Rose streaked across the camp and shield bashed the smallest troll before he was able to stomp on Duke Benedict’s unmoving liegeman. Since it had been balancing on one leg as it prepared to crush the soldier with its other foot, she was able to bowl the monster over. It dropped back onto its butt and growled in anger. The blonde swordswoman whipped her blade around, but the beast managed to block the blow with the club it was carrying before climbing back to its feet.

More fireballs flew through the air as the brunette sorceress spun her hands furiously. Her aim was excellent, and almost every fireball hit one of the evil creatures. Unfortunately, no single fireball was able to do enough damage to stop a troll. It would be a battle of attrition with her battle style, and the rest of us would need to keep the trolls distracted while she summoned the fireballs.

How long could she last? How much mana did she have?

I touched my hand to Veritas.

“Do you have any advice?”

The largest of the trolls had a huge scar across its cheek and only one ear. The inhuman beast roared in challenge and swept forward, swinging an enormous tree branch left and right in an attempt to smash soldiers all around it. Barnabas and a couple more of Duke Benedict’s men were held at bay as they tried to close with the monster. Its arms were long, and the length of the tree branch gave it even more of a reach advantage.

The last of the attacking trolls found itself under a constant barrage of fireballs and then arrows. The ginger ranger’s hands were a blur as she shot arrow after arrow at the monster. Every arrow found its target, but its skin was so thick that they seemed to do little damage.

Paol! Quickly! Cut off the head of the troll that attacked you! These creatures regenerate, so you have to either behead or incinerate them to be sure they don’t recover.

They regenerate? Then why did that last troll only have on ear? I groaned and rolled over onto my knees. Sharp dagger-like pains stabbed my chest with every movement I made. With a gasp, I forced myself to stand. I staggered but managed to keep my balance.

Paol! Move!

I held a hand to my chest, wondering if I would begin to spit up blood from a punctured lung when I saw the downed troll’s fingers twitch. I lurched forward in a panic and raised Veritas high with both hands, bringing her down like an axe. Without any urging from me, she burst into flames, and I sliced cleanly through the prone troll’s neck before once again falling to my knees in agony.

You strike a Death Blow on the helpless Troll. Instant Death! Troll has been defeated! You gain 9000 experience!

The large, scar-faced troll shouted in triumph, and I saw Barnabas’s sword spin out of his grasp as he pulled his arm in and held it close to his body. The creature immediately swung again to take advantage of the disarmed lieutenant when a fireball hit it in the face. That distracted the monster just enough for Barnabas to jerk backwards and avoid the powerful blow that would have gravely injured or even killed him.

I wondered how we were going to get out of this situation when I saw Rose suddenly speed up. Her movements became more and more difficult to follow, and her opponent was suddenly unable to land a single blow on her. The troll roared in frustrated and swung its club faster but to no avail. The well-trained swordswoman seemed almost to blur, and wounds appeared almost magically on the beast’s body. Green blood flowed as the creature jerked this way and that, trying to catch his tormentor.

Suddenly, I saw an arrow shining with a fierce blue light that lit up the camp as it soared through the air to find its target in the third troll’s eye. The arrow sunk so deep that only the fletching was visible. The ugly beast clutched its face and then wobbled and fell to its knees. Another bright light flared in the corner of my vision, and I turned to see Clara with her hands held together above her head and a fierce look of concentration on her face. A roaring fireball grew larger and larger between her palms until finally she flung her hands out towards the arrow-blinded troll, and the fireball sped through the air to strike the creature’s head and instantly incinerate it. I could feel the heat from the fireball even from twenty feet away. The body of the headless monster stilled and fell over.

Rose’s opponent was swinging its club with one hand, while holding its other arm against its body. Puke green liquid dripped out of the stump where its hand had been, and the troll backed up fearfully, finally realizing that it was outmatched.

One troll beheaded. One troll with head incinerated. One troll with only one hand and on the verge of fleeing.

And the fourth, scar-faced troll flung the last of Duke Benedict’s men into a tree to fall unmoving to the ground. I couldn’t tell if the men were dead or merely unconscious, but all of them lay either curled up in pain or completely still. The monster raised its makeshift club and prepared to slaughter the soldiers.

Clara collapsed onto her knees. That last spell must have stretched her to her limit.

Amelia focused another glowing arrow on the huge troll, but this time the glow was much dimmer than with her last arrow. I wasn’t sure if she meant to hit it in the eye, but if so she missed because this arrow entered the troll in its shoulder. The creature just sneered and yanked the arrow out before clenching his fist and breaking it into splinters.

I couldn’t let him attack those men. They were completely helpless. It would be Death Blow after Death Blow.

“Hey ugly!” I shouted. “How many times did your mother drop you on your face? Or were you just born that way?”

Did these creatures even understand speech?

Scar-face spun around to face me. His anger and killing hatred were clearly directed at me as he snarled and began to lumber in my direction.

I guess he had understood me.

I was moving too slowly. I’d never be able to fight Scar-face like this. I pulled myself up to one knee, trying to ignore the tearing sensation in my chest.

Ippon-me.

Reroll for Pain Endurance. Roll failed. The pain from your fractured ribs slows your movement by half until you are healed.

Scar-face was fifteen feet away and closing the distance quickly. He raised his arm, getting ready to crush me with the huge tree branch he wielded. In the time it took him to take three steps, three arrows pierced his body, but he ignored them as if they were mosquito bites.

Flashpoint.

I clenched my Veritas’s hilt tightly and straightened my back.

