Chapter 256: The Troll Toll

“Don’t feed the trolls; nothing fuels them so much.”

Oscar Wilde

“Trolls?” Njordson shouted in shock as the felled trees blocking the river came into sight around the bend.

On one side, a tree had been knocked over, blocking half the river, while on the other side, the tree had clearly been uprooted from further afield and dragged into place. Together, they blocked the river held back from floating downstream by a central rock in the centre of the river.

“Trolls,” I confirmed, calculating our options.

Meanwhile, the Trolls, seeing our boat slowing and heading to the side of the river, stepped out from their hiding places now that their ambush had been aborted. Namir might have seen tracks for three, but unfortunately, there were four.

One waited on either side of the river at the base of the trees, where they would have been able to wade out into the river to collect their toll. Then another one closer still on both sides to close in behind the trapped river boats. I could now sense the remains of previous boats just out of sight behind the blockade.

I supposed the trees formed some sort of a bridge, but they were not under it, and there were significantly more than one. They also seemed to sadly be considerably smarter or at least smart enough to create this ambush.

“Left or right?” Namir asked.

“Left or right?” Njordson questioned, confused.

“Left,” I answered Namir, and he leapt ashore, leaving me to explain to Njordson. “We will take out the left two trolls first, hopefully before the two on the northern side of the river have a chance to reinforce them.”

“You’re going to take out all four trolls? Do you know how high their vitality is?” Njordson voice had risen in pitch. “There’s just the three of us. How are you going to take out four trolls?” He started to repeat himself as I steered the boat to land where the blur that was Namir had jumped. He might still be stronger than me, but he was predominantly a dexterity-based fighter, and he would make the most of his speed by tackling them one at a time before they could bunch up.

“Hopefully, one at a time,” I answered sardonically.

“He can’t possibly hope to take one out, can he?” asked Njordson, afraid, and I realized he had never seen the cat-based beastkin in action. It might get a little close but it hopefully wouldn’t be anywhere near as impossible as he was making it out to be.

Namir rushed forward to tackle the first of the four, and I had the opportunity to scan their levels before he made contact with his claws. I spammed my skills, updating my mini-map with the notifications. This was life and death rather than a game, but my status overlay helped me keep track of everything.

[Observe]

Trolgar

Level 69

[Observe]

Zulkaz

Level 75

[Observe]

Zengar

Level 68

[Observe]

Zalmar

Level 83

I could have known more with [Analyse], but I did not plan on touching them anytime soon. It was enough to know that Namir out-levelled them and that they  . . .

[Observe]

Njordson

Level 58

. . . out-levelled Njordson. It was not a terribly low level, but I would have to keep an eye on him. Technically, I was more or less on par with them. The problem was that they were Trolls, and I was a human. If I were going to attempt to face them physically, I would be at a tiny bit of a disadvantage. If it was just the two of us, we could fly past them without intervening or being bothered by them in return.

The problem was Njordson.

We couldn’t leave him to face them, but neither did I wish to display all my skills to someone who, while provisionally an ally, I could not necessarily count on convincing to keep quiet about my wide array of abilities. This was going to be a challenge in more ways than one. We would attempt to do this physically more than magically, but I was not about to risk my life if it came down to it by withholding my skills and fighting with a hand tied behind my back.

Namir swiftly arrived at the first troll on the southern side of the river and began with a flurry of claws and steel as he slipped past him and around him, speed beating strength.  Unfortunately, Trolgar might only be a level 69, but like all Trolls, he had a vitality build, just like the Elves. The difference, however, between the Vitality-based Noble Race and the Vitality-based Base Race was that while Elves had unlocked Long-Lived as their racial trait, Trolls had unlocked Regeneration, and his wounds were already healing despite their depth and litres of blood that had spilt from them in the first few seconds of their fight.

The eight to ten-foot troll had raised its long arms to crush the beastkin as he raced toward him, but Namir had suddenly surged forward at the last second with either [Flash Step] [Dart] or some other speed skill that had left the troll open for him to inflict as many wounds as he went past as he could. His claws had opened both femoral arteries on both legs before ripping out his Achilles tendons as he turned behind him.

A human would bleed out and die within two to four minutes with both femoral arteries cut open, and with their Achilles severed, most would likely fall to the ground. The troll, however, with the skill [Regeneration] running, still stood despite the blood-covered legs, and as we watched, the fountain of blood that had first emerged slowed to a stream, then a trickle and slowly to a stop. At least it did not look like the tendons were reattaching quick enough for him to regain full movement, but that fact did not stop him from trying to shuffle around on the beastkin who had stepped past him and was now striking from behind.

It was all happening so fast, but Namir had not stopped and was already scaling the troll from behind as his arms fell, and he attempted to turn. He had pulled out his daggers and used them to inflict deeper wounds as he went up. The kidney, spine, heart, spine and both subclavian arteries were all hit on his way up before he ripped open the troll's throat, and the Troll fell face forward with a thud. Its lifeblood was streaming away. It lay still and gasping like a fish on dryland.

