Remembering the Stone Mace Troll That Might Have Become a Hero Unit
Seeing the shaman’s head rolling in the distance, the trolls flared up again and bellowed in fury.
- Trooo! (Catch them!)
Just as they were about to chase after the gremlins and goblins.
“Mana of the earth.”
Meyril planted her staff into the ground and chanted the spell.
“Make them regret trampling over precious land so carelessly!”
To prepare for this kind of variable, she had set up Mana Soil magic circles not only in the square but also in the alleys.
The mana she poured from her staff flowed over the dirt like a stream of earth, and when that thread of power reached the magic circle in the alley, it triggered a violent tremor.
- Rumble, rumble.
The main ingredient in Mana Soil was Adsorption Soil.
It was only natural that earth would resonate easily with the mana of the land.
- Trooo?!
A powerful quake threw the trolls off their feet.
As Meyril focused on the magic circle beneath the trolls, she also carefully adjusted her mana so the houses lining both sides of the alley would not be damaged by the tremors.
- Troro...
Every time they tried to get up, they went sprawling again. Their greatest strengths, their towering height and long legs, were becoming liabilities against the quake. They couldn’t keep their balance.
Meyril immediately began chanting her next spell.
“Earth that has waited for rain to soak the barren land.”
Her original plan had been to use the circle drawn in the square to bring down hail. But now that the trolls had failed to enter the square, she changed her plan.
“I’ll give you the moisture that should have wet the corners of my eyes.”
Meyril generated humidity around the magic circle.
She lifted the Mana Soil, now turned to mud, into the air.
“Ride the wind. Listen to my wind.”
Carried by a gust, the muddy earth flew out and stuck to the trolls’ bodies, especially their arms and hands.
If I just wait, I might miss my chance. Then I’ll seize it myself. Just like when I said I wanted to follow my lord!
Magic-circle traps were certainly powerful, but they had one fatal flaw: if the enemy never stepped into them, they were useless.
So Meyril came up with the idea of moving the magic circle to the enemy instead, if the enemy would not come to it.
“Let their wicked heat freeze!”
The Mana Soil clinging to the trolls’ bodies exhaled a biting cold.
- Tro...ol?!
When wind met moisture, it created a bitter winter.
The tremors stopped, but the trolls still had not.
- Crack.
When the trolls’ yellowed, rotten fangs froze into pearly icicles.
“Third and Fourth Squad, charge!”
The First and Third Squads were the post guard, while the Second and Fourth Squads were the militia recruited from the village.
Although morale among Bojedo’s militia was high, they had far too little time to receive proper training or learn complex tactics. So Ho-yeong had them practice just one tactic, over and over, until it was drilled into their bones.
There’s only one thing you need to do. Shield charge. No, barrier charge.
Fourth Squad lifted the wooden barricades bound together in an X shape and ran forward as one. At a glance it looked simple, but charging while carrying such a heavy barrier was impossible unless balance and breathing were perfectly synchronized. And on top of that, they had large shields strapped to their backs.
“Aaahhh!”
The charge was excellent in both posture and momentum. It was the result of dozens of repetitions over a short period of time.
- T, Trooo?!
The trolls, frozen all over, could neither dodge nor block.
- Crack.
The pointed ends of the barriers stabbed into the trolls’ legs and bellies.
- Trowaaar!
The trolls began to move their arms with all their strength.
“Shields up!”
Fourth Squad dropped to one knee and lifted the shields on their backs over their heads.
- Tro, Troool!
The trolls pinned to the barricades could do nothing but bring their weapons down in desperate swings.
But their weapons were nothing more than stone axes. They were still formidable, given the trolls’ monstrous strength and the force of the drop, but...
- Clang.
The sluggish attacks, dulled by the cold debuff, failed to leave so much as a scratch on the shields.
Then Third Squad, having charged in with a delay, thrust their spears into their sides all at once. Since there was no danger of retaliation, they could throw everything into the attack.
“Stab, spears!”
At the command, the spear points drove in with perfect coordination.
- Twaaagh!
Countless spearheads pierced the trolls’ bodies.
“Push them back!”
Fourth Squad lowered their stance and advanced, pushing the barricades forward. As the trolls were driven back, it became easier for Third Squad to pull their spears free.
“Stab, spears!”
- Trooaargh!
The trolls were helpless before the repeated thrusts of the long spears.
There was no way for them to close the overwhelming gap in range.
If they tried to approach, the militia would push the barricades; if they tried to clear the obstruction, they couldn’t. Even their attacks were stopped by the shields held at an angle against the stakes.
If the shaman had still been alive, maybe he could have melted this cold, but the trolls’ shaman had long since met his end.
“Ugh... It’s really cold.”
“Hold on just a little longer!”
If there was one thing that favored the trolls, it was that humans were just as cold as they were.
Soldiers were suffering too, their fingers stiff and numb in the bitter weather.
“Mana filling the air, I ask that you protect the courage of our warriors with warmth.”
A stream of mana unfurled from Meyril’s waving staff, like spring winds following an early winter.
“Huh? What kind of magic is this?”
The mana particles clung to the soldiers.
The method was similar to when she had attached Mana Soil to the trolls, but this time it felt much softer.
“Ooh. It suddenly got warm! As expected of the mage!”
What she spread was warmth, not cold.
It seemed to melt not only the soldiers’ chilled hands and feet, but also their tired hearts.
“But if that happens, won’t the trolls be able to move freely too...”