The troll’s stride ate up the ground, and only six feet separated us.

Reroll for Pain Endurance. Success!

I swung Veritas two-handed to parry the troll’s attack.

My sword flared abruptly as our weapons met, and then half the troll’s tree branch was flying away from us as I stumbled and almost fell after slicing completely through it. Scarface looked down incredulously at the stump in his hand. For that matter, so did I. That makeshift club had been thicker than my thigh.

The ugly beast roared and threw the remainder of the tree branch at my face. I ducked, only to see a huge, green, smelly foot speeding towards. With a shout, I rolled to dodge the kick and then kept rolling away as Scar-face kept stomping in an attempt to squish me.

A small fireball shattered against its abdomen, but the troll didn’t even seem to notice. Two more arrows sprouted from its chest, but it sneered as it broke them off and tossed the pieces away.

The creature raised its foot to stomp me again, and I rolled one more time. However, this time I left my arm behind me, praying I wasn’t misjudging where the green foot would fall.

“Aaaahhh!”

Scar-face hopped backwards on one leg, clutching his foot which was now missing three filthy toes the color of muddied grass.

You dismember Troll’s toes for 13 damage. Troll’s movement is slowed until toes have regrown.

Regrown? These things could regrow limbs?

Suddenly, a blade sprouted from its chest. Behind Scar-face, I could see that Rose’s previous opponent was missing both hands and now also its head. The blade twisted and then withdrew as Scar-face staggered and fell on his butt.

The yellow-headed warrior swung again in an attempt to remove the troll’s head, but he batted at her sword. His forearm came away from the contact with a long cut, but it sufficed to deflect her blow away from his neck. It twisted its body with unexpected speed and punched her with the fist on his undamaged arm.

Rose flew backwards and rolled unceremoniously to a stop against a tree trunk. I saw her shake her head and begin to gather herself for another effort, and then Scar-face was in my line of sight. He had managed to get to his feet. His wounded foot was only oozing with green blood now, and the puncture in its chest had already closed up.

How fast did these things regenerate?

An arrow appeared in its cheek, but the beast didn’t even acknowledge it. Maybe in its berzerk rage, Scar-face couldn’t even feel such small wounds.

Danger! I shifted to the right, and a rock that I hadn’t seen the troll palm missed me by an inch.

Congratulations! Your Dodge skill has increased to level 6.

I stumbled backwards as the creature’s meaty fist shot towards my face, and the stench of its unwashed body befouled my nose in the wake of the air disturbance when it missed.

A fireball burst against the back of its skull, and the lonely few strands of hair on its head flamed once and turned to ash. This fireball had been larger than the others, but nowhere near the size of the one that had incinerated a troll’s head earlier.

Scar-face jerked his head to his attacker. Clara coughed on her hands and knees and then threw up. I doubted she had anything left to contribute to the fight.

I took advantage of the distraction she had given me to set myself and prepare a sweeping two-handed attack from right to left at the level of its stomach.

Scar-face’s attention once again fell upon me, just as Veritas slid cleanly through the troll’s body, opening up its abdomen so that strings of its intestines began to spill out.

You hit Troll for 47 damage.

Wow, I packed quite a punch now.

Congratulations! Your Swords skill has increased to level 23.

Once again, I saw a blade appear like magic from its chest. Rose had rejoined the battle and stabbed the monster from behind.

The beast roared. With one hand it held its eviscerated stomach, and with the other hand it grabbed the sword blade that had pierced it completely through from back to chest. With a violent twist of its body, Scar-face wrenched the sword out of Rose’s hand. A piece of intestine escaped its grasp and slapped her in the face. I gagged.

She leaped backwards and raised her shield protectively in front of her as she flung the troll’s flesh off her face. With a groan, the troll reached over its shoulder, grabbed Rose’s sword, and pulled it smoothly from its body. Growling in pain, it brought the blade down and cut off the intestine that hung from its stomach and tossed it at me.

Disgusted, I threw myself to the side.

Though it still held its stomach protectively, I could see that the wound was closing. What did it take to kill these things?

“Veritas! How much damage can this monster endure?”

A great deal more than your group has inflicted This specimen is large and was probably the leader of this group.

“What can we do? Our strength is exhausted and the damn thing is healing back to full strength!”

Use your skill points! You need to be stronger to defeat it!

Scar-face held Rose’s sword like a dagger and attacked. The disarmed swordsman blocked the thrust with her shield, but the force of the blow threw her backwards two steps and tore a deep furrow in the wood of the shield.

Nine skill points. I still had nine skill points. Without hesitating, I pushed two of them into Swords.

Congratulations! Your Swords skill has increased to level 24.

Congratulations! Your Swords skill has increased to level 25.

A strange ringing sound seemed to echo in my mind, and great gold letters streamed through my vision.

Congratulations! You have reached Apprentice level in Swords and must now choose a Path!

Bladedancer

Sword Sage

Bulwark

What? I had to make a choice now? How was I supposed to--

Paol! What options have you been given? Hurry!

“Bladedancer, Sword Sage, and Bulwark. But I don’t have time for this! What am I supposed to--”

Sword Sage! Choose Sword Sage!

I wanted to know what each choice could do! The strengths...weaknesses...rarity… What would I be getting, and--just as importantly--what would I be giving up?

Arrows buzzed through the air to strike deep into the troll’s back, but it ignored them as it chased Rose down. It smashed at her again and again with her own sword, and I heard her shield crack.

Damn it! I chose my Path.

Sword Sage.