The troll didn't rush.
It didn't need to. It moved through the clearing with the steady inevitability of something that had learned through experience that things in its way eventually stopped being in its way. The injured supervisor planted himself between it and the students and swung — a solid strike, clean form, the kind of hit that would have ended a normal D rank fight.
The blade connected. The troll flinched. The wound began closing before the supervisor had finished his follow-through.
The regeneration again.
Students scattered to the edges of the clearing. Some drew weapons. Others froze in the specific way people froze when the situation exceeded their available responses. A group of three tried to flank the troll from the left — fire magic, a sword strike, a wind-enhanced punch from a beastkin student. The troll absorbed all of it and swept its arm in a single horizontal arc.
All three went down.
Not dead. Just down — thrown clear of the troll's path, hitting the ground hard, taking themselves out of the fight in the process.
"Focus its legs!" Bran's voice cut across the clearing. He was already moving forward, shield raised, positioning himself to draw the troll's attention. Lyra moved with him without being asked, circling wide to get an angle.
Taro looked at Lysander. "What do we do?"
"Support Bran. Keep it focused on the shield."
Taro nodded and pushed forward.
The troll swung at Bran. He caught it on the shield — the impact drove him back three full steps and his footing slipped but he held. A second swing came immediately and this time he braced properly, turning the force sideways instead of absorbing it straight.
More students attacked from range. Arrows, ice spells, a lightning strike from somewhere in the trees. The troll's skin deflected most of it — the armor density was extreme, designed specifically to shed bladed and elemental attacks at its surface. What got through healed. The cycle continued.
The supervisor attacked from the right, landing a deep hit at the troll's knee joint — the same spot he'd clearly been working for a while, the armor thinnest there from accumulated damage. The troll staggered. Then turned toward him.
Its fist came down.
He moved — just barely, just enough — but the impact threw him off his feet and he hit the ground fifteen meters away and didn't get back up immediately. The clearing held its breath.
He was alive. His chest was moving. But he was done for this fight.
The panic that followed was immediate and understandable. Without the supervisor anchoring the fight the loose coordination that had existed began to break down — students pulling back, someone running for the forest edge, the troll filling the vacuum with another slow advance.
Taro stepped forward.
Lysander saw it happen. Saw Taro plant his feet and bring wind mana surging around his fists, the specific posture of someone who had decided that if nobody else was going to hold the line then he would hold it himself. His ears were flat, his tail was still, his expression had gone somewhere past brave into the territory just past it.
The troll raised its arm.
The system appeared.
ABYSSAL SYSTEM — ANALYSIS
Ironhide Troll
Weakness identified: Neck joint — rear, behind the ear.
Armor density: Low at identified point.
Strike probability:
Direct assault: 4%
Team coordination: 28%
Precision strike: 44%
Lysander closed the window and moved.