A young boy, standing some distance away from a group of big and strong-looking ugly creatures, was thinking to himself in this dark cave…
'Twenty (Orange) rank male trolls and one (Yellow) rank troll mage. From the structure and magic power, the staff in his hand is an artifact wand of around (level-9).
Maybe it can easily cast (tier-3) spells and up to (tier-5) ones on occasion, too.
Have to be careful...'
He observed the quietly wandering normal tolls, some of the most common humanoid creatures with low intelligence that, though living in groups, don't possess much intelligence and hunt humans.
Well, they had low intelligence but some of them did occasionally born with considerable intelligence and a special ability to use magic.
Humans who first have to understand the magic formula, process it in mind, finish the spell, and consume concentration as well as Mana in the Mana nucleus, and then the spell is cast, must have to go through a series of steps to cast magic of the element that has a particularly high affinity with.
Different from them, a beast only has to know what magic they want to cast, their natural limitations, and sufficient intelligence.
A beast's body, which fundamentally is mostly made of natural energies like Mana, Aether, or maybe even Solnova, can naturally use the Mana in the atmosphere with their body that can process Mana naturally.
If they just know what kind of magic they want to use, the basic structure of magic, and have a solid will to use this magic, the spell is manifested easily.
They don't need complex mathematical calculations, or more like their minds do it on their own.
The beasts skip many steps and cast spells far more easily than humans, elves, and dwarfs with high intelligence.
Comparatively, humans don't have as high nature and Mana affinity as elves. They also don't have gifted bodies and minds like dwarves to create complex magical structures.
But they had the highest potential and desire for survival, greed, and hunger.
And those special qualities made them the most prominent species of today's time.
They learned the magic of other creatures, even improved it to fit themselves, and took the normal magical studies to levels never seen before by these creatures.
They even learned the technology and techniques of the dwarves and pioneered a new field called magic engineering.
But humans that could stand on the same level as these superior species were low. Maybe even minuscule in numbers.
But there definitely were humans that were able to overcome the limitations of their species or were naturally more gifted by nature than these superior species.
Or... some of them were anomalies in this perfect nature.
Just like this pretty boy.
His opponents this time were strong creatures with the ability to heal wounds, had strong physiques, and one of them even had the ability to cast high-level magic that even the boy couldn't cast causally.
He was going to fight against these creatures, knowing full well that they could kill him, even with his strengths.
But he was calm even when facing these dumb, dangerous creatures.
His ruby red eyes glowed in the dark cave as he looked at the big open area covered with torches and the twenty-one trolls patrolling in this place.
On one side of this open area, there were dead creatures piled up like food storage and some tent-like houses.
He knew they were the places where their family rested, but he had no hesitation or actually any emotions on his face.
His eyes were calm, his face straight, and the coldness of his expressions was so great it seemed like an experienced, bloodless hunter conquering his normal prey.
He surveyed the area, thought of the things he would do from that point on, and took out a brown magic bow with red patterns on it and his partner arrow Asta.
-Heeeeeee~.
-Zaaaaaaa!
Both of them were ego weapons and Asta was naturally happy to be of any help at any time.
But the other weapon, his fifth favorite bow, Seb, was angry about being out after a long time.
He was like an adult man with a spirit that only lit up when he was working.
A being that liked doing something, but at the same time, a being that was so strong that its strength wasn't needed in most cases.
But right now, he was needed. So after a while of anger, it calmed down and Axion sighed at this difficult bow.
Asta was almost laughing at this old person, but thankfully they understood that this wasn't the time for ideal chit-chat.
"Asta, execute Act 12, paragraph 1. And be ready to execute Act 1 on my command."
-Heeeeeeee~.
The smart Asta understood it and gave a positive answer.
He had already checked, and from the looks of it, there was no way to 'easily' defeat the mage in a frontal battle.
He had to lower his natural defenses, weaken his sharp thinking, and make his 60 points in intelligence meaningless.
Only then he would be able to win against this mage that was a special one with the skill, [Continuous casting].
The outer body of the trolls was tough. And their physical resistance was naturally high. They also had the ability to regenerate, and a heightened nose that can smell any intruder in their range.
