CHAPTER 117: Rob Them All

"Odysseus, this is where we met, so let's part here!" Han Shuo smiled faintly as he looked at Odysseus at the spot where they'd first met.

This was close to where the forest trolls lived, and after the healing properties of the Medusa's essence blood kicked in, Odysseus could be assured of a full recovery from his injuries. After a few days of recovery, Han Shuo's injuries had also mostly healed. There was no danger in him leaving now, and so Han Shuo made the suggestion to leave.

All good things must come to an end. Odysseus and the others also knew that this place was relatively safe. After Han Shuo made his suggestion, Odysseus nodded resignedly and said, "Since that's the case, let's part here. I hope we can meet again in the future."

Everyone reluctantly said goodbye to Han Shuo and Trunks and slowly left the area, moving to the outskirts of the Dark Forest as Han Shuo and Trunks waved them on.

It wasn't until Odysseus and the group of six had disappeared from sight that Trunks finally said, "You no longer need my protection in your current body condition, it looks like it's time for me to go!"

Han Shuo looked at Trunks and shook his head, smiling, "You can't leave yet."

"Why?"

"I am quite angry about the injuries the McGrady Guild gave me. My anger won't subside until the Earthmage Leon has died at my hands. Heh heh, I've noticed that you and the Manticore have been disappearing for periods of time lately. Have you already found traces of the McGrady Guild and are you planning to take action against them?"

Trunks said with a dumbfounded look when he heard those words, "It looks like there is indeed something mysterious about you. It's like I can't hide anything from you. I'm actually planning to make a move against the McGrady Guild, but there's an Archmage holding down the fort there. They also have a lot of helpers, so I can only make moves in the dark, and I wouldn't dare be an open enemy of theirs. You're injured right now, so you won't have much of an effect if we start fighting. That's why I excluded you."

Looking deeply at Trunks, Han Shuo thought silently for a while and then opened his mouth to say, "I have a way to deal with the McGrady Guild, and I also know that they'll pass through here. It will be difficult for me to deal with an Archmage. As long as you help me deal with the Archmage, leave the rest to me."

"Are you mad? The McGrady Guild travels on the back of earth dragons, and all their followers, guards and others add up to about a hundred in number. There are sixty to seventy guards of various professions within this powerful group, do you think you can handle so many with your power alone?" Trunks stared at Han Shuo and exclaimed in bewilderment.

Smiling slightly with great meaning, Han Shuo said, "Don't worry about that. You'll understand why I can handle them when I appear. From now on, just follow the McGrady Guild. You'll see what a heavy price they'll pay after a while."

Han Shuo didn't stay for further questioning after he said his piece and left with a long laugh, walking in another direction and leaving Trunks with a confused face.

Upon arriving at the forest trolls' sacred ground, Han Shuo summoned the small skeleton and took out the raft the forest trolls had hidden here and took it downstream to the forest trolls' residence.

When the little skeleton appeared, the silent forest troll tribe immediately panicked. The forest troll warriors who had led the way ran inside as soon as they arrived, and the excited old priest came crawling out, fell to his knees before the little skeleton, and began to kneel loudly.

"The great Datara commands you to be fully equipped and ready. The great Datara plans to lead you into battle to rob a large human merchant train passing by." Han Shuo threw his head back and proudly gave the order.

All the forest trolls, whether old men, women, or children, immediately became excited when they heard the news of a robbery. They waved the weapons in their hands, shook the pouches that were always on their bodies, and shouted loudly. It seemed that the innate nature of this race to steal was something no one could change.

"Thanks to the great Datara, thanks to the great Datara's guidance!" The old priest was beside himself with excitement as he immediately turned to the strong forest troll leader who had come running from the distance and began to mutter instructions.

The forest troll chief raised a spear and stood at a high vantage point, mobilising everyone. All the different young and strong forest trolls within the tribe automatically lined up in long columns, with the combinations of hunters and priests automatically splitting up. Five to six hundred forest trolls were ready in no time.

Seeing that they were all ready, Han Shuo nodded and said little else, giving an order to the small skeleton. The little skeleton was in a high spirits and stood from a high vantage point like the forest troll chief, waving the bone dagger in his hand high above his head.

Wearing a pirate's eye-patch, the little skeleton did indeed have some traces of a robber's behaviour. At the old priest's call, the carriage that had carried the little skeleton was brought out again, and the little skeleton took up residence inside. Han Shuo took out a black magic cloak and wrapped his body and head in it, and walked towards the road that the McGrady Guild would surely take.

