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"Maybe they've all decayed..."

Tanya packed up the equipment, saying things she herself didn't believe.

“Arcane energy…the entire Sunwell’s arcane energy, even the remnants, couldn’t possibly have decayed into lower-level energy in such a short time! I must report this to His Highness the Regent! Sorcerer Corps! You all go to the camp and rest!”

After saying that, Iggy jumped onto her chocobo and dashed back the way she came. In less than ten minutes, her figure disappeared at the end of the road.

"Miss Tanyas, do you know something?"

Jaina deliberately let the sorcerer troops go ahead, while she lagged behind the Kul Tiran troops, and turned slightly to look at Tannis, who was driving the vehicle.

"Prevention is better than cure. Even the residual energy of an entity like the Sunwell is enough to destroy more than a third of Eversong Forest. I don't want to be killed by some random arcane bomb halfway through the battle."

"But the blood elves might not be able to find out anything."

“I understand, but this matter… needs to be clarified, Jaina.”

Tanis covered her forehead; her head was throbbing.

"I have a feeling... this war will inevitably involve those missing... the power of the Sunwell..."

III. The Captured Armani Scout

Baldr, his body camouflaged with leaves bound into specific shapes and covered in potions specially made by the troll witch doctor to further conceal his form, chewed on juicy grass stems and patiently squatted on the treetop of a large, leafy tree, his hawk-like eyes fixed on the gradually improving allied army camp in the distance.

Although he had no aids, Baldr, whose eyes were blessed by the Eagle God, already had the Eagle Eye spell active all the time. This allowed him to easily observe the general situation of the Allied Army camp a kilometer away from his vantage point, and count the number of key units such as ordinary soldiers, military mounts, and spellcasters. Naturally, he also spotted the extra burly Kul Tiran soldiers in the camp.

"Humans, ha... After so many years, you have once again set foot on our troll lands..."

With a growing sense of danger in his eyes, Bald moved his lips slightly, his right hand touching a small skull at his waist, secretly activating the power within. Voodoo magic swirled around him, and everything Bald saw and heard was transmitted to the sorcerer lord thousands of miles away.

"Next, we need to find a way to capture a white person and find out more details about their plans... What is this?"

A small drone flew up in front of Baldr, and the red indicator light on its body, signifying danger, began to flash. By the time Baldr realized he had been discovered, it was too late.

"boom!!!!!"

—————————————Barracks————————————————————

"This is an eagle scout."

Seeing Baldr being blown to pieces by Tannis's high-explosive reconnaissance drone and carried into the prisoner-of-war camp like a dead dog, Haduron, who had come to support him with a small squad of rangers, easily recognized his identity—the most elite scout of the Amani trolls, an honor only trolls blessed by the Eagle God could receive.

"This is a terminal for a voodoo spell used for remote communication. It can transmit everything the holder sees and says within three minutes back to the caster."

Iggy also recognized what the skull that had fallen into Baldr's hand was.

"The place where this guy was found is only one kilometer away from the main camp. With the eyesight of the Eagle Scout, he could easily see the general outline of our camp. In other words, part of our setup has already been known to the trolls."

The last to speak was Archmage Romans, who, as a spellcaster, had complete access to information about the trolls' magic.

"In other words, a surprise attack is impossible. If I'm not mistaken, the Amani trolls are very likely to adopt a strategy of splitting their forces in the forest. Although we blood elves can also fight freely in the forest, our rangers are slightly less adept than the Amani trolls."

Haduron frowned, abandoning his initial plan to use information asymmetry to launch a surprise attack on several Amani troll camps, disrupting the mutual support chain among the trolls entering Eversong Forest.

“If they split up in the forest, unless we find most of their hidden supply points and destroy them, the battle will definitely be dragged down by those trolls who are good at jungle warfare—we don’t have much time, General Haduron.”

Romans was deeply worried.

"Skilled in jungle warfare... a seemingly normal tree suddenly started speaking troll language?"

Tannis's inexplicable words made Haduron chuckle.

"...Pretty much. If it weren't for your equipment, Miss Tannis, we would have had no idea we were being watched by Eagle Scouts..."

Halduron readily admitted that ordinary blood elf scouts had difficulty detecting eagle scouts.

"So, want to buy some gadgets? Although this eagle scout has concealed his skin color, body odor, and even his body temperature has been affected by voodoo magic, his internal organs still emit a noticeable, almost deadly infrared radiation. This radiation is nowhere to be hidden from our Ratchet City's military engineering goggles!"

Taking advantage of the situation, Tanya quickly began promoting her goods, leaving Jaina both amused and exasperated.

"Ahem... Miss Tanis, if we can manage to have a few head-on battles with the Amani trolls in this forest, I believe the Regent will readily buy what you're selling. But the key issue remains the same: if we can't find their hidden supply points, then even with your engineering glasses as an aid, our troops will waste a lot of time lingering around these bastards!"

"The Amani trolls' secret supply point... Do you think this eagle guard, who's already awake and still eavesdropping on us, knows anything?"

Suddenly, Iggy spoke, drawing everyone's attention to Baldr, who lay on the ground with broken limbs, blood scabbed over one eye, a broken fang, and a dark red stain on his chest.

You're saying this guy is awake?

Haduron crouched down and touched Bald's mouth and nose, then shook his head in confusion. He couldn't sense any sign that Bald had woken up.

"It can't be detected using conventional methods... but if we force-feed him this medicine..."

With a sinister grin, Iggy pulled a small bottle of medicine from his waist, opened it, and wisps of pale green smoke billowed from the bottle's opening, making it look like something bad.

"Uh... cough... um..."

The moment Iggy took out the bottle of medicine, Baldr let out a soft groan, clearly indicating that the eagle scout had indeed woken up.

