The stone troll roared, its single horn on its forehead sparkled with electricity and it fired a bolt of lightning toward Icarus.
Icarus formed several layers of defensive magic and blocked the bolt of lightning, it cracked through three layers and disappated.
Ingel clenched his sword "Azlat!"
He scorched the air around him and flew toward the troll, with a single slash he cut the beast in two.
They had barely broken a sweat in this battle, but knew there was more to come beyond this point.
Alazea checked them for injuries but found none.
Icarus looked forward, the stone trolls were the only monster in the gorge, however near the village they were not present, meaning this first one was just one of many stone trolls they would have to fight on the way to the end of the gorge.
This was still preferable to the other option of travelling over land, outside the gorge Draconic offshoots reigned supreme.
Wyverns, Drakes, and countless other reptilian monsters had flocked to this place before it had risen above the clouds.
Ingel sighed "even if there is ten or more stone trolls it won't be much of an issue, you should have seen the behemoth that encroached on our territory a couple years back."
Icarus had heard of this creature before, and from what he had heard it was a massive creature, bigger then the dragons when they are transformed, they lived deep in dryest parts of the continent and had a ridiculous affinity for earth magic despite being unintelligent.
Ingel shrugged "well we won't have to worry about strong opponents when we get to the Wyvern fortress, hell the king is probably stronger then me."
Icarus turned to him in Surprise "Huh? How strong are the rest of the Wyverns then?! Do we even have a chance?"
Ingel sighed "the wyverns that posses intelligence are similar to a green dragon, but regular Wyverns are much weaker, the king is a special Exception who has risen to power greater then we have ever seen in a Wyvern."
Icarus nodded, the Wyvern fortress was at the very end of the Gorge, meaning even if they weren't attempting to bring the king with them they would have had to pass through.
He knew he had to get stronger just in case it did come to combat with the Wyvern king.
They had been walking all this time and Icarus sensed something.
"Seems we have to worry more about this later, focus."
From the walls dozens of lights became visible.
Ingel drew his sword and Alazea produced two balls of fire which coated her hands as they morphed into claws.
Dozens of stone trolls leapt down from the walls, crashing into the earth and bellowing war cries.
Icarus formed dozens of balls of compressed fire and aimed into the crowd.
.
.
.
Ingel roared and shot down, he stabbed into the body of a stone troll and a pillar of fire erupted, blowing it apart.
He stood and pulled his sword out of the scorched earth.
Icarus stood, hands on his knees gasping for air.
What had appeared to be a couple dozen trolls had turned into more like a couple hundred.
He had been able to destroy dozens of trolls at first, but as the battle dragged on he became short on mana, he had been forced to dodge attacks rather then block with defensive magics to conserve his mana and still required him to use his flight magic, he was now physically and magically drained, but thankfully the last troll had just been taken care of.
Ingel had been able to destroy the trolls with ease, his fighting style was far more suited to long, drawn-out battles.
Alazea had also partially transformed, and destroyed a solid chunk of the trolls.
Ingel turned to Icarus and smiled "oh my, looks like someone has to work on their mana consumption."
Icarus grunted "I still too out more then you did."
Ingel looked annoyed "you what! If I didn't keep fighting they would have killed you anyway!"
He marched over ready to scuffle with Icarus when Alazea stepped on between them.
"We had better set up camp, in case you didn't notice you both have minor injuries that require healing."
The night had fallen and they both saw this and agreed with Alazeas decision.
She sighed, when she left she wondered how these two would possibly survive.
.
.
.
The only other indigenous species to the gorge were boars, in troll territory they were scarce but they had been able to get some preserved meat back at the village before they left.
They sat around a fire and quietly ate, nobody really interested in talking at this point.
They had finished and were about to head to sleep with one of them staying up to keep watch but a deafening sound broke through the still nigh air and they all rocketed to their feet in anticipation.
They heard the sound of battle, far off, loud cries and moments later, the same sound.
A roar.
Icarus shivered at the thought of what could produce such a sound, but Ingel just sat down looking annoyed.
Icarus turned "what, are you gonna just sleep after that?"
Ingel laughed dryly "yeah, whatever it is it's gonna clear up the Stone trolls ahead for us anyway, might as well wait to see what it is until Tommorow.
Icarus turned to Alazea who also nodded in agreement and he shrugged and begrudgingly went to bed.
.
.
.
The Wyvern king stood atop his fortress, years of work had led to this, he had thought through every threat, every detail to seize power, and he knew what was happening.
Something had entered his territory, his stone trolls that he used as deterrent destroyed by the score, 'was it those bastard dragons?'
He shook his head, it did not matter, it might just be a wandering beast that fell onto the gorge, he would dispatch soldiers Tommorow to destroy anything they found.
And then, perhaps he would pay another visit to the dragons to see h
ow much stronger he had gotten.
He laughed and returned to his room, satisfied with the days plotting.