Since the forest trolls really did have such a terrible reputation, it would cause him some trouble in the future if other people found out that he'd gone on a raid with them. So, after some thought, Han Shuo decided to hide as best he could. He had led Odysseus and the others away because he knew they were too kind and simple. Not only would their existence be of little use, but it might also affect him, so he had let them go halfway through.

From the observations of the original demons, Han Shuo was quite clear about the location of the McGrady Guild. He led the five to six hundred forest trolls to a mountain valley. Under Han Shuo's orders, the forest trolls skilfully began to set traps and rocks that would impede their progress. When all was ready, the forest trolls would stand aside among the trees and bushes, their oily green skin blending in with the foliage. It would be difficult to spot them without looking closely.

The trunks rode on the manticore, following this group of humans from a considerable distance. For there was an Archmage among them. Trunks didn't dare to make any rash moves either. He just followed them according to Han Shuo's earlier instructions.

After half an hour, the group of people, led by the earth dragons, slowly began to appear. The earth dragons plodded forward, the goods on their bodies swaying back and forth. Guards of various professions walked ahead, patrolling the area with wary eyes. Two of them were quite familiar with Han Shuo, as they had been part of the group that had attacked him in the swamp.

In addition to the two earth dragons, this group of McGrady Guild members also had several huge lizard beasts. On top of them were several opulently dressed merchants, surrounded by highly skilled guards. No wonder Trunks didn't dare make a move.

As they entered the valley, some of the guards scouting ahead suddenly fell into the traps. Rocks rolled down the small slopes of the surrounding hills, completely blocking their path. Spears and javelins were hurled from the sides, nailing the ground beneath their feet.

Suddenly, loud cheers could be heard from all directions. The excited forest trolls threw off their cover and rushed over to encircle the caravan and surround the people of the McGrady Guild.

"Datara, Datara!"

It was then that the forest trolls discovered that this group of prey was indeed very large. They all sensed that this was the merciful gift of the great Datara and began to shout in unison. The old priest even knelt down in front of the little skeleton's wagon and began to pray in an ancient language.

"Damn it, it's the damned forest trolls!" All sorts of complaints came from the McGrady Guild platoon. Seeing that the attackers were forest trolls, and in such large numbers, the people of the McGrady Guild also felt that this was an extreme inconvenience. The train's way forward and back was blocked, and a conflict seemed imminent.

A beautiful woman with pagan features and a fully rounded body slowly stepped out of one of the carriages at the back, wearing a luxurious magic robe and holding a magic staff studded with gems. The emblems on her robes testified to her status as an Archmage. She walked over cheerfully and called out in a soft voice, "Hello, is there someone I can talk to?"

"Liaison, shall we speak to her?" The old priest, who was still kneeling before the small skeleton, involuntarily looked at Han Shuo, who was hidden in the corner of the carriage wrapped in a black magic robe, when he heard the woman's call.

"Go see what she wants." Han Shuo nodded and opened his mouth.

At Han Shuo's command, the old priest stood quite a distance away from the beautiful woman, under the protection of the forest trolls. The old priest opened his mouth to say, "Ugly human female, what do you have to say?"

The woman had been smiling cheerfully when she heard the old priest's words and her face immediately darkened. It was only for a moment, however, and her expression quickly returned to a smile. She opened her mouth to say, "We are people of the McGrady Guild, and we know the strength of your forest trolls. So we'd like to make a deal with you. We're willing to pay ten thousand gold coins in exchange for our safety in leaving this place. We also have many people on our side, and you're sure to get hurt if we fight. What do you say?"

"Ugly human woman, don't you know that the appetite of our race has always been great?" The old priest looked down arrogantly at the mature, seductive woman as he spoke in a stiff, cold voice.

In Han Shuo's eyes, the woman had a curvaceous body and strikingly beautiful features, and was full of a mature feeling. She possessed a high level of attractiveness to ordinary people. However, the old priest was a forest troll and had a completely different standard of beauty compared to humans. A beauty in Han Shuo's eyes had rather become another word for ugliness in his.

Under the repeated blows of "ugly human female", the beautiful woman took another deep breath to control herself, but her gaze was no longer so friendly. She stared at the old priest and opened her mouth to say, "So what are you going to do?"

