67 Tactical pause

Before regrouping for a meeting, Lireesa's dragonhawk circled around her rangers to see if there were any unwanted followers or assassins to spy on their status. After confirming several times, she flew back along with two other rangers who were also riding flying mounts.

Lireesa descended at a point previously chosen together and almost as soon as she landed her mount retrieved its wings alongside her subordinates'; several flapping motions later, it became quiet and heated arguments in the distance went into her ears. Sure enough, people got frustrated every time actions didn't go according to plan. What were they still not satisfied? At least, it worked perfectly fine.

Lireesa patted the dragonhawk's head and brought her legs together to the other side, sliding down for a dismount. Her mount cried out a response and even though she rode for a short time, it regarded Lireesa as her master. Her mouth twitched from what explanation she should prepare for Liriah when she returned the mount to her student.

As her footsteps got closer, curses were included in their conversation. Where was the women's virtue? It wasn't wrong to compare their behavior to men. Lireesa promised she really rarely swore, but these subordinates' mouths spat out as if they were trained regularly.

It was too unsightly in her opinion; imagine a sexy curvaceous woman walking in front of you and suddenly sitting down, spreading her legs with one arm resting on her knees, and smoked a cigarette from her mouth. She blew white smoke and bellowed cusses, improper to any listeners. Her mouth destroyed her beauty.

If not for elven language intonations intoxicated Lireesa and the charms were delightful for a listener's ear, she had already smacked the back of these women's heads.

"Damn these suckers; no matter how much we aggravate them they never moved an inch." Sena cursed holding her hands at her waist, walking back and forth. The scene didn't look like a serious meeting, but familiars conversing in their leisure time.

"We even fired arcane burst shot. We sent them an explosion and no one even showed their heads. My Sunwell, I couldn't believe they can hold their breath." One of the Windrunners echoed her amazement at the trolls' forbearance.

"Not to mention they even piled their brethren's corpses to barricade themselves from our arrows. Although disgusting, it was damn effective." Another voiced her opinion and her description alarmed Lireesa because of her position at height, she couldn't see the event clearly. Lireesa was still in disbelief, when she depicted in her mind trolls using corpses as walls.

This reminded her of past historical events in her previous life, during Korean War when American soldiers were trapped, they also behaved in the same way. She lamented how similar the situation was and sighed out in relief as the victim wasn't her side.

"Huh! I didn't see that. Is that really true?" Sena exclaimed as she stayed behind and commanded the group. She was only aware trolls set up walls and didn't pay attention to her reporting subordinate's astonishment at that time, because her meek thought was trolls dug in the ground. Now she heard the realities, her hand stood on end from goosebumps.

Everyone nodded to confirm the truth and they were really at the battlefield, watching these unfold. Not mentioning the trolls, even rangers on their side panicked from these traumatic sights. Their attentions were drawn to calm down their subordinates and they didn't feel much. But thinking about it right now, their reaction was no different from Sena's.

"But can't they just retreat simply? Although we encircled them on three sides, we never surrounded them. So, we gave them the escape option and they chose to stay; I still don't get it." Sena's unconvincing argument was also the same puzzle the rest tried to solve.

"Naturally because higher rank troll on the other side judged the situation was critical and they'll lose more if they retreated. He or she believes staying dug in is better and I agree with this viewpoint." A calm monotonous voice interrupted their conjecture, causing everyone to look toward the source. After realizing Lireesa was the speaker, everyone except for Sena and Alleria saluted and shouted, putting fists on their chest.

"Lady Lireesa!"

"Lireesa."

"Mother."

Lireesa nodded and waved her hand as usual in reply to their salutes. Although according to the military discipline, Sena and Alleria should also salute Lireesa, Windunner was her private army and sometimes these regulations were unnecessary. She had told her friends and her daughters they were free from such gifts provided that they had discipline in other areas.

"You weren't surprised by their reactions?" Sena raised her long eyebrows and asked Lireesa. Lireesa didn't answer her question and changed the heavy topic. Should she say she had seen images in her previous life? There was no shock for her because any creature could break the rules and morality when their survivals were at stake. There was no right or wrong in her mind, but trolls wouldn't overthink because they were already a cannibalistic society. Only their quickness could dumbfound Lireesa. Even Americans in her past life took a long time before they decided on this method.

"Leave that for a discussion later. For now, what's your command?" Lireesa stared at Sena and waited for her words. "Remember the operation this time is commanded by you and I'm following your orders."

"You're really not taking over?" Sena asked confused but regained her composure after seeing Lireesa didn't relent. Sena also wanted to delegate and stopped thinking. She had already used more brain cells than compared to combined battles prior to this expedition. If not for Lireesa's forcing this position, she would've stepped down and asked others.

