Chapter 99: A worshipped little skeleton (1/2)
Chapter 99: A worshipped little skeleton
“Elder Calvin, has the village been discovered by forest trolls?” Han Shuo’s face turned grave as he turned towards Calvin, asking him in a solemn tone.
“Han, why are you suddenly asking such questions? There have been quite a few encounters with the forest trolls recently in the past couple of days, but even we don’t know if they’ve discovered something.” Calvin first started and then explained.
According to the field of vision coverage from the original demons, Han Shuo discovered that the current amount of forest trolls present numbered around five or six hundred this time. There were forest trolls, warriors, hunters, and priests. They all advanced in an orderly fashion, and coordinated with each other in exceedingly reasonable ways. This indicated that this batch of forest trolls must surely come from a strong faction. Five to six hundred forest trolls grouped with the right amount of troll hunters and priests would make for a sizeable force.
There were only 50 or 60 dwarves who were strong enough to participate in this battle within the village. Add to that Han Shuo and a few elves, their strength was completely subpar to that of the forest trolls’. This made Han Shuo understand that it would truly be tough to tide over this time’s danger.
“Five to six hundred forest trolls are headed in this direction. It looks like your village has truly been exposed.” Han Shuo sighed lowly and slowly revealed the truth.
Benedict had listened to Han Shuo’s words with some disbelief, but the group of dwarves that Calvin was leading immediately panicked upon hearing that five to six hundred forest trolls were headed their way. They were at a loss of what to do and proposed wild plans.
“What to do, what should we do?” An iron mallet waved in Bennett’s hands as he gave a glance at the female and children behind him, appearing very worried and resigned.
The dwarves weren’t a race that was cowardly and afraid of danger, but they couldn’t be irresponsible towards their females and children. When danger arrived, their first thought would be how to protect the women and children.
“Chief Calvin, I know that your village is hidden within a mountain valley. Are there any other ways of leaving the valley? No matter how suitable the valley is as a place to reside, I think we need to evacuate as quickly as possible. We’ll be hard pressed to fight against five to six hundred forest trolls.” Han Shuo tried persuading.
Calvin’s brow was knit tightly as he appeared quite anxious. After thinking for a while, he spoke to Bennett first. “Go assemble all the villagers and have them pack their belongings and prepare to leave from the rear side of the mountain valley. We’ll stay back and see if we can bring some retribution to these villains.”
Bennett immediately left with Calvin’s orders, calling out continuously towards the small houses in the back of the village, exhorting all the villagers to pick up rations and weapons, and to temporarily leave everything else behind.
At this moment, the two dwarves, who had been standing guard outside, finally rushed in with looks of panic, they started yelling out loudly before arriving where the chief stood, “Bad news! Terrible news! A lot of forest trolls are headed our way. They’re everywhere within the shrubbery!”
Benedict had been a bit hesitant, but no longer doubted Han Shuo’s words now. The group of elves, with Benedict as their leader, all unsheathed their weapons and wiped them down with calm expressions. Benedict held the bow behind his back in his hand, appearing ready for combat at any time.
“The forest trolls are the natural rival of us elves. I’d like them to taste of our power this time.” Benedict didn’t display any signs of fright and rather spoke with eagerness.
By this time, Bennett had already finished giving the dwarves behind him their orders. Utilizing his original demons. Han Shuo discovered that the forest trolls were indeed headed towards the mouth of the village. He looked back involuntarily at the dwarves around him and said to them, “I think we should block off the narrow passageway that leads to the village at this time, and endeavor to buy time for the women and children to leave first.”
Han Shuo nodded at Calvin when he said these words and took a few steps forward to the mouth of the village. Benedict hesitated and indicated his intentions to the elves, and followed behind Han Shuo, heading for the entrance to the village.
Up until now, Han Shuo could basically be certain that these forest trolls were aiming for the dwarves. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have all appeared here by such coincidence. The five hundred or so forest trolls had already started searching through the nearby shrubbery beneath the yells of the particularly stocky forest troll, searching for the entrance to the dwarves’ village.
According to how the situation was developing, the shrubs and leaves covering the village entrance wouldn’t be able to conceal it for much longer. Han Shuo didn’t become panicked after arriving here and recited a portion of magical incantation. Several skeletal warriors and two bulky zombie warriors appeared in front of him.
“We should take this time to set up some simple traps. The entrance to the village will surely be discovered, but it’s not spacious enough here, so we can take advantage of this to create some trouble for them,” Han Shuo said calmly when these dark creatures appeared.
The skeletal warriors and zombies immediately started digging traps under Han Shuo’s command. The zombie warriors possessed strong bodies and were in charge of moving rocks over long the distances to block the path. The dwarves had set up some traps here to begin with, Han Shuo merely added a few more measures. The dwarves also all mobilized themselves to help Han Shuo set up.
“Necromancy magic is the most disgusting magic, to think that you, human, are an evil necromancer!” Benedict seemed to abhor the appearance of the skeletal and zombie warriors as he complained.
Han Shuo was completely unmoved by Benedict’s complaints and only concerned himself with setting up the traps. When Han Shuo felt that all was pretty much in readiness, he took out a few crossbows from his space ring and distributed them to the dwarves around him. He then directed them to retreat to the rear and disperse themselves within the strong growth of trees and shrubs.
The dwarves were masters of forging weapons, but the complex bows didn’t need superb crafting skills, rather required precise designs and thought instead. The firing range and power of a crossbow was exceedingly high, and was one of the most outstanding inventions created by humans in recent years. Their drawbacks were that they were too heavy and that the frequency of firing wasn’t that quick. Every crossbow needed a small amount of time to reload after firing, unlike how a bow and arrow, which could be quickly reloaded.