Elsewhere

The pair moved off into the forest towards the area the scout had indicated. The forest was forgiving enough that Aurelia could still ride her horse, but she was having second thoughts of using it when the fight started. After an internal debate that lasted nearly the entire journey, she decided to keep herself mounted and dismiss the horse if she needed to fight in a tighter space.

Duke had spent the journey trying to decide how much of the coming fight he wanted to carry himself. He was sure that he could eliminate the trolls easily by himself but also knew that wouldn’t be the best for his growing relationship.

“I want you to take the lead in this fight. I’ll support you if you need it, but I think you can handle most, if not all, of them by yourself.” Duke offered.

“We will see. Trolls are not foes I have trained for in my new life. Well, at least, not the living variety. I’ve killed a number of zombified trolls in the dungeon but that’s not really the same thing. I also want to try one of my Abilities that I have only used in limited scope. With the whole Legion in range, the effect could be tremendous.”

“What Ability is that and what does it do?” Duke asked, intrigued.

“It’s actually a pair of Abilities that synergize. The first is called INSPIRATION and it gives a Morale boost to troops under my command. The second is called ALL FOR ONE and it gives an experience boost to a single individual based on how many troops I have under INSPIRATION.”

“You have over 30,000 troops under your command right now. What do those numbers work out to?” Duke was fully engaged right now, thinking about the possibilities.

“INSPIRATION is giving a 44% Morale boost to the entire Legion. ALL FOR ONE is really where things get crazy. At my current rank, It gives a 3% boost in experience for every 100 individuals under INSPIRATION. It also reduces everyone else’s experience gains by 1% but it’s such a small amount that it’s really unnoticeable.” She smiled as she saw Duke’s growing reaction.

“That’s like a 900% experience boost for one person. That’s incredible. Use it on yourself for this fight and let’s see how it goes.” Duke marveled.

“I was going to use it on you.” She countered.

“No, for this fight, use it on yourself for three reasons. Firstly, I’m a tier higher and maybe 50 levels into that tier beyond where you are now so you need to start catching up. Secondly, you’ll get the experience right after the fight. And lastly, since I get my experience differently, it might not even work on me.”

“OK, I have it set to myself for now. The trolls should be close. Let’s get ready.” She put words to action by drawing her golden sword.

Duke chuckled inwardly, knowing that there was no way they were sneaking up on the trolls with Aurelia in her golden armor reflecting sunlight in all directions. Not that it would matter. This was going to be a straight up fight in his mind. Trolls were just dumb brutes after all. As his thoughts circled around to Aurelia, he felt another of her Abilities kick-in.

*** You have been affected by an Ability. COMMANDER’S MIGHT had granted you a temporary 25% increase in your Strength. ***

Well, that’s pretty damned cool. I doubt I’m going to use it in this fight but that’s a significant boost. Duke considered asking Aurelia about the Ability’s parameters, but he spotted the trolls ahead.

The trolls were large creatures. Not on the same scale as the giant Duke fought so long ago but significantly larger than Duke himself. He estimated that they stood around four meters tall and were largely humanoid. Their skin was a mottled green and brown mixture that would probably work as natural camouflage – a natural camouflage that didn’t work at all when they were loudly and aggressively tearing huge chunks of flesh from a newly slain bear’s carcass.

Aurelia tensed next to Duke, her horse echoing her tensing of muscles, preparing for a charge. She glanced over to him, possibly for reassurance, possibly to let Duke know that she had this. Duke wasn’t sure which it was, but he rose into the trees above the trolls completely unnoticed in their feeding frenzy. If she needed him, he would be there in an instant, but he remained confident that she could handle the trolls herself. He settled in to watch.

Aurelia quietly readied her sword, checked her stirrups to make sure they would hold her securely with her hands free but still could release nearly instantly if needed. Such things were easier to do when your entire horse was a magical construct under your control. With a thought, her horse charged through the clearing where the trolls were enjoying their impromptu feast. Moments before she struck the first troll, her blade became covered with crackling flames.

Aurelia flashed by the trolls at the fastest speed her mount could manage. One troll spotted her as she approached and began to stand up, making it her first target. She activated her FLASH CHARGE Ability, accelerating her horse’s pace to nineteen times its normal charging pace. In nearly an instant, both rider and horse had closed with the troll and passed it by with a single swing of Aurelia’s flaming, golden sword. The blade sliced through the fingers of the hand that was being raised in defense, continuing through the skull of the troll, separating the top third of its head from the rest of its body.

She had stopped and was turning for another charge before the body hit the floor in an expanding pool of flaming blood. The rest of the trolls reacted to the flaming blood spurting from the split head of their companion with a howl of rage. They abandoned their meal, turning towards the threat and rising to their full height. Duke realized that maybe he had underestimated how big these trolls really were as they stood to their full five-meter height, fangs and claws on full display.

Aurelia cursed, seeing her path blocked, preventing her from another charge past them. Instead, she improvised and had the horse charge forward into the trolls while she flipped off its back mid-charge. The horse executed its headlong charge flawlessly, rearing up on its hind legs right at the end to slam its forehooves into the center troll’s chest, knocking it from its feet. Aurelia flipped backwards intending to land in a crouch. Her timing was a bit off and she underrotated, slamming her toes into the ground.

