Reif continued what he was doing as one explosion after another has occurred. The woods were thoroughly abused with debris flying everywhere
It didn't take that long before Reif managed to kill almost all of the trolls before Rhash stops him
"That's enough. Let at least one of them survive" Rhash said and Reif did kill almost all the trolled except for one before the two vanishes from the trolls' vision
"Why did we let one survive?" Reif asked curiously. If that troll returned to their lair, it would be one more enemy
Even if this is just a C rank mission, it's not like it was extremely easy for them to fulfill it
The two have confidence that they can emerge victorious but eliminating risks factors is still important
"It'll be hard to find the lair with how big this place is. We need that one to guide us where their home was" Rhash replied and Reif looked at him with adoration again
His big brother is really amazing. He can plan and think things through thoroughly. Reif doesn't have any other thing to ask for
With them having the lead, the two silently chased the troll. They blend in on their surroundings and the troll didn't even notice that there were two people chasing it
After some time, the troll finally arrives at its destination. There were some crude huts erected
In fact, it even cannot be called a hut. More like a small cave that the trolls made by putting rocks on top of each other
Since the trolls have low intelligence except for very few of them, they don't have the ability to create comfortable homes
They can only make some shelter like thing all around their territory which was quite large due to their large bodies and high numbers
There were several hundreds of them in a single place. Maybe around 500 as there were really numerous crudely made shelters around
This tribe of trolls aren't even considered a large group even with such numbers
It was no wonder that the villagers don't have the capability to fight such a group
One or so trolls aren't that much of a problem. But if there were hundreds of them compared to the weaker and lower in number villagers, these poor people can only resist without succeeding
"Okay, Reif. These trolls may not have high intelligence but they are highly tenacious and we are greatly outnumbered. We need to be careful"
Since the villagers cannot find the trolls' lair due to the lack of skills, this mission is only graded as a C rank
Since C ranks aren't that high level, the screening for it was quite lax. Well, the commissioner will also suffer if they were caught lying and very few people would lie on details
Since the villagers haven't found the trolls' lair, they don't know how many of them there are. Only a small group of trolls would go to their village to kill and kidnap people
If they learned that there are these many trolls, the mission would surely not be at C rank
"What should we do, big brother?" Reif asked
20 trolls are no problem for him but there are around 500 of them. Not to mention, the intelligent troll is stronger than the others
It would surely be able to make use of the numerical advantage in the battle
"Okay, lesson time. If you can deal with the enemies directly, what should you do?" Rhash asked while turning to look at Reif that has his eyes locked into his lips
"Eyes up here young man" Rhash said with a groan. Gosh, he felt like he turned Reif into a lecher
How can he look at Rhash's lips indecently at this kind of situation
Reif's cheeks instantly blush and he let out an awkward cough
"I-I'm sorry, w-what is it?" Reif asked. He was too focused on looking at Rhash that bites his lips earlier after seeing the high numbers of the trolls
It distracted him and he didn't quite catch what Rhash was saying
With a sigh, Rhash repeated his words. "I ask what you should do if you can defeat enemies directly? Focus, okay? A second of distraction can cost you your life"
Rhash decided that he needs to reprimand this young man. If not, he might really lose his life because of his lust
How lame would that be? Rhash can't let that happen
'It's not my fault. It is big brother that is tempting me with his lips' Reif said but, of course, he can only say that inside his head if he doesn't want to get smack
"If we can't beat them in a direct fight, we should use underhanded tactics" Reif answered the question and Rhash nodded his head
"That's right. I already thought of some ways to deal with them indirectly. Simple but perfect. But I want you to give your insights too"
One's power is not the only thing that one should train. They must also train their minds
Rhash wanted to be ready for unexpected situations and he needs Reif to learn how to handle certain situations
This is a chance to do that
Reif knows that he was being tested and he focused on watching the trolls to see if he can find some clues
It took him a few minutes before Reif managed to think of something after looking at the carcasses of wild animals and other monsters in the ground that the trolls nonchalantly thrown aside
"I thought of one! We should poison their food!"
Almost everyone needs food whatever that is. It can be plants, fruits, meat, fish, or even blood
But in this world, almost all living creatures needed the help of food to survive
The trolls are no different
"We can sneak in inside and poison their food. They would slowly die without us having the need to kill them directly" Reif answered and Rhash was a bit satisfied with that. It's just that he forgot something
"No, poison won't work at them since the shard of brilliance is in the intelligent troll's hand. I wasn't able to tell it to you yesterday but that particular shard has the power of healing. It was no different from a miracle when it comes to healing "
It was precisely the shard's healing ability that Rhash coveted this shard out of all the three shards
In the original timeline, Reif is the strongest but that is only pertaining to his fighting prowess
His power is everything that can destroy things but he lacks things such as 'buffs' or healing
It was one of the reason why he was defeated and got killed
Rhash's thinking was simple. Reif has the potential to be the strongest. Visible at how he became a B-rank adventurer in just a year. Give him some more time and he would be at the top of this world
However, the world ganged up on him and his injuries piled up
Rhash was thinking what if Reif were to be able to survive almost every situation? Would it be possible to kill his enemies one by one
I mean, he is the strongest. He only needed to survive
That's what Rhash is thinking. Therefore, all the other shards can be retrieved by the church and that Nath Lumine but not this shard of healing
"Besides, there are a lot of them and the food is not stored in a single area. It means that we need to infiltrate and poison food that is literally almost everywhere. That's a hard thing to accomplish"
"Aww, that's bad" Reif said with a pout. He thought that he thought of a good plan but turns out, it has a lot of loopholes
"Don't be discouraged, that's still a good plan that would work with a lot of other enemies. This one is just a really special case" Rhash said as to lift Reif's spirit again
"Now, I want you to think of the trolls 'characteristics and also the kind of magic that we have. What is our ability that we can connect to the trolls' characteristics?"
Reif is not stupid. In fact, he is very smart. It's just that Rhash has the experience of knowing the plot of fictitious stories back on earth
Earth has a lot of fantasty literature. It was not hard to learn some lessons from those that can be applied here
Reif started thinking of Rhash's words and his face soon lightened up
"The trolls have superior bodies that can powderized rocks but almost none of them can use magic. They are also not intelligent and all of their good qualities were put into their bodies, other areas have been neglected"
"That makes them vulnerable to debuffing magic and also brainwashing magic!"
Reif figured it out. Other creatures even though not intelligent, still has varying degrees of sturdiness when it comes to their soul
However, all of the trolls' qualities were really put into their bodies and even their souls are weak compared to others