Chapter 97 – Two (11)
Merim, with her cone-shaped hat tucked into her rucksack, draped her staff over a tree and sat down in a comfortable position.
“Whoa, I found it somehow. Marilyn, let’s rest here for a while before going back. Fill your stomach a bit.”
“Okay. Wait for a sec.”
While her twin sister rested, she turned off the lights just in case and hid herself in a bush.
Rummaging through her rucksack and pulling out her telescope with her beef jerky, Marill tossed a piece of her meat to her sister, who then used the night vision telescope to locate an oyster a short distance away. I took a closer look.
The height of the oyster was about 1.5m, and there was dark blood splashing from the entrance as well as the vicinity, and broken bone fragments and green flesh were stuck here and there like chewed gum.
When I lowered my gaze to the floor, there were several goblin claws that were separated from the body.
“Like all the corpses found so far, they all seemed to have been trampled to death or spit out while eating. Looking at the unusually large number of goblin corpses, it looks like a cave where goblins used to live.”
“Shit, shit… And now it’s a story that it’s turned into a troll’s house?”
Chewing on her beef jerky to relieve her hunger, Merim looked around the tall trees and finally found Yule Reid looking down at them from the top of her branch.
The demon who followed her as her supervisor and safety agent quietly followed her twin sister, climbing trees and trees in order not to get involved in the pursuit and hunting process of the two people taking the test.
Merim gestured to him.
“I’m thinking of going in there in a little while, but why don’t the demon seniors come down soon too? He looks like he’s having a hard time getting on top of the tree.”
“…”
Yulid, who came down lightly without a sound, approached his twin sister.
“Do you have anything to say?”
“It’s been quite a while since we entered the forest. I was just curious how long it would be.”
“A little less than four hours left.”
“Hey, it’s been quite a while. It might be embarrassing unless there are two trolls in there.”
Huge footprints with goblin blood are pointing toward the cave, but it’s unclear whether the two are together.
If there is only one troll in there, the battle itself is easy, but you will have to search again.
If you have two trolls together, you won’t have to search anymore, but the difficulty of the battle will go up significantly.
The best environment for the twins is an environment where there are two trolls in a cave, but each uses a different room so they can be defeated individually.
… After a while, the twin sisters who had taken enough rest briefly checked her physical condition. Except for the fact that I feel a little tired, there are no difficulties to be noted.
Before putting her backpack back on, Merim took out a small leather pouch from inside her and revealed its contents in front of Yule Reed.
Paper folded into a square. It contains green powder. Yullid, who remembered seeing his colleagues often using it, mentioned the name of the powder.
“Night Vision Powder…”
“Are you admitting this?”
“That won’t be a problem. You can use it.”
When the word of permission came out, the twin sisters who took the powder from the paper and took it at the same time felt a strange feeling at the sight that was quite different from before.
Before eating the powder, I could barely distinguish objects right in front of me, but now I can see my surroundings as bright as daylight.
“And… This is what the night vision effect looks like.”
“Performance sure. Is it worth paying a high price for in the Magic Tower?”
It is early morning when most living beings sleep. If you investigate the nest as secretly as possible without relying on the lights, you will be able to surprise the trolls who are sleeping soundly with a fairly high probability.
In battle and hunting, the advantage of going first against defenseless enemies is so enormous that it hurts to explain it, so the twin sisters prepared even these consumables in advance.
As an aside, the duration of night vision powder varies slightly depending on the constitution, but on average it is 1 hour.
The twin sisters, who had somewhat adapted to the changed view, looked at Yulead, the supervisor.
“As you can see, we intend to go in without lights. The demon senior looks good anyway. There is no need to take any action, right?”
“Well, yes. Unlike humans, the eyes of my own people, including mine, can see clearly in the dark.”
“Then we’ll go first.”
“I get it. Let me follow you from behind Again, if I judge that both of you are seriously injured by my standards, or if you ask me for help directly, you will be eliminated immediately.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
After completing all the preparations, the twin sisters go to a cave that was originally a goblin’s den… He entered the troll’s nest while killing his presence as much as possible, and Yuled also followed after leaving a sufficient distance.
Marill, who was walking in front of her, pulled out her sword and shield so that she could respond to any situation, and Merim, who was one step away from her brother, could use magic at any time, while memorizing her spell in her head, is holding up.
The deeper you go into the nest, the stronger the smell of blood and rotten incense.
“Look at this? The Blins here are also fucking dogs.”
“… Don’t use weird words. Anyway, it’s clear that the trolls have settled in, as there are traces of it inside as well.”
