The Ultimate Evolution
chapter-148

The troll clutched its left eye in pain, light blue fluid quickly flowed down its coarse grey skin. Diaz's shot may have even resulted in a blood loss effect. Its remaining right eye flashed with an intense menacing hatred. The muscles of its right hand that was grabbing onto the tree club could be seen swelling up, pores and fine hair even appeared on its bluish-grey skin!

Without warning, the troll aimed and with an agonizing cry hurled its weapon in the direction of Diaz. The tree club revolved in high speed as it flew through the air releasing an oppressive buzzing sound! This was the special ability of the troll: Tree Toss of Slaying!

Although Diaz had relatively excellent agility, his perceptive sensing was lacking. If it were Sheyan, in the instance where the troll's muscles swelled up, he would have sensed the imminent danger. But Diaz only reacted when his eyes caught sight of the troll's hurling action, but that massive weapon was already surging to him in mid air! In a flash, it knocked against the tree supporting Diaz.

"Ka cha!" a crackling impact resounded as the club crashed against the tree. A sky full of leaves were shaken and slowly descended in mid air. Diaz was too late to dodge the AOE damage and knock down effect of the slaying tree toss. He fell to the ground like a rock, trying his best to struggle but his body had gone numb and was unable to regain his mobility.

This knockdown effect would last for 5 seconds. Even if Diaz's strength could diminish a small portion of the effect, he would at least have to struggle for 4 seconds!

Moreover the troll had already started to take big strides towards Diaz with its bone deep hatred. Its broad feet traversed quickly through the mud, every step bringing it forward by 4-5 metres. Although Diaz had a 30 metre gap between himself and the troll previously, when he recovered control of his body after 4 seconds, he could already smell the suffocating stench of the troll. That beast was already within 7-8 metres from reach!

Diaz rolled backwards, and darted forward tactically. He was calm and collected, only needing 2 seconds to ride on his agility and once again widen the gap between him and the troll. But at this moment, a stuffy roar resounded in his ears penetrating deeply into his heart and clogging it. A formless shockwave surged from behind him, and when it finally approached him his body froze up, completely unable to take a step forward! This was the third time the troll activated its special ability. Cardiac fissure!

Diaz sunk into despair..... Although his agility was an astounding 24 points, and his basic footwork lvl 6, but after a 70% reduction in speed it was equivalent to a mere 7 points of agility. This was not even factoring the unfavourable terrain! Yet the troll only had 9 points of agility, but more tragically Diaz's physique was only 9 points. This was why he was affected by the negative 70% debuff which will last for an entire 9 seconds...... Regarding this 90 HP Diaz, once this terrifying beast reached him he would be finished. Half a second was more than enough! 9 Seconds was in fact too much!

Yet Diaz did not give up. Even when his speed was reduced by 70%, he continued to summoned his strength to force his way forward. His fingers dug deep into the mud, as he frantically scolded out in regret:

"Qiao Gun! You fool! Without me, how would your bunch of close combat fools be able to slay this monster?"

Qiao Gun's face turned ashen, his facial muscles twitched as he waved to his 3 lucky suviving members. "Go!" This word was chilling to the bone and filled with a baleful aura. After speaking, he immediately charged up towards the battle.

The troll let out a cruel laugh, kicking its leg at Diaz! This one kick was like a small mountain crashing against Diaz, throwing him 5-6 metres away as he crashed heavily against a tree and slumped to the ground. Fortunately, Diaz's strength probably exceeded 18 points, therefore there wasn't any 'crushing' effect from the troll's kick. But still, one could tell how heavily injured he was from the blood spurting out through his mouth.

Following that, the troll raised his massive feet up, looking at its actions it was simply trying to stomp down on Diaz! Fortunately at this moment, a faint green glow appeared on Diaz's body, probably using some instant cure medicine to recover his HP. He then forced a roll and managed to dodge the stomp. Because of his currently rigid body, he was unable to dodge completely as his right shoulder was trampled and produced a miserable cracking sound.

