Green Monster Epic

Chapter 613: Struggle and Pain

Two powerhouses who had been scheming against each other for centuries engaged in a war of words for the better part of the day, completely sidelining the other experts present.

It wasn't until someone from the Drow's team couldn't bear to watch any longer that they stepped forward to mediate.

"Gentlemen, we have guests, you know? Don't you think you're making a spectacle of yourselves?"

"Oh, isn't this Bishop Philemon himself? Shouldn't you be in the Northern Territories, spreading the glory of Lord Oghma? What brings you to Drow territory?"

Before Alan could respond, Maggot Eye, standing to his right, chimed in with a mocking tone, teasing the northern High Priest of the Church of Nature. In any case, Maggot Eye had already decided to align himself with the Ranger Church and wasn't afraid of offending this shepherd of the God of Nature.

"Could it be you've taken a fancy to one of the females here? Let me give you a friendly reminder: with your puny frame, you might not be able to handle their… vigor!"

Maggot Eye had noticed Philemon long ago, and a surge of resentment in his heart had been looking for an outlet. He seized the opportunity to ridicule the fellow, venting his pent-up anger.

As the backers of the Wilderness Alliance, the Church of Nature should have been safeguarding the interests of the alliance members and supporting their actions. However, since the Drow invasion of the northern Wilderness, the Church of Nature had not only failed to provide the Northern tribes with the support they deserved but had also suppressed and threatened the Raven's Claw and Snowdrift tribes, who had lost their ancestral lands, forcing them to accept the Drow as part of the Northern Territories.

This was simply absurd!

Why should it be the Raven's Claw tribe that had to sacrifice? Why should the Church of Nature be able to stand aloof and demand that they act according to their decisions? Why…?

But what could Maggot Eye do besides harbor resentment with no outlet? Without sufficient strength, even if the Church of Nature allowed them to counterattack the Drow, could they really reclaim their original Cold Wind Ridge?

Helpless and powerless, Maggot Eye could only vent his dissatisfaction with powerless words, as he was doing now.

"Hmph!"

Although he was the head of the Church in the North, enjoying respectful treatment from any tribe in the Wilderness, Philemon had limited means to attack a leader of the alliance who didn't want to maintain a good relationship with the Church of Nature and chose to mock him.

While the temples held considerable influence in the Wilderness, their adherence to the principle of non-interference in secular affairs meant that their control over the tribes was not as strong as that of the churches in the four major civilizations of the two continents.

Casting a cold glance at Maggot Eye, Philemon turned his gaze back to Alan.

"Chieftain Alan, your current actions of leading the overthrow of a tribe's chieftain seem to be inconsistent with the charter of the Mansa Alliance, wouldn't you agree? If the council were to find out, it might arouse public anger!"

"However, since we've all happened to arrive at this juncture, and we're all acquaintances of Chieftain Yariel, why don't we find a place to discuss how to resolve the matter?"

"By the way, Chieftain Yariel has recently made an important decision, and you can all help advise on it…"

"Hmph, I don't have time to waste with you! Chieftain Yariel, since you're willing to cooperate with us, then we'll give you a gift today!"

Just as Philemon was trying to persuade them with gentle words, Pennyrile, who had been growing impatient, wore a cold expression. Before her icy voice could even fade away, a leather whip made from the hide of a legendary dragon tore through the space in front of Alan and his people, and black flames instantly filled the sky.

"Heh heh, so you think there is no one in the Wilderness!"

Seeing this, Alan understood their intentions. He immediately activated his Rage skill, and the Bonecleaver, with a resolute aura, carried him swiftly past the shield created by the caster group, and he slashed out with his sword.

The sky in front of everyone tore open a massive rift, revealing the deep, eternal black essence, inspiring terror. The endless void presented itself before Alan, and a huge suction force constantly devoured the air within the Feywild world, creating immense wind pressure, while also directly sucking in the rain of black fire.

The powerful spell of a demigod, in the face of the eternal and endless void, failed to create much of a ripple. The rain of fire only left a few sparks on the shield on the city wall, leaving behind a few ripples in the air, until the Feywild plane spontaneously healed the spatial rift.

