Caesar led his small army through the expansive forest for roughly three hours before he finally halted his footsteps. They were about three hundred or so meters away from the border and surrounded by thick trees and luscious groves.
Caesar used a hand signal to stop Akari and her troops. He then proceeded to survey his surroundings and make sure the location was optimal for ambushing. He took a few steps forward and placed his slender hand on a few tree trunks before finally nodding his head in satisfaction.
Upon observation, the dense trees were easily capable of concealing a large number of people, however, any intelligent commander would not lead their troops into such an ominous spot. Thus, Caesar was forced to "bring" them, instead of waiting for them.
Thinking to here, he turned around and inspected Akari"s face closely. His intense gaze caused the abashed Akari to shiver uncomfortably and a red flush appeared on her cheeks. She wasn"t used to being looked at by men, let alone a handsome and strong man such as Caesar.
He didn"t mind Akari who was clearly embarra.s.sed and approached her. He lifted her chin and turned her cheeks a few times before smiling, "beside your hair and eye color, you look almost identical to Ahri…" he whispered upon further examination.
"P-Pardon?" Akari yelped and escaped from Caesar"s hands. She was breathing heavily and gnashed her teeth angrily, she was expecting praise, but instead, she was compared to the Empress.
Caesar was oblivious to her feelings as he continued to stroke his chin in contemplation, "do the trolls have heightened senses, similar to the fox-kin?" Caesar asked whilst tilting his head in Akari"s direction.
Hearing his question, Akari recollected herself, straightened her clothes, and answered after a brief moment of thought, "their hearing and sight capabilities are comparable to humans, however, their physical strength and sense of smell are even better than ours" Akari replied.
"Excellent… do you perhaps have any perfume on you?" Caesar asked strangely, although he knew his question was quite abnormal, there was nothing to lose for asking.
Akari stared dumbfounded at Caesar before breaking out in a laugh whilst holding her stomach, the women behind her also wanted to laugh, however, they didn"t dare to. As such, they bit their cheeks as to not burst out rudely.
"W-who would bring perfume to battle?" Akari asked after catching her breath, she couldn"t help but feel rather funny. She wouldn"t have normally burst out laughing as she did, but he asked with such a straight face, making her unable to contain her laughter.
"Hmph, you have no idea how many people die due to uncleanliness. Sickness, infestation, disease… not preparing yourself could lead to the innumerable amount of problems" Caesar replied with a snort and took out a perfume bottle from his storage ring. He always kept extra for Ahri, in case she ever needed any.
Such a sight caused the eyes of the women nearby to nearly pop out of their skull and look at Caesar in a new light. They were all curious as to why Caesar would keep women"s perfume with him, but none of them dared to ask… thus, they were left to their vivid imaginations.
"Alright, alright, enough playing around… put this on and wait here in the middle of the forest. Take around four or five of your troops to wait with you" Caesar cleared his throat and the distracted army slowly got ahold of themselves.
Without waiting for Akari"s reply, he sprayed her and the five women behind her with the perfume in his hands. He then proceeded to cross his arms and command the others, "as for the rest of you, get in the trees and conceal your presence… these six will be the bait!" Caesar roared shamelessly and hopped into the nearest tree. He had no qualms about making the few girls in front of him bait, especially since he knew how strong Akari actually was.
Akari and her five friends smiled ruefully whilst staring at Caesar"s departing figure. They understood what his plan was within a few seconds, but no one would feel good when they were used as bait. However, after seeing Caesar"s rea.s.suring smile, they breathed out a sigh of relief.
The rest of the soldiers smiled wryly and followed Caesar"s lead, they climbed up the huge trees and concealed themselves. Although they were an army of around 400, they only used up around 16 trees. 25 people in each one.
As they completed this, Akari and the five others just stood in the middle of the forest awkwardly. Caesar didn"t order them to do anything in particular, so they just simply bantered with each other to ease their nerves.
They waited like this for one hour… two hours… three hours… finally, the sun went down and the stars came out, but there was still no sight of the trolls. Most of the soldiers started getting restless, while others got tired and slacked off, however, Caesar"s threatening gaze caused them to wake back up.
Caesar maintained a calm and patient expression on his face the entire time. He knew that even if the trolls had a superior sense of smell and chased after Ahri, it would take a while to pinpoint their location. The forest was gigantic, after all.
And like this, they waited for another hour, until finally, they could overhear a few loud voices from a distance… they sounded sinister and the fox-kin couldn"t quite hear them, however, Caesar was fully capable of hearing their words.
"P-Prince, are you sure this is smart? This could potentially be a trap set by the enemy… why else would they use perfume?" an elders voice entered into Caesar"s ears. His words were reasonable, but the young and arrogant voice that replied to him seemed to not care in the slightest.
