Hey guys back again with another chapter. Please continue to rate, review, follow and favorite. I see my numbers growing each day that I post something. Please continue to show me the love as I write this ever evolving story. Enjoy the gory details that I added to help make this a great action-packed chapter.

Chapter 15

Foria and Hiro moved toward the western part of the city. They began to see an increased number of goblins and orcs. With poor armor and only blunt weapons it was mere child’s play for Hiro and Foria to lay waste to them. Hiro’s blade sliced through them separating heads from bodies and torsos from legs. Blood splashed out with each strike. All one could hear is Hiro’s battle cry and the screams of the monsters he slayed.

Foria’s arrows were just as devastating. She continued to attack with pin point precision. Her arrows went through the heads and chests of the orcs and goblins. Even when she did not hit the target with a one hit kill the poison coating would take care of the problem. With a mere scratch, the poison would infect her enemies and cause breathing issues eventually killing them.

She and Hiro mercilessly dispatched their enemies as they made their way through the streets of the town. Hiro stayed in front using his Hero’s courage which caused all of the enemies to focus on him while Foria stayed a short distance back allowing her to make full use of her archery skills. It was a great battle formation that played to both of their strengths. Once they made it through the streets where a local tavern had been they paused and took a breather as they had killed what seemingly was an endless supply of enemies.

Level up.

Sword mastery increase to level 3.

“That is the way to my house. My mother and father are probably there. We have to save them.” She said as she took off running.

“Wait you don’t know what is in there. Calm down! Acting impulsively will only get you killed”, said Hiro as he began chasing her.

“What would you do if it were your family?”

“I would run to save them and hope that you would talk some sense into me before I got myself killed.”

She stopped running and waited for Hiro to catch her. They had arrived at the entrance to her house. The house was huge it looked like some sort of mansion. The walls were high and made of stone. At the front of the house you were met with a fountain and at the foot of the steps there were statues of lions on either side. There was blood all over the steps.

You sense a dangerous presence.

“Be careful”

“Ok” replied Foria.

Hiro clutched his sword with both hands and began to walk cautiously through the door. Foria followed behind him with her bow ready to fire. Once they entered into the door they were greeted by a horrifying scene. They saw a middle aged woman lying on the floor. She had been butchered. Her legs had been cut off, eyes poked out, and she was left to die.

Foria rushed over and fell to the ground, “Mother, Mom!!! NOOOOO!!!”

She held her mother’s mutilated corpse in her hands and rocked back and forth. As she stroked her hair, Foria wailed. Tears streamed down her cheeks and Hiro’s heart broke with the site. He placed his hand on her shoulders and tried to comfort her but it was to no avail.

With the death and mutilation of her mother Foria became enraged. Her eyes welled up with tears.

“I will find who did this and they will die slowly by my hands. DO YOU HEAR ME?! WHOVER YOU ARE YOU ARE DEAD!”

Hiro could sense the rage in her voice. He thought to himself, “She has completely lost it. I will have to be careful because her rage will make her reckless.”

Foria stood up and searched for a blanket. She placed over her mother and said a quick prayer for her dear departed mother. Her mood changed from sadness to a smoldering flame of rage.

“Let’s go Hiro”

They moved up the stairs towards the second floor of the house. The house staff had been chained up. The house staff consisted of several women all of whom had been raped, beaten, and left bloody. There was also an older man whose body was bloody mess. Their bodies were not only covered in bruises but some appeared to have broken limbs.

All of them were crying.

One woman lifted her eyes and said, “Young Mistress is that you? Have you returned?”

“Yes and my friend and I will stop the monster that did this. I promise”, said Foria as she held her hand. “Where is my father?”, asked Foria.

The house staff all looked down at the ground in shame. “The master stood up for us and the troll made an example of him. He took your father with him into the master’s chambers. I’m sorry young mistress. We couldn’t do anything to save him.”

“It is alright you are not warriors. I would not expect you to fight against these monsters. I’m glad you are all safe. Leave that beast to me.”

“No young mistress. The beast is far too powerful for you and your friend to take on alone. Please get more help.”

“No we will be fine.”

Hiro took his sword and with one slash he broke the chains freeing the people. Hiro told them,

“Leave and take shelter outside. We killed all of the monsters so it should be safe outside.”

The older gentleman warned, “Be careful because the leader in the master’s chamber was a troll.”

“A troll?”

“Yes and it wields an extremely powerful hammer.”

