Green Monster Epic

Chapter 309: A Fractured Relationship

With the high-level Berserker Demon slain, the ensuing battle held no more surprises.

Alistair, covered head to toe in the rancid,乌红 demonic blood, dragged his ever-gleaming Bonecleaver as he approached Uth’kul, who was in a similar state of disarray, and stepped onto the head of the giant axe the goblin chieftain was trying to pull away.

“Uth’kul, chieftain, it seems you're not playing by the rules!”

The giant axe's original owner was the Berserker Demon Vitagen, whom Alistair had killed. Now that Vitagen was dead, it had become an unowned object once more.

To call it unowned wouldn't be entirely accurate. According to the unwritten rules of adventurers, whoever kills a target is entitled to the spoils on the target's person, unless others provided assistance and support.

However, when Alistair returned after helping Cole and the others out of their predicament and chasing down the remaining demons, he found many kobold figures on Cole's team’s position, taking advantage of Alistair and his team’s absence to clean up the battlefield.

Even more infuriatingly, many of the demons that Cole and the others had killed had their heads cut off by the kobolds, who were secretly carrying them in burlap sacks back to Uth’kul's lair.

If Alistair and his team had returned any later, they probably wouldn't have had many spoils left.

“Order your subordinates to stop what they're doing, or I won't hesitate to challenge you, Uth’kul!”

Alistair's gloomy face, stained with blood and grime, looked particularly terrifying. Paired with his sharp, icy gaze, it struck deep into Uth’kul's heart, sending an inexplicable shiver down his spine.

“Oh, come now, Captain Alistair, don't forget that you were hired to help us kill demons. As the employer, we have the right to decide how the spoils of war are distributed!”

“Of course, if any of your adventurers suffer casualties or losses, we will provide appropriate compensation. You can rest assured about that.”

Uth’kul chuckled awkwardly. He saw that none of Cole's team had died, only suffering minor and major injuries, so he was trying to be clever and get more benefits for himself.

When adventurers accept employment, there are two ways to distribute the spoils of a mission. One is for the employer to pay a high employment fee and not be responsible for the post-battle compensation of the adventure team members; the other is to provide appropriate remuneration and cover daily living expenses, but if the adventurers are injured or killed, the employer must provide aftercare compensation according to certain standards.

Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages. The difference, apart from compensation, lies in the right to distribute the spoils of war: the former, because the employer does not need to provide compensation, the adventurers have the right to distribute the spoils of the slain enemies; the latter, because daily expenses and compensation are provided by the employer, the employer has great discretion over the distribution of spoils.

However, given the relationship between Alistair and Uth’kul, the former employment agreement should have been the premise, but the actual mission contract did not explicitly mention this aspect. Therefore, Uth’kul seized this loophole, thinking he could take the opportunity to seize more demon spoils to make up for his tribe's losses.

“Heh, chieftain Uth’kul is indeed shrewd, but if you want to take advantage of our Greenlake Adventurers, you'll have to ask if the weapons in our hands agree.”

Alistair's tone grew sharper. Cole and the others, who had been seizing the time to scavenge the remaining spoils on the ground, immediately abandoned their current actions upon hearing this. They picked up their respective weapons and walked to Alistair's side, glaring at the kobolds, who had moments ago been their comrades, with unfriendly eyes.

“Captain Alistair, don't forget that you haven't received your final payment yet. Do you really want to anger us?”

Uth’kul was also losing face. His expression turned gloomy as well. Right now, he was on his own turf. In addition to the 60-70 kobold warriors who were still present, there were also nearly a hundred kobolds whom he had just summoned from the cave to help clean up the battlefield.

Having an absolute numerical advantage, Uth’kul knew that his own strength was inferior to Alistair's, but he still seemed fearless.

“I'm just afraid you won't be able to swallow those eight gems, and you'll choke on them instead!”

Alistair's fierce aura permeated the air, causing the entire scene to freeze. Voices gradually faded, and a strange silence descended.

Even though Alistair had experienced a lot over the years, he was still enraged by Uth’kul's actions, because what they were trying to steal was the first adventure harvest of Cole and the other young gnomes.

For this, Cole had five wounds, Barrington had more than a dozen, and the rest of the youths, including Tom and Linus, had all suffered injuries to varying degrees. This was what they had risked their lives for, and Alistair would never let these hateful kobolds take it for nothing.

“Whether I choke or not is my business. Captain Alistair doesn't need to worry about it.”

Uth’kul said lightly, then with a look, he signaled a kobold warrior to resume action, dismembering the head of Vitagen, whom Alistair had just killed. The corpse of the Berserker Demon summoned by Vitagen with blasphemous words had already returned to the abyss as the summoning time expired, leaving only the corpse of the high-level Berserker Demon Vitagen in the field.

