Ice Troll
"The Winterbear was here just a moment ago."
Pete pointed to the tracks left behind in the snow. One set of large prints. One set of smaller ones.
"So there were two of them, not just one."
"Looks like they were drying themselves off. They usually dig a den in the snow and live alone, but this Winterbear is raising a cub."
So it was a mother bear and her cub.
"The cub isn't fully grown yet. And still, the Winterbear came out of its den with it."
"Maybe something dangerous showed up."
There was only one reason to abandon a nest and move on.
Just as the musk ox herd had done.
It had decided it could no longer protect its young here.
Pete nodded.
"The Ice Troll might be nearby, then."
"That's not good."
Lawrence looked around.
The lonely mountain range was now full of trees dressed in white.
The view was strikingly similar to the scene the Seer had shown him in the bowl.
There was no doubt they were getting close to the wall.
But just as they neared the high ground, an unwelcome guest had arrived.
"How much farther to the wall?"
"Who knows? A week, maybe. Once we can see the forest, we'll be there soon enough."
A week.
At that specific answer, Lawrence's expression grew serious.
"If we go around the Ice Troll, it'll take at least ten more days."
"Ten days is far too long."
Time was precious.
"Wouldn't it be better to force our way through?"
"Fighting here would be madness."
Pete shook his head.
Lawrence agreed.
The snowy mountains were full of trees that could hide an enemy.
To put it bluntly, if a troll came down from the trees the way a Forest Spider did, there would be no good way to respond.
This was a hunting ground prepared for an Ice Troll.
By any measure, it was not a place where Lawrence wanted to fight.
"That's not all. I know better than most how incredible your magic is, having traveled with you. But in these mountains, you need to be careful. If you use magic carelessly, you might get buried alive."
Lawrence understood what Pete was worried about.
An avalanche...
The troll wasn't the only problem.
The real threat was the fury of nature that might follow in the wake of his magic.
"You'd best avoid anything too powerful. If we trigger an avalanche, both you and I will end up as corpses, that's for sure. Of course, no one can say when those corpses would ever be found."
In the end, he had no choice but to rely on spells with relatively modest power.
And because of that very lack of power, even hurling a Shadow Spear directly was risky.
He would have to use an ordinary Shadow Spear and add Fire Tail for support. That was the safest option.
But could he really fight an Ice Troll with Fire Tail?
No matter how many times he imagined it, he couldn't picture a satisfying outcome.
And Pete was here too.
Fighting an Ice Troll while protecting Pete at the same time...
No matter how he looked at it, the limits were obvious.
"No helping it, then. We should probably head back for now..."
Lawrence trailed off.
He had caught sight of falling snow at the edge of his vision.
It wasn't snow coming down from the sky.
It was snow shaken loose from the branches by something moving above.
"Pete! Get behind me!"
"What? That's the real Ice Troll!?"
"I don't know. But something's definitely there!"
Something was moving freely through the trees.
"Wouldn't it be better to run?"
"It's too fast. We'll be caught the moment we turn our backs."
Now was not the time to flee.
Lawrence and Pete slowly backed away together.
He still couldn't see the thing moving through the trees.
But the falling snow whispered its position all the same.
Don't overthink it.
The crisis is the opportunity.
The creature was closing in, aiming for them.
If he could determine which tree it was likely to jump from, he could intercept it.
Lawrence stared up at the trees.
The snow in the branches shifted left and right as it fell.
This wasn't like the goblin they had encountered on the way to the mage tower.
That one had simply climbed whatever tree was in front of it and rushed in.
But this one was thinking for itself.
It didn't matter.
The reason he kept backing up was to narrow down the trees it might use.
Now what mattered was power.
A direct shot was practically impossible.
Because he had to fire at the trees, there was no way to hit with perfect accuracy.
If he had enough time, Shadow Trap might have been a better choice.
Two trees at most.
If he'd set Shadow Traps in place, the thing would have blown itself apart on its own.
No. That was just wishful thinking.
Shadow Trap couldn't be used here because of the avalanche risk.
