Green Monster Epic

“This is impossible!!”

“How could those filthy darkskins and the barbarians of the wilderness appear on the territory of the Dwarven Kingdom??”

“Someone! Summon the cavalry regiment and immediately head to Coldwind Hold to see the newly constructed…”

Inside the elven encampment outside Thunder Town, roars louder than the last echoed from a central command tent. The tone was tinged with frustration.

The roaring elf was the acting commander of this newly defeated force, temporarily promoted by Countess Alicia, the highest-ranking noble in the army, after the loss of their commander. This middle-aged elf, having finally ascended to the position of commander-in-chief and wielding supreme authority, felt no joy, but rather the heavy burden on his shoulders.

The thin sheet of paper he held in his hand seemed light and weightless, but it brought immense psychological pressure to the middle-aged elf and the dozen or so comrades in the tent.

“Let us go instead!”

Alicia, the once valiant demigod archer, now looked haggard and grave. She raised her hand, interrupting the acting commander, and said with an undeniable tone.

Before her words could even land, Alicia had already stood up and walked out, followed by three or four elven powerhouses.

“…If this information is true, then it is the dereliction of duty of all of us present. Coupled with the fact of the last crushing defeat, the kingdom will probably not spare us lightly.”

“Accepting the kingdom's punishment is already unavoidable, but!! We are currently on the front lines, so we must do something to make up for our dereliction of duty!”

“Let’s discuss together what we should do next…”

After all, he was only an acting commander, and his prestige and style of doing things had not yet changed. After a series of roars, the middle-aged elf named Jeremy gradually calmed down, changed to a relatively gentle tone, pointed to the sand table in the center of the tent, and said to his surrounding comrades.

“…Since the Drow and the Northern armies have gone north to support the Dwarven Kingdom, perhaps their main forces are now empty. We should take the opportunity to go south…”

“…With our current army of over two hundred thousand, which city do you want to attack? Bonn or Nasir Fortress?”

“…Only sixteen War Trees remain, and there is not enough time to withdraw the other siege equipment from Coldwind Hold. Even if the enemy's main force has gone north, I don't think our current strength can…”

“…They have calculated that we dare not attack their cities with our current army…”

“…Otherwise, why don't we simply conscript the hundred thousand garrison troops from Thornsburg? That way, we will have the strength to attack Bonn or Nasir Fortress!”

“…Anyway, reinforcements from the kingdom will arrive at Thornsburg in at most a month and a half, just in time for them to replenish the defending forces of Thornsburg.”

“…I think we should go north to join General Mario's army. With the addition of our army, we will surely be able to defeat the Wild and Dwarven armies under the Warhammer Fortress head-on.”

The seven or eight elven generals in the field seemed to be stimulated by the northern intelligence. After Jeremy proposed discussing the next plan, they expressed their opinions one after another. Sometimes they clapped and cheered because their thoughts were the same, and sometimes they argued fiercely because their opinions differed.

Two or three magic hours passed, and just when everyone had not fully discussed a result, Alicia, covered in dust, lifted the curtain and walked in with a gloomy face.

“Countess…”

“We were deceived by the Drow and the Wild. Their camps are all empty, leaving only a wolf cavalry of a thousand people and two or three legends there!”

“Just now, when a few of us made a probing attack, their wolf cavalry directly burned the military tents, abandoned the constructed fortifications, and withdrew south under the cover of the remaining legends!”

“Damn darkskins!!”

Another round of curses rang out in the field until Alicia couldn't help but release her demigod's powerful aura, enveloping the command tent.

“What's the use of just getting angry? The most important thing now is to come up with a plan and see what else we can do!!”

A sense of powerlessness rose in Alicia's heart. In her hundreds of years of life, it was the first time she felt the world was difficult.

“We are also discussing this issue. There are currently three paths in front of us.”

