Supreme Monarch

Chapter 85: Challenge

Azar immediately felt the shift in the battle as the newly evolved trolls went berserk and ran wild amidst the battlefield. Up until that point, everything had roughly gone according to plan. However, they hadn’t expected the Trolls to evolve amid battle.

Both trolls were now faster, more agile, and even more skilled than they had been before, and although he could sense that these trolls had grown far stronger than him.

He was still confident in taking on one of the evolved trolls without their berserk skills. However, this was not a one-on-one battle and there were two of these evolved trolls, not including the ten plus Gray trolls he had to worry about.

Azar was in charge of this battle but he wasn’t suited to be a general. There were five Gray trolls on his side but he couldn’t utilize them properly as the evolved trolls were too fast for them to handle. He has the Gray trolls protect the kobolds who he had assigned to the side. They were to occasionally try and immobilize as many of the enemy Gray trolls as they could.

The mages and rangers in the back were tasked with restricting the evolved trolls as much as they could. While Tarka could use low-level healing spells, their force did not have any other healers so they could not afford to be careless.

The evolved trolls in their berserk state were just too much for them to handle properly and Azar didn’t know if they could win like this. They had a force of more than 30 fighters and outnumber the enemy 3-1, yet they were now at a clear disadvantage even though they had successfully eliminated all the goblin riders cutting g the enemy’s forces by more than half.

This just showed Azar how unpredictable a troll was. If he had known about this earlier on, perhaps he wouldn’t have taunted the trolls so much, well maybe not. Azar gritted his teeth as he fought against the Battle Troll. Maybe he could turn the tide around if he used his berserk skill. °Thunder Rampage° But that was incredibly risky and had a very limited time limit.

The Berserker Troll seems to be getting stronger as his aura intensified and more of the shield warriors in front of him began to fly back. He wanted to help them but even with the aid of Nadine and Lora, he was still barely holding back the Battle Troll from massacring his men.

As the battle went on, the volleys of spells and arrows began to thin as the rangers and mages were both running out of mana and arrows. The Shield Warriors besides Hart and Talen were also sweating buckets as they were visibly drained.

Azar had always had Albert or Kelvin to rely on with stuff like this and was always free to run wild on the battlefield. However, this time was different, he had to focus on the entire battle and not just the opponent in front of him.

As the seconds went by, the pressure he felt from his people getting brutalized made him feel like he had no choice but to also go berserk and was on the verge of activating his skill when suddenly.

The air got heavier and felt stifling. The Battle Troll in front of him suddenly halted his step and so did the Gray trolls behind.

With such large frames, they were surely easy targets for the rangers and mages to pick off. However, none of the rangers had also made a move.

The entire battlefield that was only seconds away from turning into a bloodbath had suddenly just grounded to a halt.

The Gray trolls in the back looked petrified and the evolved trolls hesitated. He was a little slow on the uptake as he had spent most of his time since coming here, either attending to the Trolls and the Six-eyed bulls or practicing with his new weapon. But as he saw the looks of relief on the faces of his men, he instantly knew what was happening.

The space warped and constricted as three figures walked out of the void and appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Azar and everyone from the settlement immediately gave way for these figures to pass and they walked forward towards the evolved trolls with unhurried strides.

•••••••••••

Kazko frowned at the sight of these three figures that had just appeared after that strange phenomenon that had occurred. He looked at them with perturbation in his eyes as his thumb tapped on the hilt of his sword.

He had only just taken control of this battle, and just as he was about to achieve his goal, something else just had to interfere. His eyes narrowed in a cold glint of fury, but he still managed to hold himself back.

He knew a little about magic and whatever spell it was that had brought those three here and instilled fear in his men must be of a relatively high rank and he should be wary of the caster a little.

Kazko recalled his trolls that were scattered on the battlefield and they slowly retreat behind the two of them in what one would call a defensive formation.

There was no longer any trace of the once chaotic battle that had been going on earlier on this plains as an eerily silence ruled the air.

The thick grey clouds in the sky had slowly been thinned out and the light of the silver moon illuminated the somewhat bloody battleground but somehow seem to only focus on these three.

The three figures constituted of two males and a female and while most Gray Trolls and Gray war trolls normally couldn’t discern specific differences in other races, Kazko could. And with his new form, he was able to tell everyone apart without trouble.

The female among the three was the first to capture his attention. He was not interested in other races sexually, but there was something about her that made him feel inferior, almost like he was the lower lifeform and Kazko immediately deemed her the magic-user he should be wary of.

She had long lustrous and silky blue hair that ran down to her waist. Her deep blue eyes were like the boundless sea, combined with her soft facial features, she looked like what the ancient tomb he read describes a sea goddess as. Not that he had ever seen one.

