Chương 13: Chapter 12 - Troll Therapy

While Bella and Gemma lacked the handy features like a screen overlay or floating quest markers that had guided them through the game, the trolls weren't exactly hard to find. Almost immediately after passing the farm the mayor had told them about and entering the forest, the signs of destruction became apparent. And the stench was thick enough that even a blind person could have stumbled their way towards their destination.

Neither of them was blind, which meant the hulking brutish creature before them in the forest was not nearly as hidden as it thought itself. Its beady eyes glittered in unrestrained malice, and the pine tree it stood behind did a poor job of concealing its grotesque form or the glowing crystals of moon-corruption growing from its hide. Bella hardly had the opportunity to summon her staff before Gemma burst into motion, not bothering with donning her armor.

The paladin's every step was perfect elegance as she flashed between brush and trunk, leaping over a fallen log in one bounding step. By the time she landed her sword and shield were in her hands, gleaming with divine power. Three more steps carried her half the remaining distance to the troll, which finally realized it was no longer the predator in this situation. It grabbed the trunk of the tree and ripped it from the ground with monstrous force, a cloud of pine needles and dirt from its roots choking the air.

Gemma pushed in regardless, her shield raising to meet the tree trunk as it swung downwards with enough force to whistle through the air. The tower shield met it, and a roaring crack filled the air. The tree was batted aside as if it were a child's ball bouncing off a speeding car. Gemma had stepped in to fill the distance. Her sword snapped forward like a striking serpent, cleaving wrist from arm.

Before the troll could even react with surprise, she struck again, again, again, her sword filling the air with a spraying mist of corroded troll blood. Limbs, joints, muscles protected by thick trollhide and thicker fat, every lashing of her blade laser-precise where it needs to hit to maximize damage. It took her less than ten seconds; the paladin reduced the troll to an immobile pile on the ground, gnashing and grunting in frustration it could no longer attack.

Bella knew that moon-corrupted creatures of lower intelligence couldn't feel pain; it was one of the plot points in the story used to increase the difficulty of combat when monsters would attack relentlessly with no regard for their own lives. Bella turned away as Gemma took the troll's life – not because she couldn't bear to look, but because her elven companion was covered head to toe in oozing blood and gore.

Her staff was firmly in hand now, and she put it to good use raising walls of earth into a large tub which was promptly filled with hot water. She even grabbed some herbs and oils from her storage to put into the bath.

"You telling me I smell?" Gemma asked with a laugh as she strolled up to the magically crafted bathtub. Her weaponry was safely stashed away and she showed no signs of exertion. If it weren't for the gore staining her skin and clothes, she looked like she'd just finished a walk through the park.

"Yes," Bella said flatly, her nose crinkling with disgust at the rancid troll fat.

"Get rid of that filth and go back to being pretty. I will take care of the rest of them. From a distance." The catkin's compliment wasn't missed; it was out of character enough that it startled the normally commanding Gemma into flushed cheeks and turned her gaze towards her feet.

"Fine. Yell if you need me." They both knew she wouldn't. Trolls, even moon-corrupted ones, should be no risk to the overpowered adventurers.

"Hmph", she shot back, stalking over towards the troll's corpse. Her fingers drummed impatiently against the long handle of her staff, each driving a small pulse of magical energy into it that caused the crystal on top to pulse with sharper light. Her inspection of the creature was thorough. At least, it was as thorough as it could be without her moving it. Even if she could use magic to forcefully manipulate the corpse, the idea of anything of hers touching it made her shudder.

She'd only ever seen trolls through her computer monitor before, where she, Gemma, and Robin – or rather, she, Holly, and Cameron - had slain them by the hundreds. Her memories prickled of past battles, converted from screen to real space, of them raiding troll camps and destroying entire tribes threatening outlying villages. Just like this. As a true foe they were more repugnant than could be portrayed through a screen.

Nearly fifteen feet tall, humanoid in form but nothing like the other races that filled towns and cities across the world. This specimen was slightly undersized compared to some of the others they had faced but otherwise could have been a prime candidate for species representation. Its face was blunt, as if it had smashed itself into a rock wall far too many times, with a scrunched snout like a pig.

It had oversized eyes, now glazed with the film of death, that she knew were trained mostly to detect movement and could see even in nearly pitch-black conditions. The eyes were a common ingredient in night-sight potions for those who lacked the ability to cast such a spell. She shuddered at the thought of having to drink a concoction made from such a horrifying ingredient. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Horrifying not because it was made from eyes, but because it was made from trolls. Even if it had a face only a troll could love, the rest of the creature was just as horrifying. Its hide was at least two inches thick, covered in mud and grime and excrement, and held in foul-smelling fat that oozed out of the wounds Gemma had inflicted on it. The only surfaces that weren't covered in gunk were the purple crystals sprouting from its skin, evidence of moon-corruption.

