Emerging from the blind curve, two menacing creatures stood in the party's way.
Alsten's eyes opened wide, his mouth gaped, but no sound came out of it, as though making the faintest noise would turn the monsters on him. And that happening felt like meaning his death. The only thing that prevented the hero from running away was Hetaphar, standing fearlessly between him and the two gigantic beings.
Standing at over three meters tall, the monsters easily beat Hetaphar in height. Shiny, white fur covered their broad bodies, barely hiding the long, powerful arms and deadly, onyx claws. Their legs were relatively short for their body, also covered in fur with the same color scheme. That fur abruptly stopped at their thick necks, giving way to grotesque, hairless heads—a warped fusion of ape and bear features stretched over dark, leathery skin. Their red, split iris eyes stalked them with pure malice. Their spiraling horns were also very capable of impaling their powerless victims. Terrifying fangs were lined crudely in their huge maw, some were sticking out even when it was closed. In the dark landscape, the monsters looked like beast golems, eerily blending with the snow.
Alsten easily concluded that these creatures weren't ones humans were supposed to fight. But then again, he was the hero. And standing by his side were his most trusted allies.
'Then stop shaking, damnit!'
The cold, coupled by the horrible beings in front of them, made Alsten tremble uncontrollably. It was the familiar feeling of fear and helplessness.
All of a sudden, Lana disappeared. To the untrained eye, it would seem so. However, Alsten, for some reason, saw that she used movements so quick and precise that it made her vanish. She leveraged the shadows, the sight angles, and the footing of their environment to stealthily get away from the battle ground. She was a ranged fighter after all.
Then, with a deafening roar, one of the trolls charged towards the group, and the other followed. Hetaphar reciprocated with a mad smile. Holding the massive shield, he ran forward, clashing with the two monstrosities without hesitation or fear.
The wolf moved. Only then did Alsten see how terrifyingly fast Yobu was. With a violent movement, he kicked up a cloud of snow in his wake and disappeared, popping up behind the enemies in the next second. As soon as he stopped moving, suspended in the air in a spinning motion, with a pair of daggers in his hands, rivers of dark blood spilled on the cold ground. Alsten couldn't even see what had happened.
As Yobu landed on his feet, a rain of arrows pierced the monster's thick fur, making them wail in agony. But with Hetaphar keeping them in check, they couldn't do anything.
However, the fight was far from over. With the sudden stimulation, it seemed that the monsters had been forced to push themselves to the limit. One of them swiftly grabbed the shield and then tossed it aside, Hetaphar included. Luckily, they hadn't ascended that high yet, or else the giant wouldn't be cursing, annoyed. Because he would have been dead.
The bad thing was, there was no one standing between the monsters and Alsten anymore. Yobu had already created some distance between himself and the trolls, Lana was nowhere to be found, and Genler had rushed to Hetaphar's side to heal any wounds.
He was now on his own.
The primordial, human fear of things that could easily maul him to deah made Alsten's eyes water. He couldn't stop shaking, he couldn't move as well. His hands gripped the sword tight not to swing it, but because of the desire to hold onto something. He was extremely afraid.
What the hell were these creatures? They were beyond demonic for someone who had never seen a monster before. It seemed like they were designed to plant fear into people's hearts.
The monsters approached closer, not showing any sign of stopping. One of them was heavily wounded by Yobu's attack and was slightly lagging behind the other monster who had suffered a few of Lana's arrows.
Without a doubt, this was a fight or flight situation. Alsten could turn around and run, but as scared as he might be, he knew that he had to fight. A hero should be brave, fearless. Someone who never ran from the challenges but faced them instead. They were watching him.
Alsten pulled the hilt close to his chest, the tip of his sword aimed at the incoming threat. He rotated his torso to the side and spread his feet. Then, with a loud, pathetic cry, he twisted back and thrusted the sword forward, burying the pristine blade into the monster's flesh. The snow troll paused, towering over the shivering hero. Soon, blood gushed heavily from the monster's abdomen where Alsten had just pulled out the greatsword.
The white giant fell to its side, rolling off of the narrow path into the thick snow at the foot the mountains. There, it lay dead.
Before Alsten could process what had just happened, the other troll that had been wounded on the shoulder by Yobu's blades had followed up, charging at the hero. With no time to react, Alsten clumsily swung his sword, missing his target by a great margin. As a result, he was left defenseless, and the troll backhand slapped him, sending the hero flying a dozen meters off the carved path.
The impact hurt like hell. If he wasn't an abnormally tough human, Alsten's lower half would have stayed standing on his original spot while the upper would fly with its insides dangling. Pushing himself up from the thick snow, Alsten spit the blood in his mouth. Luckily, though, no teeth had been detached from his gums.
When he gazed up the mountain where the fighting was, Hetaphar, Genler and Yobu had resumed the battle. Lana was firing arrows from an unknown position.
A few moments later, they had managed to kill the troll quite easily. Lana returned and they all waited for Alsten to come up.