“Hmph, courting death!”

Alistair unleashed his Misty Steps, splitting into three illusory figures. One of them lunged straight at Uth’kul, as if he really wanted to fall out with Uth’kul and his team.

“You green skin, you really want to turn hostile, huh?”

Uth’kul's expression changed drastically, and he roared with a fierce look, then gripped his spear tightly, ready to defend himself.

However, the expected attack did not come. The illusory figure of Alistair that rushed towards him disappeared like a bubble just before reaching him. Only then did Uth’kul look around to find Alistair's figure, and finally found Alistair's figure holding up Bonecleaver in the direction of the kobold who was dismembering Vitagen's corpse.

“You dare…”

Before Uth’kul could finish speaking, Alistair's Bonecleaver had already slashed out.

The kobold who had been targeted by him had actually noticed Alistair's figure, but his final defensive action was useless. He and his long knife were directly embedded into Vitagen's corpse by Alistair's slash. At the same time, a trickle of blood and a gurgling panting sound gradually appeared in the kobold’s wide mouth, indicating that he was dying.

“Swish! Swish, swish!”

Following Alistair's action, Cole and the other gnome youths, who had just experienced a fierce battle, took out the weapons behind their backs and around their waists, staring at the surrounding kobolds, who were also showing fierce looks, with murderous intent.

“It's not so easy to take advantage of us!”

Alistair glanced askance at Uth’kul and said contemptuously.

“Since chieftain Uth’kul is so stingy, I don't want those eight rubies either. But you have to be careful. In recent days, don't leave this kobold hole, lest you encounter any accidents!”

“After all, many demons have escaped, and they're probably hiding in some ravine, staring at you!”

Alistair made no secret of his inner malice. Although he used demons to remind Uth’kul, in fact, his eyes, filled with icy killing intent, nakedly looked around at the surrounding kobolds, issuing a silent warning to Uth’kul.

Uhtred watched helplessly as Allen, right before his eyes, slaughtered a tribal warrior. The fury in his heart was ablaze. But when he turned his gaze towards Allen, he couldn't help but flinch. The disparity in their strength significantly diminished his confidence in confronting Allen.

His expression shifted, and after a long internal struggle, Uhtred plastered on a hypocritical smile.

"Captain Allen, what are you doing? If there's an issue, let's discuss it properly. There's no need for our subordinates to get hurt for no reason."

Helpless, Uhtred found Allen's words to be quite direct, essentially using his strength to threaten him. Faced with Allen's threat, Uhtred really didn't have many options.

He had barely managed to eliminate the demon threat. If he were to fall out with Allen, a powerful high-level expert, even if he and his tribesmen could restrain the youths behind Allen, he wasn't confident he could keep Allen himself.

The price he would have to pay was beyond Uhtred's imagination.

After this calculation, Uhtred had no choice but to reluctantly yield to Allen.

"There's nothing to discuss. Hand over the demon heads you've collected, pay our mercenary group's fee, and we'll leave immediately, never bothering you again."

Allen was being quite unforgiving. He used his own formidable strength to warn Uhtred about the consequences of a falling out.

Of course, there was considerable risk involved. If Uhtred truly valued those eight gemstones and demon spoils, and ordered his numerically superior kobold tribesmen to attack Allen and Coeur's group, Allen, to be honest, would have no choice but to break through and escape with Coeur and the others.

At worst, after escaping with Coeur and the others, Allen would return here and slaughter these kobolds to vent his anger.

However, there were other hidden dangers. For example, Allen had to consider the opinions and attitudes of Mansa City. If Uhtred had other backers, Allen and Coeur might have to turn back and avoid being held accountable by Uhtred's backers.

But as it seemed now, Allen's luck was still pretty good.

"That won't do! Many of these were killed by my tribesmen. How can I give them all to you!"

Uhtred frowned again, his voice rising in dissatisfaction.

"This is the price of your petty tricks. You should have thought about the consequences when you were playing your games!"

Allen had to be firm. The natives of the wilderness only understood this approach. If Allen had been even slightly weaker, the situation might not be as it was now.

"…"

After a long silence, with countless eyes fixed on Uhtred, he finally, filled with unwillingness, glanced around at the flickering gazes of his tribesmen and nodded heavily.

"Alright!"

"Someone, go and bring out those spoils!"

Before long, over a dozen sacks filled with demon heads, materials, and the weapons they wore were placed before Allen and his group.

Allen picked up two of the heavy sacks himself, while the others, including Coeur, each carried one on their backs. Then, the team of a dozen people headed towards Mansa City without looking back. Allen didn't even bother to say goodbye to Uhtred.