"Alright, since our Lady had said so, we'll still continue with our previous method. Harass them until they can't stand it. If they remain inside the hole, we'll burn the hay in front of them and smoke them out. I don't believe they can remain calm after severe agitations. Give me some ideas." Sena gestured with her hands to the rest for input. A single person's ability was limited, but a team would compensate and produce the best of everyone's abilities.

Lireesa watched everyone thinking from different perspectives and various options came out. In fact, Lireesa knew without even purposely stirring up these trolls, they would succeed in drawing trolls out for already prepared traps because once their strengths got stronger and their confidence soar, this was the moment when trolls would attack without consideration. The real issue was whether quasi-legend would appear and fight. Their presence changed everything but Lireesa wasn't worried and none of the officers here were fazed by these troubles.

After several minutes under everyone's agreement, Sena gave orders and the rest dispersed to carry out their respective missions. Sena came to Lireesa who seemed to be in deep thought and looked at where her friend's glance was. Nothing but shades and some leaves on the ground and glancing upward, pores of light sieving through the pack of leaves. These sights appeased Sena and the beauty of mother nature ceased to amaze her.

"Ahem. Lireesa, do you discover any Legend?" This time Sena's inquiry appeared unconfident as she used this reason to bring Lireesa here and she had no idea what was going on with Lireesa at the moment. Although she really wanted to hear negative answers, her heart expected otherwise. Only then would she regain her confidence, patting her chest in front of Lireesa loudly and proudly declaring with arrogance how her guess was well-calculated.

"Nope, I'm not sure if he or she hid within the ranks but the idea is impossible since no one even trolls wouldn't send their subordinates to death foolishly without showing up," Lireesa answered straightforwardly. Her face looked dazed and she continued. "But that's just my guess and don't worry no matter whether a legend is present or not, I won't blame you. In fact, I'll give you a reward for your serious consideration. Besides, who knows this legend's hiding in the center group, far away from the ambushed trolls? We'll soon find out your inference."

Lireesa palmed Sena's shoulder and gently stroked; no matter the case, she would never lose trust in her friend. Sena's heart calmed down after her friend's reassurance. They had already grown up from childhood; they knew each other almost everything. Nothing more needed to be said. She didn't mention to Lireesa if Legend could be an assassin because it was a stupid inquiry. Even ranger profession was hard to upgrade to Legend; Sena had never heard or seen one, much less an assassin. Quasi-Legend assassin, she shook her head at this inexplicable thought.

Lireesa if she heard Sena's inner monologue, would nod in agreement. She knew how hard it was for ranger to upgrade and assassins were worse. Usually, to reach level 9 must be backed up by uncountable resources and talents, but assassins weren't rich, and most served under someone. Their frontal combat wasn't strong and many rather piled these resources on other professions to achieve more efficient results. Quasi-legends already had higher instincts and senses, meaning assassins of the same level, if possible, would seldom work. As for Legend, Lireesa could only speechlessly state that understanding the law was most difficult for assassins.

Of course, there were legendary assassins in World of Warcraft, but they were only present at the time when the high tide of mana arrived. In Lireesa's current timeline, she could swear no legendary assassin but she dare not promised quasi-legend didn't exist despite the low probability.

"Where's Alleria?" Lireesa asked after discovering her daughter was out of sight.

"At her post. I saw her wanting to chat with you but decided against it when you were in a daze. What were you thinking?" Sena replied and continued the chatter, since the battle wasn't happening soon although it could begin in less than an hour, time was on their side. She wasn't stressed out except during command issuing.

Lireesa folded both hands behind her back with one hand grasping the other wrist. Her aura changed as if she was peerless in this world along with the nature background almost making Sena bow.

"Countless ways to kill a Legend. And I'm still unsure if I should just injure him or her heavily and let go."

"…?" Sena's eyes blinked. This was too arrogant, right? Why are you so sure?

Lireesa's mouth twitched after seeing Sena waving her hands beside her as if to express 'Hello, are you alright?'.

Action would prove Lireesa's words, she didn't intend to explain since this was also an opportunity to display her prowess based on her enhanced strength.

No one knew but they would know by then how much her combat capability had increased. Dramatic was an understatement!

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A/N: ^v^

I want to write 2-3 chapters a day.

It appears impossible.

Before I could guarantee it but from this week, nope!

My laptop's screen broke in the last two weeks and I couldn't write while on the job since I used monitor, keyboard, and HDMI cables to let it work.

I also had a full-time helping family clinic. With the portable laptop, I could write several during work waiting for customers but now I had to go back to my room to type. Less time after work only 4-5 hours to compose.

One word: Impossible

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