“The first is to continue waiting here for the arrival of reinforcements from the kingdom. The order sent by the military two days ago instructed that the kingdom will send another army of two hundred thousand south, which will arrive at Thornsburg in a month and a half.”

“The second is to conscript the Thornsburg garrison on the spot. The city's garrison and reserve army can probably reach a scale of one hundred thousand. After being added to our army, we will have the strength to attack the Northern cities.”

“The third is that our existing army abandons military operations against the North and goes north to Warhammer Fortress to join General Mario, and fights the main force of the Dwarven southern border and the Wild reinforcements!”

“Have you made a decision?”

“Currently, we have first abandoned the safest path, and focused on the second and third plans.”

“Which plan do you prefer?”

“In the process of our seven-person discussion, three agreed to the second plan and three agreed to the third plan.”

“What about you?”

“I… I am more inclined to the second plan, but in that case, I am afraid that you will need to put pressure on the Thornsburg garrison commander! Although I am currently acting as the commander, the kingdom's military has not issued a formal appointment or removal, so we cannot order…”

“I will handle this!”

Alicia nodded, but asked with some concern: “If you transfer the troops from Thornsburg, how will Thornsburg be defended?”

“The kingdom's two hundred thousand troops will arrive in just over a month, and they can temporarily replace the garrison troops to defend at that time.”

“Although there will be a vacuum period of more than a month in the middle, the main forces of the Dwarves and the Wild are currently fighting fiercely at Warhammer Fortress. By the time they get the news and send troops to attack Thornsburg, it will be more than half a month later.”

“And if we can have these one hundred thousand fresh troops join us, taking advantage of the Drow and Nasir Fortress's defense gaps, we will have a great chance of capturing their cities!”

“At that time, the Drow and the Wild will inevitably be forced to withdraw their troops, and the pressure on General Mario and the others will naturally be relieved.”

“Of course, the risk of the second route will be higher…”

“Okay, I will now go to Thornsburg to meet the garrison commander. You guys start preparing for the expedition. I hope that when the Thornsburg garrison arrives, you will also be fully prepared, and this plan will be completed!”

After Alicia asked Jeremy's attitude, she no longer listened to his other explanations. She was not a military figure and should not interfere in military plans. The only thing she could do was to give them enough support.

Moreover, their second choice seemed more practical, especially beneficial to the kingdom if successful, which was enough.

"Yes! I guarantee it."

The journey between Thornsburg and Thunder Town wasn't far. After Alicia headed north, the 80,000 troops from Thornsburg arrived at Thunder Town in a long, winding formation in just four days.

Although it wasn't the expected 100,000 troops, this force, combined with Jeremy's 200,000, was strong enough to attack either Bonn City or Nasir Fortress to the south.

Without further delay, the well-prepared elven southern expeditionary force set off towards the south, their ultimate target changing from Bonn City to Nasir Fortress at the northern entrance of the Cato'er Canyon.

Although Bonn City's defenses were relatively easier to breach, Nasir Fortress was the more valuable target in terms of its importance to the Northern Territory and the elves.

If they could seize Nasir Fortress while the Northern Territory's army was heading north, the Drow Federation would be sealed off in the northern Cato'er Mountains, allowing the elves to slowly eliminate them.

At the same time, after losing Nasir Fortress, the Northern Territory would no longer be able to pose a threat to the Elven Kingdom. If they wanted to send troops north again, they would either have to cross mountains or traverse the Tagan Desert, both of which would be extremely costly.

Moreover, even their trade routes would be cut off. Unless they maintained friendly relations with the kingdom, they couldn't transport their bulk goods.

Of course, the most important point was that capturing the fortress would offset their previous failures in the southern expedition and might even earn them rewards from the kingdom, which was what most of the officers and soldiers wanted.

To catch the wilderness off guard, the vast elven army moved at maximum speed. Even excess supplies and slow-moving war treants were abandoned by the main force, left behind to advance slowly at their own pace.

