"What do you think, Mama?"
"Meeeeh."
"It's them, right?"
Ella nodded her head.
Although many years had passed since then, her bestial instinct was telling her that these were the same trolls that they had fought last time.
William grinned evilly as he looked down at the sleeping trolls on the ground. His eyes were screaming "It's payback time you b*tches!" while patting Ragnar's head, who was asleep on his lap.
Currently, he was seated in the flying carriage that was being pulled by Dave's Gryphon, Lionheart. Dave was currently serving at the carriage's coachman, because William didn't allow him to join the operation.
He wanted the other members of the Knight Order to practice their teamwork and capture the trolls under Priscilla's leadership.
Conrad was currently holding his position a mile away from their location because William didn't want the Wyvern's presence to send the Mountain Trolls running.
"Well then, Vice-Commander, it's your time to shine," William said as he turned his head to look at the beautiful girl with black hair that was seated inside the carriage with him.
Priscilla nodded her head, and opened the carriage door. They were currently two kilometres above the ground, but the young lady didn't bat an eye and jumped out of the carriage.
She knew what William's objective was, but the current situation didn't allow her to be a bystander.
"Come forth, Braia!" Priscilla shouted.
A magic circle appeared below her and a Golden-Winged Hippogriff appeared to catch her mid-flight.
"I missed you," Priscilla said as she patted her trusted partner's neck.
Braia, shrieked softly, as if telling her partner that she felt the same.
The Alpha Hippogriff circled once in the air before flying towards the Hippogriff formation protecting William's carriage. The commander of the Angorian War Sovereign had already told his knights that the one who would lead the operation was none other than Priscilla.
Everyone waited for their Vice-Commander's orders as they re-arranged their formation to follow her lead.
"Team Alpha, and Team Bravo, ensure that the two trolls won't be able to help their leader," Priscilla ordered. "Team Charlie and Team Delta, follow me to capture the leader of the trolls!"
""Yes!""
The twelve Aerial Knights broke off into teams of three and attacked their respective targets. All of them were equipped with bows and arrows to slowly whittle away their target's strength. Each of their arrows was coated with the venom of the Amphisbaena, this would allow them to neutralize the trolls and bring them back to Lont.
The trolls, who were sleeping on the ground, woke up when they felt several presences descending upon them from the sky.
The leader of the Mountain Troll issued a loud roar in order to intimidate the newcomers, but it was all for naught.
Priscillla took aim as she neared their targets. "Fire at will!"
A dozen arrows flew out in succession and landed on their respective targets. Although not all of them were experienced archers like Priscilla, it was very hard to miss when you're aiming at something that was as big as a small hill from less than a hundred meters away.
The bodies of the trolls were quite hard and most of the arrows bounced harmlessly off of their skin. Only specialized archers, like Priscilla, were able to break past their defenses using the techniques that they had mastered over time.
William and Ella, who were watching the battle from the air, observed Priscilla's fighting style closely.
They could easily tell that the black-haired beauty was quite used to aerial combat while riding a mount.
'It is quite unfortunate that my appraisal skill doesn't work on people,' William thought. 'Even so, I believe that Priscilla is some kind of Aerial Cavalier. Having an Alpha Hippogriff as a mount is not something that a novice can pull off.'
William already had a hunch that his Vice-Prefect was not a simple person. Ella had already told him that Priscilla might have had hidden agendas when she joined the Hellan Royal Academy. She was neither friend, nor foe, and William still didn't know what her objective was.
Even so, there was one thing he was sure of and that was the girl leading the operation was a very capable leader.
She had easily cornered the three mountain trolls, and none of them were able to break free from her encirclement.
The trolls were unable to hit the Hipogriffs and their riders because they distanced themselves properly out of the Mountain Trolls' strike range.
In frustration, one of the trolls threw their wooden club at a Hippogriff, but the latter managed to evade it at the last second. Out of desperation, it tried to run, but the effect of the Amphisbaena's venom had started to take effect.
Priscilla had shot all three mountain trolls with three arrows each that were coated with the potent venom. Her plan was to wait for the venom to take effect before they tied up the beasts to drag them back to Lont.
The movements of the troll that had thrown his club were starting to become sluggish, but it still did its best to move its legs in order to flee. However, the team that was assigned to it didn't relent in their attacks. They continued to rain down arrows on the mountain troll until it almost turned into a pin cushion.
