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TWL Chapter 297: Troll Soup vs. Witcher Steel
🕑 Added 2025-01-27 23:34:45 +0000 UTCFollowing the Ice Giant's tracks, an abandoned mine soon appeared before them.
The mine was huge and deep. Pinewood frames reinforced with thick hemp ropes supported the roof and side walls. Rusty pickaxes and mineral residues were scattered around, along with broken and worn bone fragments found here and there.
The terrain was complex, a veritable labyrinth of tunnels reminiscent of a spider's web. Every few steps, torches wrapped in oily cloth hung on the rock walls. Surprisingly, after so many years, they could still be lit.
With the Igni Sign, Coen and Geralt lit the torches one by one.
The tunnel was not completely closed, and from time to time cold drafts could be felt coming from a distant exit. Soon, the path opened, and the light coming from a light source much more intense than the torches illuminated their surroundings.
At the same time, a harsh voice could be heard coming from the place where the light emanated.
"Meat, meat!" sang a deep voice to the rhythm of heavy footsteps. "Soup, soup!"
Before them appeared a figure about eight feet tall. His broad shoulders exceeded his own height in proportion, and his belly was as rounded as that of a pregnant woman. His back was covered by what looked like a shell similar to that of a turtle, giving him a hunched posture.
It was an ice troll.
Compared to the rock trolls Lann had encountered at Kaer Morhen, the ice trolls had much paler, almost blueish skin. Their rocky surfaces were covered in ice shards that gave off an icy chill. In contrast to the rock trolls, which could be clumsy and even friendly, the ice trolls were much more ferocious.
There were five of them. They were gathered around a huge forge that they had turned into a giant pot. A fire crackled beneath the vessel as something cooked inside.
The contents of the pot were so full that the lid could barely be placed on, so as the water boiled, chunks of meat splashed out. Every time a piece of meat shot out, one of the excited ice trolls would rush to catch it and pop it into its mouth.
"Little humans! Little humans!" they chanted incessantly. "Meat soup! Meat soup!"
As they were jumping and singing, one of the trolls, whose head was considerably larger than the others, suddenly stopped. An unusually melancholy expression appeared on his face.
"Little humans... meat soup... could we not give it to the big guy?" he said in a hesitant voice.
As soon as he said this, the other trolls stopped jumping. Their faces took on a collective expression of sadness.
The ice troll that seemed to be the leader hit the big-headed ice troll hard on the head.
"Little humans! The big guy gives them to us!" he scolded in a low voice. "They're not for ice trolls! You can only have soup, not meat!"
It seemed that the ice trolls had deliberately forgotten that they had no control over the food they cooked. But now, remembering this, they circled around the oven, eagerly watching the soup simmer, waiting for some more chunks of meat to pop out.
The place where they lived was a key point in the complex labyrinth of the mine, connected by five tunnels. At that moment, one of the ice trolls sniffed the air sharply, turning sharply towards the widest tunnel.
"It smells weird! Little humans! More little humans!"
Their eyes began to glow menacingly, their gaze filled with hunger.
"Ice trolls will catch little humans! Meat for meat soup!"
First two witchers emerged from the tunnel. Then soldiers from the Tuirseach clan in full armor. Then more witchers with double swords, followed by more soldiers.
The number kept increasing.
The ice trolls' expressions changed from joy and excitement to confusion, then to alarm, and finally to a mix of panic and uncertainty.
Lann and Eist stared at the ice trolls and the boiling iron pot behind them without expression. They had heard every word the trolls had said.
A strange, pungent smell emanated from the contents of the pot. The ingredients combined to produce a peculiar aroma, a mixture of delicate fragrance and a stench reminiscent of dirty socks. The combination was nauseating.
Suddenly, a piece of meat shot out of the pot, hitting one of the trolls on the head. With surprising agility, the troll caught the piece without even looking and put it in his mouth.
Lann's face darkened as he recognized the piece: it was a toe.
The soldiers of the Tuirseach clan, having barely emerged from the narrow passage, deployed in formation in the large room of the cave.
Seeing the Ice Troll's actions, Eist could no longer contain himself and roared in a loud voice: "Fire the arrows!"
The five ice trolls, hearing Eist's command, reacted immediately. Like hedgehogs, they curled up into a ball. However, instead of being covered in spikes, their bodies were covered in ice and solid rock.
