“Well now, this is quite the conundrum. I wasn’t planning to kill any women at all. They can still be used for a round of enjoyment, after all. Sorry for my miscalculation! Hahahaha!” His tone was filled with ridicule and mockery, containing no trace of an apology in them.
Lil’ Sha covered her mouth, her pupils suddenly constricting as if she caught sight of something terrifying. She hastily hid behind Ji Bai’s back.
“You scumbag! Was it you who did that?” Huo Lei was boiling over with rage, with his eyes completely tinged with blood. His massive coarse hands squeezed the handle of his hammer so hard that it emanated a creaking sound.
“Oh?? Wouldn’t you look at that? Who could this be? Aren’t you the traitor from the city wall that day? What’s wrong? Your complexion doesn’t look so good today.” The lofty troll drew back the corners of his large mouth as he spoke in a satirical manner.
“You?? You’re… the commander who attacked the city gate?!” Shouted Huo Lei in shock and fury after he had made out the appearance of the newly arrived visitor.
“Hmph! To think that you’d pity these lowly species. You’re truly a disgrace to all trolls.”
“Why are you here, troll?” Ji Bai walked towards him, with the gaze emanating from his iron helmet landing on the troll’s body.
“Hmph! I have zero obligation to explain that to an inferior species…” The lofty troll, who had a beard, casted his gaze past Ji Bai and let it hover over the whitish-gold silhouette behind him. After falling into a slight daze, he suddenly laughed out loud.
“Hahahaha! So it’s you?! Indeed, one can spend much effort to find something, only to then discover it by sheer luck! After we’ve tried to capture you for so long, I never thought that you’d arrive right at our doorsteps!?”
The words of the lofty troll caused Ji Bai and Huo Lei to be at a loss over their meaning. Only Lil’ Sha behind them was trembling like a garlic pounder.
“If we count back from now, it has already been 5 years, hasn’t it? I trust you have been well since we last met! My beloved princess…” The large mouth of the lofty troll opened to reveal a cruel smile, his burning gaze directed at the incessantly shivering Lil’ Sha behind Ji Bai’s back.
“Urgh…” Like a startled rabbit, Lil’ Sha pressed her head against Ji Bai’s back, unwilling to let go no matter what.
“There’s no use hiding… I’ve already seen you! My little dear Asiatic Cat princess! Hahahaha!”
“Asiatic Cat princess?” Huo Lei knitted his eyebrows in puzzlement as he turned his eyes, whose fury within them had yet to be dispersed, towards Lil’ Sha.
“S-Sorry… I’m sorry.” Lil’ Sha incoherently mumbled. She currently wasn’t capable of explaining anything and could only offer incessant streams of apologies. Tears could be seen swirling in her lustrous eyes that resembled a pair of violet gemstones.
“Instead of us finding you, you’ve come right to us! …Hahaha, you’ve actually done a good job, traitor.” The lofty troll approached them with ridicule.
“Uuu…!” Lil’ Sha’s body shuddered even more as she realized that the lofty troll was walking towards her. Her small hands held onto Ji Bai’s gown like her life depended on it.
“After fleeing for so many years, you’ve eventually walked right into our trap. Hehe, why does little princess want to hide from me? Don’t you want to meet your sister and mother? After being separated for such a long time, they’re already missing you…”
“Get the heck away from here!” Huo Lei tightly grasped his hammer as he unhurriedly moved towards the other troll while Ji Bai silently took out the fang-shaped, two-handed sword from behind his back.
“Mhm? Vampire craftsmanship? Interesting…” The lofty troll grinned and snapped his finger with a laugh.
“Whoosh…” A muffled echo overshadowed the sound made by the surging waves of the canal.
For some unknown reason, symbols that seemingly looked as if they were made up of strips of wiggling earthworms appeared on the surface of the stone bridge. The patterns they formed then gradually began to swivel, like a massive roulette.
The symbols on top seemingly took the form of living animals as they gained sentience.
“Is this the language of the troll race?”
