episode_0059

“Open the door.”

As I approached the wooden fence, as if to buy some time, I ordered the door to be opened.

Even while I was extremely nervous, the guard looked at me and immediately shook his head.

“Baron, it’s dangerous!”

“The fence isn’t even close to stopping the trolls anyway. So just open it.”

The guard looked like he was thinking about what I said for a moment, then slowly nodded. This is because the power of large monsters like trolls was well known. There were occasional rumors that a village or city was mistakenly attacked by a large monster and destroyed.

Of course, many of those places were so well-fortified that they could not be compared to our village. Even better-defended areas were vulnerable, and it was not possible to block trolls with fences that were only meant to block wild beasts. Even if the purpose was to buy time, all it did was create a few more seconds.

In that situation, when I brought in dozens of armed skeletons, the guard immediately opened the door of the fence, as if he understood that there was really no other way.

As the large door opened, the figure of a troll approaching from afar was clearly visible. Perhaps because the troll was closer than when seen from above the wooden fence, I was able to see its appearance in detail.

“Mr. … . It looks really disgusting.”

I had only seen trolls in books and such, but their appearance was quite similar to the one described in the book. It had a very disgusting appearance.

Compared to its size, it has eyes that are like eye sockets, and a large mouth that takes up about 1/3 of the face. Even the nostrils the size of a human head hanging on top… … . Just looking at his appearance, he was like a very ugly specimen.

But the reason it was disgusting wasn’t its appearance. The reason it’s disgusting is entirely because of the blisters that burst every time you move. It’s a troll whose entire body is full of large blisters the size of a fist. Every time it moves, the full blisters burst and pus or fluid-like material splatters around the area.

Of course, the blisters were not so useless that some people regarded them as a very valuable medicine. Trolls have tremendous resilience, and it was even said that they were the source of that resilience. Even if the blisters burst, they quickly recover and ooze over again, so it was believed that the blisters were the source of recovery.

Anyway, the troll that looked so disgusting was approaching with one hand near its snout, as if it was eating something. When I looked at what it was eating, I saw that it was eating the carcass of an animal that was presumed to be a wolf.

Thanks to that, it didn’t seem to be rushing towards the village like crazy, so I thought a little more and started to think about how to deal with that troll.

However, even as I was thinking about it, the troll was approaching the village, so I moved the skeleton.

“Hmm… … . First, let’s take a look at the power of trolls.”

In order to check the troll’s strength, they sent the weakest skeleton, the domestic worker skeleton, first. Although the book describes trolls as powerful monsters, I couldn’t tell just how strong they were just by looking at the contents of the book.

Because it was the weakest, it was a bit poorly armed, but it was perfect for measuring its strength.

The domestic worker’s skeleton, armed only with a pair of breastplates strapped to its ribs and a leftover kitchen knife, clattered towards the troll.

No matter how weak it was, a skeleton was a skeleton, so the domestic worker skeleton, which ran faster than a human, quickly closed the distance to the troll’s closest range.

“Cooo!”

The troll that spotted the skeleton running towards me let out a loud scream and swallowed the chewing wolf in one mouthful. Since he has a good appetite to maintain his recovery, he seemed unable to give up eating even in this situation.

Anyway, in an instant, the domestic worker skeleton and the troll encountered each other. And then, the troll struck the skeleton in front of me. He kicked the skeleton with his right leg, as if kicking a ball.

Of course, since it was a skeleton used for domestic work, the skeleton that was not properly strengthened with dark magic was shattered in one blow. The bone fragments of the skeleton kicked by the foot flew through the air.

However, it did not end in a meaningless shattering. Just before it separated into dozens or hundreds of pieces and flew away, the kitchen knife the skeleton was holding was stabbed into the top of the troll’s foot.

According to a book that explained various monsters, trolls’ leather was not that tough for large monsters, and that seemed to be true. Since it was so big that an ordinary kitchen knife could get stuck in it, it could be said to be weak compared to other large monsters.

“Ah, sir!”

However, I was naturally annoyed by the scene that followed. This is because the kitchen knife that was stuck in the troll’s foot was pushed out and fell out. The leather was not tough, but had tremendous resilience, and new skin sprouted to the point where the knife was pushed out.

“The recovery power is really good… … .”

It seemed like a sigh came out from the opponent’s perspective, but that didn’t mean there was no way.

This is because the enormous resilience does not come without a price. Since the troll needed a level of food suitable for its incredible recovery, all it had to do was wound it until it could no longer recover.

In fact, it was introduced in the book as a realistic way to hunt. The body was relatively weak compared to its overwhelming resilience, so they were only targeting that part persistently. It was said that the most realistic method was to attack until there was no recovery, whether inflicting many small wounds or large wounds all at once.

“If it’s okay to beat them until they die… … . It’s worth doing.”

Of course, that method was a very suitable method for me. Unlike humans, they could attack without worrying about getting hurt.

This is because, aside from the fact that there are multiple skeletons, it is possible to restore skeletons if they are not properly destroyed.

Looking at the skeleton that just flew away, the joints that were being replaced with black magic were loosened, but the bones were not damaged. When I applied a little bit of dark magic, I found that the scattered bones were twitching and coming together in one place. The skeletons gathered together stood up with a clattering sound.

The sight of the body rising, with the foot bones touching the ground and the shin bones rising one by one, was quite bizarre. Of course, despite its bizarre appearance, it was extremely reassuring.

