The Lynx God was one of the loa worshipped by the Amani Trolls.
After the trolls were defeated by the combined armies of humans and elves in the Troll Wars, their ancient empire never regained its former strength.
Several loa, one of the sources of the trolls' power, had been grievously wounded by elven and human magic in that war. They could only retreat into the ruins of ancient cities deep in the primeval forest and slowly lick their wounds.
This was the real reason the Amani Trolls had failed to recover for thousands of years. Even the gods they worshipped could no longer regularly answer their followers' prayers. Naturally, the trolls of the various tribes lost all faith in the empire's highest authorities.
From then on, the Amani Empire gradually lost its glory and fell apart. But gods were difficult to kill outright. After thousands of years of recuperation and sacrifices from a small number of faithful followers, the loa began to recover their former strength.
After disappearing during the Second War, the troll war hero Zul'jin had gone somewhere unknown to unite the tribes that remained loyal to the Amani Empire and wanted to restore the Troll Empire's rule. He had also revived the trolls' loa.
The lynx-headed priest Halazzi had originally been a devout troll who received a portion of the Lynx God's power. That divine power strengthened his physique, but also completely changed his appearance.
Arthas knew very well that these loa were a weak bunch, but that weakness was relative. Compared with the more orthodox wild gods, or even the Old Gods and the Burning Legion, they were indeed pathetically weak.
Under certain circumstances, even mortals could kill these loa, usurp their bloodlines, and seize their power.
But those circumstances were exceedingly rare. Against ordinary armies, the result was much like what had just happened: even the elite members of the Ranger Corps had been killed by Halazzi before they could react.
Even Sylvanas, with her strength diminished, had nearly been gravely wounded or killed by the Lynx God's priest in a single exchange.
This was the true depth of the troll tribes' power, accumulated over more than ten thousand years without ever truly dying out. Sylvanas had crossed into the realm of the extraordinary over a thousand years ago, yet even without the curse dragging her down, she could only have fought a portion of a loa's power to a draw, neither side able to overcome the other.
Arthas also knew something else: Halazzi had not yet fully merged with the Lynx God's power. In the original future, he had almost become one with the Lynx God himself, wielding the genuine strength of a demigod.
The current Halazzi was strong, but not yet at the level of a demigod. That was why Arthas dared to stay and fight him alone. Otherwise, after waiting for Sylvanas and the others to retreat, he would most likely have made himself invulnerable and used a teleportation scroll to flee.
Gripping his warhammer, Arthas could almost feel the danger pressing against him like something tangible. In the entire allied army of elves and humans, only Uther and Sylvanas at her normal strength could likely face this monster head-on besides him.
At last, the standoff ended. Unable to find an obvious opening, Halazzi decided to test Arthas first. His figure appeared behind Arthas as though he had teleported. The young prince reacted immediately, swinging his hammer backhanded.
But before Arthas's warhammer could strike, Halazzi's claws left deep gouges in the armor on his back and tore through his blue-and-gold cloak. By the time Arthas's hammer landed where he had been, the troll priest had already moved somewhere out of sight.
Without the Holy Light's protection, that blow would have left more than scratches on his armor. It would have ripped open his back, leaving wounds deep enough to expose bone.
"The force of his attacks isn't as ridiculous as a true demigod's..." Arthas assessed the blow. He certainly could not keep up with this lynx's speed. His opponent could strike him and dodge before his own attack landed.
Though his armor was finely crafted, against an opponent of this caliber, it was barely tougher than paper.
And paladins were not a class that competed in speed. They preferred a head-on fight, but Halazzi clearly was not foolish enough to trade blows with Arthas.
Arthas was not without options, either. He might be slower than Halazzi, but he could bring Halazzi's speed down to his own level and force him into a head-on fight!
This creature was no true demigod. His speed might have reached that level, and his offensive power was merely a little stronger than usual. Once Arthas understood that, he was already eighty or ninety percent confident of victory.
Once Halazzi realized Arthas could not touch him, he grew bolder. He attacked again, and Arthas unhesitatingly poured the Holy Light's power into the earth beneath his feet-[Consecration], one of a paladin's most commonly used area attacks. It could not only burn enemies, but also heal the caster and bolster his condition.
(PS: [] denotes weapons, skills, special names, and so on.)
Halazzi twisted his body with feline agility, changing course midway and making Arthas's attack miss again. But for a while, he could not set foot anywhere near Arthas. The Holy Light surging from the ground was certainly not there to heal him.
The troops led by Sylvanas moved farther and farther away. Arthas had been fighting Halazzi for several minutes. Once the mark of Holy Light he had left on Sylvanas moved far enough away, the prince decided it was time to end this battle.
Halazzi should have gone straight after Sylvanas, but his uncontrollable feral instincts and the pride inherited from the loa would not allow him to tolerate a failed hunt.
