I had to do a quick sidestep as the large troll brought his oversized hammer down where I had stood a mere fraction of a second before. The impact sent shockwaves through the dirt that felt uncomfortable in my legs but I retained my footing as I cast a fireball and sent it flying towards him, just as I charged back in with my polearm as he had given me an opening.

Before he could lift his hammer, the fireball struck him, followed by the tip of my halberd. His skin was tough, but I still penetrated. Even better for me, my imbue elements effect triggered and caused a second puncture wound right next to the first one. I then pulled out my weapon and almost dropped it when the troll let out a loud roar of pain that hurt my ears.

I saw Cellestra had the same issue. She covered her ears which forced me to be careful with my movements as I didn’t want her to fall off my back during this fight.

I imagined that right on my back would be the safest place for her to be. If she wasn’t there, who knew what the other trolls would do to her. Although they would be unlikely to do it, when the troll before me was dead, they could use her as a hostage.

I had the feeling Cellestra understood this as well.

I waited until she grabbed my hair tight again. At the same time, the troll had his weapon in his hands again as slimy green blood oozed slowly from the two wounds left in his stomach. He took the hammer and was about to swing it from the side, but I’d seen the attack coming and summoned an earthen wall to block it. I thrust my spear forward once again as the mace impacted and sapped some of my enormous mana pool.

Of course, I could finish this fight with nothing but my lightning arc spell and just run away, but I had to prove my strength to the other trolls that were watching from the gate and the watchtowers. They had to be shown that I was far stronger than their current strongest. I had to make clear just how much of a difference there was between me and them.

While I wasn’t sure about the difference in physical strength between them and me, hell, a swing like that could probably still squash me, I had a large number of spells up my sleeve that I intended to pull out.

Every attack made against me would be countered, after which I would strike, physically preferably. It would be something they could easily understand.

That didn’t mean I wouldn’t show some spells, though…

“You die now!” The troll yelled in both rage and pain.

He charged at me, using the head of his mace as a battering ram, intending to use blunt force to take me out. I easily sidestepped once more and cut into his arm with the blade of my halberd as he passed, causing a deep wound and more screams.

He came to a halt and I sent an elemental blast flying at his back. The spell didn’t fully pierce his skin, but after it exploded, even if it only penetrated a bit, it still seemed to hurt a great deal.

When he charged at me again, I shook my head as I summoned a new earthen wall that was large enough to stop him as he smacked into it face-first.

“Ouch,” I heard Cellestra say after the sound of the impact. “That must hurt.”

“That’s the idea,” I responded as I forced the wall to disappear.

I then fired off several paralytic venom bolts, intending to hit his wounds and cause the venom to mix with his blood. I wanted these trolls to remember what I was capable of in case they had any idea of harassing more merchants after I was done here.

I then kept my distance for a bit as I waited for the effects to take hold. In the meantime, I summoned an earthen spike from the ground, impaling his privates. The elf on my back and I were quick to cover our ears as we saw the attack happen. It was not hard to guess what would follow.

Even though I covered my ears as best as I could, the scream that followed my latest attack was nothing short of devastating. It still managed to hurt me, as much as the sound was muted.

I thought it was necessary to use this attack in such a manner, just to erase the last bits of doubt these trolls may have had.

The troll would obviously need time to recover from this, if he was even able to at all. He had dropped his mace, and I used the opportunity to quickly take up my halberd again and charge towards him, hitting him square in the chest.

The wounds that I’d inflicted on the troll then glowed red hot for a brief moment before each of them burst into small explosions — one of the effects of imbue elements. It was enough to stagger the troll and I struck again, and again.

He finally recovered and his eyes glowed bright red. I took that as a show of unending fury. He took his weapon again and started closing the gap, albeit slowed by both wounds and venom, most likely.

I let him step up to me as close as I was comfortable with and then showered him with an inferno of flames from my flame beam spell. I kept up the spell for a few seconds, but canceled it. I didn’t want to finish him off quite yet.

In all that, he still managed to swing his massive hammer at me. I was just in time to put up another earthen wall. I spotted it later than I’d have liked due to the sea of flames, but I was in time. When the attack sapped mana from me to retain the wall’s integrity, I stabbed with my weapon once more and then brought the blade down on one of his arms as hard as I could, almost cleaving it in half.

The weapon glided off his arms and I stepped back once more before I summoned my ultimate spell. I channeled my lightning arc on the severely injured troll.

I felt the power flow through me into the stream of lightning that connected the creature to my hand. He didn’t seem to be in any state to get up again. His injuries, combined with the paralytic venom were bound to have sapped most, if not all of his strength. Only very little remained.

I had to give it to him. He was as tough as he looked. My lightning arc spell didn’t immediately finish him off despite his many wounds. It allowed me to show the onlookers an overwhelming amount of power as the beam increased in intensity until it sent sparks flying.

The spell crackled and grew wider and stronger with each passing second. Finally, the troll died. He collapsed into the dirt and two messages showed up.

You have killed a Troll Warleader: No experience was awarded

Achievement earned: Testing Trolls

Defeat a Troll in a duel.

You have been awarded 100 EP

“Thanks, I guess?” I said, scratching my head as I looked at the message.

“What is it?” Cellestra asked.

“Got an achievement for that.”

I quickly willed the messages to disappear and turned my attention to the two trolls who eyed their fallen kin and then turned to face me, fear in their eyes. Beyond their fear, there was also a hint of respect, something which I’d been looking for.

“Now that that’s out of the way,” I said as calmly as possible, while allowing the rush of combat to pass. “While I have your attention, I’d like to make clear that you’re going to ask fair prices from merchants passing through. If I hear about anything different than that, I’m going to be back here before you know it. I won’t hold back next time.”

There was a bit of bluff in my words, but it was true that I held back. I was certain I could take on more than one troll at a time… mainly because there was no way they would be able to keep up with my mobility.

All they did was nod quickly before throwing open the large double doors that blocked the way into the pass leading onward. I stepped through while keeping multiple eyes out in case the trolls tried anything funny. They didn’t.

When the doors closed behind us, I sighed deeply. Most of the obstacles should be behind us now. Things should be quiet for now, at least until we’d reached the border.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Cellestra nodded. “I’m okay. That was one hell of a show that you put up.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, it was, wasn’t it? Hopefully, it will give them more than enough reason to listen to my words. Anyway, let’s head through this pass and make our way to Len Asari.”

The elf nodded again and smiled slyly before pointing a finger forward. “Onward my noble steed!”