Chapter 194: Fury
The troll king scanned Percy from head to toe for several seconds, seemingly contemplating his words. Eventually, he appeared to have made his mind up, nodding with determination.
Accepting that he was no longer a match for the human as he was, he decided to finally let go of his pride. First, he stabbed his club into the ground, before letting go, leaving it upright. Then, he reached for his back, squeezing one of the crimson mushrooms. Percy recognized a rush of mostly fire mana sinking into the creature’s frame, spreading through it.
Whatever it did, it wasn’t a painless endeavour in the slightest.
The troll king’s bulbous eyes quivered, his pupils taking on a reddish hue. He gritted his teeth, a few of them making cracking sounds, threatening to shatter. The creature’s muscles visibly shook, before swelling – in a manner not too dissimilar to what Synchronization did to Percy. However, it wasn’t his mana channels spreading raw power through his body, but the boiling blood in his vessels. Like snakes, his veins bulged and squirmed along his skin.
Percy readied his stance, waiting for his opponent to attack. Though the troll wasn’t done preparing quite yet, it seemed. He pinched a second mushroom, and then a third, releasing a pained groan as he continued to push his body far beyond its limits.
It wasn’t until a minute or two later that the creature regained his composure. He picked his weapon up, lifting it horizontally before his torso. Grabbing each end with a different hand, he pulled the misshapen boulder apart, splitting it in two uneven halves. These crumbled further into pebbles, rolling up his forearms.
‘Copying me?’ Percy grinned.
He watched as the chunks of earth condensed into a pair of oversized gauntlets, clearly inspired by his own. Of course, the crude constructs were a far cry from the Phantomscale Gauntlets, both their design and the lack of runes leaving much to be desired. Still, between the troll king’s higher grade and nominally stronger affinity, Percy had no doubt they’d pack quite a punch. Literally.
“Bring it on then!” he taunted.