026

Thud!

Another body fell.

By the time the eighth one had fallen, I was pretty much surrounded by these trolls, but they were very wary and weren’t charging at me blindly like before.

Although it was a good thing as it gave me time to think, but I don’t know why, but it also gave me a very bad feeling.

. . .

My feelings seemed to have been spot on as not even a few seconds later, I felt something very bad approaching near me through [Awareness].

I recognized something a little familiar as well though, the thing that was nearing me was a small pack, unlike the one that was surrounding me right now.

The earth itself rumbled under the thing’s footsteps. With loud thumping sounds, the small group became visible near the entrance of the huge cave.

The ones leading in the front were the familiar things that I sensed. There were two adult trolls leading, they were similar to the one that I had faced after defeating the small group of trolls chasing after Silvia.

They weren’t the highlight though, the highlight was slowly walking behind them.

It was a hulking monstrosity.

Using one of its thick arms, it held the top part of the cave’s opening as it lowered its head a little to move out.

Standing more than ten metres tall, this creature with its inflated belly, human sized arms and fat stubby legs came lumping out of the entrance.

“GRAAA!!!!!”

It howled out looking at me. It didn’t use the high pitched scream that it had used before. Thankfully.

Looking at that huge belly and the fact that the creatures that attacked me were hunting for animals, it is pretty obvious now that it was to feed this creature that I assume to be their mother. Judging by how the two in the front were trying to protect it, I could barely guess that she was like a queen of this colony.

It was their mating season. This was the reason why they were trying to hunt so much, it was for the new-borns that will be here in soon.

It was a good thing that I encountered it quickly then. If this breeding had continued for who knows how long, then it was only time before these creatures started making their way towards the town.

Even though I wasn’t trying to be a hero and I don’t really have any particular attachment to the town except for a few people. But I still can’t ignore it now that I’ve seen it, and since I have the power to solve this, then it is only right that I do.

I didn’t plan to run even if the fate of the town wasn’t at stake though. I had decided, no matter how haphazardly, that I wasn’t going to run anymore. So, I’m not gonna.

This place is near the gate, near the outpost, the monsters here are nothing more than cannon fodder. There are more, way more scary monsters living in the mountain ranges just a little outside of view. Who even knows if the inside of the plateau is safe?

For all I know, the four outposts leading outside are the only safe havens this world has. I don’t know.

If I choose to run without even trying to fight this, then there was no way I was going to ever going to grow.

So with my mind steeled. I faced the mother troll who was looking at me with eyes filled with nothing but bloodlust as it noticed the bodies lying around me.

A smile had inadvertently crept up on my face.

“Let’s do this.”

…

Back at East Green, things weren’t going too smoothly.

The southern gate was completely swarmed. Just as the fighting was getting intense, the situation in the Union was just as bad.

“A healer here please!”

“Two more swordsmen, one is bleeding from his right arm, the other has had five spikes stabbed through him. The poison has started spreading!”

“This one was hit by spikes too! Get me two anti-poison lotions as well as poison purging pills! Quick!”

The Union’s non-combat staff that was staying behind, the very handful of them were having a hard time dealing with the injured.

Thankfully some locals had decided to help, so at least they were able to handle the number of people coming in.

This wasn’t the first swarm this town had faced and this probably wasn’t going to be the last, so the old locals knew what to do in a situation like this.

The swarm this time was particularly bad as the creatures that attacked were Snow Pikes.

These were creatures the size of dogs with small fat bodies, resembling hedgehogs, with long, poisonous transparent spikes growing through their backs.

They could shoot out as many of them as they wanted, and although the poison wasn’t strong enough to kill someone in a single shot, they were effective enough in slowing down the volunteer’s bodies.

The spikes at the back presented a completely different kind of problem. Although the spikes weren’t strong enough to pierce through thick armour or a mid-level defence skill, they could shoot out a few of these at a time and they could shoot it successively as well.

Even if one managed to block a few of them, they would still be hit from a stray moving past their armour. This made them quite the enemy to fight against when in large numbers.

