The obsidian troll looked up at Joan, lifting its hand to try and snatch her out of the air. Fire enveloped its body, the heat radiating off it.

Joan stabbed down with Guardian Nova, the tip of the blade piercing the great, obsidian flesh of the troll. She swung around, using the grip of her sword to reposition herself slightly and narrowly avoid the grasping fingers of the troll as, to her relief, the flames sprouting from the troll turned a soft, gentle blue around her.

Unfortunately, her grip on her sword faltered and it slipped from her grasp before she hurtled towards the ground. She managed to, barely, land on her feet and redirect her momentum, rolling along the ground before the blue flames washed off her body. She then looked up at the troll, now burning with blue flames. For a moment she hoped the flames would burn away the troll, unfortunately she wasn’t so lucky. While the flames would likely not burn her any, the troll didn’t seem the least bit fazed by them. It did seem annoyed by the sword jabbed into its hand, however, and reached out to grab it with its other hand.

Joan held out her hand and her sword appeared in her hand once more, moments before the troll could grab it. She barely resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at it. She lifted her sword up and readied to strike. It was slow, clumsy, durable and powerful. But she could beat it. She was stronger now, more experienced. It wasn’t like--

Joan stopped when it turned its head towards her. No. She couldn’t allow herself to fall into that mindset again. Last time she’d fought something like that it had been against the Troll of Reflections. None of the Chosen were here to help her this time. More importantly, there were dozens of them. She could hear the fighting, the screams, the sound of burning and war cries from all manner of different creatures and the forces who had come to their aid.

She didn’t have to win, she just had to ensure it couldn’t kill her. Once the Chosen dealt with the Inferno God they’d be gone. She didn’t have to kill it. Just survive. That was all.

“A thousand piercing shards!” Qakog yelled. She had just a moment to realize the demon was running at the creature from behind. Oh no. If he couldn’t pierce a tree with his rapier, he had no chance against the obsidian troll. He was going to--

Suddenly ice sprung forth, coating his weapon before he pierced the troll’s back. It let out a furious roar before swinging its arm back at him, but he was already pulling away, his rapier sliding free from the ice that was now lodged in the troll’s back.

Well, she had to give him credit for causing a distraction.

Joan ran towards the troll while it was distracted, gripping her sword in both hands. “Swanfall!” she yelled, sending her magic flowing out and into the blade. Ice coated it for a moment until she slashed down across the troll’s leg.

The blade cut through the obsidian, leaving a nasty gash along it. However, a moment later the wound erupted, ice growing from it and splitting the obsidian in pieces. The troll stumbled for a moment before collapsing to the ground, half of its leg still standing while the other half remained attached to its body, covered in ice.

Joan shuddered at the sight of the internal workings of the troll. This troll was fully matured, its body composed more of stone than anything resembling flesh and organs. The black ichor that leaked from the wound was like tar, sticking to everything and something she desperately wanted to keep off herself.

Worse, it didn’t even seem to truly mind. It let out an angry roar, lunging towards her. It was slow, though. Sluggish. She could easily--

Oh, oh wow. She almost fell over, leaping back as quickly as she could. Right, just because she could do Swanfall now didn’t make it easy. Her hands were shaking and she wished she could lay down and take a small nap, though she knew that was an impossibility. She let out a startled squeak when the troll suddenly shoved off the ground, sending itself hurtling at her. She tried to jump away and make it go past her.

She cleared it with ease. Far, far more ease than she thought possible. In fact, she had moved FAR past it, the troll missing her by a wide margin and crashing into the cliffside, burying itself in rubble.

How? She wasn’t that fast. It was like--

Joan’s cheeks went red and she glanced down at her feet. The boots that Myrin had enchanted, of course. She really could move like the wind now. Oh, she loved having the Chosen. She dashed past the troll, landing besides Qakog and Zorn. “Nice landing,” she said. “When did you learn to do that?”

“Zorn has some of the coolest stuff,” Qakog said before motioning towards a small, blue ring on his hand.

“I want that back when this is over,” Zorn said.

“Awwwww,” Qakog said. “Fine. How did you learn to do that? Swanfall?”

“I’ve known for years,” Joan said. “But it’s a bit exhausting, I won’t be able to do it again. Or much of any magic, to be honest. It’s too draining. I don’t suppose any of you have a potion or something to help with that?”

