"So, it is more intelligent than I thought." Hilda turned to Mia and Wani, adding, "Lead every child and the pregnant ones into the burrow. Don't come out until I give you the order."
Wani looked at her and was about to say something. Ultimately, she sighed and left with one of Mia's twins.
As they stopped in front of the tree, the roots started to move, opening up the gaping hole in the ground. The frightened ones were the first to enter. The small goblins and the kobold walked in next. The last one to enter was Wani.
Even if she were tall, she didn't need to bend down. Instead, it was like she was walking down the stairs.
After the tip of Wani's head vanished into the ground, Hilda looked around, making sure that no one who could not fight was left behind, before making the tree's root hide the spot on the ground.
Even if one looks at the tree, they now understand that a burrow is hidden under it. When Hilda looked at the horizon again, she noticed the two tall heads were standing above the horizon.
"You said you had seen two mountain trolls, right?" The wolf, who was the son of Scar, nodded his head. But the nod gave her nothing but a headache.
"Mountain trolls were one of the strongest in the desolated land." In all the months she had spent with her tribes, she had never heard of any sightings of a mountain troll, much less seeing one.
"They usually live on the other side of the desolated land." It would be wrong to say Hilda wasn't worried. "But that goblin warrior had said their leader was a true gnoll. Why would a pair of mountain trolls follow a kobold?"
It wasn't until the shape of the mountain trolls became clear that she could think of a reason. One of the mountain trolls had a single arm, while the other had gashing wounds all over its body.
Hilda didn't even want to think that a gnoll would be able to do that. If it were able to, it would have been fighting in its tribes for the position of its chief.
Hilda had to accept that the gnoll wasn't an idiot. It was a cunning move to dispatch an emissary even after they were already on their way to assault Hilda's group.
But she had another concern that would not leave her thoughts.
The mountain trolls are known to have excellent regenerative abilities. The ability is so potent that even an average mountain troll could destroy a small orc settlement.
"To think it couldn't grow its arm or close those wounds…" Hilda could think of one possibility but didn't get the chance.
However, those two trolls weren't alone. Many wolf-riding goblins came along with them. The trolls were still far away, but the horde of wolf-riding goblins rushed in. There were quite a few kobolds in the squad.
Like her own group, it was full of creatures of different races. However, unlike those, Hilda's group stood around her without moving her muscles.
And it was because they didn't need to.
As soon as they entered the vicinity of the first couple of trees, the tops of the trees started to swing wildly, sending the wolf riders along with the wolves flying with their prop roots.
Quite a few of them had escaped and entered the array of trees Hilda had grown around the vicinity. So, the result didn't change.
The tiny forest of wildly dancing trees created a maze of swinging whips. Even if they escaped one of the trees, the other would fling them into the air.
While some of the more courageous ones got back on their feet and kept going to Hilda, the more terrified ones attempted to flee the area. The tree's roots dragged those who passed away or could not stand up in time under the ground.
*Bang*
One of the trolls came charging at the outermost tree and slammed against it. The force was enough to uproot the tree from the ground. The one-handed mountain troll held the tree with one hand like a weapon and swung at another.
The second tree bent slightly, but the force wasn't enough to uproot it completely. He swung the tree a few more times. He succeeded, and in the process, he took down quite a few of his teammates.
But that didn't stop him. He walked over a few of them and started to swing the tree again. He swung the tree quite a few times, unable to make it bend, much less uproot it. It was like he was losing his strength with every swing.
Only then did the troll notice that the tree's root had dove into his body through every wound it could find. It would be too hard even if he tried to throw the tree away, as the roots had already attached to the troll's body. They were constantly absorbing nutrition from his body.
What was more problematic was that as soon as he stopped moving, the roots of the other trees had also attached themselves to the troll and were siphoning away the energy from its body.
The change in the troll's body could be observed with naked eyes as the one-handed troll slowly turned into a dried troll.
After awakening Ardor, Hilda was able to communicate with regular trees. However, the trees she created are different. The trees were like limbs of Hilda. She was not just able to use them as she wished but also to sense the changes in their bodies.
"As expected…" The energies the trees had absorbed from the troll's body had some traces of light mana in them. She had no problem understanding what was hindering the troll's regeneration ability.
While trees were eager to get a bite of troll energy, it let some goblin riders slip through. However, they were taken care of efficiently.
Hilda looked at the other troll. It had already stopped out of the range of the outermost tree. Hilda noticed that the gnoll was sitting on the shoulder of the troll.
As soon as their eyes met, the troll moved. It turned around and escaped without hesitation. Or at least it tried.
