If it had been another team, three or four members being attacked by more than a dozen trolls would have spelled disaster—they'd most likely have perished or barely escaped with their lives.
However, this team had Hela, and both Heimd and Rowe were formidable in their own right, so there was no sign of panic.
As the dozen trolls surged forward, Hela's gaze grew cold. She rose into the air with her long sword flashing, slicing down before the trolls could get close. Several fell instantly, impaled by her dark blade.
"It's Hela!"
As one of Asgard's most feared warriors, the trolls naturally knew of her. Recognition rippled through their ranks, and several began to retreat.
Yet their leader stood firm. He hesitated momentarily, then roared and charged forward.
Clad in heavy armor from head to toe, he wielded a massive double-edged sword in one hand and a colossal square shield in the other.
The design of the sword closely resembled that of Thanos' infamous weapon. Coupled with his bulky frame and thick armor, the troll leader looked almost like a tribute act to the Mad Titan himself.
With a sweep of Hela's hand, her sword danced through the air like a blade of vengeance, aiming directly for the leader's back.
The troll leader, however, was no novice. Reacting with impressive speed, he spun around and raised his massive shield, intercepting Hela's sword just in time.
But his shield wasn't up to par with Hela's weapon. Her sword pierced deep into it, shattering its structure and stabbing into the troll leader's arm. He grunted in pain but held his ground.
Snarling, he gripped his sword tighter, jumped high, and brought the blade down toward Hela with a thundering roar.
Hela dodged effortlessly. As she pulled back her long sword, she summoned a dagger out of thin air, spun midair, and drove the blade into the troll leader's abdomen with a swift backhand.
"Aaaargh!" the troll leader howled in agony, staggering back, bleeding and shocked.
Hela didn't pursue him immediately. She reactivated her long sword with a gesture, and the weapon, glowing with eerie light, soared forward with renewed speed.
Desperately, the troll leader lifted his battered shield.
Crack!
The blade punched through the shield like paper and embedded itself in his chest. Blood spurted from the wound as the troll leader collapsed, gasping for breath, clutching his chest.
"Princess Hela of Asgard…"
A deep, aged voice echoed from the surrounding darkness.
The voice wasn't in Trollish or Old Norse—it was in the ancient and rare Aggregate tongue.
Aggregate, the summarizing language of knowledge and power, demanded intellect, time, and intensive study. In Asgard, only a select few could master it, and among trolls—a species not famed for high intellect—only their top-tier leaders had such command.
Recognizing the language, Hela, Heimd, and Rowe grew instantly tense, their eyes shifting toward the voice's source.
From the shadows emerged an elder troll, his long hair white with age. His frame was smaller and thinner than his kin, more akin to an Asgardian elder than a brute troll.
He wore no armor—only a tattered robe and carried a staff that glowed faintly, like a mage's focus rather than a mere crutch.
The injured troll leader looked up, his face filled with hope and desperation. "Lord Muthurs!"
With a simple gesture, Muthurs pointed his staff at the wound. A greenish light pulsed, and the wound began to mend with unnatural speed.
"Go. Report back." Muthurs said in a calm, commanding tone.
"Yes, Lord!" the troll said, rising and running into the shadowy woods without hesitation.
"Muthurs… this complicates things," Heimd muttered, fists clenched.
Even Rowe, who was less versed in troll politics, had heard Muthurs' name before. The Archmage of the troll race—without doubt, the most powerful among them.
"You must be Tyr's son," Muthurs said to Heimd with a cool glance. "You look just like him in his younger days."
Heimd remained silent.
Then Muthurs' gaze landed on Rowe.
Though the most unassuming of the trio, Rowe stood firm, gripping the Shield of Light in his hand.
"You… your power is akin to Balder's," Muthurs observed, pointing his staff toward the radiant shield. "Are you his son?"
Rowe did not reply.
Hela remained on alert, summoning her long sword back to her side and watching Muthurs' every move. "I never expected the troll archmage to grace us in person."
Muthurs gave a weary chuckle. "I don't make a habit of dragging these old bones around… but recently, His Majesty Ulik's treasure vault was ransacked. Chaos has ensued. Even a few Fire-Bathing Beasts have escaped into the wild."
He continued, "From the clues gathered, the culprits may have passed through the Norn Forest. Tell me, Princess Hela, have you seen any such intruders?"
The revelation was stunning—Ulik's treasure vault, looted?
Rowe and Heimd exchanged glances, shocked. Despite being a minor faction compared to Asgard or Jotunheim, the trolls' royal vault was still considered nearly impenetrable. Without launching a full-scale war, no one in the Nine Realms could simply raid it.
"Never seen them," Hela said flatly.
Muthurs gave a slow nod. "In that case, until the culprits are identified, I must ask you to accompany me to Troll King City."
Given the history of conflict between Asgard and the trolls, this proposal wasn't surprising—but it was no less alarming.
Before the conversation could continue, Heimd suddenly vanished and reappeared right before Muthurs, his dagger slashing toward the archmage's throat with blinding speed.
Muthurs was startled by Heimd's sudden burst of divine speed. But speed alone wasn't always enough.
Heimd's divine movement was centered on his running ability, not instantaneous combat. It required time to start and stop. If all of his movements matched his sprinting pace, he'd have long since become the universe's top warrior.
The dagger halted mere inches from Muthurs' throat, blocked by an invisible magical barrier.
"Your power surpasses even your father's," Muthurs growled.
With a flick of his hand, the earth beneath Heimd erupted. Rocks and dirt coiled around him like living ropes, trapping him from shoulders to ankles in a cocoon of stone.
Heimd let out a surprised cry and crashed to the ground, immobilized.
At that moment, Hela's long sword and Rowe's Hammer of Judgment struck from both flanks.
Boom!
The hammer exploded on contact with the magical barrier, bursting into flames and holy light before dissipating into sparks, unable to even dent the archmage's defenses.
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