By the time she had finished stumbling and regaining her feet, the trolls had ripped the magical horse apart. They became even more incensed as their new meal dissipated into fading motes of magic. They turned on her, charging forward with claws ready to tear her apart, showing no concerns for the flaming sword she held at the ready in front of her.

The trolls charged forward, so enraged that they pushed and jostled each other in their frenzy to get to their target. Aurelia used this to her advantage as she slipped between their claw swipes, rolling through the legs of one troll who had taken a particularly wide stance. She came to her feet and sliced her flaming sword through the troll’s left hamstring. She jumped backwards as the spray of blood ignited.

Aurelia continued to dive, dip, duck, and dodge around the trolls, using their bulk to tangle each other up. The fight was taking longer than she had anticipated because she was slowed down by her left arm flopping uselessly after a troll managed to get a particularly nasty slash through her armor. Still, she wore them down, one by one as the flames overtook them more and more. Finally, the last troll fell into a burning heap and Aurelia could finally catch her breath.

Duke appeared next to her, hitting her with a CLEANSE and a RESTORE. Her clothes and armor were all repaired and refreshed. Her arm, however, was still injured severely and the healing potion she had taken did not seem to be fixing the injury.

“Nice tricks with the horse there. It really put them off balance and gave you some good openings.” Duke commented as he waited for her to come down from the adrenaline high.

“The first FLASH CHARGE was the best. I caught them all by surprise with that one. The follow-up with just the horse charging would have worked better if I didn’t flub the backflip. And letting that one brute catch me full on the shoulder with its claws didn’t work out so well for me.” Aurelia pointed to her left arm that was still hanging by her side limply.

“Other than those two things, I think you handled it perfectly. Your blows were precise, well timed, and powerful. The flaming sword cut through them with little to no resistance. That is one hell of a sword you have.” Duke complimented. They continued to talk as they walked back towards the Legion.

“Well, it better be. It’s the one you gave me.” She replied.

“It’s the one that the dungeon made specifically for you.” Duke countered.

“There is that. Sam did a great job on it. Do you think he had any inkling on how things were going to work out?” Aurelia asked.

“I doubt it. I think that he expected I would find the sword earlier and you to use the sword against the Mage King in the dungeon to help complete the level or even to be some undead monstrosity inspiring the entire undead legion – that would have been a nightmare. I doubt he had any conception that you, the whole Legion, and the sword would be exiting the dungeon.”

“I’m glad it worked out like it did though.” She paused, turning towards Duke.

Duke needed no additional prompting and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. When they finally broke the kiss Duke smiled. “We’re definitely going back to the Inn when we make camp.”

“Oh, don’t you know it!” She replied hungrily. “But first, let’s find a healer so I can get my arm working again. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”

Duke returned the smile for a moment before changing the subject. So, how much experience did you get from that fight?”

Aurelia got the glazed-over look of someone reading notifications before excitedly responding. “I got more than 330,000 from that single fight with my ALL FOR ONE Ability firing away from the whole Legion. I gained nine levels! That’s incredible. Can you imagine the possibilities of using this Ability for every fight the Legion has?”

“It will make monsters of everyone we use it on. I’m not sure how experience normally gets allocated in mass battles. Do you know?” Duke asked.

“Not completely sure about all the calculations but leaders get a portion of the experience from every kill their troops make. There is a hierarchy and I’m sure there is some sort of cap, but I don’t know what that is. Once we deal with whatever Chopie has prepared for us, we’ll have a better handle on it.” She replied.

“I want you to keep the ALL FOR ONE Ability focused on yourself. At least until you get halfway through tier three. I want you to catch up to me and that is probably the best way to make it happen.” Duke instructed; his voice serious.

“That is one order I think I can take without hesitation.” She replied.

“And there are others that you won’t?” Duke inquired.

“Duke, I love you, but you are not exactly a tactical genius. Your talents lie elsewhere. So, yes, there are sometimes I’m going to overrule you on the battlefield. That’s what a General does – handles the war and battles for you.”

“So, you love me?” Duke asked, seemingly ignoring the rest of her statement.

“I would have thought that would be obvious by now. It took me a while to determine if it was just gratitude for my freedom and that of the Legion, but I have become more and more sure that these feelings are true in and of themselves.” She replied with warmth and seriousness in her gaze.

“I have to admit that I hesitated to say anything about it. I did not want to say something to shatter the sheer perfection. But now I can freely admit that I feel the same. I love you, Aurelia.”

“Good to know that it’s not one-sided. Now don’t you get any crazy notions about marriage just yet.” She admonished him.

“Oh God no. I’ve made that mistake three times already. I’m not-“ Duke stopped as soon as he realized what he was saying and the hot glare it got from Aurelia.

“We are going to have a talk tonight and you are going to tell me all about it. Understood?” She announced.

Duke nodded, not daring to open his mouth again to bite more deeply on his foot. To his relief, they finally made it back to the Legion and the hustle of finding a healer and returning to the march took over, distracting him from the dread of the upcoming conversation that evening.