The floor was hot; boiling, in fact. Maggie wanted nothing but to stay on the ground longer and rest, that is, if her skin wasn’t beginning to burn where it was pressing directly against the stone. So with an effort, she started pushing her body off of the ground. It was getting harder to do that every time.

This was the second time she fell from a considerably high place and turned out mostly intact. With that and all the injuries she has been shrugging off so far, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe she was a bit more resistant or at least pain-tolerant than the average person.

Or maybe she was just too stubborn to stay down.

Using her arms, she pushed herself up to a kneeling position, watching a trail of blood and phlegm leave her nose, clinging to the ground. “Uugh.” If she hadn’t broken her nose before, she was positive she did it now.

Are you okay? Can you move? Asked Belinda, a moment later.

“I—Ugh. I don’t think I broke anything… Important.” She answered, pushing the air from her nose to force the blood out.

Good. So get up. We can't rest just yet.

“Easy for you to say… When I am the one doing everything.” She mumbled, forcing herself all the way back to a standing position.

If you can complain, you can move. See what you can find and then try to stop your bleeding the best you can with the time we have left.

“Right, right…” Maggie wasn’t sure how long she had until the giant creature found her. She couldn’t hear its footsteps, with how loud this room’s fire contraptions were, so she was assuming it could arrive anytime, and while she wasn’t in the best of states —or mood, for what is worth— she knew she needed to run. Without wasting time, she reached for the maroon box on the dais in the center of the room, pulling it from its place of rest.

As soon as Maggie lifted the little box, a small pressure plate underneath it started to slowly rise, until, with a loud click, all the fire-gushing contraptions suddenly blinked off, returning the place to a state of complete silence.

“Oh, thank you.” She deflated, feeling relieved. “I had no idea of how I would leave this place.”

Maggie, fast now.

“Oh, right.” Not wanting to lose any more time, Maggie just flipped the box's lid, opening it to reveal its contents. And to no one's surprise, there it was; cards.

So? Asked Belinda, feeling impatient.

“Oh, this looks interesting!” she answered, going through the cards one by one, “It’s all the same card. There are five copies of something called Burning Hands.”

Burning Hands

Rank C — Magic Card

“Fire. One of the quintessential forces of nature. For a limited amount of time, you can harvest its properties and control its flames with your bare hands.”

“This looks pretty cool!” she exclaimed, her mood turning a little better by finding new magic cards, “But why are the descriptions always so vague?”

I feel like this is done by design more than anything.

“—Oh! The last Burning Hands copy has a little star engraved next to its name! What is that about?”

That will be helpful. Do you remember when I said the Letter Rank represents its rarity?

“Uh, yes.”

Well, simply put, the stars represent its overall quality. The more stars it has, the better the card. Of course, that also makes it less common than its starless equivalent, further increasing its rarity.

If you want my opinion. I think the way these cards are classified is a complete mess. Wouldn't it be better to just rank it using numerals? Maybe even breaking it into tiers if you want more variety. Alas, I digress…

You said the creature was big. How did it look, again?

“Big thing with some really tough stone-looking skin covered in vines and moss.” She answered, then claimed the cards, sending them to her Book. She still couldn’t hear the loud stomping of the creature’s footsteps, so she assumed she had a little time. She started to move towards her haversack. Hopefully, she would have enough time for some quick first aid.

And we receive fire-based magic... Pondered Belinda.

That narrows it down.

“What is it?”

I believe we are facing a troll.

“…Like on the internet?” Maggie asked after a few seconds of silence.

I’m not familiar.

‘…Neither was I until a moment ago…Wow, that is too much for me to get into now. How do I kill it?” She shook her head, trying to clean away all the useless information she just recovered. ‘Oh boy… The internet. Why now?’

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Trolls have stone-like skin and a regeneration factor, Answered Belinda, thankfully changing the focus of Maggie’s mind, but they are sensitive to fire and sunlight. Not only will it stop them from regenerating, but it will also make them weaker and aggravate their wounds… Tsc. If I had seen it earlier. I just realized something… Maybe this place was supposed to serve as a safeground.

The fire would most likely keep the Troll away.

The realization finally hit Maggie. They could have just stopped and rested all this time? Sure, you can’t really rest while boiling under extreme heat, but she could have at least healed herself! She was about to complain to Belinda when she realized she also never really described the creature up until this point. She keeps forgetting that for some weird reason, Belinda can only see things when they stop for a few minutes. This was all her fault to begin with!

“I… I screwed up.”

We did.

And as if pointing out their mistake, from far beyond the corridor, a loud bang echoed, like a massive explosion.

The Troll was on the move.

***

Fast now. I don't think we have much time!

The ground-shaking explosion reminded them how dire their situation was. They had no idea of what the Troll was up to, but they would not stick around to find out.

You still have a few strips from your robe, use it to apply pressure on your wounds; stop the bleeding the best you can.

As fast as her injuries allowed her, Maggie scuttled towards her haversack, carefully falling to her knees to remove some pieces of the robe she previously cut back when she had to take care of the Burrowing Gerbils' aftermath. With it in hands, she slowly raised her coat, grimacing in pain as her wounded flank became exposed.

Her clothes were already so soaked that the linen of her coat and the leather of the vest on top of it were glued to her skin, working as a lousy improvised bandage. Now that she removed it, though, when she moved, blood started to slowly pour out of the four tiny perforations left by the Imp. She had to swallow the pain to quickly tie the robe pieces around her waist, and then, quickly at her arms.

She wanted to remove the coat to try and check on the wounds on her back, but she knew it would probably take quite some time to properly take care of it. In the end, she just tore another, larger, piece of the robe with her knife, and tied it tightly around her torso.

