Chapter 38
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Red Giant Mountains (3)
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Roar!
Neigh!
The horses tied to the trees went berserk at the ferocious roar.
"Gasp!"
Lindelmann's mind went blank as a massive beast, easily over five meters tall, appeared before them.
Grroooar! Groar!
The troll, covered in thick red fur, bellowed as it swung its long arms that nearly dragged on the ground.
Whoosh! Crash!
The thick log it wielded danced through the air, uprooting and shattering the surrounding trees like they were caught in a gale.
The red troll, having shown its overwhelming power to these tiny intruders who dared enter its domain without fear, rolled its bloodshot eyes while drooling.
Humans.
A rare delicacy it might see once a year.
Kerruk!
The troll snorted hot breath from its nostrils, its red eyes gleaming.
The three facing it could sense the troll's emotions clearly, regardless of their species.
Greed!
It saw them as prey.
"Uh, ugh..."
Overwhelmed by the savage aura that could terrify even beasts, Lindelmann instinctively staggered back.
The faint hope he'd harbored after hearing Blake and Rubens— that maybe they could take it on— vanished the moment he laid eyes on the monster.
With eyes the size of fists gleaming with murderous light, and curved fangs protruding from thick lips that it licked with its tongue, this beast was no match for humans.
"B-Blake!"
Lindelmann, his face drained of color, called out for Blake.
"Just follow my orders."
With a calm voice, Blake stepped forward.
Fwoosh!
In an instant, Lindelmann's vision went pitch black, as if night had fallen.
Of course, it wasn't really night.
Blake had charged ahead at terrifying speed, his cloak flapping off and briefly blocking Lindelmann's view.
Thud-thud-thud!
Blake dashed forward, holding his fiendblade at a slant.
Kraaah!
The troll raised its long arm toward him as he closed the distance in a flash.
Blake shouted at that moment.
"Now, wizard!"
With the scroll ready, Rubens hurled it and thrust his staff upward.
"Light! Straight and narrow path!"
The scroll tore to shreds, and a brilliant white light burst from the gem atop the staff.
Flash!
The beam shot out instantly, striking the troll's face just as it swung the log down at Blake.
Kruuung!
Blinded by the intense flash like the midsummer sun, the troll jerked its head aside.
Thanks to that, the log missed Blake.
Boom!
The impact cratered the ground, shaking the surroundings.
Crunch-crunch!
Blake dodged by a couple of steps, then used the embedded log as a springboard. He leaped high into the air without losing balance.
But the troll's senses and reactions were as sharp as any beast's.
Even blinded, it instinctively swung its other hand upward from below toward where its enemy had jumped.
Whoosh!
A palm the size of a door rose with immense wind pressure.
Split second.
Scree!
Blake twisted his airborne body sideways, bent his knees, and kicked off the troll's palm with both feet.
A reaction speed nearly matching the troll's own.
Thump!
With a loud impact, Blake's body soared even higher into the air.
"Ah!"
Lindelmann's eyes filled with despair, thinking Blake had been struck.
But it was an illusion.
Using the troll's upward swing as propulsion, Blake flipped in midair from nearly ten meters up, held his fiendblade horizontally, and plummeted vertically.
The moment his body aligned with the troll's.
Ping!
A strange glow enveloped the fiendblade, blurring it momentarily as a sharp whine cut the air.
Splurt!
Kraaaargh!
Dark red blood sprayed like a fountain, and a roar echoing through the canyon erupted from the troll's maw.
"Tch!"
"Ah!"
Lindelmann grimaced and backed away, while Rubens toppled backward.
Even before the shock faded, they scrambled up and looked ahead.
The log the troll had used as a weapon and a long, grotesque object lay on the ground together.
It was the troll's arm.
Kraaaar! Kruuung!
Clutching its spurting shoulder with its remaining hand, the troll wailed madly and retreated.
Rage, excitement, and agony overwhelmed it, causing dark red blood-mixed feces to burst from its rear.
It had reigned as the king of this region for decades, but this was pain unlike anything it had ever felt.
Kruuuh!
Yet the troll didn't panic.
In just a moment— a very brief one— its sight would return, and the bleeding would stop.
Then it could crush this insolent black human who had wounded it for the first time in decades.
But the troll was unaware of two facts.
One, that its severed arm wouldn't regenerate so quickly.
And the other...
Thud!
That the insolent human wouldn't stop attacking.
