Darkness Vs Flames, Part 1

“Why are there trolls living here?!" The two male elves screamed in shock.

After Satoru and Gileon investigated the front, they understood that the situation was worse than they imagined. Trolls were considered more dangerous than orcs, not because they were stronger, they had almost the same level of strength, the real problem itself was that they were never alone, just like the case now.

Two trolls living in the mines, maybe they were the ones who drove out the dwarves, which would make sense. Known for their large bodies, they were hunchbacks, due to the rocky part of their backs, their natural habitats were caved rich in minerals, which would explain why they lived here.

At first, they were not aggressive, so avoiding combat was the best choice, but the story was different when they invaded their homes, as in the current situation the mine was abandoned, the fact that Satoru and his group had entered would be reason enough for a confrontation.

So some elves considered going back, but doing so at this stage of the championship would be like betting on luck, as the horses would surely have left by then, walking around the mountains could take a whole week with this group. under current circumstances.

Thinking about what could be done, the answer turned out to be the most obvious.

"I'll face them, you stay here waiting."

"Wait, this is too dangerous!" Gileon took a worrying step forward, but right after him, Envy passed him and grabbed Satoru's leg.

With eyes as big as those of a cat asking for food, her expression became and she asked:“Big Brother, I don't know what can happen to you, so if you fall, I can take your body and run away."

Astounded by the gaping lie, Satoru sighed and slapped Envy with his fist.

“First, you couldn't bear my weight, second, you not being able to see the fight is too dangerous, so stay with Hilda and help keep them safe."

"Eeeeh! This adventure has nothing to do with adventure, you're the one who always gets the fun!"

The girl complained, huddled looking at the wall, as she ran her hand over her head.

"Take care of everyone, I'll be right back."

Hilda nodded, the decision was Satoru's alone, she wouldn't complain, after all, she trusted him.

"Isn't it an exaggeration to face two trolls alone?"

One of the elf women asked to tremble just thinking about the scene.

"It's normal to think that, but reality doesn't apply to some beings" Without showing any concern, Hilda sat leaning against a wall.

"Just trust the big brother, he's invincible." Envy said this mimicking one of Satoru's fighting stances.

Not knowing what to think, Gileon only found himself with the option of relying on the human again, which made him wonder how crazy that person's world must be.

⊛⊛⊛

Now moving away from everyone, Satoru hid in the rocks again, one of the trolls seemed to rest leaning against the cave wall, on the other hand, the second troll seemed to roast something on the fire, which gave Satoru some hope, if the troll could hunt food, so they had a way out, if that exit would be the right direction into the forest, then that would be another story.

Visible from above, it was only a passage that must have been two meters high and wide, enough for the trolls to pass, in short, it was quite easy to guess that this was their exit and entrance.

With a sword in hand, Satoru could easily take advantage of a surprise attack. So he took as much distance as he could and ran to the edge of the top. Before the Troll roasting the meat even realized, a dark blade hit him directly in the back, with the force of the impact, the troll bumped into the fire, but did not fall, feeling his foot burn from the flames, he screamed.

— AAAAAAH!

The entire cavern shook, seeing that the food had fallen to the ground when it hit, his fury rose to another level, and even his big, heavy body managed to move at such great speed making his hand directly hit the human intruder.

Sent flying, Satoru rolled to the ground as he fell and got up quickly, knowing very little about trolls, he didn't expect the back part to be so hard even though it was made of rocks.

But before he had any chance to think of a new combat strategy, the second enemy with his partner's scream jumped up, grabbing a large rock that was loose beside him, he hurled towards Satoru.

Seeing the rock arrive, the greatsword was swung vertically from top to bottom and cut through the rock, which missed its target. Also with a piece of rock in hand, the troll that had been attacked, preferred a more direct approach, with the hands together holding the rock, approached the enemy and brought the object down with everything.

