Chapter 55 - Invasion Pt.II

It didn't take long for the West's forces to appear at the borders of the West. The ogre Tyrant who had been flying overhead with his wyvern looked at the West's forces.

There were well over two hundred enemies on the West's side. However, it was a collection of E rank and D- rank creatures.

He was infuriated. Was this some sort of insult? When he had heard that the West was fighting back, he expected a grander army.

300 E rank and D- rank monsters vs 500 D and C rank creatures couldn't even be called a war. Saying it was a fight would even be too much. Worse of all, he couldn't even sense a king rank monster in the mix.

What the hell was this? Did his enemy underestimate him to this extent? If he had known the West would do only this he would have brought less creatures for the massacre he was about to cause. Even worse, a hob-goblin came forward and told him to retreat in order to avoid a humiliating defeat.

The ogre tyrant at that moment was about to jump to the battleground and kill the hob-goblin who would dare to say something like that. Suddenly, the West's forces pulled back into the forest. Were they running away? Did they get scared after realizing the sheer difference in forces? Surely their leader wasn't so easy. They must have done that to confuse him. But anyone would know a simple confusion like this wouldn't work on him. So… his opponent definitely had something else in mind, but what? At the moment, he could think of only a few things to do.

It was so funny he couldn't help but laugh.

"Boss man! Want me ta crush em?"

The one who asked this was none other than the troll king, Zod.

"Ah? Do you even need me to say it? Go-"

He was about to order that the trolls run straight into the forest, but realized how strange it was that he had been made to think this much at only the beginning. He knew he couldn't underestimate this being at this moment. His warrior pride was screaming for him to just send out a full force assault, but his logical side was begging for him to be cautious.

"Zod. Send your forces first. Dulk you will send yours if the trolls need help. Both of you kings should remain here."

His logical side won.

"B-Boss man? I'll miss out on all the glory!"

Zod complained.

"Glory? What glory can be earned from a battlefield like this one? This is just going to be a slaughter. I feel embarrassed for bringing this many soldiers."

The orc king who wanted to get the chicken for himself stood in deep thought. The ogre tyrant noticed how strange it was that the orc had not even asked any questions about his strategy.

"Dulk, do you have something on your mind?"

"Uh… N-no, Lord Krull! I shall inform my forces now!"

The orc king lifted his axe and he ran off towards the orc army. Krull glared at the running orc. Just as Zod was about to go, the ogre tyrant called him back.

"What is it boss man?"

"I don't like how that orc is behaving. If you notice him doing anything suspicious, don't hesitate to kill him."

The troll king, who despised the orc for how cowardly it was, was elated to hear his master tell him that. He had been given an opportunity to kill the coward.

"Yes sir, Krull-sama!"

The troll then ran off to give the troll army orders.

***

The trolls charged towards the battlefield like they had been ordered to. They felt no fear for they had seen their opponents. In fact they almost laughed when they saw the forces. This would be an easy battle, not even one worth remembering. They alone could handle this entire situation.

They had gone deep into the forest with all that vim and vigor, then all of a sudden,

CRASH!

A loud crashing sound could be heard when the trolls fell into deep pit holes. Over five trolls had already fallen prey to the traps set up by the rat men.

"Ya guys alright?"

One of the trolls asked his friends. The trolls at the bottom of the trap stood up with no injuries.

"YeaAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!"

Suddenly the trolls that had fallen began to scream in pain. This was because they had been bitten by the night vipers who produced a very potent poison. Poison strong enough to cause pain to even trolls, who boasted of high defenses.

"Oi! You guys!? Oi!"

It was too late. They had already died. The troll who was looking at the bottom of the pit hole was hit with a rock to the head. It didn't do much to him, however, when he lifted his head to see the source of the rock, another one came flying and hit his eye.

"AAAGGH!"

The troll stumbled back, but then he tripped over a thread woven by a spider and fell on his back. Too confused to even know what was happening, the last things he remembered seeing were two dark shadows descending on him. No, they were two rat men, holding stone daggers. One of the rat men stabbed his other eye, then the other slashed his throat, killing the troll.