The old priest puffed out his chest and was about to open his mouth to answer when he suddenly remembered Han Shuo's existence. He said, "We need to discuss this."

The old priest then walked quickly towards Han Shuo and several forest troll warriors blocked Han Shuo's view so that the people around them didn't learn of Han Shuo's existence. The old priest came to Han Shuo's side and looked at him, "Liaison, what do we do now?"

His brow furrowed as he looked into the distance. Han Shuo saw Leon appear in the background. The McGrady Guild specialised in smuggling and had some conflicts with Phoebe's Boozt Merchant Guild, not to mention that their crimes earlier had offended Han Shuo. He hesitated only a moment before opening his mouth to say coldly, "There is nothing much to say. Rob them all according to the rules of our tribe. Kill anyone who resists!"

Immediately upon hearing these words, the old priest exclaimed excitedly, "The Liaison is wise and great! The Liaison is wise and great!"

The old priest said little more as several forest troll warriors emerged from the huddle and nodded to the forest troll chief in the distance.

The forest troll chief raised the spear in his hand and let out a high-pitched yell as forest troll warriors rushed out from all sides, charging at the guild's guards in a death defying posture after the priests had cast their spells on them from behind.

"Damn those greedy forest trolls! We'll fight them to the death!" Various angry mutterings came from the guild group.

The smile on the fey, mature woman's face vanished as she chanted a magical incantation. A grey cloud of air flew out of her staff as she waved it around, transforming into a demon's head in mid-air and rushing forward to ensnare the rushing forest trolls.

More than ten grey clouds continuously changed shape in the air, sinking into the bodies of the forest troll warriors without any resistance. Their rapid forward movement suddenly slowed as mutations seemed to occur within their bodies. Tumours quickly appeared, looking quite terrifying as they expanded and pulsed.

Pfft, the tumours on the first forest troll's body burst open and a dark black liquid oozed out. As the liquid remained on their bodies, it brought with it an incomparably strong corrosive effect, causing a round of wild screams and howls from the forest trolls as their bodies slowly turned to liquid.

White smoke also rose from the other forest trolls that were sprayed by the liquid, and they seemed to be in great pain.

Standing behind the others, Han Shuo remembered some of Fanny's magic teachings as he saw the Archmage attack. He realised that this was the advanced dark magic of Demon Entanglement, and finally understood that this pagan, mature woman was a fearsome dark archmage.

The gruesome deaths of the first ten or so forest trolls caused a certain amount of panic among the forest trolls, but it was a good thing that this race had also lived in the midst of cruel raids. They panicked for a moment, but their strength in numbers kept them moving forward.

Suddenly, a shrill, piercing sound came from Han Shuo's mouth. Trunks, who was hiding in the shadows and watching everything, didn't quite understand things, as Han Shuo's whistle came from within the forest trolls. No matter how Trunks imagined things, he hadn't thought that Han Shuo would be in the company of the forest trolls.

But because of his trust in Han Shuo, Trunks abruptly rushed out of his hiding place, as they had agreed, and headed for the dark archmage who was torturing the forest trolls.

Riding on his manticore, longsword in hand, Trunks took aim at the female Archmage. He took advantage of everyone's desperate confusion to charge directly at the Archmage. He planned to take her down first, because the power of her dark magic was simply too strong. An ordinary person couldn't defend himself against it.

"It's that Trunks! Everyone stop him and don't let him get close to me!" The dark archmage had actually spotted Trunks and called out immediately.

Five or six senior swordsmen, along with archers and other mages, immediately ran from all directions to block the path to the Dark Archmage when they heard her scream. Attacks poured out from this group of people, making it difficult for Trunks to get close.

The female archmage didn't pay any attention to Trunks as she stood with her back to him, sending wave after wave of dark magic with enormous destructive power, sweeping over the more than ten forest troll warriors who were rushing over. They fell one by one, not a single one of them able to approach the Archmage.

"Liaison Liaison, what do we do now?" The old priest crawled over to Han Shuo as he watched the forest troll warriors die one by one.

Han Shuo stared at the fearsome female archmage for a long time, feeling that even if he rushed in, it would be difficult for him to escape death. The invasion of dark magic was simply too terrifying. It looked like only the small skeleton made of bones would be unafraid of the dark magic invasion.

"Look, the great Datara has already come out." Han Shuo reassured the old priest as he pointed to the small skeleton that had stepped out of the carriage.