Green Monster Epic

Chapter 547 Team

The Flying Swordfish leader's lapse in focus lasted only a few breaths, but by the time it regained its senses, everything was beyond its control.

Countless vine roots coalesced into giant pythons, tightly binding the Swordfish's wings and body.

The two druids bought enough time for their spellcaster companions in the main force.

More and more vine roots, manipulated by spells and scrolls, layered upon layered, firmly pinned the Flying Swordfish to the ground.

Although possessing Legendary strength in the Mirage Plane, the Flying Swordfish leader's flight ability stemmed more from its racial traits than the true nature of Legendary-level powerhouses' aerial hovering.

With the Flying Swordfish leader's wings restrained, it meant the complete loss of its flight advantage, making the ensuing battle much easier for the Green Field's warriors.

Thieves and assassins, hidden for a long time, finally revealed themselves.

A series of nets targeted the Flying Fish swarm's nest openings in the cliff face.

Each time a few Flying Fish emerged, before they could sense anything amiss, a large net descended from the sky, scooping up the Flying Swordfish swarm like fishing in the sea, slowly lowering them to the ground.

The bulk of the goblin force also sounded the horn for a counterattack.

Spotting the Flying Swordfish leader's struggling body, a group of goblins and several ogre warriors marched forward, brandishing various weapons, charging head-on towards the Flying Swordfish leader.

The remaining Flying Swordfish swarmed towards their leader's location, under its screeching command, using their sharp barbs to poke and their sharp teeth to tear, attempting to free their leader from its restraints.

However, this only provided the goblin force's mid- to long-range classes with better targets.

Countless javelins, arrows, and spells rained down upon the Flying Swordfish leader's location, with many Flying Swordfish pierced and wounded by multiple attacks, ultimately becoming corpses on the ground.

The goblins also suffered casualties from the fierce resistance.

The attacks of the Swordfish diving down from above were nearly comparable to the strongest combat power of a half-step Legendary, forcing the goblin warriors facing them to be cautious, lest they be crippled, severely injured, or even killed.

Although, the Flying Swordfish launching a dive attack might also, under the effect of a sharp turn's severe stall, be seized by the goblins and become their spoils of war.

The Flying Swordfish leader was frustratingly pinned to the ground, constantly breaking free from vine roots, only to have more vines and even spiderwebs spread over, immobilizing it.

The combined effort of dozens of high-level spellcasters could restrain even a Legendary-level dragon, let alone the Flying Swordfish leader before them.

Spark constantly circled around the Flying Swordfish leader's head, seizing opportunities to deliver shield bashes or shield slams, not seeking to inflict much damage on the Flying Fish leader, but to stun and weaken it, reducing its resistance.

Once the main force arrived, the goblins, while clearing away the scattered Flying Swordfish overhead and around them, focused their strength on the leader.

Accompanied by a series of helpless wails and angry roars, the Flying Swordfish leader was eventually ground to death alive by the goblins on the spot.

The remaining Flying Swordfish were even easier to deal with.

The few Flying Swordfish survivors, as the goblins focused their attention on them, were restricted and slowed down by spellcasters' Web spells, Gravity spells, and other spells that hindered the Swordfish's flight.

Rangers, archers, and even melee classes with some confidence in their accuracy hurled various throwing axes and daggers, spending a considerable amount of time completely wiping out the Flying Swordfish in this canyon.

"Melee classes clear the battlefield, spellcasters and priests meditate to recover, shield warriors build defensive positions for the spellcasters and priests..."

The ground was densely covered with the remains of Flying Swordfish.

The goblins cooperated to dissect the corpses one by one, searching for valuable materials.

Other goblins formed small team formations, entering the Flying Swordfish's dilapidated nests, and soon countless intact Flying Swordfish corpses were thrown out.

These unfortunate fellows, instead of dying in direct combat with the goblins, were震死 in the nests by the shockwaves of the Fire Meteor Shower explosion, at least leaving behind complete corpses.

Of course, the completeness of the corpses was only temporary.

As the goblins ruthlessly dissected the corpses, stripping them of useful materials, the remaining limbs were discarded as garbage at the canyon entrance.

"Good haul!!!"

Behind the goblin team in charge of the spoils, a large cart made from locally sourced materials was piled high with a dozen or so bags, filled with their gains from these days.

