The Tursek soldiers formed up in the middle of the wide cave hall as soon as they left the corridor. The sound that had just been heard from far away in the tunnel and the strange smell in the cave at this moment made them prepare for battle immediately.
The corners of East's eyes twitched, that was the anger that could not be suppressed.
The new king of Skellige shouted, “Shoot!”
…
The best way to deal with monsters with solid shells like trolls is to use blunt attacks, such as war hammers. It would be even better if you can also add the impact of a galloping horse.
If it really doesn't work, have a few people cover it with a coarse net soaked in oil, and then have soldiers surround it and chisel it.
You can even use a shield to hit and cause dizziness - at least it is better than the long swords and short axes that the soldiers are holding now.
The hundreds of people brought by East were in such a hurry, and their daily training was all about fighting people, not special attacks on monsters. At this moment, using a rain of arrows to test them was the best choice.
As soon as the five trolls in the cave heard Easter's order, they curled up into a ball like hedgehogs, but what was attached to their body surfaces was not the biological keratin of hedgehogs, but solid ice and rock.
The sound of "ding-dang-dang" was endless. The finely forged arrows and the thick ice rocks kept colliding, making a crisp sound like forged iron, sparks flying, and leaving scratches.
Behind Lann, Milva pulled her exaggerated longbow with all her strength, and shot out a meteor-like arrow with a teeth-grinding sound of the string being stretched.
"Ding--Crack" The entire arrowhead was buried directly into the rock layer on the surface of the ice troll's skin, and the arrow shaft could not withstand the huge reaction force and exploded directly from it, causing the ice troll's body to tremble slightly. But it did not scream, and it was obvious that it did not touch its flesh and blood.
Milva curled her lips, made a "tsk" sound, and drew her bow again in an attempt to find the gap between the ice and rock on the back of the ice troll and cause substantial damage.
Although these ice trolls have slow minds, their reactions as predators are extremely fast. Without the existence of ice giants, they would have been at the top of the food chain, but the appearance of ice giants has revived their ability to seek benefits and avoid harm.
At this moment, facing so many human soldiers, the sense of crisis has long overshadowed the sense of hunger. So these ice trolls chose the most direct strategy - run!
They just kept the balled-up state and rolled around. This cave hall was connected to several different corridors, and they also divided into several routes, just to escape.
Their actions may seem a little funny when described in words, but only when you actually face these ice trolls can you feel their terrifying evil momentum. A huge stone taller than a person rolls at the speed of a chariot, and the huge force it carries is definitely not something that can be stopped by human strength.
——With the power of humanity.
The soldiers had already dispersed, the archers continued to shoot, and the shield guards were responsible for blocking the corridors to prevent the enemy from escaping. They faced the amazing ice trolls, and they felt that they could even knock down the city gates together.
However, they did not retreat a single step in the face of the enemy, but simply dug the tips of their long shields into the rock mud, trying to build an artificial wall to block the enemy's steps.
Just as they were trying to meet the impact with resolute expressions, a huge purple halo magic circle suddenly spread out throughout the cave hall.
For human soldiers, this magic circle only increases the light of vision a little; but for these ice trolls, it is a death warrant.
The magic that made their bodies sluggish instantly clung to their bodies, and their shocking tumbling became sluggish the next second; followed by blazing white lightning that struck the sides of the rolling ice and rock balls, violently changing their forward course, and their bodies tilted and smashed into the rock wall beside them.
[Yarden Seal·Magic Trap]!
"Woo..." Two trolls slightly opened their rock shells in a daze. How could the archers and Milva, who were staring at the battlefield, miss such a good opportunity? Arrows pierced through the darkness like a cluster, and in an instant, these ice trolls turned into real hedgehogs - except that their thorns grew on the front.
Horrifying screams began to echo in the cave, causing the remaining trolls, who were already dizzy, to tense up and try to hide from harm by acting like turtles.
This can indeed block the sharp teeth of the wild beasts they encounter in their daily lives, and is also enough to block human swords.
However, the soldiers of the archipelago retreated, and the witchers surrounded them.
Three trolls and five demon hunters.
Geralt and Coen surrounded one of them, both of them were in a stance of making seals with their left hands and holding swords with their right hands; the Griffin School witcher used the [Igni Sign] to begin to restrain and continuously spray columns of fire, burning the curled-up ice trolls; and the White Wolf's left hand began to emit a faint white light as a preparation, waiting for the ice troll to reveal its head after it could no longer withstand the heat.
Kolgrim and Gerd surrounded one of them. The snake-faction witcher took out an alchemical bottle of poison and began to pour it into the cracks in the ice rock, emitting dangerous green smoke from time to time. The bear-faction witcher cast a layer of [Quen's Seal] on himself, then held down the trembling ice troll, not wanting the other party to stretch its body at this moment.
