In just a few bites, half the goblin had vanished into his stomach.

Barbaric. It was simply too barbaric.

Seeing this scene, even Hou couldn't help but shout "barbaric" in his heart; this was entirely the behavior of an uncivilized beast.

This goblin tribe had gone mad, choosing a greedy troll as their guardian. Given his voracious appetite, it wouldn't take more than ten days before he ate them all clean.

If it were just one or two tribes refusing to pay tribute, it wouldn't be a huge problem.

Hou began to feel like retreating. If it were any other enemy, even a true ogre, he would have the courage to fight. But facing a troll, retreating was the wise choice.

Their regenerative abilities were well-known; it was difficult to gain any advantage in a fight against such an enemy.

“Who... told you... to leave?” The troll spoke slowly in the guttural tongue of giants. His shoulders slumped slightly, hunched forward, looking ready to pounce at any moment.

“What do you want?” Hou swallowed hard.

“Everything... on your body... leave it... it is all... mine.” The troll’s eyes stared greedily at the large bag on Hou's shoulder and the new weapon in his hand.

“Don't even think about it!” Hou refused without a second thought and turned to run.

“Kill you... and everything will be mine.” The troll charged after him, his speed clearly superior to the half-ogre's.

By comparison, the half-ogre was somewhat bulky, especially since he was lugging around half a bag of miscellaneous items, which slowed his escape.

Yet, the half-ogre was also quite greedy; even at a time like this, he couldn't bear to drop the bag. Even if these things wouldn't ultimately belong to him, they were his right now.

With a few leaps, the troll caught up and lashed out with a claw.

With a *shredding* sound, the half-ogre's bag was ripped open, and the contents scattered across the ground.

“You're looking for death!” Hou roared, spinning around to counterattack.

This swing showcased the results of the frantic "ravaging" he had endured from Gawain over the past few days. It wasn't just pure brute force; it contained elements of combat technique, possessing the flavor of a returning strike.

Combining the power of his waist and arms, he swung the multi-lump giant wood club in a full circle. Combined with the element of surprise, he landed a direct hit.

*Bang!*

The troll behind him was actually knocked off balance by the blow, half of his head flattened, and his right eye popped directly out, dangling externally.

If it were any other monster, this hit, even if not fatal, would have temporarily neutralized them.

The troll, however, acted as if nothing had happened. He shook his head and climbed back up, using a long finger to slice off the protruding eyeball. He tossed it into his mouth, chewed it like a snack with a *crunch-crunch* sound, and swallowed it directly.

Countless fleshy buds were wriggling within the eye socket, and a new eyeball was regenerating.

That single blow had greatly bolstered the half-ogre's confidence. Seizing the momentum, he showed no mercy, bringing the multi-lump giant wood club crashing down upon the troll's head.

The troll clearly hadn't expected this and was momentarily stunned. Before he could recover, he had already taken three or four heavy blows.

Two of those blows landed directly on his thigh.

Even if the half-ogre's strength hadn't reached twenty points of Transcendence, it was close, making his attacks terrifyingly powerful.

The blow directly shattered the leg into three segments, all of them comminuted fractures.

No matter how powerful a troll's regeneration was, it required time to recover, especially with comminuted fractures, which took much longer.

The half-ogre gave him no such chance. Circling around, he began a frenzied assault, shouting as he struck: “You think you can chase me... you think you can chase me... This is my territory... my territory... ROAR... You dare run wild in my territory... ROAR... I'll show you what I'm capable of... Haha... ROAR!”

The troll also roared incessantly, his claws swinging wildly in an attempt to break free from the half-ogre's endless hammering.

However, this half-ogre was unexpectedly slippery. He would step left or pivot right at just the right moments, causing most of the troll's claw strikes to miss. On the rare occasions a claw hit him, the troll, lost in a state of frenzied excitement, didn't even notice.

One delay led to another.

Before the comminuted fracture in one leg could fully heal, the other leg was smashed into pieces by the half-ogre.

The combat training Gawain had conducted with him from time to time had instilled a habit of attacking as low as possible. Against a troll of similar size, this meant targeting the lower body.

The effect was unexpectedly good; once his speed was restricted, the opponent became a living target.

Recently, the half-ogre had been the one being ravaged; now, he finally tasted the pleasure of ravaging someone else.

By the time Gawain and the others arrived after hearing the commotion, the troll had been hammered by the half-ogre into a shape that was no longer human, dead beyond all measure.

A troll's strong regeneration did not mean they were immortal.

Especially when receiving a massive amount of lethal damage in a short period—far exceeding the regenerative load—once the nutrients stored in the body were exhausted, they would die completely.

Thus, a troll could maintain themselves for a time by consuming their own constantly regenerating limbs, but not indefinitely. If they failed to ingest external food for a long time, they would starve to death just the same.

“Roar... Stop! He's already dead!” Gawain shouted loudly, trying to stop the half-ogre who was still frantically hammering a corpse.

“ROAR!” The half-ogre didn't hear Gawain's command at all, responding instead with an even louder roar.

It was only then that Gawain realized something was wrong with the half-ogre's state.

His muscles were bulging unnaturally high, veins were popping out, and his eyes were a blood-red, filled with endless rage and a violent urge to tear everything apart.

Berserk.

Barbarian Berserk.

Hou the half-ogre had clearly activated his class template, having transitioned into a Barbarian.

It was unclear whether he had undergone the class change before or after killing the troll.

Gawain suspected the latter was more likely.

In gaming terms, this was considered an "over-level kill" by the half-ogre.

The troll's racial level was at least level seven (in terms of Hit Dice), while Hou, as a half-ogre, was slightly weaker at level five.

The troll's racial level reached level eight. Under normal circumstances, even an ogre would have to give it a wide berth, let alone a half-ogre like Hou.

At least before meeting Gawain, two or three of Hou's kind tied together would not have been a match for this troll.

The main reason Hou could achieve an over-level kill was due to the intense special training Gawain had conducted over the past ten days, particularly in the area of actual combat, which had yielded the most rapid improvements.

Of course, a little bit of coincidence and luck played a crucial role as well.