Beside the cart, two bear goblins were busy tying up a bundle of materials, and a gnome supervisor was registering the dozen or so Dream Crystals and materials collected.

Leo's face showed some joy.

Although the collection of spoils was not yet over, the resources handed in so far were already quite substantial.

"It seems we still need to deal with these gregarious creatures to harvest more resources!!"

"Don't just look at the gains, look at our efforts and costs."

Amanda's expression was more somber as she said solemnly.

"We've used up 1/7 of our scrolls and potions, and three companions have been killed in action, 14 companions are seriously injured and temporarily out of combat, and there are quite a few lightly wounded."

"..."

Hearing about the casualties, the captains' eyes showed some sadness.

The two hundred goblin warriors had spent more than two years together day and night, and had long established good friendships with each other.

No matter who died, they would feel some guilt and sadness.

"Bang bang!"

Spark, the bear goblin with rich adventure experience who had walked on the edge of life and death for many years, lightly patted the heavy shield full of battle marks twice.

"Now is not the time to be sentimental.

Battlefield fighting is inherently risky, not to mention we fought this battle extremely well!!

Don't forget, the target we annihilated was the Flying Swordfish, which possessed a Legendary-level Phantom Beast.

Paying such a small price is already good!!"

If everyone's strategy had not been appropriate, if the Phantom Beast's intelligence had not still been full of wildness, if there had not been practical experience with dragons for a long time, the outcome would have been several times more tragic than it is now.

"There will definitely be more difficult challenges ahead.

We are entrusted with the hopes of the clan chief and our families, to win a better ranking for our tribe!!

To achieve all of this, we must challenge more targets like today to have better gains!!"

"So as leaders and commanders, you must get used to the pain of having partners killed and sacrificed in every battle, and don't be affected by these emotions, at least don't show these emotions in front of the team members before the mission is over."

"You are leaders, you must let the team members below see your composure and confidence..."

"Understood."

"Thank you for your guidance."

Under Spark's instruction, the captains gradually understood the key points, and successively cleaned up their emotions, restoring their calm and confident faces.

"Next, we will be here..."

"Report!!"

Just as the captains were about to discuss their next move, a scout rapidly approached, breathlessly reporting the anomaly his team had discovered: "There's a monstrous beast approaching our canyon, currently circling about five miles southeast. It seems to have its eyes on us."

"...Looks like the scent of these Phantasm Beast corpses has attracted a predator. Mages, prepare some spells and find a way to clear away this flesh."

Spark glanced directly at the pile of corpses at the canyon entrance, pointing out the mistake their team had made.

It was still due to the blood and dismembered flesh left behind by the Phantasm Mirage Plane creatures. Unlike the bloody scent of Feyman creatures, it carried a hint of freshness, which Spark had overlooked. Furthermore, large animal populations hadn't been seen around the Greenwild Plains for a long time, so these young gnomes didn't have the concept that the scent of flesh and blood could attract predators.

"Understood."

"Keep an eye on the surroundings. If any more monstrous beasts appear, report immediately."

"Everyone, move faster. We can't stay here long. Quickly gather the spoils and move out."

Although Spark, as the frontline warrior during battle, couldn't issue commands based on the situation to direct the team, his decisions after the battle were met with no objections from the other captains. Compared to Spark's years of adventuring experience, the other captains had mostly lived within the Greenwild Tribe's sphere of influence until now, so they indeed lacked a lot of adventuring experience.

"Understood."

"Alright!!"

"I'm afraid the relocation isn't going to happen..."

Just as the others were agreeing with Spark's suggestion, an abrupt female voice interrupted the peaceful atmosphere.

"In the Swordfish's nest, we found this..."

The gnome assassin Sonia, who had been leading a team into the Swordfish's nest to collect spoils, now appeared before the circle of captains discussing matters, slowly extending one hand in front of everyone. In her palm was a piece of ore with a metallic sheen.

"This should be the Phantasmal Silver ore recorded in the manual, right?"

"There's a Phantasmal Silver mine in this cave? Is the deposit large?"

The captains were overjoyed and eagerly inquired.

Phantasmal Silver ore, like Phantasm Dream Crystal, is said to be a unique product of the Phantasm Mirage Plane. In the Feyman world, Phantasmal Silver is the main material for many mind-clearing magical jewelry and items. The main material of Allen's legendary necklace, which doesn't stand out much, is this Phantasmal Silver.

