22 Chapter 22: Past memories (3)

Three high-level trolls knew, something went wrong when they heard several thunderclaps. They sighted at first a few dozen elven rangers and thought it was an easy target. They let their subordinates made more merits during this battle and stayed at the backline. At first, the plan went well, elves ran for their life and seemed to be in despair. Messengers had already told them the huge possibilities of easily overwhelming them and did not need their personal supports. The three relaxed as if they were strolling around their backyard and imagined they would be eating the remains of elves and wondered if the females were any different from the males. The taste of the elves was the sweetest for them.

Trolls were regarded as a barbarian because of these issues. They were also cannibalistic eating their own when food was not found nearby through hunting. They have eaten a lot from humans, gnomes, goblins to elves. Their developments halted probably because their ideological aspect couldn't keep up. Now, before the three high-level could enjoy the meal, they had to worry about themselves getting punished by their chief. The troops in front had probably met their fate because a few moments after a series of explosion, the whole forest went quiet.

Now, the only way they could suffer less from the punishment was to personally fight to atone for their mistakes. They sprinted at the fore front of their remaining trolls and ordered everyone to rush to the scenes.

Lireesa, who was listening to the surroundings immediately noticed the change, and quickly ordered the rest of her men to rush to their position and prepared for battle. She already had two plans in her mind. Continued hit-and-run tactics to draw out the enemy forces if the high-level still hadn't participated and slowly gnawed the troll army. The first possibility from happening was quite slim. The second method was what Lireesa was reluctant to do. They must face three high-level peak in a head-on confrontation, which completely nullified their range advantages. It was impossible to run from the high-level for most of her subordinates who were at mid-level stage.

The battle position had been formed and the whole group waited for the trolls assault. Sena and Ella climbed on the thick branch Lireesa was on and stayed beside her left and right respectively.

"We'll each take on one high-level trolls," Sena suggested her thoughts. "Lireesa will quickly kill one while me and Ella will hold on until you can help us."

"Agreed," Ella nodded and her face still had no mood swing. Sena was puzzled why Lireesa didn't speak up.

"No, you two will act as a group to engage one, while I single out two," Lireesa refuted after calculating the risks and probabilities. She found out her friends, who were only at high-level early stage had higher chance of something going wrong, when they fought against the high-level peak. She believed she could easily kill this type of opponent without any stress except that it took time. According to her estimate, before she could take the opponent down, her friends would be unable to hold on and made mistakes, jeopardizing her as well in the process. It was a better option, to allow the two to bully a single opponent although whether they or the other would be bullied was uncertain.

In the high-level stage and above, the difference between the realm was very huge when compared with mid-level stage. Leapfrog fighting was not impossible but harder to play. If the two early stages fought against the pinnacle, this particular troll was sure to be contained, not affecting the other battlefield. Lireesa, on the other hand, engaging with two opponents in the same realm as herself, felt heavy pressure and must be careful to avoid misjudgments and slight mistakes. Being a high-level professional meant being an expert in their specialization and long years of combat experience. High-level peak experts had already venture on their own personal fighting doctrines.

"What" x2

Two low exclamations besides her rang simultaneous. Lireesa was helpless and thought, can you be one bit serious in whatever you do. Why do you shout out loud unnecessarily.

"But that's two that you have to face," questioned Ella, whose face despite still having no expression showed some worries in her eyes.

"Yeah, Ella's right. Lireesa you should trust us more," Sena said unwilling to take on the given task.

"If you want me to worry about you guys every time and having my full attention on you, then go ahead," snarled Lireesa. "Not to mention with your strength, I don't have confidence in you to be able to hold long enough before my entry."

"But…"

"That's my final decision. And I'm not discussing with you, but an order!" Lireesa suppressed the two of them from continuing their refusal militarily. She knew too much about these two sisters. As she herself was high-level peak, the difference between them was very clear to Lireesa. She didn't want to see them get hurt until there wasn't any other options. Although what she said toward her friends might seem to be humiliating, but Sena and Ella just felt warm, and knew Lireesa was definity worried about their safety.

Now, it appeared Lireesa's side had already eliminated around 600 trolls and the remaining should be around 300. The only worrisome aspect was only the three high-level peaks. The other trolls could easily be handled by their subordinates. They had been waiting for long but the trolls hadn't shown up. Lireesa assumed they became cautious in their march after seeing so many dead troll bodies. After all, their predecessor had shown what could likely occur if they kept on underestimating their enemies. Despite the support of three high-level peaks, no one dare to volunteer to rush like before. After going through the hell-like massacre of their fellow trolls, they no longer underestimate the elves in front. In fact, fear even rose as they passed by many trees without seeing a single sight or sign of elves.

The wait lasted 30 minutes for the elves and Lireesa felt good about it. Every ranger was motivated and was well-recovered. They were now at the peak state and confidence had grown. Even Ella's group had already return to their state of being able to fight. Everyone's mana had fully recovered. Lireesa as a captain of her troops gave a war speech but it wasn't solely about motivating her soldiers, it was more of an aspect to warn the dangers and advantages they could bring out during the fight. Reiterating what they already knew but might forget during the battle was crucial and helpful to her subordinates because her repetition had caused her soldiers to not panic after seeing their own commanders having plan for everything.

"In this battle, you don't need to conserve your mana," Lireesa used her wind whisper ability to spread her words across all ears but others who she didn't intend to hear couldn't listen to it at all. "We will attack in two volleys after my shots. The most important point is to remain calm. Even if the trolls started to get close to you, use concuss shot and nail it. If it was a group, use entanglement and finish them off. Remember, you must cooperate. Don't use it as long as you are sure to have range advantages to yourself. We'll handle our own opponent, stay away from us if you can. Soldier to Soldier, General to Generals. For Quel'Thalas!"

They now had trolls on their sights who now seemed to be lax on their guards. Being on guards for a long time took a toll on them. Even then, very few trolls were seen, probably scout units to find out whether the ambush laid ahead. They were proper cannon fodder. Lireesa wasn't going to waste her troops' mana on these units which could easily be dealt with given their fallen alertness state was going to be their doom. Her voiced sounded, "Use conventional arrows and make your shots count."

After having them closed enough, she gave the order. No mercy was given. A few groans and shouts, then everything was dead silence again. The bad news was that the follow-up trolls now knew exactly where her men probably were, and she didn't have time to change the locations.

Sure enough, she heard the troll's horn of general attacks. They rapidly charged toward her position like apocalypse scene where all animals rushed out of the forest. Lireesa wasn't too worried about these trolls because she had her full focus on the three high-level because their aura disappeared as soon as the scout unit was ambushed. And she was the only one who noticed this remarkable change and her friends didn't appear to be aware of.

She suddenly perceived a slight fluctuation on the end of right flank and sifted carefully. Even if there was only a tiny possibility, she dared not take it lightly. Soon, she immediately drew out three arrows and shot out together. She then sprinted toward the direction her arrows went. Sena and Ella were shock when they thought something went wrong with Lireesa to shoot at her own soldiers.

"What're you doing!" x2

"Follow me!"