Earthling in Uncharted Dimensions

*thuck….thuck….thuck….thuck….*

A series of footsteps faintly emerged from the cave. The echo gradually became bold and firm. Ground Trolls grinned sinisterly as they began the chant again. The atmosphere once again plunged into wild mode.

*ba-dum….ba-dum….*

Lee listened to his own heart drumming inside his chest. His eyes pierced the darkness and looked into the depths. No figure appeared in his sight, but he can confirm that the footsteps are getting firm and solid. He cautiously took a step back and maintained his posture. His vigilance went over the roof as his eyes reflected the sinister faces of trolls.

*THUCK….THUCK….*

The steps became strong and sound. The trolls gradually decreased their loud chant, and brought to a muffled form. This auspice gave Lee a chill up his spine, as the arriving enemy could be many times stronger than him. The faint words uttered by D pushed him into worry.

A bipedal outline came into Lee's view. It was colossal! At the first glance, Lee deduced it to be over 5 metres. The inclined entrance gave enough space for that frame to walk out.

The fiery red coloured skin exhibited it's bioluminescent pale red stripes going over it. The fully developed muscular limbs resembled that of a human, but many times larger. It's pointy and ragged nails had blood marks over it. The face was relatively better looking and facial features much ordered and firm. The lower jaw, which was positioned a bit forward than the upper one, produced a pair of fangs that protruded up. The iconic crooked nose of a troll was evident!

Blood red was the eyes! No pupils or white, but all red, like blood. The question regarding how it sees, rose in Lee's mind. It had a bush around its crotch, which hid it's gender. But it's saggy assets gave the answer away. Brown and tiny hair decorated its head with a pair of pointy ears on its side.

The chant was shut silent, and the elderly woman glanced around. Lee observed her actions as he was really interested to know how this beast had the ability of sight!

The appearance of the beast was like a candle in the darkness. It's luminescent stripes were hardly visible for a few kilometres. And since the place was almost an arid area, the lack of settlements were perfect for this stunt.

*ssss….*

The leader blankly stared at Lee for a few minutes. A short and threatening slither was produced as it exposed its split tongue. A truly evil grin came out as it nodded at Lee, in satisfaction. Before Lee could make a conclusion from its mocking actions, three vines rose from its back!

A purple, a green and an off-white one made Lee recall of the recent events. His stomach stung after witnessing the purple one. The red troll leaned at little to the front, so as to make the vines pop out easily. It rose from its backbone and wriggled like tentacles. The off-white one, unhurriedly wriggled upward while the other two took its offensive stance against Lee.

The green one surprised Lee as it shot at him like lightning. Foresight was activated seconds before, and Lee used his immensely powerful reflex to evade It. He barely evaded it, by moving to his left, as his right foot made a deep impression on the ground!

'View.'

Lee felt an immense urge to unfold it's mysteries, and uttered View inside. The appeared panel had a slight glitchy distortion for a fraction of a second. A normal human could not have noticed, but Lee did. He made a mental note on it, and skimmed through the information.

=====

Race: Ground Troll (Female).

Age: 18 years.

State: Tubian possessed.

Law: Light, Soul.

Description: Intentionally hostile to those with elemental affinity. Crowd control ability.

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Health: 5080

Strength: 445

Vitality: 638

Agility: 345

Defense: 404

Endurance: 301

Sense: 552

Intelligence: 246

=====

'......'

To stay silent was Lee's only option. Before him was a female Ground Troll possessed by a Tubian, the very race D mentioned an hour ago. Before he could make a move, the green vine again shot out. Lee slipped out of its trajectory by a few inches, as he crouched and rolled to his right.

Lee concluded his disadvantages. One, the stats of the being outruns his, so a head-on fight is difficult. Two, the presence of the Soul law, which D had never mentioned about, had made him cautious. The revelation of 'Crowd control' ability made him watchful of his surroundings. It might be the power to control the trolls like a puppet.

