CHAPTER 48: | THE MINIATURE WORLD OF THE FIRST SEGMENT | 4
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SPLASH! SPLASH!
Rushed footsteps slapped against the swamp water, each splash echoing, as one could have heard the ragged, desperate breathing of a young troll.
The trolls froze, their rough activities ceasing as the frantic voice of their youngest echoed through the humid air.
"Everyone! Draconians are invading us!"
The trolls exchanged dubious glances, their eyes narrowing on the frantic youngster.
An older troll finally spoke, his voice rumbling with skepticism.
"Tim, draconians are nothing but legends, whispers passed down through history, they're extinct!"
A hulking, gaunt-muscled troll let out a derisive snort, his gaze sweeping over Tim with pitying contempt.
"It seems that Tim is daydreaming again, bwahahahaha!"
A wave of cruel laughter rippled through the trolls at Tim's desperate words.
But for Tim, the horrifying image of his best friend, his partner, being devoured alive by a Draconian, replayed in his mind, vivid and sickening.
He remembered every gruesome detail, and a raw, guttural shout of anger tore from his throat.
"SHUT UP! You ignorant fools! Cit died being eaten alive by the Draconian! I witnessed it, that being with lizard-like visage, with slit eyes and horns crowning its head!"
Tim trembled, clutching his arms around himself as if to hold his very fear within, when a massive, calloused hand clamped down on his shoulder.
"Tim, tell us... is it really true that a draconian has appeared?"
The other trolls' expressions tightened, a chilling understanding dawning as they grasped the true gravity of the situation etched onto Tim's contorted face.
The trolls' minds raced, recalling the chilling legends of the Draconians, how cruel those noble creatures were, with ancient dragon blood scorching their veins.
"If-if Tim truly saw a Draconian, then... we-we're doomed..."
The facial expressions of the trolls darkened.
A single Draconian was equivalent to three Titans.
And a tribe of draconians?
That was a threat more devastating than a lone dragon.
Every troll gathered swallowed hard, their fear a palpable thing, as the chieftain's solemn face spoke volumes about the dire severity of their situation.
Chris, the chieftain of the trolls, asked, his voice heavy with a grim foreboding.
"Tim, tell us... how many Draconians did you see?"
Tim swallowed, the image of the pale, white nightmare he'd witnessed flashing behind his eyes, as he slowly raised a trembling finger.
"One Draconian."
The entire tribe collectively heaved a sigh of relief, their shoulders slumping from the crushing weight of dread.
Then, smiles bloomed on their rough faces, quickly blossoming into boisterous cheers.
"Hahaha, what's there to fear if it's only a single lizard?!"
A single troll let out a triumphant roar, and the others, their fear forgotten, joined in with wild, relieved cheers.
SPLRTCH!
A sickening sound abruptly drowned the triumphant shouts.
Blood rained from the sky, a hot, viscous downpour that splattered across faces, soaked into fur, and turned the swamp water a gruesome crimson.
Every troll's gaze snapped to where Tim had stood.
Their collective cheer died in their throats, twisting into a choked gasp of horror as Tim's body, cleanly severed in two, plummeted from the air, striking the ground with a wet thud.
"Quantum Displacement."
ZSHHH!
My form became a sickening blur of motion.
Claws, sharpened by an unseen hunger, tore through the troll's flesh like butter, unleashing a geyser of fiery blood that painted the swamp air.
SHRRRIP! SKRRTCH!
The chieftain regained his composure, his voice roared.
"Enemies atta..."
THMP!
Before he could even finish the word, Chris's vision blurred, and he saw his own still-beating heart clutched in the Draconian's scaled hand.
SPLAAKT!
The Draconian's lips peeled back in a chilling, devilish smile, and with a casual, devastating sweep of its claws, it struck.
THUD!
The chieftain crumpled, his head rolling with a sickening thud onto the muddy ground.
The remaining trolls roared, a collective tide of grief and pure, unadulterated fury, thrusting their crude weapons towards the monster.
"You damned bastard!"
"Die!"
"How dare you kill the chieftain!"
Their shouts echoed, a cacophony of desperate rage, their weapons inches away from me.
Their intent was visible and readable as 'Gaze of the Fallen Omniscient' tracked all of their movements.
CLANG! CRASH! THWAK!
My lips parted.
"Quantum Displacement."
ZSHHH!
Their spears, swords, and clubs clashed together, the air ringing with their frustrated blows, as their target, the Draconian, vanished like a malevolent ghost.