"Heh heh!"

With the spell broken, the smile on Pennyrile's face grew even brighter, but her phoenix eyes, filled with icy killing intent, were the true window to her inner feelings.

With a light flick of the whip, it emitted an ear-piercing, chilling hiss, and countless whip shadows swept towards Alan, who was gradually burning with crimson flames. At the same time, more than ten Drow legends behind Pennyrile also took action, each displaying their abilities without hesitation as they launched attacks towards the city below.

"Everyone! Stop!"

At this moment, Philemon and Yariel, the two legends who had come with the Drow, stood in their original positions without taking action. Philemon even shouted loudly for people to stop, but none of the Drow listened to him.

The God of Nature, Oghma, needed a powerful divine ally to help him endure until he could ascend to a powerful god. The Spider Queen, Lolth, was also tired of continuing to cower in the Underdark and wanted to extend her tentacles to the surface world to stir up trouble. It would be even better if she could cause some trouble for the Elven King. As pawns of the Spider Queen, the Drow who migrated to the surface world needed to gain the recognition of the Wilderness natives if they wanted to establish a foothold in the Wilderness. Otherwise, a collective strangulation by the alliance might prove to be no less difficult than dealing with the neighboring Elven Kingdom or the Dwarven Kingdom.

The three parties each had their own needs, but at least in terms of cooperation, they each got what they needed. However, when put into practice, due to the different needs of each party, there were different choices. For example, the act of attacking the territory of a member of the Wilderness Mansa Alliance in front of Philemon, the Northern High Priest of the Church of Nature, was seen by the Drow as a suitable opportunity.

Although the Drow were pawns of the Spider Queen, they also had their own demands. After leaving the Underdark, they had no way back. In addition to needing a stable place to settle and reproduce, with their cautious and suspicious nature, a wide buffer zone or sphere of influence was also very necessary.

The Drow's original plan was to control the fortresses at both ends of the Catoel Canyon. This would at least greatly reduce the threat from the southern Wilderness, and the Drow could focus more of their energy on their northern nemesis, the elves. It was a pity that things didn't go as planned. The Thorns Ring team, a joint force of several major tribes in the Northern Territories, dispatched troops and supplies to assemble at Nasir Fortress, helping the Ajina tribe defend the fortress.

Later, when the drow saw that things couldn't be done, and also feared excessively angering the wilderness natives and the churches of the nature deities, they had no choice but to abandon this idea.

Now that they finally had another opportunity to intervene in the Nasier Fortress, how could the drow possibly let it go? At the very least, they wanted to use Arier's hand to control this fortress that controlled the throat. With this fortress in hand, even a little deployment of troops to assist the troll tribe would directly reduce the threat from the south by more than half, which would greatly reduce the burden on the drow, who had always had a small population and could only take the path of elite soldiers.

Moreover, the wilderness tribes have always respected the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak. When attacking the Nasier Fortress before, the demigod Mother Peniley and more than half of the legendary drow powerhouses were busy relocating the city-state and did not participate in the actual siege. Therefore, in the eyes of the drow, the previous siege operation was not the true strength of their Hothia Federation. Now that they had the opportunity to fully display the power of the Federation, they could achieve the effect of deterring the surrounding tribes.

In the wilderness, tribes with demigods often have a powerful influence, and the Drow Federation not only has many legendary powerhouses, but also a demigod existence. However, it does not have the corresponding influence and deterrent power, which, in the eyes of the drow, may have a lot to do with the fact that they have not truly demonstrated their strength among the northern tribes.

More than a dozen drow legends attacked at the same time, while only Maggot Eye, Tim, and Bobier, leading the three-tribe caster company, were the main force in the city below. Under the powerful attacks, the faces of the three-tribe casters became more and more difficult, and Maggot Eye and Tim were helpless, only able to entangle one opponent each.

The high-level warriors in the allied forces used ranged methods to harass and attack the legendary figures high above, as well as the drow caster squads that had cast flying spells. However, the actual effect was not great, especially for the legendary powerhouses.

Only the archers and rangers, who specialized in ranged attacks, could pose a slight threat to the legends in the sky.