Even before the information popped out, Lee had decided to stay away from the troll. The presence of tentacles was a lethal weapon against anyone in a distance. And since he know the functions of the harpoon and the coiling vine, his alertness was sky-high!

Lee put his bet on the EsGen as it will do two benefits for him. It will store the troll and would be able to produce a LOT of Essence from it. With this plan in mind, Lee took a step forward.

*frown*

A frown knitted the troll's brows as it also took a step forward. This responsive sign was a gesture to begin the battle!

The grappling vine shot again at him. Lee did not jump and evade, but slowly tilted his body and let it go past his neck.

For his surprise, troll used it's brain. It misjudged Lee that he would jump to his left, so it shot its purple harpoon. It's intelligence was more than enough to calculate the possible path of Lee. The calculation was not accurate, but would have made a wound on him. It flew 2 metres right to him and that surprised Lee.

An idea popped in his mind as his eyes instantaneously glanced over the two tentacles. Within a second, Lee had his both arms gripped on the extensions. A smirk unconsciously appeared on his face.

The light attribute of troll enabled it to see in the dark. It saw Lee smirking as he held the vines. An anonymous feeling of danger was sensed by it and it discarded the moment Lee activated the EsGen.

'....what?'

Lee was surprised to see the troll standing, despite losing its extensions. Lee came to a conclusion that those might be detachable tentacles. What he did not knew was the troll's ability to faintly sense danger!

Bloodshot eyes skimmed along the faces of the surrounding trolls, and they began to get agitated. The tentacles were infact mere extensions to act as a weapon. The real lethality lies in its laws of light and soul. The troll had already used it's 'Soul weakening' on Lee, but it was D who fell into the trap.

Clubs and spikes were lifted off the ground as the trolls began to home in on Lee. An individual Ground Troll was never a rival to Lee, but the collective result proved difficult to him. The possessed troll expected him to put up a fight, but Lee did not.

His eyes skimmed through the battlefield as he used the club swings and mace edges as a means to propelthrough the crowd. The well co-ordinated attacks gave a clue to Lee, that the red troll is using its crowd control ability. A faint biege hue spiralling inside it's complete red colored eye, took its role in cementing his guess.

*Woom..Pak..Thud..Thum...*

The coordination of the attacks began to falter as the assumed target kept jumping around, from the beginning. The accumulated fatigue of physical activities coupled with the complicated crowd control skill adversely affected the leader and her subjects. Lee began to pocket the trolls as they almost fell on their knees. Their leader's will power alone left them running.

As she saw the trolls disappearing into the void, the Tubian inside her awoke. It felt the activity of an element, and greed overshadowed it's being. The Tubian took control and commanded the trolls to back off immediately.

A space was cleared in the middle and Lee stood there alone. The off-white tentacle came bending down to Lee with not a tinge of hostility. As it came down, it's blunt edge began to shine like a firefly. It moved elegantly, as of it has sentience of its own.

It scanned Lee from top to bottom. Everytime it's tip shone, Lee would feel goosebumps on him. He assumed that this is a non-hostile, but potentially dangerous tentacle. It cautiously rounded him three times and retreated to the troll's body.

Red troll showed signs of struggling, but it was over in a second. Shocking Lee to his core, the troll began to speak.

"Wgu arr uo?"

Lee frowned as his posture became vigilant. The troll raised its jaw and dislocated it without a second thought. While squirming with pain, it repositioned the jaw.

'Looks like the Tubian is parasitic in nature.'

Lee assumed the possible nature of Tubian and gave reply.

"I am a human."

"Whath dith yu du?"

The possessed troll pointed at the declined number of trolls surroundings them, catching breath. Lee became clear of the question it raised.

"And why should I answer you, who attacked me?"

The question enraged the female troll at once, and it roared in anger.

"Ai asch on moor taim, whath dith yu du?"

The stripes began to regularly brighten and diminish like a wave's crest and trough. For any being of great power, ego was not any less than sky!