Contrary to one soldier’s concern, the mana particles did not go anywhere near the trolls. Meyril had made them cling only to beings that possessed mana.
Trolls carried no mana inside their bodies at all. Meyril had learned that fact thanks to her lord’s final instruction.
After battle, there’s no need to extract the trolls’ gallstones. Their mana levels are X, so mana doesn’t cling to the stones. Just make sure to drain the blood properly.
Using that information as a hint, Meyril adapted the technique to grant buffs only to her allies. If her lord had seen this, he would have praised and marveled at her without end.
- Troo...rgh.
The trolls’ morale had collapsed completely. It was one thing for it to be cold; it was another to watch only the humans grow warm.
- Troooaaargh!
Just as the trolls, unable to endure any longer, cried out in despair...
- Trooaargh! Tro trooo! (No! If we stop, we die! Move!)
Stone-Mace Troll #005 roared out.
- Trooargh! Troo trooool! (Everyone run! Keep going! The village entrance is ahead.)
It began swinging its stone mace like a mad thing, knocking spears aside. While it bought time, the others were to escape.
It was a sacrifice so unbelievable for a troll, a race that was more known for devouring its own kind than for any sense of kinship. If judged by human standards, it was as noble as Haryad, the benefactor of the river crossing.
- Tro...Troo! Trotro! (H-hey, amazing! I thought you were a quiet one. But that courage is incredible!)
- Troooool. Trooooo! (You are the troll. A true troll hero!)
Even among trolls, whose opinions rarely aligned on anything, the moment was moving enough to unite them.
Of course, not a single one of them stayed behind to fight with it. Being moved and staying alive were two different things.
- Troo troo! (Move, move!)
But with their legs frozen stiff, it was not easy to run.
- Troo, trool! (Pump the heart! No, don’t! Regeneration!)
So Stone-Mace Troll #005 came up with an extreme measure. It would sacrifice its excellent regeneration for the moment, just to get blood flowing through its body somehow.
Not only brave, but smart too. Among a bunch of trolls with nothing but stone for brains, it was the only one who had managed something close to a Bronze Age civilization.
If Ho-yeong had seen it, he would have tried to convert it somehow and make it a leading troll, a troll exemplary enough to guide the others. A talent, or rather, a trollent.
- Tro. Trotro! Trooargh! (Do it! Just like that bastard said! You can run!)
Once the blood intended for regeneration was spread throughout the body, it really did work.
The trolls staggered forward toward the village entrance, but...
“Trolls. You may have barged in however you wanted, but you don’t get to leave that way.”
As if timed with Meyril’s firm words...
“Waaahhh!”
Second Squad came charging in with the barricades. It was the force that had circled around earlier at Meyril’s direction.
- Tro, Troool?! (W-what do we do?! Tell us!)
The trolls turned desperately to Stone-Mace Troll #005, but it had already collapsed. With so many attacks taken alone, regeneration or not, it was finished.
Of course, even if it had still been alive, things would not have changed much. No matter how clever it was, it was still a troll, and it could not escape the trap Meyril had laid.
- Twaagh!
The trolls were pushed back by Second Squad’s barricade charge.
“Stab, spears!”
The long spears of First Squad, who arrived right after, came stabbing in without mercy.
“Push them!”
At Hendry’s command, Second Squad shoved the barricades forward with all their might.
“We’ll press them too!”
From the opposite side, Fourth Squad charged over #005’s corpse.
- Tro...Troooool!
The alley was a straight line. Front and back were completely sealed. The houses on either side had their doors tightly shut. In other words, there was no retreat.
The trolls had lost all will to fight. Even with brains the size of pebbles, they could understand the situation.
But their killing intent still poured out faithfully.
- Troo, troll! (What happened! The one who was close to the shaman!)
- Trooool?! Trooool! (My fault?! You bastard!)
They began blaming one another and swinging their weapons.
Meyril wanted to turn her head away. Not because the sight of flesh tearing and blood spraying was frightening or cruel. She had grown used to that through battle after battle. She had gone numb to it.
But even she wanted to burst into tears at the trolls’ trolling.
...What a dreadful race. Why, why are you like this... even when death is right in front of you, you still hurt one another? Because killing us, humans, seems too hard, so you kill each other instead? Do you need someone, anyone, to hurt?
The trolls’ behavior was a realm of madness even Meyril, so intelligent by nature, could not understand.
I can understand resisting to the very end and refusing to die. But... why is it that you keep baring your intent to kill even while abandoning the will to live?
Meyril thought the trolls were pitiable. Not, of course, because she sympathized with their deaths themselves. She was gentle to a fault, but not foolish enough to pity monsters who had come to kill humans.
They probably can’t understand their own actions either. They were simply born that way. It must be their instinct. What a sad thing. Why did the gods give that race such a cruel fate?
What she found tragic was the fate the trolls had been born with.
“Stab them without mercy! Aim for the heart!”
The trolls were now like grapes caught in a press. Even as blood burst from the countless holes in their bodies, they kept cursing each other.
To Meyril, the curses sounded as though they were aimed at the world itself.
Could even trolls like these change if my lord converted them? I’m sure he would change their lives and their future both.
Rather than lamenting the fact that she herself lacked such a mysterious power, she chose to do what she could do now.
“Air filled with cold, go deep into the trolls’ bodies. Freeze even the hearts full of hatred, and the blood they spill.”
Meyril drew the power of cold upward.
Even the trolls’ rage, boiling in the middle of the bitter winter, soon froze solid.