Green Monster Epic

"Chieftain Bilaire, when our tribe first cooperated with your tribe, we agreed to receive 10% of the tax revenue from passing merchants each year. In return, we would send warriors to support and protect the fortress when your tribe needed it."

"Over the years, Namur Fortress has been relatively stable. Frankly, my Snowmite tribe has played a significant role. If it weren't for our tribe helping you block the claws of those jackals from the north, your tribe wouldn't be so safe, would it?"

Inside Bilaire's castle, sitting to his left, was Chackley, the Great Elder of the Snowmite tribe, a legendary high-level shaman priest. He used the corpses of ancient troll ancestors to construct totems, and daily mourned them as his faith, drawing mystical power from them for his spellcasting profession.

The mystical magical power and healing abilities were integrated into the shaman's body, making his flesh strong and resilient. At the same time, he could instantly cast countless evocation spells. The power and unpredictability of these spells were not necessarily weaker than those of ordinary spellcasters. It could even be said that shamans were one of the natural enemies of physically weak, long-range spellcasters.

Bilaire had long known that the Snowmite tribe had been restless recently. Their leader, Arrielle, was both drumming up support from vassal tribes under his command to form a regular army, and frequently showing goodwill and aligning himself with the Church of Nature. Bilaire could naturally guess some of his intentions.

However, Bilaire never expected Arrielle to be so quick. Only a few years had passed since the slumber of Lord Sylvanas, and they had already sent the Great Elder of their tribe to put pressure on him.

"As you can see, my tribe is currently heeding the call of the Church of Nature and forming a regular army of 20,000 to avenge Lord Sylvanas, who was schemed against by despicable and shameless humans and fell from the divine kingdom."

"Therefore, as neighbors and partners, and both members of the Mansa Alliance, my tribal chief hopes that Chieftain Bilaire can redistribute the tax benefits on the previous basis, as support for our tribe's military supplies for the southward campaign."

"…"

Chackley was very calm. His words were understated, as if he was simply making a simple request to Bilaire. But in reality, the interests involved behind this request were at least tens of thousands in economic benefits.

Bilaire's resolute face slightly lowered, his sharp eyes sweeping over the other party, only to be met with the other party's indifferent expression.

"Heh heh heh, what a big appetite!"

A sneer arose, and Bilaire's somewhat hoarse voice echoed in the empty castle hall.

"Chieftain Arrielle wants to redistribute the benefits of my tribe's two fortresses. No problem. As long as you can invite the Northern High Priest of the Oakwood Theocracy to testify, then I will agree to your request. We will start redistributing the fortress tax benefits. How about that?"

Bilaire knew that since the other party had now made their position clear, they must have gained the support of their backer. Otherwise, the Great Elder of their tribe would not have come before him.

The other party had a backer, but so did he. He could use this opportunity to test the attitude of the Oakwood Theocracy, to see if they would continue to shrink their power and abandon the peripheral tribes, or if they would lend a hand to help him through this crisis.

After all, the backer behind the Snowmite tribe was the gradually strengthening Church of Nature. The largest force after the balance of the alliance's camp split was the small group led by them. Now, they had even put forward the slogan of 'cleansing the filth in nature and avenging Lord Sylvanas', and had already established a leading position in the temple system.

Without the support of the Oakwood Theocracy, the strength of the Ajinaga tribe alone would definitely not be enough to compete with the Snowmite tribe for the benefits that should belong to their own tribe.

Now, the Snowmite tribe was using the banner of obeying the orders of the Church of Nature and gathering a large army ready to go south to fight. In the future, they would inevitably go south through the canyon. When the time came, would they directly give way? How could they ensure that the other party's army would not occupy their nest after passing through the fortress?

Various thoughts swirled in Bilaire's mind. As early as when the Snowmite tribe changed its tune and joined the Church of Nature, Bilaire had already foreseen the scene that would follow. He just didn't expect the other party to come so quickly and be so anxious.

Therefore, in a situation where he didn't have enough allies to pull in, Bilaire had to take a step ahead and pull the Oakwood Theocracy into the water as his shield.

Even if, in the end, the Oakwood Theocracy still decided to shrink its power and abandon the Ajinaga tribe, then the Ajinaga tribe could also take this opportunity to sever ties with the Oakwood Theocracy, and then transfer a portion of the benefits originally given to the Oakwood Theocracy to the Snowmite tribe and the Church of Nature behind them. His tribe's interests might be damaged, but the losses might not be unacceptable.

Moreover, he might be able to take advantage of this opportunity to join the rising Church of Nature without arousing the Oakwood Theocracy's hostility. This could be considered a gain from a loss, even if the lost benefits would be heartbreaking, it would be better than constantly and fearfully guarding against the Snowmite tribe.