Before long, the twin sisters found bloodstains and horribly crushed green flesh all over the place, just like the entrance. It indirectly told me how terribly the goblin’s livelihood was destroyed.
As I vividly captured these traces, I felt a sense of tension inside, even though I did not show it on the outside.
Troll.
It’s the first time I’ve hunted him directly from the twin sister’s point of view, but since he’s such a famous monster, I’m aware of its basic characteristics.
Although each individual is slightly different, it is a dark green giant with a gigantic physique of more than 2m on average.
In a decent environment, it takes on one of the roles of a top predator, and accidents often occur in raiding villages close to the nest or preying on travelers.
Intelligence is at the level of a child. However, it is usually difficult to hunt because it is strong enough to pay for its size and has regenerative powers that can quickly recover from minor injuries.
It is known that to easily hunt one, it is recommended to mobilize three adventurers of the same rank or to use experienced silver-rank adventurers.
“Merim, surely there was information that trolls are sensitive to human smells, right?”
“Huh. He said he was particularly sensitive to the smell of women and children. It’s because my skin is much softer than that of an adult man or something…”
As she gazed at the remains of the goblins strewn about, recalling her troll traits, Marill made up her mind, unrolled her gauze, and with her leather-glovened hands laid her flesh and viscera on it. I started collecting.
Merim’s expression hardened at her sister’s sudden action.
“Hey, hey! Dirty Siri… ！Why are you collecting all of a sudden?”
“When Roden’s older brother taught me the sword, he gave me something as a bonus. To try that.”
After answering plainly, Marill rolled up a cloth with the goblin’s flesh, and dripped thick blood as if wringing a rag.
At this point, I can guess what she is trying to do without listening to her explanation.
Merim’s face, which she hoped was not what she was thinking now, gradually turned pale. She hands over her question with a curious mind.
“Hey… Marill? What are you going to do with it…”
“I’ll put this on and it’ll get rid of our smell.”
“… Yes. You must be.”
A bad hunch always strikes right.
* * *
Every time she worked, Merim, whose robe she liked to wear was soiled with black and red goblin extract, was screaming in her heart.
‘Aaaaa… Although she said that she could erase it with clean magic… How could you do such a bizarre thing with your sober mind…’
Even Merim in the world wanted to refuse the bizarre act of applying goblin extract to her clothes.
However, right now I am in the process of taking an important test in which I have to hunt enemies with a fairly high level of difficulty, and my younger brother who suggested this applied the goblin extract to my body first, so it was very difficult for me to get rid of myself.
Now that I’ve come to this point, I can’t help but hope that it works.
‘Roden oppa is really… I’m just trying to teach him some bizarre knowledge… I’ll see you when I get home.’
Merim gritted her teeth thinking of Roden, who should be sleeping peacefully by now, and Marill, who endured the smell of blood on her equipment and maintained her vigilance.
As her twin sister stepped forward, the sound of snoring and subtle vibrations in her distant cavity caught her breath and lowered her stance.
ㅡPooh… Pooh… ！
“…! Merim.”
“… Huh. I heard it too.”
The two women met each other’s eyes and nodded, put down their backpacks, and moved forward cautiously, sticking close to the wall, sticking their heads out from around the corner.
Looking over the corner are two sleeping trolls. The giants with thick skin like toads were sleeping comfortably with their heads propped against the wall at the left and right ends, respectively.
There were no beasts or monsters stronger than trolls around here, so there was no reason to be very wary when sleeping.
And at their feet, there was a large, crudely made wooden club, and in the bone grave in the middle of the room, goblins and human remains that were mercilessly devoured like corn without kernels were mixed.
The twin sisters talked to each other like whispers.
“Two corpses presumed to be human… It was these guys who attacked the village for sure.”
“Is the guy on the right a bit darker?”
It wasn’t a best-case scenario that the two were resting in different spaces, but I was lucky enough to find a sleeping prey.
Now, the problem left for them is how to start a battle by attacking these guys.
The most ideal would be for Merim and Marill to use one powerful attack at a vital point and deal with the fight without any need.
It’s too uncertain whether the attack power of the two will be enough to kill a troll in one blow. If you don’t, you may have to face a 2:2 situation with only moderate damage.
Then the conclusion is… ．
“For now, let’s make sure to kill one guy. What do you think of Marilyn?”
“I think that would be good too.”
The twin sisters, who decided in advance how to attack at the same time, cautiously approached the one on the left, suppressing breathing and footsteps as much as possible.
The goblin extract was applied all over the body and the woman’s smell was covered with the smell of blood.
Since they were sleeping curled up against the wall, their target was the heart, and the two women standing on either side of the green giant at the center drew their weapons silently.
