Chapter 299 - A Distaste for Trolls (Patreon)

Pudge held up his hand, extending one claw over his lip as he gestured for Sasha to remain silent. It was a prudent admonition, given that the porcine girl was practically vibrating with a need for violence.

And Pudge understood it. Indeed, after what they had just seen, even he wanted to spring out from concealment and massacre the troll war party. However, Pudge was well schooled in squashing his instincts; after all, he’d done so from his earliest days as a dire bear. Sure, he only remembered bits and pieces, but it had taken everything he had to overcome his monstrous nature. Back then, he’d clung to the bond between him and Zeke to keep him from descending into savagery.

It was a good thing, too. As a comparatively weak creature, he never could have survived without a firm guiding hand. In the beginning, that temperance had been provided by his mother – though he didn’t really remember much of that – but Zeke’s influence had been far more impactful.

And Pudge leaned on the lessons he’d learned in the Radiant Isles in order to exercise the necessary degree of control. Sasha didn’t have such a crutch; indeed, she’d lived a sheltered life in the Pale Moon territory where she’d never really had to contemplate the horrors so prevalent in the outside world. As such, her feelings were unrestrained, and she’d found it extraordinarily difficult to rein them in.

With slow deliberation, Pudge reached out and gripped Sasha’s shoulder. The muscles beneath her robe were bunched with unrestrained furor, but he hoped he could stop her from doing something stupid. Left to her own devices, she’d have already attacked, likely summoning a firestorm or some other overpowered expression of her magical nature.

Sasha’s skills were strangely open-ended, Pudge had learned. On the surface, they resembled structured skills, but in the few weeks they’d been traveling together, Pudge had discovered that the situation was far more complicated than that. For him – and everyone else he’d seen back in the Radiant Isles – a skill allowed him to channel mana through a rune in order to achieve a very specific result. Lately, he’d discovered that there was some variance there, but the basic premise of a skill couldn’t be changed.

Sasha’s skills seemed to contradict that understanding, but after she’d explained it to him, Pudge had to admit that the result was extremely flexible. The skill simply gave her the foundation of converting mana into a flexible form. At its most basic level, it was almost useless. However, she’d spent much of her life learning to twist the resulting mana into spells that could create devastatingly effective results.

Each of her skills had been taken to support that system, and the end result was that her abilities were largely unconstrained. There were limits, of course – mostly that she’d been forced to take skills that would convert her mana into an attuned form – but it was far more flexible than more structured skills.

The downside of that potential was that it took an incredible amount of time, copious study, and the right combination of stats to get the most out of her capability. Still, during their time together, she’d proven herself an adept combatant, even if she was extremely fragile, and her abilities were slow to bear fruit. Once she got going, though, Sasha’s abilities could prove devastating.

It also required extreme control, which wasn’t likely given the circumstances of the procession before them.

The troll war party was an eclectic group, with various sub-species of troll on display. There were the native swamp trolls, with their mottled green-and-brown scales. The much larger and physically imposing forest trolls, the green of their scales far more vibrant than their smaller cousins’. And then there were the squat, grey scaled mountain trolls, with their heavy shoulders, extremely long arms, and stone armor.

The variance wasn’t limited to sub-species, either. Pudge hadn’t really encountered many trolls in his life, but he’d heard plenty of stories from Zeke. And from what he’d learned, the trolls Zeke had fought in those caves so long ago were almost uniform in size and limited to a couple of types. Aside from age, there were only shamans and warriors – so long as the warlord wasn’t counted. But this war party was different in that each of the creatures trudging along the edge of the swamp were clearly individuals, with all the variety that entailed.

Short, tall, fat, thin, and everything in between – they were different enough from one another that Pudge found it difficult to categorize them as monsters. Their clear sapience, as demonstrated by their use of language and tools, suggested the same. Finally, Sasha had spoken of the trolls as having an established civilization, primitive though it was.

No – these weren’t unthinking monsters. They were people just like any other.

Which made their actions all the more reprehensible.