Even if they'd defeated the Exiled Moon, her schemes still lingered across the land. The corruption she inflicted on monsters and people alike varied based on how deeply it infected the soul and the intelligence of the one infected. Light corruption was enough to cause skin to turn pallid, to change one's rhythm to align with the night, to grant small power in exchange for magical energy.

Deep corruption maligned everything, twisting whatever it infected into the deepest parts of the soul, forcing the corrupted into mindlessness and madness. Bella shook her head and returned to her inspection of the creature. He, she noted with a disgusted wrinkle of her nose. Trolls had a level of intelligence closer to a pack animal than a civilized creature; they formed familial 'tribes', defended their own territory, and could communicate roughly amongst their species.

On the other hand, they lacked the ability to truly converse, reason through complicated problems, or create or utilize things like tools, fire, or clothing. Which is why she decided to suddenly wrap up her inspection. Trolls are naturally weak to fire, which burns out their regenerative abilities. Moon-corruption is weak to sunlight. She had the perfect spell to tackle this.

It was incredibly similar to the one she'd used on the ancient vampire in the cultists' lair – a burning sunbeam, converting magical energy in two conjoined elemental forms. A wicked smile split Bella's face as she left the corpse behind and stalked deeper into the forest to find her prey. The rest of the trolls were not far away from the lone one Gemma had taken care of – only a few hundred yards away in a small valley with a creek running through it.

She watched from atop the valley's ridge, counting how many trolls filled the space and coming up with only thirteen. A baker's dozen. In the game, a single meteor spell would have blown the entire tribe to pieces. Here, she knew she didn't want to leave a massive crater or burn the forest down with an explosion. And, if she was honest with herself, she wanted to savor the experience.

It was her first combat since awakening into this world, and today had really sucked so far, and she really wanted to experiment with some more spells while she had the opportunity. Like she had explained to the young prodigy Sam, magic was just the application of magical energy, forced to interact with the world through willpower. Which meant she had boundless potential spell applications, unlike in the game where she simply pressed a button to cast a pre-assigned spell.

For the first troll, she used the sunbeam spell. Her staff pointed, the crystal on top bursting with energy as she channeled from the endless ocean within her. The mana she channeled from within sucked in energy from her surroundings with a heavy thirst as she shaped the spell, turning it from raw mana into wavelengths of bright light intertwined with a spiraling flame.

When she released her tether to the spell it shot forward towards the closest troll, instantly vaporizing the creature's head and sending it stumbling to the ground. The other trolls just stared, grunting in confusion as to why their tribemate was suddenly on the ground. A rousing success, she thought to herself, humming quietly. But a shame to lose the head if it's so valuable for alchemy. Maybe…

She waved her staff and used her mana to pull moisture from the air in front of another troll, forming the water into crystal clear prisms. Another beam of concentrated light shot forward, through the prism this time. It split as it came out the far side, a handful of mini-beams pinpricking the corrupted monster and piercing it through. A fitting end for creatures corrupted by the bright side of the moon. The creature dropped with a wet gurgle, blood spilling from each of its new holes.

Finally, the other trolls realized they were under attack and roused in anger. They stumbled into each other, pushing and shoving, grunting their crude guttural sounds as they tried to find the source of the spells. Unfortunately for them, Bella was having a very good time. Her next shot of light was brighter, more concentrated, and when it hit an even larger prism of floating water it splintered into hundreds of beams, each as powerful as the small amount from the prior casting. It was a massacre.

Only four trolls still stood after the spell, each bleeding from their various new holes. But they were regenerating slowly; Bella had figured she couldn't shoot fire through the solidified water prism without disrupting its ability to bend light by creating a cloud of steam. She tsk ed and shook her head, waving her staff with minimal concentration.

This time she pulled moisture from below, tugging water from the creek and soaking it into the earth beneath the four remaining trolls and sinking them to their knees in sucking muck. With captive playthings, there were endless possibilities for other spells. So far, she'd used her energy to manipulate water, earth, fire, and light. Why not the other classic? Her staff waved in a sharp X pattern as she visualized the spell, pushing forth two blades of air.

They hit one of the remaining trolls whose face froze in a snarl, only for its body to collapse into butchered chunks of flesh. A little gruesome, but at least I'm not down there getting covered in muck. Her attention drifted to the next one, and she tried a different application. The air around the creature's head sucked away then came rushing back, condensed and blunted, squeezing. It took only a second for it to burst like an overripe grape.

Bella shuddered slightly at the gore that splattered against the other trolls, who were screeching in frustration. Okay, maybe a little over the top. She dispatched the last two trolls more quickly, a shot of her light-and-fire beam through their hearts, and turned back without watching them fall. When she arrived back at the impromptu bathtub, it was with a satisfied smile on her face and a spring in her step. Gemma was leaned against a tree, watching with arms crossed and a brow arched.

"You seem like you're in a better mood."

"Much," the catkin purred.

"Let's get this over with. The faster we send Harold back with the news, the faster I can take a nap."