Almost being hit by the brute force attack, Satoru jumped to the side as quickly as he could, with the attack directly hitting the ground, the collision force shattering the stone that was previously held as a weapon.

With an opening to attack, raising his greatsword, Satoru swooped down on the troll's right arm, who screamed in pain again, his arm also had small stones sprouting, but it wasn't as resistant as his back, so the sword managed to cause a significant cut.

Unable to think fast because of the pain, the troll was startled by a series of quick cuts to the front of its body.

Because of this, it was Satoru who split his weapon into two katanas and using their practicality and lightness, he concentrated on certain vital parts as if he were one with the swords, his body moved as if dancing while fighting, something really impressive.

Weakened, the troll looked shocked, his body didn't seem to have the strength to continue standing, so he didn't even have to react when the katanas were transformed back into a greatsword that was sent directly into his chest.

Unable to resist the final blow, the troll's body fell shortly after Satoru pulled out his weapon.

Feeling something wrong, Satoru realized that a troll was missing, he could no longer find him, the one who had thrown the stone in his direction had disappeared.

Looking for him in the room, nothing was found, when looking at the top, he found it difficult for the troll to have fled there, it was a narrow passage for his big body, he probably wouldn't be able to move right.

With only one alternative left, the long pass, it would be risky if more trolls were living in the mines, knowing this issue, Satoru decided to start chasing the fleeing enemy before he had a chance to alert anyone who lived there.

Putting all the strength he could into his feet, Satoru dove even deeper into the mines.

⊛⊛⊛

Impatient, Envy paced, not long since her brother had gone out to clear the way, but the screams of monsters and sounds of battle had stopped a few minutes ago and he still hadn't come back.

It wasn't just she who was afflicted, the dark elves thought the worst had happened, so fear gripped them more and more.

“Miss Hilda, wouldn't it be better for us to go there?” Gileon asked, no longer able to stand this mood.

"Alright, Gileon stays, the original, I'll go check." It might not seem like it, but Hilda was also surprised by the situation, the fight should have already ended and Satoru returned.

But she and Envy knew it was practically impossible to kill him, given this situation something strange had happened, at worst, he lost control again.

When he started walking, Hilda and everyone else froze in place as they heard the sound that symbolized terror and helplessness, a roar so loud that the entire mountain seemed to shake.

Wide-eyed in terror, Hilda suddenly bolted, Envy trembling with fear like never before, it was the same for women and children.

Gileon then ran along trying to keep up with Daemon, just when they reached the circular room, only a troll body was lying there, with no sign of Satoru.

"Miss Hilda, don't tell me he…"

"This is not the time to think about these things, go back and bring everyone here, and wait for me, I'll go ahead to make sure."

"Y-YES!"

Gileon ran out into the hallway he'd just left. Hilda, on the other hand, ran to the tunnel below, hoping that what she thought would not happen.

⊛⊛⊛

Running as fast as he could inside this abandoned mine tunnel, Satoru didn't imagine that such a big, hunchbacked being could run so far, but finally, he could see the troll's body.

But it wasn't the only thing possible to see, a light at the end of the tunnel indicated the exit he wanted so much. Feeling the cold wind reach him, Satoru slowed down, a feeling of something out of the ordinary overtaking him.

Hard to explain why, but something told him not to go forward, however, this was the only way out of the mine, even if he went back now it wouldn't change much as he would have to go back.

Determined to investigate the area, he seemed to have come out in the middle of a set of mountains, it was like a big crater, a long bridge interconnected the mountain exit and led to the second mountain, the bridge itself was a way to cross the crater without need to go down.

At first, a kind of fog covered most of the front, making it impossible to see more of the other end of the bridge. Much less what was down in the crater, even with Satoru looking at theedge. In the first column that supported the bridge was a zigzag staircase that descended to the ground.

Seeing the Troll descend the stairs as if in despair, Satoru feared what must be down there, so he prepared to try to hit the troll from a distance.