And Lann stood beside the last troll, holding the Sword of the Lady of the Lake high above his head. The golden light was shining as if he was holding a golden torch, and he began to accumulate power unscrupulously.
After a few breaths.
With a cry of "Ouch", the ice troll surrounded by snakes and bears was the first to give up. With a "sizzling" corrosion sound, the entire ice rock ball began to tremble violently, but this huge rock was held down by Gede so tightly that it could not be stretched out. Gede did not let go until he could no longer feel the other party's struggle, and the whole troll collapsed like mud.
Next came the troll that was being cooked by the wolves and griffins. It roared and waved its fists in the burning flames, but the two demon hunters dodged it nimbly. The [Axis Seal] held in Geralt's left hand invaded the ice troll's brain the next second, and then two silver swords pierced its chest and neck respectively.
As for Lann, the sword of the Lady of the Lake in his hand became brighter and brighter, making the entire cave look like it was open to the sun.
With a low shout, the runes on the sword finally shone to their utmost. The island soldier who had been staring at this legendary weapon only felt his vision go blank for a brief moment.
They felt as if the wind in the air was torn apart. When they opened their eyes again, they saw that the troll, which was so hard that it might take a battering ram to crack it, had its shell split neatly in half like the dough of a sandwich, revealing the disgusting flesh and blood inside.
And following the direction where Duke Lannister swung his sword, the ice mud under the ice troll's body and the rock wall five steps away from the ice troll were left with deep sword marks, as if an invisible giant was standing behind the Duke and had just swung the sword for him.
…
Looking at the corpse of the ice troll, Lann sighed softly.
From the way the trolls dealt with the soldiers just now, it can be seen that these monsters can come and go freely even if there are mortal soldiers ten times their number without special countermeasures. And without the help of the demon hunters, the crazy attack of these five trolls will definitely cause a lot of losses to the team, especially in the rugged terrain of the mine, and the human side may not be able to completely wipe out the other side and let them escape.
Even though Cintra already has the rock troll "Troll" family, Lann's attitude towards this kind of advanced combat unit is "the more the better."
Unfortunately, these ice trolls have done something unforgivable, so they can only be turned into alchemical materials. This is just right to fill in the gaps in Lan's alchemical potions, as he has never had troll decoctions before.
Although Lann was keen on collecting various potions and decoctions, he rarely used them in actual combat. So far, he seemed to have drunk them only twice - once when he fought a griffin as a mortal, and once when he hunted the Cyclops "Old Spearhead" in Kaer Morhen.
…
Clapping his hands and putting the troll's corpse into the [Inventory], Lann turned his gaze to the huge forging furnace in the middle of the cave hall that was shaped like a boiler. A strange fragrance was still emitting from it.
Some people wanted to get closer to the big pot, but they hesitated.
"Is it possible..." Kolgrim looked at the cauldron and hesitated to speak.
Even though these ice trolls were dealt with without any harm, no one present showed the slightest joy.
Because what Kolgrim hadn't said yet was what everyone was thinking at the moment: Is the person we want to rescue in there? Has the patriarch of the Todaloch family turned into meat soup?
Easter obviously thought of this, and his expression couldn't be any more ugly. As one of the patriarchs of the seven major families, Harold died in such a humiliating way, and no islander could accept it.
And this also means the complete failure of East and his team's operation.
Even the experienced demon hunters would hesitate to approach such a scene, but in the end, it was East who insisted on seeing the person alive or dead and ordered people to clean up the cauldron. Even if the chieftain Harold they were looking for was not inside, it would be good to collect the remains of the islanders and give them a decent funeral.
Lann thought for a moment and walked to the side of the ice troll that was poisoned by the snake-faction witcher. The ice troll was dying of the poison, but it still had one breath left.
Lann felt that this ice troll could play a role, because after repeated brain searches, he finally recalled some information about the Todaloch family from his previous life.
In the previous life's game, the Todaloch family had already become a mere name due to the ice giants, and could basically be considered exterminated. Therefore, they did not appear much in the game, and Lann was not familiar with them, and did not react for a while.
Now thinking back carefully, Chief Harold is still alive in the future. Lann remembered that he was captured by the Frost Giant when everyone thought he was dead, and was fed with all kinds of strange meat by the Frost Giant. When the player found Harold in the process of the mission, this man was already insane and was talking to the dead with great interest.
The Ice Giant kidnapped Harold for only one purpose - to build a ship.
Yes, shipbuilding.
No one knows why the ice giant captured the patriarch of a family to build a ship for himself, but the monster's strange move at least allowed the head of this big family to survive.
But now Lann knew that his arrival had produced a butterfly effect. The celestial sphere intersection caused by the ancient blood awakened the ice giant in advance, causing the current situation to deviate. Although the ice giant still captured Chief Harold as in the future, no one knew whether it wanted Harold to build a ship or simply wanted to eat him.
Looking at the ugly faces of East and the others, Lane only hoped that the event line of Patriarch Harold would be the same as in the future.
