Chapter 250: The Road Is Long and Difficult

  The troll soldiers naturally didn't catch up.

  They even took several direct hits from Fireball, suffering heavy losses.

  Seeing the raging fire, the trolls had no choice but to detour instead of waiting.

  The moment they saw the fmes rise, the trolls knew the journey ahead wouldn't be peaceful.

  They were right!

  After walking only a few hundred meters,

  the troll soldiers leading the way immediately screamed in pain.

  Baturu, who was leading the group, frowned as he looked at the thick pile of fallen leaves and used his weapon to clear them away.

  A few rough, menacing iron spikes were revealed.

  Baturu's mouth twitched slightly as he picked up one of the barbed spikes.

  With a light press of his finger, a sharp sting shot through his fingertip.

  Drops of blood flowed from the wound, looking especially gruesome under the crimson moonlight.

  Baturu didn’t know what this thing was called, but from its menacing appearance and barbs, he understood its purpose.

  The screams of the surrounding troll soldiers were enough to demonstrate its "effectiveness."

  He had considered having the trolls run over these terrifying spikes.

  But these inconspicuous spikes could pierce into the bone, and the sharp pain would break the already low morale of the trolls.

  Most trolls weren't afraid of death; they just wanted to live!

  After hesitating for a moment, Baturu ordered the trolls to chop down trees while having the soldiers report to the troll priest.

  He certainly didn’t want to go himself…

  Surprisingly, although the troll priest was furious, he didn’t kill any more troll soldiers.

  Baturu wasn’t sure if they were saving manpower or if they had already figured out a solution.

  Either way, he let out a sigh of relief and got to work chopping trees, using the strenuous bor to numb himself.

  The felled trees were tied together and id on the ground.

  Hundreds of troll soldiers trampled over them, clearing away dozens of meters of spikes.

  As long as the spikes weren’t densely packed, missing a few didn’t matter.

  Baturu acted swiftly, taking just over an hour to forcibly open a path.

  To prevent future encounters with spikes, he even had the troll soldiers carry dozens of small trees as a precaution.

  Unfortunately, while Baturu’s idea was good, the troubles ahead were far too many.

  Two walls of fire.

  A deep trench.

  Over a dozen hidden Fireball explosions.

  Occasional shots from behind.

  This back-and-forth torment sted nearly the entire night.

  The almost exhausted troll soldiers were moved to tears when they saw the sunrise in the distance.

  They never expected that what should have been a routine night march would bring them such immense pain.

  Aside from the 80 or so trolls killed by Fireball, the overall number of trolls hadn’t changed much.

  However, their combat effectiveness had significantly declined.

  Hunger, exhaustion, pain, and panic surged in their hearts.

  Fortunately, the bright daylight brought them some comfort.

  At least they could now see many of the traps and troubles in advance and avoid them.

  More importantly,

  they were now only two days away from the northern bank of the Silvermoon River.

  Just a little more endurance, and they would reach their destination.

  "Rest here, hunting teams, prepare food!"

  The troll priests’ order to rest made all the troll soldiers breathe a long sigh of relief.

  They had gone almost two days and nights without proper rest, facing various attacks and harassment along the way.

  Even the strongest body couldn't endure such torment.

  Even if their bodies could hold up, their spirits were in extreme danger!

  As over 3,000 trolls headed to three different hunting grounds,

  Beelzebub, who watched the scene unfold, grinned brightly, gripping his rge axe with a desire to chop something.

  "Whew, the results are even better than pnned."

  Elio also noticed the trolls’ exhaustion, a fiery red glow fshing in her eyes. Recalling the upcoming pn, she pointed at one of the separated hunting teams:

  "The time is right; it’s time to teach them a hard lesson!"

  Despite not sleeping well, Feli felt energized.

  She had a unique feeling; this was entirely different from ordinary team adventures.

  Even though she didn't fully grasp it, she felt the weight of the task on her shoulders.

  She checked her crossbow and excitedly pointed at the trolls, saying:

  "Heh heh, let’s be quick this time; no prisoners!"

  Everyone could sense the tension in her voice, but they all shared the same feeling.

  This battle would determine whether their territory could develop smoothly!

  It was also a test to understand their main enemies in the future.

  Everyone was struggling to survive in the Dark Forest; if Bay Territory got more, the trolls would get less.

  Conflict was inevitable!

  Elona, who wouldn’t be directly joining the battle, carefully observed the trolls' mental and physical state, and with the help of Gugu (the Wisdom Tree), detailed her observations:

  "The troll soldiers are extremely fatigued; in their current state, their strength will drop by 40%, agility by 60%, and recovery ability by 30%."

  "If we can outst them, we could wear them down in about half an hour..."

  "However, they’ve probably anticipated this and prepared accordingly, so sticking to the original pn and a swift assault is the safest approach!"

  Her clear voice made everyone nod in agreement.

  Although curious about how Elio observed so accurately, everyone tacitly refrained from asking.

  Ange, who had been silent all this time, slowly stood up, gazing at the dense Dark Forest in the distance and the direction of the right-side troll hunting team. After pondering for a moment, she said:

  "This is a rare opportunity; let’s strike now!"

  As she spoke, Ange mounted her horse.

  Over 200 waiting cavalrymen mounted their horses in unison behind her.

  They made no sound, silently charging toward the enemy’s location.

  The others quickly followed, advancing toward the unsuspecting troll hunting team according to the pre-set pn.

  The clueless troll hunting team looked joyfully at the herd of cattle and sheep, feeling a surge of emotion.

  They hadn't appreciated it before, but losing something makes you cherish it more.

  So, they moved quickly, capturing a rge number of prey at top speed.

  This time, they were smarter.

  They didn’t kill all the prey immediately but opted to keep them alive.

  The captured food was enough for two or three meals, so even if they didn't find good hunting grounds ahead, they wouldn’t worry about food.

  It was a good idea, but it only gave the Bay Territory soldiers a bigger surprise.

  The scattered trolls, each carrying their prey,

  were happily chatting on the ft grassnd moments ago, but in the blink of an eye, the cavalry charged right into them.

  Caught completely off guard, they were instantly pierced through!

  FALCON-N