It gets worse before it gets better...(2)

"I wonder...which one is the reason for your fear? Is it a combination of two or more of the things I mentioned? Or something else?" Dusk asked Sally this question as he wanted to satiate his curiosity.

But unfortunately for him, Sally was already paralyzed both by the venom and the fear she felt toward the boy. When Dusk realized this, he was quite disappointed he released a sigh.

In the end, he decided to just kill her since she tried to do the same to him multiple times. So he plunged his mana-coated knife at her skull with a good amount of his strength, killing her instantly.

-CRUNCH-!!! an audible sound emitted from her head as Sally died.

The blow caused her blood to splatter and gush over Dusk but that didn't seem to bother him.

After he confirmed both of the mercenary's deaths the boy looked up at the moon and let out a deep sigh. The moon's soft glow illuminated his bloody clothes and the corpses around him. His knife still had the remains of brain matter on it, which he shook off by flicking his wrist. His eyes didn't hold any emotions, whether it be sickly joy or a hint of guilt. The scene would cause most to shiver.

Dusk, on the other hand, was thinking of something else. This whole ordeal had turned out to be quite a series of dramatic theatrics. He did have his fun, testing out his new abilities and learning how to fight with mana. But it was also a pain to run all the way here. Using his full speed to reach his destination drained a significant amount of mana. That, and the fact that he didn't hold back on testing his magic had left his mana reserves pretty drained. It would take some time for him to fully recover.

"I wonder what Tier those mercenaries were. They were good test subjects for my magic. Were they Tier 2? No, maybe Tier 3? Well, I guess I'll never know now that they're dead." Dusk said to himself.

At that moment he felt someone's gaze and he could hear someone call his name. He turned his head in the direction of the presence and found it to be Dawn. She seemed to have just regained consciousness, after passing out from all the stress and panic she had felt from the crisis.

She flinched when he looked at her. Dusk immediately understood it was probably because he still had the look on his face that he would show to his foes. Well, that and.... probably the fact that he was standing beside two corpses with bloody clothes and a knife. He switched to a softer gaze to try and make her feel a bit more at ease.

"Oh. You're awake. You must be a pretty deep sleeper if you slept through all that noise." he said in a gentle tone before smiling and slowly approaching her.

-----------------

After chatting with Dawn for a bit, to nobody's surprise she asked Dusk about the situation. He agreed to tell her about it and prepared himself to tell a story mixed with truth and lies.

"Well after you passed out, I started to fight with scar-faced ma-" he was about to tell her when the sound of someone swearing loudly stopped him.

"OH FUUUUUUUU-!!!!" A man seemed to be screaming with all his might.

Dusk and Dawn both turned their heads in the direction of the noise. And they saw something that would turn out to be a much bigger trouble than two measly mercenaries.

A massive humanoid figure. It was at least 6 meters tall. Its nose was crooked and its body was bulging with powerful muscles. It had a hideous face that would make most people look away in disgust. It was a troll. The troll had a giant club made out of wood with it. Its menacing figure towered over the man who was screaming with all his might.

Dusk suddenly remembered that the man was with the mercenaries.

'He must have been trying to run away since I forgot about him...Well, it doesn't matter. Right now I have a bigger problem to deal with.' Dusk thought with a troubled expression.

He read in a monster encyclopedia book that trolls were above Tier 3 when scaled with other powerful creatures and lifeforms. Though they weren't quite Tier 4, They were considered quite dangerous to mid-level mercenaries and only a high-level mercenary would be able to solo one. Even then, it was warned that a troll's regeneration capabilities made it a troublesome opponent. Burning up one's reserves of stamina and mana recklessly could spell their death as the monster could hold its own even against stronger opponents.

At the moment, Dusk didn't have a lot of mana. He used a significant amount in traveling here and in the previous fight. If he had the body of an adult with strong physical capabilities then he was confident he could somehow make it through when even with low mana reserves. But his child body was not physically strong, it continuously relied on mana to land strong attacks. This means a troll was Dusk's worst opponent in this situation.

He looked at Dawn to examine her reaction. Unsurprisingly, she was shuddering in fear. Dusk wanted to carry her and flee from the monster, but his clothes and body were bloody. With a troll's sense of smell, it could easily notice him and if it gave chase, then he would have to use his full speed to run. But that would likely cause other monsters to notice him and chase him too.....

