Green Monster Epic

Following their initial clash and a resounding victory, the Allied Wildlands forces predictably settled into a prolonged standoff.

With the exception of the Raven's Claw gnolls, who had lost their homeland, the trolls of Snomi, and the Kobold Thunder Clan who had crossed the Tagan Desert with tens of thousands of their kin, the other members of the Thorns Ring team had lost any motivation for further battles.

The Thunder Clan's mission to monitor the elves along the northwestern edge of the Tagan Desert had failed. With no reinforcements behind them, the large, isolated Kobold tribe, considering the interests of both its people and its ruling elite, chose to abandon their original territory and move south. Although many tribesmen protested and criticized this decision, the unified stance of their powerful leader, Roaring Tooth Tim, and the high priest, Claw of Chaos, suppressed any significant dissent. They arrived just as Allen and the drow were facing off at the fortress.

The addition of this fresh force naturally boosted the strength of the Allied Wildlands forces. However, the Thunder Clan, with its less than ten thousand strong warriors, didn't have a significant impact on the overall war situation. Instead, the addition of two legendary figures to the Thorns Ring small group once again destabilized the internal dynamics of the Thorns Ring.

Allen was well aware that if the drow, hundreds of miles north, were allowed to settle down, they would eventually become a major threat to the Wildlands' northern border. This was a truth understood by all the tribal leaders and commanders present. However, while the great battle had yielded good results, it had also taken a heavy toll in manpower and troops.

The smaller Wildlands tribes, used as cannon fodder, suffered the greatest losses in this war. Many adult warriors from these tribes were almost entirely wiped out in the battles, and the surviving members were then absorbed and annexed by other small tribes, or even by larger tribes like the Snomi.

Witnessing the fate of other tribes unfolding before their eyes, although accustomed to the harsh survival rules of the Wildlands, everyone instinctively resisted and sought to escape this tragedy when it threatened their own tribe.

Therefore, the leaders and high-ranking members of these smaller tribes harbored the strongest desire to avoid further conflict. They were only forced to obey the commands of the larger tribes because their people were trapped deep within the narrow canyons, with no escape.

"... Chieftain Birel, as long as you are willing to leave the Oak Church and join my Church of Nature, you don't have to worry about the old fogeys from the Oak Church causing trouble for your tribe. Our Church of Nature will naturally support you in all matters."

Within the massive castle of the chieftain of Muer Fortress, with the front-line battles temporarily paused, Birel had returned to his opulent castle to deal with the backlog of tribal affairs.

At this moment, secretly meeting with him in his study was Fillemont, the Northern High Priest of the Church of Nature. His eyes seemed sincere and eager, and his persuasive tone concealed his attempt to undermine the Natural God system alliance.

"High Priest Fillemont, you seem to have forgotten the conflict between my tribe and the Snomi tribe. If I also join the church's ranks, how do you expect that old geezer, Yariel, to handle our relationship?"

Birel smiled faintly, carefully examining a piece of parchment, occasionally looking up to meet the other's gaze.

"In this regard, Chieftain Birel can rest assured. Our church already has a way to appease Chieftain Yariel."

Fillemont's eyes burned with intense confidence.

"I've heard that the major tribes in the northern region have jointly formed the Thorns Ring. If Chieftain Birel joins my church and works with us, then in the various activities organized by the Thorns Ring, we can even have Chieftain Yariel and Chieftain Maggot Eye working for you."

"At that time, no one will be able to shake your authority within the Thorns Ring!"

The quill in Birel's hand paused, and his signature, which had been flowing smoothly, faltered slightly, as if he were moved.

"High Priest, you are aware that our tribe has a very close relationship with the Oak Church. There are quite a few followers of the Father of the Oak among the tribe. Leaving the Oak Church is not an easy matter!"

Finally, Birel stopped scrutinizing the documents, raised his head to face Fillemont seriously, and his gaze gradually sharpened.

"Moreover, I'm not entirely comfortable with the fact that you can help me properly handle the relationship with the Oak Church based solely on your word."

"My Ajinaga tribe has been worshiping the Father of the Oak for hundreds of years, and we have never considered changing our faith. Not to mention the vast number of believers in the tribe, just the thought of breaking away from the Oak Church makes me feel humiliated for betraying the Oak Church and my tribe's centuries of friendship. You should understand, right?"

"..."

Fillemont's eyes were calm, without any emotional fluctuations, even though the question posed by the other party was somewhat awkward, he didn't care at all.

