The appearance of trolls wasn't common.
They were big monsters- could be seen from afar and the guild often sanctioned quests to eradicate them.
Even the Knight Hall made yearly excursions to get rid of them.
And yet-
Some still roamed wild-
They were hostile to anything and everything that wasn't a 'troll'. And so- nothing was safe.
But of course-
They weren't common-
Something else was definitely common though-
Instead of finding trolls-
Flint found goblins-
Erveine hid behind Flint but- "I don't like these things-" she said.
"No one does-" Flint said- maintaining focus as he kept an eye on all the goblins- all six of them. "Do warp out of here, in case something happens. Actually, warp back a fair bit-"
"I can't just leave you here!"
Anne wasn't here- so that meant he couldn't rely on hardcore sleep magic- actually- "Can you paralyze or put them to sleep?"
"When they're this close and ready to attack? No! I can use fire to scare them away though…" She tried- she really did-
Good, but not good enough.
"Well, just focus on protecting yourself."
"You're a knight, aren't you!"
Clang!
A goblin had come swinging but he blocked it- shoving the goblin back; the rest didn't attack but rather remained cautious- "I am but I'm preparing to be a chaos knight- so protecting isn't going to be my specialty."
That said- Flint charged ahead- blocked whatever attack came his way and-
Slice-
Slash-
Thrust-
Three down-
He'd gotten used to fighting goblins-
And with his height and strength- it wasn't really hard to overpower them-
'Wait-' Sweat dripping- an eerie feeling-
Nine steps back- he blocked an arrow headed straight for Erveine; just a flash but- he'd saved her life. "There's a seventh one hidden behind that tree-" he said. "Use a fireball or something."
"Right! Anversa- De- gla Flame!"
A ball of fire- crashed straight into the tree- burning it.
"Where are you looking?" Flint yelled- a vertical slash- slicing two heads off-
And though the last one tried to run- Flint jumped up killing it immediately…
Slightly out of breath- he looked around for more hidden snipers….
So far-
Nothing.
"Brilliantly done…" Erveine panted, sitting tight on the grass.
"You don't seem very comfortable with the outside. Why did you agree to come?" Flint kept an eye around- cautious.
But so far-
Just endless fields with nothing in particular… other than one or two white blobs moving about.
"…" A soft pause. "I don't want you to die."
Flint had friends.
Good friends.
But he never had friends who'd die for him. And he wouldn't want to die for a friend either.
And yet-
This woman came with him- the son of her friend- just to not let him die?
It struck a bit funny but Flint didn't smile. Rather- "Thank you-" he said, checking the corpses of the goblins. "Let's pack them up and use one as bait."
Flint searched for Transporters not just to transport the corpses but also to carry them while he hunted.
"Alright-" Erveine said whispering something quite ferociously-
A small black portal formed- sucking in five corpses-
The sixth one- Flint made sure had nothing precious and then used a branch to impale it- and just stick it on the ground… He did the same with the already roasted corpse-
Two different kinds of bait.
"Let's wait over there-"
The two went over to a large oak tree on a small hill.
"Are trying to make money by killing them?" She said.
"No."
"Then getting stronger?"
"Indirectly but no."
"Then- why? Why trolls?"
"Because I couldn't defeat one alone." He paused. "I need to kill them and bring them back for an apprenticeship. And I'd appreciate if you didn't interfere during my fight with them."
"Apprenticeship… chaos knight… you spoke to Count Archivis?"
"Yes…"
Erveine sighed. "Always going overboard." A brief pause. "You have talent for magic. And you probably have talent for swordsmanship too. I don't think you should be a chaos knight… That arrow- despite saying you didn't want to defend, if you hadn't, I'd have been injured. Maybe practice healing or defensive magic while you practice knighthood?"
"Funny, someone else said the same…." But Flint didn't want that. "But no."
He needed strength-
The strength to destroy.
He didn't need any to protect.
