Green Monster Epic

“Chieftain, there's a band of demons 300 meters west in the depression.”

Eileen slightly bent her body, concealing her petite form beside Allen, quietly reporting the results of her reconnaissance to Allen, who was currently prone in a hollow on the hillside.

“There are 23 of them, including 1 Berserker Demon, 5 Horned Demons, a Vrock…”

It had been four months since Allen and his team arrived at the grassland front. During these four months, aside from the initial large-scale battles upon arrival, Allen's team spent most of their time in the Hul'tan Plains, engaging in small-scale skirmishes with the demon forces.

The skirmishes were brutal because you never knew what kind of demons your team would encounter on the grassland. Sometimes, a large team of hundreds of people, believing they were relatively safe, would be ambushed by a demon force of thousands, or a legendary demon would suddenly appear, wiping out the entire team in less than half a magic hour.

The Hul'tan Plains became a continuous, stalemated battlefield between the demons and the centaur army, with a buffer zone of dozens of miles wide left between the opposing forces.

Allen and his team were currently located in this buffer zone, where he led Kerr, Eileen, and 11 other tribesmen in guerrilla warfare, searching for the demon squads that were also prowling the area.

In these few months, Allen's team had lost two more members, but the gains were also significant. At this point, their entire team had accumulated more than 3,000 merit points, only a step away from the Sno-Mi tribe's requirement of 5,000 merit points.

In a large-scale melee, as long as the participating warriors fought bravely without showing any fear of battle, each person would receive 30 merit points after the victory, and the fallen warriors would have 50 merit points recorded.

In small-scale battles, there would be evaluation criteria based on the captured demon heads, the valuable intelligence obtained, and so on.

Allen and his group had experienced a total of 4 large-scale battles involving more than 10,000 people, accumulating a total of 2000+ merit points. The rest came from fixed mission rewards for patrolling and scouting the buffer zone, as well as merit points accumulated from killing demons, just like now.

It was also in order to complete the Sno-Mi tribe's requirements as soon as possible and quickly send Kerr and the other young goblins back to the Greenwild Plains that Allen risked the great danger of taking them with him on this buffer zone patrol mission.

Large-scale battles involving more than 10,000 people yielded good merit points, but the risks and dangers involved were also significant. In the 4 major battles, Allen led these youngsters dancing on the edge of a knife. Except for the second battle, which was a little easier, each of the other battles nearly cost Allen half his life, and the tribesmen around him were mostly covered in scars. Allen couldn't even remember how many sets of damaged armor and chainmail he had replaced.

Fortunately, when Allen agreed to take the tribesmen south to the battlefield in Mansa City, he spared no expense to stockpile a batch of supplies and equipment in his dimensional bag, so that Kerr and these young people would not become one of the countless cold corpses on the grassland due to the lack of protective gear.

Of the thousand-man team that Fischer brought, about seventy or eighty percent had been lost in these 4 months. Now, there were only more than 300 people left, including Allen's team. Even Fischer's prized 100 lizard cavalrymen now numbered only 53, including Fischer himself.

Because of the heavy losses of their Sno-Mi battalion, Sno-Mi was not sent to the front line in a large-scale battle half a month ago, but instead patrolled the periphery of the battlefield with the remnants of other wilderness tribes as reinforcements.

The subsequent support troops were nowhere in sight. At least Fischer didn't know when the second batch of Sno-Mi reinforcements would arrive. Only when the second batch of reinforcements arrived could he take the remaining troll warriors back to the rear for a rest.

“Are there any other ambushes around?”

Allen raised his head and asked with a focused gaze.

“I've searched within a mile radius, and there are definitely no other teams!”

Eileen nodded seriously. She had changed a lot in the past few months. Her tone had gradually gained a bit more confidence, still gentle but with a hint of sonority.

“Good, everyone prepare, let's make this a quick battle!!”

After getting the answer he wanted, Allen decided to attack on the spot. The heads of this group of demons together were worth at least 10 merit points. How could he not be tempted?

“Kill~~~”

A low command rang out, and Allen took the lead, rushing forward. Kerr and Bush, who followed closely behind, weren't too far behind. The team formed an arrow formation, with Allen at the head, charging directly into the demons who were feasting on the corpses of several wilderness natives.

“Goo~~~”

“Green skins attack~~~”

The demons looked up at the goblin team charging towards them. Not only were they not panicked, but they were also a bit more crazy and delighted. They made various strange noises and charged towards Allen and the others in twos and threes.

Linnaeus was sitting on the back of the Smoke Steed at this time, waving his staff rhythmically with the ups and downs of the Smoke Steed's back, muttering incantations. Divine spells were cast through the staff, either on his companions or directly on the grassland where the demons were.

