Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Little Skeleton Who Was Worshipped

"Elder Calvin, has this village already been discovered by the forest trolls?" Han asked gravely, turning to Calvin.

"Han, why do you suddenly ask that?" Calvin said, startled. "A few days ago, several forest trolls kept appearing nearby, but even we do not know whether they found anything."

Through the demon's eyes, Han saw that this time there were five or six hundred trolls. Warriors, hunters, and priests advanced in an orderly fashion, their formation tight and well coordinated. That meant this wave of forest trolls had to come from a major power. Five or six hundred trolls, supported by enough hunters and priests, was absolutely a force that could not be ignored.

In the dwarves' village, only fifty or sixty were capable of fighting. Even with Han and a few elves added to the mix, their strength could not be compared with that of the trolls. Han understood at once that this crisis would be very difficult to survive.

"Five or six hundred forest trolls are heading this way. It looks as though your village has already been exposed." Han let out a soft sigh and stated the truth.

Bennett still seemed unwilling to believe him, but when Calvin and the other dwarves heard that five or six hundred forest trolls were marching toward them, they all panicked, at a complete loss for what to do.

"What should we do? What are we supposed to do?" Bennett said worriedly and helplessly, his war hammer trembling in his hand as he looked toward the dwarven women and children not far behind him.

Dwarves were not a cowardly race, nor were they inclined to fear danger. But they were responsible for the women and children in their village, and when peril came, their first thought was how to protect them.

"Village Chief Calvin, since your village lies inside a valley, do you have any other way out? No matter how suitable this valley is for living, I think we should evacuate as quickly as possible. We cannot deal with five or six hundred forest trolls." Han urged.

Calvin frowned deeply, worry written all over his face. After thinking for a moment, he first said to Bennett, "Go gather everyone. Have them pack their things and leave through the back of the valley. We will stay here first and see whether we can make these bastards pay."

At Calvin's command, Bennett hurried off at once, shouting through the little houses at the back and telling everyone to take only grain and weapons for now, leaving the rest behind.

At that moment, the two dwarves who had been on watch outside finally stumbled in with panicked faces. Before they even reached the village chief, they were already crying out loud, "It's bad, it's bad! A lot of forest trolls are coming this way. The bushes are full of them!"

Bennett, who had still harbored some doubts, no longer questioned Han's words after hearing this. The elves led by Bennett did not look frightened. One by one, they drew their weapons and wiped them clean, while the bow on Bennett's back was already in his hand, as though he had prepared himself for battle at any moment.

"Forest trolls are also our elven enemies. This time, I am going to show them my strength." Bennett did not show the slightest fear. Instead, he sounded rather eager.

By then, Bennett had already been instructing the dwarves behind him on what to do. Watching the forest trolls with the demon's sight, Han saw that they truly were approaching the entrance to the village. He could not help but glance at the dwarves around him and say, "I think we should block that narrow path into the village first. Then we can buy time for the women and children to leave."

As soon as he said that, Han nodded to Calvin and moved off first toward the village entrance. After a brief hesitation, Bennett gestured to the elves, and they followed behind Han as well, hurrying toward the gate of the village.

By now, Han could almost be certain that this troop of forest trolls had come specifically for the dwarves. Otherwise they would not have appeared here so coincidentally. Under the shouting of the particularly fierce troll commander, more than five hundred trolls were rummaging through the nearby grass and undergrowth, searching for the entrance to the dwarven village.

At this rate, the village entrance concealed by brush and leaves would not stay hidden for long. When they reached it, Han showed no panic. He muttered a spell, and several skeleton warriors appeared before him, along with two sturdy zombie warriors.

"We should make use of the time to set up a few simple traps. This entrance will certainly be discovered, but since the passage here is narrow, we can use that to give them some trouble." As soon as the undead appeared, Han said calmly.

Under Han's command, the skeleton warriors and zombies immediately began digging traps. The zombie warriors, strong and powerful, were assigned to haul over stones from a distance to block the road. There were already some traps set by the dwarves here, and Han merely added a few more measures. The dwarves also sprang into action, helping Han set everything up.

"Necromancy is the most disgusting of magics. And you, a human, are actually an evil necromancer!" Bennett said with clear disgust after seeing the skeleton warriors and zombie warriors.

Han paid Bennett's complaint no mind at all and focused only on the traps. Once he judged that things were about right, he took several crossbows from his space ring and handed them to the dwarves beside him, then told the dwarves to pull back and spread out within the dense bushes around them.

Dwarves were masters at forging weapons, but complex crossbows did not depend on superb smithing so much as on precise design and clever ideas. Crossbows had long range and great force; they were one of humanity's outstanding inventions in recent years. Their shortcomings were obvious, however: they were heavy and could not be fired rapidly, and after each shot there was a brief pause before they could be reset, unlike ordinary bows.

Han's body was powerfully built, so such heavy crossbows were easy for him to wield. The dwarves, though short, were equally strong, and the crossbows felt no less manageable in their hands.