“These symbols that appear to form up into a formation.”
“No… I don’t know which race this language belongs to…” A trace of uncertainty flashed through Huo Lei’s narrowed eyes.
Devilish red light filled a totem in the center of the ‘formation’— A totem resembling a gigantic octopus. Its ferocious-looking image was thoroughly complemented by a sinister appearance that was both vivid and life-like. In its eyes laid a scarlet hue that seemed to be filled with hatred towards every creature that walked the earth.
The deafening but muffled sound made it seem like the entire stone bridge was collapsing.
“Gigiwawaguya!” Suddenly, noisy and shrill cries erupted.
In a moment of inattentiveness, the stone bridge had suddenly been swarmed by tiny green creatures that emanated a dense evil aura. Through their glistening, small yellow eyes which were wide opened, they were staring at their surroundings while carrying crude weapons in their hands.
‘A teleportation… formation?? No, it felt somewhat off.’
As far as incantations were concerned, they were like a heavenly book to Ji Bai. However, even though the amount of understanding he possessed about incantations was close to zero, he had interacted with trolls several times and thus was able to tell that the symbols carved on the stone bridge were not part of an incantation of theirs. Especially the totem in the form of a monstrous octopus in the center… No matter how he looked at it, it seemed to be of a different style than an incantation formation.
The power accumulated within it was bizarre and unfathomable. It was very unlikely that it was bestowed from the void, but instead, it probably was a direct effect of physically carving the symbols onto the stone bridge.
The difference between a void bestowment and the physical bestowment of a spell was whether or not physically engravings were used to retain its magical power. While it required a relatively short time to complete a void bestowment, both its potency and duration were greatly limited. Although a physical bestowment required the caster to spend a large amount of time engraving a formation, it was capable of maintaining magical power for a long time, maximizing its potency to the greatest extent.
This knowledge was what Ji Bai had learned from the court mage of the vampires.
Although these ‘formations’ weren’t inscribed through incantations, their principle was seemingly no different to them. It was very obvious that the effects inscribed on them were [Teleportation] or [Summoning].
“Eeeh!? Wuwuagigiyaya!” The smell of a woman drove the summoned goblins into a frenzy. Their small, glistening yellow eyes were filled with an indescribable lust.
“Stop craving for something you aren’t qualified for! Everyone listen to me! That female cat needs to be captured alive! I’ll toss anyone who dares to get touchy-feely with her down from here! As for the two men, kill them!” The loud yells of the troll commander caused the restless goblins to turn crestfallen and quieten down. Without a woman for their spoils, their morale immediately hit rock bottom. However, it was to no avail; When faced with the formidable strength of the troll commander, they had no choice but to risk their lives for him.
Lil’ Sha’s complexion turned even paler. Had she not grabbed onto Ji Bai, her weakened tiny feet would have already been incapable of supporting her weight.
“Uuuyayaaaaa!” Like a pack of ferocious wolves, the goblins launched their assault.
“Move!” Huo Lei’s heavy hammer cut through the air and sent a number of foot soldiers, that had been rushing shoulder-to-shoulder towards him, flying down the stone bridge.
As they heard the cries of their few comrades gradually getting further away as they fell into the river, the goblins began to grow terrified.
“Don’t retreat! Rush forward, I said!” Infuriated, the troll commander grabbed a goblin that was planning to retreat and tossed it down into the rapids without mercy.
In his eyes, these inferior creatures that were as weak as humans were incapable of even being pawns. They were cannon fodders at most.
The troll commander knitted his brows as he saw Huo Lei sending waves and waves of goblins flying with the ease of a hot knife cutting through butter.
The only being opposing him capable of displaying such battle prowess was the traitor. There was no need to worry about the pampered and defenseless Asiatic cat princess. As for Ji Bai, he had long since been ignored.
Clearing up the annoying goblins around him, Huo Lei turned his gaze towards the troll commander. At the same time, the other troll was also sizing him up.
The two scorching gazes came into contact.
“Haa!”
“Yaa!”