Chapter 676: The Adventurers' Opportunity
"Have you ever eaten your own kind?"
The calm voice drilled into the troll's ears.
The frightened troll subconsciously prepared to shake its head, but couldn't help blurting out,
"Of course I have!"
Clang!
Thick iron chains firmly bound the troll.
No matter how it struggled, it could not escape its imprisoned fate.
Lockfa stared at the thick, bloody glow on their bodies, showing no sympathy at all. He asked two simple questions, then sent them off to the underground lab.
Their fate was even worse than the trolls sent to the Vitality Potion refining factories.
Matthew had already begun preparing, starting his modification experiments on these trolls with extremely powerful regeneration abilities.
This time, Bay Territory's strike on the trolls wasn't just about resisting them—it was also to capture more special test subjects.
The other trolls were quite terrified. They had long heard about Bay Territory's reputation.
All kinds of terrifying rumors made them extremely fearful of being captured by Bay Territory.
The trolls' fear of Bay Territory grew deeper and deeper, and they became more timid in battle.
They were savage and brutal thugs, greedy and cunning man-eating fiends.
But when facing a force even more brutal and ferocious like Bay Territory, they cowered.
Lockfa, who understood the situation, keenly grasped their condition and carefully analyzed it for Dale.
Once Dale understood the situation, he did some quick calculations and decisively made his battle units act more boldly.
"The trolls are already a scattered mess. Their internal conflicts and struggles doom them to never unite."
"And with a shortage of supplies, they have to rely on hunting grounds in the Dark Forest to survive."
"We can fully exploit this trait and carry out encirclements and exterminations."
With this battle philosophy in mind—and with trolls who had joined Bay Territory leading the way—
The teams capturing and hunting trolls grew more productive by the day.
More and more scout units were captured and killed by Bay Territory's adventurers.
At first, Dale worried that the increasingly heavy troll losses would prompt them to counterattack the adventurers.
But even after a few days passed—and with Bay Territory having captured thirty to forty thousand trolls—there was still no major reaction.
Only a steady stream of troll scouts kept arriving from the territory the Rotten Moss Clan tried to control.
For these trolls sent out like cannon fodder, Dale hesitated only half a day before happily going after them.
Free merit and loot? Of course we take it!
After staying in Bay Territory for a while, Dale had proposed a few overly aggressive plans.
But all of them had been dissuaded by the guards and commanders at Bay Territory's outposts.
Now that he had thought it through, he immediately understood—
Bay Territory's regular battle system already ensured that soldiers and adventurers didn't need to make pointless sacrifices to win and gain benefits.
The only thing still puzzling Dale was why the trolls hadn't reacted despite such massive losses.
"Food! It's still food!"
"Why haven't the Cole Elves delivered the supplies? Didn't they already agree?"
"They only wanted us to hold Bay Territory in check, not to provide follow-up food and weapons."
"I heard the Cole Elves are in chaos right now. Maybe they no longer have the resources to support us."
"We don't want anything else—just food!"
"They definitely have food. They're just lacking transport and manpower."
"They're just unwilling..."
The trolls grumbled noisily, while the Rotten Moss Clan's troll commanders all schemed to get more resources.
On the bone throne, the clan chief gazed coldly at these foolish buffoons.
Next to him, the seer responded with a chilling voice:
"The Cole Elves are ready to resume trade with us. They want us to actively attack Bay Territory to draw out their main force."
The troll commanders all lit up at that.
As long as they got food from the Cole Elves, sending foolish slaves to die wasn't a problem.
There were more and more trolls anyway—it was time to clear out the extras.
Thinking of the crazed trolls, the Rotten Moss Clan's chief Teriel remained expressionless and refrained from voicing opinions.
He didn't take the fools' discussion too seriously.
What worried him more were the "lunatics"—and those silent fools watching from the sidelines.
Once all the cannon-fodder trolls had been assigned, the hall returned to silence.
