Headed by a Snake

Tycondrius continued to run towards the 9-fulm tall humanoid, running to the left to give a wider berth to Tanamar\'s line-of-attack. The Holy Lancer was right-handed and the wind was weak. If the arrow was to drift away, basic knowledge dictated it was more likely to veer right.

"⌈Double Strafe,⌋" Tanamar utilized another skill, firing two of his enlarged arrows nearly simultaneously at the creature\'s chest.

The two spears of light struck the goliath\'s chest, forcing it to stagger back a half-step. Unfortunately, it began to lumber towards the two of them, as if barely inconvenienced.

⟬ Gold-Rank Magical Beast. ⟭

Mundane Gold-Rank creatures could be defeated easily enough by the Tycon-Tanamar duo. He was glad he gently suggested that they engage with it. Bronze-Rank humans would be felled by any of the monster\'s attacks.

His System classified the tall human-like creature as a magical beast... notably not a humanoid, nor a monster. Like the other beasts, his System also offered no suggestion to the creature\'s name or its abilities.

Tycon recalled that, according to earlier calculations, they were quite close to the Icingdeath Dungeon. The creature may have been created and cultivated by the Dungeon Core...

If so, Team Athena was within the dungeon\'s zone of influence... or even already within the dungeon-proper. Worse still, it meant that they would only encounter stranger and more fantastical creatures as they progressed.

He would act on this assumption. If the creature was sentient, its loyalty would first be to the Dungeon Core or whatever forces allied to it. Thus, it was safe to act with extreme prejudice, aiming to kill.

Moving within range of the creature, Tycon grabbed his Dynamic Weapon off of his lower back. Allowing it to segment itself into a whip of metal fragments held together by mana, he lashed it forward, wrapping it around the goliath\'s right ankle. With a sharp pull, the blade wrought havoc on the creature\'s stone-colored flesh.

Tycon grimaced, watching the creature continue to lumber forward. His attack had drawn blood and according to its anatomy, it should have been crippled.

"It has a healing factor!" Tycon yelled as he threw himself out of the way, retreating to a safe distance. The goliath\'s weaponized tree slammed down into the mountain dirt, scattering rocks and dust onto Tycon\'s cloak and hair.

He sighed inwardly. Because he was perspiring, the dirt stuck... increasing his level of discomfort and annoyance both.

Even if the rotten beast was sentient, he would choose to murder it.

Footman Victorius had caught up with Tycon, stopping and bending over to catch his breath. Though the former archer wasn\'t a combatant, it was smart that he\'d followed. Being left alone in the dungeon\'s zone of influence was an effective way to get killed.

"F-frost troll!" Victorius squealed between breaths, "It has to be! It\'ll regenerate unless we have fire!!"

Tycon got to his feet, groaning to himself. He raised his voice loud enough for Victorius to hear in the distance, "That information does nothing to help us!"

Their team did not have access to fire-based spells or attacks. Perhaps if they had a torch, they could cauterize the creature\'s wounds-- but a hostile frost troll would not be so obedient.

Tanamar dropped his longbow and began to charge towards the creature, holy lance in hand.

"Y-you don\'t understand!" Victorius yelled. "It doesn\'t matter how much we attack it! You won\'t be able to kill it!"

Tycon rolled his eyes, glaring at the young blonde, "Seven hells, where did you get that information?"

Meanwhile, Tanamar sidestepped the troll\'s weapon slam and ducked his head to barely avoid a heavy claw swipe. In a flurry of spear stabs, he stuck the creature\'s chest half-a-dozen times.

It was at a speed Tycon was familiar with. He felt relieved that the young man at least hadn\'t held back during weapons training.

Tycon left the indignant Victorius behind, circling behind the troll and snapping his fingers.

⟬ ⌈Commander\'s Strike⌋ activated. ⟭

With the burst of mana, Tanamar\'s eyes began to glow and he attacked with an arrogant fervor. A spear slam cracked the troll\'s ribs and a deep stab pierced the roaring creature\'s eye and partly into its brain.

"GRAHHHRRRHHH!!!!" The creature held its bleeding eye, stumbling backward. The way it roared, the seemingly lethal attack was not enough to kill it.

It was good timing from Tanamar, though.

"⌈Shadowfang Strike.⌋" Concentrating a burst of mana into his legs, Tycon sped his movement to close the gap. He lashed his razor whip up, catching the troll\'s neck, pulling and simultaneously launching a Gold-Ranked kick into the side of the creature\'s ankle.

Unable to catch itself, it crashed onto its side.

"Right arm!" Tycon yelled.

Tanamar stabbed his holy lance into the fallen troll\'s weapon-wrist. It shrieked in pain, clutching at its wrist with its opposite hand.

Beautiful. Tycon quite enjoyed working with competent teammates. The two had not practiced such teamwork maneuvers, but Tanamar naturally understood exactly what needed to be done.

Drawing his Decanus sword, Tycon held it high above his head, "ZENON!!!"

"Cut down the enemies of mankind, ⌈Wind Blade⌋." Though Zenon stood several dozen yalms away, his voice echoed crisp and clear, carried by the winds.

Tycon\'s ⌈Legionbreaker⌋ skill could cut cleanly through human armor. For this particular case, Zenon\'s ripping and tearing ⌈Wind Blade⌋ skill would prove more effective against the troll\'s mana-infused, regenerating flesh.

With a heavy hack, Tycon\'s blade bit into the troll\'s neck. Releasing his whip, he continued to apply pressure with his sword, allowing the spinning wind-enchantment to cut deeper and deeper. Eventually, he relieved the Gold-Ranked Frost Troll of its head.

Tanamar kicked the troll\'s body so it laid on its back. With its head separated from its body, it had stopped regenerating.

The two looked over to the others. With Zenon\'s spells affecting multiple enemies at a time, the round, rocky creatures were beginning to scuttle away in retreat. It also appeared there were no additional casualties from the humans they saved.

Footman Tanamar faced Tycon and scowled, "I did most of the work."

Tycon raised an eyebrow. That was rather obvious, "Yes, you did. You also pinned both of its arms to ensure my safety. Expertly done on both accounts."

Tanamar paused before rubbing the back of his head, "Y-yeah. Thanks."