If that was so, I would be happy to just stand back and watched, Jack said in his mind.
They continued to proceed forward. They clashed with another wave of Ice Trolls before they arrived at the large space mentioned by Walter and Pablo. The temperature dropped a notch lower at this place. At the far end of the corner was a large jagged ice crystal that emitted cold energy. Jack assumed that should be the ice mana site. Everything at its vicinity was frozen solid, except for a large figure that sat cross-legged beside the ice crystal. Its back was facing Jack and the others. That figure should belong to the Ice Troll Sentinel.
The ice crystal was bright enough to provide light to its surrounding, so the ball of light above Jack was no longer useful. Jack and the cadets were standing in an opening placed around ten meters in height from the ground. There was a rope ladder that took them down to the floor with the ice crystal. One by one they used the ladder to reach the ground and advanced towards the large ice crystal. The sitting large figure was still unmoving, apparently deep in meditation to detect the approaching intruders.
When Jack got into the range of detection using his God-eye monocle, he used his Inspect skill.
Ice Troll Sentinel (Special Elite boss, humanoid), level: 28
HP: 46000
Jack stopped his steps abruptly once the information of the monster was displayed on his screen. He looked back at Walter and Pablo. F**king newbie scouts, who the heck said it was a level 22 Elite boss? Jack cursed in his mind.
The two squires detected Jack's gaze and were puzzled by it.
"What's wrong?" Pablo asked.
Walter was less civil, "do you have a problem with us?"
"Damn right I got a problem, are you telling me that is a level 22 Elite boss?" Jack pointed at the Ice Troll Sentinel.
The squires went closer to inspect the monster, the NPCs' inspect skill apparently had a shorter range.
"What the f**k!" One of them screamed.
It was not known whether it was due to the scream or because those cadets went too close to check on the monster's info, but at that time, it rose from its sitting position and looked back at them.
Everyone could feel the chill entering their bodies.
"Crap, run!" Jack called out. The last time he fought with a special elite was the Lizardman Blood Guard, who completely trumped him. Although at the time he was still at basic classes with low-quality equipment and a little arsenal of skills, the gap between their powers was still very large. Only after he received the Goddess' Godly Might temporary buff that he could contend with said monster.
Now even after he had vastly improved from his previous condition, becoming advanced class, almost fully geared in rare grade equipment, with a variety of powerful skills to boot. He was still not confident enough. After all, the monster in front of him was a whole ten levels higher than him. When he fought with Lizardman Blood Guard, the difference was only two levels.
Everyone ran once hearing Jack's call.
'Do you think I can win?' Jack still asked Peniel while he was running.
"Aren't you running now? Then your thought is the same as mine," she answered.
There was only one way out of this place, it was through the opening that they came in from. They would need to climb the rope ladder in order to go back up to the opening. There was only one rope ladder, which meant that they had to do it one by one.
Jack looked back at the Ice Troll Sentinel. Surprisingly, it was still standing at its original place. It was simply staring at the fleeing intruders. This troll was larger than its usual counterparts, it stood taller than any of the humans there. There were two big tusks pointing upward from its bottom jaw. Jack imagined that he saw a sneer from its tusked mouth, as if ridiculing the scurrying pests in front of him.
The cadets reached the rope ladder. Teddy was at the front, so he immediately ascended the rope ladder. Alonzo was behind him, but he let Marriet to climb ahead of him. Jack took on the rear guard in case the Ice Troll Sentinel made a move. This trial of ensuring the cadets' safety was starting to be dangerous.
At this time, the foot of the Ice Troll Sentinel shifted. Jack had only noticed that minute movement, and then he lost sight of the Ice Troll Sentinel. His intuition made him glimpsed to his side, Lindsey was at the last of the queue to ascend the rope. His body moved instinctively as he summoned Magic Shield using the magic staff on his left hand. A shadow arrived as he put himself at Lindsey's back.
The shadow crashed into him. His body jerked as he flew away some distance, landing a few meters away. He hurriedly got back up as he examined his HP bar. Even with the Magic Shield, he still lost almost 200 HP from that single exchange. Another four more hits and he was a goner.
The Ice Troll Sentinel stood with his hand outstretched. Its hands didn't hold any weapon, unlike its smaller brethren. The attack had been the result of his bare-handed swing. The Ice Troll Sentinel looked at Jack with an interested stare. An ant had survived its assault.
The others had frozen due to the monster's sudden assault. Its speed was too fast.
Teddy, Marriet, and Alonzo had climbed up the opening. Pablo was still in the middle of his climb, but he had stopped in the middle of his climb. Walter who was prepared to climb yelled at him, "hurry up your fat ass!"
"You up there, leave first!" Jack yelled at Alonzo and the others who had already made it up there. He then motioned to Lindsey, "you climb next!"
"The hell she is!" Walter protested.
"She goes first!" Jack demanded.
Walter fumed at the side of the rope but he didn't force his way when Lindsey took the rope ladder. "Thank you," she said sincerely to Jack before climbing it.
The Ice Troll Sentinel was peculiarly still standing at the place where it had attempted to attack Lindsey. It didn't make any movement since that first attack. Its eyes were locked onto Jack.
Had it taken an interest at me? Jack took a gulp with worry.
After Lindsey climbed up, Walter hurriedly climbed as well. Alonzo and the others had left following Jack's instruction.
A rune started to form on the tip of Jack's magic staff. The Ice Troll Sentinel saw Jack's action and frowned. Its figure suddenly disappeared again.
There was nobody down here anymore, and since Jack noticed the monster had taken an interest in him, he was sure he would be its main target. He had given the monster his full attention, in order to determine when it started moving. Knowing the timing of its attack and its target, he could better plan an evasive maneuver.
He jumped backed diagonally. Whether the monster attacked directly from the front or sneaked from the sides, the attack should miss him unless it was coincidentally attacking in the same diagonal direction he was retreating to.
The Ice Troll Sentinel appeared where he was a second ago, striking from the side with a right punch. He had managed to dodge it. Yet, the monster didn't stop after its attack failed, it turned and swung his left arm before Jack's feet even landed on the ground.
Jack abruptly used his Storm Breaker to parry. The blow sent him flying again, crashing onto the wall right beside the rope ladder. His spell rune was still forming, he had trained with the spell so often that he could still concentrate on it despite the heat of battle. The rune was completed and an energy bubble enveloped his body. He immediately reached for the rope.
His plan was to cast the Barrier shield and relied on it for protection as he climbed the rope ladder. The Ice Troll Sentinel seemed to place the ice mana site at considerable importance, so he deduced that it won't chase after them once they left this place. Just like when he met his first special elite monster, the Lizardman Blood Guard who stayed at the entrance to the room with the Goddess.
Walter was already at the top of the ladder. Lindsey had proceeded ahead following Alonzo and the others. Jack felt his barrier shaking as the Ice Troll Sentinel attacked him, but he ignored it as he focused on climbing the ladder.
Jack saw Walter had already reached the top. He looked down at Jack, looked back to the opening where Lindsey and the others had run ahead, then looked back down at Jack again. His expression was strange. Jack had a bad feeling after seeing the guy's weird action.
Before Jack could make sense of the guy. Walter used his sword and cut the rope ladder.