Not even stopping, she threw everything back in her haversack, tied it tight against her back, to help with pressure, and with an effort charged her crossbow with a bolt, just in case she managed to get a good opportunity for a clear shot at the creature. With one last detour, she grabbed her crossbow bolt’s pouch and prepared to leave and face her enemy.

You should also check your cards before leaving. Belinda pointed out, as Maggie was about to wobble out of the room.

“Alright.” She answered, calling her book. “I can put three of these cards in my —What was the name again?”

Quickcast slots. You can quickly call your cards to manifest their magic this way.

“Right.” Without stopping moving, she quickly rearranged the cards she had in her Book, removing the cards that were there previously and putting Burning Hands copies.

Put the one-star version of the Burning Hands in the last slot. I’m not entirely sure the range of this spell is far enough for you to cast directly from the Book safely, but you can open it to use the last two cards if needed, as a last resort.

“Got it.”

One last thing. Ending this fight using the least amount of resources possible is good, as having an extra resource might save your life in the future, but do not hesitate to use all you have if you need it to save your life now. No point in hoarding it if you are dead.

Go get it.

With Belinda’s motivational words, —well, as motivational as Belinda can be— Maggie left the room, carefully listening for any clues as to the Troll’s whereabouts. She was getting very uneasy with how silent the corridors became after that one loud bang, but she couldn’t help but feel like the creature was just waiting for her to stop, to let her guard down, to suddenly appear from nowhere and attack, so she continued moving.

She was almost in the room where she first met the Troll when an idea crossed her mind.

“Hey, Belinda. How do you think these torches work?”

Magic, I would assume. I don’t believe we have someone tending to the maintenance of this place. What you need to know is if the flame itself is magical, or if the magical part is its igniting mechanism.

“Alright, let's find out.” Before, she quickly came to regret not trying to rip one from the wall, —considering how much of a pain being in the darkness was to her— so this time she made sure to get something to light her way, even if it was the weak light of those torches.

With a sudden tug, she pulled her already mauled sleeves, ripping them from below the elbow, and wrapped her hands with it, to avoid burning them on the heated thin base of the torch. Applying pressure on the wall with her foot, she pulled it, using her weight, and gravity to break it away.

“Alright, much better.”

Looking close, she noticed the small flame of the torch seemed to be coming from a tiny sphere in the center. Wiggling the torch around, she noticed it seemed to be loose in the base.

She was about to inspect the other torches, to see if she could take advantage of this mechanism to fight the Troll when she heard a curious thumping sound coming from the walls.

“That is… strange.”

What?

“I heard something coming from the walls” She answered, approaching the wall to investigate closer.

Like what?

“It was a thud, almost like a—” ‘step.’

Then she remembered, when the Troll punched the wall, it collapsed against its fist.

The walls, they are hollow!

Her eyes went wide, and jumping backwards, she just managed to get away from the wall when it suddenly exploded, with hundreds of stone shrapnels flying everywhere as a massive hand closed centimeters away from her head.

“The sound! It was the Troll, they were waiting for me inside the wall!”

Run!

The Troll let out a loud roar of anger, seeing its carefully crafted plan not working. Before it could open a hole large enough to pass through the wall, Maggie started to run.

You need to go back to where the Troll first came! A thing that big can’t be just living in the corridors. There has got to be an open ground somewhere. Try to fight it there, you will have enough space to move. If you fight it in the corridors, you will most likely lose.

Acknowledging Belinda, Maggie bolted forward.

As she approached the room where she first met the Imps, something drew her attention. The section of the wall where the Troll had its arm stuck was completely crumbled, destroyed from the base. This was its entry point, she realized.

Behind her, she could hear the sound of the creature’s steps, getting louder and louder by the time, accompanied by its roar. It seemed extremely angry, and getting closer.

Entering the dark room, she started to wave the torch around her, looking for the exit, but what she found instead, was a lever, very similar to the one she saw next to the bridge not a while ago.

“That little Imp…” It could only be her! She tricked Maggie once again.

Pulling the lever, she watched as tiny sparks ignited the spheres inside the torches, lighting the room once again, revealing its content. The room itself seemed nearly featureless, with some small holes in the walls that Maggie could clearly see as a hiding place for the Imps. But directly at its right, she found a large opening. The exit she was looking for.

She strode forward, entering a much larger corridor, this one looking more rudimentary, made entirely of uneven stone. It slowly expanded, until, not long after entering it, Maggie found herself arriving at a proper cave, lighted by strange reddish bioluminescent fungi in its walls and floor.

The local had a strong, putrid odor, probably coming from the dozen bones and carcasses scattered around it, and she also could see some fresh-looking imp bodies. Probably the ones she chased to this place. But what drew Maggie’s attention the most was its center, where she found a very large, simple construction; some kind of nest, made of clay and dried wood and who knows what more.

That was the Troll’s sleeping grounds, she realized.

Before she could better inspect her surroundings, she heard a loud boom coming from behind. She quickly turned around to see the Troll smashing the wall in the cave’s entrance, announcing its arrival in a raw display of anger.

It was time. Now she had to face this creature. She did not know if she would win, considering her already weakened state, but at least now she had the tools necessary for making it a possibility, and she would not go down without a fight.

“It's just you and me now, creature! Let’s go!” She shouted, drawing the Troll’s attention, which let a loud roar in her direction, before lurching towards her. She threw her torch to the ground, freeing her hand to pull her crossbow out, and closing one of her eyes, aimed the weapon at the center of the creature's torso. It was charging at her in a straight line, blinded by its anger. If she had a chance at a shot, it was now.

“Come on Maggie, you can do this!” She hissed, holding her breath. She stopped moving, calming herself, and then, in one quick motion, pulled the trigger, sending the crossbow bolt directly towards her enemy.

And for the first time since she woke up, she managed to hit her target.