Chapter 142 - 141 Attack Of The Trolls

Following behind Baron Jasper Maltan and his two knights, Marcus and the Eternal Queens made their way across town towards the baron's estate.

On their way they could see a number of people that seemed to be quite a bit afraid, most likely due to the troll attacks that had been happening for the last two weeks.

However, many of them when they saw Marcus and the Eternal Queens began whispering to each other, and some of them even had a bit of hope in their eyes.

Of course, the news that a party of powerful adventures had come through was already making the rounds through the town with a population of only around three or four thousand people.

Soon the baron's estate came into view and the large mansion that sat atop a hill overlooking the town could be seen.

Passing through the gates without any obstruction since they were being led by the baron, Marcus and his group walked past the snow-covered garden in the front yard towards the front door.

Standing in the entrance the baron opened the door revealing the relaxing interior of his mansion and soon a troupe of servants arrived.

Each member of Eternal Queens and Marcus were led by a different servant who showed them to their respective rooms.

Entering into his designated room, Marcus could see that it was quite nice and exactly what you would expect from a nobles guest room.

Heading over to the bed, Marcus sat down and took out his recently forged scythe as well as a kit to maintain it.

Going over the scythe and making sure it was in tip top quality, Marcus was anticipating the fight with the trolls since he had not had a good chance to test out his scythe yet since he had been playing mostly support for the Eternal Queens.

After finishing up the slight maintenance on his scythe, Marcus went and found were Bridget was staying.

Opening the door to her room Marcus walked in and seeing her laying on her bed walked over towards her.

"Hey Bridget, can we talk for a moment."

Bridget looking at Marcus got up and said, "Yeah sure what is it Irene."

Marcus then explained to Bridget that he wanted to really test out his scythe, so he was planning on going on the attack instead of his normal role of supporting the party.

Bridget looked at Marcus a bit surprised since she thought of him as more of a spell caster since he had never really gotten into close combat before.

However, this was more because Marcus just did not have a suitable weapon and less of because of his skills.

"Okay Irene, if you want to get into close combat you can, but we really have not practiced any maneuvers with you so it might take a while for all of us to adjust."

Marcus shaking his head said, "No I am actually planning on going wild, and attacking the trolls while you and the others protect the town."

Bridget with a look of concern said, "Irene I know you are strong but do not get ahead of yourself. Trolls are dangerous creatures and even at your level you are not invincible."

Nevertheless, Marcus was adamant about his plan and after telling Bridget that he would run away quickly if he got in trouble she reluctantly agreed.

With that squared away, Marcus went back to his room and shut off his mind getting a bit of sleep.

Waking up a few hours later Marcus could see the sun falling down on the horizon as dusk was beginning to set in.

Getting out of his bed, Marcus found the members of Eternal Queens gathered in the dining room eating a hardy meal before they were going to go out on watch.

Joining them at the table Marcus partook in the food as well, finding it to be quite good.

Once they had finished eating their meal, the baron and his knights came over to them and put a small chest on the table.

The baron opening the chest revealed a large quantity of glittering cold coins.

"Five hundred gold pieces as promised."

However, As the baron pushed the chest over to Bridget, she simply closed the lid and pushed it back while saying, "As nice a gesture that is baron, we do not accept payment until we have finished the job."

The baron dumbstruck by Bridget's words took a few moments before picking the chest back up and storing it within his magic bag.

He then went over towards Marcus and said, "Lady Geist I know that you agreed to help us already but are you sure you want to fight, I am sure that with the assistance of the Eternal Queens we will be fine already."

Sighing Marcus responded to the baron saying, "Irene, if you are going to let me call you Jasper than you can call me Irene. And I already said I would help fight so that is what I will do."

Jasper looking at Marcus began blushing slightly before saying, "Very good, then I suppose we should get going night is already upon us."

Following behind Jasper who was accompanied by his two knights, Marcus getting a bit curious sent his creature appraisal at the three of them.

'Jasper is only level fifteen, while Vincent is level twenty-seven and Xander is level thirty. Both are pretty average for knights neither being anything special. In fact, the members of Eternal Queens are probably each just as strong. I guess we are a ways out here in a small town so even having two knights is the best they can do.'

Once he was finished analyzing the strength of Jasper and his knights, Marcus turned his attention to the wall that they were going to be defending.

