Chapter 86: The Trolls' Warning
The reason Matthew said this was because 99% of the ine came from the tribution of the blood-replenishing potion.
The produ of blood-replenishing potions had bee inseparable from Mountain.
And the birth of Mountain ultimately stemmed from are power.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of the adventurers, the most important raw material for making the blood-replenishing potion, the trolls, had already been captured—678 of them.
The area underground, just for imprisoning them, spahousands of square meters.
Luckily for Matthew, digging underground was as simple as breathing for the kobolds.
Otherwise, letting these trolls be seen by the public would surely draw unwatention.
For now, to avoid over-"ption" of the trolls and ensure sustainability.
Matthew had divided the trolls into froups, each taking turns to "donate" blood, allowing Mountain to produce 6,200 bottles of blood-replenishing potion every day.
After setting aside a reserve for adventurers and soldiers, the revenue from the potion tributed around 3,000 gold s daily.
Handling about 170 trolls per day still hadn't reached Mountain's produ limit.
Matthew hoped the adventurers would tiheir efforts, catg even more trolls.
After all, the territory's development required tinued financial iment.
Matthew's own are growth would also need money—a great deal of money.
Financial struggles would persist for a long time iure.
However, thanks to Adam Smith's sistent promotional efforts across various pces.
Many adventurers had already teamed up with friends to hunt trolls, sharing their experiences.
Over the course of about ten days, hundreds of adventurers had been drawn to Bay Vilge.
Except for a dozen or so unlucky greedy fools, most adventurers who survived made signifit gains.
Seven ht gold s was the bare minimum.
Some earwenty or thirty gold s or more.
Many adventurers had already accumuted 100 tribution points and received agical equipment.
Ohis news was firmed.
The enthusiasm for capturing trolls soared even higher.
More and more adventurers, having heard the news from passing mert caravans, were making their way to Bay Vilge, eager to join this seemingly endless feast of riches.
The trolls of the Dark Forest faced unpreted eradication.
Over fifty troll camps had beeroyed, with hundreds of trolls captured.
The kobolds and gnolls in the Dark Forest were also fag hard times.
The kobolds’ misfortuemmed from the fact that when they were discovered, they were attacked by kobolds led by Gold Tooth and Silver Tooth. Disobedient ones were killed, obedient ones were recruited.
The gnolls’ misfortuemmed from the occasional trolls appearing in their camps, cooperating with them.
The adventurers’ frenzy inally could have sted much longer…
In the Dark Forest.
At the valley’s edge.
From the distant t forest, a faint and chilling roar echoed.
The sound reverberated through the valley, sending shivers of fear and dread down one's spine.
On both sides of the valley, white rock cliffs and reddish ground were exposed.
A small river meandered out, winding through the forest aually flowing into the Silvermoon River outside the Dark Forest.
At the riverbahe entrao the valley, over a hundred soldiers stood i formation, the atmosphere tense.
The thick st of blood filled Matthew’s nostrils, his dark eyes refleg a se that made the soldiers seethe with anger.
Over twenty human heads were impaled on bamboo stakes, arra the valley's entrance.
The faces, bloody and disfigured, were twisted in fear and pain.
“That’s level 8 warrior Carket—only his head remains?”
“o him is level 7 archer Zachel. He used to be sant…”
“Isn't that level 6 rogue Tepka? Even he couldn’t escape…”
“Twenty-six of them, all killed so gruesomely…”
“I heard it was the trolls?”
“Seems like it…”
“…”
The adventurers following behind reized the horribly mutited victims, their faces turning pale.
In the deep ditches on both sides of the valley, bloodied bones covered with bite marks revealed the grisly fate of the dead.
One shivering adventurer spoke to Matthew, reting the harrowing experience:
"The trolls… Hundreds of terrifying trolls… There were too many of them…”
"They ate people… My teammates…”
“I saw them surrouhere was no way out…”
“…”
Through the adventurer’s broken and trembling at, Matthew pieced together the story.
As more adventurers poured in, the bounties grew increasingly lucrative.
Most of the small troll camps he Dark Forest’s outskirts had already been cleared out.
The optioo either search to the east or west or delve deeper into the Dark Forest.
Despite the map’s clear warnings, a party of adventurers, led by three mid-tier professionals, veraight into Troll Valley.
The oute redictable—the group of troll-hunters entered a massive troll hunting party.
They were wiped out!
It wasn’t hard for Matthew to ihat these trolls had brutal, ibalistidencies, were numerous, and possessed formidable bat strength.
Many of the adventurers who came to iigate were shaken by the horrific sight and began to feel uneasy.
Though they were adventurers willing to risk their lives fold, it didn’t mean they were eager to die.
If the enemy was too fearsome or the mission too dangerous, they would choose to back off.
The ease with which they had captured trolls these past few days had almost made them fet just how deadly and dangerous these creatures could be.
“Wait a minute—aren't trolls usually scattered in groups of three or four, maybe five or six?”
“Are you joking? Could their team have beeed by just a few trolls?”
“Did you not hear? There were at least a hurolls!”
“Are you saying that the trolls in the Dark Forest live together in rge groups?”
“That’s impossible, right?”
“…”
Matthew could clearly see the adventurers’ growing fear, but he wasn’t in any particur hurry.
The trolls in the Dark Forest weren’t just clustering together; they even had their own cities and, in some cases, kingdoms!
The vast expanse of the Dark Forest stretched across thousands of kilometers, filled with tless rivers and valleys.
The Rotten Moss Trolls, one of the five great troll s, resided in this region.
This was just the outskirts of the Dark Forest, still nearly a hundred kilometers from the Rotten Moss Trolls' hunting grounds.
Greedy adventurers who delved too deep and stumbled upon a densely poputed troll tribe—well, it wasirely impossible.
However, Matthew khe habits of trolls very well. Although they were cruel, murderous, and even ibalistic.
They rarely dared to leave the Dark Forest in rge numbers.
For thousands of years.
The heril Empire’s stant expansion wasn’t just about clearing nd and building cities.
Large-scale wars aructive measures were all too on!
These trolls had no iion of leaving the valley en masse, giving Matthew time to prepare.
If some adventurers still refused to heed warnings and insisted on c death, he wouldn’t be able to stop them.
"Have the bodies gathered, and the others stay alert—watch out for troll ambushes."
Matthew instructed Ange, raising his gaze towards the distant dense forest, feeling as though unseen eyes were watg from the shadows.
FAL
