Chapter 137: The Trolls

The Trolls were coming.

The message brought earlier by the thin kid was that some Trolls were moving toward Northguard Keep.

The Trolls were quite strong in the wilderness. It was said they once had a huge empire. But they lost in the war against the ancient Elves. Their whole empire fell apart, and all the Trolls were driven into the wild lands.

Su Lun knew the trouble with Trolls. They once had their own civilization. Even though they were defeated by the Elves, the Troll Tribes that kept their traditions were not to be underestimated.

The Trolls now lived in tribes. Because their old empire was gone, all the Troll Tribes acted on their own. After being driven to the wild lands, their civilization also changed a lot. For example, the Troll Tribes started to worship Ancestral Spirits and nature spirits.

These Ancestral Spirits and nature spirits were not gods, but they had some divine power. The Trolls could borrow their power to use elemental magic. Many Trolls were top Warriors, hunters, and assassins. They were very dangerous. Many Troll Tribes were especially good at using poison, which was annoying. The poison of Trolls was very strong, even an Ogre could not resist it. Now these Troll Tribes were approaching Northguard Keep.

“Why are those Trolls coming toward us?” Su Lun felt puzzled. Although the Troll Tribe was not far from Northguard Keep, why would the Trolls attack humans for no reason? The Trolls’ enemies were the Elves and Half-elves. Even if they wanted to attack, why would they choose winter?

“Food! The Trolls don’t have enough food.” This was the only explanation Su Lun could think of.

The Trolls did not know how to farm. They were nomads, relying on hunting and raising animals. This lifestyle was fragile. If there were natural disasters or other troubles, they would face food shortages. If there wasn’t enough food, the Trolls would raid other tribes. The Troll Tribe near Northguard Keep wasn’t very big, with less than a thousand people.

Although their numbers were smaller than Centaurs and Orcs, compared to them, Trolls were still a very troublesome race. Trolls had a very annoying talent: Regeneration. Their Regeneration ability was incredibly strong.

Even if their arm or leg was cut off, it would grow back in just a few days. To kill them, besides using fire or strong acid, only powerful elemental attacks worked.

The heavy snow stopped after one day. Northguard Keep started clearing the snow in the morning. Luckily, the snow wasn’t very deep. Constable Harrison led the Militia patrolling the town, checking if any houses had collapsed because of the snow.

Jushi was sent to the stables to check on the warhorses and see if they were affected. The buildings in the Territory were well-built, so the heavy snow didn’t cause much damage.

Because the Troll Tribe showed signs of moving south, Su Lun sent all the Scouts to investigate. Even the Drow Elf Aydin was sent out. As a Drow Elf skilled in assassination and scouting, Aydin was the best Scout in Northguard Keep.

About half of the army in Northguard Keep was assigned by Su Lun to escort a Caravan. Currently, there weren’t many soldiers in the Territory. Su Lun didn’t recruit many Serfs or Refugees into the army. Farmers who couldn’t even hold a spear properly would just give the enemy an easy victory on the battlefield.

Aydin moved quickly. Even though there was heavy snow yesterday, the snow on the Wasteland was only a thin layer. The dry yellow grass was half a person’s height, which made it easy for a Rogue to hide.

He was quite familiar with the environment here. After all, he had been training those Scouts and had taken them to explore the surrounding areas. But even so, Aydin didn’t let his guard down.

The Trolls also had Rogues. They could track targets by footprints, smells, and broken twigs. Against such opponents, a single mistake could lead to disaster.

“Crunch!”

Aydin lightly touched the tip of his foot on a big tree and then landed gently on the ground. Because the trees were dense, there wasn’t much snow in the forest, but there was a thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground. Stepping on them made a crunching sound.

There were many messy footprints on the ground here. Even though those who left had tried to hide their tracks, to an expert, they were still as clear as a torch in the night. Aydin brushed away the scattered leaves, revealing a trail.

Following the trail, Aydin found a few gray hairs on some grass blades.

Gnolls!

It was true that Troll Tribes sometimes had Gnolls. The number of Trolls was limited, so they would enslave other races to work for them. This Troll Tribe probably also enslaved many Gnolls to use as cannon fodder.

After discovering the trail, a cold glint flashed in Aydin’s eyes, and a cruel smile appeared on his face. Even a Drow Elf who worshipped the Dark Maiden still had their cruel and cold nature deep inside.

Fights between Scouts were very dangerous. The winner was often decided in an instant.

The most common types were sudden encounters or ambushes. Even a Knight Commander could be defeated by a low-level professional who was skilled in tracking, hiding, and setting traps.

Aydin moved quickly along the trail in the grass. As an excellent Rogue, his tracking skills were very strong. These tracks were left just today. A skilled Rogue could even follow tracks from several days or a week ago. They could tell the enemy’s height, weight, and type from the traces.

The main force of the Troll Tribe hadn’t arrived yet. After all, moving a large army required a lot of preparation. But even so, the Trolls would arrive here in at most three days. What Aydin encountered now were the Scouts of the Troll Tribe.

“Shadow Hide!”

After passing through a shadowy area, Aydin’s body gradually blended into the shadows and disappeared. As a Drow Elf, his hearing was very sharp. Just moments ago, he had heard some noises from a distance.

Aydin’s body was covered by shadows as he moved toward the source of the sound. They were already near the Lotas Mountains. Soon, Aydin found a cave hidden in some bushes.

The entrance was covered by vines. If you didn’t look carefully, you wouldn’t notice it. It looked dark inside. At that moment, there was some noise from the cave, but it quickly stopped. After a while, a tall figure came out of the cave. The figure pushed aside the vines, revealing a gray hyena head—a Gnoll. But the corner of his mouth was clearly swollen.

The Gnoll looked around and then hid in a hidden spot near the cave entrance. Clearly, this unlucky fellow was assigned to keep watch at night.