Compared to human cities like Stormwind or Lordaeron, or the high elves' Silvermoon City, Zul'Aman, the ancient troll city, was relatively small.
Or rather, given the trolls' level of organization, they simply couldn't sustain a massive city.
Riding through the city at full gallop, Alaric quickly spotted the enormous figures the messenger had reported.
They were called giants, but in truth, they weren't particularly tall—standing only four or five meters high.
Compared to the Titan Keepers Alaric had encountered before, they were far smaller.
However, to the soldiers who had just been thrown into war after years of peace, completely unaware of the horrors awaiting them, these creatures were already colossal monstrosities.
The key point was that their power far exceeded their size.
Alaric saw with his own eyes as the bear-headed giant slammed its massive palm into the ground.
A violent tremor followed, creating a deep crater. Soldiers caught in the impact were either crushed into pulp or sent flying.
The eagle-headed giant summoned raging winds and lightning, scattering soldiers like leaves in a storm while electrocuting the unlucky ones into charred husks.
The dragonhawk-headed giant let loose a torrential breath of fire, its flames surpassing even those of an ordinary dragon.
Those who failed to dodge were melted alive, their armor turning into molten slag.
Meanwhile, the lynx-headed giant leapt madly through the battlefield like a frenzied predator.
Though its claws lacked the sheer brute force of the bear-headed giant, they were sharp and deadly.
Standard armor stood no chance against its slashes, tearing apart soldiers as if they were mere paper.
Watching these powerful beings in action, Alaric confirmed his suspicion—these were the very same bosses from Zul'Aman in the game.
But something puzzled him.
In the original timeline, these bosses only appeared after the Second and Third Wars, when the Scourge was already wreaking havoc across Azeroth.
At that time, the royal bloodline of the trolls, the emissaries of the Zandalari, had visited Zul'Aman.
With the goal of restoring the Amani Empire, the Zandalari trolls had shared their knowledge and techniques with the Amani, allowing Malacrass to successfully harness the power of the Loa gods, sealing their essence into the bodies of trolls.
But now, with no sign of the Zandalari trolls, the Amani had already accomplished this feat on their own. How had they done it?
That question, however, was irrelevant at the moment.
Alaric's immediate priority was to stop these four Loa-infused monstrosities from slaughtering the soldiers.
"Helena, activate the full power of the crown. Engage Overclock Mode."
While charging forward on horseback, Alaric issued the command to the spirit of his magical crown.
"Understood, Master. A prolonged activation of Overclock Mode may cause damage to your brain. Please resolve this battle quickly."
Despite obeying his order, Helena still warned him of the risks.
"I'll do my best."
Feeling his thoughts accelerate as his cognition surged, Alaric acknowledged her with a short reply. Then, he drew the Endless Blade in one hand, grasped his staff in the other, and charged straight into the fray.
"All Alliance soldiers, retreat immediately!" he bellowed while riding forward. "These are not foes you can fight. Leave them to me!"
"It's the Commander!"
"Commander Sandor is here to save us!"
"Commander Sandor is a powerful mage! He can definitely defeat these monsters!"
The soldiers reacted as if they had just heard a death row pardon or spotted a lifeboat while drowning.
Relieved of their burden, they ceased their futile resistance and retreated like a receding tide, scrambling to escape with their lives.
Seeing their prey attempt to flee, the giants immediately pursued. Those too slow to escape met a gruesome end.
Alaric, realizing he had to act immediately, scanned his surroundings.
The city was filled with buildings made of enormous stones, but what stood out the most were four colossal humanoid totems.
A plan formed in his mind.
Arcane light flared from his staff, and the battlefield trembled—not from an enemy attack, but from a deep, all-encompassing quake.
The four massive totems began to shudder. Dust and debris cascaded from them before they suddenly, inexplicably, tore free from the ground.
As the smoke and dust settled, it revealed the stone legs beneath each totem.
Then, from the sides of the totems, stone arms extended outward.
Under the effects of Alaric's transmutation magic, the four massive totems transformed into towering stone giants.
Originally crafted to adorn the central temple and altar as a display of the Amani Empire's grandeur, these totems were already massive—standing around five to six meters tall.
But now, with their legs giving them added height, they loomed at an imposing ten meters.
The Loa-empowered giants, once terrifyingly large to ordinary soldiers, now looked like mere dwarves in comparison.
This was Alaric's first time using such a powerful transmutation spell, but given his current strength, neither the mental nor magical strain was much of a concern.
The crown's augmented thought process allowed him to weave even greater spells, while his draconic bloodline ensured his mana reserves remained plentiful.
With barely a moment's hesitation, he cast another spell.
This time, instead of transforming massive sculptures, he animated the engraved reliefs decorating the surrounding altars and buildings.
Troll statues, eagle statues, bear statues, dragonhawk statues, and lynx statues all came to life, dropping to the ground like sentient beings.
Led by the towering totem giants, this stone legion surged forward to confront the four Loa-infused giants.
Faced with these enormous constructs closing in, even the empowered giants had to reconsider their approach. They abandoned their chase of the fleeing Alliance soldiers and turned to face this new threat.
The first to act was Akil'zon, the Eagle God.
Once again, he called upon his mastery of nature magic.
Fierce winds whipped across the battlefield, gathering into a raging storm that rushed toward the stone army. Thunder crackled, sending bolts of lightning crashing down upon them.
Yet, the spells that would have devastated ordinary soldiers proved nearly useless against the stone constructs.
The storm, strong enough to topple houses and send humans flying, was little more than a breeze to creatures made entirely of rock.
Only the dragonhawk and eagle statues were forced to retreat slightly, but even they suffered no true damage.
As for the lightning, it was even less effective. Its heat and energy, lethal to any living creature, had no real effect on the stone soldiers.
The electrical discharges that would paralyze or incinerate a human were meaningless against rock. At most, a few statues cracked from the impact, but the damage was trivial.
Thus, the battle between the Loa-powered giants and Alaric's stone legion truly began.
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