At the end of the team, there were fifteen huge ogres, which caused the savages to look back frequently, fearing that the bloody mouth of the opponent would appear on the back of their heads in the next second. Even Magna, the tallest and most sturdy man, was like a half-grown bean sprout in front of them. The ogres walked with an earth-shaking gait, and each ogre carried a huge wooden stick on his shoulder that was as thick as an adult's torso. But such a big wooden stick is only their one-handed weapon. The fat and clumsy ogres are not used to fighting with two hands, because the other hand often needs to be free to grab the enemy and put it into their mouths, otherwise they will be snatched away by their companions. On the first day of the march, an ogre could not bear the hunger anymore and grabbed a donkey that was carrying goods. He tore it into pieces and stuffed the food into his mouth. The ogre leader Krog felt very ashamed and slapped his people on the face repeatedly. The strong head scolded them, while the withered head took the opportunity to chew the donkey's ribs. If a tribe member makes a mistake, you should scold him, but if the donkey is right in front of you, how can you not eat it! For this reason, Leo had to stay by their side at all times and feed the two-headed ogres food to prevent them from targeting the team's livestock or even soldiers. Looking at the ogres who were eating as they walked, with their two big mouths never stopping, Leo wished he could lead them directly into the gravel hills and let the fifteen ogres and the thousand enemies die together.
Kroger felt very ashamed. While eating, he comforted Leo: "We are strong and powerful, not afraid of death, and we will help you fight for no salary!" Before coming, Leo offered the ogres very high salaries in order to invite them to join the war. Every ogre, no, every ogre, not only does not have to worry about food during the battle, but also can get twenty bags of wheat as a reward after the war. If the ogres could eat frugally, only needing to eat half a bag of wheat a day, the salary Leo paid would be enough for them to eat for a month. In order to get such a generous commission, Kroger brought his entire tribe with him. If I say no now, Leo won't believe me at all. What if he gets so hungry that he gets angry? So he still advised: "You still need to get paid, just eat less now, take a break, take a break!" Kroger raised the linen bag in his hand, tilted his head back, opened his mouth wide, poured the last bit of food residue into his mouth, then folded the linen bag neatly with regret and returned it to Leo. "No, no, I'll eat after dinner." While speaking, he moved closer to Leo and sniffed the butt of his horse. The horse was so scared that it clamped its tail and ran away quickly with Leo. "Horses smell so good. I want to eat them." "Not now, wait till night and eat secretly." Leo rolled his eyes wildly as he controlled his frightened horse. It's already evening, okay? After two days of marching, the mixed force of more than 400 people finally set up camp in the valley where they had ambushed the wild boar people before. The corpses of the boarmen in the valley had long disappeared, but traces of the battle still existed. The large pit trap that Leo asked Freya to dig was still exposed in the valley and turned into a small pool of water. The wild folk scouts from the Great Falls had already delivered the message and reported every move of the enemies in the Gravel Hills. Ever since the boarmen in Gravel Hills were ambushed by Leo and their main force was wiped out, they have drastically reduced their hunting range and have almost retreated to the Gravel Hills without showing their presence. But in the wilderness, you can't survive by being a coward. If Leo didn't go looking for trouble with them, the gnolls would do so.
After a short and fierce siege, the boarmen, who suffered heavy casualties, surrendered quickly. There were less than a hundred wild boarmen left, and together with their fellows from the north and several small tribes of kobolds, they became vassals of the gnolls. Faced with the gnolls' absolute numerical advantage, the boarmen and kobolds had no way to resist and could only be enslaved by the gnolls, gathering and hunting for them. If you can't hand in enough food, then use your tribesmen to make up the number. The gnolls themselves would not sit idle either. Hundreds of gnolls were divided into five or six groups, and under the leadership of several gnoll leaders, they took turns attacking to conquer and clear out the alien tribes and beast nests hidden in every corner near the gravel hills. The whole range of gravel hills, together with the forests extending southwards to the Anzeno River and the mountains beneath the magnificent barrier, covers an area of more than two thousand square kilometres. In the past, this area was already the size of a county, and could easily support tens or hundreds of thousands of people. However, the tribes in the wilderness all relied on fishing, hunting and gathering, and they were constantly fighting each other, so the population here was not large. In addition to the previously dominant wild boar tribes, there are also small tribes hiding in many river valleys, caves, and basins, surviving cautiously and with difficulty. There could be twenty or thirty one-horned boars, forty or fifty wild wolves, or sixty or seventy dog-headed men. There are also smaller but more numerous groups of wolves, bison, brown bears, saber-toothed tigers and giant deer, and these groups are countless throughout the mountains and forests. In the past, the wild folks, alien races and wild beasts here became food for each other, maintaining a relative population balance, but the appearance of the gnolls immediately broke the balance of this area. Almost no small tribe can be a match for the Gnoll hunting teams. Even if they can barely block their attacks, they will immediately attract more Gnoll hunting teams. Everyone knew that once the gnolls had devoured all of these small tribes, they would turn their attention to the river bend farther away. According to reports from wild folk scouts, the gnolls always have two to three hunting teams in the wild, and the remaining half stay in their lair to guard their people and slaves. Currently, a hunting team of hundreds of gnolls are roaming nearby, hunting a herd of bison. Magna picked up his hunting bone spear, stepped out from the crowd, and said in a cold voice: "Leave this group of gnolls to me. The Wolf Fang Tribe will use the blood of this gnoll hunting team as a gift for joining the Riverbend." Leo hesitated and said, "Let's go together?" In his opinion, even a lion would use all its strength to fight a rabbit, let alone facing a ferocious jackal. To fight a war you need numbers of people, it would be unwise to divide your forces hastily. Bjorn said from the side: "No need, I will go with them, you set up the battlefield here, this side is more important." Leo thought about it and could only nod in agreement. In contrast, Bjorn is not like Magnar, who only wants to show the bravery of the Barsaka people. He is more careful and participated in the previous battle and understood Leo's operations. Although he didn't say it clearly, Leo already understood what he meant. This valley is less than ten miles away from the boarman's lair. Although there is cover from the wild scouts, it will soon be discovered by the jackals. The gnolls may not be able to determine the number of people hiding in the valley, but they will definitely rush over to attack and test the bottom line. Preparing to actively lure the enemy and hastily and passively meet the enemy are completely different concepts. Leo has to lead his men to prepare for the battlefield before the jackals discover them, turning the away game into a home game.