*Bang*
It failed to realize that even if it was outside the area of effect of those trees, the roots of the trees reached further than the naked eye could see.
They were enough to latch on the legs of the frightened troll, making the troll fall on its face first.
It was quick to recover. Alas! The damage has been done. When the troll fell, it fell on the leg of the gnoll that was sitting on its shoulder.
Even if it was wounded, just one of the shoulders of the troll was enough for it to crush the leg of a fully-grown gnoll.
"Ghhhhaaaaa…" The gnoll screamed before, yelling, "Carry me and run."
Alas! Hilda could understand his words. Before the troll could grab the gnoll, the roots came out of the ground and made a cocoon around the gnoll.
Even if the troll tried, his fingers were too big to remove the vines without squashing the gnoll. And the roots constantly wrapped around the trolls, making it harder for him to move.
"Don't kill the rest of them; subdue them," Hilda ordered before lunging towards the troll, already brought to his knees.
As Hilda started to come closer, the troll started to struggle harder. Alas! The closer she came, the stronger the root became.
"You will make a fine addition to my troop."
*Gahhhh*
The troll, who was slowly becoming another cocoon, roared at Hilda.
"A mountain troll can't be this weak." Hilda checked its wound, and she could feel the residue of the light mana. "It isn't normal light mana. It is not primordial light, either. However, the effect of the light was powerful."
She felt a sting as soon as she touched the place. However, it created more questions for her than it answered.
"Where the hell does a mountain troll meet a crusader? If it had met one, why is it still alive? It should have been dead by now. Yet here it was."
The only reason Hilda could think of was that this mountain troll had escaped while the priest or crusader was busy with something else.
Hilda put her paw on its chest, channeling her mana inside her. As soon as it did, its mana tried to resist. To Hilda's surprise, she felt all the residue light mana gather around her mana and get absorbed by her mana.
The following steps became more manageable for her. Hilda's mana soon discovered his core and started to inscribe the circle. After doing it more than a hundred times, she was accustomed to it like the back of her hand.
But his core was a lot bigger than any goblins or kobolds. So, she had to struggle a little before she could complete the mana circle.
After she had completed the circle, the troll stopped struggling. Yet his eyes were out of focus.
"Could it be because of the taming ability of the gnoll?" Hilda didn't hesitate to tighten the coffin of the root, and the blood started to leak out from it.
"Go to the tree." As the troll's eyes focused on Hilda, Hilda ordered it. The troll followed.
When he reached the designated spot, the roots shot out of the ground and entered the troll's body through its wound.
The troll didn't struggle, and neither did its body dried up. The root absorbed its energy but was very selective about the type of energy it was absorbing. It absorbed the light mana while the troll stood there like a statue.
On the other hand, Scar and Boros had already gathered the beast in one place. Most of them were normal, as the weakest were the first to escape. However, there were five who were warriors. Surprisingly, there was no mage.
Only two of the goblin warriors survived after Hilda tried to imprint them. The number under Hilda exceeded two hundred with the new set of beasts.
When she checked on the troll again, it still stood like a statue. However, the gashing wounds were showing signs of recovery.
"As I thought. Those potent light mana were hindering his normal regeneration. Luckily, it isn't primordial light. Then again, if it were, it wouldn't have survived this long."
It made Hilda wonder how that gnoll was able to tame a troll. It was understandable if it was using one troll to tame another, but how it was able to tame the first one was a mystery to Hilda.
Hilda walked to the dead body of the gnoll with twisted limbs. "At last, the gnoll meat."
Hilda wanted to eat it as soon as possible, but she wasn't sure what type of change would occur inside her body, so she decided to make sure everything was right.
She opened up the opening of the burrow. Wani was the first one to come out. One of Mia's twins was still sticking to her. Mia wasn't far behind. Soon, others started to come out.
"Did you turn this troll into a slave?" Wani couldn't believe it even after receiving Hilda's nod. After she inspected the troll, she moved to the gnoll's body.
"Is this one the leader? I would have never thought a gnoll beast would ever be able to kill a gnoll. Then again, it isn't even surprising after you have done it to a troll." Wani looked at Hilda, asking, "Are you going to eat it, master?"
Hilda nodded.
"Would you become a gnoll then?"
"I think so." Hilda wanted to say that, but she just nodded in the end.
"Take care of the children and the pregnant one." At Hilda's roar, every enslaved one raised their head. "Don't leave the area until I wake up."
The wolves howled in response, and the goblins and kobolds gave warcries. Hilda also noticed that the mage woman was looking at Hilda from a distance.
Hilda shook her head, warning Shelly before she walked to the gnoll's body.
Hilda took a deep breath before she devoured the gnoll's body without leaving anything behind.