The moment Grendel sensed our presence, I grabbed Alex by the back of his collar and threw him toward the dark tunnel path.

Just as I was about to use Void Step to catch Alex, a wall of rock suddenly descended before me, sealing my path of retreat.

When I turned around, I found the gazes of all the trolls fixed on me, their tusks dripping with saliva.

Closer to Grendel's throne, another chair was embedded a few steps lower than his. Sitting on it was a goblin wearing a robe and holding a staff in his hand. That must be the Goblin Shaman—the boss that was supposed to be of this gate before it upgraded, and also the monster that blocked my retreat.

"I'm fucked," I gulped inwardly before speaking loudly. "Hello, guys. I came here because the great King Grendel summoned me."

The trolls looked at me, their eyes widening and their jaws dropping to the floor in shock.

"Grrrrr! You human. How can you speak Morgul?" Grendel demanded, his voice laced with shock.

"Morgul? Am I really speaking their language?" I gasped inwardly, but I didn't put much thought into it as my life was on the line.

"Yeah, I have a troll friend who taught me Morgul," I said, awkwardly chuckling.

"Come here," Grendel ordered, making a beckoning gesture.

The trolls slowly paved the way for me to enter the hall, their gazes still fixed on me as if they were looking at a feast.

"Guess I have no choice," I sighed inwardly, taking a step forward.

Once I reached the center of the courtroom, every pair of eyes fixed on me. Grendel spoke again, his heavy voice rumbling through the hall.

"You must have met some trolls on your way. Where are they?"

Without taking longer than a second, I replied, "They went to bring the other humans who came with me. Those humans weren't moving an inch from the starting point, so the trolls went there to bring them."

For a brief moment, Grendel stared at me with narrowed green eyes.

"What was the name of the troll who taught you Morgul, and where did you meet him?" Grendel asked.

"Shit! It was a bad idea saying that a troll taught me their language."

"The name of the troll was Jondel. I met him in a similar dungeon like this, where we became good friends," I blurted out, coming up with a name at the same instant since it rhymed with Grendel.

He stared at me for a couple of seconds, then burst into laughter.

"Grrrrahahahahahah!!!"

Following his rumbling laughter, all the trolls in the hall began laughing as well, their heavy voices echoing throughout the underground courtroom.

All of a sudden, Grendel stopped laughing, and everyone else fell silent in the same instant.

"Grrrrr crafty human, a troll outside of this dungeon cannot even converse with humans, let alone teach them a language," Grendel said, his visage turning serious. "Before speaking lies, you should have hidden that sword overflowing with the blood of trolls."

All the trolls slowly began moving closer to me, drawing out their weapons.

"Since you killed all fifty-one trolls I sent, you must be quite a powerful human."

"So he knew it from the start!" I muttered inwardly, drawing out my sword.

"Don't kill him—grrrrr—break a few bones of him so that he cannot move," Grendel ordered. "I don't like eating dead humans."

Well, that made things convenient for me. If I wanted to win this battle, then I needed to overwhelm them from the start to plant the seed of fear in their hearts.

While the trolls were casually closing in on me from both sides of the hall, in the blink of an eye, I materialised the Pseudo Sword Aura on the blade and swung it towards the trolls on the left.

My sudden attack took them completely off guard. Just a single swing of my sword caused dozens of heads to roll on the ground.

"Yin Energy +3600"

While the rest were still shocked by what had just happened, I took in a lungful of oxygen and breathed out the yin energy.

"Breath of the Grave"

A cold wave of yin energy was released with my breath, freezing all the nearby trolls with a thick sheet of ice, inside and out.

"Yin Energy -10"

After my ascension to the new realm, all attribute-based skills had received one level upgrade. Unknown to me, the Breath of the Grave had unlocked this new feature, where I could literally bind enemies in a thick sheet of ice.

Without wasting this opportunity, I swiped through the courtroom, severing the heads of sixteen more trolls before my sword was stopped by a mace made of bone.

"Yin Energy +4610"

Ding…

"Maximum limit to absorb Yin energy reached.

Yin Energy: 22000/22000

To absorb Yin energy further, the Host must break through to the next stage!"

"You little meat! How dare you kill my fellow trolls in the presence of the king," the troll that had managed to block the katana carrying sword aura with a mere leg bone muttered.

Meanwhile, Grendel was still sitting on his throne, as if he were confident that these trolls could subdue me.

Well, it was kind of true. There were still over seventy trolls alive. He also had that Goblin Shamin who sealed the tunnel, and this strong troll who blocked my blade—not to mention he himself was at the Awakened Sage realm.

I had my fair share of beatings from Awakened Sages, but that time I had Ruru's blessing.

I wasn't going to take any chances this time.

"It was fun fighting you," I muttered, cancelling the Pseudo Sword Aura from my sword.

"We will meet soon, fucker!"

With a grin on my face, I showed my middle finger to Grendel, and in the next instant—

"Void Step"

Vanishing from the centre of the hall, my body materialised inside a tunnel on the left wall of the courtroom.

"Where has he gone?" the troll that had stopped me wondered.

"The damn human is in that tunnel," Grendel shouted, pointing at the tunnel I had just entered.

The Goblin Shamin once again tried to block the path, but this time, before the wall could descend, I had already teleported several hundred metres deeper into the cave.

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