"Well, shit. Guess I got no choice." Dusk said as he started heading in the direction of the troll.

"Dusk?! Where are you going?! Shouldn't we run?!" Dawn exclaimed, although she kept her voice as quiet as possible, hoping that the troll wouldn't notice them.

Right now, Dusk knew he had almost no chance of winning against the troll. Even running would be a better option than making such a foolish decision. However, he didn't have to win. There was a third option in this situation, which although was somewhat risky, he decided it to be his best bet.

It was to buy time. He left Magnus a note, telling him to wait 20 minutes before opening the folded note if Dusk hadn't come back home in that time.

The instructions on the note were the following:

[Tell my father and if possible, Lucius that I'm searching around Darkmoon Grove for Dawn. Since I haven't come back yet, We might need a search party to find her. This isn't a joke, Dawn may seriously be in danger]

It took Dusk about 12 or 13 minutes to reach Dawn's location. His introduction to Ralph and their chat lasted maybe a minute. Dusk's plea to speak with Dawn was accepted, which gave him another minute. The first fight with Ralph lasted around 2 and a half minutes. Then his fight with Sally and all his taunts took around the same time before he killed Ralph and had a nice, pleasant, and friendly chat with Sally. It took maybe another minute before he killed her too. His edgy gaze at the moon after slaughtering two people and the long sighs he let out along with the small chat with Dawn took around another minute.

After assuming the time based on his perception of it and calculating the many possibilities of the near future in a split second, Dusk concluded that he needed to last 6, no 5 minutes at minimum before help arrived. Around 20 minutes had passed. Magnus would likely take only a few seconds to inform Stygian of the situation. Although Stygian and Dusk's relationship with each other wasn't exactly ideal, from the memories he obtained Dusk knew that the man did care about his only son. But even if Dusk was proved wrong which he thought was unlikely, Lucius would be informed of the situation and an overly protective father like him would definitely swoop in to pick up his daughter from danger.

It took Dusk 12 minutes to arrive here at his top speed. But Stygian and Lucius, if any of the two decided to come here it would probably take less than half the time, as he could sense both of them were extremely strong compared to him, who only recently started learning magic.

'Let's just hope Lucius isn't the one who finds us. I might get my ass kicked for endangering his daughter' Dusk thought with a bitter smile.

He knew Lucius was strong and was no normal merchant. As someone who fought against many dangerous foes in his previous life, he could sense Lucius was a threat. Couple that along with the fact that Stygian and Lucius seemed to think of each other as friends despite their demeanor on the outside and the extreme care he has for his daughter, and Dusk knew he may get more than a scolding for endangering Dawn.

"Dusk, Don't go that way! What you're trying to do, It's too dangerous!" Dawn held the sleeve of Dusk's shirt, stopping him from approaching the troll which had started roaring loudly. It seemed to have taken the man's continuous screaming as a declaration of war.

Dusk turned his head towards Dawn to look at her. He could feel her hands that held his sleeve trembling, see her eyes still teary from all the horrors she had seen as well as hear her raging heartbeat, since he had started enhancing his physical capabilities and senses to prepare himself for battle.

It was obvious that she was scared out of her wits. And yet, the child was willing to come forward and stop him from approaching the same danger she wanted to avoid at all costs. Dusk couldn't help but feel her kindness and goodwill were being wasted on someone like him, who didn't value such things at all. And yet, her trembling figure that had mustered up the courage to show care for him, reminded him of a certain someone. It reminded him of the few people he had held dear in the past.

To show respect for that person who he would never meet again, he decided to do something he normally wouldn't. He patted Dawn's head before making the same promise he couldn't keep last time.

"It's okay. I'll see you soon." He smiled. Dawn didn't expect his actions and softened her grip on Dusk's sleeve, allowing him to break free and fasten his pace toward the troll.

He had to become the primary target of the troll. If Dawn became its target then things would get troublesome.

"This time, I'll try a bit harder to keep my word..." Dusk muttered to himself before completely enhancing his physical capabilities as much as he could to fight the troll and buy time.