Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Clash with the Troll Elite
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In the heat of battle, wounds multiplied across the trolls' bodies from the Heavenly Flower Squad members' hidden weapons and poison.
No matter how tough their resistance, prolonged exposure like this would inevitably break through.
But the trolls weren't fools.
"Krrruk! As darkness falls and shadows deepen, moss clings even thicker to the blackened rocks."
At that, the black rock trolls began chanting an eerie incantation.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Piles of stones around them rose up, wrapping around the trolls' bodies.
Already boasting rock-hard skin, the trolls now encased in actual stone looked just like golems.
This was the trolls' signature sorcery, voodoo that manipulated nature and spirits.
"It's a defensive spell! Stop the poison and hidden weapons—everyone, switch to short swords!"
At Squad Leader Leona's shout, the Heavenly Flower Squad members stowed their poison and darts, drawing short swords from their bosoms in unison.
The crude blades, which looked like toys for children at a glance, drew mocking laughs from the trolls.
"Krrruk! What do you plan to do with those toothpicks...?!"
Thwuck!
The troll, who had mocked the Heavenly Flower Squad after deploying its voodoo, saw one side of its vision stain red.
Pain exploded right after.
"Kraaaaaagh!"
In that brief moment, Leona had hurled her short sword into the troll's eye, piercing a spot the voodoo defense couldn't reach.
These were elite trolls—numerous, ambush specialists, even wielding sorcery.
And the Heavenly Flower Squad wasn't a unit specialized for frontline combat.
However.
The Heavenly Flower Squad was still a unit proudly recognized by the martial clan for its importance.
If it were some pushover squad that folded without resistance to trolls, it never would have earned such capabilities.
Even so, Sophia's eyes grew heavy as she surveyed the battlefield.
The reason was a single monster asserting its presence amid the ordinary trolls.
Bwoooong!
A particularly massive troll swung a gigantic spear that no human could possibly lift, brandishing it with menace.
Towering a full head above the others, its skin shrugged off not just poison but even embedded darts.
And that wasn't all.
"Krruk, if the struck one takes two hits, it's only fair the striker takes one—that's how the world turns!"
Kiiiiing!
As Heavenly Flower Squad members, realizing how much more dangerous it was, showered it with darts to keep it in check, half the darts that struck its body ricocheted back at the throwers with even greater speed.
"Urk, this guy's using sorcery too!"
"Everyone, be careful! This one's an elite monster!"
Some squad members, wounded by their own darts, retreated to the rear for treatment.
Because of this one troll, the momentum wasn't fully shifting to the Heavenly Flower Squad.
"Not bad."
Grit!
Sophia bit her lip.
She had been too complacent.
Who would have thought the trolls would launch the first ambush.
And their stealth was better than expected.
No, all that was just excuses.
It was her own fault for rushing to claim glory.
'First, handle what's in front of me. Reflection comes later.'
She calmly quelled her agitation.
The moniker "Little Star of the Clan" wasn't one earned by faltering at a crisis like this.
If she'd made a mistake, she just had to fix it.
Sophia had a gut feeling.
If they didn't take down that thing here and now...
Forget succeeding the mission—they might suffer massive losses and return to the clan covered in disgrace.
That absolutely could not happen.
"Everyone, fall back."
Step!
She stepped forward, gripping her chakram tightly.
"I'll handle that one."
Tat!
"W-Wait! Hold on, Captain!"
Squad Leader Leona desperately called out to stop her, but Sophia ignored the voice and charged straight at the elite troll, Munjuk, hurling her chakram.
Kiiiiiiing!
The disc, humming with an eerie sound, flew toward Munjuk's shoulder.
But Munjuk was no ordinary foe—he was a favored retainer of the troll king.
He swiftly pulled back the spear tip aimed at the Heavenly Flower Squad and blocked Sophia's chakram.
Kiririririk!
"Krruk!"
Perhaps because the force behind Sophia's chakram was no joke.
Munjuk, who had been aggressively pressing the Heavenly Flower Squad, staggered back for the first time.
Whirrl! Slash!
Maintaining her momentum as she closed in, Sophia lashed out with her whip at Munjuk.
The whip created a sonic boom as it sought to coil around his arm.
Sophia's whip looked ordinary, but it was a treasure woven from the hide of a sea serpent, harbinger of oceanic calamity.
No matter the troll, getting ensnared would shred its skin to ribbons.
"Krrruk! As if!"
Slash!
The spear that had deflected the chakram now blocked the whip as well.
Even under Sophia's relentless assault, Munjuk showed no loss of fighting spirit.
No, it burned even fiercer.
The humans invading the forest this time were on another level from the dime-a-dozen(?) mages.
Offering such vibrant prey to the king...
How much vitality would he recover!
"...Krrruk."
Rumble!
Munjuk lowered his spear tip close to the ground, steadying his stance.
"All for our king."
Whoooosh!
Energy gathered at the spearhead churned into a vortex.
A dense aura hardened at the blade's tip like solid rock.
It evoked not a monster, but the ultimate technique of a seasoned knight at the peak of mastery—immensely powerful.
"......!!"
Sensing Munjuk's strike was extraordinary, Sophia stowed her chakram and whip, readjusting her stance.
"...Fine, I guess I underestimated you savages. Sorry about that. But you know..."
Skill on par with a veteran knight couldn't touch the Little Star of the Clan. Never.
She would make it feel that gap to its bones.