"Shut your trap old man… they are women, it"s normal for them to use different kinds of scents to allure men. Besides, even if it was a trap, do you think those weaklings are capable of defeating my royal guard?" the young prince scoffed in disdain and quickened his pace.
"Y-your Highness…" the older man spoke with a hint of unwillingness and dread. Both of them, followed by the one hundred strong royal guards, slowly approached Akari and the five others. The troll prince could faintly make an outline of the six and he nearly broke out into a jog.
Finally, the army hidden within the trees laid sights on the troll prince. He had an abnormal green hue to his skin, his tusks were twice as large as the other trolls, and his hair was bright orange. He had small eyes, a pointy chin, an aquiline nose, and small freckles on his cheeks. He was overall quite ugly and a woman"s common enemy.
"Y-you… I haven"t seen you since that day…" The troll prince opened up first once he was a few meters away. He was out of breath and a strange blush appeared on his face. Not at all suited for his wicked personality.
Akari found it hard to hide the disgust she felt for the "thing" in front of her, but she still maintained a calm expression, "I don"t seem to remember you, though?" she replied, trying to mimic Ahri"s voice as closely as possible.
Her words visibly shocked the prince, his smile nearly froze and the corner of his lips twitched, "you don"t remember how you disgraced me in front of my clan? I"ve dreamt of that day every night, and now, I can finally get my revenge…" the troll prince seemed to be on the brink of insanity as he slowly approached.
"Hehe, oh how I"ve dreamt of this day… ever since that clan meeting, I promised myself that I"d get a hold of you. The only one who still dared to act arrogantly in front of me!" he blabbered incoherently and broke into a sprint.
He was so engaged with his story, that he didn"t even notice that the woman in front him didn"t share the same hair, nor eye color as Ahri. As for the royal guards behind him, they had never even seen Ahri before, so they had no clue.
The old man, on the other hand, looked around his surroundings in fear and shock, and soon, his gaze landed on Caesar. Dread seemed to overtake the old man"s body as he dropped to his knees, "ah you foolish prince… you will be the death of us all" he whispered hatefully, to which the guards behind him tilted their head in confusion.
Caesar halted the many troops from moving with a simple hand gesture and continued to wait. He used his eyes to continuously intimidate the old man who had caught sight of him and waited for the perfect moment.
While he was waiting, the troll prince reached just a few steps away from Akari, and suddenly, a katana stabbed towards him. Akari could no longer stand it anymore and attacked with everything she had. The wind seemed to coil around her blade as it pierced towards the detestable troll prince.
"Die you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" she roared. But unfortunately, her blade was easily parried by the prince"s axe. He may be a perverted idiot, but he was by no means, weak. That is why many trolls still respected him.
"Haha, I love feisty women… GUARDS, ATTACK!" The troll prince roared crazily and his entire royal guard marched forward in response. He didn"t hesitate to utilize his entire force to capture one woman.
Caesar, who was in the trees, used another hand signal and started channeling his mana, creating a few dozen arrows of ice. The others followed in suit, and a few hundred fireb.a.l.l.s, on top of a few dozen ice arrows slowly formed at the top of the trees.
The bright light, on top of the huge mana fluctuations, caused the prince, and royal guards to look up. However, it was far too late. Caesar licked his lips as he disdainfully peered down at the troll prince.
"FIRE!" he ordered curtly, and a rain of fire and ice descended upon the trolls. Caesar wasn"t scared of causing a forest fire, as he would simply use his ice to stop it.
"D-D-Defend!" the troll prince roared fearfully, but as they were a race that relied heavily on physical strength and not mana, they had no defenses to offer. They raised their weapons and shields, but it was hard enough.
Craaash! The huge amount of fire and ice collided with the unprepared trolls and blasted them away in one fell swoop. Fortunately, Akari"s army made sure not to aim at the troll prince, leaving him, her, and her five aides still alive.
"Fire another volley! Make sure there are no survivors!" Caesar ordered once more and hopped off the tree, landing just a few meters away from the troll prince. The silver crown atop his head glistening within the night.
"I have dealt with an arrogant prince before… I wonder if you will scream as he did?" Caesar said sarcastically and approached the troll.
The dumbfounded troll prince recollected himself and looked towards Caesar, and soon, a crazy smiled appeared on his lips, "heh, If I manage to take you, hostage, I can get out of here" he said whilst breaking out in a charge at Caesar.
Caesar, who remained composed, simply smiled, "I once read about a man named Vlad the Impaler, you see, he had an interesting way of instilling fear within the enemy… I believe his tactics would suit me perfectly" He whispered strangely and a colossal amount of killing intent erupted from his body. Enough to make all of those present, shiver uncontrollably.