He wasn't worried about getting detected by them. He was going to snipe them from around six hundred meters, after all.
The mage would be the last target, and he would deal with it from close range.
The troll had a strong affinity with fire and wind, so it was natural that its continuous ranged attacks would be difficult to deal with.
The not-that-close range would be even better, but he had the advantage in close range.
A smile appeared on his pretty face and he moved back using his [Quick steps].
Taking a deep breath, he pulled back the bowstring of his strong small bow, channeled some Mana, which enlightened the red patterns on the bow, and looked forward to where the trolls were patrolling.
-Ooooooooong.
A brown arrow with a red tip materialized on the bowstring.
His eyes adjusted according to the opponents and...
"Sorry... and thanks."
-Swiiiiiiiiish!
***
In the open ground lit by torches on all sides, some humanoid creatures roamed with strong-looking weapons in their hands.
Giant monsters with green bodies, their strength easily estimable by their strong hard muscles, the giant wooden bats, hammers, and swords in their hands.
They had long noses and broad pointed ears and only their lower bodies were covered with a dirty cloth.
They had a pair of long teeth coming out of the sides of their mouth and the yellow, sharp teeth of these creatures looked ferocious.
There was a bigger creature with similar physical features at the very back of this open area. But his body was gray instead of green and the wand in his hand was surrounded by a visible cloud of Mana, indicating the high Mana gathering ability of the wand.
His eyes were glowing golden in those narrow sockets as he stood before a cave-like place.
He guarded the door to the next part of this tomb and looked after the other trolls as well as protected the tents on the other side with a wind barrier.
It was a normal day for them and he was looking around the same open area when... a weird sound, never heard before, reached his ears.
Their hearing wasn't as good as their nose, but it wasn't as bad as their eyes either.
"Khuuu…!"
So they heard the sound of something quickly moving through the air, and his eyes sharpened.
But… before he could make any move, a new sound of something popping as well as the smell of the blood of his family member entered his harp nose.
He was smart enough to figure out what must have happened, so he immediately started channeling Mana through his wand but, just then, he heard another sound of something moving through the air.
-Swish.
He was ready this time, but even before he could cast any spell to block the thing coming toward him, he felt something colliding with the ground beside him!
And as soon as that happened… he felt all his power, all his Mana draining out of him!
"Khuuuu…? Khu, khuuuu!"
This drain was severe. Something That happened in mere moments and his power was almost completely lost.
"Khu, khaaaaaa!!"
Confused and frightened, he hurriedly used [Detection], a skill that enhanced his eyesight, and requested only a small amount of Mana.
The drop of Mana wasn't much of a problem for him. He wasn't a human mage that would die if all the Mana were sucked out of him.
He could move the Mana in the atmosphere that was restored bit by bit every other moment.
So, even against the quick drain of the unknown object that he could neither see nor feel on the ground, he managed to activate his skill.
And... as soon as he was able to see properly, the view before his eyes... devastated him.
"…"
There were bodies of his family members on the ground... but there were no heads on these bodies.
They only had their bodies remaining, and those bodies were on the ground.
Blood had painted the whole ground in dark green…
More than ten bodies were already on the ground. And it hadn't even been a minute since he had heard the first weird sound and lost his Mana.
He could barely gather any Mana to maintain his skill, but the chaotic atmosphere among the other trolls was even worse than his own.
They were confused, the normal order they followed every day was already lost, and they were screaming with fear at how the brethren who had suddenly lost their heads and their bodies now coldly lay on the ground…
"Khuuuuuu…!"
He could hear their screams, and he could see them too, but… with each passing second, more of them were falling to the ground because of some weird arrows that easily pierced through their hard skin and skulls.
And these nasty arrows not only pierced through them but… they also exploded!
The arrows that had struck their heads could easily be removed and the damage could have been regenerated, but when the head itself gets destroyed… their deaths become the painful truth.
They knew this and that was also the reason many of them wore helmets made of hard skulls on their heads, but these weird arrows even ignored the helmets and popped the heads of his family.
