Chapter two: Ambush 2 and aftermath.

"Trolls"

Although Tristan was sure that he whispered it to himself, his word echoed throughout the battlefield that had turned silent at the arrival of these monstrous beings.

The trolls were in a group of 5, they were big, huge in fact, standing at a solid 10 meters each, they towered over the human army, their massive frames adorned with bulging muscles, a massive round nose and huge mouth full of sharp teeth. They also all had club-like wooden weapons gripped firmly in their colossal hands.

This time, the humans were in a real panic. Goblins were an inferior race, but trolls? Although not smart, their sheer raw power made them far superior to the humans physically.

"RHAAAAAA!!"

Before the humans could ponder the sudden change, the group of trolls charged straight at them, not caring about their goblin allies getting caught in their charge. Some of the unfortunate goblins were trampled on in their charge, while the smart ones moved out of the way in time.

In the blink of an eye, the trolls reached the human army, which had retreated to the center of the convoy. Bizarrely, although the trolls were acting savage, they made sure not to harm any of the carriages. Typically, trolls would take anything around them and use it as projectiles, but this time they decided not to.

Upon reaching the humans, the trolls, devoid of hesitation, brought their clubs down with relentless force. In the blink of an eye, the human line, which had managed to endure the prior onslaught of the goblin charge, was utterly crushed. Limbs and body parts were sent hurtling through the air, soldiers were pulverized into unrecognizable masses of flesh, and those who survived dropped their weapons and fled in a desperate attempt to escape. However, their flight was short-lived as they soon found themselves surrounded by goblins, who effortlessly overwhelmed the isolated and retreating soldiers.

The goblins, seeing how everything had turned in their favor, all screamed in joy and charged in to help the trolls. They primarily targeted the humans that were on the carriages, as the trolls didn't target them in fear of harming the carriages.

Tristan was desperate. He knew he could not flee, although he had the ability to. He knew that if he reached the fortress alone, he would simply be executed for abandoning his men. So what did he do? Fight the trolls in a valiant last stand!

'Hell no!' Tristan thought. 'I guess I'm gonna be an outlaw. I have a cousin who runs a bandit group north of here. I will join him.'

"Men! Do not falter! We are the force of good, and we will triumph!" Tristan screamed, rallying his troops.

And without hesitation, after saying his genneric one liner apeech, he turned his horse around and headed in the opposite direction of where the attacking trolls were, in hopes of getting the fuck out of there before he ended up as a unrecognisable mass of flesh.

"Sir Tristan! What the fuck are you doing?" screamed one of the cavalrymen who noticed Tristan's shameless retreat, however the cavalryman was hopeless as he was desperately trying to calm his horse that was in total panic ones he saw the trolls.

Seeing a horse of one of the cavalrymen get ripped in two certainly did not help stop his horse's panic attack.

Tristan offered no response and shamelessly fled. Despite a few goblins attempting to block his path, his war horse trampled over them without hesitation, crushing the goblins into pieces and breaking through their pathetic blockade.

The cavalryman was speechless at Tristan's shameless betrayal, while the rest of the soldiers remained unaware, their attention fully captured by the onslaught of attacking trolls and goblins.

Tristan remained indifferent to the cavalryman's shock. Once he crushed the goblins attempting to block his path, he urged his war horse deeper into the woods, deftly maneuvering through the trees obstructing his way.

'The bandit life won't be so bad.' Tristan reassured himself, contemplating his future. 'With my skills, I can ascend the hierarchy swiftly, especially with the backing of my cousin who is leader. I can integrate myself quickly among the bandits. Yeah, this is where I will achieve the glory destined for me.'

However, while Tristan was dreaming of his future as a bandit king, a whistling sound echoed throughout the forest.

"What?" Quickly turning his torso around, Tristan was shocked to see a black arrow heading straight for his head.

Amidst the chaos of battle, he had completely forgotten about the mysterious archer who had slain his superior.

A second after he turned around, the arrow pierced his helmet cleanly and penetrated Tristan's head, killing him before he could have any last thoughts.

The other soldiers, fighting for their lives, remained unaware of Tristan's fate. Only the lone cavalryman witnessed his flight, yet his horse was already torn in half, and the cavalryman himself was being devoured by one of the trolls.

The massacre continued and after 5 more minutes it ended.

The screams of pain, rage and sadness ended, only the sound of flesh being feasted on by the trolls and the goblins could be heard. Some horses joined in as well.

"200 light infantrymen, 50 carriage drivers, 20 cavalrymen, and two knights in the first realm have been eliminated," reported a small goblin with an eye patch to two individuals who observed the entire battle from a distance.

The two individuals were a goblin and a corpse-like man with a crown atop his head.