His metal boots resounded against the stone path as he trekked up the mountain. As Alsten met their gaze, the hero suddenly felt afraid. What if his lousy performance had caused them to doubt him? How would have the real Alsten dealt with those monstrosities? He looked away, bracing himself for their feedback. But what he heard made his eyes widen in shock.
"Yeah, that's Alsten, alright," Yobu remarked, chuckling.
"Even with your memories wiped, you're still you," Hetaphar added.
Confused, Alsten glanced at them one by one. Then, Lana jokingly said in a condescending tone:
"Come on, guys. Do you really have to remind him of THAT?"
Yobu began to continue his tracks up the path, stepping on the giant troll's corpse. He then shrugged and said:
"Why not? It's nothing to be ashamed of."
This definitely wasn't the reaction he was expecting. He might have successfully killed the terrifying monster, but the way he did it was a clear display of lameness. Yet, why was the whole group holding back laughter?
Moments later, Hetaphar revealed the reason. There was a hint of admiration in his eyes.
"You've always been easily scared. Back in the kingdom, they called you the Scared Hero."
Alsten blinked, surprised of the information he'd received. The Hero was easily scared? The only human to tame two elements, is as fast as lightning, and can swing a massive sword like it was a stick? That man was easily scared?
"They called you the Scared Hero but never a coward," Hetaphar added. A solemn, inspired smile crossed his face.
"Because no matter how scared you got, you never once backed down. You've never forsaken those who needed to be saved."
As he said that, the group walked in silence, each of the hero's allies wore a unique smile, as though reminiscing their very own moments with him.
Bit by bit, he was learning about the owner of the vessel he chose to be as. Being a hero turned out to be less simple than he'd imagined. After all, Alsten was still just a human.
'The Scared Hero, huh...'
Still, that earned him some of their trust. Perhaps, luck was on his side this time, so his cowardice and ill intentions appeared to be the former hero's old habits. All in all, that worked out for the better. If he could keep learning about the real Alsten, then he could better adapt to him as a person. It took him hours to realize that pretending to be someone else wasn't as easy as it sounded.
That's it. He just had to learn more about Alsten and be more like him. Maybe then, he could suggest giving up about retrieving his memories, and continue their adventure as it was.
That would be perfect. And then, after slaying the demon king, he will rule the world. A world where justice reigns, and fairness is practiced by all.
'Sound's like a plan!'
Some time later, they arrived at the entrance to the cave. It was a gigantic, gaping hole framed in emerald crystal. On the frosted roof of the cave, thousands of menacing icicle spikes hung, threatening to fall at any second. But as horrifying as they looked, the sharp spikes glowed beautifully for some reason, illuminating the cave in a cold shade of white and blue.
The stone path ended. What remained was a path of snow below the rim of crystal cave, leading to the colder, deeper parts of the Troll King's abode. Giving each other reassuring nods, the hero's party stepped into the depths of the ancient monster's lair.
It was an eerily quiet walk. The cave had no turns or split paths, leading them directly to the enormous hollow hidden inside the massive mountain. More, larger, icicle spikes hung on the crystalline roof, illuminating the cave like thousands of giant chandeliers. On the ice walls of the hollowed mountain were holes, each leading to an unknown chamber or an exit. Some may lead to deeper parts of the cave. Then, below was an enormous cliff with a frozen surface for a floor.
What was in there terrified Alsten's guts. In that spacious hall, hundreds of thousands of those Snow Trolls kneeled. The monstrous army faced a single direction. In the farther side of the cave hall, frozen in a mountain of thick, azure crystal, was simply the most collosal abomination he'd ever seen. Such a creature didn't even cross his worst nightmare.
Towering over the army of giant trolls, the Troll King looked like a frozen mountain of white furred demon, sleeping until the fateful day of his awakening when he lay havoc.
"That's the target," Lana stated, her eyes screamed of courage and determination.
The others also acted like this was just another day on the job for them. Maybe because it really was.
'Being a hero is not easy.'
Moreover, the scene looked so tranquil yet terrifying at the same time. The lights from above shining on the silent creatures worshiping their king in the enormous cave, it looked akin to an actual kingdom, where the king's followers gather in the throne room.
The fearsome monster army looked unstoppable by themselves. What more if the collosal abomination completely unfreezes? They really had to stop this madness as soon as possible.
How they were gonna do it was a question Alsten couldn't answer.
Then, suddenly, from the layer of ice where they stood, a disturbingly loud crack reverberated in the silent hall. Alsten's eyes widened, and for the first time, he saw a similar sense of panic on his comrades' faces.
'We're screwed, aren't we?'
The noise was enough to draw the terrible army's attention. And as if that wasn't enough, the ice platform completely broke down, sending the group into a free fall straight toward the army of white giants. Except for Hetaphar who stood far enough from the edge.
They screamed, and then fell on the hard ice floor. Alsten suffered no injury. Genler, Lana and Yobu, however, were in no condition to move and get up.
Thousands of bloodshot eyes stared at them in silence, as though confused about the sheer stupidity they were witnessing.
Alsten pushed himself up. His comrades were groaning in agony behind him.
He gripped his greatsword and stood in front of the army of hungry beasts.