Pudge watched as the procession dragged a trio of humans, a couple of elves, and five beastkin along behind them. They were all naked, bound by collars and shackles made of black iron, and injured.

It wasn’t the first time Pudge and Sasha had seen the trolls escorting captives along the edge of the swamp. In fact, they’d seen similar scenarios play out a half-dozen times since they’d entered the trolls’ territory. However, this was the first time they had seen beastkin among the captives, and to Sasha, that made all the difference. Even Pudge, who really didn’t feel a connection to others like him, found the situation infuriating in a way he couldn’t explain.

Perhaps it was easier to empathize with the captives now that they were like him.

Or maybe he was just feeding off of Sasha’s rage.

Either way, Pudge had to keep his anger on a tight leash, lest he fling himself at the trolls – which would be suicide, given their numbers and levels. He was used to fighting against long odds, but he wasn’t nearly as impulsive as his soul bound companion. Zeke would have fought. Pudge was certain of it.

But the dire bear knew he wasn’t strong enough to be so reckless.

So, he watched and waited for the procession to pass. All the while, he kept a tight grip on Sasha’s shoulder, lest she take a page out of Zeke’s book and take self-destructive and ill-advised action. Slowly, the parade of trolls passed them by, but Pudge remained motionless for almost an hour after they’d gone. Finally, once he felt sure that they could once again move undetected, Pudge let out a sigh of relief – a sound that came out as a low growl.

Sasha deflated, the state of constant tension having taken its toll in the form of both mental and physical exhaustion.

“We should have attacked,” she muttered, capping the sentence off with a soft snort of derision.

“Too dangerous,” Pudge grunted.

He still wasn’t completely comfortable in his ability to talk; the evolution he’d experienced in the wake of ascension had given him all the necessary equipment, but after spending years mute, it was difficult to put himself in the proper mindset for vocalization. It would come, though. When he reunited with Zeke and the others, he would feel comfortable enough to explore that new facet of communication.

Sasha said, “It feels an awful lot like cowardice. My father –”

“Would not throw his life away,” Pudge interrupted. Indeed, Flick was no coward, but he’d also survived for decades as a scout. No mean feat given that he often ranged to the edges of the Pale Moon territory. No doubt, Flick had even spent his fair share of time in enemy lands.

Sasha snorted, then looked away. “What are we going to do?” she asked. Before he could offer an answer, she continued, “We should follow them. See where they’re taking those people. Maybe we can find out what they’re doing and report back to the –”

“No.”

“W-what?” she asked.

“No. Too dangerous. Too…”

Pudge didn’t know how to put it. He wanted to help, but he refused to allow himself to get sidetracked by something that ultimately had nothing to do with him. As sad as their situation was, those captives were not his responsibility. No – he had his own goals, and he had no wish to risk them going unfulfilled just so he could play the hero.

Zeke had often done that, and it had rarely worked out in his favor. His path to power would have been far smoother if he’d acted with at least a little restraint. Thankfully, he’d adjusted to a new, more practical mindset the longer he’d been in the Radiant Isles. Pudge could support that.

Of course, Pudge agreed that if they could help someone without derailing their own goals, then they should. But there was a fine line between help and heroic – and ultimately pointless – self-sacrifice. Pudge refused to veer into the latter, and not just because of his natural mindset.

Ultimately, Pudge was a monster at heart. The natural order was for the powerful to subdue the weak. And though he’d progressed past that instinct, he hadn’t completely left it behind. It still held sway over him, albeit only in the broadest sense.

But that wasn’t enough to prevent him from acting. There had to be something else, too. In this case, the futility of fighting the trolls was what tipped the scales against trying to rescue the captured people. If there’d been any chance of success, he might have chosen differently.

“Futile,” he finished.

Sasha obviously didn’t like that, because she let out another huffing snort. However, she couldn’t really dispute it, either. There’d been two-dozen trolls in that procession, each one of a level to give even Pudge plenty of difficulty. A few were even powerful enough that he couldn’t guarantee victory. And one, in particular – a mountain troll that was at least as wide as it was tall – was strong enough to kill Pudge with a glancing blow.

