Green Monster Epic

The hobgoblin Spark slammed his heavy shield, taller than a man, onto the ground with a thud, sending a slight tremor through the flat earth. Immediately, two or three heavy weapons crashed against his shield, which he stubbornly defended with the combined force of his shoulders and the ground.

Behind him, on either side, two goblin rangers swiftly launched their blunt-tipped javelins, aiming for the three opponents whose movements and vision were blocked by the heavy shield.

At the same time, a subtle aura spread across the ground in front of the shield. From the once-solid earth, countless vines suddenly sprouted, thrashing wildly to find the nearest enemies.

Before the vines could fully display their power, a divine spell descended from the sky, instantly reducing the magically generated tendrils back to nothingness.

On the opposite side, the gnome priest, protected by a heavy shield warrior, continued his incantation with unwavering focus. Soon, a Bear's Endurance spell enveloped one of his teammates whose divine magic had just faded, reinvigorating him and sending him back into the fray.

… … … …

Although Alan didn't preside over the martial arts competition, he made a high-profile appearance at the venue. He sat alone on a bear-skin chair on a specially constructed high platform, his eyes slightly narrowed as he watched the group battle between the two teams of 24 goblin warriors.

To the lower left of Alan's seat, Legolas lounged languidly in a reclining chair. Occasionally, he would raise his head and a large goblin female would attentively offer him a bite of delicious food, fruit, or a drink.

To the lower right of Alan's seat, Trick, the mayor of Green Lake Town, sat upright, his face serious. He watched the surrounding movements with unwavering attention, not as focused on the battle below as Alan.

This was the 23rd day of the Green Lake Tournament, and the final match for the team competition's first place. That's why Alan invited Legolas to watch the match together.

In the previous 22 days, the top twenty contestants in the high, middle, and low stages had already been determined. There were not too many surprises. Basically, the Green Field Tribe's warriors swept all the awards, except for two dark elves from Corlima Village who made it into the top ten of the high-level warriors, and an ogre from the Wildheart Tribe who just barely squeezed into the 20th position.

The battle for the championship at the time was very fierce. The two goblin warriors almost crippled each other for the sake of the ranking. Fortunately, Alan suddenly intervened to stop them, otherwise the tribe might have lost an excellent warrior.

There was no other way. Even with all sorts of preparations, such intense battles as martial arts competitions could not guarantee the safety of the participants. Bloodshed and broken bones were commonplace. After the match, there were dedicated druids and priests, coupled with potions and alchemists' treatments, to minimize everyone's worries.

The tribal warriors and the surrounding vassal warriors actively participated in the competition, also because they rarely had the opportunity to fight against various opponents under the premise of a certain guarantee of life, accumulate more practical experience, and find their own shortcomings, while also having the opportunity to win coveted spoils.

The warriors benefited, and what was lost was naturally the Green Field Tribe's interests. Just the bandages, potions, and other materials spent on treating the injured cost the tribe more than 10,000 gold coins. Such a huge amount of money could only be afforded by the current Green Field Tribe. If it were the Green Field Tribe that used to huddle in Green Lake Town, it would definitely not have been so generous.

However, Alan didn't feel sorry at all. The money was well spent. As long as it could give the tribesmen more initiative, a little more experience, and at the same time screen out a group of talented and promising talents, then the money would not be wasted.

Of course, if one day, among these promising talents, a seed could emerge who could find his own legendary path, that would be even better.

The list of 200 people for the Mansha City Tribal Competition was already mostly filled, and after the team competition ended, Alan and Trick would add the remaining names together to complete the selection of the list.

The battle was very anxious. The spells in the hands of the casters on both sides were becoming slower and slower to form, probably because their own mana and mental power were depleted. And surrounding the casters on both sides, the warriors, sword dancers, and rangers, with their reasonable coordination, echoed each other in a fierce entanglement. Whenever there were thrilling moments, the audience in the surrounding stands, who were watching with relish, burst into bursts of noise and shouts.