It wouldn't just kill the creature; it would bury both of them in snow as well.
There had only ever been one choice.
The only mercy was the sky stretching open beyond the trees.
Shadow Light.
The moment he recognized that, he raised a sphere of light.
He would aim with Shadow Spear at the trees, but fire upward into the sky.
As long as he could avoid an avalanche, raw power would not be a restraint.
Shadow Spear.
Lawrence seized the spear of shadow.
He drew the creature in as much as possible.
Blue light flashed in and out among the trees.
He couldn't be certain it was an Ice Troll.
Still, it was clearly different from the animals they'd met on the road.
"Aren't you throwing it?"
Lawrence had no room to answer Pete.
Even maintaining the Shadow Spear was bringing on a pounding headache.
For reasons he couldn't explain, the strain on his body was immense.
Just holding the spear shaft felt like his brain was burning.
It was nothing like when he'd used it against the Wendigo.
Back then, Shadow Spear had felt like a part of his body.
Like an experienced mercenary who knew the exact position of a blade's tip even with his eyes closed.
The Shadow Spear in his grasp had felt like an extension of his hand.
But now it was different.
It was more than heavy; it was burdensome.
There was no need to speak of sensation.
It felt like he was forcing himself to hold some unpleasant object.
Why?
He didn't know.
No.
He didn't have time to think about that now.
The snow falling from the trees was drawing closer by the second.
The creature was coming.
Even as he neared his limit, he couldn't let go of the Shadow Spear.
Not yet.
He had to draw it in closer if he wanted to hit it cleanly.
Literally until the moment of danger.
It had to come just that little bit further.
Only a handful of trees remained now.
The rhythmic movement between left and right hadn't changed.
Now.
Grinding his teeth, Lawrence hurled the Shadow Spear.
The sound of tearing wind split the air.
Leaving his hand, the Shadow Spear pierced the tree.
A black arc stitched the sky.
Then, with a dull crash, the creature dropped.
A giant of blue light.
The one that fell looked exactly as the stories had described.
It was an Ice Troll.
Its face was twisted in agony.
Blood spattered everywhere.
Only the left side remained.
With half its body blown away, it couldn't even stand upright.
It still clutched an ice club in its intact left hand, but it was already far beyond the point where it could keep fighting.
The Ice Troll stood on the threshold of death, submerged in its own blood.
"Amazing! You're a truly incredible mage!"
Lawrence didn't hear Pete's praise.
Was that really the end?
He felt something was wrong.
Strange.
The Ice Troll's eyes weren't dead.
Whenever any living creature stood before death, the light in its eyes faded.
But there was no surrender in this creature's gaze.
And if it had not surrendered, then it had not given up on living.
It wasn't over yet.
It wasn't over.
"Back off, Pete!"
The instant he realized it, Lawrence shouted.
The Ice Troll's wound began to bubble and seethe.
The blood running out of it didn't matter.
As though time were being turned back, the flesh was regenerating at a shocking speed.
Watching the missing half of its body grow back was not merely uncanny; it was grotesque.
"What the—!"
He had heard that trolls possessed absurd regenerative power.
That even a severed head wouldn't kill them.
That even a pierced heart wouldn't kill them.
But he had never once imagined they could recover from having half their body blown away.
He had to finish this now.
He had to land a fatal blow while it couldn't move.
"Fire Tail!"
The charging whip of fire was blocked by the ice club.
It wouldn't pierce.
Even with mana behind it, it wouldn't break.
Fire Tail was canceled out by the ice; its power was simply insufficient.
He'd made a mistake.
He shouldn't have used Fire Tail.
Win or lose, he should have used Shadow Spear.
Damn it.
Regret was always too late, no matter how quickly it came.
In the first place, this was never a contest of strength.
Monster and human.
He knew all too well from experience that their physical abilities were on different levels.
Before he knew it, the Ice Troll had risen on two feet and was looking down at him.
Its colossal frame had to be well over three meters tall.
The body it had just regenerated gleamed with dense muscle.
