Swords, magic, and martial arts

Before Rhodes and the Nord strongman intervened in the battle, the mercenaries from the Anu Kingdom were able to leave a wound on the troll while dodging its attacks each time. It wasn't that the troll's attacks were too slow, but rather that the mercenaries were too agile.

However, these injuries couldn't accumulate and cause the troll to bleed to death; the troll's vitality couldn't be judged by Rhodes's previous understanding. The troll whose head had been severed by the Nord strongman was still able to move on the ground, trying to find its head and reattach it.

What Rhodes couldn't understand was that after the little troll was stabbed in the back of the head with a sword, it could only move around after its injury had healed somewhat, probably because its size or age made its recovery ability less robust.

Rhodes realized that this world couldn't be viewed entirely through the lens of his previous life; many things were too unscientific, though one could say it was quite magical.

He took a poisoned gold needle and went to deal with the remaining troll. His previous victory did not make him careless; the scar on his forehead would always remind him.

After a fierce battle, the poisoned needle was inserted into the last troll. The poisoned needle could not kill the troll directly, but it could paralyze and put it to sleep. It would wake up after being injured again. The Nord strongman had just tested this for him.

After dismembering the last troll, the Nord strongman burned it to death with fire and wine. After doing this, he felt no joy for the victory, but instead held his brother's corpse, coughing up blood and weeping bitterly.

Rhodes sighed. He was powerless to help in this situation. Such pain could not be soothed by a few words of comfort. The Nord brother had also sacrificed himself to protect the lives of others. Otherwise, he could have stayed in a safe place like the people he was protecting.

When the people upstairs realized the battle was over, they ran downstairs and started cheering. Rhodes felt a pang of sadness after comparing himself to the Nord brothers.

Outside the inn, many wild beasts roamed, and battles were constantly taking place, resulting in constant deaths. Inside the inn, the scent left by the trolls kept most wild beasts away, and even those beasts stronger than the trolls would detour after smelling their scent.

Seeing those who were already celebrating their survival with wine glasses in hand, Rod, sitting in his chair, felt a surge of anger welling up inside him, a desire to release it.

He left the tavern alone, without his sword, only wearing brass knuckles. Aya tried to stop him but couldn't, and could only watch him grow smaller and smaller until he disappeared into the night...

Aya didn't know why Rod had run away. It was dangerous outside, and she didn't dare go out to look for him. She sat in the hall waiting for Rod to return until dawn.

She looked disdainfully at those people who had hidden upstairs when the trolls broke in, but now that the danger had passed, they were running downstairs shouting and yelling.

"When will I be strong enough that I no longer need anyone's protection?" she thought to herself.

She watched closely the mercenary from the Anu Kingdom eating venison beside her, wondering what made him, such a skilled man, different from herself. The innkeeper had specially grilled the meat to thank him, but the mercenary, as before, hadn't said a word, making the innkeeper, who had been trying to curry favor, somewhat embarrassed.

Aya disliked the hotel owner from the first glance—that fat man who had been expressionless before but now had a fawning face.

As dawn approached, a commotion suddenly broke out outside. The people who had been partying went back upstairs. Aya saw with her own eyes that the hotel owner had hidden in the cellar under the liquor cabinet and locked it from the inside.

Only Aya and the foreign mercenaries remained on the first floor. Nord, the strong man, was seriously injured and had been crying while holding his brother's body before he fainted. He was carried upstairs to a room to rest by a group of people.

The newly repaired door was pushed open, and a squad of soldiers entered, clad in chainmail and carrying one-handed swords and shields. The shields were embroidered with images of white foxes curled up in a ball. Their armor and swords were covered in blood, and they reeked of blood. Aya stared at them, too afraid to even breathe.

She recognized it as the coat of arms of the Fors family. From a young age, she had studied the coats of arms, clan languages, and histories of various noble families across the continent every day. Her family had some enmity with the Fors family, and if she were recognized, she would likely be captured and taken hostage by the Fors family unless her family paid a ransom.

The soldiers all wore helmets, revealing only their piercing eyes. The lead soldier looked around the inn, his gaze lingering briefly on the charred corpse of the troll and the mercenaries. He turned and gestured, and the soldiers orderly withdrew from the inn and headed elsewhere.

Aya breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the soldiers leave the hotel; clearly, these ordinary soldiers wouldn't recognize her.

"My father probably wouldn't recognize me now," Aya thought sadly.

She looked at herself; her original flaxen gray hair had been cut into a messy short style, and her once exquisite clothes had been replaced with smelly animal skins.

After hearing the soldiers leave, the people hiding upstairs ran downstairs again, and one of them asked the mercenaries what had just happened.

The mercenary glanced at him with his eagle-like sharp eyes, but ignored him and continued drinking and eating alone.

After a while, many soldiers carrying torches ran out of the door. Angry shouts and roars echoed continuously from outside the inn. Soon after, silence fell, leaving only the commands to rescue the wounded and clear the bodies.

Aya walked to the door and peeked out to see what was happening outside. The sun was rising, the battle was over, and there were piles of wild animal carcasses along the roadside. The human corpses had also been moved together by the soldiers and neatly arranged in a row.

Many people on the road were crying as they searched for the bodies of their family members and friends. Aya was worried about Rod, so she quickened her pace and started running. She ran past house after house until she reached the edge of the town but still couldn't find him.

She turned and ran back, and on the other side of the town, she saw Rhodes sitting on the ground, his face pale, surrounded by the corpses of wild beasts: wolves, cave bears, and even a huge troll. This troll was larger than the three she had seen before, probably five meters tall when it stood up, but it was still dead. Its enormous head had been cut into pieces by some inexplicable force. Aya stared blankly at the head, wondering how Rhodes had done it.

Rhodes gave Aya a forced smile when he saw her. Aya noticed that Rhodes' hands were covered in blood and still dripping. He stood up, walked towards Aya, and said weakly, "Let's go back."

Back at the hotel, Rod collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep without washing the blood off his hands.

Aya used a towel and hot water to wipe his face and hands clean. She clenched her fists and vowed in her heart that she would become stronger in the future, so that she could help instead of hiding in a safe place like a coward...