The wide arena was a building built in Green Lake Town along with several colleges. As the figures of various indigenous people and adventurers in Green Lake Town gradually increased, various challenges and duels also emerged endlessly. If disputes occurred among the tribesmen of their own tribe, they could be resolved and punished through the relationship of the town chief and headman, but for foreign adventurers and natives, as long as they did not violate the rules of the Green Field Tribe, disputes would naturally be handled according to the style of the adventure world and the wilderness, using duels to solve problems.

Most of the previous battles were completed on temporary arena stages outside, because there was only one arena, and the number of people participating in the competition was too large.

Alan watched with relish. The warriors and casters of the two teams were basically from the Green Field Tribe. Their skills and tactics were very proficient, and their cooperation was also very tacit. At least in Alan's view, they were much more mature than Cole and her adventure team back then.

The two teams each had their own style. One team had four casters as the core of their team, two high-firepower turret goblin warlocks coupled with a mage with many magical routines, and a priest behind them to bless them with various enhancement spells, with spells smashing down on the opposite side, causing explosions.

The other team's style was different. Three powerful shield warriors pushed forward, firmly guarding their teammates behind them, waiting for an opportunity to act, fighting very steadily.

In the end, the team with the close defense of the three shield warriors was better, seizing the opportunity when the opponent's casters' mana dropped to the bottom, and quickly launched a counterattack horn, almost simultaneously using the shield charge technique, smashing into the opponent's team like cannonballs, causing a riot.

The other members of the team, who followed closely behind, also did not hesitate, each selecting a target, and waving the weapons in their hands with great force, immediately causing the opponent to suffer casualties.

The scales of victory seemed to be tilting towards Spark's team, but Spark, as the captain, did not have any emotional fluctuations. A shield slam directly knocked the slender earth goblin sword dancer in front of him flying out, finally breaking through the opponent's protection and revealing the figures of the four casters.

Boom!

A huge force came from overhead. Even Spark, with his outstanding strength, had to take several steps back. When he looked up again, a humanoid creature surrounded by flames appeared in front of him. It was Amanda, the gnome mage, who had used her trump card to summon a powerful fire elemental from the Plane of Fire.

The fire element was also merciless. Apart from Amanda, who summoned it, any goblins that appeared around it became its target. No need for incantations, no need to construct spell models. The body, formed from pure fire elemental energy, could casually unleash fireballs comparable to 4th or 5th tier spells with a wave of its hand, whistling as they flew towards the threatening targets in its eyes.

Amanda's teammates obviously knew the drawbacks of summoning a fire element. The instant the fire element appeared, they collectively retreated several meters, at least avoiding the first wave of chaos caused by the fire element.

By the time Spark and his team reacted and reorganized their battle formation to confront the fire element, they found themselves in a predicament of being attacked from both inside and outside. The glimmer of victory they had seen earlier had shifted direction, tilting towards their opponents.

It wasn't until Vernon, the druid in Spark's team, painfully threw out a scroll that landed on the fire element through gaps in the opponent's magical interception. As the scroll was consumed by flames, the fire element was banished back to its plane by a banishment spell.

A 5th level spell scroll was quite valuable. If they hadn't been unwilling to give up on the match, Vernon and his team wouldn't have used this scroll. However, the moment the fire element disappeared, Spark and his team finally freed up their hands and reversed the offensive and defensive positions in the arena.

… … … …

After several reversals and changes, the Snow Wolf team's spellcasters eventually ran out of spells. Losing their most important firepower assault unit became the turning point, allowing Spark's Stone team to achieve the final victory.

"I announce that the final champion of this team competition is—the Stone Team! Congratulations to Captain Spark and his teammates! Let us applaud their victory!!!"

After amplifying his voice with a spell, Trick stood up and announced the final victor to the tens of thousands of spectators in the arena the moment the battle ended.

Cheers and applause erupted in the arena, lingering for a long time, paying tribute to this excellent team of adventurers. On the ground, Spark, supported by his eleven teammates, leaned on each other for support, expressing their gratitude to the audience above.

The defeated Snow Wolf team members dejectedly gathered their weapons and equipment from the ground, helping their companions as they slowly walked towards the exit of the arena.