Where the Wendigo had been a snow-bound giant with a heavy, ponderous presence...
the Ice Troll was closer to a lean, ferocious giant.
Their eyes met.
―!
A furious roar thundered through the mountains.
Snow crusted in the branches scattered in all directions.
The howl, heard from so close, emptied Lawrence's mind to pure white.
The Ice Troll didn't miss the opening.
Its ice club lunged.
He was going to die.
At the instinct that flashed through his mind, he reflexively spoke the trigger word.
Holy Shield!
Fragments of light scattered.
The impact felt as though he'd been struck in the head with a hammer.
His only defensive spell shattered.
The hastily formed shield barely bought him a single instant.
Then—
Blood splashed across the snowfield, turning it red.
It was the backlash from Holy Shield breaking.
Through the pain that never became familiar, Lawrence shoved Pete aside.
That decision was not wrong.
He had no time to look at the shadow falling over him.
"H, Holy Shield!"
The word shield was laughable at this point.
This time too, Holy Shield shattered without resistance.
Unimaginable agony crushed his chest.
Blood surged upward inside him.
Something hot scorched his throat.
Lawrence did not fall.
If he fell, it was over.
Ironically, the pain burning through his chest forced his body back up.
"Fire Tail."
The Ice Troll retreated to avoid the whip of fire.
There was no time to feel relief.
For the first time in a very long while, something had truly gone terribly wrong.
Blood welled in his mouth.
"Urgh."
After coughing up a mouthful of blood, his stomach felt strangely clearer.
The pain, impossible to grow used to, brought tears to his eyes.
Still, by sheer stubbornness, enough strength returned for him to cast magic again.
Fire Tail wouldn't do.
It might threaten the troll, but it couldn't kill it.
If he was going to use anything, it had to be Shadow Spear.
Even without time to amplify it, at this range the power should be enough.
He had to cast Shadow Spear before the thing lunged.
The Ice Troll was wary of Fire Tail.
He couldn't maintain both spells at once.
The instant he released Fire Tail, the creature would charge, that much was obvious.
He needed time.
Even Shadow Spear was not faster than an Ice Troll.
The moment Fire Tail vanished, the club would come down.
What was he supposed to do?
What should he do?
As Lawrence looked around in desperation, Fire Tail came into view.
The flames were trembling precariously, as if they might go out at any moment.
At that sight, a lesson he'd long since forgotten returned to him.
"There is no perfect magic. Every mystery has strengths and weaknesses, and how to use them depends on the caster's judgment. In other words, knowing how to judge the situation is what truly shows a mage's skill."
That was it.
He had been thinking about this the wrong way.
All magic was affected by its environment.
The Ice Troll's weakness wasn't the issue.
In a freezing landscape, fire magic was simply out of place.
He had been so blinded by the situation in front of him that he'd forgotten the important part.
No matter how effective fire magic might have been...
if it couldn't produce enough power here, then it meant nothing.
Fire Tail was not the answer.
Quite the opposite.
The magic that could exploit this environment was water.
Dropping Fire Tail, Lawrence quickly recited the trigger word.
Water Ball.
A sphere of water formed in an instant.
Water Ball shot forward, one step ahead of the Ice Troll.
He aimed for the face.
He didn't need a decisive strike.
All he needed was to create a momentary opening.
Lawrence's judgment was exactly right.
The blinding ice club slipped off to the side at the last possible instant.
He retreated quickly and cast again.
Water Ball. Water Ball. Water Ball.
Don't give it a chance to breathe.
The spheres of water soared the instant they formed.
Many of them were blocked and shattered by the ice club.
He didn't care.
Compared to Shadow Spear, Water Ball was child's play.
He didn't even need to increase its power.
No—he couldn't afford to, not with the bug in his head.
He simply cast Water Ball without pause.
Face. Head. Arms. Legs.
He wasn't targeting any one body part.
Anywhere was fine, as long as it hit.
This wasn't an attack meant to inflict damage.
