Chapter 73: On Two Fronts (1/2)

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Kazko considered himself a special type of Gray-War troll. He may not have been as strong as Rekaz or his other kins when it came down to raw strength, but he had still risen through the ranks and was now on the verge of becoming their next chief. Naturally, by right, he would also become the left hand of Lord Zerahut.

Being an unusually more intellectual troll, he had always been considered an outcast even before they had evolved from cave trolls to Gray trolls. And even as a Gray-War troll, a superior species to the Gray trolls, he had still been mocked and ostracized as the weakest.

Despite all that, he slowly surpassed all those who mocked him just by being patient and calculating. And now that he was so close to the end goal, so close to the finish line. How could he make such a costly miscalculation?

Anger the likes of which he had never felt before began to rise within him. He wasn't exactly angry at the enemy that had put him in such a state, no. He was mad at himself. He was mad because he had failed to notice it earlier. This was a trap. He had no idea who could be orchestrating such a plan to split his forces but, it had to be the one who had killed Kadiz.

The fact that they had opted for such a plan meant they lacked the numbers to take them on in a head-to-head confrontation. If only he had sensed this earlier, he wouldn't have taken those ten cloaked figures lightly and would have stopped Rekaz from heading in alone recklessly, no matter the cost.

Kazko ordered his men to halt and stay on the defensive. They were only allowed to occasionally hurl rocks at the enemy and not charge in as there were traps everywhere. He had the troll surround and protect the goblin riders while the riders fired at any enemies they saw.

He already found his targets so he held his sword with both hands and charged in alone. He roared again and his unique skill activated. He was able to locate all the traps in front of him. Trolls generally couldn't learn skills, they could only use their innate ability and for a select few like Rekaz, they would also possess the berserk skill.

However, Kazko was able to rise to the top not only due to his intellect but the unique trait that allowed him to consciously manipulate the flow of mana from his core to learn actual skills. Being a bit slender for a troll, he avoided the traps quite easily and swung his sword.

There were about ten small creatures on the tree in front of him, one of which had a pair of reptilian wings and hovered above the rest. 'Kobolds' Kazko thought, as his bone sword extended forth like a whip, about to wrap around all ten creatures in an attempt to crush them all in a single strike.

”Die Reptiles!”

He yelled as his attack was about to make contact, too fast for the kobolds to react. Then suddenly, a large hammer came out of nowhere and slammed his bone sword away and into a nearby tree, making Kazko's eyes widened with shock.

This wasn't because his attack was blocked. Rather it was because the large weapon that blocked it, wasn't any ordinary weapon. It was an Hamaxe, one that was attached to a long black chain which was then tugged on and the weapon flew back to in the direction at which it came.

”Dark-Syphon.”

Kazko muttered while turning his head in said direction. He saw the figure of a large shirtless man walking in his direction with a faint but excited smile on his face as he caught the weapon casually and the chains wrapped around the black vambrace on his right hand with almost sentient vigor.

He was a large man that stood at least, 7ft tall and had two dark horns on his head. He wore metal inlaid armor on his legs revealing his chest and abs and even in such blistering cold, he moved freely and unhindered. He had short white hair, violet pupils, and a clean-shaven face. He strolled towards Kazko and judging by his aura alone, he would be an intimidating sight for most people.

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Further down the forest trail...

Rekaz roared with hate and anger as he lunged at the three cloaked rangers on the tree branch closest to him after they had hurriedly avoided his last spear attack. He jumped lightly and his mighty fist descended upon them like a meteor.

Several arrows were immediately fired from the other rangers still perched upon several large trees, they aimed for his large fist. Rekaz tried to disregard them all and continue his attack but one of those arrows turned out to be an enchanted arrow with a paralyzing effect.

The arrow briefly halted his movements but Rekaz rage was so strong that he was able to break free from the arrow's effects instantly, well almost instantly. However, that was all the time the rangers on the branch needed to getaway.

Rekaz fist finally made contact with the tree and a large Boom was heard with snow and roots, alongside dirt and debris flying everywhere. The tree was obliterated by the sheer force of his attack and shattered along with anything within 30 meters ahead of him. The cloaked rangers atop the trees took off immediately, they didn't bother to try anything else and just retreated using the treetops

When the dust had finally settled enough for Rekaz to locate his opponent, he became even more furious. He turned his head around and saw a few Trolls running towards him alongside goblin riders. They had finally caught up to him. Rekaz didn't dwell on them anymore and ordered.

”Take them down.” As he ran forward to retrieve his spear. The trolls picked up rocks and large tree branches, hurling them at the rangers while they tried to give chase. The goblin riders proved themselves to be a lot more useful than Rekaz had thought as they swiftly chased after the nimble rangers.