After all-
All those who he wanted to protect-
Were dead.
What was the point of learning how to defend when there was no one to defend in the first place?
"Looks like we're in luck-" Flint paused. "Though which kind I'm not sure-" A chuckle.
After all-
Instead of one-
He got three-
Three trolls.
Someone who couldn't even deal with one troll-
Now was going to face three-
"Let's retreat for now-" Erveine said. "As you said you couldn't go one on one with just one- so-"
"So, I can't back down. I know my limits and I know what they can do. But that's why I need to do this- so I go past those limits-"
Besides, the last time he didn't have a sword and he didn't actually fight with one directly-
"Don't be an idiot!" She shook him. "Idiots that think like that- die! And you can't have your revenge if you're dead!"
"Sorry but-" Flint smiled. "Sorry to be an idiot-"
He pointed his arm forward- murmured something- and-
Crack!
Thunder fell-
Slightly sizzling the trolls; they all faced this way-
"Oh fuck-" Erveine mumbled-
Flint sure had their attention.
Which was good-
Cause that's what he was aiming for-
He knew he couldn't do much damage with one spell.
But this was enough- so sliding down the hill- he quickly picked himself up at the end. "Don't worry, I'll run if I can't win-" And started running straight for the trolls.
Erveine though- stayed there- "NO… you'll die if you can't win…" She mumbled- watching.
For someone who was freaking out even moments ago- she was awfully calm.
The dread- the sweat- the uneasiness slowly got replaced by a calculated stare-
Almost as though-
She wasn't acting herself…
***
A large club-
Coming down-
Leaning left- Flint dodged-
Another tree trunk- straight horizontal-
Jumping up- Flint dodged-
They were big- and there were three of them but their attacks weren't coordinated and thus-
'She- climbed-'
He couldn't climb like Anne nor was he fast like her-
However-
He ran- he ran straight under them- slicing up one's nether.
"GUAWWAAW!!!" Solid scream followed up a solid clubbing-
All three attacked Flint-
But of course, Flint rolled- got up, and ran fast-
And the attacks?
They landed on the cut Troll's nether.
They could recover-
They could regenerate.
But that didn't mean they couldn't feel pain.
"GQWOWAOAOAOAO!!!!!"
And boy were they feeling pain- at least the third one was-
So much- it fainted-
Leaving behind two of its confused comrades-
And Flint was just behind them- running straight for one's back- jumping, running up- A dive!
"AXEL!" A dive with the sword- straight through the neck- landing on the ground-
Grogging- the troll fell-
Thud.
But the last Troll-
It-
Slam!
Slammed Flint away- with a literal tree-
He was carrying a shield-
And the damn thing broke in pieces along with his left arm.
"NGh!" Spitting blood- he rolled for miles-
But-
He just picked himself back up-
Moving fast-
Moving extraordinarily fast- enough to even surprise himself.
He glowed-
Or rather let out a mist-
Blue mist-
'Infusion?'
A grin-
Almost like dancing-
The troll- having lost its comrades swung the tree like crazy- left- right- up- down-
Slam!
But-
Flint dodged all incoming blows almost like practicing that complicated dance- jumping up- 'Axel-' -landing on the Troll's head- Slash! But a single slash only went halfway- and the troll skin started closing- "Sturdy, aren't you?" Grinning from his bleeding gums- Flint forced the damn sword through the troll's head with his feet- following up with his knife on the other side- not taking a damn chance.
Meanwhile-
A sleepyhead slowly got up- groaning-
What happened?
Why was it sleeping?
Why were its friends just on the ground- bleeding?
Were they-
Were they dead?
Even though they were supposed to celebrate their meal together?
Even though they promised each other to be friends forever?
Why?
Eyes slowly getting misty-
Wha-
Its head slid down…
And all it saw-
Were two blue misty feet….
Oh- it was dying…
Eyes closed.
Promises broken.