"...What a pity. I finally found someone with a somewhat resilient soul. I was planning to test whether the Soul Binding Spell I learned from the Dark Spear Troll was as effective as that old troll boasted."

Looking at the eagle scout struggling to open his remaining eye, a barely perceptible hint of regret appeared in Iggy's voice.

"White...bastard! Why would you...!"

"Huh? You trolls are allowed to use voodoo, but we blood elves aren't? You seem to know your stuff. Maybe you can show me the specific effects of these things with your own body?"

Iggy answered confidently, while simultaneously pulling a bunch of random things out of his bag, muttering to himself as he did so. Watching what Iggy pulled out out of the corner of his eye, Bald's face gradually changed from green to pale green and then turned white.

"...Although we've experimented with thieves or quilboars before, this is the first time we've used a troll blessed by the Loa as a test subject... Don't look at me with those pleading eyes... A large portion of the voodoo magic we sorcerers research is discovered through archaeological digs... How can we use it recklessly without testing it on a subject? Come on, open your mouth and take the potion..."

With a smile, Iggy held a pale purple pill with strange runes in front of Bald, who was already panting heavily, and prepared to pry open his mouth to feed it to him. As he felt the pill approaching, Bald felt a sharp pain in his soul and screamed in agony.

"Don't torment my soul! I'll tell you what I know! I only ask that you give me a quick death!"

IV. Speculation on the Warlock Lord Malacas

"Everyone, I don't think it can reveal any more information."

After tormenting Bald with all sorts of voodoo, arcane, and even holy and shadow magic for half an hour, Iggy kicked Bald's tattered body aside and contentedly put away his voodoo tools.

"..."

Iggy's actions were so 'trollish' that it took Haduron about 10 seconds for his mind to process what he should do.

“Now that we have a target, we must take advantage of the time gap before the Amani trolls mobilize on a large scale to launch a targeted attack. Grand Tinker, could you please use your engineering flight device to conduct preliminary reconnaissance?”

"no problem."

Tannis readily agreed, found the approximate coordinates of the dozen or so locations Bald had mentioned on the map, and released a bunch of drones.

"Since most of the upcoming battles will be jungle warfare, the task of guarding the camp will be entrusted to the warriors from Kul Tiras and your arcane forces, Archmage Romans. Also, Archmage Romans, Archmage Jaina, could you two use arcane magic to conceal the camp's presence—or create some illusions? I hope that in the eyes of any trolls who come later, we will still appear to be holding back."

"Leave it to us."

The blood elf and the human archmage nodded simultaneously, then turned and walked out of the tent.

"Iggy, do all you sorcerers know as much about troll voodoo magic as you do?"

"I know I can't guarantee anything, but at least most common voodoo techniques are not secrets to us magic scholars."

"Can your people use magic to fight in the jungle?"

"It's not a big problem. Don't forget our primary profession is archaeology."

"Then your people will temporarily fill the position of the army mage. I'll go and get the ranger troops in place. Oh, and Tannis, the great tinkerer, could you please prepare 200 pairs of engineering glasses that can see through troll disguises? We'll settle the bill after the battle."

"good!"

——————————————Eternal Song Forest, Deep Within————————————————

Iggy crouched down and carefully examined the stones, flowers, and some things that looked like scrap metal on the ground. Not far in front of their team, there was a huge, withered tree that would take about five people holding hands to barely encircle.

"Are these things on the ground voodoo magic?"

Seeing Iggy's alarmed expression, the ranger captain in charge of leading the squad spoke in a low voice.

"Yes, but it's not a damaging voodoo spell; it's an early warning spell."

Iggy pulled out a stick and casually swung it, scattering the elements that constituted the voodoo spell on the ground into pieces.

"Not to be broken?"

"Whether the early warning system's voodoo spell is broken or not, the trolls receive the same feedback."

Having finished his task, Iggy stood up and turned to look at the ranger captain beside him.

"Is there a need or order to seize troll supplies?"

"No."

Having received the answer, Iggy didn't say much. He took out a bottle of potion from his waist and threw it into the tree hole. In an instant, thick smoke billowed out from it, and there were faint flickering flames.

In less than half a minute, the flickering fire went out, but everyone present knew that whatever was inside the cave had now been reduced to ashes.

"Let's go, next place."

——————————————Southwest of Eversong Forest——————————————————

In the far north of a vast region now known as the Ghostlands, which has been swallowed by the Scourge, stands a weathered troll city. Vines climb over the mottled stone tablets outside the city, making the patterns on them appear and disappear. The tall walls, ravaged by time, have lost their original colors. Behind the walls, countless towering trees silently tell the story of its glorious past.

This is Zul'Aman, where the last glory of the Amani trolls resides.

"What urgent matter has Lord Malacas, the sorcerer, summoned me here for?"

In the massive pyramid at the very center of Zul'Aman, a proud figure entered a place that even the Amani trolls themselves dared not tread lightly. His bluish-green skin, the eagle crown he wore, and the eagle beak ornament adorning his mouth clearly indicated the identity of this troll.

Ekilson, the bearer of the essence of the Eagle God.

"Your eagle scouts missed crucial intelligence."

Marakas didn't say much and directly pointed out the problem.

“My scouts have been monitoring every aspect of Eversong Forest, and apart from the fact that those white people are building a camp and there are humans in it, I haven’t found anything too unusual.”

"Yes, apart from the fact that dozens of our supply points in Eversong Forest were wiped out."

Malacas's cold laugh startled Egilson. He knew that the sorcerer lord would not lie about such an important matter, so his eagle scouts' dereliction of duty was a perfectly legitimate matter!

"I'll contact them right away."