Trolls and Insects at War

The Tanaris Desert beneath the moonlit sky.

To the dwarves and humans who came here to travel or seek adventure, the three most dangerous things at night were insects, trolls, and venomous desert scorpions.

Insects and venomous scorpions might seem like the same thing elsewhere, but here, venomous scorpions were simply venomous scorpions. Insects, on the other hand, were even more dangerous than trolls.

Because they had a name.

They were called Silithid.

In truth, after thousands of years, the seal imprisoning Ahn'Qiraj had begun to weaken. The power of the Aqir and C'Thun was slowly leaking out, eventually leading to another War of the Shifting Sands several decades later.

Why did Tona know that the War of the Shifting Sands would not come until decades later? Because while doing business with the goblins of Gadgetzan, he had casually learned a piece of information.

Across from Kalimdor lay another continent of Azeroth—the Eastern Kingdoms. In the north of that continent stood a powerful human kingdom called Lordaeron. Its king was His Majesty Terenas Menethil, who had only recently ascended the throne. They said this human monarch was wise and mighty, but the goblins did not like him.

Because Menethil did not like doing business with goblins!

Terenas Menethil had only just taken the throne, which meant Arthas was still a long way off, and so was the Scourge. Since the King of Lordaeron was still young, the Dark Portal should not have opened yet, and the Horde had not yet appeared in Kalimdor.

Then—the Second War of the Shifting Sands.

That was still far off as well.

When Tona learned that he had arrived in Azeroth at this point in time, he felt somewhat fortunate. If he had appeared during the period when the Alliance and Horde were locked in opposition, fighting each other while joining forces against other powers, then the Sandblood Tribe, as a branch of desert trolls, would likely have only two possible endings.

Either they would be wiped out by Alliance and Horde adventurers, or they would swallow their pride and join the Horde through the Darkspear Trolls.

He liked neither option.

So before that situation arose, he had to rapidly strengthen both his own power and the tribe's power. For that, he needed the system's help.

Speaking of the system.

Tona glanced once more at the system interface and quests on his retina, then closed it and headed toward the camp.

His nose caught the aroma of food drifting from the camp. After settling in, his people were preparing food. Dinner was already somewhat late, but trolls had strong endurance. Going hungry for a while and eating later was no big deal.

Even for the elderly, the weak, women, and children.

Just as Tona was preparing to get something to eat himself—the desert trolls' roasted venomous desert scorpions were no slouch, and tasted far better than the imperial roast duck he had eaten back on Earth when he had still been Chinese—a system notification suddenly sounded by his ear, jolting him awake.

At the same time, a dialog box appeared on his retina.

[Ding... Temporary quest issued]

[Temporary Quest: Silithid Ambush]

[Reward: Light Fungus Seed]

[Quest Description: The aroma of cooking and the arrival of numerous trolls have attracted the attention of nearby Silithid. You must defeat them.]

Tona stopped in his tracks.

His expression grew grave. This was a temporary quest from the system, issued without warning and at irregular intervals.

But this temporary quest also confirmed something.

A group of Silithid, of unknown numbers, was lurking around the dunes where they had camped. They had already discovered them and were preparing to launch a sneak attack!

"Underground!"

The tribe's scouts had been vigilantly guarding the surroundings, and the moon was bright tonight. This was a desert, and with the trolls' excellent eyesight, they could see far at a glance.

But before the system's warning.

The tribal scouts had noticed nothing. There had been no signs or sounds of battle either. The attack was coming from underground, beneath the soft dunes northwest of the camp—the ideal place for the insects of Ahn'Qiraj to lie in wait.

The reason Tona had discovered the insects' hiding place so quickly was that for sudden quests like this, the system thoughtfully opened a temporary minimap for him. On the minimap, the desert trolls around the camp were countless green dots, while on the tall dunes northwest of the camp, there were over a thousand red dots.

Without showing any reaction, he quickly walked to the center of the camp and found the witch doctor Zangar, his chief deputy in managing the tribe.

"There are insects."

His first words made the witch doctor shudder in alarm.

"In the dunes to the northwest. Pass on my orders. Leave half the warriors behind to protect the women, children, and elderly. Leave behind one-third of the witch doctors and archers, under your command! The remaining warriors, witch doctors, spearmen, and archers will all come with me!"

"Old Zangar obeys your command!" After listening to the tall, upright chieftain's orders, Zangar bent at the waist and answered softly.

The Sandblood Tribe's migration here.

Had not been peaceful all the way. They had gone through several battles—against desert bandits, wild beasts, and Silithid.

Under their powerful chieftain's leadership, the Sandblood Tribe's warriors had slaughtered their enemies with ease. So when Zangar heard that Silithid were attacking, he was startled but not panicked.

Ten minutes later.

The desert around the Sandblood Tribe's temporary camp was utterly silent. Even the chirping of the ordinary desert bugs had vanished—real little insects, that is. They seemed to sense danger and had all fallen silent at once, not daring to make another sound.

Beneath the moonlit sky.

The distant dunes gleamed white in the moonlight, like silver sand.

Having quietly arranged his forces into formation, Tona watched the distance while also keeping an eye on the minimap on his retina.

About two hundred meters away.

At least a thousand Silithid were approaching. They seemed to want to use the cover of the sand to creep in and kill them, so they were moving rather slowly.

If Tona had not happened to possess the system, and if the system had not warned him of the attack, then ordinary trolls really would have been easily ambushed by these insects in the desert.

His magnetic voice spoke in Trollish as he gave the order to prepare for battle. "Archers and spearmen, prepare yourselves. Light the fire arrows, sharpen your throwing spears, and await my command... aim one hundred yards ahead!"

Behind him.

Over five hundred troll warriors, along with an equal number of archers and spearmen—a Sandblood Tribe troll army of more than a thousand—silently carried out his orders.

The archers lit fire arrows made from a type of thorn unique to the desert. Fire arrows made from this thorn had good penetrating power, and because of the special oil it contained, they would continue burning for several minutes. It was the best material the desert trolls had for making fire arrows.

At the same time, spears made from the roots of those thorns were extremely sharp, and the spearmen were honing their tips. The warriors who had witnessed their chieftain's berserk fighting strength were also eager for battle, yet they were unusually quiet, unlike the frenzy they showed when facing other races.

Because the trolls knew that what they were about to fight was insects.

A war between trolls and insects.

Was about to erupt.

There could be no compromise.

Just like the war between the Troll Empire and the Aqir Empire thousands of years ago, it could only end with one side dead!