Ten days later, twenty miles north of Nasir Fortress, a massive army, trailing a long cloud of dust, advanced slowly. On the distant, undulating horizon, the army's target gradually came into view.

Clang! Clang!

Whoosh... Whoosh...

On the walls of Nasir Fortress, countless figures ran along the wide battlements, shouts of stern urgency rising and falling. Outside the city, countless heads surged as the low-level trolls and gnolls living outside the city carried their bundles of belongings, desperately trying to squeeze into the city.

Only by squeezing into the city could they secure a chance of survival for themselves and their families.

"As expected! These elves haven't given up!"

Leaders Tim and Bobier did not follow the army north. On Allen's advice, they stayed at Coldwind Ridge to mislead the elves.

With Allen's demigod-like personality, even if he was moved by the Drow Matrons, he wouldn't disregard the safety of the Northern Territory and send the main force to a remote, unrescuable place.

The Thornsburg Allied Forces weren't strong, so they could take the opportunity of rescuing the Dwarven Kingdom to bring them onto the battlefield for training.

As for the elite troops of the Tri-Race Council itself, they didn't go north with the army. Instead, they remained as a deception for the elves. One part stayed outside Coldwind Ridge, setting up camp and building fortifications, while the other part took the spoils of war back to Nasir Fortress in a grand fashion.

Of course, the army under the Tri-Race Council's command wasn't large. It could only serve as the backbone for defending the city. If the elves really took advantage of Allen's northward journey to march south in a hurry, they would still have to rely on the warriors armed by the full mobilization of the three races.

Even if there was only a possibility of the elves heading south, Allen treated it as if it would really happen and made preparations. This was the experience and lesson that Allen had engraved into his bloodline after the Greenwild tribes had repeatedly teetered on the brink of destruction over the years.

Now that the elven army was truly heading south and targeting Nasir Fortress, the high-level members of the three races weren't too panicked. They began to execute the mobilization and defense plan that had been agreed upon long ago.

"No matter what, we must first defend this foundation of our existence!"

"Now is the time to send urgent requests for help to the other members of the Thorns Ring and the alliance!"

Bobier stared at the approaching elven army, watching the few remaining members of the two races outside the city who hadn't been able to enter. His large eyes glared at the densely packed crowd below the city, and finally, he decisively ordered: "Close the city gates!"

"Let those outside the city who haven't entered flee into the mountains!"

"Yes!"

War is always so helpless. Even though they knew that the elves might come to attack the city, the two races had no way to let the tens of thousands of their people living outside the city enter the city in advance. After all, they couldn't be sure when the elves would head south, and there wasn't enough space in the city to accommodate these low-level people.

When a group of trolls and gnolls crying and wailing outside the city saw that they couldn't awaken the leaders' hearts of stone and saw the approaching elven army in the distance, they had no choice but to run sadly towards the distant, towering mountains.

Many trolls and gnolls hadn't run far before they were harvested by the arrows shot from afar by the swift elven archer cavalry. Then, the elves sped past, dragging the corpses of trolls and gnolls, tauntingly going back and forth under the city walls.

Faced with this low-level provocation, the two leaders didn't even blink. Even if the more than ten thousand tribesmen outside the city who couldn't enter all died in front of them, they wouldn't make any irrational actions because of it.

Because on their shoulders, they carried the lives of more than 500,000 members of the two races within the city.

On the city walls, many warriors of the two races widened their eyes, cursed, and raised their weapons in futile rebukes. Some even raised the javelins they were preparing for defense, ready to throw them, but were kicked to the ground by the supervisors beside them.

The city wasn't short of resources, but the soldiers' mournful morale couldn't be vented too early. Instead, it should be unleashed on the elves after they launched their siege.

Futile attacks at this time would have no great effect.

Seeing that their provocation was useless, the elves, who had been wandering at a safe distance, made some crude gestures from afar, piled up the corpses of the wilderness natives at random, and then returned to their army.