<h4>Chapter 225: The Throne of Skulls</h4>


    Atst, Eleanor and her team reached the mountain’s summit. There, carved into the jagged rock, loomed the fortress they had glimpsed from below. The castle rose like a dark crown against the red sky, its towering walls jagged with age yet impossibly solid. From afar, it had seemed impregnable.


    But as they crossed the wide stone bridge to its gate, it became clear that the battle had already been fought.


    The main courtyard was littered with bodies... orc corpses, troll carcasses, even the twisted remains of goblin hounds. The stench of blood and smoke clung to the air. Cadets moved cautiously through the ruins, weapons drawn more out of habit than necessity. When Eleanor hailed one group, she learned what had transpired here... the castle had already been purged. No monsters remained alive.


    Only one challenge was left... The Troll King!


    His chambery at the heart of the keep. The cadets exined that once a group entered, they never returned to the trial grounds. Win or lose, the chamber was the end.


    A queue had already formed. Six teams stood in line before them, their faces taut with fatigue and expectation. Eleanor’s group would be the seventh to step through those doors.


    She ordered her team to rest. Their bodies needed strength, and minds needed calm. While they gathered their breath, Ophelia slipped away into the castle’s dim halls, her presence vanishing into the shadows as naturally as a sigh.


    Eleanor sat cross-legged against a cold stone wall and summoned her status screen.


    [Status]


    Time Left: 0:38:22


    Primary Objective: Kill the Troll King and recapture the stronghold.


    Secondary Objective: Eliminate the monsters.


    Team Members: 6


    Points: 1322 (Rank–7)


    [Do you want to hide the status screen? Yes/No]


    With a thought, she dismissed it.


    The spider had earned them five hundred points. Enough to solidify their lead, but her rank had not shifted. Eleanor felt no disappointment. In truth, she was relieved. Being third meant safety. The eyes of rivals would fall on the topper, not on her. For this firstpetition, survival and measured strength mattered more than glory.


    The faint ripple of shadow heralded Ophelia’s return. She emerged silently at Eleanor’s side, bowing her head slightly.


    "Ma’am," she reported, "there is a restriction ced over this castle. Cadets cannot ascend beyond the ground floor. Only the throne chamber is essible. The upper levels are sealed by some arrays... most likely part of the trial itself. The monsters are gone, in by the first wave of cadets. But I gathered these for us."


    Sheid down her spoils:... iron swords polished with use, sturdier bows strung with fresh cord, and quivers filled with sharp arrows. The weapons were still crude wrought iron, butpared to the rusted scraps from the orcs, these felt bnced, reliable, and ready.


    Eleanor allowed herself the faintest nod of approval. "Good work. Distribute them. When it’s our turn, we will be ready."


    ***


    It had been almost three minutes the sixth team entered the throne room. The glowing door rippled more brightly once, then dulled to a dull stone-grey. Eleanor pushed it open, and a suffocating darkness swallowed them whole. Nothing... no light, no detail existed beyond a few paces. Even with their wolf eyes, they couldn’t see far.


    Jaciara slipped inst. The instant the door shut, the chamber red alive. Light zed as though the sun itself had been drawn down into the stone walls. The throne room revealed itself... vast, cavernous, and terrible. And there, seated on a throne of skulls, loomed their foe.


    The Troll King!


    He was monstrous... easily thrice the height of a fully grown werewolf. His white-grey skin stretched taut over bs of rippling muscle. A crude yet imposing crown of crystal shards sat heavy upon his head, refracting light into fractured rainbows that danced grotesquely across his scarred face. His eyes glimmered with the dull intelligence of a predator, a cruel spark that relished the fight toe.


    "Otherworlders!" he thundered, his voice a grinding avnche of stone on stone. "You trespass upon mynd. You ughter my kin. And now you dare crawl before me?" His thick lips curled into a snarl, jagged tusks bared. "Arrogant! Audacious! Allow me to send you to your maker!"


    The chamber trembled as the king rose. Step by step, he descended from his throne. Each stride sent tremors rippling through the floor, shaking loose dust from the vaulted ceiling. His crown burned brighter, shards of multicoloured crystal scattering across the stone like fractured suns.


    And then he charged. The giant became a storm of motion, his bulk impossibly fast. His roar boomed like thunder, reverberating through the bones of every cadet.


    Eleanor’s instincts screamed. She whipped her broadsword into guard... only to feel empty air.


    Her hand clutched nothing!


    Her heart sank.


    Beside her, all teammates stared in horror. Every de, every bow, every iron scrap they had scavenged... the castle had stripped it all away. They stood bare-handed, d only in the academy’s enchanted uniforms, as naked in battle as they had been on the first moment.


    The odds, once steep, now seemed impossible.


