Another contestant who was given more screen time than the rest was Grayson Sterling from the Silver Wolf Guild. Unlike Jack Maelstrom, Grayson Sterling was much more of a team player, leading his team of four to attack one of the 4-star monsters—a colossal troll, the largest of all the troll species.
Grayson and his three other team members all wore silver knight armor, ones that gleamed with luster as though they were crafted by the best armorsmiths in the city. All four of the members rode on specially trained dire wolves—mounts whose hunting skills were among the best and whose loyalty were second to none. Grayson himself was a fairly handsome young man in his late 20s with a head of short, silver-gray hair—though his face was obscured by his helmet most of the time, especially during combat.
With a stern gaze at the colossal troll, which was trudging across the plains of purple grass in the far distance, Grayson gave the order to attack the troll in order to obtain its star runes.
“Charge!” Grayson shouted in the style of an aspiring warcry as he raised his halberd, prompting him and his fellow knights to charge at their target.
The knights—riding on their dire wolves—began circling the colossal troll, hoping to get into a strategic formation where they could attack on all sides. The troll was an ugly, disfigured humanoid with blue skin, possessing a height of about 3 to 4 times that of an average human adult. While lumbering across the plains, it was carrying a large wooden club that rested on its shoulders as it walked. As soon as the four knights began surrounding it, it started groaning in fear and rage as it began swinging its club in a haphazard manner.
Out of the four knights, three of them were attackers while one was a support healer. Of the three attackers, each of them wielded a different polearm. Grayson himself wielded a halberd while the other two wielded a glaive and a partisan respectively. As they continuously circled the troll, one would attack one of the troll’s legs with a quick swipe of their polearm, followed by another striking at its opposite direction, followed by yet another swift attack from the third knight.
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The three attackers were constantly on the move as they dished out their attacks, both as a way to confuse the troll and as a way to avoid its slow but powerful club swings. Their attacks were well-practiced and coordinated, the signs of a team with good teamwork and a competent leader.
Feeling frustrated, the troll slammed its club onto the ground with a huge downward swing, creating a shockwave that shook the ground around it. This caused the direwolves of one of the knights to stumble in its movement just long enough for the troll to take another massive club swing, smacking the knight off of his wolf mount.
“Percy!” Grayson yelled, calling out to his downed friend. However, he cannot lose focus right now. He needed to be a leader, and being leader meant giving out effective orders in an efficient manner instead of fretting over every minor setback. “Matilda! Go check on Percy and heal his injuries! Joan! Defend the two of them while Matilda is performing the healing!”
“Understood!” both the remaining knight and the healer confirmed before moving to complete their assigned tasks.
Meanwhile, the colossal troll let out a thundering roar before charging towards the knights for another attack. Grayson saw the monster approaching and opted to use one of his stronger attacks, a spell known as “Drill Lance”. Activating the spell, he transformed the halberd in his hand into a silver ethereal lance, one that’s spinning rapidly along its axis like a drill, wisps of silver aura emanating from its tip due to the sheer power of its spin affecting the turbulence of the air around it.
As the troll approached, Grayson rushed towards it with his wolf mount at full speed, meeting it head-on.
Right as the two closed the distance, the troll swung its club downward in an attempt to strike at the knight. However, the lance was able to drill through the wooden weapon and shatter it into a shower of splinters before bypassing it and piercing straight through the monster’s heart.
The troll let out a wail of pain as Grayson continued drilling his silver, eternal weapon through its vital organ, pink particles leaking out of its wound in place of blood. Soon, the troll’s corpse collapsed to the ground, slowly disintegrating until it left behind its four star runes. With that decisive attack, the battle was won in Grayson’s favor.
