Vlad took some of the glass containers from the alchemy room and even a large number of potions before he left Swail's house.
He went straight to the jungle to collect the two ingredients he needed to create the poison he would use to kill the Troll King. While on his way, he was followed by a few Sky Lion guild members, but he easily shook them off.
The first thing Vlad did was check the effectiveness of the gauntlet's passive effect, 'Instinctive Supremacy.' Sure enough, most creatures were wary of him, but it did little to stop them from attacking.
The next skill he tested was 'Essence Extraction.' After finding his first target, he was able to extract dark, ethereal energy from its corpse, and from then on, any time he killed a Pale-eyed Viper, the essence was automatically extracted.
He also quickly noticed that once he had 100 points of the essence, the Pale-eyed Vipers began to be affected far more than before, hesitating in their ambush, and soon, some even started to run away.
The next skill he tested was 'Sovereign's Mark,' which used 100 points of essence. The mark itself was nothing but a black diamond.
Once the mark was placed, the creature was his to command. Vlad could order him around through the mental link, but he really had to focus, while voicing them directly was much easier.
The mark also only lasted ten minutes, and with a few more attempts, he confirmed that a level 15 pale-eyed viper could break free ten and even fifteen seconds earlier.
While it was only a difference of a few seconds, it would pose a problem with the Troll King, who had a much stronger will, so it would not be a surprise if he broke free within minutes, if not less.
Vlad was under the impression that Mark's effective period would be absolute, compensating for its weakness of taking a random time to take effect depending on the target.
However, that didn't seem to be the case, and that was a major problem because, as experienced as Vlad was, there was no way he would last multiple minutes of combat against the monstrosity that was the Troll King.
The next skill was 'Forced Growth,' and it had to be a good one because if before it was necessary for his plan to work, then now it was his last hope.
Vlad always planned to use the hobgoblin Kragg, since he needed a distraction to take control of the Troll King.
He had hoped he would only have to do it once, as he was confident that ten minutes would be enough to kill the anomaly using the poison he would create.
But now, with the Sovereign's Mark effective period not being absolute, his difficulty rose from easy to nightmare.
Vlad needed to kill the Dark Troll King using only the poison because doing so would reward him with a Unique grade Title, which he needed to contract with his chosen spirit.
The poison itself could not be of a higher grade than rare, so he could not just synthesize and use a more potent poison even though he had the knowledge and means available to create it.
Though Vlad expected an easy time dealing with the Troll King, he did not mind the challenge; on the contrary, he was excited to face it.
-------------
As Vlad stepped out from the dense jungle, it didn't take long for someone to notice him.
"Hey, it's him," A player exclaimed, pointing toward him.
"I thought he left the village," another muttered.
"Idiot," someone scoffed. "If he had, why would the Sky Lions still have guards at the teleportation area?"
"Well, too bad for him," A smirking rogue added. "Now he is going to pay for his arrogance."
"Yeah, staying here after messing with the Sky Lions? That was a mistake."
Vlad ignored the murmuring players and calmly approached the dungeon entrance. A few players tried to warn him about the group waiting ahead, but he paid them no mind.
As he approached the dungeon area, his gaze landed on a group of ten players standing, blocking the entrance.
At their center, seated on a chair with an air of authority, was a figure clad in gleaming silver armor. A white-sheathed blade rested at his waist, and both items were clearly acquired from a lucky draw.
The man stood as Vlad neared, closing the distance in a single smooth step. His presence exuded confidence and control as he came face-to-face with Vlad.
"I am Xander," He said, his voice level but firm. "I suppose we don't know each other."
"No, you don't," Vlad replied, then added, "Marlo, Vice Master of the Sky Lions."
A flicker of surprise crossed Xander's face, his composed expression twisting from surprise to disbelief. His guild members in the back reacted differently, all exchanging confused glances.
Vlad didn't miss the unexpected reactions. In his memory, Marlo Xander was always the Vice Master of the Sky Lions. He was not a particularly famous figure, but he was recognizable enough for a common player like him to remember.
Yet, judging by the reactions around him, that title hadn't been granted to Marlo yet, because the surprise couldn't possibly come from Vlad using his real name.
'I need to be careful,' Vlad thought, a realization hitting him. Even minor details he assumed to be true could be false, either changed or yet to become true.
A moment of silence stretched between them before Xander finally spoke. "I apologize if my guild members caused you any inconvenience." His tone was now polite, and without another word, he stepped aside.
The gathered players who had been expecting a showdown, a fight between the big guild and the unknown players, audibly gasped in surprise.
Vlad was just about to say something to cover up his first comment, but he stopped, understanding that his statement was not totally off the mark, so without a word, he walked past the Sky Lions and entered the dungeon.
As his figure disappeared into the cave, a woman in similarly high-tier gear approached Xander, her expression mirroring the guild members' confusion.
Unlike them, however, she wasn't just confused, she was surprised and even angry.
"Who was he?" She asked, her eyes narrowing. "Do you think Jaron sent him?"
Xander remained silent, staring at the dungeon entrance as if replaying the moment in his mind.
"The plan was to make him apologize and either force him to join or teach him a lesson he wouldn't forget," She continued, stepping in front of him. "But clearly, you changed your mind."
Xander finally turned to her, his expression hardened, his thoughts troubled.
"He's dangerous," He said simply before walking toward the village path, his hands unconsciously tightening into fists.
The players began to speculate while Vlad, who couldn't care less, went to work, killing goblins and collecting their essence.
Once the essence storage reached its limit and Vlad had an idea of how much essence each goblin gave, he took control of ten goblins to drag the corpses of other goblins as he made his way to the boss area.
Once Kragg was under his control, Vlad waited until he broke free from the Sovereign's Mark to get his control time, which was six and a half minutes. This time would lessen by one to three minutes once he was made stronger using the forced growth skill.
He used the corpses he had brought to collect the essence, and after using two thousand points of essence on Kragg, he was ready to take on the Dark Troll king.
"Let's do this," Vlad murmured as he crushed the dark stone he got from his previous dungeon raid.
Like a final warning, the invisible barrier shattered with a resonant crack, its remnants dissolving into the air like fog in the wind.
Almost instantly, as if sensing its release, the lumbering giant raised his head, its dark, abyss-like eyes flickering to life, burning with an ominous glow.
"RRRAAARRARRRRRRRRRRRR"
His maw snapped open as a deafening roar tore through the cavern, sending a shockwave rippling outward.
The force blasted dust and loose debris into the air, rattling the very ground beneath Vlad's feet.
{The Troll King's Roar has failed to instill fear into the player}
The troll moved, its hulking frame moving with startling speed. Its clawed feet tore through the stone floor, leaving deep gouges as it closed the distance in just two powerful strides.
"NOWWWWW"
With a guttural snarl, it swung its massive claw at Vlad, who moved as he roared at the top of his lungs.
The chandelier above, a bowl filled with roaring flames, came crashing down, giving the Troll King, who was caught mid-attack, no time to evade.
The blazing chandelier crashed with a thunderous impact right on the troll's head, the layer of steel tearing open, and a bowl of fire trapped the beast in place, with the flames swallowing his towering form.
This setup always worked if done right, but it only offered false hope because while two-tenths of Troll King's health was gone, so was the light in the chamber.
The player never had a chance of victory, and after doing this, they would just earn a quicker death at the hands of the mad king once he fully recovered, thanks to his passive abyssal regeneration.
The players had learned not to use it, but for Vlad, with his inhuman instincts, darkness was no issue.