At four in the morning, the bazaar was empty and the air was chilly.

Rick and Samira made their way towards the meeting point at Jay's shop.

Jay was already there. He was dressed in the same jeans and t-shirt. The only change he made was that he replaced his butcher's apron for a jacket. He had a sabre and a revolver on his sides and Rick's staff tied to his back.

When Jay noticed Rick and Samira, he let out a smile of relief and put out the cigarette.

"Nice to see you guys!" Jay waved towards them.

Samira was dressed in her college track-uniform. She walked with an arched back, javelin in her hand and hair tied up, ready for combat.

Behind her was Rick, with bloodshot eyes and slumped shoulders, ready to sleep.

Rick was not carrying anything with him apart from a bag on his shoulders.

Seeing Rick's pathetic condition a frown of disappointment came upon Jay's face.

"You do realize we are going in to hunt Trolls. What's with your miserable expression?" Jay asked handing Rick back his staff.

"Leave him be." Samira interjected, "Rick's going to hang back. It's the two of us who will attack the Trolls."

Jay wrinkled his nose in displeasure. But he still had hope that Rick had an ace up his sleeve.

"So what is the plan?" Jay asked hopefully.

Taking the cue, Rick opened his backpack and handed Jay two cloth wrapped knives.

"These." Rick replied, "If we can get through the defence of the Trolls and pierce their skins, we should be able to win this."

Rick did not know how long or how much blood had to be used, so he had soaked the two kitchen knives in the Singed Serpents blood the entire night. Rick did the same with Samira's Javelin spear.

Jay examined the knives. They looked like ordinary kitchen knives.

"What are you worried about. If my brother wanted to scam you, why would we go in there with you?" Samira spoke up, "We survive together!"

Rick nod his head in agreement.

"Okay okay!" Jay accepted.

---

Rick, Samira and Jay entered the supermarket, with weapons ready at hand.

Ding

[You have entered the Arihant Supermarket Dungeon]

[Dungeon Level- 1]

All three of them received the notification simulatenously, as they slowly entered the building.

The halogen lights were still on and the entire supermarket was still bright. Rick noticed that the bazaar had already cleaned out the front section of the building. There was not a scrap of food available to be seen.

Rick led the group through the store.

The Lemegeton had described in detail of the layout of the building. Rick poured his energy into scrutinizing the information and developing a plan.

He had analysed the flood space and had come to one conclusion. The trolls could not be separated. Once one of the trolls spotted a human, it would roar and the other would rush to the sound to help out.

The trolls roamed about the floor space. The best course of action would be for them to hide at a strategic location and ambush the trolls. If they could quickly take out one of the trolls, they would then slowly fight the other troll in a war of attrition.

With slow steps, the Samira and Jay followed Rick.

Near a pillar, Rick asked Samira and Jay to wait. Before anyone could protest he walked forward.

Keeping his body close to the shelves Rick made his way towards where he predicted the Trolls would be. In doing so, Rick activated the [Stealth Walk] skill.

As he walked forward, the pungent stench encompassing the entire store became stronger.

Carefully Rick ran from one shelf to another. He peeked around on each side before rushing forward to the next.

He carefully reached the side wall. From there he stuck his head out and waited.

This place had a clear vision to the other end of the room and the Trolls were bound to cross this place.

Rick was right soon enough one of the Troll appeared.

Although Rick had seen a Troll's sketch drawn in the Lemegeton, he still was not ready for what he saw.

A huge bald headed creature passed by Rick's vision, moving slowly.

The Troll was huge. Its head nearly touching the ten-foot tall ceiling! In fact, Rick suspected that if it would walk up straight, its head would go through the ceiling.

The troll did not carry any weapons. It used its arms to swing at its opponents. Its arms were covered with a crudely made gauntlet with spiked bones attached to it.

'If one of them is here, the other one must be patrolling the other end.' Rick recalled the information he had read.

He quickly rushed back to Jay and Samira.

"The first troll is going to come from this way," Rick whispered.

The three immediately got into position.

The Troll slowly came close to the ambush site.

It crossed the pillar Samira was hiding behind. Samira swirled out into the open and with all her might slashed it from behind.

The troll was so big that the attack only landed on the leg.

Huaaw… huwaaw... huwaaaawww…

Realizing that there was someone behind, the Troll immediately let out a deep howl.

The troll swung its arms behind, hoping to swat away whoever was there.

Samira nimbly retreated behind right after landing the attack.

Swoosh!

A gust of air hit Samira.

