Her shot was spot on, hitting the troll directly in the chest. The bolt passed through the layer of moss and vines that covered the creature’s body and stuck through its rough skin, going a few centimeters deep into its flesh.
“Hah! I did it!” Despite the dire situation she was in right now, she commemorated, happy to finally have hit a target with her crossbow, even if it was a massive creature a few meters ahead of her. But it was too soon to celebrate, her bolt didn’t seem to have done much damage to the Troll, barely slowing its charge.
The creature bellowed, more in annoyance than pain, and without stopping, buried its fingers deep into its skin and dug the crossbow bolt out of its torso, snapping the wood shaft between two fingers and throwing it to the ground. Maggie could see a greenish-brown viscous liquid leaving the small wound in its chest, —probably its blood, she surmised— but the damage was nearly nothing to the creature. it only made it even more enraged.
It would take more than a crossbow bolt to take the Troll down.
The creature was quickly approaching Maggie, and seeing that holding onto the crossbow would only slow her now, —since she wouldn’t have enough time to reload— she threw it to the ground. No, she would need to step up her game if she wanted to damage the Troll. Thankfully, she was better prepared for that now.
Holding back her panic, she waited until the creature was close enough to hit her before dodging out of its attack’s way. She was trying to get a better idea of its reach and movements to find the best moment to attack back. The Troll wasn’t very fast, in fact, it was slower than the first Imp she faced. Its movements were robotic and very predictable. She was sure that if she wasn’t already weakened by all her injuries, she would be fast enough to dodge its attacks more easily. The problem was, its reach was nearly four times hers, and it was unbelievably strong; if that thing landed a single blow on her, she was done. On top of that, her body felt too heavy for her to be on the defensive for long, sooner or later she would grow too tired, and she had a strong suspicion that it would happen to her before the Troll. She needed to strike as soon as possible.
Watching her dodge its more direct attacks, the Troll was growing even more infuriated, she could see its attacks getting less precise, but more dangerous at the same time. The creature knew she couldn’t harm it directly, so it was going all in, attacking recklessly without caring for its defense. Perhaps that was what would cause its fall.
Roaring in her direction, the Troll leaped towards her, its arms extended far back to smash her to the ground. Before it could hit her, though, she jumped backwards, just barely stumbling out of harm’s way, as the creature fell like a meteor, cracking the stone underneath its fists. It was about to get up to continue with its advance when Maggie finally saw the opening she was waiting for.
“Oh, no, you won't!” Before the creature could get up to further attack her, she raised her arms, pointing both her palms towards its head. She was finally going to use her new Magic Card.
“Burning Hands!” She exclaimed, and as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt a strange, warm, tingling sensation rise up to her arms, as energy quickly built up in the center of her hands. The air in front of her became immediately distorted and then an intense heat exploded outwards in a wide cone of fire, entirely engulfing her vision in flames in front of her.
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The fire torrent wasn’t very long, extending for less than five meters, but it was strong, almost palpable, and she felt herself being nearly pushed back in the opposite direction by its force.
She heard the creature bellow in desperation and pain in front of the fire, and a repulsive, disgusting smell of burnt flesh and foliage permeated the whole area. For a moment she thought nothing could ever survive the inferno she summoned through the card.
But of course, nothing would be so easy.
As soon as the flames dissipated, with the spell’s duration coming to an end, she saw the Troll slowly getting up from its kneeled position. It blocked the flames with its arms, she realized. Its face and torso were mostly unscathed, while the back of its arms and its legs from below the knees took the bulk of the attack and were scorched clean from its moss and vines layer, with the surface of its skin still sizzling on fire.
She was in disbelief at how resilient the creature was, having shrugged that much damage.
But she wouldn’t allow it to attack her. Before it could get closer any closer, she called her spell again, casting her second copy of Burning Hands, bathing the Troll in searing fire one more time. With an effort, she pushed forward, trying to get closer to the creature to ensure she would burn the bulk of its body this time.
The Troll let out a deafening roar of pain, making the stone floor quake underneath her. “Stay down!” She screamed, trying to focus the fire to burn the creature’s chest. But of course, it wouldn’t listen to her. Without any warning, the Troll’s fist emerged from amidst the blinding curtain of fire created by the spell. Maggie immediately cut its duration short, closing her hands and jumping to the side, barely dodging the Troll’s attack. Its hand passed dangerously close to her face but left its side open. Maggie seized this opportunity to lash at it with her knife, instinctively slashing the side of its already burnt torso, drawing a small fillet of its moss-colored blood. To her surprise, now that the thick layer of skin was worn down by the flames, she managed to damage the creature, but still, she was too weak to reach deep into its flesh with her simple weapon. No, if she wanted to win this, she would need a different strategy.
Before she could follow up with a second slash, the Troll turned around, bringing its hand down in a massive attack, forcing her to disengage and leave its reach.
“That was my second Burning Hands! Why is it still moving!?” She exclaimed, after barely dodging its attacks. Her last copy on the Quickcast Slot was the starred version of the Burning Hands, and she was saving it for when she was sure she would be able to deal the killing blow. She had no choice now, she would have to use the copies from her Book.
“Book!” She called, manifesting the dark brown tome in front of her and quickly bolting towards the other side of the cave. The Troll was furiously chasing her, quickly closing the distance between the two. She only needed to set the timing right, wait until the creature was close enough for her to use her spell but still leaving space for her to avoid falling into its reach.
Now! As soon as the Troll entered the range of her spell, she tapped the book, activating the Burning Hands. She knew the Troll was charging towards her in a direct line, so as soon as the spell activated, she bolted towards the side expecting the creature to go straight forward, and so it did. What she wasn’t expecting was for it to hurl the carcass of an Imp towards her.
She went wide-eyed as the dead creature passed through her Book, —dissipating the tome in thin air— and landed straight on her chest, pushing her backwards and breaking her balance, almost sending her to the ground.
She was careless, she thought the creature couldn’t adapt, that it was unintelligent and would only attack her directly.
The troll skidded on the floor to a halt, gaining enough impulse to lurch towards her. She tried to move her body, to get out of the way and dodge the creature’s attack, but before she regained her balance, the Troll’s arm had already closed on her.
Oh, Crap.
Like being hit by a truck, she felt the Troll’s open hand hit her torso and send her flying through the air towards the opposite wall. She hit the stone surface and it cracked with the impact, sending a searing pain throughout her entire body.
She made a terrible mistake.