The Ice Troll roared at the spell that merely bought time.
At last, it stopped bothering to block the Water Balls and moved.
But it was already too late.
Even if the attacks hadn't caused much damage, it had been struck by nearly dozens of Water Balls.
In weather cold enough to freeze anything exposed to the air in an instant, the Ice Troll's soaked body began to freeze solid.
But it was no time to feel safe just because its movement had been suppressed.
The thing was so monstrously strong that it kept moving even as its bare flesh tore against the ice.
"Water."
He didn't need Water Ball anymore.
He splashed a large volume of water directly over its body.
The Ice Troll could not evade it, and before long it was frozen alive.
"Fire Tail."
The whip of fire sliced through the Ice Troll.
He didn't stop at just dropping its head.
He had seen with his own eyes how terrifying its regeneration was.
He split its arms, severed its shoulders, sliced through its legs.
He shattered the Ice Troll's body into pieces until it could no longer regenerate.
"Haa... haa..."
His ragged breathing filled his ears.
Through the bug-ravaged blur of his vision, he caught sight of Pete.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Are you all right, Pete?"
"Me? I'm only alive thanks to you."
In his haste, Lawrence had simply pushed and hoped for the best.
Fortunately, it didn't look as though Pete had suffered any serious injury.
"But is it really dead?"
"If it's not, then we'll run without looking back."
Supported by Pete, Lawrence forced himself upright.
"That was truly a struggle. I never thought we'd actually bring down an Ice Troll."
"We can talk later. Let's get to a safe base camp first..."
Lawrence trailed off.
Through the collapsing blur of his vision, he saw snow falling again.
No way...
His bad feeling was right.
What leaped down from the trees was another Ice Troll.
The creature roared upon seeing its broken kin.
Fight?
That was nonsense.
After repeated spellcasting, his body was already a wreck.
In this state, he couldn't fight.
Retreat was the right choice.
For now, they should pin it down and escape...
Auuuu!
A narrow, high wolf howl rang out.
The Ice Troll's gaze turned beyond the snowfield.
There, a huge wolf with fur as white as the snow stood waiting.
Lawrence recognized it at once.
This was no ordinary wolf.
The northern wolves that had hunted the musk ox were not this large.
"White Fang...!"
White Fang?
Pete's voice came from behind him.
That was when the Ice Troll glared at White Fang.
Clatter!
With the sound of chains, a spear flew in and pierced the troll's head.
Its regeneration happened in the blink of an eye.
The Ice Troll touched its own head with one hand.
Running straight through the wound was a long iron chain.
But the spears did not stop with one.
Hands. Arms. Shoulders.
Feet. Calves. Thighs.
One after another, the spears came flying in, turning the troll into a human pincushion.
Pierced by the spears, the Ice Troll could hardly move.
Not because of the wounds themselves, but because of the chains attached to the spears.
The chains driven through the Ice Troll's body had fused with its flesh as if they were one.
"Steel armor is suicide. If it touches bare skin, it sticks immediately. And if it takes a blow in that state, it'll rip the skin right off."
The words of the blacksmith in Winterglen came back to him.
The troll's flesh, exposed to metal, had reached the worst possible end.
Its unmatched regeneration had become a poison for once.
There was no way to remove the frozen chains without tearing the body apart with them.
The more the troll tried to pull them free...
the deeper the chains dug into the regenerating flesh.
Perhaps the Ice Troll realized it belatedly.
Instead of trying to strip off the chains, it started moving its body.
The spear frozen to the ground was yanked free.
Bare flesh was torn apart by that monstrous strength.
One step. Then another.
It was a useless struggle.
The freezing environment had bound the Ice Troll's body.
Bound by chains frozen into the ice, it soon dropped to one knee.
Its furious breathing no longer meant anything.
Behind the troll that could no longer move, they appeared.
Black cloaks that stood in stark contrast to the pure white snow.
Like clergy of the Church bearing the Holy Cross.
A white wolf emblem fluttered on their collars.
Watchers.
The Watcher of Winter had arrived.