The Troll's Howl Echoes Through the Valley
I was trying my best to comfort you with kind words, Rus was doing his best to console me, and Laurel, who couldn’t stand it any longer, suddenly jumped in.
“Rus. You always have a problem with your mouth. Please try to be like at least half of him. I’m asking, okay? And you said earlier that today was good, didn’t you!”
“Young Master, didn’t I tell you? Laurel is like that because it’s filled with affection. She’s probably thinking to herself right now… wait a second.”
Rus, who had been mediating my bickering with Laurel with a pleased expression, suddenly fell silent and raised his hand.
I turned my head to see what was wrong and found Rus’s face set in a serious scowl. The Rus who always smiled brightly gave off a strange, unfamiliar vibe.
He gazed in the direction the wind was coming from, as if trying to read something mixed into it.
Why was he acting like this all of a sudden? I turned back to Laurel, only to find her wearing the same stern expression as Rus, spitting out hostility toward whatever was hiding in the darkness.
“Rus.”
“I felt it too. There’s something there. It’s hiding. But… how?”
Responding to Rus’s words, Laurel drew her sword and gripped it tightly.
“Tasha. Emergency signal. Gather the soldiers immediately. If we stay scattered like this, a major disaster could break out. Rus, how are the tracking efforts going?”
As Laurel issued her orders, the mage behind us launched an emergency flare into the sky. Laurel confirmed the signal, turned to Rus, and asked.
“Wait… okay. It’s not far from us. Young Master, come this way. From now on, stay at least five steps away from me and Laurel. Colin, Laura! Come here. You two are responsible for guarding the young master’s rear from now on.”
As Rus gave the command, two knights approached and took up positions behind me, scanning their respective quadrants while beginning to guard.
They were trying hard to remain calm, but their faces betrayed the tension and fear they couldn’t hide.
“Maybe it’s fortunate that the thing is close by. If Laurel and I spot it before the other soldiers, we can prevent more casualties…?”
-Krrrrraaaak!
Before Rus’s words had even finished, a piercing scream of agony echoed through the entire mountain valley.
The chilling final scream etched pure terror into every listener’s bones, and without waiting for each other, we all rushed toward the source of the sound.
The location Rus’s tracking magic had led us to was a shallow gorge nestled between two mountains.
And from the spot where the torchlight pierced the dense trees, the true nature of the darkness began to reveal itself little by little.
What stood there was the shadow of a massive monster.
The monster’s height, easily three times that of an adult man, naturally filled the observer with a sense of overwhelming presence, while the thick, dark fur covering its entire body only amplified its revulsion.
The bulging eyes, the massive hooked nose bent nearly at a right angle, and the sharp fangs protruding from its ripped-open mouth were all factors that allowed one to easily guess the monster’s wickedness.
In front of my eyes unfolded a scene that would never be forgotten in a lifetime.
***
Behind the monster, two soldiers lay sprawled out.
One had his neck twisted at a grotesque angle, and the other had both limbs literally torn off, flung onto a large rock.
The soldier with the twisted neck showed no signs of movement, as if he had already died, but the soldier whose limbs had been ripped away was still twitching and flailing on the rock, his nerves apparently still alive.
Just looking at it made me feel nauseous enough, but the most horrifying sight was unfortunately about to begin now.
The troll raised the other soldier it held in its hands with both hands, tearing the upper and lower body apart, then tilted its head upward and lifted the soldier’s upper body to its long, torn mouth.
Needless to say, the soldier had been alive during the entire process.
The moment the soldier’s spine snapped, the scream echoing through the mountains suddenly cut off, and the monster began to squeeze the victim’s body with its massive hand.
From the lower section of the severed upper body, a dark, viscous mess of intestines, blood, and bones poured out, and the monster ate the remains with a blissful expression.
Now the victim’s upper body looked like an empty husk, rustling as it swayed, with only a few strands of intestines still hanging below, dangling pitifully.
What I was facing was a monster wearing the happiest expression in the world.
***
“All soldiers, fall back thirty steps! Knights, forward! Form a defensive line!”
“Mages, hold at the ten-step mark behind the line! Begin tightening spells. When I give the signal, each of you cast on your assigned sectors. Ash, Kyle, Sophia—left arm. Tyrone, Norton, Hailey—right arm. I’ll handle the legs. Young Master! Young Master, fall back and join the soldiers!”
Unlike me, frozen in disbelief at the unrealistic scene, Rus and Laurel moved with incredible speed. The knights, who had already assembled, quickly formed up according to Laurel’s instructions, while the mages stationed themselves a short distance behind.
