CHAPTER 100: The Demon's Representation

"Datara, Datara."

The forest trolls on the outskirts of the city also bowed down to the din of the forest trolls' shouts, and began to shout loudly as well.

"What, what's going on?" Not only Han Shuo, but also the dwarves and elves around them were astonished by the sudden change. One of the dwarves asked in sudden bewilderment.

"The skeletal warrior with wings seems to be similar to the demon the forest trolls worship. This demon is evil by nature and loves to take everything. I've heard elders within the tribe mention that the demon the forest trolls worship is called Datara!" Benedict seemed to remember something at this point and suddenly cried out.

Not too far away, a forest troll priest, so old that he looked like he was about to close his eyes in final slumber, crawled quickly towards the small skeleton on his knees. Han Shuo was rather surprised that he was crawling so fast and had reached the little skeleton in such a short time. The old forest troll priest muttered something in the forest troll language to the little skeleton.

The little skeleton stood there in a stupor with his bone dagger, scratching at his bright and clean skullcap, as if he did not know what was going on. He turned back to look at Han Shuo with a blank stare, as if waiting for Han Shuo to give him orders.

Upon hearing Benedict's words, Han Shuo had a pretty good idea that something wonderful had happened. Those forest trolls must have thought that the little skeleton was the demon they worshipped. The old priest seemed to want to take the little skeleton somewhere, judging by their interactions. All the forest trolls in the back were frozen to the ground in worship, and no one mentioned the matter of invading the dwarven village again.

"Han, what's going on, what should we do?" A dwarf looked at Han Shuo and asked blankly.

Han Shuo thought furiously when he heard the dwarf's question. His head also hurt from the difficulty of the situation. He hesitated for a second, unsure of what would happen next, and said to them, "I will think of a way to delay the forest trolls. You leave the valley immediately and find a safe place with the chief and Bennett. I think I can find you again."

"Will it be dangerous for you?" The dwarf was a little uncomfortable leaving Han Shuo's side and spoke a little reluctantly.

"Don't worry, I have my ways of dealing with them. Benedict, I think your party should leave as well. My skeletal warrior is a bit strange, but I don't think he's the demon the forest trolls worship. I can't predict how things will turn out after that either, so I think you'll be safer if you go with them." Han Shuo slowly tried to convince the dwarves and elves he was looking at.

"We'll leave, it's very dangerous here. I think we should inform the elders first." Benedict thought for a moment, nodded and retreated with the other elves.

Under Han Shuo's urging, the dwarves also slowly and reluctantly left for the mountain valley. Suddenly, one of the original demons that had been constantly watching the forest trolls split off and followed the dwarves as they retreated. This allowed Han Shuo to clearly see the path the dwarves were taking to escape.

After a short while, there was no one left at the village entrance except for Han Shuo and the little skeleton. Han Shuo's original demon had watched the dwarves' movements and discovered that they had crossed a cold river and emerged from a diagonal crack in the mountain valley.

"Does anyone here speak the common language of the continent?" Han Shuo stepped out from the back and stood beside the small skeleton, asking in the language of the humans.

The old priest who had been kneeling in front of the little skeleton and talking to him in the forest troll language suddenly looked up at Han Shuo and used the human language in a somewhat unpractised manner, "You are with the mighty Datara, why you a tricky human?"

"Are you sure he's the same as your Datara?" Han Shuo didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he shook his head and asked strangely.

The forest troll's face was a hideous green, and the dry skin that hung all over his body was like old tree bark that had been weathered by wind and rain for many years. With a look of extreme contempt, he said, "Of course I'm not wrong, this is the representation of the divine Datara on this earth.

As the old priest spoke, he solemnly removed a precious ancient scroll from a leather pouch. The scroll unfolded slowly as his wizened hands opened it. Apart from a few squiggly lines in the language of the forest trolls, which were hard to make out, it was a picture of an enormous skeleton with wings on its back. The bones of the skeleton were pure white, and the wings on its back were without feathers. From the photograph, the wings did indeed bear a strong resemblance to the bone spurs on the little skeleton's back.

Beneath the foot of this large white skeleton was a barren mountaintop with all sorts of gold, silver and jewellery piled on top, including some jewellery that looked quite precious. The white skeleton had an empty socket for one eye and a black patch covering the other, the outfit of a one-eyed pirate who burned, plundered and pillaged.

"This is the appearance of our mighty Datara, we wouldn't be wrong. He is the representative of Datara in this world and will lead us to even more gold, silver and jewellery. We'll have so much jewellery and food that we'll never starve, and the mighty Datara will lead our tribe to conquer the land of the tricky humans! The old forest troll priest's tone had become strangely fervent, and he shouted loudly.

Apart from being a little smaller and not pure white, the little skeleton was indeed quite similar to the Datara depicted on the scroll. No wonder the greedy forest trolls thought the little skeleton was the representative of the marauding demon Datara.

Although the unimaginably queer situation made Han Shuo feel quite surprised, a sudden thought struck him as he mused carefully. A trace of an evil smile appeared on his lips as he gave an order to the small skeleton.

The little skeleton, who had originally stood there mute with the bone dagger in his hand, suddenly waved the bone dagger as his empty left hand made a gesture for everyone to stand up.

"Oh! Datara has answered our prayers!" The old forest troll priest instantly jumped in excitement as his chicken-like feet and withered hands also waved, speaking in the low forest troll language.

