The Achievement Junkie

Trying his best to keep calm, Jack carefully followed the troll from behind.

As the troll neared Slivia's cell, she backed away to the dark corners of the cell. Slivia tried to hide Jack's black cloak in the darkness behind her. She didn't need to act scared; Slivia was already plenty frightened.

The troll saw the fear in her eyes and chuckled in Common. "I guess your friends are busy storming the city, did you know that?"

Slivia looked down, not answering anything with sound or change of expression. She was avoiding eye contact at all costs.

"Why so quiet? Is that any way to treat your benefactor? We were nice and gave you a day to think about your options. Have you decided yet?" asked the troll, still not getting any kind of response from Slivia. "I've been kind enough; I think I deserve a response. Do I need to come in and ask nicely?"

"What are they doing?" Slivia kept averting her eyes, but she immediately answered after the troll's friendly threat.

"Those samurai have charged the city gate. I'm sure they've killed dozens of gobbies by now, but they'll find it hard to face that idiot Torbun. At least Torbun is finally up and doing something instead of lazing around all day. From what I've heard, the strongest samurai was barely able to stand after facing so many enemies." The Troll showed a delighted expression as he verbally painted a picture of the battlefield.

"How do you know?" Slivia asked with a shaky voice.

"I heard from the queen herself and heard the captain's report," chuckled the troll. "There's also someone that infiltrated the castle and killed a few guards. The gobbies upstairs are all running like chickens with their heads cut off, scrambling to find their mysterious killer. That's probably just your stealthy captain trying to assassinate the queen; am I right?"

Slivia didn't respond immediately, taking a moment to digest the situation outside the dungeon. She verified that a lot of killing had happened by checking her level and noticing her advancement to lv. 14. After a few seconds, she blinked and asked, "Then why aren't you out there helping them? Aren't you the strongest?"

Laughing heartily at Slivia's terror driven compliment, the troll continued, "That's very true, but something much worse has presented itself. Right now, out of nowhere, a Hell-flame Fox has appeared inside the city walls. It may be a child fox according to reports about its size, but I'm not taking any chances. I'll be leaving shortly, and I don't plan to come back."

Hearing that, Slivia felt noticeably better. The troll was confused to see that Slivia was calmer after his mention of the Hell-flame Fox. "Don't worry, I'm here to protect you so the fox can't get you."

The muscles in Slivia's body turned to ice when she heard the troll's comment. "What-what do mean? You said you're leaving."

"We are leaving," laughed the troll. "I'll be taking you and another lucky pet with me. I've worked too hard to leave here empty-handed and you're in much better hands with me that those devilish hell flames."

Shivers of fear crept into Slivia's motionless body. "But-but I have twenty-four hours to decide. What would the queen say?"

"The queen?" laughed the troll. "What can the queen do to me? She's only lv. 34, besides, she'll be busy facing her assassin to stop us from fleeing. Come on, we need to hurry out of here." The troll motioned for Slivia to step forward with his hand.

She remained frozen place, unable to even turn her head. When no response came, the troll sighed, "Hurry up and get over here; there's not much time left."

Slivia stayed in her place, remembering everything she witnessed this same troll did to her former party member just hours earlier. Unwilling to accept such a fate, she instinctively shrunk back further into the dark corner, as if trying to escape into the darkness.

"Come on now, it's not that bad. I'll take care of you and protect you like a good master would, my pet. I can't have you dying on me. You're not like the other's here, you're more valuable than that," stated the troll who was leaning into the wooden bars of Slivia's cell.

The troll's comments only urged her to further into the dark corner of the cell. Seeing the ineffectiveness of his words, the troll sighed again, "Do I need to come in and get you, or are you going to be obedient to your master? You know full well how we train disobedient pets."

It was then that true terror struck Slivia's heart. The very fiber of her being was trembling at the thought of the trolls' special training methods.

Suddenly, a third weak, yet confident voice called out from down the hall, "Oh, so the might troll captain is scared?"

The troll's playful attitude instantly burned away into embers of rage. "What did you say!?"