…
Lan pointed at the poisoned ice troll still twitching on the ground and asked Kolgrim, "Can you bring it back to consciousness?"
Kolgrim was stunned for a moment, as if wondering why Lann would wake up an ice troll that was destined to die.
"I want to ask it if it knows Harold's whereabouts and whether it really threw Harold into the pot." Lann explained proactively.
Kolgrim's eyes suddenly lit up: "Are you going to... show that? The one that hypnotizes monsters! I heard from Gerd that you hypnotized a cursed werewolf before, making it tell you everything it knows!"
Kolgrim joined the team very early, but he had never seen Lann's skill of "hypnotizing" monsters demonstrated. After all, he had rarely encountered situations where he needed to demonstrate this skill before.
Lan looked at the snake-faction demon hunter who suddenly burst into enthusiasm, and nodded with a twitching eye.
Kolgrim immediately burst out with great enthusiasm. He took out an alchemical pottery jar from the alchemical backpack on his body and gently dripped a few drops on the bloody mouth of the poisoned ice troll.
No response.
Kolgrim thought about it and simply pushed the bottle mouth in, gulping down the whole bottle of potion. Soon the ice troll's body began to twitch violently.
The trolls all have a strong self-healing ability. Even if ordinary people go through great pains to break through their hard shells and tough skin and get injured, as long as the injury is not fatal, they can recover quickly. As a price, the ice trolls' extremely fast metabolism allows the poison to spread quickly throughout the body. It can be said that the methods of the snake hunters are a natural counter to trolls.
Giving the ice troll an antidote now would be useless. In just a short period of time, the poison from the snake sect had caused irreversible damage to it. But if it was to help the ice troll regain consciousness for a short period of time, Kolgrim could still do it.
The ice troll's ugly face covered with hard ice rock twitched, and it opened its eyes vaguely. There was nothing in its sight except a left hand glowing milky white.
[Axis Seal: Charm]
Perhaps due to the new talent of the female night demon, the ice troll in front of him, who was not very smart to begin with, soon became dazed, and Lann also felt that the magic power he consumed was much less than usual, and he easily put the ice troll into a hypnotic state.
The demon hunters all came over curiously. Except for Gede, none of them had ever seen Lann's ability to hypnotize monsters.
Lan glanced around and ignored them. As usual, he took a deep breath and started with the simplest question: "What's your name?"
Unexpectedly, the ice troll did not react and just continued to look at Lan with a confused look.
The Lion-Eyed Demon Hunter couldn't help but frown - what's going on? Based on past experience, hypnosis to this extent should be enough to make the other party answer any questions, right?
The witchers looked at each other, and Geralt suddenly said to Lann: "Maybe the way you ask the question is not right."
"A way of asking questions?"
White Wolf nodded: "Lane, you should say this: You, Ice Demon, what's your name?"
Lan was stunned.
That makes sense.
Because Geralt was not the caster of the sign, the ice troll did not respond to his words. After Lann repeated it, the ice troll's dull eyes finally turned, and he began to speak with a stuttering sound.
"Yes, Ice Ice Demon, no, Ice Demon Demon."
Great, we can finally communicate. Although the content is a bit weird, it doesn't matter.
Lann racked his brains to recall the grammatical structure of the trolls: "Ice giant... no. Big guy, give ice to ice demon, little man?"
The Ice Troll nodded dully, "In the morning, when the big guy comes back, throw it to the little Ice Troll."
Easter also came over at this moment, looking at the ice troll nervously, hoping to hear good news from it.
"Among the little people, are there any with big beards, old ones, and those with patterns on their bodies?" Lann described the features of Patriarch Harold as best he could, a middle-aged man with a big gray beard and tattoos.
"Little people, all with big beards and patterns."
Lann groaned in pain.
But the ice troll then added: "A big bearded little man, the big man won't cook. If he doesn't behave, I'll hit him with a stick and throw him behind!"
East's eyes lit up, and he quickly motioned for Lan to continue asking, "Where is the little man who doesn't cook?"
The ice troll pointed to a corridor deep in the cave, which was pitch black inside.
East quickly asked the large army to rest on the spot, and rushed into the dark corridor with Lann and others.
Their figures soon disappeared at the end of the road.
The hypnotized ice troll collapsed on the spot with a dazed look in his eyes, and the poison from the snake hunter continued to destroy his body.
"Big guy, don't cook the little people. Come back and find the little people. The other little people can only be cooked, not eaten. Bingbing Mo..."
With a "puff", the long sword of the Tursek family soldiers suddenly pierced into the chest of the ice troll. They had just finished sorting the meat in the boiler and their eyes were red.
As if he was not satisfied, the soldier stepped hard on the hilt of the sword until the tip of the sword penetrated his back and was blocked by a solid stone and could not move forward any further.
"Bah, monster!"