Aftermath

"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."

----Sun Tzu

Hodag was angry. He was not used to such a humiliating defeat. He was one of the most strongest troll in the swamp but yet here he was retreating from goblins along with his two mates, Girsa and Meila, the trio being the only survivors out of eight trolls.

"Hodag, Why run?," Said Girsa,"not troll way."

"Shut up, Sow," Hodag angrily retorted, "Hodag not running. Hodag return to swamp for now. Gather more trolls and attack because Hodag's smart."

Hodag want to return to the swamp.Trolls lives in groups of seven to eight called packs. He wanted to gather more followers by taking over others packs. There were more than twenty packs in the swamp. If he take control of half of them, he would have a large army. Trolls were not that easy to mess around.

Hodag was a cunning one for a troll. He knew his mistake. He recognized the bats. He had seen those bats and had eaten them as well. The bats were the mounts of the goblins who lived near the swamp. Him attacking those goblins turn out to be his mistake.

"Hodag, look up," Said Meila, pointing towards the sky.

He look up. Four creatures were flying in the sky. Bats. They were carrying two peoples. Hodag sniff. He knew who it was. The dark man and the orcette. He growled, stopping in his track.

More shadowy figures were coming out of the darkness, he counting around thirty. They were goblin wardogs riding Doggos.

The bats lower themselves and two person landed on the ground before them. Troll eyesight were better in the dark, so Hodag could see who were they.

"You," Hodag growled, pointing towards the man in pure darkness,"Hodag will eat you."

However, It was the orcette who spoke back. She spoke in troll, so Hodag understood.

"Yield or die. Your choice."

"Ha, Hodag eat both of you," growled Hodag and roared, opening up his big lopsided mouth wide. He choke as a round metal thing entered his mouth and got stuck in his throat.

It was a handheld grenade Alex had thrown.

The grenade exploded with a bam, sending the troll head into a million splinters.

Except for Alex, everyone including Kara was stupefied in shocked and fear as the headless troll body fall to the ground. Two pots of oils landed on the two trolls, drenching them.

"Yield," said Alex, looking at the two trolls with menacing eyes.

His words brought the stupefied trolls

back to their senses. Both of them roar in indignation and charged at the two of them but what met them was only despair.

Troll had regenerative powers but they were weak against fire and can be killed when they head is slice off from their body. Samara and her goblettes shot fireball at them, engulfing them in fire. But the berserk trolls didn't stop.

"Now," Said Alex, picking up his battleaxe as one of the troll hurled towards him. With a heavy and powerful slash, he cleanly cut off her head from her neck. The other troll was done in similarly by Kara.

It was already dawn when the hunting party return from their trip.A great feast had been prepared. The battle had been won without any casualties on the defender side.On the other hand, all the trolls were killed.

It was Jadara and Natia who greeted him first. They jumped on him and clung to him.

Alex didn't mind. He picked them up and went to the village center where the feast was.

The King and his people ate and drank.The air was lively and warm.The whole village was filled with joyous celebration.

After the feast, Alex retired to his tent, tired and weary. He smelt of blood and sweat due to the fight. As there was no running water nearby he just went to sleep.

In the Duisternis forest, a trio of orcs were fighting against a pack of argwolves. They were the remnant of the Urstor expeditionary force.

"Damn it," said Vrask, as he cut down the last argwolf, "Elder Orath not gonna like the outcome. Those trolls did us badly."

"So what do we do now, Captain," ask one of the orc.

"What choice do we have," Said Vrask,

"We return nonetheless. Orath may not like the outcome but what choice does he have except lean on me in such time. Most of Urstor troops are under my command."

.......

Trolls

Trolls are large hulking creatures standing in average at around nine feet tall. Their distinct features are their warty gray skin and slouch shoulders. They are omnivorous and would feed on anything, even on undeads. They are strong against physical attacks and poisons and have strong regenerative blood but weak against fire. Their regenerative blood don't activate if their head is cut off as the hormones that is responsible for regenation is stored in the medulla.

Trolls run on four limbs like a primate as they have long upper limbs. They also sports horns on their head. Unexpectedly for their size, trolls can be quite fast.

Trolls lives in pack of five to six often lead by a patriarch. Males often compete in bloody duel to take over a pack and hence troll males are lesser in number than female in a pack. A solo male troll are either a young one or an outcast.

Trolls are not the least intelligent of the Daemons but not the weakest, which goes to the goblins. Their low intellect is compensated by their brute force which is second only to ogre, the strongest Daemon race. Their lifespan is similar to a human but their growth spurt and gestation is longer, which is not notice due to their size.

Trolls are hunted in almost every civilized state due to their nature of abducting unarmed people and livestock for food especially sheeps and children. They are considered to be an endangered race.