Only after they had left the territory of the Nagen Hills did Allen relax his nerves and call for Coeur and the others to find a secluded place to rest and reorganize.

"Teacher, you're amazing!"

Usually, in Green Lake Village, it was difficult for Coeur and the others to see Allen's current expression and demeanor. Apart from his strength and ferocity on the battlefield that made Coeur and the others look up to him, his uncompromising and overbearing attitude when facing Uhtred, who had the support of a larger number of tribesmen, made Coeur, who admired the strong, feel even more respect.

"Remember this, you should do things like this as little as possible!"

Allen rolled his eyes at Coeur and the others, and then took the opportunity to lecture them, saying things that were completely contrary to his previous actions.

"There are many loopholes in the tasks we receive, which is why these kobolds dared to snatch our spoils today. So, in the future, when you accept tasks and communicate with employers, try to clarify these loopholes in advance and block their chances of acting!"

Allen was also reflecting on himself. Originally, according to unwritten rules, things like this shouldn't have happened in the first place, but he had underestimated the shamelessness of the wilderness natives, which led to today's situation.

In previous years, Allen had occasionally taken on some difficult tasks in Thornsburg to hone his skills, and had never encountered such things with employers or partners, which had somewhat solidified his thinking.

"If you really encounter something like today, unless you judge that the other party is not strong and you can ensure your own safety, you must learn to bow your head when you should bow your head!"

"Being able to save your life and absorb and summarize it as a lesson is also a gain!"

"Understand?"

Although he was speaking to Coeur, Allen's gaze was actually directed towards the two young men, Tom and Treeborn.

Coeur's personality made her suitable to be a leader or captain, uniting the people and commanding her companions, but asking her to communicate with the cunning fellows in the wilderness would probably result in her being deceived countless times before she could grow.

This was not because Coeur's ability was lacking, but because her strengths were not in this area, so Allen cultivated Tom and Treeborn, two team members who were more talented in this area.

"Oh!"

Coeur lowered her head, responding somewhat dejectedly.

Next, during the break, Coeur, Bush, and the others helped each other clean up their injuries, and then each took out a bottle of healing potion and drank it to speed up their recovery. As for Linus, he closed his eyes and meditated deeply in the team, trying to quickly restore some mana and then cast divine spells to reduce the pain for his injured companions.

Allen ignored Coeur and the others' actions, seemingly resting with his eyes closed, but actually concentrating on observing the surrounding environment.

The purpose of his task was to accompany Coeur and the others, helping them to quickly familiarize themselves and integrate into the ranks of adventurers. Now it seemed that Coeur and the others were adapting well, and perhaps he wouldn't have to be a "nanny" next time.

Fledglings ultimately have to soar on their own to grow. What he could help them with and teach them was only these things. The rest required them to experience setbacks and slowly grow up.

Watching Tom, Treeborn, and the others pour out the heads, materials, and other items from the sacks, sorting and recording them one by one, Allen decided that next time, he would let Coeur and Tom take on tasks and complete them on their own.

As for himself, perhaps he would secretly follow behind them, observing how they carried out the tasks, or perhaps he would find a challenging goal and begin the true purpose of his trip.

After sorting things out, the faces of Coeur and the other young people were filled with bright smiles, discussing with each other how to distribute these spoils.

"Teacher, this is your share of the spoils."

While Allen didn't speak during Coeur and the others' division of the spoils, he ended up with the biggest haul. This wasn't unexpected for Allen, as his contribution to the battle was the greatest. He not only single-handedly killed the High-Ranked Berserker Demon but also helped Coeur and the others break free from the demon encirclement after slaying the Berserker Demon. Although, Coeur and the others' defensive formation was a decision made from the beginning.

Allen looked at the spoils laid out before him. The most conspicuous was naturally the giant double-bladed axe, originally wielded by the Berserker Demon, which was as tall as Allen himself. The axe blade alone was one-third of Allen's height.

Besides that, Vitagen's full-body armor, as black as ink and covered in various battle scars, was also very eye-catching. The remaining items were scraps and materials collected from the Horned Demons and Vrock Demons, placed beside the two huge pieces of equipment. Of course, there were also three whole sacks filled with various demon heads.

A hint of approval flashed in Allen's eyes. At least Coeur and the others were being very fair in their distribution. Even though Allen hadn't reminded them to include him in the division, the fact that they thought of it proved that they were already integrating into the role of adventurers.

"Except for the Berserker Demon's stuff, you can keep the rest. Consider it my gift to you for officially completing your first adventure mission."

After poking at the spoils on the ground a few times, he kept the two pieces of Abyss Iron equipment and the Berserker Demon's head. The rest were returned to Coeur and the others by Allen.