The chief priest of the Church of Nature, Philimon, was in tears at this time. The action plan that everyone had discussed when they came was completely ignored by the drow. They started fighting without saying a few words after arriving at the Nasier Fortress, which was completely contrary to Philimon's expectations.

His idea was to use the capture of Arier to bring the Snowme tribe back to the Church of Nature's camp, and at the same time, help the drow win the support of a formal member of the alliance. If he could use the Snowme tribe as a springboard to tear open the northern tribes' defensive line against the drow, he could make the northern tribes recognize the facts through means such as demonstrating strength and deterrence.

Although the Drow Hothia Federation has received the support of the Church of Nature, other factions have many different opinions on this, so the Hothia Federation's desire to join the Mansha Alliance has not made any progress and is stuck in the alliance voting process.

According to the charter, if any new tribe wants to join the Mansha Alliance, in addition to meeting the several rigid conditions, it must also pass a vote in the Alliance Council. Especially for foreign races like the drow, the requirements are even stricter, requiring at least 3/4 of the alliance representatives to vote in favor before they can be officially recognized by the alliance.

The Hothia Federation has applied to join the alliance several times, and the final number of votes obtained was only just over 2/3. It seems that it is only a few votes away from the 3/4 requirement, but it is this difference of a few votes that makes the drow still a foreign race in name and in actual life. They cannot be recognized by the wilderness, let alone receive support from the alliance.

Philimon has lost a lot of points in the eyes of the higher-ups due to his failure to discover and deal with several incidents in the north in advance. He is still able to be in charge of a large area today, thanks to the strong support of his teacher's lineage.

But behind the scenes, there are many legends who covet his current position, watching Philimon's every move at all times, thinking about how to pull him down.

With the expansion of the Church of Nature's vassal forces, the number of believers who believe in the God of Nature has also increased explosively, allowing the God of Nature's divine authority and divine power to grow in direct proportion. The benefit of the god's strength is that he can give more power and knowledge to the divine members who help him preach and manage the church. In the past few decades, the Church of Nature has not only increased its vassals and followers, but also greatly improved the quality of its divine members.

Not to mention the mid- and high-level divine members, but only the newly promoted legendary powerhouses. In less than a hundred years, there have been as many as 7-8 of them. The number of legendary divine members who died due to old age or accidents cannot keep up with the number of newly added legendary powerhouses, which also means that there are not enough positions of power to place these legends, so the power struggles in the church have gradually surfaced and become more and more intense in recent years.

Driven by a sense of crisis, Philimon wanted to make some achievements, restore his previous image, and consolidate his position. This time, helping the drow to persuade Arier to surrender was the best opportunity Philimon thought. If the subsequent plan was implemented in place, and the northern tribes were allowed to use their voting rights through negotiation and other peaceful means in exchange for the drow's concessions and reconciliation with the northern tribes, then both the drow and himself would have achieved their goals.

However, Philimon was too optimistic and did not know enough about the drow. He thought that his plan was good for everyone, and the drow would definitely follow the plan. But he didn't expect that the drow never had the habit of being led by the nose by others, and they would not entrust their fate to others, so the drow had their own plan from the beginning.

Philimon could only shout weakly, but he couldn't stop them, after all, he was worried that his spellcasting might provoke the drow's hostility.

However, compared to Philimon, the troll Arier, who was standing in the void like him, was actually the most helpless existence.

On one side were his own tribe, the clansmen who were once familiar with and supported him, who were now fighting hard and resisting foreign enemies; on the other side were the future allies who had signed a contract under the witness of the God of Nature and the Spider Queen Rose. No matter which side he helped, it would have a very bad impact on the other side, and thus make himself the target of public criticism.

Watching the troll warriors on the city wall being smashed and turned into meat paste by fierce attacks, watching the city walls and buildings that originally belonged to his tribe being ravaged and destroyed, and the drow's contemptuous sneers and cruel eyes, Arier almost couldn't help but take out his battle axe and resolutely chop at this group of bastards countless times. But at the last moment, he still endured it, and in just a short period of time, he seemed to have aged dozens of years, as if he was entering the end of his life.