"Hmph, do you really think that the current Oakwood Theocracy still has the energy to support you? They are having difficulty protecting themselves now, how can they spare the energy to help you!"

"In my opinion, even if the Northern High Priest of the Oakwood Theocracy was present, I'm afraid he would agree with our tribe's suggestion!"

Chackley glanced at Bilaire with a cold and contemptuous gaze, and replied in a stiff tone.

"As long as you can invite Lord Bartrow Far, the Northern High Priest, no matter what decision he makes in the end, my tribe will gladly accept it!"

After losing some of his anxiety, Bilaire's heart calmed down instead. He restrained his emotions and regained his composure, responding faintly.

"Okay, then I will invite Lord Bartrow. We will visit Chieftain Bilaire again in a month!"

"Okay, farewell!"

A meeting that lasted for a long time ended on an unhappy note. Soon, Chackley left Namur Fortress. Not long after the other party left Bilaire's castle, a familiar figure to Allen directly passed through the gate and came to Bilaire's presence.

"These trolls are too much!!!"

Manolan Gold's face was full of indignation. As a vested interest of the tribe, he and Bilaire joined forces to clear out the former power ruling class of the tribe. His descendants had obtained the industries left behind by these families, which also meant that there was a deep alliance between him and Bilaire. Moreover, Manolan Gold had a selfish motive. Among the legendary seeds cultivated by the tribe at a great cost, there were two grandchildren of the Manolan family who had the best chance of breaking through to the legendary realm. In contrast, there was only one descendant in Bilaire's family who had a little talent for combat.

As long as one of these two family members could advance to the legendary realm, then after Bilaire and himself grew old, his family would inevitably inherit the power of the tribe.

Therefore, when Manolan, who was hiding in a room next to the castle hall, heard the entire conversation, he unreservedly showed his dissatisfaction on his face and stared at the gray-brown wall outside the castle that was no longer visible with red eyes.

"Haven't we anticipated these things long ago?"

Bilaire waved his hand indifferently, signaling Manolan to calm down.

"Now that they have jumped out, we can't show weakness, can we?"

"In a moment, instruct someone to report the visit of the Snowmite tribe to the priests of the Oakwood Theocracy in the city and see what their opinions are. They have taken so much of our tribe's dividends. Now that someone has come to rob us, they should at least have some attitude, shouldn't they?"

"Isn't the group of gnolls in the south always wanting to get involved in our fortress?"

"Now I'll give them a chance. As long as they can help us block the greedy faces of the Snowmite tribe, what's wrong with giving them 10% of the corresponding dividends?"

"The bear goblin legend in Green Field Plain has always been contacted by you. Now, go and inform the other party and let him come to our fortress to help us out!"

"…"

Though he said in his heart that he had already taken it lightly, Bile felt no less panicked than Lyle. The Snomi tribe had taken the lead by aligning themselves with the Church of Nature. Even if he were to contribute the profits from trade routes in the future, they might not necessarily value the Ajina tribe. Instead, they might join forces with the Snomi tribe to gradually encroach upon the interests of the tribe's stronghold.

If there were any other way, Bile would never truly consider joining the ranks of the God of Nature alongside the Snomi, as he had previously contemplated. That was merely a last resort to be considered only when all other options were exhausted.

Therefore, after securing a month's time, Bile needed to gather all available resources to intimidate his opponents. He knew that after a month, the Snomi tribe would undoubtedly send an even stronger force to achieve their goals.

Chakri's initial visit, with his arrogant and overbearing attitude, already treated the Ajina tribe as prey about to be seized. This indicated that the Church of Nature must have provided them with significant support behind the scenes; otherwise, Arier, that troll, would not have been so reckless.

Bile could only hope that the Oak Church would continue to support them as before, so that his tribe's interests would not suffer too much damage.

Allen remained in the Western Foothills, honing his skills. Achieving the same level of consistency with the 'Destructive Blow' as with the 'Heavy Blow,' where it could be infused into every ordinary attack, proved far more difficult than imagined. However, the 'Super Heavy Blow,' which shared similar power generation techniques with the 'Heavy Blow' and resonated with the rules of Rage, could now be successfully executed at least three out of every five swings.

As for the even more powerful 'Ground-Shattering Strike' combat skill, which combined the power generation techniques of 'Super Heavy Blow,' 'Destructive Blow,' and 'Heavy Blow,' it posed too great a challenge for Allen. Moreover, his physical body was not yet capable of fully withstanding the massive energy burst, requiring intervals of twenty to thirty breaths to barely sustain it.

Each time he unleashed this stacked-damage combat skill, it caused some damage to Allen's muscles. According to Allen's estimation, if he fought non-stop, maintaining muscle activity, he could only use this combat skill a maximum of ten times in a single battle.