“Thank you”, said Hiro as he gave them some of his healing potions made from the petals of the blood rose. With that he turned to Foria and then opened the master chamber. Standing before them standing about 275 cm tall was the troll. The troll was holding Foria’s father by his legs and his chest.

“Father!”

“Foria, don’t come any.... AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!” Before he could get the words out the troll pulled on her father’s chest and legs until he ripped apart. His internal organs fell in the floor and the troll tossed the pieces of his body on either sides of the room.

“NOOOOOOO!!!!!”

Foria’s face went white in horror of the scene she had just witnessed. She sank to the floor as tears streamed down her face.

“There is nothing I can say right now to console her. All I can do is help her with seeking vengeance."

Hiro looked at the troll that stood in front of him. It was even more intimidating than he thought it would be. It had two large fangs coming out from his lower jaw all the way up past his nose. His skin was a dark brown and his body was covered in scars. The troll wore boots with white fur on them and matching leather gauntlets. It also had a large belt that covered his entire midsection up all the way up past his navel. On his shoulder he held a very large hammer with a handle so long it looked as if it should have needed to be wielded with two hands. The hammer also had a very sharp scythe blade on the back side of it. The weapon looked extremely dangerous. This savage opponent exudes a murderous aura that gave Hiro a cold chill run down his spine. This was going to be an opponent that he would have to put his life on the line and maybe that wouldn’t be enough.

New quest available! Defeat the troll. Reward:???

Without Hiro noticing, Foria ran at the troll and began to attack. She shot arrows at the troll without even waiting to make a plan. The arrows went straight at the trolls head. He quickly lifted his hammer and blocked them. Foria continued charged and fire arrows. Hiro ran in order to move closer as well. He noticed her recklessness and knew that she was in danger. She got closer and closer firing arrow after arrow. Each time the troll was able to block them with his hammer. She now was within range of the troll’s hammer. He swung his hammer and Foria dodged by jumping in the air. The troll smiled and Hiro knew why. He was able to see with his prediction skill that he was about to swing at Foria while she was in the air where she had no room to avoid the attack. Hiro quickly charged in and tackled Foria to the ground narrowly avoiding the troll’s attack.

“You idiot! Don’t let your anger blind you! Stay back and support me in this battle. Wait for your moment then strike!”

“No I am going to kill that thing for murdering my family! You can’t stop me!”

SMACK! Hiro slapped Foria across her cheek and stared at her with a look of compassion and concern. Foria nodded as the blow brought her back to her senses.

“I’m sorry. I just want that thing dead!”

“I will help you just listen and back me up.”

“Ok”

“Let’s go!”

They began the attack again together this time with Hiro leading the way. She shot another arrow at the head of the troll which he skillfully block this time though when he moved his hammer away Hiro had already gotten near his face. Hiro swung his blade with all his might but the troll deflected his attack as if it was nothing with his hammer. The shock from the hammer on his sword almost made Hiro lose his blade.

“What power this guy has”, I’m going to have to use my head and I definitely cannot take any attacks from that hammer. First, any attack I land has to do real and lasting damage.”

Hiro activated body enhancement and weapon enhancement ki. He had covered his blade in some poison that he had created from the poison blossom so if I even graze him it should begin to weaken him. He also knew that he would not be able to match the troll’s power so he decided to try and stop the troll’s movements for one powerful attack. Hiro cast the bind magic skill on the troll. Hiro could see a single magical rope go around the upper body of the troll and immediately the troll was paralyzed.

Hiro thought, “That was easy. All I have to do now is attack and the battle will be over.” Hiro readied his sword and dashed towards his enemy but the troll looked at him and its mouth curled up into a smile. It flexed its muscles and broke free of the binding magic. Hiro was in awe.

“It broke through a spell with nothing more than its sheer physical strength.” His first attempt failed but he was not done yet.

Hiro’s second plan was to attack with speed. He pushed all of his ki down to his feet. He then dashed around the troll.

“The troll is so large and wielding that large hammer it can’t possibly keep up with my top speed."

Hiro was correct in his assumption. The troll struggled to keep his eyes on the speedy Hiro. Hiro was moving so fast it actually looked like there were multiple versions of him. Foria began to fire arrows at the troll while he was transfixed on Hiro’s movements. She hit the troll in the back several times but because it was moving she could not land a critical hit to its head. The troll growled in pain as the arrows pierced his skin.