The same thing was happening to the other two trolls. Even the Leader was starting to show signs of fatigue. The mighty Class B Beasts were bullied by the teenagers until they finally stopped moving.
Two of the students felt that the situation was already under their control and decided to take a closer look.
"No! Don't go near them!" Priscilla shouted. "Go back to your formation!"
It was at that moment when the "subdued trolls" made their move.
The Troll leader and its lackey were only acting as if they had completely succumbed to the poison, but were simply playing dead in order to deliver a surprise attack to the kids who attacked them
With a mighty roar, the two trolls stood up from the ground and smashed their wooden clubs towards the foolish boys who dared to come within their strike range.
The Hippogriffs shrieked as they flapped their wings to forcefully gain altitude and avoid the Mountain Troll's hate-filled blow, but it was already far too late.
"Lightning God War Art, First Form… Illuminate the world, Rhongomyniad!"
A dazzling beam of light rained down from the sky and completely obliterated the arms of the mountain trolls that were holding the wooden clubs. The two trolls shrieked in pain as they rolled over the ground due to their injuries.
The two boys, and their mounts, were able to fly back to safety thanks to William's sudden interference.
Priscilla turned her head towards the flying carriage that was slowly descending towards the ground.
Standing on top of it was William holding an imposing jousting lance that shone with a golden brilliance.
"Thomas, Ryan, the two of you will be given disciplinary punishments later," William said with a serious expression. "Do that again and I will expel you from my Knight Order. Do I make myself clear?"
""Yes, Sir!""
The two boys lowered their heads in shame. Both of them regretted their actions. They only did it in order to show off to their friends, but they didn't expect that the trolls were only playing possum.
A minute later, a strong presence descended from the sky.
Conrad commanded the Wyvern to land on the ground beside William's carriage. The three trolls immediately behaved when the powerful beast glared at them. Although they had strong regeneration abilities, they didn't want to face-off against a Wyvern that could release a Dragon's Breath and turn them into charcoal
"Surprisingly, they were able to resist the venom of the Amphisbaena," Gideon commented. "Mountain trolls are indeed resistant to most poisons. Young Master, should I take care of them?"
"Yes." William nodded. "We don't want to have any more accidents along the way."
Gideon smiled and went to deal with the three trolls who were shaking in fear. In fact, even if he didn't subdue them, the Beastamer was sure that they didn't have the guts to resist. However, in order to put William at ease, he still decided to bind them using his ability.
After securing the three trolls, the three-day journey back towards Lont started.
Jekyll was very happy to receive three, very healthy, specimens for his experiments. If the trolls had been scared of the Wyvern, they were now scared sh*tless because their instincts were telling them that the smiling man in front of them was stronger than a pure-blooded dragon.
They even started bawling their eyes out when the Dentist started to pat their bodies one by one to check if they had any abnormalities.
William had left the scene right after he had delivered the poor mountain trolls to their new owner. He didn't want to see what method Jekyll would use in order to draw the blood from their bodies.
-----
The very next day, Jekyll personally delivered thirty-six regeneration potions to William. He stayed to watch the Hipogriffs regrow their limbs, because he wasn't sure if the dosage was enough for magic beasts.
Fortunately, it worked perfectly and all the Hipogriffs finally gained a new lease on life.
Half a day later, he gathered all the members of the Angorian War Sovereign and awarded the members one Hippogriff each. The commoners among the group were smiling from ear to ear because they couldn't believe that they were about to become Aerial Knights.
"We don't have much time left before we return to the capital," William announced. "I'm giving all of you exactly one week to learn the basics on how to properly ride your new partners. Then we will return to the Academy for the official ceremony of our Knight Order."
William scanned the faces of his officers and subordinates. "You will be under the scrutiny of the King, the nobles, as well as our peers in the academy. Remember this, the first impression is the most important. We must give them a show worthy of our rank as members of the Angorian War Sovereign!"
""Yes!"" the members of William's Knight Order replied in unison.
The red-headed boy smiled as he nodded his head. 'We need to make an impressive show. That way, we can poach some of the students from the Magic and Spirit Divisions as well.'
What William wanted to create was an Elite Knight Order that combined all the different Divisions in the academy. In order to make that happen, he had to use suitable bait in order to entice them.
Looking at the Wyverns, the Gryphon, and the Hippogriffs around him, William was sure that this was a temptation that anyone would find very hard to resist.