This Abyss Iron was a good material, and Allen was reluctant to sell it. So, he put them into his dimensional pocket, waiting to return and have Mandoli recast a few sets of well-fitting armor or weapons, while the giant axe could be used as a prize for the next clan competition.

"Keep it up. I hope you can complete more missions in the time ahead and pay off your debts as soon as possible!"

Although he gave up his spoils, Allen still didn't forget to tease Coeur and the others.

Coeur and her group, who were originally somewhat happy, were reminded by Allen and thought of the new equipment they were wearing and the various combat materials in their bags. Immediately, the smiles on their faces lessened.

Back then, when everyone received new equipment and materials, they had made various promises to Camellia, who was in charge of the village's storage. Now it seemed that everyone would have to work hard to fulfill the promises they had made before.

"Humph, isn't it just 3 Legacy Crystals? Don't worry, Teacher, we can definitely do it!"

Coeur's arrogance was aroused by Allen's teasing gaze. She raised her small head proudly with a curl of her lips and replied with confidence.

Although Coeur knew that their goal was somewhat unrealistic, setting a lofty goal and then watching everyone move towards the goal step by step was actually a very beautiful thing.

"Well, I believe in you!"

Allen withdrew his teasing gaze and nodded seriously instead.

"Starting with the next mission, you will choose and complete the missions yourselves. I also have to go and carry out my own challenges."

"En! !"

"Okay! !"

"… …"

A group of teenagers raised their heads and nodded solemnly, making Allen very proud. However, when his eyes swept to Linnaeus, who was secretly happy on the side, he immediately felt unhappy and knocked Linnaeus on the head with a chestnut.

"You little brat, be careful, don't let me see those bad habits of yours again."

"Ah… En En!"

Linnaeus's scream stopped abruptly, and then, under Allen's unkind gaze, he nodded his head like he was mashing garlic.

After a burst of laughter, everyone packed up almost everything and continued to move forward with their bags and baggage.

The demons were not completely wiped out. Not counting the ones Allen didn't notice, there were about 20 demons that ran away in Allen's field of vision, including quite a few Mid-Ranked Demons.

Originally, Allen didn't plan to let go of this group of remaining demons, thinking of taking Coeur and the others to linger in the Nagen Hills for a while. But after the previous friction with Wu Tikul, Allen didn't plan to continue staying in the Nagen Hills, lest he get angry when he saw this kobold, and at the same time, he hoped that this group of demons could bring some casualties and losses to the kobolds.

Although Allen knew that it was almost impossible for the remaining demon team to develop to the scale it had been half a day ago, he still had this kind of fantasy.

As Allen and the others returned along the same route, in a valley only a few dozen miles away from their team, 30 demons reunited. This was originally their temporary residence in the Nagen Hills, but they temporarily abandoned it later in order to attack the Korlik tribe.

Several powerful Mid-Ranked Demons were fighting, vying for the head of this team. This was a set of rules that must be followed when demons temporarily form a team. Although demons are naturally pursuing chaos, the situation is now dangerous, and a powerful demon is needed as a temporary leader to make decisions for everyone and restrain everyone's actions. Otherwise, with the demons' unruly character, the Mid-Ranked Demons would definitely each take a few Low-Ranked Demons and go their separate ways after leaving this valley.

Before long, 4 of the demons had already been eliminated, hiding to the side with scarred bodies, glaring at the demons around them with vigilant eyes, while cleaning the wounds on their bodies.

Only two Vrock Demons were still fighting. They sometimes hugged each other and flew into the air, then fell to the ground and smashed out a cloud of dust. Sometimes they ran around on the ground, leaving deep marks on each other with their fleshy wings and claws, as if the opponent in front of them was not an opponent, but the prey in their eyes, which must be eliminated quickly.

Until the end, one of the Vrock Demons was obviously more ruthless, meeting the other's claw attack with its chest. The ribs blocked the follow-up of the claw attack, while its own claws took the opportunity to tear the other's throat. As the other party choked and suffocated, it no longer had the strength to confront itself.

"Tear ~ ~ ~"

Dragging the opponent's gradually dying huge body into the air, and then grabbing a thigh with its powerful legs, it tore the opponent's entire corpse into two pieces in mid-air. Countless blood and internal organs fell from the sky and smashed into this small valley, attracting a burst of excited howls from the already crazy demons.

Afterwards, the victorious Vrock Demon, having secured its position, loosened its thighs, and the two halves of the defeated and dead Vrock Demon were thrown into the demon group, immediately attracting a swarm of Low-Ranked Demons who snatched and devoured this Vrock Demon.

"Now, you must all listen to the command of the powerful Grigori. Whoever doesn't listen, I will tear it apart! !"

The victorious Vrock Demon flew in the air and issued a declaration to all the demons in the field.