"There's really no problem with that!"

"My Church of Nature and the Oak Church both belong to the Natural God system. If the Ajinaga tribe's believers voluntarily change their faith, I don't think my colleagues in the Oak Church will have any objections."

"Even if your tribe changes its faith as a whole, those loyal believers who still wish to worship Sylvanus can freely and openly spread the teachings of the Father of the Oak in your tribe, can't they?"

"However, if Chieftain Birel is willing to support my Church of Nature in establishing itself in your tribe, then my church is also willing to share with you and your people the various useful knowledge and traditions that my church has accumulated over the years."

"And various precious magic potion recipes..."

Fillemont knew very well that Birel was simply trying to drive a hard bargain. The other party should also be well aware that at this time, relying on the increasingly powerful Church of Nature was far more practical and promising than clinging to the gradually declining Oak Church.

In recent days, Birel had been constantly dividing the relationship and interests with the Oak Church, which showed that he already had ulterior motives. This was the premise for Fillemont's visit to win him over.

Unfortunately, when laying out the plan in the northern region, the Church of Nature valued the stronger group and tribal strength of the Snomi tribe even more. In addition, the Ajinaga had a close relationship with the Oak Church for hundreds of years, so the Church of Nature didn't initially consider wooing the goblins of Ajinaga.

But who would have thought that in just a few years, the Snomi trolls, who seemed powerful and dominant over the goblins, would have declined so quickly? This could be said to be a complete failure for the Church of Nature's plan.

From a strategic perspective, the temple inevitably needed to introduce stronger forces into the northern region, or increase support for the Snomi pawn, in order to compensate for the failure of the initial plan, which led to the secret meeting between the Northern High Priest of the church and Birel today.

"... Actually, the Oak Church has also taken good care of our tribe. We can get almost the same support, or even better, from the Oak Church as you, High Priest Fillemont."

Birel looked troubled, his eyes tangled as he looked over.

This damned, filthy goblin is so greedy!!!

Fillemont was furious inside, but his face didn't change at all, and he still returned Birel's gaze with a faint, warm smile, continuing to add weight to his own scales.

“... The support we offer is not the same as that of the Oak Church...”

With the establishment of the Thorn Ring, a northern organization, the weight of the Ajinaga tribe within it is also steadily increasing. Especially after the Drow suddenly invaded the wilderness, severely damaging the Snomi and Raven's Claw tribes, the Ajinaga tribe's greatest rivals, it has provided the Ajinaga tribe with a great opportunity to rise.

In view of this, the Church of Nature cannot miss this powerful assistant. If they can win over the Ajinaga's Greenskins, then the church can carry out better evangelistic actions in the northern wilderness, while continuing to influence the actions of the north.

The Church of Nature also has deeper arrangements that cannot be revealed on the surface. That is, they have already begun to contact the Drow occupying Coldwind Post in private, and are quietly probing the attitude of the other party's high-level officials.

In the war between the southern human kingdom and the orc empire, it has temporarily come to an end with their annexation of one-third of the orc empire's territory. This is thanks to the continuous pressure exerted on the human allied forces' homeland by the Wildlands Alliance reinforcements, and it was the Church of Nature that advocated sending troops to support the alliance.

The tribes of the wilderness are too loosely organized. If there is no support from the temples of the Nature Pantheon to connect them and maintain a standing army for military operations for decades, it will absolutely not happen.

However, the actions in the south have invested too much energy and resources from the Nature Pantheon. Therefore, they must strategically give up on the north. The only thing they can do is to support the Snomi tribe in forming a regular army, like the Church of Nature, but not pull them to Nanang. This is already considered a huge support for the north.

Now, with the Drow entering the game in the north, if there are no accidents, I am afraid that the wilderness will have no chance to counterattack. After all, the alliance members have already paid too much in these decades of war. With their selfish nature and short-sightedness, they are basically unlikely to give too much help to the members in the north.

Under such circumstances, the high-level officials of the Church of Nature can only compromise and prepare in advance to see if they can pull the Drow and the Spider Queen Rosss, the dark elf deity behind them, onto the chariot of the Nature Pantheon in order to cope with the pressure from the powerful civilizations of the northern and southern continents.

If they can win over the goblin leader Byle, and understand the situation in the north through the strength of their tribe, and even use this to exert influence and increase the bargaining chips for negotiations and reconciliation with the Drow, the chances may be much greater.