“One at a time,” I repeated as Njordson sat there in shock. Although I too was surprised by the speed and efficiency of the kill.

“Kai! Get here!” Shouted Namir, and I jumped out of the beached boat and raced toward the downed troll Namir was still cutting into. “Keep it down and kill it,” he said firmly before turning to tackle the next one. ‘Keep it down and kill it.’ The words echoed strangely in my mind as I looked down at the partially dismembered troll body beneath me. Namir had removed a few fingers but failed to get through its thick neck. The wounds closing up behind the strikes.

[Observe]

Trolgar

Level 69

It wasn’t dead! Somehow, despite the damage, it was still alive. I touched the monster and stared, horrified by the results of my skill.

[Analyse]

Level 69
Trolgar
Troll

Health: 440/4440 Stamina: 3090/3850

Trait: Regeneration

Status conditions

Bleeding I
Bleeding II
Bleeding III
Bleeding IV
Bleeding V

Paralysed I
Paralysed II

Severed Tendon Archilles
Severed Tendon Archilles

Worse, as I watched and analysed, two of the status conditions were removed, and I even saw a jump in the troll's health, minimal as it might be.  

[Analyse]

Level 69
Trolgar
Troll

Health: 444/4440 Stamina: 3090/3850

Given time, it would miraculously recover if what I was analysing was true, believe it or not. ‘Keep it down and kill it.’ The words echoed in my mind, and I knew what I had to do. But there was no reason to be cruel about it.

Instead of slashing and hacking at the beast’s body in an attempt to dismember it. A stab to the spine and a cut across the carotid artery ensured that the paralysis and bleeding status conditions would not end anytime soon, and with catastrophic blood loss, the beast of a monster was finally unconscious, if still worryingly recovering even so. I set to work. Pressing one hand against the Troll’s head, I pressed the other above its heart. I had the mana and time to [Freeze] them.

As I pumped mana into the Troll’s head in an attempt to freeze it and end its life, I looked up to see Njordson still sitting in our boat and Namir arriving at Zulkaz. There would be less time than I liked for him to deal with Zulkaz before Zengar reached him. I needed to be quicker or more brutal. It was taking too long for my mana to overwhelm the troll’s own, especially as I pushed it into his body and fought against its high vitality and trait of regeneration. I had the mana but not the time. I forced mana into my new skill, [Ice Aura], the ice exploding outward from me, racing across the ground and covering his skin as it added weight to my already running [Freeze] skill, flash-freezing the troll's heart and mind. I was finally rewarded with the Troll’s death.

[Observe]

Troll Corpse

It was time to move on.

Namir needed me.

I left the fallen troll behind and raced after Namir.

One down, three to go.

Zulkaz had not stayed still during all this and had lumbered toward Trolgar even before his collapse. This meant that there was some distance between Zulkaz and Zengar. But Zengar was not stupid and had already started to cross the river as soon as Trolgar fell. If we did not take them out quickly enough individually, we would definitely be facing Zengar and Zalmar, the highest-levelled troll, together who was also rushing back to cross the river.

As I rushed toward him, I watched Namir dispatch Zulkaz with much the same dispassionate professionalism as his first troll. It was brutal; no one could argue otherwise, but it was efficient and needed when tackling a troll and its regeneration. By the time I reached Zulkaz he was also face down on the ground and gasping for air as both punctured lungs struggled to inflate. But I could see the wounds closing in front of my eyes as Namir said the same words as last time, “Keep it down and kill it.” I stepped forward to finish the gruesome job. As he moved on to face Zengar before he reached us.

[Analyse]

Level 75
Zulkaz
Troll

Health: 560/5890 Stamina: 3090/3850

Trait: Regeneration

Status conditions

Bleeding I
Bleeding II
Bleeding III
Bleeding IV
Bleeding V
Bleeding VI

Paralysed I
Paralysed II
Paralysed III

Severed Tendon Archilles
Severed Tendon Archilles

Punctured lung
Punctured lung

The higher level not only gave this troll more health but also seemed to speed up the rate of regeneration and the reduction of status conditions. Without wasting a second, I stepped up to complete the same actions I had before, cutting both carotid arteries and striking the spine once more before freezing the troll’s heart and mind once more.

[Observe]

Troll Corpse

We were going to make it! I stepped away from the corpse to see Zengar fall only a few metres short of us. The Troll had made more distance than expected, or Namir had not been as effective in restricting his movement. That had been close, but I moved over to complete the coup de grâce.

I wasted no time analysing the situation, stepping forward to the fallen troll and beginning to freeze the beast. I was startled out of my concentration to witness the final troll, Zalmar, roaring in anger as it emerged from the river on our side, only a few steps away from where Zengar had fallen. It had not bothered to attempt crossing the trees further downriver and had simply forged its way across by fording the river.

What was worse was the skill it was displaying. Its green skin turned grey as it stepped toward us. “Shit, stone skin!” Namir shouted, but that did not stop him from stepping forward to face the monster a few metres away as I attempted to deliver the final blow to Zengar before it reached us.

. . . .