A One-Sided Battle

Soon, the Stromgarde militia attacking the Witherbark Troll settlements around the lake caught up as well. As before, ten thousand elite militiamen charged at the front, with the recruits following behind, and stormed into Witherbark Village beyond the lake.

Witherbark Village was the heart of the Witherbark Trolls' territory. The fighting outside the lake had already alerted the Trolls in the village, and they had taken up their weapons and prepared for battle.

One exceptionally muscular Witherbark Troll was clearly the village's leader. Since the Witherbark Trolls were divided between the Hinterlands and the Arathi Highlands, they had no single chieftain. The leader of Witherbark Village was the Ninth Rank Witherbark Troll warrior standing before them, Zalas Witherbark.

Beside him were two peak eighth-tier Witherbark Trolls: Slayer Nimal, mounted on a Witherbark Batrider, and Beastmaster Kama, riding a Swift Albino Raptor.

"Leave this place, Galen Trollbane, or you will face a hundred thousand Witherbark Trolls fighting to the death!" Zalas Witherbark told Galen Trollbane in rather broken Common.

Had these been the Orcs of Hammerfall, Galen Trollbane would certainly have retreated. Even setting aside the Horde's wrath, a desperate Orc counterattack would have crippled the Stromgarde militia. But the Trolls were not nearly as strong in battle, and Trol'kalar dealt a devastating blow to their morale. Many young warriors were already trembling at the sight of it, while the older Trolls fled as though they had seen a nightmare.

"And why should I, Zalas Witherbark? Do you think you and those two peak eighth-tier fighters can beat me? Take a good look at the difference between us!"

Galen Trollbane unleashed his Heroic Rank aura once again. Even though he had only just entered the Heroic Rank, he was still a hero, a qualitative leap beyond the Ninth Rank.

Zalas Witherbark, the leader of Witherbark Village, clearly had not noticed Jorin Trollbane's unstable aura before. But once he realized that his opponent really had reached the Heroic Rank, his green face turned ashen.

"Then what do you want, Galen Trollbane? If you insist on this, at least twenty thousand of your soldiers will die here." Zalas Witherbark clearly understood the disparity between them, and now he was consumed by regret. More than a decade of comfortable living had made them complacent enough to neglect their defenses, bringing about this crisis.

It seemed Zalas Witherbark was not a completely stubborn Troll, which made things much easier. "It's simple, Zalas Witherbark. You and your people will help me fight the Scourge. I can promise that I won't harm the elderly and children of Witherbark Village. I'll let them seek refuge in the Hinterlands."

Galen Trollbane would not pass up a chance to acquire cannon fodder. Every citizen and soldier was precious to the Kingdom of Stromgarde now.

"Impossible! You're asking me and my people to march to our deaths!" Zalas Witherbark rejected the proposal outright. Of course he knew Galen Trollbane intended to use them as cannon fodder. As the leader of Witherbark Village, he could not simply agree to such a thing.

"Then there's nothing left to discuss." The instant Galen Trollbane finished speaking, he attacked before the other side could react. He charged straight at Zalas Witherbark and brought Trol'kalar crashing down.

Zalas Witherbark was a Ninth Rank warrior, after all, with an exceptionally keen instinct for danger. At the last moment, he managed to raise his weapon and block the blow. But the enormous disparity in strength and weapon quality shattered the weapon in his hands, and he hurtled away like a cannonball, crashing into the Witherbark Trolls behind him.

Slayer Nimal immediately tried to urge his Witherbark Batrider into the air, where he held the advantage. But Galen Trollbane also knew that once his opponent was airborne, he would become an extremely troublesome threat. Before the bat could fully take flight, he seized one of its claws with one hand and, using the strength of a Heroic Rank warrior, slammed Slayer Nimal and his mount hard into the ground.

On the other side, Beastmaster Kama drove his Swift Albino Raptor forward to attack Galen Trollbane from behind.

A Heroic Rank fighter's senses were extraordinarily sharp, and Jorin Trollbane had already been keeping an eye on Beastmaster Kama. He spun around and struck with his sword, cleaving both Beastmaster Kama and the Swift Albino Raptor in two with Trol'kalar.

After dispatching Beastmaster Kama, he stamped down on Slayer Nimal before he could get up, pinning him beneath his foot. Trol'kalar's sharp blade swept across his throat.

Galen Trollbane's overwhelming strength terrified the Witherbark Trolls, while the Stromgarde militia attacked with soaring morale.

On one side stood the fully armed Stromgarde militia, their spirits high. On the other were the demoralized Witherbark Trolls with their inferior equipment. The battle was almost entirely one-sided.

After Zalas Witherbark got back to his feet, he charged madly at Galen Trollbane, hoping to die beneath his sword. But Galen Trollbane refused to kill him. Each time, he simply kicked him away, then continued attacking the Witherbark Trolls who stubbornly resisted.

Watching his people fall one after another, with even the elderly and children unable to escape the Stromgarde militia's wrath, Zalas Witherbark sank to his knees in despair on the ground of Witherbark Village and silently prayed for the Loa's protection.

But the Loa never answered him. The blood of countless Witherbark Trolls stained the lake outside Witherbark Village red. At last, Zalas Witherbark summoned his last shred of strength and said, "I accept your demands, Galen Trollbane."

In the end, Zalas Witherbark surrendered. He had underestimated his enemy and overestimated himself. Under these circumstances, the Stromgarde militia could wipe out Witherbark Village at the cost of only five thousand lives.

As the leader of Witherbark Village, even a cruel Troll like Zalas Witherbark could not stand by and watch all his people die. Even if it was only to give the village's elderly and children a slim chance of survival, he reluctantly accepted Galen Trollbane's demands in the end. At least that way, the elderly and children would live.

The Witherbark Trolls in the Hinterlands would surely take them in. At least he would have preserved some of his people.

"You are a worthy leader, Zalas Witherbark." Galen Trollbane gave him an approving assessment. Though the Witherbark Trolls, a branch of the forest Trolls, were utterly savage and brutal, this choice still earned his respect.

Galen Trollbane then ordered the Stromgarde militia to stop attacking and bind the Witherbark Trolls instead.

After this series of battles, almost every recruit in the Stromgarde militia had seen bloodshed, and more than two thousand of their soldiers had lost their lives.

After the battle, the Witherbark Troll population of Witherbark Village had fallen from a hundred thousand to fewer than sixty thousand. Of those, fewer than twenty thousand were ultimately classified by Galen Trollbane as elderly or children and sent off to the Hinterlands.

The remaining forty thousand Witherbark Trolls would die fighting the Scourge for the sake of those twenty thousand members of their tribe.

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