Mercenary Wars

Chapter 91 Proficiency in Languages
Gaugano could not understand the trolls' language.

Logically speaking, no one should be able to understand it, since even in the entire Southshore, there are very few people who understand the troll language.

But somehow, some members of this team could understand it.

Just as John was about to try to break through the iron cage, Calcro quickly stopped him, saying, "Wait, now is not the time!"

John was taken aback, then realized something: "Young master, you can understand the language of trolls?"

Calcro nodded: "My 'language proficiency' blessing works on the languages ​​of all intelligent races, which is why I was able to accurately imitate your Liberland accent."

"What did the troll say?" the other four asked almost in unison.

Calcro listened for a while longer, then whispered, "They're holding a hunting competition, and the prey is...humans."

Everyone was silent for a while.

Meanwhile, the trolls surrounded them, chattering loudly, clearly unaware that there was a human present who could understand their language.

Listening to the trolls' discussion, Kalkro continued to relay: "They are a 'hunting party,' and each hunting party has at least a dozen trolls. This hunting party is a large group, and you have seen the exact number of people."

The four of them then looked at the number of trolls.

Dozens.

Moreover, among these trolls were three witch doctors, plus a leader who clearly was not an ordinary person.

Unlike humans who prefer to use transparent magic rune ink, most trolls tend to use colored ink. In addition, trolls don't wear much clothing, so the magic runes on their bodies are easily recognizable.

Judging from the number of magic runes, this troll leader is most likely level five or even level six.

Without a doubt, if Gaucano and his five companions chose to fight these trolls head-on, the result would only be a crushing defeat, with little chance of even escaping.

Andrew couldn't help but ask, "Then what do we do?"

Karklo: "They will split into two groups. The main force will continue hunting humans, while the other trolls will escort us to their clans."

He added, "After arriving at the clan, the trolls will not kill us immediately, but will first select us. The result of the selection will determine our fate—or rather, the manner and time of our death. The selection is handled by their sorcerers and... the head chef."

"Head Chef!" Upon hearing this name, everyone couldn't help but stiffen.

Karklo added, "When the trolls are escorting us, they will pass through the 'Throat Cutting Pass,' a narrow mountain path where we can launch a counterattack."

The group felt somewhat relieved.

At this moment, the troll leader walked to the iron cage, directing the other trolls to lift the cage to the ground and load it onto a tiger-drawn cart, while beckoning to the lucky rabbit in John's hand.

The lucky rabbit immediately struggled.

“Give them the rabbit,” Calcro said.

The group was somewhat unwilling, but they clearly had no other choice but to release the lucky rabbit.

The lucky rabbit immediately ran into the group of trolls, and then the troll witch doctor cast a spell to remove the effects of the freezing spell, allowing it to perk up again.

The trolls took out a few more carrots and fed them to the humans, discussing as they fed them. After a while, they burst into laughter and looked at the five humans with mocking eyes.

"Hahahaha!" The troll's laughter was extremely grating.

Karclo was not translated.

No translation is needed.

As Karklo stated, during the loading process, the trolls had already subtly split into two groups, and it seemed that the most dangerous leader was clearly going to lead the hunt for humans, rather than be in charge of the transport.

There were only a few trolls escorting them, and judging from the number of magic runes, the highest level was only around level three. It was questionable whether they could even defeat John.

But things aren't perfect.

The troll leader in charge of escorting the trolls walked to the cage and reached out to snatch Andrew's weapon.

Andrew had no choice but to surrender his weapons. The other four followed suit.

The troll leader had not yet left, and dozens of trolls surrounded them. If they resisted, they would only face certain death.

After collecting the weapons, the troll also collected the storage rings from the group and wore them on his five fingers. Because his fingers were thicker than a human's, he wore all five rings on his little finger, ring finger, and middle finger.

The five people, having lost their weapons and storage rings, looked even more somber.

Only Gaucano looked slightly better.

After all, his storage ring had a blood mark, so at least there was no need to worry about trolls getting the items inside.

Moreover, the Blood-Summoning Sword, due to its unique design, was even wielded as a weapon by a troll—this guy clearly thought that this would make him the sword's new master.

Seeing the troll so enamored with the Blood-Summoning Sword, Gaugano could already foresee what would happen next.

After a while.

The troll hunting party split into two groups. The main force continued hunting humans in the valley, while the group of five trolls and two Zulian tigers pulling the cart—common mounts of the Farallo trolls—escorted Gaugano and his companions.

The convoy gradually drove away into the distance.

The trolls were clearly very familiar with the terrain deep in the valley, and they could almost always avoid danger and find relatively easy paths.

Two and a half hours later.

A mountain road came into view.

“We’ve arrived at the Throat Cutting Trail,” Calcro said.

Andrew was somewhat puzzled: "This road looks quite wide."

Calcrown: "It is indeed spacious, but most of it is located within the tidal zone, and only about one-fifth of it is actually passable, just enough for this car to pass through."

Sure enough, as they approached the Throat-Cutting Path, the five trolls gathered around the front and back of the carriage instead of surrounding it.

At this point, everyone could see that the passable part of the mountain path was significantly different from the rest; the altitude and vegetation didn't match up, which was characteristic of the area divided by the "snake-cutting line."

After removing the impassable sections within the Tidal Lands, the remaining area was indeed very narrow, forcing the two Zulian tigers pulling the cart to slow down.

Colin: "Now what do we do? John, can you open the cage with your bare hands?"

John gripped the iron bars on the side of the cage with both hands and hesitated, "I can bend the bars, but..."

Gaucano said, "The iron bars before breaking the cage."

John was taken aback: "Why? There are three trolls in front of the cage, including their leader."

Gaucano said, "It's harder to be spotted in front of the cage, and their leader has my weapon, so he can't hurt me at all. If he attacks you, I can help you block it."

"Blessed by the holy name of some kind of sword?" Colin asked in surprise.

Gaucano offered no explanation, only saying, "Trust me."

John nodded, then walked to the cage, gripped the bars with both hands, and tried to pry them open, while the others helped to shield him.

The five trolls were positioned only at the front and back of the vehicle. The four of them only needed to block the view from behind to make it difficult for the trolls to detect John's actions.

With John's strength, the iron bars slowly deformed.

By the time the troll realized something was wrong, the gap between the iron bars was already big enough for the small Colin to squeeze through.

"Roar!" The troll leader, realizing what was happening, roared and swung the Blood-Summoning Sword straight at John.

Gaucano reached out and shook his hand directly.

(End of this chapter)