It stood there silent, waiting for something to attract its attention.
"Just to be sure.. you did... think this through right?"
"That's the 5th time you asked. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Mira answered me with an annoyed expression. Well I'd be annoyed if someone asked me the same thing 5 times in the span of 10 minutes.
Still, I'm going to be completely honest. I don't really trust the plan.
It sounded so amazing when we were discussing it, but now, looking at that thing in front of us.
I don't think we should be doing this.
I gulped my saliva as I removed the sword from my sheath. I turned my head towards Mira one last time before going forward. I saw Mira between the trees making a thumbs up sign while smiling at me.
Although it makes me happy that I can see such a precious smile, it doesn't change the fact I'm possibly walking to my death.
I shook my head to get rid of these cowardly thoughts and moved my right leg forward.
To those of you who can't follow. Let me give you a brief summary.
I, Yusof Harim and that adorable blue crystal haired girl, Mira, are now in a forest. In front of me, is a huge humanoid creature called a troll. Me and Mira, made a plan to defeat this troll.
You can tell it's huge just by seeing its legs. No matter how thick the trees are, the troll can't be hidden.
The plan was for me to act as bait, then Mira would use her Ice Magic to shoot the troll's eyes, blinding it. The plan was essentially making it rely on it's second enemy detection sense - Magic Flow Detection. Which then, I can freely cut it until it dies on its own.
Pretty simple right?
Well actually it is. It's just.. looking at how huge that thing is, I feel like I'm walking straight into my grave.
Is it too late to turn back now?
My legs are shaking and sweat fell down my face.
To calm myself down. I try to think about what my friend, Yusuke Anakata, would say about me if he saw me in this situation.
"COWARD! YOU CAN DEFEAT TROLLS ONLINE BUT YOU CAN'T EVEN FACE A REAL ONE!"
Internet trolls are an entirely different thing from this you idiot!
Okay, so thinking about that imbecile was a mistake.
What else can I think about to ease my mind..
"HAAAAARGH"
"UWAAA!"
I screamed in reflex, turns out as I unconsciously kept moving my legs forwards and eventually, the troll noticed me.
*BREAK* *BREAK*
"AAAAAH!"
The troll didn't waste time in breaking trees to head in my direction. The distance between the troll and me is only about probably 100 meters. That was only like 2-4 trolls steps.
"A-alright! Stick to the plan!"
I motivated myself. I sheathed my sword uselessly unsheathed a moment ago and start sprinting away from the troll.
"CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!"
"HAAAAARGH!"
*BREAK*
It's so huge that it has to break trees whenever it has to move. I used this to my advantage.
I turned a right and continued to run, the troll was stupid enough not to notice me because of the trees covering his eyesight.
It continued in the wrong direction for probably a few hundred meters. I climbed on a rock around my hip height and taunted it.
"OI! IDIOT! I'M OVER HERE!"
*BREAK* *BREAK*
"HAAAAAARGH"
Hahaha! It's coming this way now, time to have it chase at me again. I continued to sprint for a while until I felt like it was fixated to a straight path to which I did the same trick again.
And, because of trolls' naturally abysmal intelligence, it fell for it, again.
"HEY! I'M OVER HERE."
"AAAAARGH!"
This went on for approximately every 200 meters and another 3 turns, until I couldn't run anymore.
"Ha... Ha..."
"Aaaarghhh!"
The troll is so far away that its screams are actually quieter. However, as soon as it noticed I was here, it changed directions.
"You got me.."
I said as I lifted both my arms. I surrendered to the troll in a mocking manner.
The troll, in clear rage, charged at me. I injured its legs, I made fun of it and I even surrendered to it in a condescending way.
Who wouldn't be pissed.
The troll continued to sprint at me albeit its injured legs with amazing speed.
I didn't move.
However,
"Mira!"
"Yes!"
Mira's arms glowed blue veins, she held onto her staff with both arms and pointed it towards the troll's head.
"You did a great job being bait!"
"It wasn't easy."
Indeed, me playing chicken with the troll was all part of the plan. The trees around the forest are obstructing our vision from the troll's upper body has gone - leaving the troll's entire body clear out in the open.
By running around in a circle, I was able to create a field where all trees are snapped. In other words, the troll helped me make an area where the troll's entire body is just a huge target.
