Within the dimly lit cavern, the trio — Zayzal, Sera, and Anders — positioned themselves strategically near the entrance where the stone troll statue loomed menacingly.
Unlike the oppressive, ink-black corridors they traversed earlier, this expansive room flickered with an uncanny, ambient light, casting long, dancing shadows that played tricks on the eyes.
The trolls, still engrossed in their ritualistic homage to the statue, didn't notice the intruders at first. They knelt, their bulbous, misshapen forms swaying gently, emitting guttural, hypnotic chants that reverberated off the cold, damp walls.
Zayzal’s voice, low and steady, rippled through the tense air as he questioned, “You guys ready?”
Seated on the cool, hard ground, his eyes flickered with a contained fire of anticipation while he carefully balanced the hefty ballista on Anders’ back. Bent on his hands and knees, Anders bore the weight, muscles tense, eyes locked on the cavern ahead, a bead of sweat trailing down his temple.
With a fire in her eyes, Sera gripped her shield and axe tighter. "Always," she responded, her voice a low growl echoing her anticipation. Anders, on the other hand, offered a hesitant nod, eyes flickering with the flicker of unease. "...As ready as I’ll ever be."
Without another word, Sera surged forward like a tempest. The cavern’s atmosphere charged with her ferocious energy, alerting the trolls, who turned their grotesque heads towards her. Their chants broke, replaced by angry roars as they rose to meet the challenge.
However, Sera was unstoppable. With a mighty swing of her axe, she targeted the knee of the nearest troll, cleaving through flesh and bone. The creature toppled, howling, only to be silenced forever as Sera's axe arced down once more, splitting its skull with brutal efficiency.
Blood and brain matter sprayed the immediate vicinity, speckling Sera's clothes with the gruesome evidence of her kill.
With a swift, fluid motion, Sera reclaimed her axe from the fallen troll's skull, flicking droplets of blood from its blade.
Then, she straightened, her voice a thunderous roar that vibrated against the cavern walls, challenging and raw. “Come at me, you bastards!” Her words, charged with fury, echoed through the space, drawing the eyes of every living creature towards her.
Enraged by her provocation, the trolls roared and stomped after her. They quickly tried to surround her, but Sera moved fast enough to prevent that.
“Is that the best you can do?! My grandma is more courageous than you!” She taunted while on the run.
After a few seconds of chasing, one of the trolls finally grew impatient and picked up a large rock, which there were quite a few scattered around the dungeon. It chunked it at her with amazing power, forcing her to stop for a moment and block it.
Clink!
It rebounded off her shield.
However, that split second was enough for another two trolls to close in on her. They converged on either side of her and swung their meaty fists!
But, just before they could hit, Sera raised her shield and created a barrier around her.
BOOM! BOOM! Crack!
The barrier began to crack under their assault, but Sera retaliated. She swung her axe at one of their legs, embedding it into their skin and reaching the bone. It roared in pain, and she barely had enough time to retrieve her weapon before the other troll broke the barrier and attacked her.
She dodged to the side and spun around, deflecting the blow with her shield, but the impact still forced her back a few feet.
The other trolls were already converging on her position, attempting to block off all escape routes.
‘Damn! That was fast.’ She cursed.
Sera’s eyes darted around, looking for a way to get out of this predicament. Suddenly, an idea came to mind.
‘It’s not good, but it’ll have to do. I’ll leave the rest to you, Zayzal.’ Sera muttered before taking aim with her axe. Using her entire body, she launched it at the troll that was farthest away from the others.
It somersaulted in the air before striking the troll’s forehead, cleaving its brain.
Using that opportunity, she dashed at the corpse, stepping on its body and springboarding herself out of the encirclement.
She sprinted over to Zayzal’s position, using every ounce of strength she had to get there without any mishaps. The trolls, however, weren’t far behind, their rage heightening due to another member dying.
In just a few seconds, she made it back to the entrance. When she did, she immediately turned around and raised her hands. Before the trolls could barge in, she utilized all the mana she could muster to create a large barrier that blocked the entire entrance.
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“Get ready!” She shouted, feeling the mana within her depleting at a rapid rate.
The trolls pounded on the barrier, creating cracks with every hit.
Zayzal took aim right down the center while Anders gripped his spear tightly while still on his hands and knees. Sweat seeped out of their foreheads, as failure meant they were as good as dead.
Just when it seemed like the barrier was about to break, an opening was created in the middle, big enough for a single troll to stumble through. Sera gave Zayzal a smirk and nodded, who saw that and returned the smile.
Realizing that it was breached, the trolls quickly forced their way in.
Once Zayzal saw a bunch of them lined up together, he smirked.
‘Now!’ He pressed the trigger.
The metal bolt shot out like a bullet, the recoil sending Zayzal tumbling into the stairs and slamming Anders into the ground.
A flash of silver was the only thing that could be seen before a resounding ‘Boom!’ went off on the other side of the room.
Zayzal, Anders, and Sera quickly composed themselves and looked up, only to see fist-sized holes through at least a dozen trolls. It was a gruesome sight as they saw the monsters’ hearts beating, causing blood to spew out of their chests. Some trolls’ hearts were even directly pierced.
