Book 11: Chapter 44: Ambush

“Lago, make another trip. After nightfall, bring everyone else over.” A cold glint flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes. “We won’t circle around the mountain anymore. After we take out these three Troll sentries, we’ll go straight over the mountain.”

“Firal, this won’t work. The observation posts the Trolls set up on both sides of the town might not be the only one. There are many low hills in this area.” Mastashia frowned.

“I know. So before night falls, we still need to check how many more Troll sentry posts are nearby.” Qin Lun said calmly with a smile.

“You plan to fight your way through?” Mastashia said in surprise. “If any one sentry post has problems, we’re finished. Why not take a longer way around?”

“We can’t get around. This Troll town is so big. To support so many people, their hunting range must be huge.” Qin Lun pointed downhill. “The forest is full of Troll hunting parties. If any hunting party finds us, we’ll have run right into their trap.”

“On the other hand, these low hills near the town probably have large beasts cleared out since Troll sentries are here, and it’s not their hunting area. As long as we take out the sentries on the hilltops, other Trolls won’t find us. This is the lowest risk option.”

“How boring!” Mastashia muttered, but didn’t insist on her opinion.

As an excellent adventurer, the Highland Elf naturally understood what Qin Lun said. But when things came to a head, everyone had a bit of wishful thinking. Someone as cold and cruel as Qin Lun was rare.

“I’ll go check the other nearby peaks!” Mastashia said softly.

“No, let Iristin and my hunting partner go. They are less likely to be spotted.” Qin Lun held Mastashia back and tilted his chin toward Iristin.

Iristin nodded, dropped to the ground, rolled, and transformed into a small black mountain cat. Her amethyst-like cat eyes blinked in a human-like way, then she turned and vanished into the bushes. After that, the Shadow Gale Panther, summoned by Qin Lun, ran down the mountain from another direction.

“Can Lago bring them over?” Mastashia was a little worried.

“It’s fine. Hill has a Telepathy ability. I’ll send the images I see to him. We should be able to avoid the Troll lookout on the hilltop.” The Yin-Yang Fish Pattern in Qin Lun’s eyes flickered slightly. Black-and-white sketch images were fed back to the Team Channel for Hill and Rand to use as reference.

As the sun set, night slowly covered the mountain peak. During this time, the Troll lookout on the hilltop changed guards once, but didn’t notice the two Elves hiding right under their noses.

When it was completely dark, Iristin and the Shadow Gale Panther returned from their scouting trip. Their luck was quite good; they found another Troll sentry post nearby.

That sentry post was much more hidden than the peak lookout here. It was in a hidden cave on the mountainside, blocked by large rocks above and below. If not for the guard change, Iristin might not have found it.

“Hill, are you ready?” Lago didn’t bring the rest of the team to meet up. The Thornblood Trio and Hill’s group went directly to that sentry post. They were going to strike together, clearing both Troll sentry posts at the same time, then skirt around the Troll town under cover of darkness.

“We have no problems on our end. Are you sure you don’t need help over there? Should we have Lago make another trip?” Hill asked cautiously.

Both Troll sentry posts had three Trolls. Hill’s side had six combatants in total, including a dragon-bloodline Mage. But Qin Lun’s side only had three people, a bit weaker in strength.

“It’s fine. The terrain at your sentry post is too dangerous. Having more people can prevent unexpected situations.” Qin Lun shook his head and refused, then threw a look to the two Elf beauties beside him.

“Remember what I told you. Don’t let the Trolls light the signal fire, or we’re finished.” Mastashia seriously reminded her two companions.

Qin Lun and Iristin nodded. The three of them quietly crept toward the hilltop. Soon, three pairs of gleaming eyes appeared at the edge of the flat hilltop platform.

Perhaps they had lived too peacefully for too long. The three Trolls acting as lookouts showed no alertness at all. Two of them sat around a campfire, heads drooping as they dozed. Their snoring was clearly audible even to Qin Lun’s group over ten meters away.

The last Troll was dutiful, leaning against a chest-high boulder as it gazed downhill. However, the direction it watched seemed to be toward the Troll town, not paying attention to the sparse woodland below.

This Troll town covered a huge area, with the Winding River passing through the middle. The high lookouts set up on the left and right sides of the town weren’t actually for defending against outside enemies, but to guard against magical beasts in the mountains.

Trolls were the true rulers of Troll Claw. The magical beasts in the mountains usually wouldn’t actively attack the town, but sometimes they would raid the animal pens on the town’s outskirts. If there were severe natural disasters, and the beast herds of Troll Claw couldn’t survive the cold winter, then beast tides attacking the Troll town would erupt.