The second was an old man that exuded a fearsome presence the likes of which he had never seen before. The only thing he could compare it to was the two Doom Knights that guarded lord Zerahut. However, Kazko believes he was stronger than those knights right now so he quickly moved his gaze.

The last was a young man that did not exude any aura. However, he commanded a different presence. Kazko could see that the earlier two trailed slightly behind this man and all the fighters on the battlefield looked at him in a sort of reverence or respect.

Perhaps he was their leader. He had once heard a story that humans elected weaklings as their leaders and perhaps demons were the same. ‘Wait Demons?’ With a sudden realization, it was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him.

He remembered the warning lord Zerahut had given them before they left and it frightened him. His usually sharp mind went numb as he just stared blankly at the three as they walked closer to them when suddenly.

“WHAT NONSENSE IS THIS! How dare you fools interrupt my fun and dare ignore me! You pigs are all dead, DEAD!”

Like a jolt of lightning, Kazko mind started working again. He was sure that Rekaz had forgotten the warning lord Zerahut had given them, but even Rekaz wouldn’t challenge opponents he couldn’t win against and that reignited another realization in him.

They were no longer as weak as they once were. Kazko had always surpassed his limit from the time he was a simple cave troll, to being a Gray troll and then a Gray-War troll, finally, he was one of the first trolls ever to evolve during battle and Rekaz had done the same.

Three was no longer any need to fear demons and even if they couldn’t win, with the two of them working together they wouldn’t lose either. At the very least, they would be able to escape after dealing a fatal blow to the enemy.

Kazko raised his left arm to stop Rekaz from charging in recklessly as they still had to be wary of the female magic-user.

He tightened the grip on his sword and pointed the tip confidently at the three figures that strolled towards him as the rest of the ogres slowly retreat behind them as well.

“That’s enough, I don’t know who any of you newcomers are, but if you stand in our way we’ll show you no mercy.”

“Fascinating.”

Tyler came to a stop a few meters away from the light Gray troll clad in bone armor and so did Erin and Albert, he blinked several times as he switched his gaze between the red troll and the gray one with a slightly excited glint in his eyes.

“Wow, I was expecting it but you both can actually speak, and so well. The last one spoke as well but you could tell he wasn’t that good at it. Or maybe he just hasn’t spoken a lot.”

“Last one?” Kazko’s expression was one of even greater perturbation as he analyzes the meaning behind this man’s words.

“I have a question for you if you can understand it. I was off the impression that it took trolls a long time to evolve and they should only be able to evolve a maximum of twice if I’m not mistaken. So from the information I have of your species, you should not have been able to evolve anymore, so how did you both do it? moreover, you did it during battle rendering the plan I was so proud of invalid.”

Kazko’s eyes stared blankly at this strange man that kept spouting nonsense and he could see that Rekaz was almost at his limit. He wanted to say something when he was rudely interrupted by the man again.

“You know I was never really much of a collector in my day, and I never liked those that always wanted to have something as long as it was extremely rare or considered a limited edition. They tend to annoy me when they brag about it, but looking at you two now, I’m starting to see the appeal.”

At this point, even Albert wasn’t sure what he was talking about but he understood the last part of wanting those rare specimens and just nodded his head.

Tyler soon continued on his rambling as everyone just stared at him blankly. “Hmm, I went off topic there for a moment my apologies. Basically, I find you both very interesting, most demi-human species are unable to evolve and get any stronger, their potential is decided during the first few years of their lives, and although trolls could. The two of you have somehow still managed to surpass your limits and that has piqued my curiosity and I’ll like to find out how you did that, no worries I am not cruel so you will be well taken care of.”

Tyler raised his head at the two unique trolls and with a smile he spoke. “So how bout it, why don’t you two become my pets.”

“…”

“Huh?”

Tyler suddenly sensed the change in the atmosphere as his excitement rapidly drained from his eyes as he brought an arm to his chin and thought.

“Oh right, you were both on the verge of winning before we interrupted right, so of course you wouldn’t want to be under someone you’re stronger than… Yeah.”

He waved his arm and Albert who then asked the ogres and beastmen to retreat further back and continued.

“How bout this, although the last time I technically lost to that War troll, I’m quite confident I can win this time. You all can attack me at once, and if you can make a single scratch on me, I’ll admit defeat and even hand over the magic weapon you’re after.”

Rekaz anger could no longer be contained as his aura exploded like a volcano and he lunged at the arrogant demon in front of him, however, the man’s eyes flashed red and Rekaz temporarily lost control of his legs and fell on his face.

“I don’t remember giving you permission to start.”

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