The rat men immediately retreated back into the trees.

The trolls that witnessed this sight were confused. Six of their brethren had fallen in an instant. This was the handiwork of the ambush squad.

CRASH!

CRASH!

More and more, the trolls fell prey to the ambushes and traps that had been set up.

What was happening? How were they being wiped out like this? Worse of all, it was by measly E rank monsters.

"How we gon' face Zod after this!?"

A troll who couldn't take it angrily charged forward. There was one single thing the trolls knew and that was to brute force their way out of such situations. They began to start punching down the trees and stomping the ground while letting out loud yells like the barbarians that they were.

"OOOOOOHHHHH!"

The trolls began to mow down the trees, forgetting that they were supposed to leave them unharmed. They had destroyed the ambush squad's hiding spots which forced them into retreating. The trolls pushed forward fearlessly, tearing up the ground in their rage. That is, till they met a tree that moved.

The tree grabbed the troll that tried to mow it down then flipped the troll backwards. The other trolls were confused at the sight, but then another tree's branches came, wrapping themselves around a troll and elongating itself into the troll's mouth, suffocating it till it died. The other trolls just looked on, horrified at the easy sight. Sure, the trolls had tough defenses and it would be hard for weaker monsters to break through those, but weaker monsters simply needed to injure them from the inside. The treant Ichi had figured this out and his brother Ni was going to learn from him.

From their branches, several Larm Mushroo spawns hang with malicious grins, making all sorts of noises and snickering amongst themselves.

This was one of the rare moments that a troll would ever admit that they felt fear. Some stumbled back, the stupid plunged face deep and the bold just crushed down anything and everything in their way. Krull was not stupid. He sent in those with the toughest defense and made them take all the initial damage so he could ascertain the enemy's strength.

Now Trolls were losing in the most pathetic way imaginable, although only twenty had fallen so far.

"Get ready! Here they come!"

Gorm sent his orders to all his men and they were already for the attack. He himself held his short sword tightly and stood in a battle ready stance.

Thirty trolls came out in full force, led by one exceptionally big troll with dark grey hair. He let out a roar that spread fear through the West's forces. Gorm however, feared not. He trusted Hinotori with his life at this moment. Or more like, he trusted Minerva to intervene and prevent his death.

"Insect squad! CHARGE!!"

Gorm yelled valiantly and the army charged at the trolls.

Bee, firefly and beetle monsters from the insect squad approached the trolls from the sky, whereas centipedes and spiders came from the ground. The trolls who had charged in early were surprised by the sheer number. Hundreds of beetles and bees flew at them, their wings violently buzzing.

The bees used their stingers to stab some of the trolls and the beetles were able to ram into some of the trolls. The fireflies created powerful sparks and explosions that blinded or sent trolls flying.

"OOH!"

A troll fell on his knees after receiving a stinger to the chest. He tore apart the bee that stung him, however, another bee stung him from behind. He couldn't reach the bee and the paralyzing poison in the bees' stingers had already begun to take effect. The troll fell face flat on the hard ground.

"What is this!? How are there so many!?"

Another troll fell.

A troll punched one of the bees, sending it flying into another two bees. However, a centipede spat acid on the troll's leg, causing it to stumble. Then a beetle rammed into the troll, tripping it. A bee finished it off by piercing through the trolls head with its hard and poisonous stinger.

One by one, the trolls were dying. Soon, there were only ten trolls remaining. It even went so far that some of the trolls began to retreat

"R-Run back! We all gon' die!"

"Zod'll understand!"

BAAM!

The troll who began to suggest that they retreat received a powerful blow to the head, knocking him to the ground. When he looked up he saw the second-in-command of the trolls glaring at him.

"None of y'all are runnin'! If ya do, I swear that after this, Imma cut off ya damned heads!"

The troll threatened the other trolls.

"They're just bugs! We're bigger than all o' them! We can crush em! Now FIGHT!!!"