"You heard me," replied the weak voice, coming from a cell eight doors down. "You act so high and mighty, but you turn tail and run the moment a real threat appears. Some captain you are."

Storming towards Byron's cell, the troll shouted, "Your words mean nothing here! Look at you, on the verge of death, just waiting for your life to pass away with time."

"That's why you're a coward," laughed Byron. His actions were crazed as if the misery he faced had finally pushed his brain beyond the tipping point. "I remember your words, don't you? You said you wouldn't leave this place till after you've seen me dead. Well, here I am, still alive!"

The troll's rage stifled momentarily as it remembered its previous threats. It chuckled, "Is that what this is about?"

"OF course!" laughed Byron. "You're a coward! Afraid to kill me because the queen wants me for a ransom, and you're too afraid to stick around and see your plans through to the end."

"Who's afraid of the queen?" stated the troll. Popping noises echoed through the dungeon as the troll tightly clenched its fist. The fist emitted a blue glow as it smashed through the heavy wooden bars of Byron's cell.

Debris flew in every which way and some flew towards Byron, who closed his eyes and forcibly accepted the impact of the broken pieces of flying lumber.

"Say it again to my face if you're a true man," grunted the troll, who was now on his knees and beginning to crawl into Byron's cell.

Byron's voice boomed as he replied without hesitation, "Chraat is the most cowardly troll captain in all of Kartonia!"

Enraged by Byron's blatant taunt, Chraat cocked his fist back to squish the pesky human prisoner as easily as he had busted through the cell door.

Suddenly, the troll captain felt a slash against his calf. Forcing himself back out of the cell, Chraat noticed an unfamiliar figure store a sword and vanish instantly.

Chraat grunted loudly as he got back on his feet and began to sniff around the dungeon. In normal conditions, the troll captain's sense of smell would be able to roughly guide him towards an invisible enemy. Thanks to the overwhelming stench of rotten flesh, however, Chraat's superior sense of smell was rendered useless.

"Coward! Show yourself and fight like a man!" yelled the troll captain.

Jack was ecstatic to have successfully landed that blow on the powerful troll captain. That entire time he was a nervous wreck. Not only had his emotions almost gotten the better of him while Chraat was explaining the situation on the battlefield, Jack almost struck out when the troll threatened to forcibly take Slivia away.

If Byron hadn't intervened and created a perfect opportunity to sneak attack, Jack might've attacked recklessly. Jack felt a little more confident now that he had cleanly hit the troll with his poisoned blade.

"Jack, be careful!" Slivia shouted at the top of her lungs, now at the front of her cell peering through the bars with a cloak around her.

"You! You knew he was here!" yelled Chraat. He took a few steps toward Slivia, threatening her to not interfere.

Amid his threat, Chraat felt his right leg, the same leg that was cut, start to grow numb and limp. He dropped to one knee and groaned as he tried to forcibly use his leg.

Not wanting to waste a single opportunity to increase his chances of victory, Jack snuck through the gap between Chraat and the opening in Byron's cell. It was difficult for him to quickly maneuver in that tight space, but Jack managed to barely stay on his feet. He quickly shuffled behind the debris Chraat created and sped towards Byron.

Once he was at Byron's side, Jack took out three potions and three elixirs, placing them behind Byron.

Byron felt the glass bottles suddenly appear against his back. He reached back and immediately recognized the familiar shapes of round potion bottles and hourglass-like elixir bottles.

Without saying a word, Byron understood the invisible Jack's plan. Byron continued his charade and laughed loudly at the kneeling troll, "If only I had my sword, then I could teach a weakling like you a lesson!"

"Shut up!" barked Chraat, who was unwilling to move aimlessly with an invisible threat loose, especially after realizing he had been poisoned.

Jack caught the hint and for a moment reappeared near Byron behind a pile of debris leaning against the wall. He then disappeared, leaving only a katana with a red hilt where he once was.

Smiling wide, Byron fell over in a laughing fit, appearing insane in every sense.