"HAAAAARGH!"
The troll had entered the area where all the trees weren't broken. This is what Mira is waiting for.
"Mira!"
I forced a scream with my breath out while turning my head over to Mira, who is already pointing her staff towards the troll. Both of her hands had glowing veins of blue, flowing into the staff, intensifying the blue glow at the end with every second.
"Yes!"
Mira's face was of a proud one, grinning in triumph as if we have already won. Honestly speaking, blinding your opponent in battle is more than just a simple advantage or a victory. It's a complete annihilation.
The intensity of the blue color on the head of Mira's staff increased gradually. From Mira's Magic Flow on both of her arms - until it reached the maximum amount.
"Ice Barrage!"
Mira's lips parted as she released her words vigorously. As soon as the words left her mouth, the staff that was containing all the accumulated Magic began shooting out hundreds and hundreds of ice shards all towards the troll's upper body.
"HAAAAAARGH"
The troll let out a scream of agony as the countless ice shards stabbed it in multiple places. It's chest, its shoulder, and its stomach were all hit by the ice shards Mira released.
And finally, the ice shards hit its eyes, effectively blinding it.
"Yes!"
Witnessing our plan going as we had wanted it to, Mira let out a joyous scream. I also smiled, my efforts in almost dying becoming bait paid off, we can finally catch up to Luno.
Shortly after her celebration, Mira stopped shooting ice shards and knelt down, using her staff as support so she wouldn't fall entirely.
"Hey, are you okay?"
I rushed to her side to check on how she's doing.
"I'm.. fine.. I'm fine.. I'm just a little sleepy."
"How are you sleepy all of a sudden?"
"Well you don't really know much don't you?"
I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult me for my lack of knowledge and just tell me what's wrong.
"The colored nerves?.. Those are Magic Circuits.. using mana.. to fuel our spells.."
She had begun to explain, I didn't reply as I paid close attention to my teacher's lesson in a hoarse voice.
"They work exactly like normal energy. It's just that we don't feel our heart pumping, we just instantly feel sleepy." She continued. So that's how it works, I nodded signifying that I understood and then quickly made a troubled expression as I realized something.
"Then you can't cast anymore?"
"Don't worry, I'll recover fast. Besides, that thing won't be moving instantly after all that." Mira said in clear exhaustion while trying to propel herself up with her staff. I took a look back at the troll.
"HAAAR..... HAAAAAR.."
It wailed in agony, I wasn't surprised considering that his entire upper body is littered with ice shards impaling him with blood flowing out. He attack us because of it.
The ice shards also hit its eyes. Blinding it, just as we planned. I let out a breath of relief. It already felt like a victory to me.
"Stick.. to the plan."
"Yes."
Mira in a tired voice told me so. I unsheathed the sword from my back and approached it while it was still blinded.
"Can you move?" I asked as I slowly moved away. Mira, still attempting to support her legs, looked at me with an impatient look and replied.
"Just go and hit it."
Jeez, fine. I was just trying to care for you. I listened to her order and began to move towards the stunned troll with my blade clenched in my right hand.
Then something happened.
"HAAAAAARGH."
The troll suddenly gained more vigor than it did an hour ago when it chased after us, small dark clouds visible from his body - primarily the spots of his injuries. All the ice shards that stuck onto his body broke and it fell onto the ground.
"W-w-what's.. going on?" Mira who was dumbfounded from this unexpected crisis screamed in surprise, still attempting to keep a stable posture.
An aggressive roar followed after the breaking of the ice shards. The dark clouds that seemingly came out of nowhere then floated towards the countless injuries, entering them.
"What the-"
I, who had never witnessed this before, am just on the same boat as Mira, stunned by this sight. This feels like a boss transformation after defeating the first phase in games, except this is happening right before me.
I froze, my legs shook, and it became unstable. I am extremely certain that if a slight gust of wind were to pass through me, I would fall over.
My eyes locked onto the troll, the dark clouds entered its wounds scattered all over, covering almost its entire body in a dark mist.
A moment later. They all dispersed, I was relieved, then that relief turned into mortification.
The troll's body was spotless, not a single injury remained.