The troll who ordered them charged into the seemingly hopeless battle. The other trolls weren't motivated in anyway by what he said. Rather, as soon as he charged into the fight, the other trolls ran away, leaving him alone.

He cursed the bastards who had abandoned him then faced the battle field. He was going to win this by himself. He believed that much. Taking down a hundred of these creatures would be his limit, but he was going to surpass that or he wouldn't be worthy of using to possess the title of 'King of the Trolls'.

***

It was silent. Too silent for the ogre tyrants liking.

Then he spotted some creatures coming from the West. They were fourteen trolls. Krull wore a curious expression as he looked at them.

"Hahaha! Just as Boss man predicted. There was no need for this many soldiers. My trolls all up went and finished the job."

Krull looked at his cocky subordinate then back at the trolls. He had expected it to be an easy battle, but he did not think it would take such a short time for them to be done. Was it really that easy? He tried to sense further and was surprised to see that the West's numbers had barely reduced. Was there something wrong? What was happening?

He squeezed his eyes and he could see the trolls running. They were covered in the blood of their opponents. No, he could see open wounds on the trolls. Some of them even had stingers popping out of their bodies. Did they run away?

"Help! Help!"

One of the trolls fell before the ogre tyrant while begging for help.

"What happened?"

Zod went to the troll's side.

"The… enemy… they smart an' fast. I am poisoned. Please help."

"The enemy had more soldiers, huh? An' you kill em all? Haha! You see Boss man? Even with an em large numbers, my men killed em all!"

"Humph. I don't remember hearing that they defeated the enemy."

Krull said then closed his eyes, focusing on expanding his range. There were several, easily over a thousand opponents still there and waiting for battle.

"What? Oi, lad. You guys managed to kill em all, right?"

The ogre tyrant looked at the troll that was shaking from the effects of the poison. It wouldn't be long till all feel in his body turned numb and he would slowly die. The bees poison was a very dangerous one that made them untouched problems no one messed with. And given their habit of working together and swarming even the weakest of enemies, they managed to remain at the top as some of the most fearful creatures. Individually, they were E ranks, but as a swarm, they were approaching the likes of B rank.

"Did you kill the enemy?"

Krull asked the troll with an emotionless tone.

"No… we ran-"

"What?"

The one who asked this was Zod.

"We ran. T-the enemy's forces are just too gre-"

Zod kicked the trolls face in, not even allowing him to explain himself, then bowed to the War monger.

"I am sorry Lord Krull. My subordinate has shown you something unsightly."

Zod's demeanor suddenly changed. As he faced down, he was sweating buckets and his eyes kept dancing in their socket, fear of being killed in that moment overwhelming him. Krull looked at him for only a second then switched targets to the other trolls. Zod took notice of this and did the same, glaring at the others. They all looked at him with eyes and mouth wide open in aghast. They thought they could find safety here, but instead, they would meet something scarier than fighting the west. The troll king's wrath.

"I shall clear the remaining scum now."

The red troll moved at speeds that should have been impossible for someone of his size. His body glowed with a violent red, buffing him up. This was his [King's Aura] taking effect. It directed a feeling of dread towards weaker monsters around him.

With one punch, he had blown off one of the trolls' head. When the others saw this, they began to run back towards the West. Where else could they go? If they moved forward they would die at the hands of the Troll king or ogre tyrant, however if they went back, there was a slight possibility of surviving. They were willing to take that slight chance

"Where are you cowards going? I never gave you permission to run."

Unfortunately for them, the troll king wasn't going to let them live. In a matter of seconds, the troll wiped out all the deserters.

The ogre was pleased with the current state of events. Not about the troll army getting wiped out. No, the mere fact that he had made the right decision. When the trolls came running out of the forest, he had received all he needed to confirm his suspicions. He now felt that his decision to hold back all his forces was the right one. They would have ended up being ambushed had they gone straight ahead.

"Orcs! Ogres! Charge forward! Annihilate the West!"

The soldiers heard their master's orders and they followed it to the letter.