The sharp-tipped arrows crashed against the thick armor of ice and rock, causing flashes from the friction and leaving only a few scratches.
Milva strained her imposing longbow. With a thud, she shot an arrow at astonishing speed.
The arrow embedded itself in the layer of rock covering the troll's skin, the impact was so strong that the shaft broke into pieces. Although the troll's body trembled slightly, it did not emit any cry of pain. Evidently, it had not penetrated far enough to reach the flesh.
Milva clicked her tongue and drew her bow again, trying to aim for the cracks between the ice and rocks on the troll's back to deal some real damage.
Although the ice trolls had slow minds, as predators at the top of the food chain, their instincts were quick. Faced with the threat posed by so many human soldiers, the hunger that drove them was overshadowed by a strong sense of danger.
So they made the most instinctive and direct decision: run away!
Maintaining their rolling rock form, they began to spin and move. There were several exits in the hall that connected to tunnels, so the trolls scattered in different directions, each seeking to escape.
Their movements, though described in words, might seem ridiculous. But facing them face to face was another story. These enormous masses of rock, taller than a man, rolled at a speed similar to that of a war chariot, and the force they pulled was not something that humans could easily stop.
The soldiers spread out strategically. Archers kept firing arrows while soldiers with shields blocked the tunnels to prevent the trolls from escaping. Facing the trolls' imposing advance, they felt that these creatures could break down even the gates of a fortress.
But they did not retreat. The soldiers drove the tips of their long shields into the rocky ground, forming a human wall to stop the trolls' advance.
Just as they were preparing to withstand the impact, a large magic circle of violet light unfolded in the cave hall.
The magic that slowed their movements clung to the trolls' bodies, and within seconds, their progress became clumsy and ponderous. Then, beams of light struck the rolling trolls, abruptly diverting their trajectory and crashing them into the rock walls.
[Yrden Sign - Magic Trap]!
"Ugh...!" Two of the trolls, disoriented, slightly opened their rock shell.
The archers seized the opportunity. Arrows flew in swarms, piercing the darkness and embedding themselves in the two trolls.
The trolls' screams echoed through the cave, echoing their agony. The remaining trolls shrank further into their shells, trying to resist the damage.
Geralt and Coen confronted one of them. Coen used the Igni Sign, throwing out constant flames to scorch the ice troll. Meanwhile, Geralt's left hand began to glow with a faint white glow, ready to strike the moment the troll could no longer bear the heat and reared its head.
Kolgrim and Gerd were busy with another. Kolgrim had produced an alchemy flask filled with poison and was carefully pouring it into the cracks in the troll's body, from which dangerous clouds of green smoke were emerging. For his part, Gerd had activated the Quen Sign to protect himself, while using his brute strength to immobilize the troll, preventing it from leaving its coiled position.
Lann, on the other hand, was facing the third troll. He held the sword Aerondight above his head, which shone with a golden glow that illuminated the cave like a solar torch. He prepared to attack, slowly gathering energy.
A few moments later.
With a piercing howl, the troll surrounded by Gerd and Kolgrim was the first to succumb. The poison had eaten away at its body from within, causing it to shake violently. But even as the troll tried to expand to break free, Gerd held it firmly pinned. Only when it felt no resistance did he release it, letting the troll's body collapse lifelessly onto the ground.
Next, the troll confronted by Geralt and Coen fell. Under the intense flames that scorched him, the troll roared and swung his fists in a desperate attempt to defend himself. However, both witchers skilfully dodged his attacks. Geralt then activated the Axii Sign, penetrating the troll's mind and completely disorienting him. With that moment of advantage, the two silver swords simultaneously pierced his chest and neck.
At the same time, the sword Aerondight in Lann's hands shone more and more brightly, illuminating the cave as if sunlight had infiltrated the place.
The runes on the sword reached their maximum brightness. Everyone present blinked, momentarily blinded by the flash.
When they regained their vision, what they saw left them astonished: the troll, whose hardness could be compared to the walls of a castle, had been cut cleanly in two. The inner surface of its body, filled with repulsive flesh and blood, was exposed like the filling of a broken cake.
The sword marks extended beyond the troll: the frozen ground and rock wall several steps away had also been pierced by the impact, as if an invisible giant had helped Lann with that cut.