At first, I thought any type of magic can make the trolls grow, as Mira said they are Magical Creatures. Then after witnessing those dark mists - I dreaded what I observed.
"Dark.. Magic."
Mira uttered the two words. I couldn't help but gulp my saliva as I stared at the beast. All that hard work to not even come close to defeating it.
Even Luno's efforts to slow it down. All that accumulated effort.
For it to go to waste like this.
"HAAAAARGH"
It released an extremely robust scream, its energy had also seemingly replenished. I stared at its mouth unintentionally hearing the roar and I caught a glimpse of its eyes. They haven't recovered.
I concluded that the dark mist wasn't able to heal its eyes, I don't know why. This can work to our advantage.
I strengthened myself and turned to Mira. She was also frozen in place.
"Let's go! Mira! We need to get away! Its still blinded!"
I quickly moved towards her. However as I came closer I saw her in a completely different state as he was before.
"Mira?"
Her legs are shaking almost hysterically, her eyes are painted with fear, her arms are barely able to hold onto her staff from the shaking and she has become speechless. This is the same situation as before when we just re-entered the forest in search of Luno.
Damnit! I wanted to shove her again to get her to snap out but she is weakened because of the spell she casted earlier. I glanced back at the troll, to which I saw that there are literally no injuries that accumulated from top to bottom - which means that it's speed is now back before I cut open its legs.
Even if I grabbed her and ran - no, even if we ran together at full speed, we might not even outrun it.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrr.."
A deep growl can be heard behind us, I glanced behind, I saw it lowering its head to us. It must have detected Mira's Magic Flow as they rely on it as their second sense.
It made an even louder growl, signalling aggression.
Then it lifted its foot. It was huge. I widened my eyes looking
"I'm sorry.. MIRA!"
"Aaaah! Yusof!"
I lifted her up under my arms and began to sprint, not looking behind anymore. I quickly ran towards the troll in hopes of outmaneuvering it.
I didn't think twice. I know this is a stupid decision, I know I might die. But I made a promise.
At least let me be known as someone who tried to keep it until the very end.
Right Yusuke? This is how to become a better person right?
Right, God?
"PLEASE LET ME MAKE IT!"
I shouted as I carried her leaping forward, hoping to make it past the troll's foot coming down on us from directly above. I didn't look up, and I didn't want to either. If I die here, I'd rather not see the moment.
Praying to make it out alive, time seemingly slowed down and a drop of sweat flowed on my cheek. A shadow came into my sight, slowly but surely expanding.
I didn't want to close my eyes, but I did it anyway. Human reaction from fear? I don't know.
Hoping for the best, I felt a sudden cold behind me.
__________________________________
What surrounded me was a cold air that made my skin tingle.
I, Yusof Harim, just a few seconds ago, ran in hopes of not being stomped by this huge intimidating creature - a troll. The beast was no doubt about 20 times larger than me, probably as tall as a 2 story house. I carelessly grabbed this blue haired girl named Mira and sprinted in leaps praying we would come out unscathed.
It was a stupid hope, I obviously would have failed. For reasons I can't explain myself, I closed my eyes and the next thing I knew, this sensation of frost engulfed my senses. I wasn't able to keep my balance and I fell over, dropping Mira. The impact of me hitting my stomach first on the ground made me open my eyes from the impulse of pain.
"HAAAAAARGH."
There was little time to celebrate as there was the troll letting out a deafening scream. I glanced over to my left and saw Mira laying down on the ground, staff in hand. I quickly stood up and ran towards her, then I noticed that there was a trail of ice that led towards - no, behind me.
I didn't understand what was happening until I felt a 'sploosh' from my shoes when I moved my left leg slightly. I turned around and saw a pool of blood rapidly flowing.
I widened my eyes and looked straight forward. What came into my sight was a huge hunk of ice shaped as if sculptured professionally. Its size was as big as the rock we hid from the troll before formulating the plan. It had a glorious color of whitish blue reflected by the light in a crystal-like manner - and a dreadful crimson in a form of liquid.
It's base was wide, perhaps as wide as the foot of the troll and it goes up gradually becoming thinner and thinner. Until it reached the top where a good hunk of the ice stabbed the troll's foot from underneath.
The brief thought of me being amazed by the ice was followed by my sight immediately relocating to witness the troll crouching down, attempting to remove the said ice impaling its foot.
