Green Monster Epic

Chapter 3: Skirmish

Gnoll Manyah wandered aimlessly through the wilderness, bearing wounds all over his body, until his keen nose caught the scent of rich meat.

Following the scent, he found a secluded cave.

Manyah was not young; at forty-five, he was already on the decline for a gnoll, no longer possessing the vigor of his youth.

If he were just an ordinary male gnoll, this age wouldn't be a big deal, but Manyah had been the chieftain of the Bonefire Tribe.

Now, he could no longer rely on force to deter challenges from the tribe's new generation.

Finally, last night, he was defeated by his own son, Manyah's Claw, becoming the former chieftain of the Bonefire Tribe, exiled to the wilderness.

Fortunately, his bloodline showed some consideration for the past, allowing Manyah to keep the longsword he had carried for many years.

This would be Manyah's most important weapon for surviving in the wilderness.

Of course, if he hadn't clung tightly to his longsword before his defeat, maintaining a fighting chance and even posing a threat to Manyah's Claw's well-being, Manyah believed he wouldn't have been able to keep the sword.

"Thank my god!"

Smelling the delicious food, a sliver of saliva dripped from the canine teeth at the corner of Manyah's mouth.

While staring intently at the dark cave entrance, his eyes full of desire, he didn't forget to thank his deity—Yeenoghu, the Gnoll Lord residing in the 422nd layer of the Abyss.

In Manyah's shallow understanding, the grassland he was currently in belonged to the Greenfield Tribe, a long-time rival of the Bonefire Tribe.

However, the actual camp of the Greenfield Tribe was located five or six miles southwest of here.

Coupled with his knowledge of the Greenfield Tribe's activity patterns, Manyah quickly determined that the creature roasting food in the cave was definitely not a large group from the Greenfield Tribe.

Instead, it should be a lone individual who had sneaked out of the camp, hiding in this secluded place to enjoy a private feast.

This situation was common in the wilderness.

Intelligent creatures who occasionally obtained a meal would selfishly hide it, secretly seeking a secluded place to devour it and slowly savor a filling meal.

However, Manyah didn't consider the difference between the fragrant aroma of this food and the usual scent of their food, which might indicate a greater danger hidden in the cave.

Since being driven out of the tribe's camp last night, Manyah hadn't tasted a single bite.

He could no longer distinguish the different scents of food.

Already enticed by the food, Manyah used his predator's instinct, slowing his pace and quietly approaching the cave, but he didn't notice a loose branch blocking the cave entrance in the shadows, which Manyah snapped with a crack as he stepped on it.

Manyah, rushing into the cave, only managed to utter a single word before being abruptly cut off by a spiked club smashing towards him.

Meeting it with his longsword caused his arm to sink, and Manyah bitterly realized that the target he was facing might not be weaker than his current weakened state.

Then, a thick wooden stick followed closely, turning into a shadow before Manyah's eyes.

Manyah only managed to deflect the spiked club and tilt his head, but the thick wooden stick that followed struck his scalp and right ear, instantly causing a tearing pain on his entire right face.

Allen, failing in his first attack, didn't hesitate at all.

The deflected spiked club was swung again, and both hands poured all their strength into it, preparing to continue smashing towards the gnoll, giving Manyah no chance to breathe.

Rock, at this time, was no longer clumsy as before.

After a successful strike, he also gathered momentum again, raising his wooden stick to prepare to deliver a fatal blow to the opponent during Allen's next attack.

Battles in the wilderness were always so cruel and direct.

The sound of spiked clubs, thick wooden sticks, and longswords colliding echoed in the dark cave.

Manyah relied on the advantage of his darkvision to barely maintain the disadvantage, but he tenaciously prevented himself from falling into a desperate situation, being hit in a vital spot by the opponent.

Although he had now calmed down and clearly recognized that escape had become an impossible fact.

Gnolls were slightly superior to hobgoblins in individual strength.

Generally speaking, gnolls were one level higher than hobgoblins, especially since their tribe had a god who protected them—the powerful Gnoll Lord Yeenoghu, allowing some of the lucky ones among them to comprehend some combat skills or even become Yeenoghu's priests, receiving divine spells from him and becoming his priests.

However, it was clear that there were no devout believers among the gnolls of the Bonefire Tribe in the past twenty years.

The Gnoll Lord Yeenoghu hadn't bestowed any divine spells or combat skills.

Manyah, the former chieftain of the Bonefire Tribe, had only gained an advantage in battle by relying on his powerful physical strength.

His physical body, which almost reached the professional qualities of an 8th-level peak warrior, and the longsword in his hand were Manyah's means of survival and the reason he dared to venture into the cave alone, but he hadn't expected to face two hobgoblin youths whose physical strength was almost that of 7th-level warriors.

Facing even the current chieftain of the hobgoblins, Splitclaw, Manyah wouldn't be afraid, even if he was hungry and had new wounds on his body.

But when he faced two vigorous hobgoblin youths, skillfully and tacitly cooperating in battle, forcing him to only defend bitterly and unable to launch any counterattacks, his heart was filled with despair.

"Manyah, surrender, hero, don't kill!"

Seeing his physical strength weakening and new wounds appearing on his body, Manyah could only barely defend while uttering words of surrender in broken Goblin.

Allen didn't respond, and the twenty-pound spiked club swung towards the opponent again and again.

Under his lead, Rock didn't stop either, continuing his heavy strikes.

The actual power of the spiked club and thick wooden stick, enhanced by the strength Allen and Rock had developed over the years, was almost the same as Manyah's current combat power.

Power overcomes skill.

Allen and Rock's unadorned, hammer-like combat style发挥出了一不可想象的优势 in this narrow space, 生生将一个有着 8 级 战士 身体素质 地 蛮牙压制得 不能 动弹.

Until Manyah's physical strength was exhausted and he could no longer block Rock's wooden stick, he was struck head-on by Allen's long-driving blow, shattering one of Manyah's eyeballs, causing turbid liquid to flow out.

Accompanying this was Manyah's hoarse scream of pain, but before the sound could last even half a breath, Rock, who followed closely, struck the position Allen had struck before with his wooden stick again, and a stream of white brain matter flowed from the gnoll's five orifices, causing Manyah's scream to stop abruptly.

In Manyah's only remaining eyeball, the vitality slowly dissipated.

The originally strong body had now turned into a puddle of soft mud, and the uncontrolled anus opened wide, and a stench of feces mixed with the rich aroma of barbecue, making the smell in the small cave strange.

"Haha, gnoll, food, barbecue."

The absent-minded Rock didn't care about the unpleasant smell in the cave at this time, grinning and pointing at the gnoll's corpse on the ground, happily saying.

"Well, we have a meal for tonight."

Allen was also very happy.

This was also the reason why he hadn't accepted Manyah's surrender before.

He had long made up his mind to kill the gnoll who had suddenly broken in and use it as a food source for the next two days.