At the end of the path, they entered the darker parts of the forest. Alsten saw things that would normally make his jaw drop, like bipedal goats and giant insects, some glowing plants and even small trees mounted on floating rocks. But he was successful in hiding his bewilderment.
After this quest, he promised himself to explore all the wonders of this world.
Finally, the Hero's Party arrived at the end of the forest where the earth was abruptly divided into two parts: rich soil and dead frost.
Ahead was a land of pure snow, a cold desert without any signs of life. Not far from where they stood, there was a mountain. And at the foot of that mountain was an opening to a cave.
"That's the troll's lair," Yobu stated quietly while staring far ahead.
The group nodded at each other before pressing on.
A while later, they reached the entrance, framed in crystal. The cave was coated in ice. Above them were terrifyingly sharp icicles, threatening to fall at any moment. The floor was covered in dense, pure white snow.
They entered the frozen tunnel silently.
Alsten immediately felt the drop in temperature, meanwhile his allies didn't look bothered at all.
He may be the invincible Hero, but he wasn't immune to the cold. Perhaps, it was because of the environment he was used to in his previous life. The place he was born in had always been humid. Not to mention Earth's global warming.
So suddenly being thrown into an ice cave was pretty startling.
While they were silently walking, Lana's whisper got his attention.
"Feel anything weird?"
Surprised by this question, the Hero wasn't sure how he would respond. No one had worried about him this much all his life.
Words couldn't describe how good it felt. For the first time, someone cared about him.
It was weird, but he had to fight an overwhelming urge to hug her. Add to that the extreme cold, it was the hardest internal battle he had to go through.
"Not really," he whispered back, trying to act nonchalant.
She just stared at him for a couple more seconds and then fell silent. The group kept on walking through the ice cave.
Navigation was no problem as the cave didn't have diverging paths. Before Alsten knew it, they reached the end of the frozen tunnel.
The end of the tunnel was bright, their eyes took a few seconds to adjust. And when they did, they were stunned.
It turns out that the entire mountain was hollow. The tunnel, which was only a fraction of the cave's interior, led to an enormous hall of ice and snow.
Hanging on the roof were thousands of gigantic icicles that were glowing for some reason. The sharp icicles were the main source of light in the frozen grand hall.
The Hero's Party was standing on an elevated platform at the end of the tunnel. To their side was a snowy ramp leading down to the lowest level of the cave.
But from where they stood, they saw the entirety of the place.
Below was a snowy cliff, around half an hectare wide. And upon seeing what was down there, Alsten felt terrified in a way he never did before.
His brain couldn't comprehend what they were. He wasn't even sure if he should believe what he was seeing.
The cave was filled with giant creatures. Their whole body was covered in white fur, blending with the snow, except for their black, leathery face and onyx horns. The white monsters roamed around the cave, exiting from and entering tunnels and chambers on the ice walls. Each of them looked occupied with individual tasks but their unified purpose became obvious.
'This is sick...'
Rotting human corpses were stacked in the corner and those piles were getting bigger by the second. The snow trolls were bringing more dead bodies as the group watched in disgust.
He was reminded that in any world, injustice reigned.
"We made the right decision, putting a stop to all this, it seems," Yobu stated.
The Hero wasn't so sure about that.
For now, these abominations haven't noticed them yet.
If turning around and running the hell out of there was an option, he would have done so already. But that would be tantamount to admitting he wasn't the real hero.
There was a dark, ominous hole in the far end of the lowest platform. Some trolls were cutting up the bodies and throwing them into that deep oblivion. It was as though they were feeding something.
Alsten didn't even want to know what that thing was.
He gulped hard when the party members began to look at him.
Then, Hetaphar asked:
"What's our next move, Alsten?"
The Hero stared at him blankly.
'Dude, why are you asking me? I don't know crap!'
Yobu barged in without looking at the Hero. His gaze was fixated on the terrible army of trolls.
"Judging by how they're positioned, this should be over quickly."
The wolf then looked at him and continued.
"Do it, Alsten. We'll cover your back."
Alsten stared at the beastman in disbelief.
By "This would be over quickly," Alsten thought Yobu was referring to how quickly they would die.
'Are they expecting me to jump into that hellhole?'
That can't be right. Too absurd. Even for someone as strong as Alsten, fighting an army of savage monsters should be impossible!
"Do what?" He asked absentmindedly.
His party members stared at him for a moment. Then, Yobu replied.
"Obliterate them, what else? Quickly now so that we can return. I'm getting hungry."
The Hero was silenced once again. Why were they acting like fighting an entire army of trolls was just as simple as spraying insecticide on some pests?
No matter how he looked at it, there was no way he would survive even a minute down that pit.
"Sorry, how am I supposed to do that?" he asked, starting to feel the dread and the weight of their expectations.
Was the real Alsten, perhaps, a master of the sword, able to defeat an entire army using only his physical strength, martial prowess and unparalleled swordsmanship? If so, then he would die the second he attempts to fight these creatures!
He might have possessed the power of the Hero, but not his learned skills.
