Chapter 36

The troll walked very fast due to its large size, for it it was a typical walk, but Liam and the others had to run after it at a decent pace. The troll seemed quite reasonable to Liam for a monster, but its outburst of rage once again proved to him that even reasonable and kind monsters are dangerous. They ran after the troll for about 5 minutes, until it stopped at a large cave.

"GREENE LEAVE YOU HERE." He said before entering the cave.

Liam began to examine the surroundings while they were able to rest. The cave was made of some dark stone, he had nothing to compare it to so he did not know how good it was, but he could assume that the stone was very strong. The cave was in the middle of a meadow of flowers, it did not fit into the surrounding landscape at all, so Liam decided that the troll most likely made it himself. From a short observation of the troll, Liam saw that he was not bad at magic, considering that he healed everyone without blinking an eye. It was at least strange, where the troll found such a spell, he could not even imagine perhaps the troll even made it himself.

They did not wait long for the troll, after 10 minutes he came out with a bag from which a pleasant aroma of herbs emanated. In the hands of the troll, the fabric bag seemed very small, one of the troll's hands barely fit in it.

"HOW DID YOU CAME TO GREEN?"

"We came along the river bank." Brandon answered.

"HM, GREEN DON'T ASK HOW YOU FOUND HIM, GREEN WANTS TO KNOW."

"The teacher told us how to find Green." Brandon answered, rubbing his hands nervously.

"HM, GREEN AND MREU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE THE OLD MAN, WHAT'S HIS CLASS AND LEVEL?" The troll asked with interest while Brandon was sweating profusely from worry.

"Teacher Elton [Great Secret Mage] Lvl 400." Brandon answered quietly.

"MMM, A STRONG OLD MAN. THE GREAT MAGE IS VERY DANGEROUS FOR GRIN, FIGHTING HIM WOULD BE VERY HARD. BUT PEOPLE ALWAYS HAVE POWERFUL ARTIFACTS WITH THEM." The troll said with no small amount of concern.

"TELL ME, LITTLE MAN, IS THE OLD MAN GOING TO KILL GREENE?"

"I don't think so." Brandon quickly responded.

"OKAY, GREEN WILL BELIEVE YOU." The troll nodded, thinking about Brandon's answer in complete silence, while the others were getting more and more worried, after a while he answered.

"LET'S GO TO THE RIVER." The group looked at each other and each shrugged.

As they walked, Liam considered how strong the troll would be compared to Elton the teacher. The troll had a [Special] race, which gave him much more stats than his level indicated, while Elton the teacher had Lvl 400 and was a Great Mage. He knew many more spells and was definitely much more skilled in magic than the troll.

Troll definitely has [Regeneration] [Epic] and an additional stat for restoring life force. It's clear that Elton the teacher will win, but will he win fighting both Green and Mreu at the same time? I'd definitely like to see that fight.

While Liam was thinking about his own, they approached the river and began to walk along its bank, after a while they stopped at the place where their team fought with the [Iron Wolves], many corpses were still lying in the frozen ground, some were missing, other animals had probably already managed to eat them.

The troll approached one of the corpses, he cast a spell that made the nearest plant grow and get him an ice needle that was inside the corpse. He took the needle and began to carefully examine it in his hands.

"GREENE HAS NEVER SEEN THIS ICE BEFORE. WAS IT YOU, LITTLE HUMAN, WHO KILLED THESE WOLVES?" The troll asked, pointing a finger at Liam.

"Yes Grin."

"I WONDER, MAKE ME THE SAME NEEDLE."

Liam did not argue with the troll. He poured mana into the aura and activated the skill [Adaptive Aquatic Weapon][Rare++]. He took some nearby water from the river, creating a ball of water between his hands. Next, he gave the water more pressure using a large amount of mana. Taking out diamond dust from the pouches, he poured it into the spell. With the help of a sharp freeze and a weak transmutation spell, a needle with a diamond tip began to form inside the water bubble. The final element for this spell was a small mana structure inside the ice needle, increasing its durability. When Liam was done, he took the needle in his hand and dispelled the spell [Adaptive Aquatic Weapon][Rare++], taking out all the mana and diamond dust that was inside.

Casting the spell initially required a lot of mana, but he could get it back afterwards, so he ended up using only 40 MP to create a slightly larger needle. Most of the mana was used to apply pressure to the water ball to create the needle inside it. Holding the ice needle in his hands, Liam walked up to the excited troll and handed it to him. The troll took the needle with two fingers, the 20 cm needle seemed very small in his hands. Looking at it, the troll spoke.

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"VERY SKILLED FOR SO LITTLE MAN. DIAMOND TIP, VERY ORIGINAL. HOW COULD SO LITTLE MAN LEARN SO COMPLEX A SPELL?"

"I was born into the strongest family of water mages in the Holy Kingdom."

"GREEN KNOWS ABOUT THE NOBLES, VERY NASTY OLD PEOPLE. GREEN HAS BEEN LUCKY NEVER TO MEET THEM." The troll replied with a little disdain.

Holding the needle in his hands, Green began to press on it with his fingers harder and harder until it cracked. When this happened, several fragments cut the troll's hand and blood began to flow from it, literally in a second the wound healed back. Throwing the needle into the ground between Liam's legs, the troll spoke.

"REALLY GOOD SPELL, GREEN WANTS TO GET TO YOUR CAMP QUICKLY. GREEN IS COUNTING ON YOUR SPEED."

