Green Monster Epic

Chapter 172: The Bonecrusher's Visit

Greenfield Plains, Torrent Bay, the sky perpetually shrouded in the smoky scent of charcoal, never dissipating throughout the year.

The Bonecrusher rarely ventured out of Bonecrusher Village, slowly advancing with a cane in hand. Behind him, Zul led a dozen kobolds, dragging two large carts full of goods, seeking relatively flat ground along the pathless wilderness.

Zul had no idea where the Bonecrusher was taking them this time, or why they needed to bring so much food. In Bonecrusher Village, the Bonecrusher usually acted without consulting anyone. A single command was enough for Zul and the others to obey.

The wilderness was truly barren, with scattered rocks and sand as the main theme, punctuated by occasional patches of verdant shrubs and grazed grasslands. Here and there, a few taller bitter jujube trees and ironwood trees stood out, along with well-protected and thriving hard peach trees. It was these embellishments that kept the wilderness from being so monotonous and dull.

The Bonecrusher's pace was slow. The old man's age had caused his body to gradually hunch over, making Zul feel for the first time that the old man was truly growing old. Perhaps it was because the Bonecrusher's authority was too overwhelming in the village that Zul often dared only to speak to him with his head lowered, rarely having the chance to observe the changes in the Bonecrusher's entire body from behind like he was doing now.

"Chief, where are we going?"

Beside Zul, a kobold, sweating profusely, dragged the rope pulling the cart behind him, asking somewhat anxiously.

Without any rhyme or reason, they had been heading south. Any further, and they would be outside their usual hunting grounds. But seeing that the Bonecrusher showed no sign of stopping, the dozen or so kobolds who were dragging the carts and finding the way were expending a great deal of energy.

"You'll know when we get there. Why ask so many questions?"

Zul himself didn't actually know, but he couldn't say that in front of his subordinates, so he immediately scolded them.

"But everyone's getting tired. Why don't you talk to the elder and ask if we can rest for a while?"

The kobold licked his face, not taking Zul's scolding to heart.

"You go talk to him yourself! I'm not going to!"

Zul shook his head. He wouldn't do anything that stood out. Ever since the elder went out with Chieftain Night and Mier last time and returned, the elder had been in a bad mood. Night, who used to be able to talk to the elder and was deeply valued by him, had also disappeared. Since then, the atmosphere in the village had been heavy. Several times, some of the more active kobolds in the village had been beaten up by the elder for trivial matters, and they still hadn't recovered from their injuries.

"What a coward…"

The kobold soldier muttered a sentence and then continued to bury his head, pulling the rope and dragging the cart with a grunt. It seemed he also knew that the current elder was not to be provoked easily.

They continued in silence for most of the day, completely leaving the Bonecrusher Tribe's sphere of influence. The kobolds' mood became tense, but when they saw the elder's figure leading the way ahead, their tense mood gradually calmed down. Over the years, the elder's image of invincibility had been deeply ingrained in their minds. Although they were in unfamiliar territory, as long as the elder was with them, they felt that nothing could stop them.

"This seems to be the territory of those gluttonous ogres, right?"

Zul muttered to himself. Ogres were powerful and had no reverence, so Zul and his team rarely took this hunting route when they led the hunt, and they rarely interacted with their ogre neighbors.

"Chief, will we encounter ogre teams? I heard that they'll swarm and hunt down anything that's alive and moving."

It was the same kobold as before. Their keen sense of smell allowed the kobolds to detect traces left by other creatures, but it also made them sensitive in unfamiliar environments.

"Shh!"

Zul put a finger to his lips. He smelled several auras slowly approaching. Just as he was about to prepare his tribesmen for battle, he heard a series of familiar groans in his ear, and then a ball of fire appeared in front of him. The Bonecrusher had already unleashed a powerful spell, a huge fireball dragging a long tail, directly smashing into a pile of rocks more than a hundred yards ahead of them.

"Roar!"

"Ah, it's hot! It's hot!"

"Giant Stone, is this how you treat guests who have come from afar?"

After casting a fireball, the Bonecrusher made no other casting movements. Instead, he began to raise his voice and shout at the several tall figures that had been blasted out of the rock pile in front of them.

"Ah ha, so it's you, Bonecrusher, you old codger. Why did you suddenly think of coming to my tribe today?"

The first ogre gently brushed away the sparks left by the fireball on his body, then looked up in surprise at the hunched old man leading the kobold team that had crossed the border.

This old Bonecrusher had rarely been seen bouncing around outside the village in recent years, otherwise Greenfield Plains would have fewer tribes! Back when Bonecrusher was still young, when he had just become the leader of the Lava Tribe, this guy would try to drive their tribe away every now and then. For this reason, he had fought Bonecrusher several times. Relying on his thick skin, high magic resistance, he stubbornly withstood the opponent's spells, and although he failed to kill Bonecrusher in the end, the opponent was equally unable to do anything to him.

Later, Bonecrusher allowed his tribe to settle down in the lower reaches of the Turbid Water Creek, and he also restrained his tribesmen from going north to provoke the kobold hunting teams. They had been living in peace for many years.

"I just wanted to come and see you. I promised you last time that I would send you a barrel of honey. You didn't remember to come and get it, so I had people bring it over for you."

The Bonecrusher's face was full of smiles, and he pointed back to the two carts. The carriages were full of gifts that Bonecrusher was sending to Giant Stone and the others.

"Heh, I can't afford to enjoy things from your tribe!"

Giant Stone waved his hand, then made a gesture to leave, the sarcasm on his face flashing past.

"Giant Stone, you and I are old friends. I don't seem to have done anything to offend you, have I?"

The Bonecrusher was a little puzzled. The most recent contact between him and Giant Stone was only that he provided food and supplies for Giant Stone and the others to attack the green skins of the Greenfield Tribe, and there was nothing hidden about that.

"No? You said the green skin leader's skills were just so-so, and asked me to help kill him. Heh heh, just so-so indeed. Do you know, I fought him, and the strength between the two of us was only comparable. In the end, there was even an advanced green skin in their village who almost killed my Ali, and I almost stayed in that green skin's territory!"

Giant Stone was very embarrassed. He was angry not because he had suffered a loss, but because he was angry that Bonecrusher might have ulterior motives to deal with their Lava Tribe, to deal with him, Giant Stone. Otherwise, why would the information he provided be so different? It was precisely because of this concern that Giant Stone did not go to Bonecrusher Village to argue with Bonecrusher after the defeat, nor did he take his tribesmen to trouble the Greenfield Tribe, but curled up in his own territory, recuperating for more than half a month.

Hahaha, happy weekend, 3 chapters in a row, there will be another chapter tonight