Chapter 32: Severe Mountain Troll Dependency

"Ahhh! We’re going to die! There’s a troll inside!"

"The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

"Help! I don't want to die yet!"

"What is a troll?"

...

The students instantly descended into chaos, scurrying about like ants on a hot pan. Dumbledore had to blast several massive purple fireworks from the tip of his wand before the little wizards in the Great Hall finally quieted down.

"Prefects," Dumbledore said in a low, gravelly voice, "lead the students of your respective houses to your dormitories immediately!"

Percy, experienced and composed, gathered the Gryffindor first-years and led them out in an orderly fashion. However, there were three individuals in the line who were not quite as orderly.

"How could a troll get into the school?" Harry asked Cohen and Ron.

How else?

Cohen, the culprit behind it all, blended in between the two of them without batting an eye or showing a hint of guilt.

"What about Hermione?" Cohen reminded them, just in case Harry had forgotten something—he couldn't possibly be expected to save Hermione all by himself, could he? How would these two "useless men by Hermione's side" ever live that down?

[Ding! Goodwill +10]

"She hasn't appeared all afternoon—wait." Harry explained, but then he suddenly thought of something. He grabbed Cohen and Ron, letting out a soft cry: "Hermione!"

"What’s wrong with her?" Ron asked.

"Remember? On our way to the feast, Parvati told Lavender that Hermione had been crying in the girls' bathroom all afternoon..."

"Then go be the hero and save the damsel!" Cohen encouraged. "Otherwise, what are you going to do about your homework this week?"

"?"

"?"

"I mean—"

"Ron said something to her today," Harry explained to Cohen.

"Fine..." Ron gritted his teeth and quickly made a decision. "But don't let Percy see us—"

Like thieves, they slipped into the crowd of Hufflepuffs and successfully snuck toward the girls' bathroom. Cohen felt that this operation would probably be easier to handle than the original plot—after all, the two trolls were surely busy fighting in the dungeons.

Unfortunately, things didn't seem to go that smoothly.

Cohen seemed to hear a muffled shout through the door, something emitting low growls from its throat, followed by a series of rapid, heavy thuds. By the time Cohen tried to stop Harry, it was already too late.

Harry had already pushed the door open.

"Creak—"

Harry and Ron witnessed the most unforgettable scene of their lives. There were two trolls in the bathroom.

They were of different heights, but both were at least twelve feet tall, with dull, lackluster skin that looked like granite. Their massive, clumsy bodies were tangled together, one atop the other, like two hillsides crushed against one another. The giant wooden clubs they used as weapons had been carelessly tossed aside; they had long since stopped needing such things—they had more important matters to attend to.

"I tried to stop you when I vaguely heard the commotion," Cohen twitched his mouth, "but it seems I was a bit too late..."

Why did the trolls that he and Quirrell brought have to be a male and a female! No, wait, why would the trolls start doing *that* the moment they met? Is this some sort of twisted, hardcore fetish game? Cohen felt that God should pay him for having to witness this.

"Sorry," Harry whispered to the two trolls.

"We're leaving right now." Ron felt as if someone had cast a Full Body-Bind Curse on his face.

Both of them took a step back, aligning themselves with Cohen.

"Thud—"

Harry closed the bathroom door, but the two trolls inside had already noticed them. Now, the trolls' roars could be heard clearly even through the door.

And following that was...

"Ah!!!"

Hermione’s scream erupted, accompanied by the sound of bursting water pipes. The trolls had limited brains—now that they were worked up, they had likely shifted their aggression toward the nearest living beings.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron said in unison.

Cohen had also been so distracted by that explosive scene that he’d forgotten they were there to save Hermione—let's just say the trolls and goblins were a bit too high-profile; Cohen had been busy thinking about how to record this and submit it to the *Daily Prophet*...

The two anxious boys were fumbling about, so Cohen pulled them aside—

"Alohomora!"

The lock clicked open. Harry and Ron scrambled inside, and Cohen followed behind.

[Soul Strength: 7]

[Soul Strength: 8]

These two trolls were much weaker than an adult Acromantula—both in terms of soul and intelligence. Dealing with them now was as easy for Cohen as slurping jelly.

"Ugh..."

Cohen gagged first—the mere thought of consuming the souls of these creatures made him nauseous, especially since the air was already thick with the stench of troll, making the revulsion even worse.

"Hey!"

Harry grabbed a faucet and smashed it hard against the wall. The two trolls turned slowly toward the source of the sound, their clubs now less than a foot away from Hermione.

"Hey! You two big idiots!" Ron ran to the other side and hurled a stone at one of the troll's heads.

"Confringo!" Cohen cast an explosion curse at the head of the other troll.

What could have been settled with two Avada Kedavra curses now had to be done the long way around because of the spectators. Cohen planned to use "Diffindo" to tear the roof apart and let the Hogwarts masonry knock the two trolls unconscious. Their souls were useless anyway; Cohen’s soul strength was stuck at 20, and he figured only those mature Acromantulas with a rating of ten or higher could help him improve. Plus, it would save him from feeling sick all day after consuming the souls of these two creatures that were currently defiling the school.

"Hermione! Come here quickly!" Harry urged Hermione, as the two trolls' targets were now Ron and Cohen.

But Hermione was only an eleven-year-old girl; she was frozen in the corner, pressed tightly against the wall.

Cohen aimed his wand at the ceiling—he was waiting for the two trolls to move a little closer. That way, the falling bricks wouldn't accidentally hurt anyone else.

However, Harry’s next move forced Cohen to abandon Plan A—he lunged onto the back of one of the trolls and jammed his wand into its nostril.

The next second, the other troll prepared to swing its club at the head of its "partner"—or rather, at Harry, who was on top of its partner's head.

"Does it really have to be like this?!" Cohen rubbed his temples.

An anxious Ron raised his wand, panicked, and cast the only spell he knew at the troll.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The swinging troll swung at thin air. But one club couldn't knock out two trolls, especially since this time the club was swinging horizontally; even if Ron’s magic faded, the club would only hit the floor after its free fall, not the head of either troll.

There was no choice; he would have to go slightly overboard—

"Flipendo!"

Cohen didn't aim this spell at one of the trolls, but at Harry on the troll’s head.

"Aresto Momentum." Cohen followed up with a cushioning charm on Harry to ensure he didn't end up being the villain who murdered the Savior.

With the obstacle cleared, the two trolls were easy to handle—

"Diffindo."

Cohen’s final spell struck the ceiling, and a massive, irregular block of stone crashed down, knocking both trolls to the ground at once.

[Ding! Goodwill +100]

[Ding! Goodwill +100]

[Current Goodwill (2000/2000) reached. Kindness side-quest unlocked, backpack system activated.]

"..."

Cohen didn't know how to describe his mood.

So, Goodwill and Sin points... are they actually meant to be hoarded to unlock side-quests?!