There were, roughly speaking, three kinds of magic: black magic, white magic, and shamanistic magic, the latter of which comprised both elemental and spiritual spells. Black magic was definitely my specialty, but don’t go getting the wrong idea; there were basically two main types of black magic, too. One was curses. The other was attack spells that didn’t fall under the purview of shamanistic magic—and that was my forte.
The “Fireball” spell Gourry had mentioned was an elemental fire spell, which meant it fell under shamanistic magic. Most people assumed all offensive spells were black magic, but that was a popular misconception.
“You think a sorcerer would reveal her secrets so easily?”
“Well, you just seem like the type who likes to talk about herself...”
Excuse me!
“Well, no matter. I’ll get to see you in action soon enough.”
I was about to ask what made him think that, but before I got the chance, someone barged into the tavern.
“That’s her!”
I looked to see who was shouting, and... Ah, crap. He was unmistakably pointing at me. I mean, he was actually pointing at our table. But because he’d said “her,” I just kind of assumed that meant me and not Gourry. (I don’t think anyone could mistake him for a girl, more’s the pity.)
A moment later, the room was filled with trolls. I thought at first that their leader was a mummy, but upon closer inspection, he was clearly just a sorcerer wrapped head-to-toe in bandages.
“Golly, I think you’ve got the wrong gal!” I quickly balled my fists up under my chin and went into cutesy mode. I threw in a fake name for good measure. “You just couldn’t be looking for sweet li’l Sofia!”
“Shut up! I don’t care what your name is! You’re the one who raided that bandit camp the other day, aren’t you?!”
Wuh-oh.
“Hey, hey now...” Gourry looked at me reproachfully.
“Look, I’ll explain later. For now, let’s just take care of these guys,” I said, turning to size up the trolls.
Trolls are considerably larger than humans with strength and toughness to match, but they’re also pretty agile for their size. A troll’s greatest asset, however, is its incredible regenerative powers. Any nonlethal wounds they take will heal right before your eyes. Translation: Kill them in one hit, or else.
That said, if I got too reckless with magic, I could blow up the inn and hurt a whole bunch of innocent people in the process.
“Okay, you got me,” I declared, kicking back my chair as I stood up. “Let’s settle this outside.”
“No way,” the mummy man instantly refuted.
“Oh, come on...”
I’d have to think on my feet and come up with a new idea lickety-split.
“If you return everything you stole, I could be convinced to call it even,” the mummy man offered.
“Oh, please. You think I’ll just let you walk off with my stuff? Check yourself, sorcerer thief.”
“You’re a sorcerer thief too,” Gourry interjected.
“Shut up. I only steal from bad guys,” I quibbled pointlessly as I prepared myself for battle.
“Get her!”
At the mummy man’s signal, the trolls leaped at me. I moved as soon as they did.
A troll’s main weapons are their sharp claws and extreme strength. It wasn’t pleasant to think about, but while my outfit provided me basic protection, I knew that one rake from those nasty troll claws would send my guts spilling all over the floor. One punch would knock my head clean off, too.
Of course, I had no intention of letting that happen.
The first troll came at me with a big, wide swing. I dodged, then planted my right hand on the troll’s back, using that as a fulcrum to spin past it and on to the next one. As this one reached out to grab me, I slid under it, grabbing one of its legs as I slipped between them. Obviously it wasn’t enough to topple the troll, but I did make it lose its balance for a second. I used the opportunity to right myself and head for the next one.
All of a sudden, I could feel a hostile presence behind me. Not a second later, a set of claws snagged my cape. Unfortunately for the troll, my cape was all it got—I’d unfastened it from my pauldrons a split second earlier.
Nice thinking, Lina!
The momentum of the troll’s swipe got it tangled up in my cape and caused it to fall awkwardly onto the floor. I gently poked it in the head with my finger. On to the next target!
After a little more of this and that, I found myself back at Gourry’s side.
“Hey, welcome back.”
“Gee, thanks!”
This big lummox had just been sitting there watching the whole time, not bothering to lift a single finger to help a lovely lady who was struggling. (I mean me, you jerks!) The nerve...
I’d hardly done any damage to the trolls in my little jaunt. In fact, I hadn’t taken out a single one of them.
“Slippery little minx...” the mummy man muttered in irritation.
Guess I must’ve really gotten under his skin.
“Gourry! Can you wound the trolls?” I asked sharply.
“Wound them? Um... you know they regenerate, right?”
“Of course I know! Just do it! Hurry!”
“Any old wound will do?”
“Yes!” I shouted.
The trolls were getting closer by the second.
“Okay, got it.”
