Green Monster Epic

“I apologize for keeping you waiting so long.”

In an unnamed canyon in the Cartol Mountains, inside the cliffside cave where Allen once met the dragon Figglas, a new guest arrived.

Allen walked into the cave, and a foul, fishy breath sprayed onto his face.

He looked towards the depths of the dimly lit cave and saw Figglas, listlessly lying on a cluster of glittering quartz crystal columns, greeting Allen with a resentful gaze.

“Have you finished your business?”

Figglas said weakly, its enormous tail constantly rubbing against the crystals behind it.

The fact that this cave could become a dragon's resting place was largely due to the presence of these worthless crystal columns beneath its body.

Allen's eyes wandered over the quartz crystal cluster.

Although quartz crystals weren't very valuable on the outside, the sheer scale of the crystal cluster in front of him was worth at least several thousand gold coins.

Who knew which adventurous team would eventually benefit from this small deposit!

With a knowing smile, he withdrew his gaze and slowly opened his mouth, replying, “Yes, it's all taken care of.

That's why I rushed over here to meet you!”

“Hmph!”

Figglas turned its head away proudly, no longer looking at Allen, to express its dissatisfaction.

Figglas hadn't had a good time these past six months.

It had originally planned to go to Green Lake Town to avoid the limelight and hide from the kobolds who were chasing it to Fort Muir.

But who would have thought that it hadn't been in Green Lake Town for two days before the relentless kobolds tracked it down, almost trapping Figglas in Green Lake Town.

Fortunately, Figglas was strong and used its physical body to withstand the attacks of the kobold legend Kozmoll, rushing out of the trap first.

Then, it led the group of guys around the vast Cartol Mountains until, more than a month ago, these hook-nosed people returned to Fort Muir to rest, allowing Figglas to return to this temporary cave to relax.

The reason Allen was able to find Figglas's resting place was because Figglas saw that the time of their appointment was approaching, and it was being chased by the kobolds, so it found a goblin in Green Lake Town to send a message, leading to this scene of Allen coming to meet it in person.

“How about I make you a delicious meal as compensation?”

In fact, after spending a long time with Figglas, Allen realized that this dragon wasn't as evil as the legends said.

On the contrary, compared to the powerful people of the Ferman civilization who were always full of bad ideas, dragons seemed more simple and honest in character because they lived in solitude for a long time.

Of course, because of their reclusive nature, dragons would always go out and plunder some intelligent races back to their nests when they were awake, as a daily pastime, which gradually led to their reputation developing in an evil direction.

As for the lewd*ness, that was because dragons had been trying to integrate into this world and learn the druid's shapeshifting magic.

In order to master the druid's shapeshifting magic, dragons also needed to deeply understand the characteristics of the races they wanted to transform into.

The more they understood the characteristics of each race, the more they could discover the unique beauty of that race, so it was natural to be fascinated by certain individuals of that race.

Having relationships with members of various races led to the rumor of lewd*ness, so that when people heard the name dragon, the first thing they thought of was fear and disgust.

Who told the dragons that their own value was too high, they were simply walking treasures?

Those adventurers who coveted the dragons' wealth and wanted to gain a good reputation often deliberately hung all kinds of evil and lewd*ness on the dragons in order to render their behavior righteous, and eventually there were various legends of evil dragons.

“Just one meal?? Are you trying to get rid of a beggar??”

Figglas's eyes lit up, but it immediately restrained itself and said as if disgusted.

“……”

Allen was speechless.

It seemed that this dragon had been waiting for him for a long time.

“Then let's make it three meals.

I'm also a leader, after all, I can't just be around the stove all the time, and your appetite is so big that one meal is equivalent to the amount of food for dozens of our Green Field warriors!!”

“No, at least 10 meals to start.

Think about it, when you asked me for help, didn't you always cook yourself?

Why didn't you say you were a leader then!!”

Figglas shook its large head and refused.

“Five meals at most, otherwise……”

In a relaxed bargaining atmosphere, the two vented their slight dissatisfaction with each other.

As Allen began to light a fire and cook, Figglas also skillfully flew out of the cave to look for today's ingredients.

The top predators at the apex of the pyramid could always quickly catch suitable prey and bring it back to Allen.

Allen didn't have to worry about this at all.

After another magic hour of operation, a meal that wasn't simple was presented in front of Figglas, who had transformed back into the appearance of a bear goblin.

Gluttony was not enough to describe Figglas's movements when eating.

Although it had transformed into the appearance of a bear goblin, its appetite was still that of a dragon.

The hundreds of pounds of food that Allen had painstakingly made were mostly devoured by Figglas alone, and even that was only half full.

“If the affairs of your clan are settled, I think it's time to head north!!”

Figglas, leaning against the cliff wall of the cave without any image while picking its teeth, finally brought the topic back after being full of food and drink, and said seriously.

“Those kobolds have too sensitive noses.

As long as I show up in your tribe's territory, they'll be sure to find me.

It's really annoying!!”

“Okay, I can leave at any time.”

Allen was also very satisfied that his cooking skills were becoming more and more refined.

Even an ordinary Ironback Bear in his hands could already be made into a magic dish.

Although the magic blessing effect was negligible for legends, if it was eaten by a group of mid- to low-level combatants, it could be considered a wonderful medicinal meal!

“Then let's just go today, let's leave now!!”

Figglas glanced around the cave where it had lived for a short time with disgust: “I can't go to lively places.

I can only stare at this pile of stones and waste time all day.

I don't want to live like this anymore!!”

“Don't you need to prepare?”

Although Allen had expected it, he was still a little surprised by Figglas's haste.

“I've been preparing for decades, do I still need to wait until now to prepare?”