The troll was infuriated by their teamwork and took a wide swing at Hiro but the one he hit was actually an after image. Hiro took this opportunity to use his maximum speed to make the best of his opportunity and badly wound the troll. He activated his dashing slash. He pushed so hard on the ground that a small crater was made. He came at the troll and then moved his ki to his arms to strengthen his sword slash. His arms and the sword glowed red while shrouded in his ki. Hiro struck the troll twice before the troll could react. The first attack severed the troll’s right leg from his body and the second blow was plunged deep into the back of the troll.

As the troll began to fall it threw its hammer with all of its strength at Hiro and he could not avoid it. The troll’s hammer struck Hiro. Hiro was able to deflect some of the damage by moving his ki to his gauntlet but the force of the blow caused him to fly against the wall. Parts of the wall crumbled and fell on top of him. Hiro’s body went limp against the wall. He felt like he was losing consciousness.

“What in the world is going on? I know it was strong but I shouldn’t be in this bad of shape from 1 attack, unless it had some sort of effect. That’s it the hammer must cause some kind of shockwave when it hits. That’s why I almost lost my sword earlier and I’m hurt internally now.”

The world looked cloudy and his body felt like it had no strength. The troll could not move towards him quickly because he could no longer walk. Hiro looked at the troll and smiled as he observed the troll starting to struggle to breathe. He knew that the victory was at hand because the poison was working .While the troll was breathing heavy and bleeding profusely after losing his leg, Foria began moving into the shadows of the room. She inched closer and closer without the troll noticing her. The troll stood up on his one leg and began to hop towards Hiro. It was no longer profusely bleeding. The blood now was only slowly dripping from its wounds.

“How could I be so stupid? I forgot trolls are known for their regenerative abilities. The poison must not be strong enough to completely counteract its regeneration. It’s coming closer and I haven’t even recovered from the last attack. This is bad. I have to get up or I’m dead but I feel like every single one of my bones is broken.”

Hiro decided to try his body enhancement ki ability again. He focused all of his ki and shrouded his entire body in the ki. He felt a well of strength swell up around him and he was slowly able to get up. He took a fighting stance holding his sword.

“My body is screaming in pain and this strength is only temporary. Moving in this condition could very well cost me my life. Oh well at least I can take that smug look off that bastard’s face.”

Due to your ability to take on the most powerful blows and keep standing your endurance skill has evolved into toughness.

Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:ToughnessNovice70%Toughness grants you +5 stamina for each level and increases your physical resistance by 1% for each level.

He ran towards the troll as fast as he could but this speed was only a shadow of the speed he possessed earlier. The troll reached out his hand to grab him. Hiro could see the line for predicting the attack he felt he could easily dodge that. He tried to duck down but his body wouldn’t respond. The troll grabbed him. The troll’s huge hands were wrapped around Hiro’s body and it began to squeeze. His strength was gone and he could no longer hold on to his sword. Hiro could feel the bones in his arms and ribs breaking.

“AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!” Hiro screamed from the pain. “Even with my body enhancement and toughness I can’t withstand this for long. Is this it? Is this how I die crushed to death by a troll!”

Just then Foria came out of the shadows and was around the neck of the troll. She had her two blades drawn and she stabbed each one in either side of the troll’s temples straight through its brain. The blood and brain matter was on both blades as she pulled them out. Immediately, the troll’s body went limp and fell down. As it fell the troll released Hiro and he fell to the ground in a heap.

Hiro now barely conscious ran out of ki and his body enhancement released. His breathing became very shallow. He was now looking up at the ceiling gasping for air. His body was covered in bruises. He was now also bleeding from his ears, nose, and mouth.

Hiro saw his vision begin to fade. “This must be it. My body is getting cold death must close. Did we do it? Did we save the town? Did we save your people Foria?” He asked.

“Yes we did. My parents can rest in peace knowing that we avenged their deaths”, Foria replied. “Thank you for helping me to regain my composure during the fight. You saved me once again.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’re not keeping score but for the record I did save you three times” he coughed.

Foria opened one of the healing potions and poured it in his mouth. Some of it he swallowed the rest he coughed up. She saw some of the wounds he had begin to improve but he was still in critical condition. Suddenly, Hiro lost consciousness.

“Hiro!” she said tapping his face. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

“Hiro! Wake up! Don’t you die on me! Wake up” she said listening to his chest.

"I love you, Hiro. Please come back to me!"

She placed her ear on his chest. Bump Bump, Bump Bump. “His heart is still beating.”

She placed her finger under his nose and could feel him breathing softly.

“Rest now Hiro you earned it. You saved me and my town. Here is your reward”, she said as she softly kissed his lips.