"Spirits of the ancestors, protect us!"
Hamia's eyes were bloodshot as he wildly swung a single-bladed great axe nearly as tall as a man among the gnoll warriors. To the troll berserker in a state of rage, the battle-axe—which weighed nearly twenty pounds—was as light and easy to wield as a wooden stick.
This troll warlord was a pure warrior, the most outstanding young member of the Mossflayer Clan since childhood. The year he advanced to a high-level warrior, he became a powerful and honored berserker under the high priest's guidance. In the years that followed, he advanced six times along the path of the berserker. In other words, if he had a so-called system, his current build would be that of a master-level melee combatant: Warrior 10/Berserker 6.
Although he wore only a simple suit of leather armor, the troll race's natural bonus to agility, combined with years of hunting in the forest, had made him far more agile than an ordinary person. Among the gnoll warriors wielding heavy shields, he moved with remarkable nimbleness, making it difficult for their weapons to hit him.
Rage was an ability unique to barbarians, berserkers, and certain primitive races. By sacrificing some of one's rationality, it temporarily granted a person a +4 bonus to Strength and Constitution, and a +2 morale bonus on Will saves.
When a powerful warrior entered a rage, they could very well cross the divide between mortal and legendary in both Strength and stamina, stepping into the superhuman realm of 20 points. Simply put, such a warrior was not only powerful but also incredibly tough. As long as their rage lasted, taking on a whole group at once was no idle boast.
Every fifth-level berserker also gained the ability to "Greater Rage," which increased the Strength and stamina bonuses they received while raging to +6 and raised the morale bonus on Will saves to +3. This ability was enough to propel the strongest young warrior of the Mossflayer Clan into the superhuman realm, allowing him to move freely through the ranks of the poorly equipped gnoll warriors.
"Die, you gnoll scum!"
With a furious roar, the troll berserker brought down the pitch-black battle-axe in his hands, chopping straight at the gnoll in front of him, who had tucked most of his body behind a large shield. Guided by his arms, which held more than a thousand pounds of force, the sharp axe blurred through the air and crashed into the sturdy wooden shield.
"Bang!"
The sturdy wooden shield, which had been able to withstand javelins, let out a pained groan under the blow. The great axe cleaved through both the shield and the gnoll hiding behind it, adding a splash of red to the cold-toned sky.
The gnoll warrior collapsed in stunned disbelief, warm blood spraying across Hamia's blue-green face. The troll warrior stuck out his tongue and licked some from the corner of his mouth, then spat quickly. "Filthy taste!"
Then the mighty troll berserker pressed on. In his fury, Hamia swept through the gnoll ranks like a whirlwind, leaving a torrent of blood in his wake. Behind him came a company of troll warriors, along with the troll priests they were protecting. The troll counterattack carved a bloody path through the gnolls blocking the slope, heading straight for the catapult encampment not far below.
"The taste of blood!"
The troll berserker had led roughly a hundred warriors through the gnoll line, and his body was already stained red. Thick blood kept dripping from him and from his battle-axe. The treacherous gnolls had left countless wounds of uncertain depth across his body with their daggers, but Hamia felt neither pain nor fatigue in his enraged state. His eyes were fixed on the catapults in the distance; his mind was consumed by a thirst for blood.
"Finally, they're here!"
As the troll warriors escorted several priests down to the foot of the slope, the Blackpaw Gnolls, who had been waiting for them, watched with eager eyes. Led by Logul and Tagg, they blocked the fewer than one hundred troll warriors. Without wasting words, Tagg, the Blackpaw Gnolls' leader, raised his iron warhammer and charged the troll berserker, who had become a living embodiment of bloodshed.
"Clang!"
Faced with the enemy's descending axe, the eight-foot-tall gnoll warrior did not dodge. Instead, he charged straight in, gripping his warhammer in both hands to block the ferocious chop. But superhuman strength was a threshold that could not be crossed. Against Hamia in a state of Greater Rage, the gnoll warrior, with only sixteen Warrior levels, was outmatched by far in strength.
In a single blow, the fine-iron warhammer Logul had specially selected for him from the armory suffered a huge gash in its handle from the enemy's great axe. If Tagg had not desperately held on to his weapon, the impact might have sent it flying from his grasp—and left him a corpse beneath the troll's axe.
The troll warrior in front of him had already swung his battle-axe in a full circle and was bringing it up in a diagonal sweep. The gnoll's arms were numb, and both feet had sunk into the soil from the earlier collision. He could do nothing but close his eyes and wait for death.
At the critical moment, the gnoll shaman standing in the back row swung his staff. Shockwave! At Logul's spell, a powerful wave of force rippled beneath the troll berserker and the gnoll warrior. Caught off guard, the troll berserker lost his balance as the ground shook beneath him. His sharp axe veered away from his enemy's vital spots, leaving only a deep gash across Tagg's chest.
"Damn scum!"
By the time Hamia regained his balance, Logul had already ordered the Blackpaw Clan members to pull their leader away from the front line and sent in the second wave of Red Pine Gnolls to pin down the nearly frenzied troll berserker.
There were too many of them—far too many!
Though Hamia fought like an Avatar, holding back wave after wave of gnoll warriors, the enemy's numbers kept him and the warriors behind him from reaching the catapult encampment. Time was slipping away, and his rage would soon end. He could already feel the arm swinging his battle-axe beginning to falter.
Once his rage ended, after using so many attacks that pushed his body beyond its limits, he would be nothing more than meat on a chopping block, at their mercy! With that thought, the troll berserker turned back in frustration and shouted to those behind him, "We can't get through! Tell those priests to stop hesitating and act now, or we'll all die!"
With that, Hamia charged without looking back, pouncing like a ferocious tiger into the gnoll warriors closing in around him.
"Wild Spirit, stand with me!"