"Khuuu!!!"
Time passed, the screams of the creatures became louder, the chaos deepened and the mage tried its best to do something… something…
He tried using magic, but the unknown thing was sucking out the Mana as soon as it gathered.
He could sense the Mana flux, but he couldn't exactly pinpoint the location of this weird thing.
So, after his quick judgments, he gave up on magic and abandoned his position…
"KHUAAAAAA!"
He could hear their screams, but from the looks of it… they couldn't hear his voice.
The chaos and loud confusion were definitely not the reason for this thing. His voice and command were the absolute sentences among them, after all.
"Khuuuuu…"
So, it was clear that whatever was blocking his Mana was also blocking his sound.
He knew he had to do something if he wanted to save his family.
He knew he had to do something now…
So he moved from his position and started walking toward his children... only to be stopped by another weird barrier that blocked his way.
He hadn't seen this barrier in the time he was focused on his family but now that he saw it, there was an earth-brown barrier blocking his way and there seemed no way to pass this barrier other than to just shatter it to pieces!!
So... he started his struggles and slammed his strong hand as well as his magic wand on this barrier.
"Khu, khu, khuuuuuu!"
He tried, and tried and... tried, as he watched his family fall to the ground without their precious, handsome heads.
One by one... bodies fell, and blood rained from the sky… covering the ground.
The slamming of a desperate elder troll filled the surroundings, and the fire on the torches lighting up the area flickered as even the shadows on the ground were painted by the thick, green blood…
The noise of the area was loud, and the wind barrier protecting the tents was lifted so… the family, his wives, and little children walked also out with confused expressions.
"Khuuuu! Khuaaaa!!"
They were unknown to all the chaos happening in this place, and the troll mage cried his lungs out to stop them from coming out too.
But they couldn't even hear his soul-shaking voice.
He watched his last of elder children fall without his head and almost gave up… thinking he had already lost everything.
But, now, his remaining family, who weren't even strong enough to lift the worrier's weapons, were in a confused state as they couldn't understand anything.
The female trolls, the babies in their hands, the young children beside them... the image of the blood-filled floor entered their eyes.
They were frightened as they watched the lake of green blood as well as the bodies of their children laying on the ground without their heads…
The image of the trapped father also entered their eyes... but maybe it was the last thing they saw.
Their father, the brave mage that protected them from everything, was desperately slamming a barrier, hitting it with his amazing magic wand and bloody hands, crying with his soul…
They knew he was desperate. They could see it, but... before any of them could do anything, their sharp noses picked up the scent of the intruder for the first time.
And as soon as their eyes fell on the small person covered in a dark robe, and they saw the weird arrows on the bow in his hand... their visions started blurring.
They lost their eyes, their thoughts, their will... as they lost their heads.
"Khaaaaaaaa…!!!"
One by one, the intruder shot his weird arrows at a speed that was far faster than how his elder children were killed.
They had smelled the intruder, but he saw the dark-clad appearance of the small intruder with his own eyes.
He also saw his bow, and the glowing arrows, and the way those arrows vanished and reappeared, and how exactly in those intervals, his wives, young children... and even the newborns were obliterated…
His heart ached with each passing second.
He cried, begged, did all he could... even slammed the barrier with all the strength he had... but all was futile.
The small intruder killed, killed, and just killed every one of them.
The two red eyes, glowing under that dark robe, were reminiscent of a demon to this troll mage.
The deaths he saw, the lives he begged for, and the tears of blood he shed... nothing mattered now.
His life, the life he gained from that bastard evil spirit, was now taken by this bastard small devil.
The crying eyes that had lost everything, the mage that could only see the blood of his family on the ground, the father that had lost everything... he stopped slamming the bloody barrier.
He just stood there now, motionless, as if dead...
He had lost everything, so there was no meaning to his life... giving it away wouldn't even mean anything.
Only thing, the one last thing that this alone father wanted, his last wish...
"WHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The death of the intruder.
Death of this small, puny, fucking bastard that cold-bloodedly killed his family…
The troll was now enraged... he had gone berserk.
And the intruder... had achieved his goal.
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