Walking onto the top of the wall, the knight Vincent began explain the trolls attack pattern.

"They normally attack along the southern side of the wall most of the time aiming for the gate. A few times they have made their way over towards the eastern or western gate but have never gone towards the northern one. They also have always attacked in a large group so far; they have never split their forces. We have tried our best to get an accurate count of how many there are and to our best estimate it is somewhere between twenty and thirty. The leader of the trolls is quite a bit large than the others and is some type of mutation. We are not certain what level it is but most of the time it has taken both me and Xander working in tandem to drive it away."

Vincent then led them to the southern gate where the trolls normally attacked, and Marcus could see that their were a number of bottles filled with oil or alcohol that had cloth coming out of the tops of them.

'Molotov cocktails. Wow that is not something I expected to see in this world. Though I suppose that they would be pretty effective against trolls who's main weakness is fire and acid.'

Looking around Marcus could also see that there were number of torches lined up along the walls as well as bundles of arrows that had oil-soaked cloths wrapped around them.

Marcus now understood how they had been driving away the troll, but also knew that as soon as the town ran out of incendiary items the trolls would probably overrun them.

'Well, they have done well to hold out for this long, but if the trolls were strong enough to be a threat to me, they would have already destroyed this town.'

Standing atop the wall, Marcus cast his gaze out across the area around the town, scanning the surroundings for any signs of the troll.

However, he was soon interrupted by Baron Jasper who came up next to him and said, "Lady Irene, you need not stand out here in the cold. I have prepared a seat for you just a little ways away that is next to a magic heater."

The baron pointed towards a chair set up on the wall that had a canopy and was situated next to a magical furnace being used a space heater.

Marcus shaking his head said, "As kind as that is Jasper, if the trolls attack the west gate that chair is going to be in the way so it would be best to remove it from the wall."

Jasper realizing his blunder had some of the guards hurriedly remove the chair that he thought would make Marcus more comfortable.

Standing vigil for hours Marcus and the Eternal Queens stood alert waiting for the possible troll attack.

However, the attack seemed to not be coming as the night continued on and soon it was only a few hours from sunrise, when.

"Ring, Ring, Ring."

Everyone was immediately brought to full awareness as the bells from the eastern gate began to sound, signaling that they were being attacked by the trolls.

Cursing since the trolls had attacked a different area, Marcus and the Eternal Queens began running atop the wall heading for the eastern gate.

The two knights not far behind them as Marcus and the Eternal Queens quickly made there way to the eastern gate, and got there just in time to see it struck by a large ball made of snow, ice, and rock.

Looking out over the wall Marcus could see more than two dozen trolls coming out of the woods some of them stopping to hurl projectiles at the wall while others were just charging ahead.

Clicking his tongue Marcus began chanting a spell and when he was done said, "Solar Flare."

At that point the tier three light magic spell shot out of Marcus' hand and into the air before exploding in a bright flash of light that lit up the sky like it was day.

Everyone other than Marcus, including the trolls were dazzled by the bright light for a moment before Marcus shouted out, "The light will last for just ten minutes, use it well and make sure that none of the trolls get past the walls."

At this point Marcus looked at the trolls that were now in full view because he had illuminated the entire battlefield, and jumped off of the wall.

Landing on the ground a cloud of snow flew into the air around Marcus shimmering in the bright light caused by Marcus' spell.

Xander seeing this shouted out saying, "Lady Irene are you crazy get back up here we cannot guarantee your safety if you act so brashly."

However, Marcus was busy pretending to chant spells and did not give Xander any of his attention.

'Lightning strider, iron skin, searing weapon, arms of darkness, legs of light.'

Casting his five enchantment spells, Marcus' body became covered in multiple different types of magic. His legs began glowing with light and lightning, darkness coiled around his arms, his skin became as hard as iron, and his scythe set ablaze.

With his preparation completed Marcus rushed towards the nearest troll that had stopped its charge, still confused as to where the sudden light had come from.

Xander at this point nearly jumped off of the wall to chase after Marcus, but Bridget stopped him and said, "Let he go, Irene is the strongest one here and she will be fine. She knows her limits and if it gets too tough for her, she will retreat."

Xander looked out skeptically back towards Marcus as he was about to engage the first troll.