<u>Chapter Fifty-Eight</u>


    The party wandered a little while, and it didn’t take long for them to run into trouble. A bellowing roar shook the very tree’s as they parted to reveal a massive, ugly monster. Its skin was like mold on cheese, its hair like smeared feces, and it had an oversized, bulbous and elongated nose.


    Large ears tapered to a point, and its jaw looked like a rotting mashed potato. It was hanging open as the creature bellowed, revealing cracked green and yellow teeth. It was fat, and had huge shovel-like hands with giant skewers for fingers.


    Elayne shouted,


    “Troll!”


    As she rolled away to create distance.


    Ambrose tossed a [Retributions Gaze] at it.


    [Forest Troll Level 208]: Forest Trolls are a plague upon anyone travelling the forest. They are fiercely territorial and hate humanoids with a passion. Contrary to popular belief, trolls do not have a weakness to fire. Trolls that have reached C-Grade usually have a connection with the Strength Icon.]


    Elayne raised her staff, and dark green vines erupted from the earth, wrapping around the troll''s legs. Noelle sent a burst of lightning at the monster, which caused it to let loose a guttural cry of pain. Noelle’s ears flattened against her head, and she growled as she bounded away.


    The troll tried to lash out, but the vines rose up, and its attempt to move caused it to fall like a great tree, crashing into the ground and sending out a reverberation all around them. Ambrose thought it over right there before he even engaged himself, but the troll flexed, and he felt a pressure billow forth from the troll.


    It wasn’t like spiritual pressure, but something more potent than that. It was as if the troll was exuding a strength beyond itself, a strength of not just a mortal body or mind but of reality.


    The vines snapped as easily as twigs in a storm.


    Then, the troll attempted to stand, and Ambrose, for the first time since upgrading to his new class, engaged in combat.


    Ever since he had become an Infernal Crusader, he had felt a connection to his [Hellfire Manipulation] skill that went beyond what he normally felt with a skill. It was a connection that gave him plans. Blueprints for how to use his portals in new and unique ways.


    First, he attempted to open a portal up between the troll''s neck, hoping to decapitate it outright. He frowned because the portal would not be opened. He realized the problem moments later. For the portal to work, he needed to have a line of sight, and he needed to know where he was opening a portal to. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    He couldn’t see the inside of the troll, so he could not open a portal inside its neck.


    That was fine. What he could do was open up a portal that originated on the outside of the troll''s neck and opened lengthwise. The result should have done the trick in beheading the troll.


    But the edges of the portal did not cut through its skin. Something resisted him. Ambrose frowned because he knew what it was. The Strength Icon was making the troll’s skin far stronger than it had any right being.


    He couldn’t complain. Not really. Since the Forge Icon did something similar for him. Getting to its feet, the monster roared again, slashing out at Noelle with its skewering claws. Like the tiger she once was, she was too quick and easily evaded the attack.


    Elayne twirled her staff, and nature responded. Vines, acting like whips, cracked against the troll, but his Icon flared, and that same pressure filled the air, leaving the troll unharmed.


    With its Icon, it would have been an impossible foe for Noelle and Elayne to beat. Even with Noelle’s constant assault of lightning, her weaving around the troll, and Elayne’s use of summoned foliage, it did nothing. With its Icon, the troll was in a league of its own.


    As it had many times previously, it struck him how easy it was to ruin your advancement, your chances of ever being one of the truly strong. If Ambrose hadn’t had Vivienne, he likely would have never progressed to the point he was at now.


    He had several options for dealing with the troll that didn’t involve his portals. He was sure he could keep walloping the monster with Akaroth, and along with Noelle and Elayne’s help, the monster would eventually be too tired to call upon its Icon, or else they would overcome it at the strength it was at now.


    He was reasonably sure he could also bring his own icon to bear and overcome the troll that way.


    He decided to handle it differently. He had access to a Word of Power now, and while he couldn’t be sure how Icons interacted with it, he was sure that they were supremely powerful.


    Looking at the troll, he focused on what he wanted to happen. Visualizing it in his mind, he uttered the Word of Power.


    “BREAK.”


    He didn’t shout nor even raise his voice a little when he spoke the word. Yet it echoed as if being shouted by a god. He felt the word resonate within the world as if he were inputting a command into reality itself.


    The troll shattered. Like a sledgehammer taken to rock, its body broke apart into chunks of wet, red and green moldy flesh that squelched as it hit the ground. It was like some invisible being was ripping the troll into pieces like shredding paper.


    It was over in a few moments. There was no resistance from the Icon. Ambrose immediately slumped, a wave of exhaustion passing over him as his mind fluttered, like he had just taken a blow to the head.


    Noelle rushed to his side as he staggered, while Elayne merely stared at the bits of troll on the forest floor, mouth wide open.


    Ambrose grimaced,


    “I’m okay. I just..wow. Yeah, I won’t be doing that again for a minute.”


    He held his head with one hand as Elayne turned to him.


    “What was that?”


    She didn’t even attempt to hide the awe in her voice.


    He smiled slightly at her expression.


    “That…was a Word of Power.”


    Elayne slowly shook her head,


    “I’ve never even…how do you get that kind of power?”


    He shrugged,


    “I got it by closing all of the Incursions on my world. Do you have Incursions here you can close?”


    Slowly, she shook her head, hand tightening on her staff.


    “One person was said to be around during the Incursion period, but I wasn’t alive then. Is there no other way?”


    Another shrug,


    “Hard to say. It comes from the System, not me.”


    She nodded, looking thoughtful.


    “Well, that’s one part of the trial that is complete. Now then, we need to find some people,” Ambrose stated.


    Elayne pointed to the north,


    “I think that a way is as good as any other direction.”


    Noelle was still looking at him with concern, and he stood straighter.


    Gesturing, he said,


    “Lead on then. We have a trial to complete, don’t we, everyone?”


    Elayne laughed, and the group began to walk in the direction she had pointed, not seeing the man who materialized behind them and watching them go.