The troll considered that it might be good to wipe itself off with the cloth and picked it up with a curious expression on its face. It brought the cloth to its nose and sniffed, but because its nose still wasn’t fully recovered yet, it could only get a bit of scent.
The troll smelled ogre on the cloth, and suddenly, it understood.
It had mistaken this cloth that reeked of ogre-stink for an ogre itself.
This was not a coincidence.
“Humans!”
Roaring angrily, the troll started tearing up its surroundings. No humans. Then they should still be in their homes.
The troll’s fist pounded angrily at a nearby house and after hammering at it several times, it reached up to tear the roof off, intent on destroying the interior.
A human rushed out in a panic as it was demolishing the house. Eager to tear the human apart as well, it gave chase.
The target was chasing her. That meant the plan was working. Though she was grateful for that, her heart was still pounding and she wanted to cry. A gigantic, man-eating monster was pressing in from behind, and this high-stakes game of tag — if she lost, she would disappear down that monster’s throat — was something any ordinary village girl would cry about.
The fact that she didn’t know how long she’d have to play this game made her want to cry even more.
If she knew when it would be over, she might be able to will herself to keep fleeing until the last moment. However, without knowing when the battle at the gate would be over, without knowing when the others could come and help her, she was filled with uneasiness, which diminished her strength.
Enri regretted not sending someone over to the main gate to make a report, but the preparations had taken too long.
She ran with all her strength, rushing into the house where Nfirea was waiting. In turn, Nfirea rushed out of the back door, wearing the same cape and robe that she was.
Enri held her breath, gulping and hoping that the enemy hadn’t seen through their scheme. The troll continued chasing Nfirea, not having noticed the switch.
She calmed her ragged breathing and clasped her hands in delight.
Trolls were far superior to humans in strength, stride length and physical ability, therefore a single person running away would definitely be caught. In order to recover stamina for extended periods of movement, they decided to switch with each other without letting the enemy notice. This was intended to draw out the chase, and also to keep it from going to the rendezvous point where the people were.
The question, then, was how to deceive it.
How could trolls tell humans apart? Maybe if they lived together long enough they would have a few ways, but this was not nearly long enough. Practically speaking, it would be by appearance, especially clothing. As such, Nfirea and Enri had worn the same rain capes and ponchos.
Next, they had to keep it from differentiating between the two of them via its sense of smell, and the herbal juice was meant to take care of its keen nose.
Enri had prepared two traps based on scent — one was to use the ogre-stink to halt it in its tracks, and the other was using the stench of the herbs to disorient it.
After she got her breathing under control. Enri began stealthily moving to the next house.
She crept into the darkened interior of the house, peeking at the situation outside. With a ‘ dong’
sound, Nfirea ran inside. At this moment, Enri ran out again from the back door by which she had entered.
But then Enri realised that the troll wasn’t following her, even though she had run out of the house.
The troll snorted and looked at Enri and the house. Its ugly face contorted even further. She guessed that the look on its face might be surprise.
Cold sweat beaded on Enri’s throat. She touched herself unconsciously, and her hand came away, sticky and wet.
“…Its nose is used to it?”
After getting used to the smell of the herbs, and smelling the fear in her sweat, the troll seemed to have realised that there were two humans.
The troll raised its hand and smashed it deeply into the house. Nfirea ran out again. However, his footsteps stopped, and he didn’t look like he was going to flee.
“Enri! Run away! I’ll buy you some time!”
“―Idiot! Run with me!”
“It’ll definitely catch up with us! Even if we use the houses as shields!”
The wide-eyed Enri saw Nfirea smiling.
“I’m stronger, so there’s a higher chance I’ll survive if you leave me behind!”
Nfirea cast a spell, and his body was enveloped in a bubble of soft, gentle light.
He continued smiling to Enri, who had lost the power of speech.
“And besides ― I want to protect the woman I love.”
Nfirea turned toward the ferocious monster, raising his fist and pointing his thumb to himself.
“Come on, big guy, I’ll play with you! Come have a go if you’re hard enough! 「Acid Arrow」!”
Nfirea kept taunting the troll, while firing a green arrow of acid at it. As it hit, steam rose with the sound of hissing and bubbling, making the troll scream in agony.
The troll fixed its rage-maddened eyes on Nfirea. It paid no more attention to Enri.
“Go! Go and get help!”
It would be foolish to waste time here.
“―You’d better stay safe!”
Saying that, Enri ran.
The troll didn’t look like it wanted to follow.
Frankly speaking, his chances of survival were zero. There was an overwhelming difference in their respective physical capabilities. And there was no way he could triumph over a foe that needed gold-ranked adventurers to beat.
It was a hopeless battle, and being able to hold on for even a minute was worthy of praise.
“Yup, I’m going to die.”
Nfirea smiled bitterly as he watched the troll, who was approaching him warily.
It could not regenerate damage caused by acid and fire. Because of this, the troll was especially careful around Nfirea, who could defeat its greatest ability. It was laughable that it had to act so cautiously around a foe it could finish off in one blow.
“Well, that works for me. 「Hypnotism」!”
The troll’s hostility seemed unchanged. It seemed to have resisted the spell.
Realizing that it had been targeted by a spell, the troll charged.
The gigantic body approaching him was like a scene out of a nightmare.
“If it worked, I could have held on a bit longer… no such luck. Ahhh, what a shame.”
Nfirea seemed to have given up. This was because it was a completely unwinnable battle, which had crossed the line from bravery to recklessness. But even so―
―He had to buy time for Enri.
With that thought in mind, Nfirea leapt into action.