Chapter 192: Duel
Percy cracked a smile at the absurdity of the idea. Everyone on Remior wanted to get their hands on the secret behind the Aurora Dew. The thought of sharing it with a tribe of trolls in the middle of nowhere was as rebellious as it was hilarious.
‘But I’m not going to do that.’
He’d worked so hard for this head-start. Risked so much. This was a gamble he couldn’t afford to take. What if somebody stumbled upon this place at some point? Perhaps House Tantalus would conduct an investigation here after the war was over. Or the Divine Root might pass through the Grisly Bog while searching for him. Or, maybe, the townsfolk would delve deeper into the swamp, looking for resources.
Yet, it seemed Percy was just overthinking things.
Seeing his confusion, the troll king grunted, breaking him out of his thoughts. He pointed at Percy’s bag, before gesturing at the mushrooms on his own body. Finally, he slammed his chest with vigour, stomping his feet in the mud, clearing Percy’s misunderstanding. Apparently, it wasn’t a trade the creature had in mind.
“You want to fight for it? Winner takes all?” Percy asked.
The troll king nodded, seemingly understanding the question. Next, he drew a tremendous amount of mana out of his sternum, emptying his core completely. Then, he pulled everything to his hand, as Percy recognized the channels indicative of an earth affinity. A bright flash of brown lit the place up, before condensing into a construct.
A colossal chunk of rock formed – taller than a person – suspended in the air between them. Cracking and crunching sounds emerged as the oversized shard of stone collapsed upon itself, its size shrinking rapidly. But not evenly. Its top end narrowed more than the rest, soon turning into a hilt just thin enough to fit in the troll king’s grasp.
Next, whatever force was holding the construct airborne vanished. The club hit the ground with a deafening boom, the splashing mud doing very little to soften the impact. A shower of stinking dirt drenched Percy and Nesha as a tremor reverberated through the Trollsden.