Single Mother of a Werewolf Baby

Chapter 225: The Throne of Skulls

At last, 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 becclear 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 chamber lay at the heart of the keep. The cadets explained 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]

TLeft: 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 first competition, 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 placed over this castle. Cadets cannot ascend beyond the ground

floor. Only the throne chamber is accessible. The upper levels are sealed by sarrays... most likely part of the

trial itself. The monsters are gone, slain by the first wave of cadets. But | gathered these for us."

She laid 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, but compared to the rusted scraps from the orcs,

these felt balanced, reliable, and ready.

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

ready."

ork

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 in last. The instant the door shut, the chamber flared alive. Light blazed 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

slabs 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 to come.

"Otherworlders!" he thundered, his voice a grinding avalanche of stone on stone. "You trespass upon my land.

You slaughter my kin. And now you dare crawl before me?" His thick lips curled into a snarl, jagged tusks bared.

"Arrogant! Audacious! Allowto 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 beca 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 blade, every bow, every iron scrap they had scavenged... the

castle had stripped it all away. They stood bare-handed, clad 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 overcthis 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 successful

assassination," She thought.

"Spread out and dodge!" Eleanor’'s command cracked through the chaos like thunder. "Surround him... we

observe before we strike!"

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

Stone split like brittle glass. 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 displacing the air in violent

gales that staggered even the nimblest among them.

Maira darted in at his flank, claws flashing. She raked at the troll’s hide with a flurry of strikes, water blades

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," Jaciara commented, already weaving her hands. A torrent of pressurized water blasted 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, landing 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 platform. 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 claws alone would not pierce that hide.

Above, the Troll King straightened, his crown blazing brighter with each passing heartbeat. His laugh boomed

through the chamber... mocking, cruel.

The Troll King barreled forward again,

his crown scattering fractured

rainbows across the pmpeLpshie

MESS figs swept doh. Eleanor

d5rtBd 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. The content is

on novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

"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 | had a sword, | 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 blows lands, we're finished!"

The fight spiralled on... dodging, scraping, panting. Their uniforms were shredded, their bodies bruised and

aching. The troll’s laughter 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.

I" : :

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, bu rsh No

beer bones will follow us out. If we

q , 9

die here, we won't actually die. Our

trial ends there... and we wake up in

" q q

the capsule." Her lips curled into a

feral grin. The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

no [1 q

Listen up, team!" she shouted... this

time, unknowingly unleashing her

[1 )

Alpha command. "We've been

holding back, roming de hurAans

with tehpjquesah apons. Forget

that his 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

f )

piece, as fast as we can. Now, let's

n

unleash our true selves!" The content

is on novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

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 the lapse 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 and commanding. "One perfect hit,

and you're out."

Her claws lengthened, gleaming under the dim light, as she let the beast within surge to the surface. A primal

growl rumbled from her chest.

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