The words began to sink into everyone, including Nobina. While some knew more about it than others, even Nobina recognized the danger of a troll, let alone a variant of it that was a wolf.

“What’s a troll-wolf,” asked Max.

“A troll-wolf is a troll that shares some aspects of a wolf,” said Gavi. “In this case, this one has claws and a long mane that’s going down its back. The claws are only on its hands, and it does not have a weapon.”

As she said that, Nobina saw her Gaze bag lit up. She opened it to see a map, showing their current location and a marker showing Mimiki was indeed amongst the cages.

“Uh… thanks? I guess?”

Nobina was unsure why they were giving her this information now of all times, but she knew not to question the Gaze bag.

Her bag glowed again and soon, she pulled out a cloak with a set of instructions.

“An invisibility cloak… lasts for 10 seconds… neat,” nodded Nobina.

She wasn’t showing it, but Nobina was excited about the prospect of having an item like an invisibility cloak, but it lasting only ten seconds and being one use per day made it highly limited.

“What is happening,” asked Hepter, confused by the objects she was bringing out. “Did you say invisibility cloak?”

“Well, you see,” said Nobina before being cut off by her bag. This time, she pulled out 6000 feet of barbed wiring. “This bag produces random objects at random times. Usually it picks moments it feels appropriate to add things.”

All of them nodded, though some were more understanding of the strangeness than others.

Due to the circumstances, Nobina decided to drop the secrecy of the bag’s ability. She had no intentions of telling them more beyond what it did though, like her theories and who gave it to her.

The bag glowed once again, and this time, Nobina received a stack of business cards with a bee symbol on them. Reading it, it introduced the Gaze bag as a random item generator with a quote on the bottom: “Living and Breathing Gacha System. Known Residents: 2.”

“What does this mean?” asked Merrick, looking at one of the cards.

Nobina looked at the cards, her mind lighting up as she was gaining more answers to her questions. The fact it mentioned Gacha indicated these entities were from her old world. At the very least, it was a world with such terminology.

“But why…” Nobina wondered.

At that moment, a single note flew out of the bag and landed on her face. She read the name and stared at it…

“I’m… not sure… whatever…” Nobina’s voice trailed off as she entered deep thought.

“What,” asked Merrick.

“You know that dog earlier? It’s a corgi… named Lebron…. Sigh…” said Nobina, shaking her head as she recognized the name.

Nobina was realizing things were once again spiraling out of control. If not for the fact she wanted to make sure she didn’t miss an important item, she wouldn’t have been opening the bag at the moment. However, she knew she couldn’t just keep delaying them by waiting for items. Not to mention that she couldn’t control when they came and stopped.

After a minute, she finally gave a nod to them.

“Ok… it looks like the bag’s calm down for now,” said Nobina.

Looking around, everyone was very confused by what was happening. It was only moments after Nobina finished speaking that someone finally spoke.

“Oh right,” said Hepter. “So… it seems we got more barb wiring… a cloak?”

“Invisibility cloak. It lasts ten seconds. Activated by fully covering yourself. Limited to one use a day.”

At that moment, her bag glowed again with Nobina taking out the next object without batting an eye. She pulled out a white wand that looked like a twig. Reading the instructions, it indicated it could imbue a single object or construct with sentience and mobility for ten minutes and it would follow orders. It was limited to one usage a week.

Thinking about it, she thought it could be used on one of the cages to get it away, but she had misgivings about using it to save Mimiki alone. She had rather save all of them at once. At least freeing Mimiki would have given them the firepower to deal with the troll-wolf.

“So much to think about,” said Nobina, holding her head.

“What is it this time?” asked Merrick.

“A wand that makes an object sentient and under my control for ten minutes. Limited to one use a week.”

Merrick opened his mouth to say something but closed it before he could utter a word.

“So… what’s the plan,” said Merrick, directing the question to everyone. That seemed to break everyone out of their confused stares as Gavi spoke up.

“Well, we need to take inventory of everything here,” said Gavi, hoping to get everyone on track. “It seems like we’ve gained a lot of familiar and… not so familiar tools. Nobina will have to familiarize us with the items, though for the sake of time and urgency, I ask her to identify only the items of immediate use.”

