The inside of the cave was dark, even for Dawn's eyes.
Dawn knew that the trolls disliked the light, but nonetheless lit up a torch for them to notice him earlier.
Dawn instructed Erisha to rarely leave the shadows and that she must navigate this maze on her own.
This was truely a gamble.
There were so many things that could go wrong with this plan and if they just had the time, maybe they could have thought up a better one.
But time was pressing on them like a child crushing an ant with a finger.
Cain's condition worsened.
Before, the effects of the curse simply put him in a nightmare, but now dark veins began showing on his body and his eyes considerabely sunk back in their sockets.
Even a fool could tell he was dying and that he didn't have much time.
Suddenly, Dawn's keen ears picked up a low growl ahead of him.
He has finally reached them.
After taking a few steps a large fist came crushing down on him like a hammer.
Dawn jumped back to dodge it.
Once the fist made contact with the ground it sent aout a gust of wind so grand, it put out the torch Dawn was holding.
Now surrounded by darkness and an angry troll Dawn focused some of his life force in to his eyes.
And just before a large hand tried to grab him, he opened them.
With a massive blow Dawn broke the trolls yellow hand, which made the creature shriek and fall on to its back.
It wriggled there until Dawn jumped in to the air and crushed its head with a two-legged stomp.
Now Dawn was able to see.
Thanks to life force his eyes perfectly adapted to the dark.
With the first troll out of the way Dawn continued his descent.
"The others must have heard this ones screams, meaning that they will be prepeared for me. But that means the elf heard it too. Godspeed, elf."
Erisha was moving swiftly in the darkness at speeds even surprising for her.
Until now she has never been in complete darkness.
Not only was she moving faster, she could feel herself more powerful than ever before.
But this was not the time to be distracted by this.
She did not think Dawn was willing to go to such lenghts and how much trust he put in her.
Perhaps that was what he wanted to show her.
That they were now in the same boat wether she liked it or not and he would rather be a friend than a jailor.
He needed a way out of this world and they wanted to go home.
Erisha shook her head.
"Focus Erisha! Dawn said the party was taken in to the heart of this place. I must reach it before it is too late!"
Dawn jumped in to the air with a loud shout and fistaready to spring forwad.
He was now fighting 3 trolls at once which proved difficult.
They surrounded him and tried hammering him in to the ground from all directions.
A large hand came towards him and Dawn unloaded his fist and punched it away.
Then the one on his right tried to kick him but Dawn grabbed ahold of his leg.
He then turned his body and threw the troll against thr one on his left
"GRAAAA!"
The troll smashed in to the other with such force it toppled over.
Using the precious time he gained Dawn dashed in the direction of the one that remained standing.
The troll, now overcome with fear stepped back and tried to run away, but Dawn lept in to the air and grabbed its greasy hair.
He then plunged his hand in to its neck and grabbed its spine.
Dawn then pulled with all his streanght and ripped out a part of its spine, causing the troll to lose control over its body and fall.
By the time the other two trolls stood back up, they could only witness as Dawn drained the life force out of their friend, giving it a slow and agonizing death.
When the troll was no more than a collection of bones, Dawn turned towards the two that remained and quickly dispatched them.
When he drained the last drop of life force out of the last one, Dawn noticed subtle vibrations coming from the ground.
Dawn turned his head to the sight of more than 20 trolls running towards him.
Dawn let out a sigh as red smoke began escaping his body.
Then without hesitation Dawn charged at them.
Meanwhile Erisha was now moving among the trolls, unnoticed and unseen.
Just like Dawn said, they were indeed monsters.
Passing by she saw animals and even small monsters being ripped apart and consumed by the trolls while they were still alive.
Doubt began settling in Erisha.
"What if the party was already eaten? What will happen to her brother? What will she say to Dawn?"
These questiones floated in her mind as she increased her speed.
With an explosion of gore and blood Dawn erupted from a troll's belly.
He is getting overwhelmed.
They caught him and one chomped down on his upper body.
But thanks to life force he regenerated inside its stomach.
Dawn decided that this is no time to hold back and stopped pulling his punches.
With an explosive burst of speed, Dawn dashed forward.
Trolls fell at unprecidented speed.
Their corpses withered in an instant as Dawn began using stage 2 of Berserk, FRUSTRATION.
Dawn's skin darkened to a slightlyredder hue while the white in his eyes has become red.
Using this newfound streanght he was going through the trolls one blow at a time.
Each time his fist made contact with one its body exploded.
But this came at a cost.
The consumption of life force has increased and since he had nowhere near enough to keep up this form for long he had to stop every few seaconds to steal from the dying trolls around him.
"Damn that woman! Where is she!? It has been more than an hour already!"
But Daen didn't have much time to think as more trolls came from below.
This time with large clubs as weapons.
Seeing them Dawn leapt in to the air and let out a deafening scream.
"GRRRAAAAAAA!"
There was a reason why Erisha was taking so long.
She has been spotted.
Beliveing that she could silently sneak past it, she underestimated the trolls keen sense of smell and got too close to one.
Now that they knew she was here they began searching for her in the dark.
But this also allowed Erisha to pinpoint the location the trolls were protecting the most since they were gathering there.
"Dawn said that humans are nothing but food for the trolls and since it is winter they will protect their food with everything they have."
Erisha didn't waste time and submerged in to the darkness.
Going through it was like being trapped unerwater by ice.
Each time she had to break through that methaporical ice to emerge.
This was the longest she has used this ability for and this took a toll on her which caused her to emerge more frequently.
And sadly she came up too soon.
Two trollguard noticedher emerge and immidietly alerted the rest.
"Damn it!" Erisha exclaimed in anger.
Two large clubs made from stone came crushing down on her.
She tried to dodge but her body suddenly felt weak and her legs did not move.
In depseration Erisha took control of the shadows around her to try shielding herself.
In that moment the entier cave shook as massive tendrils shot out with such force that the trolls around her exploded by a mere touch.
"What the hell?" Eriash asked with a shocked voice.
She looked at her hands, past the disguse Drell put on her and saw that she could no longer see her forarm.
The white outline was no longer present.
It was like it became one with the darkness.
But this was not the time to worry about this.
Erisha summoned all her streanght to move deeper down.