Chapter 1044: Chapter 1044 Decimation
'That's one down. Just several more to go.' Marcus thought, looking up from the burning troll into the trees above.
Thanks to him and Mrazivý quickly dispatching the first troll, the others had not attacked yet as they cautiously surveyed the situation.
Marcus could feel that an especially great number of eyes were on him in particular. Naturally the trolls had seen him use fire magic and were wary of him since he could conjure their greatest weakness.
Unfortunately, they were not nearly afraid enough to flee from such a bountiful feast of livestock and people.
"Well, I'm going to leave them up to you since it would be annoying for me to actually finish them off. If they do make it past you though, I'll make sure that no one is hurt, so go get them." Mrazivý said, patting Marcus on the back with a big smile on her face.
"Thanks. I really wanted to fight all of these smelly trolls on my own after all. I'll do my best so that you don't have to lift a single finger or have your delicate self accosted by their horrible scent, your highness." Marcus responded sarcastically.
"Good, that is exactly what I would expect of my manservant." Mrazivý said haughtily.
"Manservant? I thought I was your husband?"
"Oh, what's the difference." Mrazivý quipped back.
However, Marcus did not respond back to her this time and instead looked upwards with a sharp glint in his eyes.
"Looks like we are out of time for jokes. I'll take them out as quickly as I can, but I won't be able to get them all at once without torching this part of the forest, so I'll be counting on you and the others to keep the caravan safe." Marcus said before jumping off the ground and ascending into the air.
Less than a second after Marcus leapt into the air, dozens of trolls began falling from the tress and dropping down towards the caravan.
'Flame Scythe.'
Marcus rushed towards the nearest troll as he cast a tier one fire magic spell that was a modified version of the flame blade spell.
A burst of fire erupted from his hands and quickly formed the shape of a deadly scythe.
With a single slash, Marcus cleaved through the first troll before it could react, and its body burst into flames as it continued to fall.
He then turned towards the next one and jumped off the mana barrier platform he had created under his feet.
'Death Dance.'
Rapidly spinning around Marcus turned into a fiery blur as he moved through the air and killed a troll every time he swung his scythe.
Most of the trolls were too slow to even notice Marcus' attack before they were already dead, and the few that did, had no means of avoiding or blocking his flame scythe.
The difference between Marcus and their levels was simply far too drastic. The strongest of the trolls were only in the low thirties and never stood a chance against Marcus who was level seventy-four.
Screams echoed through the forest as most of the people that were part of the caravan panicked. All around them burning corpses of monsters were falling from the sky. Though no one had actually been injured thanks to Marcus' swift intervention.
Still, he was only one person and a few trolls that had been farther away got past him and landed on the ground around the caravan.
The other guards moved to intercept these trolls, but most of them were quaking in their boots in the face of the three-meter-tall monsters that loomed over them.
"Out of the way."
Pushing through eight guards that had encircled three trolls, Roxene fearlessly approached the monsters that had everyone else terrified.
Currently she was in her humanoid form and looked like a delicate young woman to everyone present.
"Wait, miss! Its too dangerous, get back behind us." One of the guards called out.
Yet it was too late, a troll had already lunged towards Roxene who seemed like defenseless prey that had offered herself up on a platter.
Except instead of being torn to shreds and devoured, Rexene simply waved her hand and launched several blades of darkness towards the troll.
In an instant the monster that most people would consider formidable was torn apart like a piece of fruit in a blender.
Roxene then waved her hand again and the blades flew directly for the remaining two trolls and easily made mincemeat out of them as well.
Elsewhere, Lilia was fighting with five trolls that had gotten past Marcus.
This group consisted of slightly larger and higher-level individuals that were among the top echelon of this tribe.
Still, their incredible physical might and agility did them little good against Lilia. She darted around the battlefield faster than they could follow and shattered their bones with every punch she threw.
Soon enough she had crippled all of them and rounded them up close together.
"Clay Cell."
With her target now in range, Lilia cast a tier three earth magic spell she recently learned from Ardea.
The earth around the trolls grew soft and malleable before turning into a large jail cell around them.
Once her magic had fully formed Lilia held both of her hands in front of her body and motioned with her hands like she was squeezing something.
In response to her will, the Clay Cell constricted and slowly crushed the five trolls inside of it.
"Well, they're not dead, but that should keep them from causing any trouble. I'll have Marcus light them on fire when he has finished eliminating the ones still in the trees."
While Lilia was taking on her own set of trolls, the other members of Marcus' party were likewise doing their jobs and protecting the caravan.
Luckily the strongest of the trolls was only level thirty-seven and between the eleven of them they easily surpassed the entire tribe without letting a single person get injured.
It did not take long for Marcus to finish off the final troll lurking in the treetops. Overall, he killed around eighty of the monsters within just a bit over a minute. And when he returned to the ground, he found around three dozen more trolls in various pitiful states but still alive.
Each of his companions had easily dealt with their share of the monsters either done enough damage to slow their regeneration to a crawl or bound them with magic.
Of course, Marcus was the one that had to go around finishing off each of the trolls with his fire magic. The others could have lit torches or used consumable items but left it to Marcus because it was easier and more cost effective.
In less than three minutes the entirety of the trolls were either on fire or already turned to ash. The panic that had spread through the caravan quickly dissipated and everyone looked at Marcus and his companions with awe and disbelief.
They had known that their last-minute guards were supposed to be strong, but what they had just witnessed was almost incompressible. A force of powerful monsters that should have destroyed them was decimated by just eleven individuals.