"grrrrrrrr... GRRRRRRRRAAAH"
It suffered difficulties because of the pain. The amount of blood flowing was great, it must have gone inside quite deep if that were to that severity. The troll also struggled to find where to pull out, it must be because of its blindness.
I didn't know the explanation for it to recover everything except its eyes but I am grateful to whatever god exists in this world.
I looked over at Mira, who's quick thinking made this happen. If she didn't cast a spell that made the troll step on the ice, we might have died.
Once again I was useless and I clenched my teeth at the thought. But there is no time for this.
"Mira, let's go!"
I shook her shoulder telling her to wake up, but there was no response. I turned her body to see that she was unconscious. I gasped at this sight, is she injured? Her body was spotless though. I observed her body and didn't see any injuries.
Then it occurred to me.
She said that using Mana made them sleepy. So overusing will make them unconscious immediately? That was something terrifying but at the same time, logical.
Mana is the stamina of magic, and overuse of stamina can cause repercussions. Such as this. She pushed all what she had left to conjure this iceberg - falling unconscious when she couldn't go further.
"AAAAAARGH."
The troll howled in pain, I glanced behind and saw that it already began yanking the ice off of its foot.
In panic, I no longer attempted to force her to wake up. She had already passed out from exhaustion and there just isn't enough time.
Damnit! Damnit! All I could think of right now is just run towards the cart - but then I realized that the troll is now relying on the Magic Flow Detection to locate us. Since Mira is magic, the troll will always keep running after us.
For a brief moment I thought of leaving her and just running off myself. I can, and since I don't have a Magic Circuit, the troll won't prioritize me. It will never find me because it no longer has the ability to see.
But even in fear, I will never stoop to breaking my promises. I made the promise that I won't die - neither will she.
With that resolve, I turned towards Mira, lifted her staff with my left hand and lifted her body under my right arm. Ignoring the continuing cries of pain, I ran off towards the mass of broken forest trees - leading anywhere but here.
I frantically placed one foot in front of the other, no longer looking back. The screams of the troll slowly dying out. My lungs are starting to give out from the sprinting not long before this, my eyes became blurry and my breathing gradually became more ragged. Still, I kept pushing, not showing any intention of giving up.
In the midst of my haziness, I felt like I heard a deep voice not of my own in my head.
"I see.. You are indeed.. just like me."
The faint deep voice in my head spoke those words. I didn't know what it meant. I was also so fixated in running away that I didn't even care to investigate.
Something as unimportant was the last thing on my mind, looking at this dreadful situation.
________________________________
"Huff..... Huff.."
I heard no more troll screams. It appears that we are considerably far.
Continuing my run, I surveyed the area. Noticing the balance between broken and standing trees, we've definitely been here. If I continue to follow the path, we'll be at the main road in no time.
Unfortunately, I wasn't watching where I was moving. This resulted in me hitting on a rock that made me trip. Unable to maintain my balance due to my own exhaustion and the excess weight I was carrying, I fell over.
"Ouch.."
I landed on my stomach. Mira and her staff got thrown out of my grip, hitting the ground with a loud thud. After recovering myself and looking at this, I shrunk in reaction to the pain she might have felt. Hopefully she isn't injured though, I'm not getting babbled today.
I stood up and picked up her staff that got launched from my grip close by. The staff isn't broken, that's good. After I made sure of the condition of Mira's weapon, I turned my head over to her, gulped my saliva and moved in her direction. All while slowly moving my eyesight over to her face to see if she woke up.
She didn't, the impact didn't even make her flinch. Her left arm is laying under her body that fell sideways on the ground with her head facing the right. Confirming her state, I picked her up and sat her down with her back behind a tree and placed her staff next to her. All while I waited and planned what to do next.
"What should I do?"
I said to myself as I struggled to keep myself from succumbing into exhaustion. I'm surprised that the stamina I accumulated from being a village boy had lasted this long - especially after years of not doing any intense physical activity.
Then again, everything has their limits. I for one, am now weary for the second time. Mira's suspicious potion didn't wore off, no. I simply used up all of my stamina.