“Ah~~~”

The soft grassland, with the casting of Linnaeus' divine spells, turned into sharp grass needles, directly piercing into the large feet and hind paws of the demons who were charging at Allen and the others, who were not accustomed to wearing leather boots, immediately causing cries of pain.

Eileen's figure had disappeared from sight when Allen and the others launched their charge. Her swift movements were unreservedly displayed, even faster than Allen and the others in encountering the demons. However, no one saw her bypass the main force of the demons and instead kill the isolated opponents behind the demons.

When Allen and the others first clashed with the demons, Eileen's small body suddenly appeared behind a clumsy Horned Demon. The two Void Sting Blades made from Void Spider mandibles directly pierced through the Horned Demon's unprotected throat and the temples on its head. With a clean and neat diagonal stab, she immediately reaped the life of this unlucky fellow.

Before the other demons could react, Eileen pulled back her movements again, then unfolded the shadow energy from afar, and her body was slowly sheltered by the shadow plane again, and then continued her next assassination action.

Every assassination action, when performed by Eileen now, was calm and composed, without any trace of procrastination, causing the deaths of 3 demons in a short period of time.

Kerr and Bush cooperated with each other. The heavy hammer and greatsword, like scissors, directly夹 (jia, sandwiched) a Reincarnation Demon in the middle. A head very similar to a dog's head was smashed into a mush of minced meat on the spot, and it could no longer issue a self-detonation command to the body, and then a beast body emitting a scorching aura slowly fell down.

Barrington landed a Shield Bash directly on the sensitive nose of a Bagura Demon, instantly stunning it and slowing its movements. A rapier then pierced through the demon's eye socket, twisted, and was withdrawn. Without a second glance, Treeborn's figure lunged towards the next target.

Alan blocked the Berserker Demon. Though both were high-ranking, the difference in strength was becoming increasingly apparent. Alan's movements were simpler, but their power was more contained. Each swing of the Bone Cleaver carried the effect of the Heavy Blow feat. After months of accumulated combat experience, Alan's individual strength hadn't improved much, remaining stuck at the peak of the high-rank, but his use of combat tactics had become increasingly grand and bold.

The Berserker Demon gathered all its strength, barely managing to block Alan's attacks. Attempts to utter blasphemous words were repeatedly interrupted by Alan. Evil auras and abyssal power enveloped its body, but had almost no effect on Alan. The expertise honed in countless battles in the Abyss was rendered useless by Alan's seemingly simple swings and sweeps.

"Pfft! !"

Alan's Bone Cleaver slashed diagonally across the Berserker Demon's left ribs, carving a deep gash. Alan lightly tapped the ground and followed the Berserker Demon's retreat with a Three-Wave Strike. This was the first time Alan had used a high-power combat skill; in the previous dozens of exchanges, he had only used ordinary chops with the Heavy Blow effect.

"Ah! !"

The Berserker Demon braced an axe handle against its chest, one leg kneeling on the ground. Its body, originally slightly taller than Alan, was now half-kneeling on the grass, its foot and knee deeply embedded in the soft earth, barely managing to block Alan's heavy Three-Wave Strike.

Before the demon could stand up again, Alan didn't retract the Bone Cleaver or raise it to its highest point, but slammed it down again from just over a meter away from the axe blade.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

With a series of ordinary chops, the Berserker Demon's right calf sank halfway into the grass, and its left knee was almost invisible.

"Guh… …"

A mouthful of blood welled up in the Berserker Demon's mouth, followed by an unstoppable torrent. It勉强 continued to adopt a defensive stance, but was then launched upwards by Alan's Bone Cleaver.

"Pfft ~ ~ ~"

With a simple diagonal chop, the Berserker Demon's head was severed. The demon's half-kneeling corpse remained in its previous position due to its legs being stuck in the ground, resembling a headless statue, albeit one with a terrifying fountain of dark red blood spurting from its neck.

Casually picking up the head from the ground and tossing it into the dimensional bag behind him, Alan swung the Bone Cleaver again. Aided by the Phantom Step, which created a trail of afterimages, he directly passed the flank of a Horned Demon engaged in fierce combat. Before the Horned Demon's bisected corpse could fall, Alan's figure had already reappeared beside another mid-rank demon, his movements fluid and effortless.

Soon, the battle neared its end. Whether it was Alan or Koer and the other young Deep Elves, the constant fighting over the past few months had transformed them, their strength increasing significantly.

"Ah ~ ~"

Just as the battle was about to end, Bush, who was standing on the outer perimeter of the group, suddenly cried out in fear. A ghostly figure appeared beside Bush, and a dagger pierced through his heavy armor, sinking several inches into his back.

Hearing the cry, Barrington rushed to help with his shield, a heavy, thick shield inserting itself between Bush and the assassin's almost touching bodies, then spinning Bush around.

