Back to the front lines of the party. Quinus, Sir George, and the Black Rose Merc were taking on the main wave of the Hobgoblins, cutting them down as quickly as they could. The rest of the party was helping hold the back line of the party.
"There's no end to them!" Sir George yelled out, looking around at the swarm of Hobgoblins that surrounded them.
"Don't worry, George! We'll crush them all! We have to!" Quinus demanded as he cut off the head of his unfortunate enemy in front of him.
*Smash!*
The Black Rose Merc used his war hammer to crush the body of a Hobgoblin.
"Why aren't you using your fire from your enchanted sword!?" asked the Merc. Who was sweating profusely and was starting to get tired from the nonstop fighting.
"I will use 'flame smite' when I see the cave troll! Until then, we hold our ground!" Quinus replied as the two of them continued to take down the horde of Hobgoblins, one after another.
"Tsk! Where is that, troll? It slaughtered my men like they were nothing but insects!" The Merc grunted in annoyance as he knocked a couple of Hobgoblins away from him when he swung his hammer horizontally.
All of a sudden, the room vibrated with the sound of heavy footsteps approaching the party from the hallway. The Hobgoblins all seemed to look in the same direction at once, almost in sync with each other.
"You had to open your damn mouth!" Sir George yelled in annoyance.
*Boom! Boom!*
It almost felt like an elephant was stampeding towards them as the footsteps grew louder. The vibrations shook the very ground they stood on, and the rumbling sound grew to a deafening roar.
*Boom!*
Then it arrived.
Down the hallway, past the broken doors, was a big hulking beast that was about eleven feet tall with gray skin. It smashed through the corner of a wall, causing the ceiling to collapse a bit, but it didn't slow down the humanoid-looking monster. It has the torso of a man with a head the shape of a large boulder, a pair of beady black eyes, and a snout. It was naked except for a loincloth covering its "private bits" and wielded a massive iron club. And riding on top of its shoulders was a Hobgoblin who wore a crude crown sitting atop its head. If Rya saw this Hobgoblin, she would recognize it as the "Hobgoblin King" that got its junk crushed by her when it tried to rape her, one day ago, before she fell into the labyrinth.
*Grumble! Grumble!*
The Cave troll lumbered towards the party and the remaining Hobgoblins.
"Everyone! Stay in formation!" Quinus ordered.
"USE YOUR ENCHANTED SWORD NOW! DAMMIT!" Ordered the Merc.
"WATCH YOUR TONGUE, MERC!" Sir George yelled at the Merc.
The Cave Troll's eyes had a rage within them as the beast started to charge toward Quinus.
Quinus prepared to use the Sun's Fury against the Cave Troll. He started channeling his mana into the sword, which began to glow red like a fire. "LET THE SUN SMITE THEE WHO HARM US!" Quinus commanded.
A bright light shot out of the sword, and he swung it in their direction. Engulfing the horde of Hobgoblins and the Cave Troll in flames.
The Hobgoblins were turning into ash, but the Cave Troll kept running towards them with the Hobgoblin King still on its back as it used its shield to block the flames. Luckily, it dropped its iron club as it was too hot to hold.
"YOU ARE TOO LATE, HUMANS!" the Hobgoblin King roared as its Cave Troll approached the Prince. The troll's gray skin was covered in flames as the beast continued running through the hall of flames.
"MY LORD!" Sir George pushed Quinus out of the way of the charging troll to protect him. At the same time, the Black Rose Merc was knocked away when the troll bumped into him. He was sent sliding across the floor and stopped when he hit the wall about fifteen feet away.
Now that the troll was no longer in the hallway of flames, its skin started to heal itself as it turned to look at Quinus and Sir George, who were both getting back onto their feet.
"AH! YOU TWO ARE DEAD! NOW!" The Hob King said with a smile full of malice. The Troll came over to smash both Quinus and George.
Quinus was still exhausted and recovering from using his mana. But he recovered enough stamina before he stood his ground against the approaching troll.
The troll then raised its right fist in the air and swung it down at Quinus with a massive amount of force, which would've made a three-foot crater upon impacting the floor. Quinus wasn't strong enough to stop the force behind the punch. Things were looking grim for the Prince.
***
"QUIN!" Percy yelled out as he saw his friend was going to get crushed by the hulking monster.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Sir George roared as he swung his sword at the troll, but it quickly used its arm to block Sir George's attack. Then the troll swiped its arm at the knight and bashed him in his shield, which forced George's arm into his torso, launching him across the throne room until he impacted the wall. This caused Sir George to cough up blood before he collapsed onto the floor.
"NOOO!" Yelled Quinus, as he witnessed the destruction of his friend.
'CRAP! That thing took down George! I need to help Quin!' Rya thought as she ran towards Quinus, who was twenty-five feet away from her location in the room.
Quinus saw the troll coming in for another attack, and it was too fast to run away. So, all he could do was raise his sword and try to block or parry the attack, as best as he could. The hulking beast roared as it launched its fist with all its might at its target.
Just as the troll's fist was about to come in contact with Quinus' sword, the beast felt a pain shooting right through its forearm while the momentum from its moving fist came to a crashing halt. To the troll's surprise, it saw an obsidian spike piercing through its forearm. It formed out of nowhere from the floor. This earth spike appeared in front of Quin as the beast's fist was about to smash him, but its wrist was stabbed, halting its attack.
