Trees.
Still trees.
The endless repetition of the same scenery along the way had already filled Al with indescribable weariness.
He seemed to understand why Thar and the others, who believed in natural harmony and the way of seclusion, were still unwilling to go deeper into the Pina Forest.
There was danger—danger everywhere.
Earlier, when Al and the others had marched urgently toward Thar's direction, stragglers had been able to catch up and rejoin the column sooner or later. But deeper in the Pina Forest, falling behind was extremely dangerous.
Even though they were a mighty column of nearly a thousand, all natural woodland-race beastmen, they still felt fear toward the low roars and eerie sounds that occasionally came from the depths of the dark forest.
Al rode on the mare's back, his expression somewhat dazed. From time to time the scenes of the battlefield still flashed before his eyes.
"Roar!"
An unexpected sudden event interrupted his memories. A river troll that had buried itself in the swamp, leaving only part of its body looking like ordinary drifting rotten wood, sensed the movement on the bank. It impatiently stood up and launched an attack toward the Revelers tribe…
The river troll's entire body was covered in mud and moss-like blue-black filth. Spikes grew on its back, belly, and arms.
It held a large club made of dead wood. Fin-like structures grew on both sides of its face and its eyes were so small they were almost invisible.
It leaped out of the swamp and ran a few steps onto the bank.
It looked at the long marching column of the beastmen herd on the shore, and at the centaur girl standing nearby with a warhammer bigger than its head in one hand, radiating murderous aura.
"Ugh ah!"
The river troll let out a strange cry and ran a few steps back toward the depths of the swamp. Al found its fleeing appearance somewhat comical and his suppressed mood lightened a little.
Suddenly he felt something was wrong.
Trolls… weren't they pack creatures?
"Ugh ah!!"
More river trolls stood up from the swamp, climbed out, and charged toward the bank waving clubs that smelled as foul as their bodies.
"Form up!"
Alina pulled her hammer out of a river troll's head, bringing out a mess of rotten flesh and blood, then smashed it down again. She repeated this several times until the river troll had no intact flesh left before she stopped.
The spearmen around her swarmed forward, cutting and slicing the river troll's limbs, interrupting its regeneration.
One especially strong river troll had more than a dozen spears stuck in its body and was being pushed backward.
It roared, but its stomach could no longer vomit out foul corrosive acid. Pinned against the trunk of a large tree, its club fell to the side. It flailed helplessly in the air.
Alina walked over, raised her hammer to smash its head. The river troll struggled, its tiny eyes looking toward Al. When it saw those crimson pupils, fear appeared on its face, then suddenly it showed a pleading expression toward Al.
"Wait!"
Al jumped down from the rock and walked toward Alina.
"Don't kill it yet."
He remembered that trolls were said to be mutated creatures influenced by Chaos power, or perhaps born from the mucus between Grom the Paunch's toes. Either way, they had a strong connection to destruction and the forces of Chaos.
They were often dragged into battle by greenskins, Norscans, and Chaos forces.
Al himself was the Eternal Champion, and his subordinates were all beastmen loosely tied to Chaos. If he could recruit these trolls as monsters and meat shields, it would be far better than using precious population as infantry.
He placed his palm on the centaur girl's thigh to signal her to relax. She lowered her hammer but kept a vigilant gaze fixed on the river troll.
Al looked at the river troll that had given up resistance. Slowly, he signaled the beastmen to withdraw their spears little by little. It behaved obediently and made no sudden escape or violent movements.
Then it slid down and sat at the base of the tree. Under Al's gaze it clumsily stood up again and flopped back onto the ground, letting out a huge vomiting-like sound to show submission.
Most of the other river trolls that had already lost the will to fight and were being dismembered by the beastmen, or were still barely resisting, heard this roar and gave up struggling. They simply dropped their weapons and copied their leader by lying flat on the ground.
[Savage and Stupid Challenger: A nearby river troll tribe has launched an attack on you. Defeating them may earn their loyalty. Quest reward: River Troll unit *1]
There was no system prompt… of course there wasn't.
Al looked at the pitifully lying river trolls and felt some of the depression in his heart dissipate.
He clapped his hands, ordered the tribe to regroup and advance, while tending to the wounded, collecting corpses, disarming the river trolls, and splitting them into a front and middle section for path-clearing and supervision.
Wasn't it just a bloody defeat?
Even in games he had lost before.
Besides, the original goal had been to break out with the tribe and gain leadership. Now the retreat had succeeded and leadership was in hand, so it wasn't a loss.
Our army achieved a great victory!
Although the breakout at the valley mouth had suffered considerable losses, most of the tribespeople Thar had led to escape and the troops Al had brought had successfully broken through the imperial encirclement and entered the depths of the Pina Forest, shaking off the pursuers.
Al had also successfully obtained the "base" he had been longing for.
The previous force that had only combat members and almost no food could never be called a complete faction in the forest—at best it was an isolated army.
But now Al had material reserves, logistics, and a vastly larger tribe (nearly five times the previous number).
Although the main members were still Shepherd believers who were neutral and non-hostile toward the New Four Gods he represented, this was already a very good beginning.
A few days ago Al had been alone. Aside from the achievement of slaying the Beastlord (forced), he had had nothing. Even his own mother had wanted to shout Sigmar and kill him.
Now Al had a Chosen centaur girl by his side, five hundred armored troops under his command, and ten capable generals. It could truly be said that his fortune had turned. In the Pina Forest he was now a…
Still very small force.
But at least it was passable.
Their urgent task was to find a place as flat and open as possible, with a water source, to settle down and establish a new gathering place.
Otherwise food and the wounded wouldn't last long.
Pegasus knights descending from the sky, cold gleaming lances right before their eyes, musket fire, the smell of gunpowder, blood…
"A despicable ambush." Thar's voice was hoarse. "I was defeated."
The pegasus knights' charge had been like gods descending. Although the lance hadn't pierced Al, it had inflicted heavy damage on Thar's already scarred body.
"Thar…"
Al held the old shaman's hand. The wound on his chest kept bleeding, soaking the ragged robe.
The old shaman's face looked even older, showing a deathly, ashen pallor.
"They… the humans came for you…"
The old shaman spoke softly. His voice was so weak that only the two of them could hear it. Al's expression changed in shock, thinking the shaman was about to blame him. He raised his head, but saw only kindness, pain, and bitterness in those cloudy eyes.
There was no malice.
"Because of our negligence, you were born in the tribe. Because of you, the tribe was destroyed. This is the principle of natural balance."
"Don't feel guilty, child. In my eyes, all members of the tribe are equal. You are one of us."
Alina tossed aside the knight's corpse she had been holding and threw the pegasus's severed wing to the side. Covered in blood, she stood not far away, watching Al beside the heavily wounded Thar.
"Please lead them. Take them forward—whether obeying nature, entering the cities… or returning to Chaos."
He stretched out a trembling hand with all his strength and placed it on Al's leg, laying the vine-and-moon necklace the old shaman had always worn onto the youth's leg.
"I… I may not be able to do it!"
Al felt fear. The centaur girl's devotion, the Four Gods' blessings, Thar's entrustment—in just a few days, too many things had been placed on his shoulders.
That also meant responsibility.
Probably no one in the entire mortal world carried a heavier mission than him.
"My teacher, my guide once told me…" Thar's lips moved weakly as he gripped Al's hand tightly. "No one is born outstanding."
"You must lead them… win the future… peace…"