“Well…” Zorn said before glancing back towards her. “You’d need to take off your poison stopping amulet.”

“It’s a ring now,” Joan said. “And why?”

Zorn just smiled at her.

She felt any excitement she might have had wilt. “Please no.”

“Zapper’s bite really does work,” Zorn said.

Joan gave a light whine. She wanted a potion, not a spider bite. But she supposed beggars couldn’t be choosers. Especially since that troll would be out of the rubble any second. “Fine. Where’s Bauteut?”

“Just try not to get yourselves killed,” Bauteut yelled out from behind a nearby boulder. Well, at least Joan didn’t have to tell her to hide. Probably the only smart one of them, to be honest.

“Fine, bite me,” Joan said before reaching up to take her ring off. “Where is the little insect?”

“Spider,” Zorn said before holding out his hand. After a moment the little blue spider appeared. Joan couldn’t help but notice that Zorn’s hand was wearing a small, white ring with a spider-shaped jewel embedded in it. She didn’t want to know exactly what it did. She reached her hand out.

She struggled, desperately, to resist the urge to smash the spider when it crawled onto her hand and again when it bit her. Ew ew ew ew. This was why she wasn’t wearing the gauntlet, even if she’d made sure to bring it with her. It better not--

Oh. Ohhhhh that was nice. It felt like something cold and amazing was being inserted directly into her body, flowing through her and just restoring her abilities. While overusing her magic often felt like she was burning, this was cold and soothing, numbing the pain a little. Not exactly like taking a magic restoring potion, but close.

The spider climbed off her a moment later and, for a second, she was a little sad to see it go. She could still feel that niceness flowing through her until she slid the ring back on.

Instantly the soothing coolness faded, but she could still feel some of the effects. She didn’t feel like she’d be able to do Swanfall again for a while, but she at least felt like she could amplify her body if she needed to.

She didn’t feel she needed to, though. What a difference those few months made. Who knew? Maybe in a few years she really might be able to almost not hold the Chosen back. Maybe.

The troll shoved itself free of the rubble and let out a roar, before crawling at them. Easy enough. It--

“Behind you!” Bauteut yelled.

Joan paused and glanced back. What was--

A titanslayer. One of the massive creatures of the Demon Lord was flying straight down at them. Joan felt a small moment of panic. They couldn’t fight both of these, they--

Its eyes were locked on her and it was flying right at her. A smile crept along her face and she lightly tapped her new boots on the ground. She wondered how good their vision was. “Zorn, Qakog, run left,” she yelled.

Joan felt a moment of relief when the two just did it. The demon was coming closer…

Time to test out another gift of the Chosen. She cast that spell Andreas had taught her. The dimming effect on her armor disappeared and suddenly the area was illuminated with a blinding white light. She then ran to the right, the boots amplifying her speed to let her run like the wind. Her gambit worked, the titanslayer blinded for a moment, its dive wild and disoriented. It flew past them and crashed straight into the blinded obsidian troll. In their confusion, the two began to wildly tear at each other, pounding and clawing wildly.

The perfect opportunity, she supposed. With another flash of blinding light, her belt activated and the massive, light elemental appeared in front of her. It lunged forward, adding its own assaults to the confused monsters. Within a few moments, neither of them moved any longer.

They’d done it. Joan stared at the two defeated creatures. They’d killed an obsidian troll AND a titanslayer. They’d actually--

The ground rumbled beneath them and she looked up to see a second, third and fourth obsidian troll racing towards them. Once more she cast the small spell of Andreas’, dimming the armor. She directed the elemental towards the closest one, before moving back towards Zorn and Qakog. “Right, there’s a whole army of them. But I think we can take them. Between the three of us there’s just two of them, if the elemental can hold that one off. We just need to--” Joan’s words were cut off when the furthest troll was suddenly knocked over by a small pack of golden wyverns, the creatures tearing into it. “Well, one, then.” Joan couldn’t help feeling a bit of giddy glee. It was REALLY nice having an army of her own to help face the army trying to kill her. Why hadn’t she thought of this before?

Another roar of the Avatar of the Inferno God filled the air, but it sounded far off. She had to hope they were holding it off well enough. Just a little longer, she was sure. The Chosen WOULD do this. They had to.

Just a little longer. She ran at the troll, lifting her sword high. Qakog and Zorn besides her.

They could do this. They would do this.

MelodyAvant

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