Chapter 92: Encircled

  Whoosh!

  A dark green Melf's Acid Arrow shot through the air, making a sharp whistling sound, and struck a trht in the chest.

  The severely iroll staggered as Beelzebub stepped forward and swung his axe down on its neck.

  The stench of troll blood filled the air as Beelzebub g the still-sizzling wound oroll’s chest, feeling a chill deep in his heart.

  "So this is the power of an arist? It's no less impressive than the warriors of the Eastern Empire..."

  Beelzebub had initially thought that he and his kin would end up as on fodder in this battle, like so many others of their kind.

  But instead, what awaited them was a strict training regimen, far more demanding than he had imagined.

  What troubled Beelzebub the most was the old white-haired instructor.

  Though frail and aged, the instructor possessed terrifying bat experiend teique.

  After beien down a few times, Beelzebub had no choice but to follow his orders, restraining his kin and pushing them to train harder.

  In the following training sessions, Beelzebub and the other barbarian soldiers received ons and equipment of unpreted quality.

  When Beelzebub accepted the double-headed axe, a reward from Instructor Arnold for his successful training,

  He was struck by a feeling he couldn’t quite describe—something deep, something powerful.

  The full set of metal armor and the finely crafted iron ons seemed like treasures that only the bravest warriors in the barbarian army could earn.

  Beelzebub had his doubts about why the lord was treating them so well.

  Was it only to make them better on fodder?

  But Arnold, the old instructave him a surprising answer:

  "Ha, ry to guess the iions of a powerful, mysterious arist with your own limited uanding."

  "Improving your strength and bat ability is the only way to repay the lord."

  "Let me be blunt: even if you all tried to escape back to your homend, you wouldn’t live better lives than you do here."

  Though the words stung, they left all the barbarian soldiers silent.

  The lord who had bought them didn’t bind them or throw them into prison; instead, he had given them more than they ever imagined possible.

  Sihen, Beelzebub and the others had settled into their new lives, putting aside their questions.

  After all, they had already lost too much.

  In Bay Vilge, they were pced into scattered families, each living apart but tent with their stable, far better than their previous "wealthy" lives.

  Not having to toil in the scorg sun and fierce winds, being able to feed their families—it was all they could have ever hoped for.

  In fact, many of the barbarian soldiers felt a deep sense of fear and ay, pushing them to work harder in training, afraid that if they displeased the lord, they would lose this newfound life.

  As a result, every barbarian soldier carried with them high morale and an unwaveriermination to fight any enemy!

  Bang!

  Beelzebub stepped forward, swinging his axe to strike a troll from behind, saving a fallen soldier in the process.

  The soldier gave him a thumbs up before being dragged to the baes, gulping down a bottle of blood-replenishing potion, quickly regaining his strength.

  It was only then that Beelzebub remembered the three blood-replenishing potions strapped to his belt, true lifesavers in the heat of battle.

  "Even a grunt like me gets to use these precious and expensive alchemical potions?"

  Once, Beelzebub wouldn’t have thought this way. He might have even thought it wasteful for the lord to give him such valuable resources. But now, his perspective had ged!

  "After all, my life belongs to the lord. I’ll follow his orders until the very end!"

  Watg from the baes, Ange observed the chaotic csh betweerolls and the barbarian soldiers and couldn’t help but shake her head.

  "We still o improve their coordination..."

  But she was also impressed with the barbarian soldiers’ bat abilities and spirit. Patiently, she directed the other soldiers to support their barbarian allies in battle.

  Their straightforward fighting style didn’t require plex tactics—simple adjustments would suffice for eveer results.

  Listening to the satisfying sound of kill notifications, Matthew also he simple yet effective coordinatioween the barbarian soldiers and regur troops.

  "It seems turning the barbarians into heavy infantry might be a good idea, but this is just the beginning..."

  "And the barbarians excel more in offehan defense. sidering their preference for heavy ons, perhaps..."

  "Wait, where did the other trolls go?"

  Suddenly feeling uneasy, Matthew turned his gaze toward the distance, and his expression shifted.

  The hundreds of trolls that had emerged from the valley hadn’t crossed the river. Instead, they had disappeared into the surrounding forest.

  Yaya, who had been lying low, raised her head cautiously, her slit-pupiled eyes narrowing as she focused on the right side of the battlefield, speaking gravely:

  "Over a hurorolls are charging toward us."

  "Hundreds more trolls are cirg around, tightening the noose..."

  Cirg around?

  A noose?

  So the trolls in front of them had just been bait?

  Matthew patted Yaya’s head and clicked his tongue in thought:

  "To devour us whole, these trolls are willing to sacrifice over a hundred of their own. How intriguing..."

  Though his tone was casual, inwardly Matthew remained alert.

  The previous battles may have gone smoothly, but that didn’t mean he could let his guard down. This was a real, living world—there were no respawns here.

  Despite feeling uneasy about the trolls’ strategy, Matthew didn’t show any signs of panic.

  Maintaining the image of a mysterious, powerful figure was crucial!

  After alerting Ange, Matthew turned his attention to the remaining twenty trolls by the river, raising his staff without hesitation.

  Boom!

  The trolls, noed by the soldiers he river, were hit hard by another Fireball spell, four of them falling instantly.

  The remaining trolls struggled and fought desperately.

  Meanwhile, the soldiers pushed forward, rag to elimihem before the wave of trolls arrived.

  Both sides were rag against time!

  Just then, over a hundred fully armed, t trolls burst onto the battlefield with pierg howls from the right fnk.

  Matthew khat in the forest to the left, hundreds more trolls were charging toward them.

  Ange, already warned, showed no signs of panic as she called out to steady the soldiers:

  "Don’t panic! Squads two and three, tihe attack. Squads one and four, fall bad regroup."

  Though the soldiers had been training for nearly a month, rapidly disengaging from a fierce battle and ref their ranks remained a difficult task.

  By the time they maroup, the hundred-plus trolls were already closing in.

  And now, from just over a hundred meters away on the left side, the shadows of hundreds more trolls began to emerge.

  Matthew and his soldiers were now surrounded!

  The adventurers still entangled with trolls in the distance caught sight of this, their faces turning pale with shock.

  The adventurers’ reas were mixed.

  Some were already siderireat, preparing to flee the moment things went south.

  Others wao help but hesitated in the face of the trolls’ overwhelming numbers and terrifying power, remaining oskirts.

  The rgest group chose to watd wait, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

  After all, adventurers weren’t fond of unnecessary risks!

  FAL