Amid Han's and the dwarves' preparations, a forest troll's shout rang out from nearby. Immediately, the trolls erupted into cheering and advanced toward this place at speed. Through the demon's observation, Han knew that one of the trolls had already found the concealed entrance to the dwarves' village.

Sure enough, the new troll leader gave an order in the troll language, and around a hundred trolls rushed forward in a surging mass, weapons in hand. The troll warriors led the charge, followed by the troll hunters and priests, who carefully and cautiously began to clear away the brush concealing the entrance.

"Kill them." Han gave a low roar. Before the trolls could enter the village, his crossbow had already fired. The dwarves beside him loosed their own bolts, which whistled through the air.

Several trolls who had just entered the area and had not yet managed to clear away the bushes were pierced by the bolts' tremendous force and flung backward. One troll struck by Han had its chest pierced by the bolt and was driven clean through, the shaft nailing it to a large tree thick as a man's waist.

"Let me show you the power of my magic arrow." Bennett glanced at Han with contempt. Then he raised the bow in his hand, and a faint magical ripple spread from the weapon. After the arrow was loosed, it suddenly burst into fierce flames in midair. It landed among the trolls and exploded in a blaze of fire and sparks. More than ten trolls were showered by the flames, and three of them, unable to extinguish the fire in time, were swallowed by the spreading tongues of fire.

Han was truly startled. He had not expected the arrow to be so powerful. He could not help looking at Bennett in surprise.

"Bennett, you should not waste such precious magic arrows on these damned forest trolls. You know how valuable they are!" one of the female elves said angrily after seeing Bennett showing off and reprimanding him.

Scolded by the female elf, Bennett stuck out his tongue and made a face, then said to Han with great confidence, "Did you see that? Magic arrows blessed by our elders, when fired from a magic bow, can be astonishingly powerful. If the dwarves' forged weapons are improved by us, they can immediately become formidable magic weapons. That would cause the forest trolls enormous trouble, so you should trade those weapons to us."

It seemed that even now, this elf had not forgotten his purpose and was still trying to sway Han with his childish and laughable arguments. Unfortunately, after the initial glance, Han did not look at him again. He simply kept his face calm and issued commands to the dwarves around him.

The first wave of forest trolls, after paying the price of several deaths, became far more cautious this time. First the troll warriors drew near, and then the priests cast spells upon them. With their bodies made more agile and powerful, the forest trolls immediately began excitedly clearing the weeds at the entrance.

At that moment, Han and the dwarves continued firing bolts over the grass. But the instant Han and the others' bolts appeared, the troll hunters hurled volleys of spears through the air toward the place where Han and the dwarves were hiding.

However, because the crossbows had such a long range, the forest trolls clearly misjudged their aim. The spears fell in rows in front of Han's group, failing to cause them any harm.

After losing several more troll warriors, the concealment at the village entrance was finally cleared away by the forest trolls. Then, with a shout, the trolls raised their weapons and charged forward in a great rush.

The traps set at the village entrance now began to reveal their deadly power. The trolls in front all fell into deep pits lined with sharp wooden stakes. Their agonized cries rose one after another, and as the trolls kept dying and being wounded, the entrance to the village was finally about to be breached.

"There are simply too many forest trolls. I think we should withdraw." Looking at the trolls flooding the village entrance, Han understood that the difference in numbers was too great. He shook his head and sighed.

At this point Bennett also showed signs of fear. Nodding, he agreed with Han. "Yes, I think we should pull back first. Once I get back to our tribe and inform our people, we can bring them here and make these damned bastards pay a heavy price."

When Han and Bennett said this, the dozen dwarves nearby seemed somewhat dispirited. The weapons they had been holding high were lowered one after another, and one of them said, "The village chief said to listen to Han. If Han tells us to retreat, then we retreat."

Hearing that, Han smiled and said, "In that case, fall back. Otherwise we are going to have serious trouble."

At Han's order, the dwarves who had been prepared to fight to the death all retreated from the village entrance, one after another. Their crossbows, however, kept firing without pause. In the midst of the dense mass of advancing forest trolls, there was no need to carefully aim; the bolts would strike their targets almost every time.

Seeing that the dwarves had already withdrawn, the elves sensibly took up positions in the rear. After considering for a moment, Han summoned the little skeleton. He wanted it to use the seven bone spikes on its back to unleash one final bloody assault and cause the forest trolls some trouble.

But to Han's surprise, the little skeleton, carrying its bone blade, had only just appeared at the village entrance when it had not even had time to throw the blade. The trolls in front all suddenly showed excited expressions. Their weapons dropped with a crash, and they raised both hands high, bowing down toward the little skeleton as they shouted over and over in fervent worship.

Han stared in utter astonishment, stunned on the spot, completely unable to understand why the forest trolls were bowing to the little skeleton with such devout reverence.