He wasn’t certain how he could sense such things – just that he could. Perhaps it was some remnant of his monstrous past, because Sasha had made it clear that she had no such ability. Instead, she was forced to use a skill, much like Pudge’s human companions had. Doing so would give her an accurate gauge of their level, but Pudge knew just how misleading that could be. No – he preferred his method because it seemed to cut right to the core of a creature’s power to give him an exact measure of their strength.

“Let’s go,” he said.

And with that, Pudge pushed himself to his feet. Even months after his ascension, he still found standing on two feet a bit disorienting. He could do it even before his evolution, but that had felt completely different. Just one more change to which he needed to adapt.

“You saw which direction they were going, right?” asked Sasha, adjusting her robes. More than once, he’d admonished her to don her traveling leathers, but she’d stalwartly refused, insisting that the robes were necessary due to having some sort of enchantment that increased her mana conductivity.

“East,” he said, which was a problem because that was the same direction they needed to go. He felt confident in their ability to avoid the patrols – which had grown more frequent the further they’d traveled – but eventually, their path would take them closer to the trolls’ destination. When that happened, they would be forced to ground, which presented another issue.

To the south was a massive lake. Going around would take them weeks, perhaps even months. And to the north was the swamp itself, which was all but impassible, and not just because of the terrain. It was teeming with deadly wildlife and home to more than a few troll villages. So, attempting passage would prove more than a little daunting.

No – if he wanted to continue along and reach Zeke, they needed to keep going east, which would take them closer to wherever the trolls were going.

“We could go around Athekar’s Tears,” Sasha suggested, referring to the lake to the north. Legend said that the lake was not a natural formation, but rather the result of a powerful warrior’s grief. The stories claimed that, in her rage at losing her lover, she’d destroyed an entire city, turning it into an enormous crater that had tapped into an underground river. Pudge had no idea if those stories were true or mere myth, and ultimately, it didn’t matter. The lake represented an obstacle, regardless of its origin. “Or backtrack and take a different route altogether.”

Pudge considered it, but he couldn’t really commit to either option.

Because he could feel that Zeke needed him. Not desperately, but in a more general sense. Without him, Zeke would have died a hundred times over. He was too reckless. Too confident in his own strength. And without Pudge’s influence, Zeke would pick a fight he couldn’t win.

It all came down to Zeke’s personality. He had no issues risking his own safety. In fact, he often reveled in it – or rather, the danger that came from such risks. However, if he had to think about his companions, about how his actions affected them, his most destructive tendencies would be tempered. Never was that more obvious than when he had Pudge by his side.

And while Pudge didn’t think he needed protection as such, he wasn’t going to argue with anything that would make Zeke more cautious. But he couldn’t exert that influence if he wasn’t there, which meant that his journey was a race against time – or rather, against Zeke’s self-destructive tendencies.

“We continue east,” he said. “If we meet more trolls, we will sneak past.”

“Or we could go back and get my father’s help,” Sasha suggested.

“Too long,” Pudge stated. “We keep going.”

Sasha clearly wanted to argue, but he’d made it clear that she had no influence over his decisions. He would tolerate her presence. At times, he could even appreciate the company. However, when it came to their journey, she was just a tag-along. If she didn’t like it, she always had the option to go back.

Of course, that presented a problem all its own. Their travels had already taken them a long way from the Pale Moon territory, and retreating wouldn’t be a short walk through the woods. Instead, Sasha would be forced to trek through monster-infested wilderness without the benefit of having Pudge along. Sasha, for all her capability as a mage, was not equipped for such a journey. Without Pudge, she’d stumble into some monster’s lair and end up as an evening meal.

No one would force Sasha to follow him, but in reality, once they’d crossed a certain threshold, she’d forfeited any choice in the matter.

Finally, Pudge said, “Come.”

Then, without another word, he set off along the edge of the swamp. Predictably, Sasha followed, though not without a few snorts of complaint. Pudge ignored her unsaid protests. He was on a mission to reunite with Zeke, and he wouldn’t be dissuaded by the girl’s dissatisfaction.