It would have been a problem if the bones had been completely shattered, but fortunately, the joints were completely relaxed and the shock was absorbed instead, so there was almost no damage to the bones. The only damage to the bone was a slight crack in the area where it had been hit directly. It was possible to restore that part by investing black magic.

“Chooo!”

However, the skeleton was smashed to pieces again by the troll, who was angry that what he had blown up was rising again.

Anyway, since there seemed to be a possibility of using skeletons to subdue the trolls, I immediately sent all the skeletons. Dozens of skeletons ran toward the troll, making clattering noises and clanging iron weapons.

The troll, who had been paying attention to trampling on the domestic worker skeleton until it made a thumping sound, vented his anger again when he saw the group of skeletons running towards him with quite a bit of noise.

The troll, with blisters bursting all over its body and dripping with fluid, attacked the skeleton that approached it first. Just like the first time, he kicked the skeleton. The skeleton that had been kicked by the swinging foot floated up like a domestic worker skeleton, and its bones were scattered here and there.

However, unlike before, maybe it was because of the armor, but the amount scattered was quite small. It was at the point where the torso and limbs were separated. Therefore, restoration was also quick.

“Kuaaaak!”

And, the moment the troll exploded into anger again at the sight, other nearby skeletons surrounded the troll.

Dozens of skeletons took their positions as if they were surrounding the huge troll and started swinging their weapons. Various types of weapons, including swords and spears, were swung intensively at the troll’s legs.

“Kuuaaak-!”

Of course, the troll, which had an incredible level of recovery, attacked the skeletons even though its legs were bleeding profusely from the attack. The troll had a gash on his leg that was longer than the palm of his hand, but recovered quickly and punched the skeleton in front of him.

However, there were still a lot of skeletons scattered around, and the troll’s legs were becoming more and more like rags. Although he was able to recover quickly thanks to his incredible resilience, the wounds were growing faster.

Moreover, since the Skeleton Mages and I were also planning to join the war, it was clear that the troll’s condition would get worse as time passed.

“Become our colleague… … !”

At first, it was a skeleton mage who mingled among the skeletons and approached the troll. The guy told him to become a friend, then used black magic to create a flame and threw it at the troll’s face.

A black ball of flame blazed and hit the troll’s face, melting it in an instant. Of course, it was recovering in real time due to its resilience, but it was still enough to obscure my vision.

I quickly approached the troll, taking advantage of the opportunity, and cast all kinds of curses on the troll. Starting with the curse that weakens physical strength, they also threw away all the curses of corruption used to create skeletons. Each time the curse hit one by one, the troll’s body was seen sagging.

“Kuuu!”

Since he couldn’t see in front of him and his body became heavy, the troll went crazy and attacked the surrounding area at random. There was a banging sound, and skeletons and dust filled the air.

In the process, some of my skeletons were completely damaged and could no longer be restored. Movements such as striking could loosen the joints and offset the shock, but attacks such as slashing from above completely crushed the bones.

One of the Orc skeletons, which was causing the most damage due to the production of premium products or strong strength, was completely destroyed, and several Goblin skeletons were completely crushed and lying on the floor along with their iron weapons.

However, despite this, the skeletons flocked around the troll and continued their attack. Now I can see more wounds than the troll has fully recovered from. Even the bones were exposed on the part of the leg that received the most attacks.

In such a situation, the troll, which no longer had the muscles to support its huge body, collapsed and fell to its knees. Of course, the skeletons paid no attention and continued to attack steadily. Of course, when I subdue the troll, I plan to use the corpse to make a skeleton, so I didn’t attack the area where the bones were exposed.

The troll’s condition worsened as it targeted the skin and muscles rather than the bones. If the attack was concentrated in one place, the recovery would also be concentrated there, but since the attack was hitting the entire body, the recovery was also dispersed.

“Kuhhh… … !”

In the end, as the entire body had to recover, the stamina that was the driving force for recovering the body was quickly consumed, and the troll’s movements gradually decreased, and it fell to the floor with a thud.

However, if there was even a little bit of recovery left, I could somehow recover, so I didn’t let my guard down at all and pushed the skeletons even further. The skeletons that climbed onto the body of the giant troll attacked by slashing at the troll like miner skeletons digging up iron ore.

The immense resilience made the troll’s life very tenacious. One leg was tattered to the point where the shin bone was clearly visible, and there were dozens of holes in its side caused by spears, but the troll did not die.

Of course, that recovery did nothing to restore the body and only allowed it to breathe. Only blood was flowing freely from the troll’s body, and the wounds showed no signs of recovery.

“Kwaaak!”

However, the troll seemed to not give up until the end, and pointed its large snout towards a nearby skeleton. And then, it chewed up the closest goblin skeleton and ate it.

It felt like a struggle to get more nutrients to recover, but unfortunately, what I was chewing on was a skeleton, so that was impossible. There was no way that eating a skeleton would have any good effect, as it had no vitality and was full of only the energy of death.

In addition to the frantic attacks from the skeletons outside, the troll’s condition deteriorated noticeably due to the swallowed skeletons. The blood gushing out was decreasing, as if it was no longer able to use its recovery strength, and bubbles like crab bubbles were rising from its snout, as if it had swallowed poison.

In the end, the troll, which was continuously attacked by skeletons even in that state, flinched a few times and stopped moving, and its heart, visible through the wound on its side, was also seen to be no longer beating.