Figglas was a little bit proud. It was rare to have a strong person who wasn't a dragon willing to get along with him peacefully, communicate with him on an equal footing, and without so much calculation and coveting. This was not an easy thing for a dragon.

It was only in front of Allen that Figglas could slightly let down his guard and communicate with this equal existence with a more relaxed attitude.

"Okay."

Allen shrugged.

Soon, two figures flew out of the cliff of the nameless canyon, soared into the sky, and disappeared into the sky filled with layers of white clouds.

A dozen breaths later, a nimble and lively little bird with bright colors poked its head out of the bushes growing randomly on the cliff, looked up at the figures that gradually turned into two small black dots, spread its wings and flew nimbly, flapping and gliding quickly on the ground in pursuit.

The journey north was more like a rare and relaxing trip for the two legendary powerhouses. After flying over the long and continuous Cato Mountains, Allen and his companion landed on the ground again. After a brief tidying up, they transformed into two ordinary adventurers, traversing the desolate Gobi Desert and heading north.

Although legendary flight speed was extremely fast, flight also had its disadvantages, such as consuming a lot of energy. If an accident occurred, the difference in accumulated energy in the body might have an unknown impact during combat for legendary powerhouses. Of course, the most important point was that the energy fluctuations leaked during flight would be detected by the forces and high-level combat professionals along the way, and even intermediate spellcasters with keen mental power could detect it, which was really inconvenient for Allen's actions.

The north side of the mountains had now become the hunting ground and playground for the Drows. Most of the various wilderness indigenous tribes and settlements that were scattered in the past had now disappeared. Even if there was an occasional desolate settlement, Allen and the others could only see a few gaunt and withered old and weak natives waiting to die by the dilapidated settlement buildings like walking corpses.

Any native who still had a little ability to move had either fled south early or had been captured by the Drows and taken to several strongholds and fortresses to become slaves, producing and laboring for the Drows.

However, as the Drows gained a more stable foothold in the wilderness, and with the mediation of the Church of Nature, they continued to show goodwill to the Mansha Alliance Council, they gradually restrained their brutal rule and began to allow the wild and scattered natives within their control to live and multiply.

Of course, these things would take time to manifest. At present, all Allen could see was a desolate and dead scene, without the vitality of the past.

For the Green Field Tribe, the good news was that because the relationship between the Drows and the wilderness had eased, there were gradually signs of sporadic caravans coming and going on the trade routes that had been cut off for a long time. In particular, business organizations such as the Oak Chamber of Commerce and the Fruits of Nature Chamber of Commerce, which were backed by the power of the church, could easily pass through the northern trade routes, which were full of crises in the eyes of other caravans, and send a large number of specialty products from the Elf Kingdom and the Dwarf Kingdom to the south.

"You know, most of these Drows are actually quite good-looking. In this regard, they are comparable to their distant relatives, the elves."

Having just avoided a patrol team of a dozen Drows leading underground world natives and wilderness native warriors, Figglas was looking for topics to chat with Allen, otherwise, with Allen's personality, the two of them would probably find this journey very dull.

The Drows had a strong sense of territory. The further north Allen and the others went, the more frequent the patrols they encountered. Although the Drows did not have overly激烈的behavior towards ordinary adventurers in the wilderness, Allen and Figglas still felt that there was no need to meet these guys, so as to avoid accidents.

"..."

Allen was silent, glanced at this lustful guy, and then continued to stride forward.

"Allen, let me tell you, if your tribe has another war with the Drows in the future, you must notify me, and I will come to help you!"

Seeing that Allen ignored him, Figglas became even more energetic and chased after him.

"...I also heard that these Drows have a covenant alliance with the black dragon clan that was exiled underground by our dragon clan. I just want to see how strong these scum of our dragon clan are?"

With Figglas's unconstrained words floating in his ears, Allen's mental power was very active, turning into strands and spreading out. The powerful intuition from his talent made Allen always feel that something was wrong, as if a pair of eyes had been staring at them in some dark corner.

His always cautious character prompted Allen to release his mental power as a legendary powerhouse without showing any signs. Although he couldn't manipulate the invisible mental power as skillfully as a spellcaster, Allen had greatly increased his control over his mental power in order to control and condense the energy in his body over the years. However, the mental power that was spread out searched the surrounding ten miles and found nothing unusual.

"...I say, is it necessary to be so diligent? You don't forget to exercise your mental power even when you're on the road."

Figglas, who had not received Allen's response for a long time, finally calmed down and said with some displeasure.

"Don't you think there's something wrong around us?"

Allen opened his mouth and said with a frown.

Although he still hadn't found anything unusual in his mental perception, Allen, who was very confident in his intuition, was still worried about this strange feeling.

"Is there? I don't think so."

Figglas poked his head around and scanned left and right. An invisible energy fluctuation quickly expanded outwards. That was him using reconnaissance magic to patrol the surrounding movements: "The biggest threat to us within a ten-mile radius around us is that Drow patrol team in the northeast direction. The closest animal to us is a bird in the bushes 100 meters behind your left..."

Although Figglas was not as sensitive as Allen in terms of intuitive talent, Figglas, who possessed the ability to cast magical spells, could always easily mobilize the power of nature for his own use, detecting the surrounding environment in more detail than Allen.

"...Eh, no!!"

"That bird seems to have the aura of natural divine magic on it. This should be a druid's animal companion!!"

After all, he was a spellcaster. When Figglas became serious, with his powerful mental power, he quickly discovered clues that Allen could not detect. Before Allen could react, Figglas's transformed Beorning had already emitted a sonic boom, and the whole person disappeared from Allen's eyes on the spot.

"Roar!!!"

"I've caught you!! Damn lizard!!"

The new year has arrived. I wish you all a new year, good luck in everything!!!