Charlemagne's sharp-tongued attacks were certainly not something Lireesa had taught him. The straitlaced Ranger-General could never have taught such a flamboyant, freewheeling fighting style.
Charlemagne had discovered this method of attack entirely by accident during a sparring match with Alleria.
At the time, Charlemagne had yet to reach his current intermediate strength. Having only recently begun studying under the Ranger-General, he was still an elementary-level rookie.
Alleria was somewhat displeased that this former fool had monopolized her mother's training time. Lately, he had even taken up quite a bit of her second sister's private instruction time.
Upholding the fine tradition of teaching newcomers a lesson, Alleria volunteered to give Charlemagne an instructional sparring match.
Naturally, Charlemagne could not have asked for more than a chance to trade blows with an expert. He also wanted to find out just how great the gap was between his current self and Alleria Windrunner, who was destined to leave a deep mark on Azeroth's history.
But having both sides use ranged attacks would have been far too unfair. As an intermediate ranger, Alleria far surpassed Charlemagne in range, speed, and total focus, so the two ultimately decided to spar using melee techniques.
Alleria's melee weapons were two small daggers. This seemed to be a Windrunner family tradition as well; at least, Charlemagne had seen his mentor Lireesa, Sylvanas, and Vereesa all using the same weapons.
There was little suspense to this fight. Had Alleria not deliberately wanted to teach Charlemagne a lesson, the outcome could have been settled very quickly.
But Alleria's constant taunts as they exchanged blows irritated Charlemagne beyond endurance, and he promptly began retaliating without anyone having taught him how.
"Huh? A siscon like you has the nerve to say I'm taking up your mother's time? How about getting your little sister to show a little more promise instead?"
"You don't know what a siscon is? That's fine. All you need to know is that it means an obsessive fondness for your little sister."
"I'm talking nonsense? Hah! If you don't believe me, look at the sincere eyes of the rangers around camp. Ask them whether I'm talking nonsense!"
"Angry because I hit a nerve? Your mental game needs work. Come on! Slash over here."
The final result was, of course, that Alleria caught Charlemagne and gave him a thorough beating. Having vented her anger, the female elf turned away with a huff and went to tell her sister of her accomplishments.
But this fight had clearly opened the door to a whole new world for Charlemagne, who lay on the ground with a bruised and swollen face.
From then on, Charlemagne grew increasingly proficient at taunting in combat. The rangers who fought him were often driven into a fury, naturally losing their composure and getting defeated by Charlemagne one after another.
Even the normally steady Lor'themar had once lost his cool over his older brother's venomous tongue. After that, however, Lor'themar's disposition instead became... even steadier. Of course, his presence grew even fainter as well.
Now, provoked into a rage by Charlemagne, Halazzi could not spare a thought for retreat.
All he could think about was hacking that blabbermouth elf brat to death, taking his head to make a chamber pot, extracting his essence to make mojo, and eating his body that very night.
Charlemagne, on the other hand, was finding the fight increasingly easy. With Sylvanas supporting him, his opponent's straightforward attacks posed little threat to him at all.
The thrill of toying with an advanced warrior above his own level made Charlemagne get carried away. Growing increasingly reckless, he even forgot about Sylvanas supporting him from behind. He leaped backward with Disengage, drew the longbow from his back, and fired an Aimed Shot.
But only once he was in midair did he realize something was wrong. Wasn't he screwing Sylvanas over like this?
Sure enough, with her front line suddenly gone, Sylvanas found herself directly facing the enraged Halazzi.
With Charlemagne blocking his path earlier, Halazzi had been unable to find a route to dive into the back line with Heroic Leap even if he wanted to. Now, the way ahead had opened up all at once, and the female elf who had been harassing him with arrows appeared directly before him.
What little reason Halazzi retained told him to attack the back line, so he immediately summoned his rage and jumped over with Heroic Leap.
"Oh no!"
His joy turning to disaster, Charlemagne could only regret it now. He hurriedly fired three Aimed Shots, hoping to delay Halazzi's attack for a moment.
He achieved his aim. Upon landing, Halazzi first knocked aside the three powerful arrows, which cost him quite a bit of time.
In theory, that should have been enough time for Sylvanas to use Disengage and swap positions with Charlemagne again. But Queen Xi, likewise facing an advanced warrior head-on for the first time, was cowed by his towering killing intent and reacted half a beat too slowly.
By the time she used Disengage, Halazzi had already freed his hands. Seeing that Sylvanas was about to escape, he drew a throwing knife from his waist with his left hand, infused it with rage, and hurled it.
Already in midair, Sylvanas could no longer dodge. She could only struggle to lower the longbow in her hands, hoping its narrow body could block the throwing knife.
Fortunately, Charlemagne outdid himself at that moment. An arrow he fired actually intercepted the speeding throwing knife. In his anxiety, however, he had advanced a few steps, putting himself just inside Halazzi's Charge range.
"Hahaha! Die, elf brat!"
Halazzi gave a hearty laugh and swiftly used Charge to slam toward Charlemagne, raising his scimitar to slash down at his head.
Now it was Charlemagne's turn to be at a loss. In desperation, he could only pour all his remaining focus into the longbow in his hands and do everything he could to redirect the force, knocking the scimitar slightly off course.
But...
I'm done for. My face is going to be disfigured!
Swish!
The deflected scimitar still swept vertically down from near his right forehead. Although most of its force had been dissipated, its sharp tip still left a long wound across his face.
"Charlemagne!"
Sylvanas's startled cry rang out at that moment.
Yawen, who had already been planning to retreat, noticed the situation on their side upon hearing her cry. He immediately stepped back twice and fired an Arcane Shot at Halazzi.
Halazzi, who was preparing to press his advantage, had his movement interrupted by this arrow. As he freed a hand to knock Yawen's arrow away, arrows from Sylvanas and the other rangers came flying in one after another.
"Hmph!"
Knowing he had no more opportunities, Halazzi also began retreating rapidly. That slash, which had vented his anger, had restored his composure.
"Hahaha! Elf brat, keep that shameful scar until I come back to take your head next time!"
After withdrawing into their own ranks, neither Nalorakk nor Halazzi lingered. They led their troops straight into the forest beside the road.
This place was close to Zul'Aman. The trolls traveled through this forest year-round and clearly knew many trails the elves did not.
When Lireesa arrived with her troops, she happened to catch sight of her prized pupil looking thoroughly dejected, his face wrapped in a layer of woolen bandages after a priest had stopped his bleeding.
(End of chapter)