    Eleanor’s mind snapped into focus, she needed to ovee this precarious situation. "Joshua, Maira, and Jaciara all have water abilities, but water has almost no effect on trolls. If it were a light ability, it might work to some extent. Kiara can only rely on her physical strength. It would be better to hide Ophelia for a sessful assassination," She thought.


    "Spread out and dodge!" Eleanor’smand cracked through the chaos like thunder. "Surround him... we observe before we strike!"


    The team scattered as the Troll King’s colossal fist mmed into the floor where they had stood.


    Stone split like brittle ss. Shards exploded outward in a deadly spray, peppering their enchanted uniforms. The shockwave itself shoved them back, teeth rattling.


    Joshua rolled across the ground, shoulder-first, breath catching in his chest. "Bloody hell... he’s faster than a wolf at full sprint!"


    "Don’t stop moving!" Eleanor said, pivoting wide, her glowing green eyes narrowing as she tracked every motion. There has to be a weakness. Every beast has one.


    But the king was a force of nature. His arms swung like battering rams, each sweep discing the air in violent gales that staggered even the nimblest among them.


    Maira darted in at his nk, ws shing. She raked at the troll’s hide with a flurry of strikes, water des whistling from her fingers to sharpen the blows. The cuts opened... then sealed almost instantly, the wounds knitting closed before her eyes.


    Her lips pulled back in a snarl just as the troll’s massive hand closed around her torso. With casual brutality, he hurled her across the chamber.


    She struck the wall hard enough to crater stone, coughing blood as she slid down to her knees. "Water is useless," she spat, dragging herself upright. Her jaw was tight with pain.


    "Not useless," Jaciaramented, already weaving her hands. A torrent of pressurized water sted across the giant’s eyes, forcing him to raise his arm for an instant. "We can harass him... blind him... open windows for others."


    Kiara saw her chance. She sprinted low, vaulted onto the troll’s knee, and drove a heel strike into the joint. The impact thundered like a drum. His skin dented... barely.


    The Troll King’s roar shook the marrow in their bones. He swatted at her like a man batting away a fly. But Kiara had already sprung away,nding in a roll just as his palm thundered against the floor where she had been a moment ago.


    Ophelia vanished into shadow, slipping beneath the throne’s tform. She waited there, body taut, searching for the moment to strike. But even she, with all her assassin’s skill, could find no opening. Without steel, without poison, her ws alone would not pierce that hide.


    Above, the Troll King straightened, his crown zing brighter with each passing heartbeat. Hisugh boomed through the chamber... mocking, cruel.


    The Troll King barreled forward again, his crown scattering fractured rainbows across the chamber as his massive fist swept down. Eleanor darted low, sliding beneath the blow. Her fingers struck precise nerve clusters along his thigh. He grunted... then the flesh rippled, knitting closed with sickening ease.


    "Damn it!" She sprang to her feet, chest heaving. "This monster heals too fast. Nothing sticks."


    Joshua’s voice echoed from across the hall. "If I had a sword, I could at least carve him apart!"


    "Stop dreaming about weapons and defend yourself!" Eleanor said, her eyes never leaving the behemoth. "If one of his full blowsnds, we’re finished!"


    The fight spiralled on... dodging, scraping, panting. Their uniforms were shredded, their bodies bruised and aching. The troll’sughter rumbled like thunder, and still he pressed on, relentless.


    Then... suddenly, something inside Eleanor clicked. A realization so sharp it cut through all her exhaustion.


    "We are not in our true bodies here. This is a test... a virtual reality setting. The pain we feel is real, the fatigue is real, but the injuries are not. No broken bones will follow us out. If we die here, we won’t actually die. Our trial ends there... and we wake up in the capsule." Her lips curled into a feral grin.


    "Listen up, team!" she shouted... this time, unknowingly unleashing her Alphamand. "We’ve been holding back, fighting like humans with techniques and weapons. Forget that! This is virtual reality. This world cannot kill us. The pain is nothing... it disappears the moment we step out of the capsule. The only way to bring him down is to tear him apart before his regeneration kicks in... piece by piece, as fast as we can. Now, let’s unleash our true selves!"


    The others froze for a heartbeat, her words sinking in. Then their eyes widened with sudden understanding.


    "You mean..." Joshua began, but the Troll King struck, seizing on thepse in focus. Joshua narrowly dodged the massive fist, tumbling across the ground before finding his footing again.


    "Do not lose concentration!" Eleanor’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp andmanding. "One perfect hit, and you’re out."


    Her ws lengthened, gleaming under the dim light, as she let the beast within surge to the surface. A primal growl rumbled from her chest.


    "We be what we are... werewolves! Let’s show this oversized monster what a pack can do."