Then, explosions of blood erupted everywhere.
The Draconian reappeared, like a phantom of death, tearing through the old and young alike with a chilling delight.
The swamp troll warriors, witnessing this fresh horror, screamed with renewed, desperate fury.
"You damned bastard, stop!"
"Charge!"
"Kill that madman!"
Their shouts echoed, a futile protest against the swift, brutal efficiency of the slaughter.
In a matter of seconds, every old and young troll lay massacred, their lives snuffed out.
As they watched the unfolding horror, unspeakable darkness etched their expressions.
Some watched their daughters, their wives, butchered before their very eyes, their bodies torn asunder.
Others saw their brothers, their sisters, dying in front of them, their lifeblood staining the swamp a deeper, horrifying red.
A grizzled elder, whose daughter had just been cleaved in two, emitted a sound like a wounded animal, a keening sob that twisted into a raw, guttural curse.
"MY DAUGHTER! AHHHHHHHH!"
Some trolls collapsed to their knees on the sodden ground, their voices cracking as they screamed curses at the indifferent heavens.
"WHY! WHY DO YOU PUNISH US! OH GOD OF THE FOREST, ANSWER ME!"
"HEAVENS! I BELIEVED IN YOU, SO WHY! WHY DID YOU SEND THIS DEVIL TO TAKE MY EVERYTHING!"
"YOU BASTARD! GIVE ME BACK MY MOTHER!"
Their screams of anguish reverberated through the forest, a cacophony of despair.
But the only response they received?
CHOMP! CRACK! SLURK!
Was the sickening sound of flesh tearing apart, bones crushing, as the Draconian devoured them.
It muttered in a language they couldn't understand, a guttural rasp that sounded like mocking laughter.
"Pathetic fools! Who couldn't even protect anything! Give up!"
Their resentment towards this draconian reached its furious zenith, a boiling hatred that seemed to make blood flow from the remaining trolls' eyes, not tears, but blood.
The trolls' best ranger, Zaug, her face a mask of cold, unyielding vengeance, aimed her bow at the Draconian as it tore into her child.
Her voice was a raw whisper, barely audible.
"Spirit arrow!"
FWOOOOOM!
A blinding flash of light erupted as an arrow, forged of pure, blazing mana, hurtled towards the Draconian.
BOOM!
The arrow exploded with a concussive force, and for a fleeting moment, blood seemed to rain down from the sky.
Zaug's face brightened with a flicker of grim triumph, believing she had finally avenged her child.
But as the smoke of blood and debris cleared in a matter of heart-stopping seconds, Zaug's face blanched to a ghostly white.
Her arm lifted, a trembling finger pointing at the unspeakable horror.
Her voice was a mere whisper, fainter than a mosquito's hum, utterly devoid of hope.
"Nooooo, my child... it can't be..."
Zaug collapsed to the ground, her spirit broken.
What she witnessed was the grotesque, mangled body of her own child, used as a shield to block her desperate attack.
The remaining trolls charged, fueled by a renewed, suicidal fury.
Some shot a desperate barrage of arrows, while others swept their crude weapons in wide arcs.
But they've only received a whisper.
"Cataclysmic Inferno Breath."
VMMMMMMM...
Then, a sphere of compressed, molten magma, glowing with an infernal heat, hurtled towards them.
Their forms seemed to distort, their outlines blurring as an unbearable light flashed.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The sphere of molten magma exploded with a deafening explosion, echoing violently through the swamp.
The sound of flesh ripping apart, bones shattering, followed immediately.
The blast instantly engulfed all the trolls within hundreds of meters, who died in a matter of seconds, their screams swallowed by the inferno.
The entire village, the trolls' generations-old settlement, was utterly annihilated in less than an hour, without them putting up a single meaningful fight.
It was a one-sided massacre, the Draconian moving through the carnage, casually gulping down the charred remnants of the trolls.
The metallic scent of fresh and burnt blood hung thick in the air, mingling with the acrid smoke from the burning troll cottages, as I stretched my limbs, feeling the satisfying give of my muscles.
"What a letdown... I'd expected these creatures to give me a decent fight, but what a disappointment that they're so dramatic about everything."
A holographic interface shimmered before me, displaying my victory, as I leisurely wiped the last traces of gore from my scales.
The cold, murky currents of the swamp oozed around my feet as I stepped into the still-smoldering ruins of the troll cottages, searching for any clue that might lead me to the next segment.