If the Spider Queen's deities behind the Drow can be accepted by the deities of the Nature Pantheon, then the Church of Nature can also use the Thorn Ring team under the influence of Ajinaga to achieve suppression of the Snomi and Raven's Claw, several tribes that have lost their territory, and then complete the buy-out and settlement of the Drow.

Such considerations and layouts must not be known to outsiders. When the Snomi tribe loses power, the Church of Nature wants to complete the layout of the north, and it will inevitably bypass the goblin tribe of Ajinaga.

A meeting full of intrigue was calm on the surface, but in fact, in the study of the Don Juan Castle in Namur Fortress, the conversation between a goblin and a half-troll with dwarf blood was full of calculations.

And in the distant north, in the wilderness more than a hundred miles away from Bonn City, the main city of the former Snomi tribe, where a continuous stretch of fluttering flags and felt tents were located, the troll chieftain Yariel and the gnoll leader Maggot-Eye were full of sorrow, devouring all kinds of food in the felt tent without any image, just as if the food in front of them were their enemies.

Watching the once prosperous and familiar city and land in front of them, but unable to move forward even an inch, compared to the gnoll Maggot-Eye, Yariel's heart was even more frustrated and remorseful.

It has been several months since the Thorn Ring's allies launched a counter-offensive from Nasir Fortress. When their mixed-race team marched under the wide and solid city of Bonn, a dozen tentative attacks ended in failure. Until the other wilderness natives could no longer bear the losses of their tribesmen, this large-scale siege was stopped.

“... These bastards from the Church of Nature actually came to me and told me to let my Snomi clan give up Bonn and go south to settle on the Gelmu Plateau! ! !

Yariel's heart was filled with anger, which was burning fiercely. On the one hand, it came from the stagnation of the battle, and on the other hand, it was the unacceptable suggestion made to him by the envoy of the Church of Nature who visited him a few days ago.

“The Gelmu Plateau is a godforsaken place, both remote and without any resources. It is not easy to feed so many mouths in my tribe! ! How dare they make this request! ! !

“Humph! ! ”

Maggot-Eye was obviously provoked by Yariel's anger. A fierce light flashed in his eyes, and murderous intent leaked out, causing the temperature in the spacious felt tent to drop suddenly, making people shudder.

“If they really piss me off, I will directly let the mixed-race kids in the clan rob Namur Fortress! ! At that time, our two clans will jointly govern this fortress. In addition to the territory we have now recovered, it should be able to feed the hungry ghosts below! ! ”

“These childless things actually want my clan to accompany you to a place more barren than the Bitagan Desert. Are we going there to drink the wind? ? ”

“... … … … ”

Saying what they said and complaining as they did, the two legendary leaders were very clear that this was just a delusion. Even if they were lucky enough to succeed in the end and take Namur Fortress from the Greenskins, they would not be able to occupy it. Not to mention anything else, just say that after occupying Namur Fortress, their two allies, who now seem to be in harmony, would probably turn against each other and draw their swords against each other before long.

“... This Church of Nature is really not a good thing. When they wooed us in the beginning, they promised all kinds of conditions. Now that they see that we have lost power, they are delaying the promised military equipment and materials with excuses, and now they are making such a request. I really don't want to deal with them anymore.”

After a moment of silence, Yariel broke the deadlock between them again.

“What, do you have other ideas? ”

Maggot-Eye's fist-sized pupils narrowed, and he immediately became interested.

“Don't pretend to me. Since the Ranger Church has contacted us, it will naturally find you, right? ”

Yariel glanced meaningfully at Maggot-Eye, who seemed to be inherently cruel, and directly pointed out the target he was talking about.

“... Hey, are you talking about Lord Kiril? He did mention it to me, but I didn't take it seriously. Most of the Ranger Church's close forces are in the south near the Mansa City area. They rarely set foot in our remote place.”

“... Don't forget, the Goddess of the Rangers is the daughter of Lord Sylvanus. Now that Lord Sylvanus is asleep, the Goddess of the Rangers will naturally support the Oak Church...”

“... … ”

Not only are the Church of Nature and its allies digging at the foundation of the Oak Church, but the Oak Church and its close forces are also working hard to maintain their inherent power while also trying to strengthen themselves, so as to help the Father of the Oak wake up from his slumber as soon as possible.

In order to show support for the centennial anniversary of our party, I have to show my face today and sing a song! ! !