The troll den was right in front of them, yet Caleb felt even more nervous.
It was too quiet.
When something was this abnormal, trouble was definitely lurking.
And as they approached the troll den, Bristle began to grow restless.
It looked as if he had smelled something unusual.
Caleb looked toward the crude den in the distance, and that sense of unease grew even stronger.
Why? Why had they not run into any trolls along the way?
Shouldn't any creature that dared approach this place have been smelled out by the trolls and smashed to pieces with clubs?
As the one running at the front, Caleb could not help slowing down.
Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. Something had absolutely happened here.
"Everyone, get ready to fight!"
In truth, Caleb did not need to give the order. The others had already sensed that something was strange too.
Trolls were not intelligent, but it was not as if their brains were completely broken.
As a race that obtained resources through fighting and plundering, how could they fail to notice someone approaching their den to this extent?
Ashe had kept her arrow nocked on the string for a long while, yet she still had not released it.
Caleb's mood was like that taut bowstring.
He was afraid they would run into something twisted inside.
But after another thought, at the very least, the survival rate of those hearthbound had increased greatly.
Hopefully, they would not lose anyone because they were pushing themselves too hard on the road.
And judging from the current situation, the trolls were probably the ones in trouble now.
Could he have misunderstood Ryze? Was the old man actually a cold-faced softie who just acted tough?
But the rune energy Caleb sensed from Ryze was indeed moving away from the Freljord. How had he managed to throw the troll den into chaos?
The closer they got to the troll den, the more clearly Caleb could hear that abnormal noise.
Caleb already had Youmuu's Ghostblade in hand, and Serylda's Grudge was also building inside him, ready to erupt.
The moment he entered that den, he was probably going to have to fight to the death.
And yet, those figures and faces he had seen with cold eyes back in the village were not people Caleb could simply abandon.
"If we really can't win, retreat. Tryndamere and Olaf will cover the rear."
Before entering the dim cave, Caleb deliberately gave the order.
If things truly went badly, Tryndamere, who had recovery abilities, and Olaf, who would mysteriously lose consciousness yet had broken through disaster several times, were the best choices to cover the retreat.
"I can cover the rear too."
Udyr spoke coldly.
"That works too."
Caleb looked at the man behind him. The reason he had not mentioned Udyr just now was that he was not familiar enough with him.
Wait, wasn't he supposed to have bear strength and tiger claws or something?
Did the designers finally remember this champion and rework him?
After all, there were so many beast spirits now. He did not look like the Udyr Caleb remembered.
Caleb thought in silence as his pace gradually slowed.
The entire group also slowed down with him to avoid suddenly entering the darkness and being unable to adapt.
Inside the dim den, a figure even larger than the trolls suddenly entered everyone's sight.
"That's…"
Tryndamere froze slightly, then suddenly remembered that voice.
Huge twin horns, even a pair of torn wings.
And that greatsword, the one he would never forget, a living-looking blade embedded with a beating heart.
"It's you!"
Tryndamere roared and charged forward in fury.
That night, he had wanted to die in battle. He had wanted to avenge his tribe.
But after that dark figure whispered something beside him, it had swatted him away like an insect and knocked him into the pile of his clansmen's corpses.
"Seriously…?"
Caleb did know that the old version of Aatrox and Tryndamere had a bit of history.
What he had not expected was that the reworked version had it too.
"Treat everything in range as hostile and protect yourselves!"
Caleb shouted, drawing some of the attention inside the cave toward himself.
But in the next moment, even more screams pulled Caleb's attention away.
That demon was slaughtering trolls, killing them the same way Caleb had once dealt with Twitch.
It was not that the trolls had no ability to fight back. The problem was that the enormous greatsword was too strange.
The blood spilled by its cuts flowed straight into that figure.
The wounds inflicted by the trolls vanished in an instant.
Tryndamere's roar had not drawn that creature's attention, but Caleb knew exactly what they had encountered here.
Aatrox.
The strongest of the Darkin, and one of the Ascended who had contributed the most during the previous sealing of the Void.
He was in the Freljord?
Hadn't he fought Pantheon before and lost his arm?
And now he had run off into this frozen wasteland?
Although Caleb's heart was filled with questions, now was obviously not the time to investigate them.
"Die! Die beneath my blade!"
Tryndamere's repeated slashes finally made Aatrox look at him properly.
"Trolls, don't be afraid! Your king is here!"
Another figure appeared at the cave entrance. Compared with the other trolls, he was much more powerfully built.
The most eye-catching thing about him was still the weapon in his hand, a massive club made of True Ice.
Caleb knew very well that if his Youmuu's Ghostblade clashed with that club, its edge might roll.
He could not take that risk, and the people around him had already begun fighting the trolls.
Caleb pushed Ashe beside him out of the way.
Although Ashe looked delicate, Caleb held back his strength, and with the right technique, he should not have made her fall.
"Dodge!"
Caleb caught the cat, while Kai'Sa's Supercharge made her figure even harder to see inside the dim cave.
Caleb himself used Arcane Shift as well, blinking to the side.
After avoiding Trundle's charge, Caleb looked toward the focus of the battlefield, Aatrox.
Aatrox's wings suddenly spread open, and the surrounding trolls all sank into terror.
"My blade will cut you down!"
Tryndamere's blade hacked again and again into Aatrox's body, and Trundle was also approaching with that massive True Ice club.
Streams of energy were drawn out of Aatrox's body and flowed into Trundle's mouth.
"What is this? A jungler ganking top?"
Seeing two people who should have been enemies suddenly join forces instead, Caleb could not help making a jab.
"Come challenge me, mortal and troll! I am right here!"
Aatrox's spread wings were enormous. His voice was hoarse, and his giant blade stirred up a storm of blood and slaughter.
"You think you can kill me?"
Infernal Chains burst skillfully from his hand and slammed into Trundle.
Then countless waves of sword energy churned endlessly through the cave.
"Can we wipe all of these things out?"
The trolls' roars seemed to be calling out to companions far away.
Caleb moved beside Olaf and asked in a low voice.
"I'll do my best!"
Olaf's answer was full of power. His twin axes were already hacking through the trolls gripped by fear.
"But we can't keep this up for long!"
Sejuani shouted from the distance.
They had charged straight into this den to begin with, and the final slowdown had not saved much stamina.
Now they were trading blows with the trolls. Aside from Olaf, Udyr, and Tryndamere, who could recover through rage, the others could not.
Once their stamina was exhausted, they would have no choice but to withdraw from this den.
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