Nobina gave a nod.

Her bag glowed again, and a note flew out. This time, even Nobina was confused by reading it.

“Who is Faffie?”

She recalled the note, hoping to look at this stuff later.

“Nobina,” said Hepter. “As much as the bag is useful, we can’t be here all day receiving objects. Can you put it aside for now as we formulate a plan?”

“Is there much of a rush?” asked Max. “There’s… no clear indication of something happening anytime soon.”

“We have people back in town waiting for our report,” said Hepter. “We must remember that while we’ve confirmed the status of the raid team, we need to return immediately in case the goblins try an attack while we are gone.”

Nobin realized he was right. Despite the bag’s potential to offer them a solution, she couldn’t pause the discussion every time it lit up.

“Understood,” nodded Nobina. “I’ll merely pull out the objects and leave them to the side unless its immediately important.”

She pulled out one last object, which was a picture of this “Faffie” person. Looking at it, she found it very cute, but also it made her wonder if this was an actual person from her world, from another world, or if this was potentially someone’s persona.

“So many questions,” she sighed.

Gavi began the planning by stating out their situation. She took a stick and began drawing out the location of everything.

“So we have about five cages. One cage has Mimiki, while the other four have split what I believe is the remaining adventurers. Judging by the bodies left behind and the number in the cages, it seems the remaining were split among those cages. They number about eleven.”

Gavi then pointed towards the location of the troll-wolf, which was about twenty feet away.

“Our main objective is to rescue all of them, but we also should consider dealing with the troll-wolf as mandatory. Trolls are already difficult to get away from, but one faster due to being part wolf might be impossible for people at our level.”

“How did they get captured by this thing anyway,” said Nobina. “Is it smart enough to capture and trap so many people? Did it have claws? Why did it trap them?”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

All the questions seemed to just float in the air as no one had the answers.

“That’s the big question. Why were they captured instead of killed like those five,” said Gavi. “Honestly, this seems like a trap for some reason. Perhaps someone is behind the scenes responsible for the troll and is waiting for a certain someone to try to free them.”

“If it’s at trap, then we shouldn’t walk into it, right?” asked Hepter.

Nobina started to become worried that they’d abandon all of them due to the risk, but Gavi surprised Nobina with her response.

“I would have been inclined to agree with you, but even if this was a trap, then who would it be for? I’d have to guess Eric, considering he’s the strongest person here. Perhaps someone wanted all of them captured and then would make a deal with Eric for their freedom.”

All of them nodded, understanding the logic behind it. Deep down, Nobina wondered if she was the target, but if so, then why? Until she had some concrete reason for someone to try to lure her into a trap, she didn’t want to say anything.

“Anyway, I didn’t see anyone else nearby. If they were close enough to monitor things and did ambush us, we’d likely all die or be captured. However, if we retreat now then we condemn then all to death. Perhaps not all of us have strong ties to Mimiki, but I doubt you’re going to abandon them, right Nobina?” asked Gavi, looking directly at her.

“She’d never abandon me and the same is true for me. I’ll do whatever it takes to save them,” said Nobina.

“Then… we need a plan,” said Gavi. “My plan itself involves distracting it while we try to free them, but I have a feeling that would go horribly. Hence, do you have any items that can help?”

Nobina nodded, taking out everything relevant.

“So I have a few things we can use. I have this wand that allows me to animate and order an object that is up to three-by-three-by-three meters large. I can use it to control Mimiki’s cage and have it open itself. Once’s its open, we can free her from her binds and she can assist us.”

“Next is this butterfly I have. It creates a shield around the object it hits, but also freezes it. I don’t know if it’ll work, but it should freeze the troll so we can act. Ideally it freezes it until everyone is free and we are ready to deal with it, but it might just not work.”

“Lastly, I do have a ton of barb wire, but I think it might be ineffective. Perhaps trying to surround it while its frozen would be effective, but it can also work against us.”

“I don’t think it would stop the troll, so let’s just stick with the first two items. We try to freeze the troll and free everyone. Else, we perhaps try to free Mimiki at least using the animated cage to bring her to us. That will work, right?” asked Gavi.