A swarm was usually around 1000-2000 monsters, but the swarm this time was reaching 10,000. Their town, which didn’t keep strong volunteers for more than a few days simply didn’t have the firepower to fight that many things at once.

And as if things weren’t going to get any worse than they were. In the middle of the emergency medical service, a guard from the north gate came shouting over.

His loud voice was loud enough that everyone who was there stopped to listen.

“A swarm of Ice Golems has just appeared on the north gate! We don’t have enough people to stop them, can the union spare anyone!?”

Lara, who was in the middle of patching someone, her face lost all colour as soon as she heard that.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

‘Why is all of this happening all at once!?’

“All the healed people and anyone who can fight, please aid the north gate! We cannot afford to have any one of our gates breached!”

‘The Trolls from the east, Snow Spikes from the south, the golems from the north, just what hell is happening!?’

She suddenly had a very bad premonition. Looking around quickly and spotting four people she judged could still move around and rounded them up all together.

“Listen, go to the west gate and keep guard, tell the guards there to not move from that position, no matter what! This situation is much more than a simple swarm now. Understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

The four did just as told and left quickly.

‘This doesn’t feel like a swarm anymore, the perfect timing of the swarm, and all of them attacking the main gates all together? This type of thing doesn’t happen just randomly. More than a natural swarm, this feels… more like a carefully orchestrated attack on one of the major defence pillars of Ice Garden Plateau…’

The thought itself gave her chills. She didn’t waste time dwelling on it though. There were a lot of people who needed her help right now, and since she was one of the non-combat staff who specialized in healing, the only thing she could hope to do was to get out of this mess as quickly as possible.

…

I lost consciousness after the loud scream entered my ears. So I don’t actually know how long I was out for.

When I slowly opened my eyes, my vision was still blurry. I knew I was on the ground, I could feel the cold cover my body.

I moved my blurry vision across, I tried looking for Grant, but I didn’t see him.

I was scared.

‘Was I abandoned?’ that thought involuntarily came in my mind almost immediately. If so, then that is good, it means that he was able to save himself.

I don’t know why but I couldn’t help but think that this is somehow a very fitting way for me to die.

I was unwanted all my life. By my family, my friends, my party and finally my benefactor.

It was at this time my blurry vision started becoming clearer.

The ringing in my ears had also lessened so I could hear somewhat.

There was some commotion going on behind me, I didn’t know what it was, but then.

“Just fucking die already!”

A very familiar voice entered my ears, I know I should be happy hearing this voice, but my body couldn’t help go cold.

‘No, no, no, why are you still here!!!?’

I immediately tried to get up and move out of the cover that Grant had probably laid me behind. My body, that had lost all of its sense of balance along with the pain in my legs, couldn’t move that quickly.

I barely managed to crawl out when my eyes locked onto the scene in front of me.

I saw him.

His hands were covered in blood, some of it his own I assume, his body on the other hand was covered in the dark disgusting blood of the creatures.

I could only see a blurry outline of what he was trying to fight, but I quickly knew what it was.

‘Mother Troll!’

A Tier-4 monster.

No, No! You can’t fight something like that! I wanted to scream, but my voice wouldn’t come out.

Looking at my own condition, I didn’t even know if I could reach him in time.

For the first time in my life, I felt utterly hopeless. I didn’t feel like this even when my own family abandoned me. But today, the person who saved me, that same person was losing his life in front of me and I was powerless to do anything against it.

But as I tried to look closer, I saw it, the subtle wounds that were covering the Mother Troll’s body.

‘Did he hurt it?’

I wanted to help him if that was true, because no matter if he was able to hurt it or not, unless he can finish it off, there is no chance he is going to win.

So, with tears flowing out, I opened my status. I wanted to see, even though I was familiar with everything in it, I was still hoping that I would find something I could help him with.

But it was still the same as before. My MP and BA were both in fatigue, and both stuck at 0. Even if I wanted to I couldn’t release any spell.

The only thing that was still usable was my Qi, and my pathetic innate skill.

I put my dirt covered hand forward, with tears covering my view, I tried to aim at Grant. With a voice that I could barely muster, I said.