Only now did they realize the strength of the Troll. If the troll even touched any of them, it would be

the end for them!

Rick looked at the wristwatch. He calculated that the other troll would reach them in another five to eight minutes. If the first troll was not taken care of by then, it would be a disaster!

The troll turned his back around, looking for the assailant, unperturbed by his wound.

The troll had his back turned towards the store entrance.

"That's my cue," Jay intoned rushing at the troll and with the knives Rick had given him, slashed at the Troll's other leg.

Huwaawuuu…

The troll howled!

On instinct, the troll swung his hands back to grab Jay.

Jay got under the troll's legs and came out the other side. The troll unable to catch Jay, moved his body to turn.

'Why is the poison not working!' Rick clenched his fists in worry. He did not know how long it would take before the poison set in. But he had hoped to at least see some of its effects by now.

Just then something caught Rick's eyes. Although the Troll turned his body around, it was limping.

A smile appeared in Rick's face. The poison was working!

"Attack near his heart or head" Rick immediately screamed at Samira and Jay. They did not have the time to wait for the poison to reach the troll's heart. They needed to administer the attack closer to the heart!

Hearing this both Samira and Jay rushed. Samira thrust her Javelin as high as he could while Jay slashed the knives in an upward slash.

The Troll howled!

The attacks could not even reach the waist!

The other troll was now visible and within range. If Samira and Jay did not move right now, they would be trapped between the two!

It was time to retreat!

Samira and Jay immediately moved away.

Baram!

But just as Samira and Jay were escaping, the troll hit a shelf which fell on Samira, trapping her!.

Samira's leg was stuck and she could not move it.

"Stay still, let me try lifting it up!" Jay called out.

Rick seeing Samira trapped rushed out to distract the troll!

"Hey! Hey!" Rick screamed.

But the troll paid Rick no attention and limped itself towards Samira. It sensed that the culprit for his wounds was before him!

Jay was unable to lift the shelf up. There were many shelves stacked together and by the time he got them all of, the troll would be upon them.

"Go! It's fine! Just make take care of my brother. He is a good kid! Please!" Samira said.

Jay held Samira's hand and accepted.

'I can't give up now! I can't let her die,' Rick was in turmoil.

"Jay! Throw me your gun quick" Rick

Jay reached for his revolver and slid it across toward Rick.

Rick ran forward and grabbed the gun. He had no time to consider for safety. The second troll would reach them in another half a minute!

Rick opened his backpack and pulled out a bottle. He looked for how to open the bullet chamber, but could not. Frustrated, he poured its contents into the barrel of the gun.

It was the blood of the Winged Serpent!

He had stored some of it before incase an emergency arose.

Rick picked up the gun and pulled the trigger!

But nothing happened.

"You have to cock it!" Jay screamed.

Rick looked at the gun, but had no idea how to do it. He glanced back at Jay and after a mutual nod between the two chose to let Jay handle it.

Rick ran forward and threw the revolver towards Jay.

The revolver did not fall into Jay's outstretched palm. It fell a few inches away.

Jay quickly grabbed it, took aim and fired the gun.

Three shots!

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Jay took three clear shots, the head, the chest and the gut.

Rick, Jay and Samira held their breath. This was the longest seconds of their lives. The second seemed to stretch on forever.

If this worked, they would survive, else...

---

The sound of three shots being fired resounded through the supermarket compound. The shots woke up quite a few people.

"Which idiot decided to go in now?" A man with a skull tattoo, wearing just briefs walked up and asked.

"Shesh! Who went in to die so early today? It's just six!" A second woman walked poked her head from another tent.

"Baah! Never mind. If they had to use a gun, they are probably at the ends of their strength anyway. I hate when customers die, such waste" a third replied. This was the same gun shop owner that the siblings had talked to before.

There was a sizeable crowd gathering before the supermarket. Although everyone was berating the 'heroes' who had charged in, they were also wondering if someone had succeeded.

Then after a lull of another minutes.

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

Another burst of shots!

The crowd was now sure that the 'heroes' were dead or worse, maimed!

Everyone here knew firearms were completely useless against the trolls. They were hoping that maybe the first shots they heard were a distraction.

But hearing the second round of shots being fired… what sort of distraction would that even be for the slow trolls?

Consequently, to the crowd outside, those shots sounded more like desperation.

After ten minutes or so, the crowd supposed the worse and left.

---

After an hour or so, three figures slowly appeared out of the building. One was limping with arms around the two besides.

No one noticed them leave.