“I don’t know if I have to vocalize the command or mentally give it. If it’s the former, we’ll be in danger. For now, let’s just hope it’s the latter. Oh, I also can use the invisibility cloak to hide myself from view if I do have to yell.”

When she said that, she remembered she had one more item.

“Oh… I also have a one-time powerful magic scroll. It might be able to slay the troll outright, but it has a heavy cost and if it fails, then we are doomed.”

“If things take a turn, hopefully you get a chance to use it,” said Merrick.

Nobina gave a nod. With that, she decided to prepare the scroll and write down what the attack would be in the worst case. She wasn’t sure if it would work, but if it did then she’d gain more than just a one-time attack out of using it.

“By the way, can we kill it if we manage to free all of them?” asked Nobina.

“It’s a troll with claws and enhanced by its wolf-self. Pretty dangerous and it seems smarter than your average troll. I won’t underestimate the sheer attack power we all have together, but it’s going to all depend on whether its just a troll-wolf we are fighting.”

Nobina gave a nod.

With the two plans set, they reviewed what they had one more time. The barb wire, while normally useful, would unlikely stop the troll. As for her other objects, nothing came to mind as immediately useful. The grenades could potentially work, but if her knowledge of trolls from games was correct, they had thick skin.

At that moment, her bag glowed, and Nobina found a satchel. Opening it up, it contained three flashbangs, three smokescreens, and a photo of a fairy wearing an “I love Nobina” t-shirt, with a picture of an explosion behind it. It also had a set of instructions.

“I’m so glad these have instructions,” said Nobina. “Hm… I don’t know if I should try using them now. The flashbangs could ruin the situation, and the smoke… could work against us.

Nobina decided against using it for now, placing the satchel within her Special Bag.

“Alright… plan A… let’s do this.”

Nobina stood near the forest edge, looking at the troll. Gavi was above her, ready to act should plan A fail. Nobina took a deep breath and threw the butterfly. Like before, it began flying straight, heading towards the troll. She held her breath as she waited, and soon, the butterfly made contact, projecting a massive shield over the troll.

The troll didn’t move a muscle, causing Nobina to cheer.

“It worked! Let’s go quickly!”

Nobina and the rest of them rushed over to where Mimiki and her party were. Nobina, keeping focus on their objective, used her wand on Mimiki’s cage. It immediately came to life, moving towards Nobina as she yelled for it to come to her. Inside, Mimiki, who was bound by rope, was shocked at everything before realizing Nobina was there.

“Nobina,” she yelled. “What are you…”

“Get ready to escape,” Nobina yelled to Mimiki.

When they got close enough, Mimiki’s cage opened itself. Hepter was the first one inside thanks to his speed, trying to cut her ropes.

“Damn it,” he yelled. “They are magical.”

“Stand back,” said Nobina, arriving a few seconds later.

“Pen.”

A pen appeared in her hand, which she swapped to holding as a sword.

“Blade.”

Black ink began shooting out of the pen, forming a black then grey blade as it hardened.

“Summon.”

She summoned her ledger, intensifying the drain she was feeling. She didn’t have long, and she had to be careful of not cutting Mimiki.

Using the Pen Blade, she cut through the rope, freeing Mimiki. Nobina then immediately recalled everything, but she was once again tired.

“I’m free,” said Mimiki, shocked. Seeing Nobina tired, she patted her on the back. “Leave the rest to us.”

Nobina gave a nod.

“The moment… someone removes that butterfly… the freeze and shield stop. I don’t know… how long…”

As she said that, she heard a crack in the shield around the troll.

“It won’t last long,” said Nobina. “Remove the butterfly and prepare to retreat.”

Mimiki gave a nod.

“If it wasn’t for that random sleep spell, we would have been able to kill it,” said Mimiki. “Let’s try freeing as many people as we can. Once that’s done, follow my directions. I’ll pinpoint the weaknesses and we’ll take them down. We cannot escape it if we try to run.”

Nobina was still good enough to act, but she could no longer use her pen blade ability. However, she had a bad feeling about taking on this monster. If it was capable of killing that many C-ranks, there was no way they’d get out of there without someone getting hurt or worse.