Without waiting for anyone to answer him, he quickly walked. Liam, using mana manipulation, picked up the needle and took out all the mana from it. Looking back, he noticed that he had already fallen far behind. He had to run pretty fast to catch up with the group. While the troll walked quickly, the others ran, only Alistair had a hard time, since his physical characteristics were not as strong as the others. The troll did not stop the whole way, while Alistair found it more and more difficult to maintain the desired pace. After a few hours, they reached the camp, where Evander met them with Cassandra. The group stopped, Alistair fell to his knees and tried to catch his breath, and Green cast a spell that made the nearby plants grow quickly and entangle Evander and Cassandra.

Liam took it well, but Brandon was angry and scared at the same time. But even so, he knew that he couldn't change anything. Coming closer, the troll began to examine Evander and Cassandra. The prince did not try to break free from the shackles, Cassandra tried to tear the plants apart, but even all her physical strength was not enough for this. She decided to use spells, but her magic was undermined by the Troll's aura and some kind of intimidation skill.

"THE ONLY THING THAT GREEN HATES MORE THAN THE DAMNED IS THE CHURCH. TELL ME, LITTLE MAN, WHY DO YOU HAVE A HOLY CORE BUT YOU'RE NOT A PRIEST?"

"Because my bloodline has given it to me since birth." The prince answered carelessly, to which Green nodded.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU BECOME A PRIEST? ARE THEY NOT STRONGER THAN HOLY MAGES?"

"I lack faith and I believe that to become truly powerful you should not rely on a deity."

"GREENE CAN RESPECT THAT." The troll replied, turning his gaze to Cassandra. "YOUNG VAMPIRE, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE MET YOU, BUT I CAN TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVE A DISGUSTING CURSE. YOUR RACE HAS MERGED SO MUCH WITH IT THAT YOU NOW CONSIDER IT AN ADVANTAGE, NOT A DISADVANTAGE. I SEE THAT DESPITE THIS, IT HAS HAD LITTLE TO NO AFFECT YOU, WHICH I FIND STRANGE. HOW DO YOU, A VAMPIRE, DEAL WITH THIS?"

Cassandra looked at the troll with a little anger, licking her sharp teeth, she replied.

"I don't want to talk about this with a monster." Liam and the others held their breath after her answer. Everyone waited to see how the Troll would react to this.

Why is she provoking him? He can tear her apart , she has no instinct for self-preservation?

"HM, OK. YOU DON'T HAVE TO ANSWER ME. THIS IS NONE OF GREENE'S BUSINESS, BUT GREENE ADVISES YOU NOT TO DEVELOP YOUR RACE, OR YOU WILL BECOME A MONSTER LIKE GREENE." The troll said and released the shackles. The plants that were very tall before transformed back into small ones. Cassandra and Evander stood on the ground. The prince was glad as the others that it didn't end in conflict, and Cassandra was thinking about what the monster said.

"I am very pleased to welcome Green to our camp." Evander said as he adjusted his clothes.

"GREEN DOESN'T CARE, SHOW ME WHERE THE PLAGUE THOSE ARE, LITTLE MAN"

"Of course, follow me." The Prince answered and walked towards the camp. A minute later they reached a small dugout.

"GET THE SICK ONE OUT, GREEN CAN'T COME IN. YOU CAN STAY, JUST DON'T COME CLOSE."

The prince signaled to Cassandra to enter the dugout. A few minutes later she came out carrying the boy who had fallen ill first, with her were Kaeti and Max. The boy looked very bad, despite the treatment. His eyes were sunken, he was covered in sweat, his skin was very pale, some places were covered with black spots from which pus was oozing.

Approaching the Troll, Cassandra placed the boy at his feet. The Troll leaned closer and cast some spell, it passed without visible effects. No one present could understand the exact purpose of this spell, even the healers did not know it. Green knelt down and began to take out various herbs and tools from the bag. Taking several herbs, he put them in a bowl and began to crush them with a mortar, later he added water there and thoroughly mixed it until a homogeneous gruel. Nodding, he gave the bowl to Cassandra.

"GIVE HIM A DRINK."

Cassandra lifted the boy and poured the mixture into his mouth. The boy couldn't swallow it all at once, so Cassandra covered his mouth and nose with her hands. When everything was ready, Green leaned over and put his hand on the patient's chest. Green energy began to flow out of his hand, which was absorbed into the boy, thanks to which the man was recovering right before our eyes. After 10 seconds, he was completely healthy, but still unconscious.

"HE WILL BE OKAY, THE LITTLE MAN NEEDS TIME TO REST. TAKE HIM SOMEWHERE ELSE AND CARRY THE NEXT ONE."

So Liam and the others present began to watch as people were carried out to Green one by one. He often mixed some herbs and gave them to the patients, after which he cast a spell that left everyone completely healthy. All 10 people were completely healed after some time. Green took some more herbs out of the bag and rubbed them in his fingers, he spread the remaining dust on his palm with his finger and added life mana to it. Taking a deep breath, Green blew on his hand. The dust that was in it flew into the cave, with the help of a little Air Manipulation, it flew exactly as the troll wanted.

"Why did you do this?" asked the prince.

"GET RID OF THE PLAGUE. BETTER NOT TO GO THERE FOR A FEW DAYS." Green replied and raised a thin earthen wall to block the entrance inside.

"Thank you very much from me and everyone in this camp, you have helped us a lot." The prince said gratefully, to which Green waved his hand."

"GREENE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOUR GRATITUDE." Evander didn't expect that answer, so he stumbled slightly over his next words.

"Dear Druid, may I ask you for one more favor?"

"HM, GREEN WILL THINK ABOUT IT. ASK WHAT THE HOLY MAGE WANTS FROM ME."

"Perhaps you can cure one person, he overloaded his body with "technicians"." Evander asked hopefully.

"GREEN WILL LOOK BUT WON'T PROMISE ANYTHING."

"Of course." The prince said and happily led him to Dylan's house.