The reinforcement came half an hour later. Over a thousand infantry marched on, each of the soldiers stepped forward with purpose, their uniforms and armour indicating they were well-trained for this exact job.
Unfortunately, the orcs were already moving to leave by that point. The trolls had brought them the advantage to withdraw, dealing all the damage they came to do. They had looted part of the ores, and killed and heavily injured over a few hundred human rankers.
Of course, they took damage as well, heavy damage, considering only about half of their numbers managed to withdraw while the rest were slain on the ground.
The commander in charge of the troops was a mage, and as soon as he arrived, he began shooting sharp projectiles of ice at the remaining few forsaken.
A swift attack came out of nowhere and beheaded the troll Warden was almost finished with, stealing his kill.
[You have slain Trolls (Iron), 5x]
[+4.7 Recovery.]
Warden spat on the ground and sat down. His whole face was covered in troll blood, exhaustion burning through his muscles and channels. The surge of power from the essence harvested did drive away some of the exhaustion, but it was far from what he required to feel free.
Gasping heavily for a few minutes, he wiped the blood from his face. With how many times he had to cut the trolls, he was literally bathing in their disgusting blood. Nothing less than a proper bath would solve this, not that he thought he would be freed from duty any time soon.
A few of the sixteenth infantry came to join him, all of them similarly exhausted with several cuts, though they weren't bathing in blood like him.
"New guy, you're alive," said the spearman. He did not sound surprised, probably having seen him fight. "Unfortunately, not everyone was so lucky."
Warden sighed. "How many?"
"Just throw me a rejuvenation spell," Warden requested.
The healer woman shot him a piercing gaze, as though checking for wounds. Sweat trickled down her forehead. This job wasn't easy on her either. "I don't have energy to spare for such spells."
With that, she turned and left, leaving a dumbfounded Warden.
"What the actual fuck!" he cursed.
Caleb shook his head as if it was only natural. "I'll ask Luis to spare you one rejuvenation potion."
"Thanks." Warden scratched his skin, wiping away the layers of blood plastered to his arm. "I think I need a bath more than a rejuvenation potion."
"Unfortunately, you have to make it do with a Cleansing Crystal," Caleb said, causing Warden to wince.
He wasn't unfamiliar with Cleansing crystals, as he had used them once during his time in the dungeon with Jason and others. Honestly, it wasn't any better than bathing. It saves time, but the detriment was that it did not give any refreshed feeling either.
Well, since he wasn't stained with disgusting murk that came out of his body when he went through the body transformation, the cleansing crystal could clean him up.
"120 contribution points," Caleb muttered with the army token in hand. He shot Warden a look. "How much did you get?"
Warden drew his badge and infused his energy, as soon a number lit up in the air.
[820]
Caleb whistled as many of the others looked with envy as well. Most of their contribution didn't wasn't higher than 50 points.