When Alan heard the cry, his heart tightened. Regardless of the risk of friendly fire, he unleashed two Rage Strikes, followed by his figure using the Phantom Step technique at full speed. The Fury skill, which he had been holding back, was activated as he lunged forward, making his movement even faster.

Bush was a child Alan had watched grow up, and a descendant of his childhood relative, Stone. Alan had invested a lot of effort in him, and had long regarded him and Koer and the other youths as his own children. Seeing Bush assassinated before his eyes, Alan's heart was seized by a panic he had never felt before, but he quickly suppressed it. He had activated the mechanized mind attached to the Ice Heart Bracers, casting aside all unnecessary emotions.

"Smack! !"

A patch of grass flew up from the ground as Alan's Bone Cleaver struck empty air. The figure of an Assassin Demon, thin and gaunt with sharp spikes protruding from its forearms, appeared several meters away from Alan.

"Heh heh heh, what a pity, delicious blood meal."

The Assassin Demon stuck out a long tongue in a provocative manner, licking the cold light on the dagger in its right hand and making strange hissing sounds.

"Koer, take everyone back."

Alan blocked the Assassin Demon's advance, staring at it without turning his head, and shouted to his clansmen behind him.

"Yes! !"

Having recovered from their initial panic, Koer, Barrington, and the ten other team members ignored the spoils of war left on the battlefield and carried Bush's limp body back towards the centaur tribe's controlled front line.

Alan didn't wait for Koer and the others to leave completely before taking action. At the same time as giving the order to Koer and the others, he charged out, unleashing several Rage Strikes that had been accumulating for a long time, covering the surrounding area where it might dodge within the range of the Rage Strikes.

As soon as Alan moved, his opponent also took action. It had adopted a confrontational stance only to deceive Alan, and was rapidly deploying shadow energy in an attempt to anger Alan, almost managing to conceal its form again.

However, Alan's rapidly slashing Rage Strikes thwarted the Assassin Demon's plan, but didn't have much of an impact on it. The opponent's figure was ghostly, weaving through the gaps between the Rage Strikes as if dancing on the edge of a knife, completely unaffected.

Again and again, Alan's chops missed. The opponent seemed to be toying with Alan, always dodging Alan's Bone Cleaver by a hair's breadth. Even when it occasionally used its dagger to block Alan's heavy chops, it was like using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds, the dagger merely a tool to divert Alan's Bone Cleaver from its original target.

For the first time, Alan felt so stifled in combat, possessing great destructive power but unable to effectively attack; while the opponent's repeated stabs often achieved the effect of forcing a defense, forcing Alan to change his movements, and then the opponent would retreat unscathed from his transformed attacks.

Dozens of breaths passed, and Alan failed to inflict much damage on his opponent. Instead, his own old Serpent Scale Armor had several new wounds, and even his exposed neck had a shallow wound about an inch wide, almost piercing his throat.

"Die! !"

Finally, Allen seized an opportunity, taking advantage of the opponent's direct close-quarters thrust. He executed a "Whirlwind Sword" maneuver, sweeping the heavy Bonecleaver horizontally. The rotation of his entire body drove the rapid swing of the heavy Bonecleaver, directly enveloping his opponent.

The expected impact sound was delayed. When Allen regained his footing, his opponent had actually performed a Shadow Step, emerging from the shadow of the Berserker Demon corpse that Allen had previously killed.

Seeing this, Allen used a Misty Step to pounce forward. Simultaneously, his left hand discreetly reached into his dimensional pouch. When he withdrew it, he made a gesture of infusing it with thick Fury, and a dark shadow transformed into lightning, directly shooting towards the Assassin Demon who had just emerged from the shadows.

"Snatch!!"

Finally, Allen's attack took effect. Caught off guard, the Assassin Demon waved his dagger, blocking the object Allen had shot at him. However, he was also driven back several meters by the heavy force attached to Allen's thrown weapon, and a muffled groan escaped his mouth.

"Clatter!"

A throwing axe fell to the ground. It was the very projectile Allen had thrown earlier. It turned out that while preparing ranged weapons for Coer and the others, Allen had also conveniently reserved some throwing axes for himself. Although he already had the mid-to-long-range attack method of the Fury Strike, and although he didn't have any talent for ranged shooting, that wasn't a reason for him to give up using throwing axes.

With the blessing of his own formidable strength, even if Allen didn't have the skill and talent for ranged throwing, he could at least control the approximate direction when throwing a throwing axe. Moreover, if this throwing axe could hit the target, its power would be no less than a direct, powerful attack from Allen.

After countless unsuccessful attacks, facing the slippery Assassin Demon, Allen had no choice but to take out a throwing axe and try his luck. He never expected that this first use of the throwing axe would have unexpectedly good results. At least, the Assassin Demon, who was clearly weaker than him, failed to escape unscathed in the face of the throwing axe.