"Sir Zaroph!"
Blake, low to the ground, slipped to the side of the retreating troll and bellowed.
"Ah!"
Snap out of it at Blake's shout, Lindelmann came to.
"Raaah!"
Suddenly filled with courage, he screamed wildly and charged the troll.
In the troll's flickering vision from the lingering flash, Lindelmann's approaching figure appeared faintly.
Groar!
The troll instinctively tried to swing its arm.
Ping!
A sharp whoosh rang out again.
Kraaaang!
The troll roared in agony and lost its balance, collapsing.
With its left knee half-severed, it toppled sideways. Blake, now behind it, shouted.
"Now, Zaroph!"
"Raaagh!"
Recalling Blake's words from entering the mountains, Lindelmann leaped onto the falling troll and thrust his longsword with all his might.
Almost simultaneously, Blake's fiendblade flashed toward the troll's shoulder.
Slice! Ping!
Yelp!
The troll's wail was brief.
Its voice box had been severed from its body.
Splatter!
Amid the pouring red rain, the troll's consciousness faded with the world spinning around it.
Thud! Boom!
Its boulder-sized head hit the ground, and the headless giant body fully collapsed.
Lindelmann's longsword was embedded halfway into the troll's rugged chest.
"Huff! Huff!"
Panting raggedly, Lindelmann staggered back and fell on his butt.
Swish!
Blake swung his fiendblade to shake off the blood and inspected the corpse.
The severed parts had turned bluish, confirming no regeneration.
The only way to kill a troll with weapons was to destroy both heart and brain simultaneously.
Without nearly simultaneous severance of the blood-pumping heart and the regeneration-commanding brain nerves, it wouldn't die easily.
Knowing this from his Northern Great Mountains experience, Blake had Lindelmann stab the chest center while he decapitated it.
Slice!
Blake effortlessly pulled out the longsword and offered it to the still-seated, heaving Lindelmann before heading to Rubens.
"Hoo! Hoo!"
Leaning against a large rock, Rubens sweated profusely, his face as exhausted as when he'd used magic on mercenaries in the pub.
Magic demanded intense mental focus, so it was expected.
"Good work, wizard."
"Huff! Huh! N-No problem."
Forcing a smile despite his labored breathing, Rubens beamed inwardly.
Having this stoic man acknowledge his magic's value was pure joy.
At the same time, Rubens was genuinely shocked.
He'd been surprised when Blake downed those rowdy mercenaries in a blink, but this was on another level.
Humans and trolls were worlds apart.
He couldn't imagine anyone slaying a troll— with its monstrous strength to crush beasts barehanded and unbelievable regeneration— with just a few sword strokes.
"Um, sorry, but could you cut out the troll's fangs? They're valuable magic ingredients."
"Sure."
Blake wasn't as shocked by Rubens' magic as Rubens was by him, but having reevaluated it in this fight, he gladly severed the fangs.
He skinned a portion of the troll and draped it over his cloak.
'A shame, but no choice.'
Large beast corpses like trolls had many uses.
In the Northern Great Mountains, he'd have dismantled it fully with his men, but given the circumstances, Blake turned away regretfully.
"Let's move."
Confirming the other two had caught their breath, Blake said.
Still weary, but eager to escape the foul stench wafting from all sides, they followed willingly.
After a short rest, the trio pressed through the canyon zone.
The canyon featured jagged rock cliffs 30 to 40 meters high converging narrowly like a folding fan, littered with boulders, resembling a maze.
Thanks to Rubens, they navigated without trouble.
Curiously, no beasts or monsters attacked them while passing.
It was due to the troll skin Blake had taken.
That troll they'd felled together was the local lord, the canyon's king. The beasts and monsters avoided them due to its strong scent on the hide.
In a way, facing the troll first upon entering the mountains was fortunate.
Thus unhindered, they reached the forest edge— thick woods at the canyon's end— as the sun nearly set.
The vast range narrowed artfully here, but they'd crossed the Red Giant Mountains' most notorious rocky canyon in a single day.
Befuddled by this miraculous feat, Lindelmann made one resolve.
No matter how long this journey lasted, he'd obey Blake unconditionally from now on.
Especially in battle— no questions, just follow orders.
The reason was simple.
'He's not human. Really, this guy's no human.'
Staring at Blake's broad back as he led on horseback, Lindelmann shuddered.
(To be continued next time)