The forest trolls on their knees shouted loudly and rose from the ground, taking off their pouches and shaking them violently.

The small skeleton waited until all the forest trolls had risen to point at Han Shuo with his empty left hand, as instructed. Under the puzzled gaze of the forest trolls, he used his empty hand to point at himself.

"He wants me to become his liaison and interact with you." Han Shuo stood up proudly and spoke to the old priest. The little skeleton nodded in response to Han Shuo's command, as if to confirm what Han Shuo had just said.

"Why, why would this tricky human be your liaison?" The old forest troll priest obviously couldn't accept this and immediately asked in confusion.

The little skeleton had already pulled out the bone dagger and placed it on the old priest's neck as soon as the old forest troll priest had finished speaking. The little skeleton stood on its tiptoes, trying to appear larger than it was. His two empty eye sockets stared directly at the old priest, while a bone-chilling chattering of teeth came from his mouth.

The old forest troll priest was instantly frightened to the point that he lost all strength in his body, fell to the ground and kneeled again. He raised his hands high above his head and shouted, "I will never dare to question your decisions again, please don't take everything we have!

None of the surrounding forest trolls dared to move when they saw the most revered priest of their tribe being publicly threatened. The only one to do so was to stand there with his head down and say something in the forest trolls' language.

"Get up, get up, your noble Datara has forgiven you. I think you'll accept my status as liaison now?" Han Shuo cackled inwardly as he spoke to the old priest with every appearance of seriousness.

Clutching his head, the old priest spoke with visible reluctance on his face and nodded, "Will the great Datara and the liaison come with us to grace our tribe with their presence? We have much to offer the great Datara!"

"Haven't you come to rob the dwarves?" Han Shuo hesitated slightly and opened his mouth to ask. "No, after I heard the tribe members describe the great one last time, I immediately ordered the tribe to search for traces of the great one. Those annoying dwarves are only a small village of a hundred people, and it's not worth sending out so many of our tribe's elite. We've heard that the great one has appeared nearby, that's why we've sent so many tribesmen this time, so that we can welcome the great one back to his sacred ground. The old forest troll priest shook his head and explained to Han Shuo.

"Holy ground, what holy ground?" Han Shuo asked in surprise.

"A palace that our tribe built especially for the great one. There are even antiques that have been passed down from generation to generation. It's said that this was the place where the great Datara first lived, and so this time we will offer it all to the great one." The old priest looked at Han Shuo with some disgust, but didn't dare to disobey the little skeleton's orders as he impatiently explained.

"Very good, very good! Let's go then!" Han Shuo was overjoyed to hear these words and immediately urged the forest trolls to set out.

The old priest didn't say much, just waved his hand. The strongest looking forest troll in the distance walked humbly towards the old priest. After a round of commands in gibberish, the leader immediately ordered the five or six hundred forest trolls to ignore the dwarves' business and set off with great fanfare for the deeper parts of the Dark Forest.

Four tall and sturdy troll warriors carried a luxurious black jade chariot inlaid with many shining jewels. Inside, soft feathers were spread out as the little skeleton rode in it on their way into the depths of the Dark Forest. It looked as if the forest trolls had come prepared.

The little skeleton lay lazily inside, looking back and forth. As a liaison, Han Shuo could not enjoy such comfort and could only walk with them. They met many magical creatures along the way, but ordinary magical creatures wouldn't dare approach such a large group of five to six hundred forest trolls. Even some of the wild and ferocious beasts of level three or two decided not to continue the hunt when they saw the large group advancing with great fanfare. Instead, they chose to stay far, far away from this large group of an evil tribe.

On the outskirts of the Dark Forest, the naturally greedy and rapacious forest trolls were known and feared. Whether it was some of the more unusual tribes living on the outskirts of the Dark Forest, or the adventurers and merchants who ventured into the Dark Forest, they'd always be robbed to some degree if they encountered forest trolls.

Except for a few stronger creatures in the depths of the Dark Forest, these notorious villains on the outskirts of the Dark Forest were universally hated and feared. As hated rivals, the elves had fought the forest trolls many times and hadn't been able to defeat them. No one could stop their innate urge to raid.

As they approached the depths of the Dark Forest, even the formerly boisterous forest trolls began to move more cautiously the deeper they went into the Dark Forest, as if they were deathly afraid of causing trouble.

"Why is it that the deeper you go, the more timid you become?" Han Shuo had noticed the anomalies of the forest trolls and couldn't help but ask the old priest beside him.

Glancing around, the old priest explained, "We have now entered the central area of the Dark Forest. There are many high-level beasts and several special tribes here. The humans who appear here are also difficult to deal with. Let's hope we don't run into them, otherwise we'll be in trouble.

A thunderous crash came from not far away as a six to seven metre tall, frighteningly large white stone giant slowly moved away with a large tree slung over his shoulder. A low cawing sounded from the sky as a huge black shadow flew over them. As the shadow fell to the ground, two long, slender necks could be seen.

"The one covered in white stone dust is a ridge giant. Their nature is quite peaceful and they don't like to fight. But if you make it angry, it'll be a disaster. What just flew overhead was the lowest level twin-headed dragon. They're not really dragons, just level two magical creatures, but they can spit venom and are difficult to deal with. The old priest explained when he saw Han Shuo's astonishment.

Nodding, Han Shuo sighed with great appreciation. "I finally understand why you only dare to act wild on the outskirts of the Dark Forest!"