Vwoooo!
Sophia's clothes and hair whipped wildly.
Unlike Munjuk's rock-solid black aura, a red energy fluttered around her body and weapons like flower petals.
The tension hung on a knife's edge.
Around them, all other fights had ground to a lull, excluding the two powerhouses.
In the charged air where either could strike first without warning, Munjuk backed off.
"...Krruk. Decent skills, and sharp instincts too. Looks like the immature ones weren't up to the task."
Munjuk's cryptic words, like grasping at clouds, were understood by only one present.
"Regrettable, but we'll settle this another time."
As if unwilling to prolong the clash with Sophia, Munjuk slammed his spear into the ground with full force.
Kuuuung!
"Earth Shatter."
The ground quaked under the spear's intense energy, a massive wall of earth surging toward the Heavenly Flower Squad.
"Everyone, watch out! Grab the wounded and pull back fast!"
The Heavenly Flower Squad dodged the tidal wave of dirt while retrieving their injured.
Getting buried defenseless under that would entomb even them alive.
Only one person didn't budge from Munjuk's strike: Sophia.
"Who said you could leave?"
Chrrrrrk!
Sophia's chakram began spinning at high speed.
Red energy overlaid on the blade bloomed like a lotus in its rotation.
"Red Lotus Bloom!"
Kiiiiiiing!
The chakram launched from her hand surged ferociously against the oncoming earth wall.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The black tide of soil clashed with the ascending red lotus, devastating the surroundings.
As the choking dust settled, the ambushing trolls had all vanished.
"A little longer, and I could've smashed that thing. Unnecessary meddling, Latent Dragon Captain."
Sophia retrieved her chakram, which had demolished the earth wall, without turning around.
"Maybe. But most of your Heavenly Flower Squad would've died instead."
Ian emerged from the bushes behind Sophia, replying calmly.
"......"
Grit!
Sophia had no retort to Ian's words.
Infuriating, but true.
That troll wasn't an enemy she could've beaten easily.
Even in victory, the cost would've been grievous.
'...No, perhaps...'
She might've faced an unthinkable worst-case outcome.
Whish whish!
'Pointless thoughts. No way that would've happened.'
Shaking off the negative notions, Sophia turned the question back to Ian.
"By the way, what about you, Latent Dragon Captain? Did you get ambushed too?"
"Yes. They came at us relentlessly, stubbornly. Their poison resistance was impressive... Nearly gave us trouble."
Ian's composed demeanor.
Not a scratch on him—Sophia revised her assessment of him once more.
'...This guy didn't feel an ounce of fear.'
Munjuk's mutter about "immature ones."
It meant they'd sent inexperienced young trolls at the Latent Dragon Squad, not full-grown ones.
But a troll was a troll, young or not.
To emerge this unscathed...
This wasn't just talent.
'...Experience. Impossible without being inured to the scent of blood and steel on the battlefield.'
Definite.
Ian was hiding something.
"...Hey, you..."
As Sophia stowed her chakram and whip, turning to broach the topic—
"C-Captain!"
Squad Leader Leona's scream-like cry echoed through the forest.
"G-Grace, Hestia, and Fiore are gone!!"
"What? What are you talking about?!"
Sophia shot back in alarm at the unexpected report.
"S-Sorry! I thought we'd secured all the wounded, but during the clash just now..."
Yes.
While they were busy evacuating the injured from Munjuk's earth-shaking strike, the trolls—including Munjuk—had snatched three away.
"Idiots...!!"
About to snap at Leona, Sophia took a deep breath and composed herself.
It wasn't Leona's fault.
Even she had been fully occupied countering the earth wall with Red Lotus Bloom.
And the ambushing trolls outnumbered the Heavenly Flower Squad.
In that chaos, if the trolls deliberately used stealthy sorcery to kidnap, even Squad Leader Leona couldn't have protected everyone.
'No, maybe it's fortunate only three were taken.'
"So, what do you plan to do?"
Sophia turned at the voice from behind, steadying her rattled heart.
Ian stood there, arms crossed, asking her.
"Do about what?"
"Your squad members. Three are missing—what's your intention?"
Sophia coolly retorted to Ian's oddly expressive question.
"Sacrifices are inevitable on missions. Regrettable, but regrouping takes priority now."
A flicker of disappointment crossed Ian's eyes at Sophia's cold words.
'Did I misjudge her?'
"However."
Sophia continued as she stowed her weapons.
"According to texts, trolls absorb the life force and mana of living beings to heal their wounds. If those members become fodder for the troll king, it could make the mission even harder."
"......"
"So, moving now seems like the right call."
"......"
As Ian offered no reply, Sophia shot him a sullen glare.
"What are you staring at? As mission commander, I order you: Latent Dragon Squad will assist Heavenly Flower Squad in the pursuit. We're tracking the trolls now."
Sophia flushed to her neck, embarrassed even as she spoke.
Watching her, a chuckle escaped involuntarily.
'As expected, quite the entertaining kid.'
Ian had been certain Sophia would decide this way.
Leona's expression when reporting the missing members.
It held urgency over their loss, but no trace of resignation to abandon them.
And that sentiment was shared by the entire Heavenly Flower Squad.
One glimpse tells all.
That was enough.
Sophia's cold words were mere formality.
To confirm the Heavenly Flower Squad wasn't the type to coldly abandon comrades in crisis.
And that fact let Ian decide easily.
"Gladly, we'll help."