“Huff… Huff… Sh-she’s drawn her katana. Is that samurai thinking of fighting?” a different voice asked. Shocked, Oliver looked behind him to find the bespectacled boy from earlier out of breath from chasing after them. The ringlet girl, also having sensed something was amiss, was hot on his heels. She wasted no time stepping in front of the boys.
“Don’t be foolish! We must do something!” she shouted, pointing her athame at the troll. “I’ll draw its attention. You two, use that time to escape! …Tonitrus!”
She chanted a phrase, and the athame in her right hand glowed, unleashing a blinding light from the tip. It shot through the air faster than an arrow and struck the troll directly in the chest, exploding into sparks.
“Grr. Grrr!”
Unfortunately, the great beast seemed unfazed. The ringlet girl’s face distorted into a frown.
“I can’t believe it. A direct hit, and it won’t even glance at me?!”
“Ain’t enough firepower! Let’s help! Flamma!”
“Fl…flamma!”
The tall boy and the bespectacled boy followed up with nearly simultaneous fireballs from their athames. One hit the troll’s shoulder, while the other hit its cheek. Each left a small singe, and each was equally ineffectual. The troll’s gaze remained locked on the Azian girl before it.
“Wait, not even the face worked?” the bespectacled boy said in awe.
“Don’t just stand there. Do something!” the tall boy shouted at Oliver. But Oliver shook his head, his athame still at the ready.
“…It’s no use! We only know basic spells. No matter how many we cast, they’ll be weaker than a mosquito bite to that troll!” Having put the cruel truth into words, Oliver racked his brain for a solution. What should they do? By some miracle, the samurai girl was keeping the troll at bay, but as long as the curly-haired girl couldn’t move, they were both certain to be crushed. To make matters worse, they couldn’t possibly cast enough spells to draw the troll’s attention. One wrong move, and anyone who got close would be mowed down as well. They were powerless. What could they do?
“There’s only one way! I’ll get closer and aim for the eye!” the ringlet girl proclaimed and started forward, but Oliver grabbed her by the shoulder just in time.
“Wait a second. I have an idea. Can you guys use a gust spell?!” The moment the words left his mouth, Oliver’s legs started shaking from the weight of the responsibility he was taking on.
The ringlet girl raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “Of course, but what good can a little breeze do?”
“Alone, nothing. But if we all work together, we’ll have a better chance of defeating this thing,” Oliver replied, trying to hide his cowardice. If they had no means to directly damage the troll, then getting closer without a plan would just make victims of them all. The question was, how could they avoid that and still resolve the situation? Considering all the spells he knew, Oliver could think of only one answer.
“Compress as strong a wind as you can, and when I give the signal, unleash it at a certain spot. I’ll smash them all straight into the troll.”
“You mean… Are you planning on using a focusing spell? I know you’re skilled, but what will that accomplish?”
“If I take the time to explain, those girls will die. Please just follow my lead for this!” Oliver insisted, pointing his athame aloft. The ringlet girl studied him for a few seconds and then, with firm resolve, stood beside him.
“…I can see you’re serious. Very well, I’m at your command!”
“Seriously…?”
“Yikes…!”
The tall boy and the bespectacled boy took their places on either side of Oliver, athames at the ready. Once they were prepared, Oliver waved his wand to signal them.
“““Impetus!”””
The three of them chanted in unison. Wind began to swirl around a point in the air. Once he identified its location, Oliver shouted, “Okay! Whatever happens, don’t stop casting! …Tibia!”
With his spell, he packed the swirling wind into the shape of a giant, invisible instrument. It began to emit a shrill sound, so he waved his wand and set to controlling it. Right now, it was just an annoyance. But if he could alter the flow of the wind, he could change the sound in all sorts of ways.
“What…?”
“…?!”
As the other three listened, the sound reverberating from within the instrument eventually began to change. That shrill, ear-piercing wail was now a low, gut-shaking rumble. A mysterious fear overtook them, and they began to quake. The ringlet girl recognized the sound.
“Is this…a dragon’s roar?!” she exclaimed.
“I’m just using a warning horn spell to imitate the sound! But a dragon’s roar is a dragon’s roar, even if it’s fake! Doesn’t matter how dense you are; you can’t ignore something that tops you on the food chain!” Oliver said, his mind hyperfocused on controlling the sound. In the face of the troll’s overwhelming resilience, the answer he’d found was not a spell’s destructiveness, but its impact. His approach was an attempt to stoke the flight instinct engraved into every demi-human’s brain: Run away from dragons! The troll, fooled into thinking a real dragon was near, jumped and turned to them.
“I’ve got its attention!” Oliver quickly shouted, seeing his plan had succeeded. “All of you, run! I’ll handle the rest!”
He was prepared to play a game of chase with the troll. But he wasn’t ready at all for what happened next: The Azian girl sprang into motion.
“Hup!”
She leaped off the ground, her body twirling high in the air…and landed on the troll’s knee, which was perpetually bent in order to support its great body. She used it as a stepping stone, hopping again and again until she finally kicked off its shoulder and was high in the sky.
“Unngh?!”
Realizing something was amiss, the troll swung its tree trunk–like right arm around. But it whiffed, catching only a bit of the hem of her clothes. Distracted by the joint spell, its giant body was vulnerable for only a moment—and high above its head, the Azian girl brandished her blade.
“Yaaaaaah!”
Putting her whole momentum, weight, and magic into one blow, she struck the crest of the demi-human’s head.
“Gaaah!”
A loud noise reverberated, like a gong being hit by a log. Spasms traveled down the troll’s body as its eyes rolled back in its head. The strength in its legs gone, it slowly sank to its knees before toppling uncontrollably. A few seconds passed. Oliver and the rest watched, too surprised for words.
“Wha…?”
Oliver’s words stumbled in his mouth and vanished before they could become anything coherent. The students stood gobsmacked as the Azian girl landed after delivering the finishing blow.
“Hooo…,” she exhaled.
Oliver’s breath caught in his throat. The girl’s hair was white. Where once it had been a bluish black, it was now tinged an opposite pure white and was bathed in a pale light.