In moments like this, Lucas wished that his system or talent or whatever the hell it was had some sort of combat features built into it, but it didn't seem to care about anything outside the world of alchemy. Normally, that would have been great, but right now, as he stared down a monster nearly twice his height, he wished he had a life bar or something and maybe a fancy finishing move to go with it.

He had a flaming sword and his ring if he really needed to use it, but he'd prefer not to give that away to Heisenburgle if he didn't have to. The gnome knew enough about him, and he really would prefer to keep an ace or two up his sleeve if escape became necessary.

Right now, though, the only thing that was necessary was surviving. That was made clear when the troll pounded the ground with both of his fists and roared with a maw that was significantly larger than Lucas' head. This time, though, instead of panicking out of the way, he stood his ground as the thing lurched forward, obviously expecting him to leap out of the way again.

This time, Lucas didn't leap. He dodged and feinted, and when the beast lashed out with one of its giant paws, he lashed down, hacking through two of its four fingers with a two-handed chop. Feels more like chopping wood than flesh, he thought with a wicked grin as the thing pulled its hands back.

Lucas didn't see the need to stop with just that little scratch and pressed forward with a lunge, looking to find somewhere softer to do some damage. His blade sank into the creature's belly with a satisfying sizzle, but not too deep because he feared that he might be disarmed.

His hesitancy was rewarded moments later when, for its next attack, the troll brought both of its hands together in a fist and smashed it down into where Lucas had been standing only a moment before. The attack was slow, but only in comparison to the previous ones. It still dropped like a thunderbolt, sending out dust and stones in a stinging shockwave that Lucas felt pelt his armor.

He was less concerned about that, though, than the way the thing fought. It hit the ground with such force that it broke bones in both hands, but by the time it raised them from the earth again, they were already halfway to healed. It was a revolting sight, and it made him pump the gas on his sword again just to make it flare a little brighter.

Lucas managed to hack at the arms twice more before the creature withdrew them, but he was already starting to have second thoughts. He was as fast and strong as he ever hoped to be, but he was fighting against a troll that weighed more than a ton. How was he supposed to do enough damage to put that down?

Lucas tried several times to stab at something vital, but there didn't seem to be anything. Once, as the thing rose up for a body slam of sorts, he even dove through its legs and hacked deep into the left calf, but even though his blow embedded into the bone, he flared the gas to make sure the wound was still burning when his blade withdrew, that didn't seem to be enough to slow the thing down.

I can see why the gnome considered this thing an adequate test, Lucas thought with growing concern. The thing is a hell of a punching bag, but what if strength and speed aren't enough?

The truth was that the only thing that kept him in the game was his completely outlandish speed, and while his strength was more than enough to slice through the monster's leathery hide, his fear held him back. If he attacked too hard, he'd leave himself defenseless to a blow that would squash him like a bug, which was a good reason not to fully commit to anything.

While he tried to decide what the best way to handle that was, Lucas settled for a distraction. He used his second Sulfurous Fulminating Potion and through it right in the thing's ugly face when it tried leaping forward on all fours in a bid to catch him off guard between its normal swiping attacks.

The attack surprised Lucas almost as much as his counter surprised the troll, and the howl of pain was deafening as he scrambled away from the flailing, burning thing. Lucas didn't wait for the fires to die down and stabbed it everywhere he could as the thing rolled and writhed in an effort to extinguish the flames that had consumed it. He stabbed its kidney, bounced off one of its ribs, and hacked twice into its left thigh. By the time the fire was extinguished, and its face was a melted ruin, he'd done a lot of damage, but the thing was still as fast as ever.

Worse, it was like an injured snake and lashed out at every sound and strike, nearly taking Lucas' head off several times. Once, its filthy claw lashed out just right, skittering across Lucas' chest and cutting deep enough to draw blood. That blow, glancing as it was, sent him end over end, and by the time he stopped and got to his feet, the troll could have easily pounced and devoured him if it could see.

Lucas didn't complain, though. Instead, he looked down at the blood oozing from the tears in the armor and decided he'd be okay before he popped one of the gnome's special healing potions. It wasn't as powerful or as pure as what Lucas would have made, but the idea that it was supposed to ward off Troll diseases was appealing enough for him to use it until he could make something better. For now, though, it didn't do much for the pain, but he was too amped up to give a shit.

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Still, this was the first moment in at least a minute or two he had a chance to reflect on how the battle was going. The troll wasn't anywhere close to dead, but more interestingly, he wasn't anywhere close to tired.