So Halazzi intended to kill this accursed paladin first.
The loa's mighty power filled the troll priest's entire body. Halazzi's lithe figure sprang down from the treetops, appearing directly above Arthas. An enormous phantom lynx rose behind him as he bared his terrible fangs and claws at Arthas, radiating a soul-shaking menace.
Blood-red energy surged around Halazzi's claws. The priest was certain his next attack would easily tear through Arthas's defenses of Holy Light.
Arthas looked up, his expression barely changing. The oppressive threat of death seemed to have no hold on him.
A smile appeared on the prince's face that deeply unsettled Halazzi, but he had no intention of stopping his attack. In his mind, the Lynx God's power was unrivaled-not something a slightly stronger paladin could contend with.
"The Holy Light..."
Still thinking of praying to the Holy Light? Too late.
Wearing a bloodthirsty smile, Halazzi was certain he would soon bring this arrogant knight a swift death. He moved so fast that even the snowflakes falling from above could not land on him-
Wait. Snowflakes?!
"Has forsaken me..."
A hoarse whisper rang out. The priest realized that Arthas had not spoken those words aloud; the voice had echoed directly in his soul. An inexplicable threat made every hair on his body stand on end. Even his powerful body, tempered by divine power, felt a bone-deep chill.
His claws, poised for a certain kill, plunged hard into a solid layer of ice. Both hands were trapped in ice several meters thick. A dreadful cold spread swiftly through his entire body. He felt his movements grow sluggish, and the blurred scenery around him gradually came into focus.
White-haired Arthas coldly watched Halazzi, who hung suspended in midair, bound by frost. Ghostly blue flames burned silently on the head of his warhammer, the [Might of Menethil].
He was utterly unlike the Arthas of moments before, who had been surrounded by Holy Light and radiated warmth and kindness. Now, Arthas seemed the very embodiment of darkness and ill omen.
"You... what power?!"
Halazzi roared at Arthas in broken Common. He struggled desperately to break free of the frost, shattering the thick pillars of ice with brute strength. But the frost energy that had already invaded his body slowed both his thoughts and his movements.
Arthas remained silent. He raised his warhammer and drove it toward the immobilized Halazzi's chest. Unable to dodge in time, Halazzi could only raise both hands to block.
Bones cracked. The immense force sent Halazzi flying, and he crashed heavily to the ground. He still tried to get up, but his trembling hands could no longer support his body.
Another energy mingled with the frost magic suppressed the troll's regenerative abilities. Injuries that should have healed within seconds now showed no sign of improving.
Halazzi finally understood that Arthas was no paladin at all. The power that made his very soul tremble was no blessing of the Holy Light! As he tried to escape into the jungle, irresistible dark magic seized his body like a hand, and Arthas dragged him back with ease.
[Death Grip]!
Once he was dragged before Arthas, a swift blow from the warhammer drove his entire body into the earth. The ground around him caved in under the tremendous impact.
The troll priest lay embedded in the ground, his body twisted grotesquely. Yet the trolls' formidable vitality and his god's blessing kept him from dying immediately.
Arthas raised his warhammer and delivered one final blow to the troll's chest.
As the troll priest's life finally ended, Arthas heard a piercing lynx scream. Before his eyes, a lynx-shaped soul sprang out of Halazzi's corpse.
Arthas tried to stop what might have been the Lynx God's soul, but it answered another summons that he could not intercept. It tore through the physical world at incredible speed and vanished instantly.
After the Lynx God's soul disappeared, Arthas's hair turned golden again. The oppressive aura that terrified the living vanished as well. The warm Holy Light continued to shelter Arthas, as though nothing had happened.
"If I had that sword, it wouldn't have escaped."
Arthas frowned. If the Lynx God's blessing involved hiding part of his own soul inside a troll's body, then it must have been the Lynx God himself who had recalled that fragment.
After the Lynx God's power dissipated, parts of the troll priest Arthas had killed began to revert to those of an ordinary troll. In the end, however, he still retained a lynx's head.
The god's influence had ultimately caused irreversible changes to his body. Most trolls might not have cared, but Arthas realized that if the Lynx God withdrew his power, this priest would quickly die. His body simply could not withstand such corruption.
Moreover, from the troll soul he had seized, Arthas learned that it was not a troll named Halazzi who had become the Lynx God's priest. Rather, any troll who received the Lynx God's power was given the name Halazzi. With this one dead, the trolls could cultivate a new vessel before long.
"Trolls and their gods really are hard to kill."
If this priest had possessed his power for longer, and if Arthas had been nothing more than a paladin, they might very well have been the ones to die here today.
After confirming that no other trolls were feigning death, Arthas picked up Halazzi's head and took the reins of his warhorse nearby. He healed its injuries, then hurried in the direction Sylvanas had led the others.
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