Individual magical beasts sneaking into the pens to steal food wasn’t worth the hilltop lookout sending an alarm. Most of the time, these posts were just for show, no wonder the Trolls on duty were bored enough to doze off.

Qin Lun gestured with his lips toward the two Elf beauties, indicating the two Trolls by the campfire were theirs. He himself quietly circled halfway around and crept toward the still-awake Troll.

Looking at the Troll not far away, grinning foolishly with its mouth open as if lost in some daydream, a cold glint flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes.

In a certain legend of Faerûn, Trolls were said to share a bit of blood relation with mountain giants. Qin Lun couldn’t confirm if this legend was true, but judging from the Trolls’ powerful physical defense, it didn’t seem impossible.

Trolls had excellent Earth Element Affinity. Some exceptionally gifted Trolls, after reaching adulthood, would awaken “Power of the Earth.” They had an innate talent—throwing huge rocks.

Troll skin had good resistance to both physical and magical attacks. Even with a Legendary weapon like Frostwind Chaser, severing their limbs in one strike was very difficult, unless it was a pure swordsman or blade master with extremely high skill.

Although Qin Lun had also mastered single-handed melee weapon proficiency, he obviously couldn’t achieve that. Therefore, he had to find the Troll’s physical weak points to inflict heavy damage.

Neck, heart—these vital spots on a normal human body—might not work on Trolls. Trolls had very few true vital spots. Eyes, ear canals, mouth, anus—only these places that could directly damage the Troll’s internal organs counted as fatal weaknesses.

Of course, accurately attacking these spots wasn’t easy. Trolls weren’t wooden dummies; on the contrary, they had quite cunning minds.

Qin Lun crawled on his belly, approaching the Troll from the side. He had sprayed himself with a potion Mastashia provided, which smelled a bit like grass, to avoid detection by the Trolls’ keen sense of smell.

“Almost there!” Qin Lun felt very lucky. Until he got within five meters of the Troll, it still hadn’t noticed him. Clearly, the Perception of ordinary Trolls was indeed quite weak, just as Mastashia had said. This was one of this species’ few weaknesses.

Qin Lun made no sound. Pushing hard with his limbs, he leaped up from the ground, flipped 180 degrees, facing the night sky, arms spread out in mid-air, his back toward the Troll as he swept past over its head.

Just as his back passed over the Troll’s head, Qin Lun twisted his waist, his spread arms drawing a graceful arc. The Dagger of Sin in his right hand flashed with a dark light, stabbing fiercely toward the Troll’s ear canal.

Qin Lun felt the Dagger of Sin plunge into something like extremely tough leather. It went in less than two inches before losing force.

“Squelch!” A wave of hot, foul-smelling liquid splashed all over his face and head. But Qin Lun’s heart still tightened. Out of the corner of his eye, he actually saw this Troll, with its ear canal pierced, turn its head. Its fierce eyes still held a trace of confusion.

Such a wound still wasn’t fatal? Qin Lun was greatly surprised. Even though the dagger only went in two inches, that depth should have clearly damaged the Troll’s brain. Yet it could still react.

The next moment, this Troll with a severely injured brain finally felt unparalleled pain. Its eyes grew somewhat unfocused, its ugly face began to contort, countless blood vessels bursting in its fierce eyes.

Although its thoughts fell into chaos, its powerful life force prompted an instinctive reaction.

“Rooaar…” The Troll opened its mouth wide. Heavy sound waves hammered deep into Qin Lun’s mind like drumbeats. The volume of this roar wasn’t high, but the shockwave it contained was very powerful. This was the Troll’s Battle Roar talent.

“Not good!” Qin Lun felt dizzy. His left hand reflexively slapped the hilt of the Dagger of Sin, driving the blade fully into the Troll’s brain like a hammer. At the same time, his right hand twisted the dagger, laboriously turning it half a circle, turning the Troll’s brain into mush.

Using this force, he twisted his waist and abdomen for leverage, his legs coiling around the Troll’s thick neck like old tree roots, desperately clamping its throat. The Battle Roar cut off abruptly, only half uttered.

“Thud!” The Troll’s legs gave way, and it fell face down. Its tenacious life force kept the giant beast from dying immediately. But without its brain to command, its limbs flailed wildly, smashing the rocky ground and sending stone chips flying, yet it could no longer harm the enemy on its back.

Qin Lun let out a heavy breath, finally having time to look up and check the situation on the other side. After personally fighting a Troll, he instinctively sensed things might not be as easy as he imagined.

At a glance, he saw the two Elf beauties’ sneak attack on the two dozing Trolls had indeed gone wrong. Interestingly, the one who messed up wasn’t Iristin, but Mastashia, who had more combat experience.