But suddenly, from the mist that covered the other end of the bridge, a kind of giant tail grayscales merged and headed towards Satoru, who absently was hit full and sent flying down.

⊛⊛⊛

Not knowing what happened, Satoru looked around, he could see the structures that supported the bridge, but the top of them was covered in a mist.

The place his body hit turned into a small crater, he had probably died from the fall and force of the impact.

Looking deeper into the ground, he was sure to be at the lowest part of the crater, but what shocked him wasn't that there was nature in such a cold climate.

The improvised houses forming a small town just for trolls, there must have been more than 20 of them. Getting up in shock with the unexpected scenario, one of the trolls that walked saw Satoru alive getting up, and started screaming, suddenly all the trolls were screaming.

Above the fog, a roar erupted causing Satoru's survival instinct to start screaming throughout his body. Undoing his body's little armor and the greatsword, Satoru fashioned a large, thick shield.

Luckily he acted quickly because right after that a gigantic tongue of fire descended towards him and began to burn everything it touched.

When the flames were gone, the shield was undone, reversing to all the armor and weapon from which they were original. Finally able to identify the enemy, Satoru's skin color disappeared instantly.

A giant monster, with grayscales, and giant wings, its body imposingly flying in the sky, his amber eyes gave the feeling that nothing was out of his field of vision.

Of all the enemies Satoru had faced so far, this was the most dangerous, a superior race, feared by some and adored by others, a dragon.

Easily over five meters tall, the dragon flapped its wings and generated waves of wind that would blow away anyone caught off guard.

"I hate abandoned mines!"

With no time to think about how to get out of this situation, the dragon raised its head and its grayscales emitted a red light.

Fearing for what was to come, Satoru started to run as fast as he could. Then a huge tongue of fire was launched by the dragon that followed with its head changing the direction of the flames trying to hit the target.

Being able to feel the heat of the fire, Satoru must have already passed the mark of 80 kilometers per hour, but still, he couldn't escape, running out of options, he gathered all the strength he had and jumped towards the dragon that must be more than 90 meters from the ground.

Satoru spun his greatsword in a horizontal cut, almost hitting one of the dragon's paws, that giant body moved faster making him pass straight.

But what he didn't know was the shock on the dragon's face, he never expected a human to catch up with him at this point. Landing on the ground, just jumping like a rabbit wouldn't lead to anything, Satoru needed a way to get on the dragon's back.

Having to think fast, an idea that crossed his mind was risky but it was still his best chance. So, not bothering to continue the fight at this point, he started running towards the city of trolls.

The dragon then pursued him, but as soon as Satoru entered the city, his pursuer flapped and flew upward, disappearing into the mist. With this Satoru's idea proved to be very useful, the dragon protected the trolls for some reason, this was great as he would not risk destroying the city and killing his protégés.

Going even more resolutely, Satoru's objective was one, reaching the stairs, but to his surprise, the trolls seemed to block their entrance.

Not being able to waste time, Satoru accelerated and took off in a jump, passing over the monsters on the way, with all his strength he hit the stone railing of the stairs and went straight through, now able to climb up without anything in his way.

But just before the top, a strong wind blew and on the side of the stairs, the dragon opened its mouth preparing another tongue of fire.

Using this opportunity, Satoru did not continue to climb but placed his foot on the banister and jumped, the force of his leap bursting the stone support.

Going straight to where he wanted it above the giant predator's head, rolling as it landed.

Satoru began to swing the sword, and the black mist generated was gathering and getting denser by the moment.

The dragon not being dumb, didn't wait still, and moving his head down, he then made the opposite movement then throwing his head up with everything and making Satoru fly, however it wasn't over yet the flames from his mouth were dispersed with all force towards the enemy.

Having to control himself in the air, the only move Satoru could think of was swinging his sword moving along the mist towards the flames, thus starting a confrontation with whoever had the strongest skill.