Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence-Chapter 417 - 173: The Fertile Land That Must Be Taken · Lake Essonide (Part 3)

It stepped out of the line, pounding its broad chest with its fist, and shouted, "Human weaklings, listen up! We are the Tearer Warband of Lake Essonide. I am Ugma, the undefeated leader of the River Giant Warband, who once annihilated a regiment of Chaos Knights and hunted down a Giant Shepherd Deer of Tal’s progeny. At the sound of our voices, Giants flee in panic. If you don’t want to be smashed into pulp, surrender immediately!"

The battle halberd in Constantine’s hand burst with resplendent golden light. He looked at the hundreds of huge monsters waving their clubs and cheering, his face heavy with concern: "A River Giant Warband hidden in Lake Essonide! This truly is the core support of the Green Dragon’s rule!"

Hearing the voice of Ugma, the leader of the River Giant Warband, the determination among the Knights to take Blood Mist Hills and establish a Storm Shadow Fortress atop it was exceptionally strong.

There must be a sharp dagger plunged into the throat of the Blood Pine Forest’s domain. In the future, whether the Green Dragon is slain or not, building a fortress on Blood Mist Hills is crucial to threatening the core of Blood Pine Forest.

This area is so rich, with not only numerous resource points and mineral zones but also fertile soil and the resource-abundant Lake Essonide. It can even sustain a River Giant Island to hide deep within the lake.

Freya, riding a Half Griffin, stood next to Constantine, her brows furrowed, saying: "This River Giant is rather cunning, even knowing how to entice surrender."

Ugma indeed possesses an unusually high intelligence, markedly different from his brethren. He ponders that this might be related to his early contact with many Dimension Stones. Ugma is quite satisfied with living at Lake Essonide because food is abundant in the lake.

Occasionally, Ugma sends giants along the river to prey on adventurers, thus accumulating quite a collection of treasures. He enjoys chatting with these unfortunate souls before devouring them. Ugma’s favorite sight is the shock on their faces as he converses with them in their own language. However, if communication goes smoothly, Ugma attempts to persuade adventurers to help him eliminate the nearby Beastmen Warband, claiming they have been bullying his giants. Of course, Ugma merely seeks to clear out the surrounding Green Skins.

His cunning aligns with the Green Dragon’s ill-repute, so the two, surprisingly, did not clash but instead conspired together, allowing Ugma to continue residing in the Green Dragon’s gem-like Lake Essonide. The price, however, is that when they raid from the forest, the River Giants must accept the Green Dragon’s command.

Thus, seeing so many giants gathered like this left the human knights inevitably astonished.

Directing so many River Giants is no easy task, as all shrewd Warlords know that without assistance, these beasts rarely focus on the battlefield.

If giants act alone, they easily get distracted, choosing instead to feast on the wounded or stand drooling.

Warlords must personally issue orders or allow a leader to command the giant army. Only then can they hope these brutes accomplish some meaningful deeds. Even this management style is not foolproof; some giants, to eat rocks or uproot weeds they dislike, have learned to ignore the Warlord’s shouting.

But this does not mean these monsters lack threat; on the contrary, River Giants have immense claw-like hands capable of devastating swipes. They enjoy breaking tree trunks to craft makeshift clubs from various junk pieces to fiercely strike enemies. Once these creatures enter battle mode, they swing their enormous fists, or temporary weapons, to destroy anything.

The River Giants possess a particularly unsettling ability, in which they can vomit up their stomach contents, spraying victims with a semi-liquid bile and undigested substances. The corrosive fluid is potent enough to melt armor and sear flesh and bone—a truly grotesque way to die.

Therefore, having such a vast number of huge monsters on the battlefield is indeed an exceedingly bizarre and dangerous scenario.

Hilude decisively raised her longsword, commanding: "Regroup the troops and keep a distance from the monsters."

Hearing this order, Rong’en was shocked and asked, "Still regrouping the army? Isn’t this the time to spread out, pull the enemy, gain mobility, and divide and surround them?"

Hilude sternly responded, "No, we need to draw this River Giant swarm away from the riverbank. I have a good guess about what kind of creature the hidden caster is."

Following Hilude’s command, thousands of elite cavalry swiftly gathered in one spot, with red banners high and golden armor shining in the sun. This majestic scene thrilled the River Giants beyond measure.

Even the foolish River Giants understand that such a head-on confrontation is to their advantage, allowing them to exploit their massive size. One sweep of their enormous claws can tear a warhorse to shreds. Conversely, if the Knights were to spread out, the River Giants would become chaotic and easily isolated. Once a River Giant is alone, it quickly gets surrounded and slain.

If twelve River Giants are surrounded by a sixty-man Elite Knight Order, no matter how large they are, they will be knocked away and chopped into pieces in moments.

No matter how strong their regeneration, a single River Giant cannot defeat five fully armed, blood-boiling Elite Knights.

Ugma raised his club high, shouting excitedly: "Charge! Smash these foolish knights who refuse to surrender! On the muddy battlefield, we River Giants are invincible!"

Su Li, looking through a monocular at the hundreds of green monsters launching a ferocious attack on the Elite Knight Order, clenched his fists tensely, frowning as he asked, "Hilude, what exactly is she doing?"