Perhaps, once he successfully tempered his perfect physique, this combat skill, which placed high demands on the physical body, might break through its limits, and the number of times he could use it would increase.

However, as Allen mastered more of the inheritances at hand, his strength also increased significantly. Although he was still at the early stage of Legend, Allen felt that his strength had at least doubled compared to when he had just advanced. If he were to face the Legend who concealed his face and attacked the village with his current strength, he was confident that he could completely drive the opponent away from the tribe's village, even in a head-on confrontation.

And if he could seize an opportunity for a sneak attack like before, Allen even felt that he could kill this hidden threat after severely wounding him in the initial assault.

It was a pity that after joining the Assassin's Guild, Allen had used his authority and the money in his dimensional pouch to post a task to inquire about this masked Legend, but no one had taken it on to this day. He didn't know if it was because this matter was difficult to investigate or because the reward he offered was too low.

A charged sword strike fell fiercely, the sharp sword wind carrying boundless energy, directly smashing into a smooth cliff face in front of Allen. The earth shook and the mountains swayed, dust flying everywhere. Once everything had settled, a deep and wide straight sword mark had appeared on the smooth cliff face, dozens of meters high.

After Allen changed direction again, recovered his aching muscles, and spent some time charging up, another heavy Ground-Shattering Strike mercilessly struck the steep slope on the side of the mountain.

Rumble rumble~~

This time, the foothills, which had been stable and silent in these towering mountains, slowly trembled in Allen's vision, and then, like a drowsy old man who had lost his support, collapsed towards Allen's location. Just as countless heavy gravels were about to bury Allen, Allen gently exerted force under his feet, and the whole person passed through the gray-white dust, soaring into the sky, hovering in the air a hundred meters high, quietly overlooking everything on the ground, until it gradually fell silent.

The artificially excavated flat valley is getting wider and wider, but unfortunately, there is not enough soil, only patches of gray-brown granite veins. Otherwise, this flat and wide place is really suitable for planting crops, which can reduce a lot of inconvenience.

On the open space of the valley, rows of stone bricks are stacked neatly. Hundreds of wild indigenous slaves with shackles and fetters lazily shuttle back and forth in the field, stacking stone bricks into long walls. Some slaves are pushing wheelbarrows, carrying countless gravel and debris to the huge sinkholes that have been excavated to the east, and also naturally formed.

The biggest problem in opening mountains is not the lack of labor, because Allen knows that this kind of thing is a continuous process from the beginning. Even if more labor is added, it is impossible to achieve it overnight. It is the rubble piled up like a mountain after opening the mountain that makes people headache. You can't just let it pile up in the valley after painstakingly opening up the mountain, so what's the point of opening the mountain? At most, it just makes the high foothills lower?

Therefore, Allen not only has to organize manpower to open mountains, but also has to organize manpower to process the mountain stones. Relatively complete and large mountain stones are made into stone bricks. Steel axes and heavy swords splitting bricks can not only allow the tribe to temper the subtle changes, eyesight and techniques of combat skills, but also make these solid granite waste useful. Perhaps a fortress facing the sea can be built here in the future.

After all, according to legend, in the depths of the endless sea, there live groups of powerful sea creatures. If the opening of the mountains gives these sea creatures a chance to land from this gap, then Allen's tribe will inevitably be the first to receive the threat.

The soil dug out from the pits was transported to the entrance of the valley and piled into towering earthen hills. Allen, who has always been good at careful calculation, does not intend to give up the management of this stone valley. The flat ground is ultimately suitable for planting. If a fortress is to be built here in the future, then self-sufficiency is Allen's basic requirement for this fortress. Green Lake Village is hundreds of miles away from this mountain, and general logistics supplies are ultimately too troublesome.

Of course, these are just very distant plans. Allen's current actions are just to lay a solid foundation for the future, and they may not really be used in the future.

Just as Allen was preparing to continue his great cause of splitting mountains, a messenger galloping from afar finally forced him to rush back to Green Lake Village.

I'm preparing to start a new book. The general plan is to start uploading around the end of March and the beginning of April, and then wait until this book is completely finished, and the new book will be put on the shelves. There should be at least two months.

Originally, the plan was to end this book around the first month, but later, writing it, I was a little reluctant to have a anticlimactic ending. Although I cut off a lot of branches, I still don't want to finish the main trunk too hastily.

The new book should be an urban novel, a different urban novel. I still don't want to follow the old-fashioned system flow and golden finger flow. There is a very novel idea that I think will prevent me from being as bleak as this book. I hope everyone supports it.

Of course, this book will not be interrupted, and I will slowly work on the manuscript problem for the new book.