Strike while the iron is hot! Allen didn't understand what it meant to be soft-hearted, and he didn't have the ability to be. Seeing that the duration of the Fury skill was almost 3/4 over, if he couldn't seriously injure his opponent and weaken their strength, then the one in danger would become Allen.

His footsteps continuously tapped the grass, leaving a trail of deep footprints. At the same time, Allen's movement technique was also raised to its limit, until he pounced in front of the Assassin Demon who had just caught his breath. Allen's figure suddenly split into three, pouncing towards the three directions in front of the Assassin Demon, making it completely impossible to judge his true attack target.

However, Allen's wishful thinking was beautiful, but his opponent was also battle-hardened. The opponent, who had just recovered, disregarded the three Shadow Steps per day limit. Only a few breaths after using this life-saving skill, he used the Shadow Step again.

However, before using Shadow Step, the Assassin Demon waved a Flash Scroll from his hand, creating temporary shadows on this battlefield with not much shade, enough to leap forward.

Allen's expression changed. The feeling of powerlessness brought by the Bonecleaver chopping in the air made him simply roll forward. His left hand drew again from the dimensional pouch, this time directly taking out 3 or 4 throwing axes. Without even thinking, he threw all the throwing axes like a celestial maiden scattering flowers towards the largest target on the left – the half-kneeling Berserker Demon corpse.

At the same time, after rolling a circle on the ground, Allen, half-kneeling on the ground, turned around and swung his sword, regardless of whether there was an Assassin Demon behind him or not. He swept out fiercely.

"Clang! Clang!"

The Bonecleaver finally struck something solid. Allen's formidable wild instinct once again helped him grasp the situation on the battlefield.

The Assassin Demon's thin body transformed into a heavy cannonball, rolling out more than ten meters on the grass, splashing up a long trail of grass and dust. At this time, the Berserker Demon corpse, which had been hit by two throwing axes, also crashed down, mixing with the sound of the Assassin Demon falling to the ground.

Allen stood up and chased directly after him. This Assassin Demon was powerful. In his short life, he was the strongest person he had encountered below the legendary level. Now that he had the upper hand, if he could take the opponent's life while he had the chance, that would truly put Allen at ease.

"Puff ~ ~ ~"

A Fury Heavy Strike, unleashed by Allen without reservation, directly cracked the ground with a crack several meters wide. However, his target directly turned into a bubble. At the last critical moment, today's last Shadow Step bought the opponent the final opportunity.

Allen raised his head again, his gaze sweeping across the slightly undulating plains around him. Dozens of meters away in the distance, a disheveled figure was dragging a long, faint shadow, frantically running towards the southern grassland.

Allen was about to start walking and continue chasing, but unfortunately, at this time, the Fury skill's effect ended. A wave of emptiness swept over his body, and Allen's body swayed a few times on the grass before he regained control of it.

"Humph!!"

Staring at the receding figure, Allen snorted, his eyes fierce but also somewhat helpless. He didn't take back his gaze until the opponent's figure turned into a black dot.

Quickly cleaning up the battlefield, the corpses of more than twenty demons were piled on the grass. Allen poured a skin of oil on them, ignited them, and burned them. Only then did he begin to stride wildly towards his own battle line.

At this time, his heart was filled with renewed concern for Bush. Chasing after the few traces left by Coer and the others, Allen quickly found Coer and the others.

"How is Bush?"

After catching up with Coer and the others, Allen's first thing was to ask about Bush's condition.

"We just gave him a bottle of high-level healing potion, and Linus cast a Lesser Heal on him. He's unconscious now."

A look of heaviness showed in Coer's eyes. Kerry, Treant, and a few others were carrying Bush, moving quickly forward.

"As long as he can survive, that's good."

As long as he still had a breath left, after returning to the military camp, he could ask the high-level druids and radiant healers in the army to help him deal with and save Bush's life.

Although these high-level spellcasters mostly required Allen and the others to contribute some merits to cast high-level divine spells, these external possessions were nothing to regret compared to Bush's life.

"Just a little bit more, and Bush's heart would have been pierced by the dagger."

When Coer checked Bush's body, she also broke out in a cold sweat for him. The Assassin Demon was more than half a head shorter than the Bear Goblin. In addition, there were many companions around Bush, so the target chosen for the assassination was the chest and heart rather than the brain. The effect of the backstab was also blocked by most of the heavy armor, which is why Bush's life was spared.

Even so, a cut was made in Bush's heart, which is why he is still unconscious. The rapid loss of blood in a large area of the heart, even though he was treated quickly, the blood lost in the chest cavity could not be replenished by simple divine spells.