After a night had passed, the Trolls who had ventured deep into the forest in pursuit gradually returned.
The prisoners had been deliberately wounded badly enough to rob them of the ability to resist, then bound in rows with vines and brought back.
The battlefield, meanwhile, began to be cleared.
According to the count, more than four hundred enemy Trolls had died on the spot.
Most had fallen beneath the bombardment of heavy throwing spears, while a smaller portion had died during the stalemate.
On their own side, apart from the tribesmen lost earlier in the jungle encounter, nearly a hundred had been lost in this battle as well.
Added together, their side had lost close to one hundred and fifty Trolls in total.
Ironically, many of the Trolls who had died during the battle had also fallen to heavy throwing spears.
It had not been friendly fire. The enemy had picked up the heavy throwing spears hurled from this side, then thrown them right back.
Thus, many members of the shieldless hunter squads had died beneath weapons made by their own side.
This was news that pained the Trolls. Whether it was the loss of one hundred and fifty men, or the reason behind those losses, neither was something they could easily accept.
These unprecedented losses changed the way the Trolls looked at the prisoners.
In their half-civilized state, perhaps they could not truly grasp the tribe's total losses.
But among the hunter squads that had suffered casualties, and among the warriors who ate and slept beside one another every day, when they faced the deaths of companions who had always been at their side—
A deep hatred naturally filled their hearts, and all manner of "desires for revenge" nearly drowned them.
The Witch Doctors, Blade Tusk included, had