Countless people had explored possible visions of the end of the world, driven by the prophecy of Ragnarok, but none of those research subjects would ever include a nest of stinking trolls—The Emperor led the Praetorian Guard several hundred meters into the volcanic caverns and encountered an entire troll tribe. Quite a few trolls had not even left their caves before Odin drove them back with an axe—they showed no hesitation in using the weapons in their hands to clear out these creatures that should not have existed on Earth. Anything still breathing was impaled with halberds. Perhaps 9mm rounds were no more than a tickle to these monsters, but Large Caliber Explosive Rounds made no concessions to their thick hides.
During this cleanup, the squad encountered an exceptionally tall troll.
Its gray-black hide was as rough as stone. Several freshly flayed animal pelts were linked together with metal rings and draped haphazardly over its body. Two vacant eyes were set into its enormous, malformed head, reflecting the firelight in the dim cave. Horrifying tusks jutted through its upper lip, foul saliva streamed freely, and nostrils as large as an ordinary person's fists flared continuously as it smelled the nauseating stew boiling in a crude stone pot, like heated swill. Its thunderous breathing could be heard from far away, and a fetid gale even swept through the cave.
When The Emperor and the Praetorian Guard found it, this monster, which had briefly ascended the throne of the cave, was still engaged in reproductive activity with several trolls that might have been female atop its foul, fly-covered throne made from crimson bones—the inability to determine whether they were female trolls was entirely due to rigorous scientific considerations; it was simply impossible to tell this creature's sex from its appearance alone. After