This is really bad. Not only did our plan fail miserably, the troll also used Dark Magic to heal its injuries - although the saving grace is that its eyes didn't heal. I don't know the explanation but if I had to make a guess it's that the Dark Magic isn't powerful enough to heal it.
That's the only explanation my under 3-day-in-this world brain can muster up. Would be great if I was right though, shows that my deduction abilities from my teen years are still here.
I shook my head. I'm getting off track, there isn't time to think about this. As soon as I hear loud groans and feel the ground shaking, I'm grabbing Mira and making a run for it.
I averted my gaze towards Mira who's back is on a tree. She appears to be sleeping calmly as there isn't a hint of uncomfortableness in her expression. I smiled, she has been through a lot today, always pushing herself. Even casted that final spell that saved me and fainted. This is all thanks to my stupid decision.
Observing her for a while made me notice that there is an open wound on her left wrist. I didn't notice that when I lifted her because the injured arm was under her body. With this discovery, in a way I'm glad I focused my eyesight on her.
I looked around to see if I could use anything to bandage it. Well, we're in the middle of the forest so realistically there isn't anything I could use.
I patted the sides of my pants to see if there is at least something I can use. I'm worried about leaving open wounds like that because it's almost as bad as leaving food uncovered.
At that moment I shamefully discovered my pants didn't have pockets. I lowered my head to the ground and let out a sigh out of both disappointment and relief. Disappointment for obvious reasons and relief because no one saw me looking like an idiot.
After a moment, I noticed that the long portion of the belt knot had a little tear. It must've torn when I fell down earlier - okay, actually I don't know exactly when it tore but it's the best I got.
I hope the length of this cloth belt is enough to close up her wound. I grabbed the cloth that tore and continued to rip in apart even more, aiming to reach the end.
*Shrrrrrt*
"Oh shit."
I unintentionally released a bad word, I looked towards Mira to see that she hasn't woken up. I can only hope she didn't hear me. I released a sigh at this sight. Instead of it tearing to the side properly, it went a diagonal direction and made an unnecessarily long piece of cloth.
I gave in to my bad luck and just decided to make do with what I have. I moved towards Mira and crouched down next to her left wrist. I used the excess of the torn cloth to wipe the flowing blood. As I wiped it, she twitched, she must've felt the pain.
"Sorry."
I apologized to Mira. Sorry for the pain you're going through because of me, but hold on for a moment. After wiping her wound, I continued to tie the cloth around the injury to make it act as a bandage.
I never knew the knowledge I gained as a village boy would come in handy at a time like this. Honestly, I forgot a lot of things that I learned and I'm sure this is what anyone would do in this situation.
I considered applying saliva on her wound before but then I remembered that it doesn't actually help with healing - in fact, the opposite. It's also an extremely disgusting and weird scene as an adult doing it to a child.
After a short pause, I sat 90 degrees to her right, putting my back behind the tree to rest. Although the troll is nearby, it's pretty far from us so I don't feel as alarmed - though 5 minute ago I would be hysterical.
What should I do? Mira is out cold and going to the cart would just be inviting the troll to increase its victims. I can't just run around forever. And Luno... She isn't here.
I clenched my teeth and my fist at this thought. Knowing I already broke my promise to Mikra.
"What should I tell him?"
Giving news of death is something I never wanted to do. I looked over at Mira, who thought the same. She became unresponsive and sullen when she discovered that it hit hard on her. If anyone cared for me, is that what they would've felt like?
"haaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA."
As I was lost in thought, the increasing troll noise became apparent. I wasted no time and stood up, ready to carry Mira to sprint away from the impending doom approaching us.
I picked her up under my right arm, again, and picked her staff up with my left arm, again. I had to figure out a way to defeat it myself or just run around until Mira wakes up.
Suddenly as I just wanted to run off, I felt the earth tremble. Something doesn't feel right, it's like an earthquake is coming. I didn't think twice after that and tried to run, but the earth shaking made me fell over from unstableness.
I fell on my butt and dropped Mira and her staff (again). I frantically shook my head left and right to see that the ground was indeed moving. I can safely say so because the trees are moving along with the ground.
"RAAAAAAAARHHH."
A near deafening roar came from in front of me and as I lifted my head and focused in front of me. Amidst the moving ground and trees, the troll had catched up to us. Its movements are unsurprisingly the same as before because of the ice block that impaled its feet a while ago.
