Gale and the others didn't pursue the fleeing Trolls; they needed to return to Solidan to deal with the twenty thousand strong army there.
The Priests force-marched back to the outskirts of Solidan Town but didn't rush to attack. Instead, they set up scout guards around the Troll encampment. Only after discovering that some fleeing Trolls had entered the Troll encampment did Gale send someone to notify Carlos, saying, "Tell him to attack after the Troll encampment falls into chaos."
Not long after the messenger left, a commotion broke out within the Troll encampment. It was clear that the Frostmane Chieftain had already received the news of Shimtoga's death.
The Frostmane Chieftain was dumbfounded. With two loa dead in a row, how was he supposed to deal with such an enemy? More importantly now, how could he preserve these twenty thousand young Troll warriors? The Frostmane Clan had developed for over a thousand years to reach its current scale; if these young warriors were killed, the Frostmane Clan would be set back by several centuries.
The news of Shimtoga's death quickly spread throughout the encampment.
Some Trolls wanted to launch an attack to avenge Shimtoga; others wanted to retreat to preserve their strength. The two sides argued endlessly, with those seeking revenge calling the others cowardly for not daring to face their enemies, and those wanting to retreat calling the others fools, saying that if the loa couldn't defeat the enemy, going in would only be suicide.
Just then, a shadow enveloped the Troll camp. Both sides stopped arguing and looked up at the sky, seeing a Proto-Dragon hovering overhead.
"Proto-Dragon—"
A Troll sounded the alarm, but it was too late. Under Metri's direction, six attendant mages cast Extreme Cold Storm. However, their power was not as great as Gale's, and the spell's range was limited to the Troll camp. The duration was also not long enough, only sustainable for a short while with the help of the eternal holy grail.
Even this short while was enough to defeat these twenty thousand Trolls.
Carlos saw the falling snow and immediately ordered, "Open the obstacles and wait for the spell to end."
"Attack!"
The Alpha Squad and the Human warriors charged towards the Troll camp, especially the Human warriors, who had been cooped up for days by the Trolls blocking their gate and were incredibly frustrated. Now, finally able to vent, they were like tigers entering a flock of sheep, brandishing their weapons, smashing the ice sculptures in their way, and rushing towards the panicked Trolls.
The Trolls had long lost the will to resist. Seeing the spell end, they immediately retreated. The slow ones were chased down and killed by the Alpha Squad and the Humans, while the fast ones had already entered the forest.
Gale watched the Trolls' rout and signaled Navoli that he could go and pursue them. Then he called Kana over, "You follow the Trolls into the snowfield and see if they have any more loa."
After consecutively killing two loa, the power of the devourer of gods surged. This gave him an urge to kill a few more loa; wouldn't the power of the devourer of gods then be comparable to a Titan artifact?
Kana nodded, entered Stealth, and moved towards the front line.
Soon, the war ended. The Kaldorei and Human allied forces suffered no deaths, but quite a few were injured from falling during the pursuit. After treatment by the Priests, they were no different from normal people.
From the spoils obtained from the Trolls, Gale only took the magical items, packaging the rest and giving them to the Humans. As for the two loa corpses, the meat was given to the Humans to supplement their food. Gale took all the magical materials like blood, bones, and skin.
In particular, Shim-Eba's bones and fur were things Gale absolutely had to obtain. His Sun Power was pure flame divine power, which was very important for Gale's understanding of flame spells. If he could absorb this flame divine power, Gale could even impersonate a God of Fire in the future.
While Kana was scouting, Gale summarized the experience gained from this battle. Metri and the others still had issues with micro-management and should strengthen their training in creating ether spirit. Navoli and the others performed adequately, but their physical training needed to be intensified.
Only Lu'anna received praise because she could ride Smaug. This was actually a talent, and Gale suggested she develop in the direction of a Beast Master Hunter. Since Lu'anna did not yet have a custom weapon, Gale decided to make a crossbow using Shimtoga's bones and tendons.
Shimtoga's bones contained life divine power, allowing for the engraving of nature-based runes. Gale hadn't researched nature-based runes much, so he could only engrave a few healing runes to allow Lu'anna to heal her pet when needed.
Shimtoga's tendons were very tough, requiring great strength to draw the crossbow. Gale engraved two Storm runes on the crossbow. When the crossbow fired, the Storm runes would transform into miniature bolts and fire alongside it. When encountering multiple enemies, the miniature bolts would prioritize other targets.
Firing three bolts at once effectively increased the rate of fire. He named this epic crossbow Lu'anna's Hurricane and gave it to Lu'anna.
Lu'anna loved this crossbow very much. She held it in her hands, unable to put it down, and practiced with it every day. In her spare time, she also prepared to catch a wild beast as a pet, following the Beast Master Hunter development path Gale had provided.
However, just as she went into the wild and selected a leopard, before she could even set a trap, Smaug descended from the sky and, with a single dragon's breath, turned the leopard into a roasted leopard.
Lu'anna was quite annoyed, "Smaug, you're being naughty again."
Smaug moved his massive body, came up to Lu'anna with a fawning expression, and rubbed his big head against her.
Lu'anna said helplessly, "I'm going to catch a pet; don't mess it up."
Smaug immediately put on an innocent expression, like a child who had been abandoned.
Lu'anna was speechless, "You are Lord Gale's mount; you can't always follow me."
But Smaug ignored all of this and simply wouldn't let Lu'anna catch a wild beast. Lu'anna, frustrated, could only sneak out when he wasn't paying attention. After a great deal of effort, she finally caught a tiger, but as soon as she brought it back to Solidan, Smaug swallowed it whole.
"Smaug!"
Lu'anna was furious. Although she liked Smaug, she couldn't tolerate his mischief.
Smaug immediately admitted his mistake, following behind Lu'anna, trying to appease her.
When Gale learned of this, he also felt speechless. He tapped Smaug's head, "You rascal, do you like Lu'anna that much?"
Smaug was a little afraid but still nodded vigorously. Clearly, this fellow was fonder of Lu'anna than of Gale.
Gale was speechless. After thinking it over, he realized that a forced bond wouldn't be sweet. Since he was willing to follow Lu'anna, then he should follow her well.
So, Gale gave Lu'anna a pet contract, turning Smaug into a pet. From then on, Smaug belonged to Lu'anna, not only helping her in battle but also serving as a mount, killing two birds with one stone.
After the contract was signed, Smaug was very happy. But he soon stopped being happy. To vent her frustration, Lu'anna used the contract to make him perform various difficult and embarrassing poses.
From then on, he learned that you can't offend anyone, especially a woman, even if that woman is a beautiful and kind-hearted Kaldorei.
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