Liam gazed at the tall bulky creatures surrounding him. He finally noticed something that he did not see until now.
The trolls' bodies were bulky and huge.
It was exactly because of this that they posed a huge threat to him, but at the same time, because of this same thing, they were only able to attack him five at a time.
Unless he moved from the dead center of the circle he was standing in, the others couldn't touch him.
Fighting against thousands of trolls was impossible but fighting against just five at a time?
Liam smirked. The blood dripping from his head made him look like a lunatic.
He was finally able to breathe amidst the fists raining down on him, each possessing thunderous strength.
Now that he had overcome the initial shock and fear of the enemy in front of him, his body began to move more freely.
Hit. Hit. Dodge. Hit. Hit.
Dodge. Dodge. Hit. Hit. Dodge.
Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. Hit.
Slowly, slowly, he was beginning to evade more attacks and receiving only very few, and before long, he was also able to send one or more attacks back.
The trolls continued attacking him relentlessly, but Liam was beginning to force his own pace onto the fight.
Their attacks might be random, but he was able to respond back with a pattern which in turn forced them to follow the pattern.
The trolls had strong explosive power and their speed when punching was also scary but Liam's mind was completely focused.
His stats were above theirs and when he was not overwhelmed by their numbers, he was able to sense their attack and react accordingly.
Their movements, direction, their next step, he could clearly anticipate and evade.
He did not try to block them like an iron wall but instead, he made his body limber and fluid. Every single attack only narrowly missed but it was a miss nevertheless.
And as seconds trickled by, this became even better.
Liam spun, his fists were more powerful than the trolls. He answered their thunderous attacks back with his own quaking punches.
He used every bit of strength, spirit, willpower, determination, and anything else he had and fought back.
His hands ached, his body was tired and his brain was close to exhaustion, but he made the trolls completely submit to his flow.
Soon one by one their numbers began to reduce as more fell down lifeless. Not just that, but each death gave him a boost of something.
Mana? Stamina?
Liam had no idea what exactly he was gaining but he was getting stronger! This drove his fervor even more and he began attacking back with more ferocity.
He was now completely in control of the so-called trial and the number of the trolls started dwindling more and more.
His body was riddled with injuries, his mana had bottomed out, his stamina had bottomed out, but he no longer concerned himself with any of that and continued fighting.
He was going to fight it out until he dropped dead!
He wanted to truly change. He wanted to become stronger not just because he had knowledge about some things, but he wanted to truly become stronger.
He swung his fists and every time he did, he vented out all his frustration and regret of not having succeeded in his previous life.
He had struggled and struggled so much. He had tried, again and again, grasping whatever he could, but to no avail.
In the end, he had still failed. He had only repeatedly failed to change himself and his fate.
Yes, he received this miraculous second chance but his failure that first time around would always linger inside him.
Until the very end, he was never able to use his own strength to overcome anything.
That was still a heavyweight that pressed him down, forcing him to carry the guilt and shame, holding him back.
Whatever he had achieved until now in this new life was all charity. This rebirth was a pity gift that he had received from the heavens.
He was not able to protect his sister, he was not able to protect his friend, and even when others sacrificed themselves to let him escape, he had still fallen down.
And these were things that he would never be able to remove from his heart.
Behind his calm and composed facade, there was only a wild animal that was prepared to devour everything.
Liam grunted, grasping the throat of a troll and smashing it on the cold hard ground of the abandoned building.
He never wanted to fail again. It was a horrible feeling.
He was going to do whatever it was needed to change himself from the inside out.
...
...
...
On the other side…
The two elders had grave expressions on their faces.
"This child, I won't allow you to corrupt his fate." The elder from the blacksmith association clenched his fist and muttered.
"If I have to fight you, then may it be so."
The other person did not reply but there was a subtle understanding in his silence.
The two of them silently continued watching Liam tearing apart the trolls one by one. This in fact no longer looked like a trial.
Instead, it was a horror show of one demon massacring everything around him, punching the life out of them with his own fists and bleeding knuckles.
Huff. Huff. Huff.
Liam wiped his mouth as blood trickled out of the corner of his lips. He stood in the midst of a mountain of dead trolls.
It had taken him several hours or was it days? He had no idea, but he was finally done. He had bashed and crushed every single one of his opponents.
"ANYONE ELSE WANT TO COME AT ME?" He gasped for breath and yelled. His eyes looked like those of a bloodthirsty predator, scanning the big hall for any signs of movement.
However, the next instant, he wheezed and collapsed on the cold hard ground, in the middle of piles of corpses.