If my memory was correct, the troll’s skin had mana resistance, so it wouldn’t take direct damage from lower-tier long-range magic. And Rus, knowing this, seemed to have decided not to deal direct blows with magic but to restrict the monster’s movement with binding spells.
When the crowd gathered and chaos broke out, the troll, which had been lost in its meal, snapped back to its senses and noticed us.
The monster lifted the corner of its torn mouth into an evil grin and began walking toward us, spraying red eyes.
It held a large rock in its right hand, carved into a vicious club, and the eerie sound of the club dragging across the ground filled the entire gorge.
“Ah, of all the things, the bastard even has a weapon. What rotten luck…”
Laurel grumbled, adjusting her stance.
She must have been regretting now, after treating the mountain guide’s warning as a joke. And not just her—everyone present, including me, was probably feeling the same regret.
The knights other than Laurel, who had never faced a troll before, showed visible tension just from looking at it from my position. The knights gripping their shields were shaking, and their pupils were wide enough to cover the whites.
“Don’t worry. Just remember the training you’ve done and stay calm.”
But when Laurel threw that one line at them, the knights instantly settled down and regained their composure.
The fact that Laurel, who didn’t even blink at the monster in front of her, and the knights who regained their senses with just one line from her, felt incredibly impressive.
“It’s coming!!”
-Kwaaang!
The troll slowly approached us, seemingly scouting as it moved closer, then suddenly lunged. It swung its right arm wide, bringing the club down, and Laurel leaped forward alone to meet it with her sword, shattering the club into pieces in an instant.
Seeing its weapon shattered, the monster swung its left arm at the knights.
-Kakakang!
The troll’s arm collided with the knights’ shields, and the sound of metal scraping rang out everywhere. Though it couldn’t fight the monster alone like Laurel, the knights showed incredible courage, not backing down even a step in front of the troll.
“Scatter!! Rus!”
After confirming that the two attacks had been in vain, Laurel shouted, and her orders made the knights disperse in perfect formation to create a path for the magic.
“Fire!”
Rus, having observed Laurel and the knights’ movements, immediately gave instructions to the mages.
The mages simultaneously fired mana strings at the troll, which struck the monster’s arms and legs without missing even once. They then plunged into the ground, binding the monster’s limbs firmly to the earth.
-Kreeeeaaar!
“Grrk!”
“Kyaaak!”
“What kind of power…!”
The troll thrashed wildly in an attempt to break free from the bindings, but every time it moved, the mages were dragged closer, with one even slammed into a tree and knocked unconscious.
Witnessing the scene, Rus shouted at Laurel.
“Laurel, it won’t last long! It has incredible resistance!”
“I know! Patrick, Terence!”
-Puk! Pak! Pak!
As Laurel’s command fell, two knights circled around the troll’s legs and began hacking at the ankles.
The troll, sensing something wrong, intensified its struggle, and the attacks were met head-on by the knights holding shields in front and Laurel herself.
It held up for a moment, but with repeated strikes, cracks began to appear in the troll’s tough hide.
The knights, not missing the opening, focused their blows on the cracks, eventually severing the tendons in the ankles. The troll collapsed to the ground.
“Almost done! Lasso!”
As Laurel’s order came, the knights threw thick rope lassos around the troll’s neck and pulled from both sides.
With its tendons cut, both arms bound by the binding magic, and the lasso around its neck, the monster looked like a condemned prisoner awaiting execution, and I found myself imagining it.
“This damned bastard.”
Laurel stood in front of the troll and cursed.
Then she reversed her grip on the sword and leaped, stabbing it into the troll’s left chest without hesitation.
The pain from the vital strike made the monster let out a roar that shook the mountains.
-Kuek! Kueeeeeeeek! Kuek!
The monster’s death cry itself delivered an immense shock. Even the soldiers waiting in the distance trembled from head to toe, and I was using all my strength just to keep my legs from giving out.
In contrast, Laurel, standing closest, simply furrowed her brows slightly, showing no sign of agitation.
-Kieeeeeek…
Landing on the ground, Laurel immediately leaped again and drove her sword into the troll’s right chest in the same way. With both hearts pierced, the monster finally expended all its strength and collapsed backward.
With a heavy thud, a cloud of dust exploded outward, and on the monster’s belly the size of a mountain, Laurel was now perched.
After a brief pause, she raised her right hand holding the sword high and shouted.
“We won!!! The extermination is over!!!”
“Waaah!”
The soldiers cheered in response to Laurel, while the knights and mages, their strength spent, collapsed here and there on the ground.
Laurel jumped down from the troll’s belly, smiling brightly, and high-fived Rus.
For some reason, the scene felt like the final note of this monster hunt.