*Thud!*
"HHHHHAAAAAAARRRRRRHHH!!!!!" Yelled the cave troll as the earth spike created by Rya impaled its forearm.
"Huh!? RYA!?" Quinus exclaimed, looking past the troll and saw the beautiful Dark Elf running towards him with her azure eyes glowing brightly from her mana.
It didn't take long for the troll to shake off its surprise. The beast used its other hand to grab its other wrist and pulled on it as the beast tried to free itself from the obsidian spike. Quinus knew he needed to act quickly before the troll freed itself. So, he charged his sword with his mana and used a different Maja skill. The blade began to look like electricity was arcing off its edge. Once he had enough mana channeled into the sword, he swung it at the troll's wrist.
"THUNDER SMITE!" Quinus yelled out. A powerful bolt of lightning shot out from his sword and struck the troll's wrist.
*ZRRAAPP!*
*THUMP!*
The troll unexpectedly stumbled backward when its left hand was cut off by Quinus and was no longer being felt by the earth spike, which was pinning it. The beast falls onto its butt, causing the whole room to shake and tremble. At the same time, the Hobgoblin King was almost knocked off his mount. The Hobgoblin King was not amused by his ride losing its hand, thanks to the dark elf.
"HUMANS!? NO! YOU FEMALE ELF WILL DIE!" the Hobgoblin King yelled as he swung his staff in the direction of Rya, who was just standing about 15 feet away. The troll took the hint and turned its anger toward her while its left arm healed into a stump.
"Alpha!" Dalia yelled in response when she saw Rya getting charged at by the hulking beast, but she and Percy were still engaged with the last remnants of the horde to aid her.
'YOU'RE FUCKING KIDDING ME!?... It's the bastard who tried to RAPE ME! I'm ready for you, you piece of shit!' Rya thought while watching the Hobgoblin King commanding his troll to charge her.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Rya yelled as she spun her arms around, like a martial artist. A gust of wind surrounded her as she summoned her mana. Then she stopped, with her arms crossed, pointing her hands in the direction of the troll, creating a new wall in front of her. She was trying to block the charging troll with the obsidian wall.
"Rya! Watch out!" Quinus yelled out while chasing after the troll. He was desperately trying to catch up to the Hobgoblin King. He needed to stop them from attacking Rya.
While Quinus was hot on their trail, the troll smashed itself through Rya's wall before punching down with its right fist. The shockwave of Rya's wall getting destroyed knocked her on her back. Luckily, she avoided the troll's fist by chance just as its attack made a crater in the ground where Rya used to be standing. Sending rocks and dirt flying in the air. But she was stunned for a moment by the blow.
"WHOA!" Rya exclaimed as she fell on her back.
"No!" Quinus shouted out as he closed in on the troll. As he came to her aid, Rya was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling of the throne room. She was in shock, not knowing what to do.
The troll quickly brought its right fist back up to slam down again on Rya, who was vulnerable. It wanted to kill her and get revenge on what she had done to it earlier.
'I'm going to die, ain't I!?' Rya thought as she was looking at the ceiling. She could sense the shadow of the hulking beast standing above her. The troll was about to strike her when she suddenly felt her right hand being grabbed and pulled quickly.
"Hey! Let me go!" Rya was yelling as she thought it was the Hobgoblin, but she was being held by Quinus, who was holding her tight as he moved them out of the way as quickly as possible. "QUIN!?" Rya said in surprise.
*Smash!*
Dust flew everywhere as Rya and Quin dodged the attack from the cave troll. Quin made it just in the nick of time, but cracks started to form on the floor after taking another impact from the beast's fist.
'Quin saved me! I've never been so happy to be this close to a man,' Rya thought when she looked at the man who saved her. She didn't realize that her heart was racing because she was hugging him. If she had time to process it, she would have felt a rush of heat coming over her face.
Quinus held her protectively in his arms. "You okay?" he asked her.
"Yeah," Rya responded, but they were interrupted by the roaring Hobgoblin King.
"AHHH, COME OUT, FIGHT!" The Hobgoblin King roared as he was having trouble finding them in the dust cloud.
That's when the Black Rose Merc made his move. He channeled his mana into his glowing war hammer and held it high above his head, before yelling, "DEEP IMPACT!"
He swung his hammer, smashing it into the ground. He was about fifteen feet away from Rya, Quinus, and the Hobgoblin King, who was riding his cave troll.
*SMASH!*
The impact from his hammer caused the cracks in the floor to break apart and crumble under the pressure, and it was headed straight for the cave troll.
*Crack! Crack!*
The floor started to give out and fall apart. The troll and the Hobgoblin King were caught off guard and couldn't react in time. The cracks formed a small circle and began to spread toward the beast's feet. The beast was not ready for the floor beneath it to collapse.
*CRASH!*
The cave troll fell into the hole. Rya and Quinus weren't lucky either as the cracks reached their feet. Rya and Quin were falling in with the troll, down to the floor below.
'God, fucking dammit!' Rya thought as they fell through the floor with Quinus holding her.