It was precisely based on the unique magical properties and scarcity of this Phantasmal Silver that the Mansa Council marked this material with a good contribution point in the customized manual.

"Anyway, there won't be too little. We might not be able to finish mining it in a day or two."

The content of this Grand Competition was originally based on the quantity of Phantasm Dream Crystals and various precious materials collected by each team, which would then be exchanged for corresponding contribution points to determine the ranking. Now that they could happen to encounter a precious mine without paying too much of a price, only a fool wouldn't know what choice to make.

"Then the plan changes. We'll first establish a defensive line at the canyon entrance to guard against possible dangers."

The group quickly began to modify the existing plan, gathering together to re-formulate a new one.

"I'll take a team to guard the canyon entrance and prevent possible dangers. You guys take the rest to go into the cave and mine the ore..."

The plan was quickly formulated, and everyone acted swiftly. An hour later, the corpses at the canyon entrance were cleared away, and a simple defensive structure had been built at the entrance. Spark led dozens of ogres and heavily armored gnome teams to garrison it.

As for the other gnomes, they orderly entered the cave to carry out the mining task. Even Allen himself probably hadn't imagined that the rock mining, which was used as a punishment mechanism when training these gnomes at the quarry, would now be put to use.

Although the Swordfish corpses had been cleared away in time, the remaining scent had already spread out. As the gnome scout team members on the periphery continued to upload information about the gathering of dangerous creatures, a look of contemplation gradually appeared on Spark's face.

It wasn't that Spark wasn't confident in dealing with those solitary unknown creatures. With the Greenwild Brigade's strength, they could calmly defeat even the Swordfish swarm with a legendary-level leader. Some solitary Phantasm Beasts were even less of a threat to them. It was just that the Greenwild Brigade members had already entered the cave to mine ore, and the members left outside to guard, apart from the few scouts wandering on the periphery, were only the 30-odd members under Spark's command. Half of them were gnomes who had been seriously injured in the previous battle, reducing their combat power by at least half.

Of course, the Swordfish's nest was right behind Spark and his team, and the gnome companions in the cave could provide support at any time, so there wasn't too much risk.

"Here it comes!!"

Leaning sideways behind his most reliable and sturdy shield, Spark sensed the danger faster than his companions through the vibrations transmitted by the shield inserted into the ground.

As he issued a low and serious warning, the first row of shield warriors raised their massive shields one after another, while their teammates behind them also held their blades, their eyes intently watching the surrounding environment, not letting go of any abnormal signs.

"Southeast direction, the bushes 25 meters away!!"

"Throw spears! Fire!!"

Several ogre rangers quickly swung their sturdy arms, throwing spears according to Spark's instructions. Although their eyes didn't see any traces of creatures, they shot towards the target location without the slightest hesitation or doubt.

Swish!!

Thud, thud!!

The rapid footsteps rose behind the bushes that Spark had indicated the moment the spears whistled through the air. Accompanied by the violent swaying of clumps of bushes, the speed at which the unknown creature pounced exceeded Spark's expectations. In the blink of an eye, it had already appeared less than five meters in front of Spark's position, finally revealing its true appearance.

It was a Phantasm Beast similar to the Saber-Toothed Tigers of the Mansa Wilderness, also possessing two large and sharp fangs. Whether it was the pouncing movement or the slender and low posture, it had seven or eight similarities. Perhaps the biggest difference was its colorful and mottled fur, which blended well with the background environment in the Phantasm Mirage Plane.

Boom!!

A pair of huge tiger paws slammed down, blocked in time by Spark's heavy shield. However, even with Spark's powerful strength and physique, he couldn't help but take three or four steps back under the impact of the opponent's attack. Failing to succeed with one paw strike, the tiger beast used the force of the recoil to make a nimble backflip, its long tail whistling as it lashed out like a whip, instantly whipping towards a great gnome berserker who had exposed a flaw in the formation as Spark retreated.

Bang!!

The berserker was sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground. Several spears swished and pierced into the Phantasm Beast's body, but continued to fly far forward without any force, until they exhausted their strength and disappeared from sight. It turned out that the spears had only hit a phantom image left behind by the Phantasm Beast.

"Careful!! There's another one on the left!!"

"Behind!! Behind!!"

A fierce battle unfolded.