Once he agreed to help, Gourry pulled his right hand out of his pocket. In it, I could see some nuts he must have plucked from trees on the way here—you know, the small, tough kind that squirrels love gnawing on. But the next thing I saw was a flick of Gourry’s hand and the nuts were gone.
“Urk!”
“Yow!”
The trolls were suddenly groaning and clutching various parts of their bodies—their arms, their sides, their foreheads. It was some genuinely impressive sniping. He’d propelled the nuts so hard that they’d pierced the trolls’ thick hides and embedded themselves deep into their flesh. Talk about incredible power; against a human opponent, a few hits like that could be lethal.
“Clever trick, child. But if you think that’s enough to defeat a troll—” the mummy man started to boast, but was interrupted mid-sentence.
“Grrragh!”
The trolls were screaming now. The acorn-sized wounds Gourry had inflicted on them were growing bigger and bigger as we spoke.
“What... What the heck? What’s happening?!” the mummy man shouted in confused desperation.
Gourry, too, could only watch slack-jawed as the wounds continued to expand in all directions. Some of the trolls were ripped in two at the waist, while others were bisected vertically. Once it was all said and done, more than half of the trolls had been reduced to nothing more than masses of dead flesh.
This was my handiwork, of course, but it wasn’t exactly a joy to look at. Good thing I’d already eaten, y’know? Gross!
Anyway, that left four trolls and the mummy man standing. Most of them looked less than thrilled about the prospect of rushing back into the fight. The panic and confusion over what I’d just done had rattled them pretty good.
Fear of the unknown is a powerful thing—but nothing’s that scary once you know the trick behind it.
See, when I’d touched each of the trolls earlier, I’d cast a little spell on them—a kind of an inversion of the white magic spell “Recovery.” Recovery maxes out a person’s physical and spiritual regenerative powers, which encourages their wounds to heal. What I’d done was the opposite: reversing the body’s ability to heal. And as fast as possible, at that.
Of course, the trolls’ naturally potent regenerative abilities made the process even more intense. Reversed and amplified, said abilities would cause even the tiniest wound to tear their whole body apart.
By the way, this spell was another Lina original. It felt kind of... you know... evil, so I’d never used it in combat before. And while it had really done the trick scaring the hell out of my enemies, I swore not to use it again. Another Sorcery 101 lesson: Never use spells that will haunt you in your dreams.
Anyway, I figured my dirty little trick would send them all running with their tails between their legs, but one of the trolls seemed determined to press its luck. In defiance of all good sense, it actually charged right at me.
I drew my shortsword and sprang into action while chanting a hushed spell under my breath. I may be small, but I had agility on my side. My blade clashed with its claws two, then three times, leaving the troll vulnerable for a split second.
“Now!”
I buried my sword deep into the troll’s side. The troll, however, sneered with a smirk that just screamed, “Gotcha!”
I’d done exactly what it was hoping for. It knew it couldn’t outmaneuver me, so it had intentionally given me an opening to stab it. And with my sword stuck in its hide, I was a sitting duck. A play like that would have been suicide for most, but with a troll’s regeneration, it was a valid strategy.
Too bad it wouldn’t really work on me. I let the troll enjoy its little moment of triumph... and then I put an end to things.
“Come, lightning!”
I channeled a Monovolt spell through my sword and into the troll, who never stood a chance. Its enormous body went into convulsions, and the poor sap was dead before it could even scream.
“It was a clever plan, but I’d say I did you one better.”
The troll’s corpse fell to the floor with a thud, and I decided it was time to make sure the baddies knew who was in charge here... in case it wasn’t clear already.
“Okay. It’s time to get serious.”
I clapped my hands together in front of my chest and slowly began to pull them apart, chanting all the while. A sphere of glowing light appeared between my palms, its iridescent flicker growing as I moved my hands further and further apart.
“Ack! A Fireball!” the mummy man shouted in desperate panic, his eyes wide. “Withdraw! Withdraw!”
And with that, he scrambled away with the remaining trolls in tow. I let out a relieved sigh, still holding the glowing ball of light in my hands.
“Hey, you’re not done yet! What about that Fireball?!” Gourry shouted while backing away swiftly.
I guess even a lummox like him knew how dangerous a Fireball was. See, Fireball’s a pretty popular offensive spell. The caster summons a ball of light which, when thrown, bursts upon impact and scatters fire everywhere. Pretty handy for taking out large groups at once. The actual damage it does varies a lot based on the user’s skill, but a direct hit can roast a human medium rare, easy.
“Hmm...”
I scrutinized the ball in my hands before abruptly tossing it up into the air.