“I’m-m sorry, this is all I can do… [Qi-”

…

“[Qi Boost]”

I suddenly hear Silvia’s voice come from behind me. By the time I saw back, I saw a small ethereal cloud bolt its way towards me, I wanted to avoid it, but my instincts told me otherwise.

I stood my ground and the cloud came and hit my back. The energy that the cloud was carrying started entering my body. When it was completely absorbed, I got a message.

[Skill: Qi Boost has been activated on host. Can be used to raise the level of any one skill by 3, temporarily. Kindly select skill to change.]

Even though I was surprised, I didn’t waste any time and answered almost immediately.

“[Stone Skin]!”

[Confirmed.]

[Skill: Stone Skin is now level 6.]

[Time remaining – 1 Minute 59 Seconds]

My body which was already using stone skin suddenly felt like I was being pushed down by tonnes of weight tying me down. I couldn’t move my body. Fist of the monstrosity came flying straight to my face.

I wanted to use my hands to cover my face but they were too heavy to even move, so I just stood there and braced myself for the impact. Only to see the fist of the creature come crashing down but failing to move me even one inch.

I could see it recoil with pain. I imagine it would be similar to punching a concrete wall. I was a little confused but then I quickly understood.

The skill increased my weight by 200 Kg when I used it on level 3, but now, with it being level 6, not only has the weight been doubled three times, but so has the toughness of the skin. If I’m right then my weight right now should be around 1600 Kg.

No wonder it recoiled in pain.

The thing just punched a 1.6 ton boulder condensed in the form of a human.

I cancelled the skill and with the lightness flowing in my body jumped towards the creature once again.

I didn’t have much time before the time was over and I didn’t want to fight the thing without it.

So jumping higher than the creature’s head itself, I moved over it head and just before I crossed it, I activated [Stone Skin] again.

With my body crashing on its head, although it didn’t kill it, it still left the creature’s head forced down towards the ground. I also heard a few bone breaking sounds, hopefully they’re not mine.

I cancelled the skill again and once again jumped and then just as before, crashed on its body once again.

The smaller trolls as well as the two guard trolls that had gone out of it way to let it fight me, came rushing over, but that wasn’t what I wanted as the huge mother troll still wasn’t dead.

I didn’t want to waste my time dealing with them, but they were getting in the way, I fought them as quickly as possible before I remembered to the remaining time.

[Time Remaining – 0 Minutes 14 Seconds]

I already wasted almost all of my time in this. I can’t afford to do this anymore.

So avoiding the others, I jumped again this time aiming my body on its head.

I activated the skill at the highest point I had reached in the sky and my body came down like a meteor, crashing into the head of the creature.

I finally heard some crushing sounds, but just as that happened.

[Time limit over. Skill: Stone Skin is unusable for 3 hour(s)]

Just as that message arrived. I felt the effects of my skills fade, then my leg that had come crashing down on the creature while also being covered in its blood feel warm.

The warmth spread until it was itch, then a full blown burn. It wasn’t even just the leg, since the blood was everywhere, it also burn everywhere, but it was the worst in my legs.

I forgot the blood of these things is corrosive.

My right leg, up till the knee was burning like I had stuck it in molten lava. I wanted to scream but the seeing the horde coming towards me stopped me.

I wanted to deal with them with [Stone Skin] as well. But seeing as I couldn’t use it, and I was having difficulty standing because of the burning pain in my legs, I couldn’t do so.

I couldn’t even bring my body to move backwards. As I was contemplating what to do next, I was bombarded with messages.

[3500 EXP gained.]

[Total EXP gained – 10495]

[You are now Level 9.]

[Condition Satisfied.]

.

.

.

There were more messages there but I had to ignore them as I prepared to dodge. I moved the little Qi that I had remaining in my body in my legs. The burning pain subsided a little but it still hurt.

I couldn’t get out in time as I saw the claw of the creature move further towards me.

I braced myself and covered my eyes. Which was maybe why I couldn’t see the huge black shadow that came in cut the twelve trolls that were running towards me directly in half.