One week passed since Helena entered the Forest of Echoes alone.
On the way, she fought a lot of mutated beasts such as bears, tigers, and wolves.
The problem is, after encountering the yeti, these mutated beasts are not enough to make her feel a sense of danger anymore.
Disappointed by her current training's progress, she walked deeper into the forest.
*ROOOOARGH* *ROOOOORRGHH*
Helena heard weird roars that sounded familiar to her.
Trolls!
Last time, they were forced to back off since the squad leaders were not yet experienced at that time and they would probably lose their lives if they engaged in combat with the trolls.
This time is different though, she was alone and she was confident that she could at least escape even if she couldn't defeat the trolls.
Helena followed the trolls slowly and carefully.
She couldn't afford any mistakes especially since she just started her solo training. It would be a pity if she was forced to go back early.
Half an hour later, the trolls started to look around.
After confirming that no one was around, the trolls entered a dense shrubbery.
Helena waited for a few minutes before she entered the shrubbery herself.
After a few minutes of navigating the dense shrubbery, she finally reached the end.
She didn't come out immediately and only popped her head out a little to scout things out.
Helena was surprised upon seeing that lots of tents were set up in an open area.
This area seems to be a small forest troll encampment.
There were at least 15 tents.
Although 15 trolls are a small number, it was still too much for the current Helena. She could only tread carefully around the encampment.
A few more minutes and the forest trolls hid their axes inside their tents.
It looks like their patrol duty is over. Seems like they're up to other things though so Helena quickly continued following the two forest trolls.
*Gulp*
Helena was quite nervous as she passed through the middle of the forest troll encampment.
Most of the trolls were currently asleep but one mistake and she might wake them up.
After a few minutes, finally! She was through!
Helena hastened her pace as the distance between her and the two trolls was increasing.
The trolls that she was following suddenly came to a halt and looked around again before continuing.
"Hmm…Why are they acting so sneaky? I think their race is pretty strong. Do they have something that their small numbers can't protect when discovered?"
Helena muttered to herself.
It seems that her guess was spot on as the trolls went inside another dense shrubbery.
"Again? Why do these guys love hiding stuff in dense shrubbery?"
Helena complained to herself.
Again, as a safety precaution, Helena waited for a few minutes before entering the dense shrubbery.
"Wha…Where am I? A cave? Why are they hiding the entrance of this cave?"
Helena was surprised upon realizing that she was currently inside a cave.
The trolls were nowhere to be found though as they seem to have gone deeper in the cave.
She quickly tried to look for the trolls. Fortunately, the trolls haven't gone far away and she found them picking up some kind of herb from the ground.
Helena hid herself behind a large rock and waited for the trolls to leave so she could investigate the cave on her own.
Half an hour later, the trolls finally exited the cave.
Helena quickly got out of her hiding place and checked the herbs that the trolls were picking earlier.
She was about to eat it again but she remembered something.
"Oops…That was close… I shouldn't eat this or Blanc is going to nag at me again."
She quickly put the herb in her bag and proceeded to walk further inside the cave.
After a few minutes of walking, Helena spotted a silvery-blue kind of rock protruding from one of the cave walls.
Helena quickly picked up a small piece of the protruding ore.
S…silvery-blue color, tougher but lighter than steel…Is this…"
"M…Mithril?! These stupid trolls had mithril ore in their territory and all they cared about was that plant!"
She quickly stored the piece of small mithril in her bag and proceeded deeper into the cave.
Unfortunately, there was nothing else that was valuable so she walked towards the exit of the cave.
"??? RRRRROOOOOOOOARGGHHH!!!!!""
A lone troll walked in alone and spotted Helena as she was trying to exit the cave.
"Shit! Why did this stupid bastard go in again?! Didn't you just exit a while ago?!"
Helena quickly drew her sword and shield to prepare for combat.
She and the troll were on a staredown seemingly trying to gauge their opponent's strength.
Helena kept on sneaking glances towards the entrance of the cave. She was worried that another troll might have heard the loud roar earlier.
They circled each other for a few seconds before the troll broke the silence by charging towards Helena.
"ORRRRRAAAAHHH!"
Helena exclaimed as the troll's battleaxe and her sword struck each other.
Both of them slid back for a few steps before stabilizing their footing.
Draw!
The two of them seem to be equal in terms of strength. The troll was startled upon feeling Helena's raw strength. This human is equal to it in terms of strength?! How could this be?!
The troll was unable to accept the result of the first exchange of blows so it quickly went back for more.
After exchanging attacks for a few rounds, Helena seems to be on the winning side as she successfully inflicts small cuts on the troll's body.
Luckily for Helena, the battle inside the cave wasn't heard by the other forest trolls or she would be in big trouble.
She currently has her hands full battling just a single troll. There was no way she could handle two or more trolls at once.
In addition, she was currently cornered inside the cave so if more trolls came in, her life would be in danger.
Half an hour into the battle, Helena was starting to adapt to the troll's attacks. Although it was huge and strong, its combat techniques were severely lacking.
She finally managed to inflict a deep cut on the troll's chest.
She smiled confidently thinking that this might be an easy win.
Her optimistic way of thinking was cut short as the troll smiled.
The wound was healing at a rate visible to the naked eye!
Based on her observations, a deep wound will fully heal in a span of fifteen minutes.
She had to end the battle quickly or her stamina might not last.