Seer Buck then continued in his chilling tone:
"Send more of the expendables, so the lunatics don't get more sacrifices."
"And you must remember—never cooperate with those northern orc lunatics, or you'll get yourselves killed."
"Let the other clans do as they please. If they want to die, let them. We're not fighting Bay Territory."
Surprisingly, none of the troll commanders objected to his "cowardly" stance—they even nodded in agreement.
To them, survival was what mattered. Only with food could they maintain order.
They didn't care about the crazy ideas of other trolls.
"Once the Cole Elves bring the food, we'll retreat."
"Those fools gave up their land—we'll occupy it first..."
"Heh, exactly. Let those idiots go die first, just like before."
"Buy more Fire Oil from Bay Territory—we've got to burn their place clean before moving in."
"Bay Territory is already selling us arrows. Don't they fear us?"
"Fear? Of what? One Wyvern charge and we'd be toast..."
"True enough..."
As for these craftier fools, Chief Teriel no longer planned to eliminate them.
Seeing them sneak away mid-conversation, Buck, whose eyes glowed pale green, turned to remind Teriel:
"The longer we stay, the greater the danger."
Teriel was silent for a while. Then he looked up at the crimson sky and said in a hoarse tone:
"We'll do as you say. It's time we left."
"Shame those lunatics showed up too soon."
"Ain't that the truth?"
The two trolls' voices grew quieter until they faded away.
The next day.
Large groups of trolls, carrying enough food for a hearty meal, swarmed toward the area controlled by Bay Territory's adventurers.
Most of these trolls survived, but they usually lived miserably.
A vast number of trolls and orcs also marched in unison, stirring up major activity at the northern end of the Dark Forest.
The scout teams sent out by Dale quickly discovered their arrival.
All kinds of intel continuously flowed into Bay Territory and swiftly reached Matthew.
Matthew, who was conducting surgical modification experiments, narrowed his eyes slightly at the large patch of glaring red on the map.
"Aside from the orc tribes and trolls, it seems the barbarians to the east are also getting ideas."
"The Cole Elves really know how to cause trouble. They always pick this kind of timing."
There was a trace of displeasure in Annie's eyes. She was extremely annoyed by the Cole Elves always ruining things at critical moments.
Matthew tidied the experiment table, checked the data, and said with a calm smile:
"No need to worry about them for now. With their offensive capabilities, they can't do anything to us."
"As long as we don't mess up ourselves, all they can do is watch us grow rapidly."
Annie immediately understood Matthew's point. Currently, most of Bay Territory's military forces were in intense training at the various training grounds.
The more time dragged on, the stronger their forces would become, and the more confident they'd be.
The threat posed by these three forces was no different from the last few times the Cole Elves launched offensives against Bay Territory.
As long as the defense was solid, the enemy wouldn't pose any real threat. Bay Territory wouldn't lose a thing.
So why rush?
Having embraced pragmatism, Annie nodded thoughtfully.
She quickly grasped the balance between image and substance in the territory's development.
Thinking of this, Annie suddenly recalled Bay Territory's directive combat missions and the large batch of powerful weapons made public. She asked excitedly:
"Are Bay Territory's adventurers finally going to stand on their own? I can't wait to see what they'll do next."
Matthew rubbed his hands, not particularly concerned about this wave of enemies. Instead, he broke it down and said to Annie:
"It's simple—these enemies picked for the adventurers are all disorganized and can't form a united front."
"Against such foes, the adventurers' flexibility and numbers can be more effective."
"Plus, this will also better train their strength and combat abilities, so the territory can assign more tasks to them in the future."
Annie naturally understood all the implications. Thinking about how most adventurers were drawn in and joined Bay Territory due to its policies and benefits, she couldn't help but smile:
"Adventurers are all quite talented."
"They work for us, clear out forest threats, and grow on their own without worries—saving us tons of trouble."
"Then they can join the territory and become our talent reserve. It's practically a gift!"
Matthew shrugged nonchalantly. His strategy for adventurers was, of course, informed by players and adventurers from his previous life.