The troll roared angrily when it confidently stomped down but didn't finish off its opponent, and pounded down with its fist. The agonizing Diaz tried his best to dart to the side, as the tree he was reclining on broke into splinters. At this moment, Diaz had expended all his energy, and had nowhere else to run. Faced with this ruthless troll, he could only shut his eyes and wait for death.

At this moment, a large hand reached out and grabbed onto Diaz's hair, hauling him backwards forcefully.

Diaz could only feel a gush of wind against his face, and a suffocating sensation over his entire body. The unique stench of the troll punctured his nose followed by the faint vibration of the earth, before a torrent of mud splashed against his face and his entire body. The mud smacked painfully against his naked skin, as though he had been rammed by something. At the last second, Qiao Gun activated his innate ability: Flash to rush there and quickly pulled Diaz hair rescuing him from the depths of despair. The mountain troll's convincing stomp had once again connected nowhere. Qiao Gun's innate ability: flash started its two hour long duration, rendering it completely obsolete.

The troll fumed nastily as it missed once again, roaring out furiously. Striding forward and releasing a terribly ruthless strike, yet another figure flickered over and received its attack! It was actually Gale from the Symbiosis sect. This brat had the highest physique in his party, reaching 16 points and thus was honored to be used as a punching bag by Qiao Gun.

Under Qiao Gun's orders, although he wished that the person who previously stuck a gun against his brain would turn into a meat ball, he still rushed up to tank the onslaught. Fortunately the troll had thrown away his tree club, thus Gale only staggered backwards, spinning a few rounds before landing on his butt and spitting out a mouthful of blood. But after shaking off the slight daze, he immediately rolled away and took cover behind a tree. Looks like the attack he endured wasn't fatal.

Witnessing this scene, a glimmer of suspiciousness glowed in Qiao Gun's eyes. He expanded his strength to drag Diaz further backwards as he shouted at the top of his voice.

"Don't give up! This blockhead is useless without its tree. Don't be misled by its size." Diaz felt like the few seconds of negativities from the 'cardiac fissure' was like an eternity. He panted heavily as he forced himself to advance. Seizing the chance when the troll was distracted by Gale, he finally regained his movement speed. Diaz didn't say much, he shot Qiao Gun a stare before clutching his injured shoulder, gritting his teeth and fading into the darkness. From there on, the members of the Symbiosis sect displayed a typical party coordination to Sheyan. Against the raging troll, they exploited the blind angle of the troll and exhibited a classic guerilla warfare tactic, doing their utmost to distract primarily while dishing out attacks secondarily. No choice but to resist the rampaging troll, once someone took a hit another would rush up to cover him. Therefore, they shared equally the damage dealt from the mountain troll.

Of course, the generous amount of medicines in their possession was extremely shocking. The spectating Sheyan could confirm two things. One was that the medicines that the Symbiosis sect were using should be able to instantly recover over 50 HP. Second, the duration of cooldown between usage definitely did not exceed 3 minutes. Sheyan's previously used US excellent bandage had a 5 minutes long duration, looks like these bunch from the symbiosis sect didn't lay all their cards on the table previously.

Very quickly, from deep within the forest the lone distinct gunshots from the karabiner echoed out. Diaz had probably understood the meaning of 'without the lips, the teeth will feel cold'(being interdependent), after rushing to treat himself he surfaced again. This time trying his best to aim towards the remaining right eye in hopes that he could lessen the pressure on the symbiosis sect. Instead, the troll learned its lesson and didn't dare to be careless, it similarly protected its right eye. In this manner, it was slightly distracted and allowed a glimmer of hopes of attaining victory to the bunch from the symbiosis sect. They gritted their teeth and persevered.

As seconds and minutes sped by, vivid injuries were still absent on the troll's body. Yet its attacking frequency as well as its attack damaged had displayed distinct weakening. Probably because it previously activated its special abilities excessively, thus causing its mental powers (MP) to drain significantly. It clutched its blinded left eye, panting heavily as thick disgusting saliva repeatedly drip out from its yellowish set of teeth. If an attacking contestant accidentally stepped onto it, they would feel a disgusting stickiness just like stepping onto glue.