As Yuki approached his team, he could hear the sounds of combat get louder and louder. Metal clashing against claws and the grunts that came from exertion. Running closer, Yuki could see them ahead in a clearing. There were two bonfires around them that spewed smoke into the sky. They were still blazing brightly as Yuki’s team fought against three trolls, Yuna holding off one of them and the other four taking on the remaining trolls.

‘They should get rid of the fires. They aren’t helping with visibility and the heat must be making them even more tired.’

Yuki summoned his staff from his ring and rushed into the battle heading straight toward Yuna. Since she was by herself, Yuki identified her as the one in the greatest danger. The troll didn’t notice his approach and was greeted with a heavy swing into the back of its head. Yuna, not skipping a beat, followed up with a slash that neatly severed the troll’s throat. Together, they continued to whale upon the monster until it fell.

‘A troll’s physique is not something to laugh at.’

Yuki turned his attention to the other two fights going on in the background. With an unspoken agreement, Yuna split off to help one ground and Yuki went off to help the other. When Yuki arrived to help, Ben and Joseph were struggling to block against the flashing claws of the troll. Yuki saw a flash of red and realised that Joseph had already sustained an injury. 

‘Let’s finish this so I can get a better look at that injury.’

Twirling his staff, Yuki struck the troll at its back, distracting it. With a light jump, Yuki dodged the following swipe and swung upwards at the troll’s jaw. He heard a crack and the troll bellowed in pain as its eyes glowed red. The troll seemed to speed up as its attacks grew to a frenzy.

“Ben, some help would be appreciated,” Yuki said calmly as he avoided a slash.

Ben nodded and joined the fray, slashing at the troll who was busy attacking Yuki to notice. 

“You need to hit it harder,” Yuki said dryly. 

Ben grunted, swung harder, and managed to create a large gash on the troll’s back. The troll howled and swung around to face its new attacker. Yuki took advantage of the distraction and smashed the troll’s skull in, stunning it momentarily. Then, much like how Yuki and Yuna had killed the first troll, Ben and Yuki killed this one, albeit at a much slower pace.

“And now you know how to kill a troll,” Yuki commented. He turned his attention back to Yuna and saw that she was having no trouble fighting against the third monster. “Now let me check on Joseph’s injury.”

He went over to where Joseph was lying down, cradling his arm. Yuki examined it for a few seconds before hovering his hand over it. His palm glowed gently for a second and then the light went out.

“What did you do?” Joseph asked, looking at his arm with a confused expression. 

“I numbed your pain receptors because that little wound is going to start to hurt really soon once you’ve calmed down. I also momentarily stopped the bleeding so you won’t faint from blood loss,” Yuki explained. “I can’t heal you since this is the extent of my healing capabilities.”

The sound of something heavy falling to the ground informed Yuki that Yuna had finished killing the last troll. 

“Yuna, can you wrap up Joseph’s arm?” he asked. “I think you have basic medical supplies.”

“On it,” she said. She grabbed a bag that was placed near one of the bonfires and rushed over to where Joseph was lying down. 

“The wound looks fairly deep,” she remarked as she tightened the wrappings around Joseph’s arm. “And I don’t have any antibiotics on me so I can’t prevent any infections.”

“Yes, that’s unfortunate. I can bolster his immune system and help deal with any small infections but other than that, he’ll just have to pray,” Yuki replied. 

[I can heal him,] Akira said. [But…]

‘We can’t risk it. He’s probably going to lose an arm. Trolls aren’t the biggest on hygiene.’

[Oh well. They didn’t bring a healer so that was to be expected.]

‘Yup. I’ll just give him shots of pain killer every now and then and some immunity boosts. Those should keep him up until we get out. Probably.’

“Is anyone else hurt?” Yuki raised his voice.

“Some scratches and soreness all around but nothing major like what Joseph sustained,” Yuna replied automatically as she bandaged Joseph. 

“Understood. I’ll put out those bonfires first and then we’ll take a rest. Those trolls shouldn’t be coming back anytime soon.”

Yuki laid his palm on the ground and the dirt rose at his command. Then he dumped them on top of the fires and buried the burnt wood underneath the ground. After that, he sat down on the ground.

“So you killed the troll chieftain?” Jared asked, sitting as well. 

‘Time to make some things up again.’

“Yeah, I guess you can say that,” Yuki replied. “Let me show you all something.”

He pushed himself up and glanced over at Yuna who had finished wrapping Joseph and was giving him a lecture on how to care for his wound. 

“Yuna, are you finished?”

“Yup,” she said as she got up from her knees. “Do you need something?”

“Natalie, stay here with Joseph. I don’t want him moving more than he has to,” Yuki instructed. “Yuna, Ben. You’ll be coming with me and Jared. I want to show you all something.”

“Understood,” Yuna said. Ben merely nodded.

A short jog away and Yuki arrived back at the location that used to be the troll’s village. Now it was just a number of damaged or completely broken wooden cabins with the center of the village completely leveled. 

“So this was the village,” Yuki said as if he was introducing a friend.

No one replied for a few moments.

“You did...all of this?” Jared asked slowly. “How?”

“Well, this is where the part I said that ‘I guess you can say that” comes into play. I caused this, but I didn’t actually do this,” Yuki explained. “I was fighting with the troll chieftain and it went a tad crazy on the magic. Trolls aren’t the smartest. Remember when I said that you could probably get a troll to kill itself with its own fists?”

Jared nodded.

“Well, it seems that you can get a chieftain to kill itself with its own magic. Provided that you provoke it enough.”

‘I’ll go with that.’

“So it blew itself up with its own magic,” Yuna said.

“Yes.”

“Wow.”

“Anyway, our assignment is complete so let’s go back to the others and rest for now,” Yuki said. “We’ll start with the escaping the forest portion of the test for tomorrow.”

No one replied. 

“Oh, yeah,” Yuki said turning around to face the three behind him. “Remember not to say a word about this to anyone. You can talk about the chief blowing itself up but don’t mention my fighting with the trolls. Understood?”

“Understood,” Yuna confirmed.

“Got it,” Jared said.

“Good. Now let’s go back.”

FriendlyDragon

So just a little heads up. I'm going on a two week vacation so the next update won't be until next Friday or July 12. I'll still be writing though. Maybe I'll bring back a gift~