Their vitality kicked in to try and heal them, but the damage was too severe, and they soon stopped breathing, only to fall to the ground with a loud thud.
A few of the trolls that were out of the line looked at this scene, confused. They couldn’t comprehend what just happened.
“Hurry! Finish them off!” Zayzal shouted before gripping his spear and charging at the half-a-dozen remaining trolls. He took out the dagger that was at his side and tossed it at Sera, who caught it and instantly knew what to do.
Although she was covered in sweat and breathing heavily after using all her mana, she wasn’t the type to sit around and do nothing! She grabbed her shield and ran after Zayzal, followed by Anders.
Zayzal wasn’t nearly as strong as Sera, so he wasn’t able to brute force his way through and had to focus more on their weak points. He went for the one that was isolated from the rest, as it had attempted to break the barrier through the side.
However, the troll wasn’t going to let him do as he pleased. It raised its arms, one to block his spear and the other to counter.
‘Tsk. This one’s smarter than the others.’ Zayzal clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Trolls didn’t have that many weaknesses, at least from what he discovered. The eyes, joints, mouth, and back were the main ones. Anywhere else was just superficial wounds, which he was neither strong enough to pierce with a casual swing nor was his spear sharp enough.
Only with a powerful lunge would he be able to do considerable damage.
‘But, this guy’s keeping his distance.’
Suddenly, a spear whizzed past him and hit the troll’s thigh. He didn’t need to turn around to know it was Anders.
Zayzal took advantage of the troll’s momentary stumble and stabbed it in the stomach.
The monster roared in anger, plucked Anders’ spear out, and tossed it to the side before pouncing on Zayzal. He swerved back, dodging its attack before taking a step towards the troll and thrusting the spear forward with his backhand, piercing its chest and reaching its heart.
The troll stumbled back, but that attack wasn’t enough to kill it. Fortunately, Anders had already grabbed his spear and was next to the monster. He held his weapon close to the blade and jumped up, jamming it into the troll’s eye.
Zayzal ran up and shoved his spear deeper into the chest wound, bisecting its heart and killing it.
However, now wasn’t the time to rest.
“We need to help Sera!” He declared, to which Anders nodded.
They grabbed their weapons and ran over to Sera, only to be shocked by what they saw. One troll was already lying on the ground, dead, with a dagger in its eye socket, while another had an axe in its chest.
Apparently, while they were fighting one, Sera had killed one, retrieved her axe, and killed another.
‘...What a fucking beast.’ They couldn’t help but comment, only to shake their heads and rush over to her.
Right now, she was fighting them without a weapon, just her shield. Anders ran around and collected both her weapons while Zayzal joined the fight.
As a troll lunged at her, Sera effortlessly lifted her shield, deflecting a blow that could crumble stones. “About time you finished up!” she called out, her voice laced with feigned irritation yet glittering with underlying amusement, eyes sparkling dangerously. “I was beginning to think you got crushed by these lumbering meat bags!”
Zayzal, ducking beneath a wild swing from another enraged troll, grinned back at her, parrying the creature’s attack. “How can that be?” He retorted, voice steady despite the chaos around them, eyes twinkling with exhilaration. “I was merely providing you an opportunity to blow off some steam, no?”
“Hmph! If you don’t get stronger soon, you might just end up with an axe in your skull.”
“...”
The two bickered back and forth while fighting in tandem. It wasn’t long before Anders entered the fight, handing over Sera’s axe.
Once she had her weapon, it didn’t take them long to finish off the remaining three trolls.
After it was all over, the three of them found a spot in the room that wasn’t soaked in blood and collapsed in exhaustion. They were panting hard as that fight had taken almost everything out of them.
However, before he could completely relax, Zayzal stood back up and looked around. He saw that the ballista bolt was embedded in the dungeon wall, but it seemed to have passed through the troll statue as it had crumbled on the ground, revealing a glowing blue crystal and a latch that looked like it would open something.
Zayzal didn’t hesitate to destroy the crystal, heaving a sigh of relief as he watched it turn to powder. Then, he grabbed the hatch and raised it open.
The top of the stone compartment slowly lifted, and a bright light shone from within.
“Oooh~!” He whistled, seeing all the loot within. It was partially filled with gold coins and gemstones like the previous one, but on top of that were things that he hadn’t seen before.
The first thing that caught his attention was the short sword that looked like Viking Seax. It was around 20 inches long and made of Damascus steel with a single edge, clipped point, and dark wood for the handle.
Next to it was a compass-looking object, but it didn’t have ‘North, East, South, West’ on it, just an arrow that was currently spinning around in circles.
Aside from those two things, there were three others. One was a glass bottle with a strange liquid that looked like a potion; it had a pair of winged shoes on it. The second was a high-quality grey tunic, and the third was a clump of iridescent stones that emanated mana.
‘Mana Stones?’ Zayzal guessed and would have to confirm that later.
After he was finished taking in the sight, his two companions soon joined him.