Lucas knew from recent experience that it only took a minute or two with his dance instructor before he was sucking wind, but he felt great. Honestly, he felt suspiciously good, considering how much leaping and attacking he'd been doing. That wouldn't last forever, though. A quick status check told him he had six minutes left. He was almost halfway gone, and this thing wasn't halfway dead yet.

If I were to bail, it's not like this thing could chase me, he told himself as he watched it flail and grope before trying and failing to get to its feet. But if you can't kill this thing, then you don't have a prayer against Skylara. A dragon is five times bigger than this terror.

In the case of a red dragon, he knew a lot more about its weakness, but that still wasn't going to be enough to bridge the gap. Lucas needed to think strategically. So, after a quick look around, he ran toward the nearest tree and started climbing. When he reached a branch ten feet up, he started shouting. "Hey! You! Pile of garbage, I'm over here!"

The troll wasn't very good at playing hide and seek, and for a few seconds, Lucas didn't think it was going to work. Then the thing finally seemed to get the idea and barreled toward him. Lucas shouted until it got close, letting the thing grope blindly. He considered throwing his third potion down then, to soften it up, but burning the thing's skin was just going to make it suffer. It wasn't going to finish this off.

So, he jumped. He waited until the troll was positioned just right, and then he jumped down with his blade held above his head and used all of his weight and momentum to bring his weapon down on the thing's spine. This time, he didn't worry about half-measures. Gravity had committed him, and he brought the blade down with all of his might as he pumped the gas to make it flare up as he descended, trailing a curtain of fire.

The result was spectacular, and the blade bit deep into the creature's flesh. The good news was that he cleaved right through the troll's powerful back muscles and lodged in the thing's bone. The bad news was that it lodged in there so powerfully that he was pretty sure it was going to take a butcher to get out and released it as he continued to fall past the thing to the ground.

In that moment, Lucas was disarmed, but that was okay because the thing wasn't going anywhere. Its limbs twitched and spasmed a few seconds longer, but after that, the only part of the troll that moved was its head. The thing was almost three feet around, and it still snarled and snapped, but not for long. Lucas needed only a minute to decide, and then he tossed his final alchemical explosive in the creature's mouth. For a moment, it only gagged and tried to dislodge wherever it had gotten stuck, but as soon as the troll bit down, it ignited.

The last two had exploded in the open air, and the expansion gases had plenty of places to escape. This time, in the strong jaws of the magical beast, it went off like a stick of dynamite, and Lucas stepped back lest he get hit by tooth shrapnel. At the end of it, though, the thing was still, and he was more or less unscathed.

No, it was more than that. He wasn't tired in the least.

He looked himself over for any new wounds, and then he looked down at the smoldering creature, noting that parts of its body were now highlighting as harvestable reagents. Ice Troll Tusk. Ice Troll Blood. Ice Troll Bile. Lucas ignored that, though, and turned to charge back down the foothills to the waiting carriage. He still had a few minutes left on his clock, and now that he'd tested his strength, he wanted to test his speed as well.

During the fight, he'd dodged and darted. He'd leaped and dashed, but all of those moves had been too short to really open up the throttle, and that was what Lucas did now. He had hundreds of yards to see just how fast he could move, and he did just that. He ran all the way down to the road and then all the way back up the hill on the other side, and even over the rocky, uneven ground, it took less than half a minute to cover two hundred meter dashes. If that wasn't a record, it was close to it, which was all the more impressive given the minor injuries he'd endured.

The craziest part, though, was that as he finally skidded to a stop in front of Heisenburgle, he was barely even tired. The whole thing had happened in a flash as he leaped from rock to rock and hurdled over fallen trees. It had barely been long enough for him to enjoy the feeling of speed, and for a moment, Lucas considered taking another lap.

Nah, he decided as he recalled how badly he'd hurt after his first test. I think I've pushed myself quite enough for one day.

"You know, when you said you wanted to test something special, I expected you to defeat this monstrosity in a minute flat," Heisenburgle said dryly. "The results didn't quite meet expectations."

At first, Lucas was almost offended. He only realized after a moment that those words were intended for the other gaping guard, who he dispatched after another moment to go hack apart the troll's carcass for vital reagents. "Mind your exposed skin!" the gnome called out after them. It was only when the two of them were alone that he said more quietly to Lucas.

"All that and still no potion toxicity?" he asked this time. "Impressive. Certainly, some gift from your talent. I have no doubt. How do you feel?"

"I don't know," Lucas said, watching timers that only he could see tick down with growing anxiousness. "We'll see how I feel after this shit wears off."

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