Still, its size allowed it to move just as much as before which can cause panic in anyone who sees it - including me.
Finally, it came into my sight. I tried to quickly stand up but no matter how fast I was, I couldn't outrun it in this situation.
But I didn't want to go out without trying. I grabbed Mira and her staff and began putting one leg in front of the other.
I haven't even made 10 steps, and I heard a voice.
"Yusof! Stay there!"
I heard an overly familiar voice to my right. I turned over to the voice and in the distance a girl in a breastplate with jet black hair came into my sight. She was crouching and using both of her hands to touch the ground. Both of her arms had brown glowing nerves that stretched all the way to her shoulders. It appears that all this ground tremoring was her doing.
I felt like I was about to cry. It wasn't a bad feeling, instead, I was overjoyed. Looking at her, all of my current worries melted away. I don't care that it was a temporary relief, seeing her safe is already enough.
Mira, she's okay.. she's alive!
"Luno!"
___________
Earlier.
"HAAAAARGH"
"Oh!"
*CRASH*
Luno barely dodged the tree that was tossed at her.
Luno quickly maneuvered herself behind a tree to hide herself from the view of the troll. She tried to breathe as quietly as possible so she could rest longer.
When she finally controlled the volume of her breaths, Luno examined herself.
-Ah... This is not good
She thought. Luno is still in one piece, which is a miracle in it itself. She is barely able to move from the accumulated fatigue and hasn't landed a single hit on the troll.
She peeked at the troll, trying to see what it would do next.
"HAAAAAAARGH"
The troll fell over. Its legs still had blood flowing out of it, the injury hadn't gotten better. If anything it got worse from all the crashing and running.
-I can't imagine how much harder it would be if Yusof didn't injure its legs.
Luno thought. This was the perfect chance to attack, but she was tired herself, even standing up became difficult.
However, looking at the troll that isn't moving is the most ideal situation for Luno because her goal is to intercept it.
Defeating it would be great and that's what she's truly aiming for, but the accumulated fatigue from overusing her Magic and from sprinting non-stop is taking a toll on her.
For a while, there was no interaction between Luno and the troll. Which gave her enough time to recover. She stabilized her breathing and her legs have regained strength. She stuck her head out her hiding spot to see the troll and saw that it also recovered a portion of its strength.
Luno gripped her sword on her left hand and started to formulate a strategy.
-Normally, I'd rush towards the troll but that didn't work. It also defends itself by throwing trees.
She lifted her left hand and stared at her palm.
-Maybe I'll try to constrain and suffocate it using Earth. No- I don't know if that'll work. I have to leave enough Mana to defend myself, I don't know if it'll do anything else besides throwing trees.
She continued to observe the troll. Although it regained strength, it still struggled to stand up. It took 3 attempts to be able to stand up properly.
"HAAAAAAARGH"
It screamed, supressing the pain from its legs.
-I have to try the Earth Prison, the trolls I fought before couldn't fight against it, maybe this one can't too.
Luno was prepared to execute her strategy but something unpredictable happened. It didn't decide to search for Luno, it was walking towards Mira and Yusof's directions. In other words, towards the exit of the forest.
-What?
She raised her eyebrows, the troll is moving away from her which wasn't her intention at all.
-Didn't it detect my Magic Flow? How isn't it coming at me?
She thought in confusion. Indeed, she had been purposely leaking her Magic Flow so the troll would lock its attention on her.
Luno stood up and moved away from her hiding spot. She deliberately did so to attract its attention but the troll kept moving.
Her face became troubled. She knew that trolls are unintelligent and would always make predictable decisions. However this one was beyond her.
-Why isn't it noticing me?
Luno knew that trolls would primarily target those in its vision but when she hid, the troll didn't have anything to target thus relying on it's secondary sense for searching enemies.
Magic Flow Detection.
She is unsure of how it works but according to experience if she leaks out Magic Flow the trolls will notice her. However right now, the troll is ignoring her when she is in both plain sight and leaking out Magic Flow.
Luno has no idea of what is happening, her knowledge about the trolls is thrown out the window.
-I have to stop it before it gets to them.
She didn't waste time, the troll's footsteps are huge, if she didn't start to chase it now, she would lose the troll.