The rest of them began opening the cages and trying to free the other adventurers. Only Mimiki’s ropes were magically bound, as the rest were easily freed by Hepter.

“We got a lot of us here,” said one of the C-ranks.

“We can do it. We know it’s weaknesses,” replied another.

Nobina saw all of them were raring to go, ready to fight this troll. Nobina, who wanted to do more, merely found herself standing back, her two bags by her side.

“No… I’ve done all I can,” said Nobina to herself. “It’s up to the rest of them now.”

As she said that, the shield finally shattered, allowing the troll-wolf to move. At that moment, the butterfly seemed to shatter into magical dust.

“Well that’s the end of that,” she nodded.

When she looked back at the troll-wolf, she was surprised to see the sheer number of abilities being used on it. From magical to physical, its back was being slammed by everything they got. The troll-wolf itself seemed stunned, trying to understand what just happened.

As for Mimiki, she jumped onto the trolls’ back, yelling her ability.

“Flash-Blade: Cut!”

In a flash, a massive cut appeared on the back of the troll’s neck. It screamed in pain as it went to try to remove her, but Mimiki had already hopped off. Despite its speed, Mimiki was significantly faster.

Looking at the troll’s back, it seemed significantly injured, highlighting the effectiveness of so many abilities. Not to mention that it seemed Mimiki’s ability had significantly hurt it.

“Back away,” yelled Mimiki.

All of them backed away as the troll swung around and swiped its claw. Unfortunately, two adventurers in Mimiki’s party got caught and were sent flying. The rest managed to get back fast enough.

“Again!”

They barraged the front of the troll, which was shielding itself from attacks using its hands. Nobina’s eyes were on Mimiki, who was moving behind it. She once again jumped onto its neck. This time, she used a different ability.

“Quick Cut.”

She once again struck where Mimiki was. The troll went to get her off but failed to do so. Mimiki jumped off and moved backward, away from where all of them were. It wasn’t a moment too soon as the troll swung around again and swiped at her directly. It was scary how fast it was, but fortunately it was still a troll at its core.

“The power of an A rank,” said Merrick, joining Nobina.

“Oh Merrick,” said Nobina. “Not participating?”

“I’ll get sliced immediately and don’t have a range ability,” said Merrick. “Best I just watch with you.”

Nobina gave a nod, turning her attention to the troll. Looking at it, it seemed it was slowly regenerating the damage. However, the damage they did was significant enough that it seemed to be backing away.

“It’s going to run,” yelled Mimiki. “Be prepared to retreat. This thing is not our priority.”

“Got it,” yelled everyone else.

The troll roared once more and soon it stomped on the ground. A massive cloud of dust appeared where it was standing, forcing everyone to look away. People began scattering, trying to get out of the cloud. From a distance, Nobina could see the troll running out the back. As she looked, she was surprised to see it seemed to stop regenerating, indicating that even the troll had limits to its ability.

“This is truly a strange world,” said Nobina as she watched the troll disappear from sight.

With the troll finally gone, Nobina breathed a sigh of relief. The dust began to clear, and everyone seemed to relax.

Nobina made her way to Mimiki, who ran to her. The moment she got close enough, Mimiki gave her a hug.

“You idiot,” she said, shaking her head. “Risking your life to save me… You know that troll could kill you in one hit, right?”

“I’m sure you’d done the same,” smiled Nobina.

Mimiki merely sighed.

“When this is all over, I expect you to work twice as hard training. And don’t expect me to go easy on you either.”

Remembering how rough her training to be, Nobina could only brace herself for what was to come.

“Sorry to interrupt,” said Hepter. “But we need to hurry back. We need to report everything that happened. More important, we need the story of what happened from Mimiki and the others.”

“Of course,” she replied. “Anyway, let’s head out of here while we have a chance. It seems like a lot has happened and we need to catch each other up.”

Everyone gave a nod.

The group gathered their things and began their trek away from the site. As they all left, a figure appeared from behind one of the trees. Behind it appeared a blue tail that merely swung left and right.

“Hm… Such strange items and abilities... I can understand why they paid so much for such a silly experiment. Then again, I don’t know why they told me specifically to not capture her,” spoke the hooded figure before disappearing into the shadows.