The group looked at him with confusion. Before anyone could answer him, he continued.
"I think we should plan this carefully first. I mean, there's just five of us against thousands of giant trolls."
He was losing confidence in each word. They were looking at him like he was a madman.
"Unless we have a mage who can use magic destructive enough to wipe out an army in an instant, there's no way we can do this," he added.
And in that moment, they looked at him with widening eyes.
"Alsten, what the hell are you saying?" Yobu asked in disbelief.
Soon, Alsten's eyes opened wide as well, and his blood ran cold. Had he said something he shouldn't have? Were they beginning to see through his lies now?
"We do have a mage," Genler replied out of the blue, which surprised the Hero.
Alsten got confused. If he and Yobu were the melee warriors, Genler was the healer, Hetaphar was the shielder and Lana was the archer, then they were indeed missing a mage.
"Then where are they? There's only five of us here," Alsten said, looking around.
Then, his four companions lifted their index fingers and pointed directly at... Alsten.
"You, Alsten. You," Genler uttered in bewilderment. He then added:
"When it comes to mana and magic casting, you are the strongest in this world."
Silence hung thick in the cold air, only the deep roars and bellows of the monsters remained.
Then after a moment, the group sighed, dejected.
Lana shook her head, saying:
"Right. We almost forgot that you were cursed. Of course you have no memories of being a mage."
The Hero lingered, still processing the new information. That was a lot of surprises in one day!
But who would have guessed that he was a mage?
Alsten silently blamed the modern media and anime for portraying mages as either an extremely beautiful, delicate woman or an old man with a thick beard.
He could easily swing a sword more massive than a person. On top of that, he is the strongest magic caster in the world? Talk about overpowered.
'No wonder they sent this guy instead of an entire army.'
But now that he had discovered that, Alsten couldn't help but feel excited.
Lana then continued.
"So what do we do now? Without Alsten's magic..."
The group looked at each other for a few seconds then Genler raised his hand.
"This quest must be postponed for now. Let's -"
Before the old man could finish, a huge shadow covered the whole group. They felt thudding on the ground before hearing wild growls.
They whipped their heads toward the tunnel where they came from. And there stood three horned giants, covered in white fur. They dropped the bloody human corpses to the snow as they saw the group.
Only seeing them up close made Alsten realize how massive they were — each one was twice as big as Hetaphar.
"Just great..." Yobu mumbled under his breath.
Upon seeing the invaders, the three trolls in front of them roared louder than a truck horn. And the next thing Alsten knew, the entire savage army of monsters were alerted of their presence.
Yobu quickly drew his twin blades and assumed a wide stance.
Hetaphar stepped in front of the group, holding the massive shield.
Lana was already prepared to shoot her arrows.
Genler was holding a tome, standing behind Hetaphar. He was calm but alert. The healer turned to Alsten and said:
"Prepare for battle."
*****
Alsten found himself trembling behind the giant. His hands were shaking as he held his massive weapon. Behind them, the army of trolls were beginning to climb up to the elevated surface. Each of the savages had an equal desire to tear the party members limb from limb.
After both sides acknowledged the agreement for bloodshed, they made their move.
The three trolls in front of them began to charge. Hetaphar reciprocated the gesture.
The towering figures clashed intensely, and the giant successfully repelled one of the trolls attacks.
Lana's arrows immediately pierced through the monster's skull.
Meanwhile, Yobu disappeared. And in the next second, He was already behind the two other trolls.
The wolf swiftly sliced one of them in the neck, and pools of dark blood spilled on the pure, white snow.
The Hero's Party operated with almost surgical precision. There was no wasted movement as they communicated through fighting.
The Hero, on the other hand, couldn't move.
Everything was happening so fast, that it all just turned into noises in the background.
'
"Alsten, watch out!!!"
After hearing Lana's shouting voice, the next thing the Hero saw was a batch of snow covering his vision.
He lost his footing and was now in a free fall.
Not just him, but the entire party except for Hetaphar.
The platform they were standing on collapsed, sending the four members of the Hero's Party falling to the bottom layer of the frozen cave.
A loud thud ended the fall, followed by grunts of pain from his three allies.
Surprisingly, Alsten barely felt anything.
He immediately stood up, heart racing. Lana, Yobu and Genler were trying their best to stand but to no avail. That was a pretty big fall.
Even though they landed on dense snow, the three party members still sustained serious injuries.
'Shit...'
Turning around, Alsten saw thousands of bloodthirsty eyes staring at them like they were the epitomy of foolishness.
Imagine hunting for food, only for the food to come to you itself.
Without looking at his allies, Alsten asked them:
"Are you guys okay?"
"We're still alive," Genler replied, his usual cold tone was layered with pain. "Buy me some time to heal Lana and Yobu."
The old man totally deserved praise for toughening it out like that.
'I'm sure he's the one who's hurt the most.'
But the healer chose to ignore the pain and focus on his duties. Somehow, this act of strong-willedness inspired the Hero.
"Alright..." he said with a shaky voice.
And he reluctantly faced a battalion of merciless killers.