The goblin stood apart from the others, towering at 180cm with a muscular physique. Clad in leather attire and a small chest plate for protection, he bore a sharp sword strapped to his left side, marking him as of a higher caste than the other goblins.

The other man, even taller than the goblin, loomed at an imposing 195cm. His crown adorned his head, while long goat-like horns protruded from the sides. His skin appeared extremely dry, his eyes hollow yet burning with a green flame. He sported a small beard and mustache.

He wasn't a goblin, he was a lich.

"What's the casualties on our side?" asked the tall goblin.

"Not sure, probably around 600 or so. It's impossible to give an exact number because—"

"Because of cannibalism, I know Grimble," interrupted the tall goblin, his annoyance evident. "We always have this issue when we ambush these military convoys, and every time you lot don't respect my instructions when I tell you not to eat the dead on our side."

"Sorry, sir, you know controlling these guys is difficult; they are completely wild," Grimble said.

"Tch, whatever. Just don't harm the corpses of the carriage drivers. They are important, unless you want to piss off Lord Thaddeus."

In response, Grimble flinched in fear and hurriedly nodded, he ran off to the feasting goblins and trolls to ensure they didn't do anything they would regret.

The lich, who had been silent the whole time, decided to speak.

"Razak, I'm going to reanimate the two knights. I will deal with the carriage drivers and infantrymen later." He walked off, his long green coat draped over his body like a cocoon, enhancing his intimidating presence.

"Understood, my Lord," Razak replied respectfully.

The lich walked to the corpse of the older knight's body, shooing off the knight's war horse that was feasting on his remains.

Standing atop the knight's corpse, his long bony hand shone green as he muttered words in an unknown language. The older knight's corpse twitched, and his headless body stood up.

He turned his head to the war horse, which was displeased that its meal was stolen right in front of it.

In a blink of an eye, green chains erupted from the lich's hand and stabbed the horse, sucking its vitality as it screamed in agony. He redirected the stolen vitality to the headless knight, and his skull was reformed.

"Much better," he said.

"Master," a voice called out to him.

Turning around, he saw a dark elf in an all-black uniform, his muscular body covered by the attire. A long bow was strapped to his back, and multiple sharp knives were strategically placed around his body. He was dragging the corpse of Tristan, his head still somewhat attached to his body, the great helm bearing a hole from where the dark elf's arrow had pierced through.

The lich nodded, satisfied.

"Go do a quick search around the perimeter, just to make sure no soldiers slipped out. I will deal with reanimating the rest of the soldiers," the lich commanded.

The dark elf nodded, and in a flash, he disappeared.

The lich reanimated Tristan as he had done with the older knight, utilizing the vitality of Tristan's war horse that still lingered nearby. He repaired the broken face that the arrow had caused. Now, a skull with green flames in the eye sockets stood in place, Tristan's face forever lost.

And this process repeated itself for over an hour. The lich reanimated each of the fallen soldiers who were not in the bellies of the goblins or the trolls he used the vitality of the corpses of the goblins to heal the broken wounds on the now created skeleton soldiers.

Grimble who along with the other goblins and trolls were watching the undead master at work, approached Razak and whispered, "It's always impressive to see him do this."

Razak simply nodded. This was not the first military convoy they had ambushed, and it was not the first time they had witnessed this. However, the sight of hundreds of dead corpses being reanimated into skeleton soldiers never grew old.

"That's the power of a lich. Just one is enough to alter the battlefield drastically. The kingdom has no idea what awaits them. They still believe Shadowcliff Keep belongs to them, unaware that Lord Thaddeus has betrayed them to join the dark faction, what a bunch of fools, Now, with the newly arrived lich, it won't be long before we amass a force large enough to wipe out the kingdom," Rezek proclaimed to the attentive goblins.

With anticipation gleaming in his eyes, he continued, "Haaaa, just thinking of all those human females I will ravage once we swarm the kingdom with our hordes." Rezek's lustful gaze shifted to his brethren, who smiled in glee.

Although Rezek was more "civilized" by goblin standards, he was not so in the human sense. He was simply smarter and stronger than his goblin brethren because they did not hail from the same origins, however, the inherent nature of goblins still lingered within him, just that he had a better control of it.

The lich approached them as they discussed their fantasies, his dark elf servant having returned to his side.

"We are good to move. Tell your brethren and the trolls to wait in the forest while we prepare for a new ambush," the lich commanded.

In response, Rezek bowed, and for the first time since the end of the ambush, he addressed the lich directly by his title.

"Yes, my Lord, Necrothos the Eternal."

And like that the human convoy, now replaced by a undead convoy, marched to Shadowcliff keep, the horde of goblins and trolls headed deeper into the forest waiting for new orders.