Troll

Troll.

They were an intelligent race older than the Blood Elves, yet even now, they stubbornly lived on the Falaro Continent, causing humans trouble from time to time.

Like the Blood Elves, trolls with a taste for eating people were also known for their cruelty. The difference was that the former's cruelty was elegant, while the latter's was crude.

The first reason was their difference in appearance. Regardless of their character, elves always looked pleasing by human standards. Wearing little was called sexy, while wearing a lot was called aristocratic. As for ugly trolls, wearing little made them savage, while wearing a lot made them cumbersome and bizarre. No one liked them.

Besides that, the trolls' methods were indeed rather brutish. They boiled people in great pots when eating them, and liked to throw axes when killing them—this was their signature greeting.

Thus, the moment the hunting captain fell, the mercenaries immediately realized that they were in deep trouble.

Sure enough, they soon saw a group of blue-skinned trolls, bare-chested and howling, charging out of the woods. There were more than a dozen of them. Some carried axes, others carried spears, and one even held a staff, presumably making him a witch doctor among the trolls.

"Damn it, where did these Forest Trolls come from?"

"They might have entered from another entrance to the Tidal Lands... Let's go find those hunters from before. They might help us!"

At low levels, physically powerful trolls were usually stronger than humans. Faced with more than a dozen trolls, the mercenaries were certain they were no match.

Therefore, without anyone suggesting it, they all ran toward the hunters in perfect unison.

Gagnor could only follow.

Before long, they saw the hunters again.

"For Mosa's sake, help us!" a mercenary shouted.

"Mosa?" When the leading hunter heard the name, he not only showed no sign of agreement but instead revealed disdain and hatred.

"Go to hell, you Heretics who believe in a false god!" They immediately attacked the Gray Eagle Mercenaries as well. "Yemen is supreme!"

And so, under the influence of religion, two groups of humans began slaughtering each other.

The pursuing trolls were stunned. They looked at one another for two seconds.

"Uwa uwa wa?"

"Wa uwa wu."

They spoke in a language Gagnor could not understand, but judging from their expressions, it was not hard to guess what they meant.

Why had the humans suddenly started killing one another?

No idea.

Gagnor did not know either.

He had thought the hunters would turn and run, but unexpectedly, they chose to join the trolls in attacking the followers of Mosa.

It seemed he had still underestimated the religious fervor of the Falaroan humans...

The Forest Trolls' confusion did not last long. They soon joined the battle as well, and quite wisely refrained from attacking the followers of Yemen, focusing instead on the followers of Mosa.

Caught between the trolls and the followers of Yemen, the Gray Eagle Mercenary squad had no power to fight back. In a single exchange, they lost two more men.

Gagnor also nearly got hit by a flying axe.

Fortunately, John blocked it with his shield in time, and the axe merely grazed past him.

They were about to be wiped out.

Gagnor immediately took out a Lesser Wind Orb and said to John, "Run!"

With that, he hurled the Lesser Wind Orb fiercely into the center of the battle.

The orb struck the ground.

"Boom—"

As the Wind Orb burst, a thunderous boom rang out, and a fierce gale exploded across the battlefield.

The sudden gale caught everyone in the middle of the fight off guard. They were all blown off their feet, except for the two largest and strongest trolls, who managed to keep their footing.

Gagnor himself also staggered.

He wanted to help John up, but the two trolls had already set their sights on him.

With no other choice, he threw two clusters of Swift Breeze at John, then attached two clusters of Swift Breeze to himself as well.

You're on your own!

Gagnor immediately turned and ran.

John climbed to his feet. He looked around, hesitated, then ran in another direction.

As he ran, he was surprised to discover that he was somehow moving much faster than usual. Before he could figure out why, however, the light-as-a-swallow feeling vanished.

Swift Breeze had a maximum control range of only four hundred meters.

Once the distance between John and Gagnor exceeded four hundred meters, Swift Breeze could no longer help him.

Sensing that the two clusters of Swift Breeze on John had left his control, Gagnor immediately generated two more clusters and applied them to himself.

With four clusters of Swift Breeze bolstering him, his speed increased further.

The two trolls behind him had nearly caught up, but they could only watch helplessly as Gagnor sped up and ran farther and farther away.

"Uwa uwa!" The two trolls were furious.

If they had been human, the pursuit might already have ended.

But one of the trolls' greatest strengths was their tremendous stamina and recovery ability. They believed that even if they could not catch Gagnor for the moment, they could exhaust this human to death!

So they doggedly continued chasing Gagnor.

Things soon began to develop as the trolls had expected.

As time passed, Gagnor's speed was gradually dragged down by his body's fatigue, slowing more and more.

The two trolls, meanwhile, seemed incapable of tiring. They continued pursuing him at the same speed.

Gagnor was inwardly crying out in misery.

Fortunately, he still had Swift Breeze. Although he was extremely exhausted and even in pain by then, and his body's pace had slowed to little more than a jog, the assistance of four clusters of Swift Breeze still kept him roughly as fast as the two trolls, maintaining a distance of several hundred meters.

Thus, one fled while two pursued, and they ran for several hours.

The two trolls still looked capable of continuing the chase.

But Gagnor truly could not run much longer.

Various negative emotions began to fill his mind, and thoughts of giving up even flashed through it from time to time.

Damn it, should I never have come to this hellhole?

"Haah—haah—"

Gagnor's breathing had grown as heavy as it could get, even turning hoarse. Yet when he looked back, the two trolls still appeared full of energy.

He was beginning to despair.

But at that moment, a turning point appeared before his eyes.

There was a cliff ahead.

Gagnor brought himself to a stop and gazed at the cliff while breathing heavily.

A dozen or so meters...

Not too bad.

An ordinary person would probably fall to their death, but with Swift Breeze, Gagnor had no chance of dying from the fall. As for whether he would be injured, or how badly, he could only leave that to fate.

He glanced again at the two trolls drawing closer behind him, gritted his teeth, and jumped off the cliff.

He placed the four clusters of Swift Breeze beneath himself, doing his utmost to slow his descent while adjusting his posture.

There was a splash.

Gagnor landed on the ground below. His landing looked rather clumsy, but aside from a few abrasions, he was basically unharmed.

He climbed to his feet.

Breathing hard, he brushed the dust from his clothes and looked up at the cliff.

"Uwa uwa wawawa!" The two trolls did not dare come down, so they could only roar impotently.

Gagnor raised his middle finger and walked away.