The Green Lake Town Tournament also came to an end at this moment. After more than a month of noise and excitement, wilderness natives and lone traveling merchants began to embark on their return journeys one after another. Green Lake Town was finally about to return to its original life.

Allen personally presented the rewards to the winning hundred or so outstanding warriors, giving them words of praise and encouragement, which made these outstanding talents, who rarely had the chance to face a legendary powerhouse directly, feel flattered.

Unexpectedly, what was originally thought to be a major tribal hemorrhage turned out to be not as significant as imagined when Trick tallied all the expenditures and revenues.

The ticket sales from the dozen or so final matches held in the arena alone exceeded 10,000 gold coins. The arena, which could accommodate over 10,000 spectators, was almost full for every match. Although arena tickets only cost 1 silver coin, the sheer number of viewers made the revenue surprisingly high for Trick.

As for the head tax, business tax, and other taxes brought by the massive flow of people, the income was at least over 10,000 gold coins. The benefits from catering, accommodation, etc., earned by ordinary goblins, ultimately benefited the tribe the most.

Most importantly, this grand tournament spread the reputation of the Green Field Tribe's strength and openness, which had a profound impact on the tribe's future image and influence.

In the end, Trick even began to consider holding similar events more often. After all, in the previous tournaments of the past decade, Green Lake Town's overall ranking was always slightly weaker than that of Nur Fortress, and the resources and funds obtained were also much less.

Since he couldn't achieve balance from the total expenditure, Trick naturally had to think of other ways to obtain more resources to develop Green Lake Town.

This large-scale tournament this year did give Trick a glimmer of hope, a chance to bring Green Lake Town, which was located in a remote area far from trade routes, one step closer to prosperity.

"Mayor Trick, this is what our City Lord asked me to give you. He hopes that the members on this list can be recruited into the 200-person list."

Late at night, in Trick's own study, an uninvited guest arrived, respectfully handing Trick a list.

"Heh heh heh, Facado's appetite is not small. He actually wants to stuff so many people in at once. Isn't he afraid that the Chieftain will notice the problem inside!!"

Trick casually took the thin piece of paper, and while teasing the earth goblin standing in front of him, he glanced at the white paper. It was densely filled with dozens of names, many of which had already been included in the 200-person list.

"The owners of these names have all reached high-level strength, and their rankings in this competition are not low. We believe that as long as Mayor Trick inserts them into the list, no one will suspect anything."

The middle-aged earth goblin, Tris, was Facado's confidant. Because he managed Nur Fortress, Facado couldn't participate in the Green Lake Tournament, so he could only send Tris as a representative to negotiate with Trick.

Facado and Trick, the two goblin leader-level figures, had competition over the years, but there was no lack of cooperation and compromise. Because they both understood that as the two goblins grew older, they had to pave a new path for their children and leave behind a wealthy life that could last for a long time.

However, Trick and the others also knew very well that with Allen, the true leader who had single-handedly created the Green Field Tribe's current prosperity, they would never be able to complete these arrangements under the eyes of this awe-inspiring being by relying on their own strength alone.

In the end, driven by interests, the two power-holders of the Green Field Tribe had already completed compromises and cooperation in secret.

"Well, I will add the names above to the list, but I can't guarantee that they will definitely enter the final list."

After carefully reading all the names above, except for a few goblins who should have been stuffed in through back doors, the strength of the other goblins was basically qualified. However, Trick didn't forget to make it clear in advance, because the one who truly presided over the final list selection was not Trick, but Chieftain Allen.

"The Chieftain asked me to select more than 300 goblin warriors, and then he will personally take these goblins to the quarry in the Western Mansha Mountains for a year of special training. Only after the elimination process will the 200 goblin list be finalized."

"So, how many goblins will be left on this final list depends on their own abilities!!"

"Okay, I will take these words back."

Tris's eyes narrowed slightly, and he nodded in response: "Is there a specific departure time?"

"It will probably depart in about half a month…"

"It's best to let your players be mentally prepared. This special training will probably be very difficult!!"

"Thank you for the reminder!"

… …

I didn't want to spend too many chapters on the tribal competition, anyway, the protagonist won't participate, so I just glossed over it.