Just as Annie said—Bay Territory needed these talents who came knocking on their door.
Homegrown talent is reliable. Outsourced talent is abundant and excellent. That's how the territory can keep growing its pool.
Bay Territory not only needed to provide these talents with resources and a path upward—
It also needed to give them an ideal home everyone longed for.
Bay Territory's stability, free housing, child development, and dazzling array of goals—
All these were reasons that made adventurers deeply tempted.
Annie, eyes sparkling, was already asking with anticipation:
"Our Rocky Mountains are easy to defend and hard to attack—with few entrances and many exits."
"Should we send a few squads out to take a few more turns?"
Matthew nodded agreeably, only reminding Annie to stay safe and prepare for timely retreats and contingencies.
The adventurers did not let Matthew down.
Under the guidance of trolls and Catachan warriors from Bay Territory, they demonstrated exceptional combat prowess.
They formed capture and hunting teams to encircle and eliminate waves of incoming troll and orc scouts.
Relying on the top-tier weapons and gear provided by Bay Territory—and their preference for ganging up in coordinated kills—they quickly took control of enemy movement.
With their scouts neutralized, the trolls and orcs slowed their advance.
They weren't out of ideas—they tried setting traps, launching counter-hunts, forming elite squads.
But all their plans failed.
Bay Territory's adventurers, with their varied equipment, could easily discern the enemies' tricks.
Some bold adventurer squads even struck while the enemy was unprepared—
Putting on a show: snatching the bait, then vanishing without a trace.
When the enraged orc army chased after them, they fell into traps set by Bay Territory.
Many adventurer squads surrounded them one after another and mercilessly wiped them out.
The orc army's march slowed, losses mounted, and there were no gains.
Naturally, the orcs began to waver.
But by then, they were already trapped in layers of encirclement and traps.
Whether advancing or retreating, they had to wade through lethal snares.
Orcs fell in droves, without even seeing a single enemy face.
Deadly bolts and ground traps became their final anguished regrets.
This hesitation—stuck between advancing or retreating—only increased their casualties.
When they tried to hunker down and wait for reinforcements, they found their water and food were running critically low.
Exhausted and depleted, the orc army soon became easy prey.
Victorious Dale and battlefield-bound Lockfa were explaining the situation to newly arrived adventurer teams, while also summarizing the last battle.
"You all are pros at handling small-scale enemies, so we don't need to say much."
"Just bombard them with ranged weapons, wait half a day, and see if there's help or ambushes."
"If there are, retreat fast. If not, clean up the field."
Several adventurer squad leaders nodded repeatedly, totally approving this seemingly shameless tactic.
Isn't that the way to go?
Safe, efficient—and profitable.
"For large-scale enemies, start with these steps."
"First, clip their wings. Kill their scouts. Make them blind."
"That way, they can't advance quickly."
"If that fails, rally more troops to attack or scout—and be ready to pull back."
"Then lay traps along their path, or set up ambushes in hunting grounds."
"This both slows their march and weakens their supply chain."
"Trolls and orcs usually carry only two to three days of rations."
"Cut off their resupply routes, and their chance of launching a large-scale advance disappears."
"If you've got strong units, use magic artillery or long-range spells to preemptively strike or obstruct them."
"This will kill their troops, slow their pace, hurt morale, and sap their will to fight..."
After the explanation, backed by live examples—
The adventurer commanders' eyes lit up.
They had learned some bold, wild—but highly effective—new tactics.
To prevent serious errors and losses, Lockfa continued to brief them:
"Command is important. So is completing the mission. But staying alive is most important."
"Remember Bay Territory's mission evaluation standards—casualties come first, then results, then rewards."
"And never harbor evil intent. Or you'll fail Bay Territory's magic interrogation check."
On this point, the seasoned adventurer commanders all nodded politely.
What could they do? They were working for Bay Territory.
Eat their bread, follow their rules.
One gust of wind and you're knocked out cold.