Green Monster Epic

Chapter 657: Subtle Ripples

“I heard that the gnolls in the south have already subdued the surrounding tribes.”

Inside the inner city of Bonn, in a newly built large garden, two drow matriarchs unexpectedly met. Carol from the Mosika City-State was dressed in military attire, completely different from other matriarchs who followed the sexy route.

While speaking, Carol held a short bow in her hand. The aura of natural elements lingered around the bow. Although no arrow could be seen on the fully drawn bowstring, as the bowstring was released, with a soft 'twang', a soaring eagle thousands of meters above let out a mournful cry and plunged headfirst towards the ground.

The demigod matriarch Penelope, standing beside her, watched with bright eyes and gently clapped her hands to applaud Carol's perfect performance.

“I'm not surprised that this gnoll leader next door to us can subdue a few wild leopard tribes around him, but I am a little curious about his methods of persuading those guys.”

Penelope replied slowly with a smile in her eyes. Drow are inherently selfish, cunning, and vigilant, and rarely do things like Allen, who aims for win-win cooperation to win over surrounding partners. Originally, in Penelope's prediction, Allen's greatest possibility was to first integrate and annex the troll and hyena tribes, and then use the power of the three tribes to pressure other tribes to approach him.

However, the choices Allen made were always unexpected. It was clear that the strength and layout of the Greenwood Tribe could steadily swallow the hyena and troll tribes, but he still maintained enough restraint, allowing the hyena and troll tribes to exist independently, which, at least in the eyes of the drow matriarchs, was indeed a bit foolish.

However, while despising Allen, Penelope was also constantly speculating about the gnoll's psychology. A remarkable figure who could manage a small tribe into its current scale in just over two hundred years must have his own considerations for making such a choice.

And this may be what the drow federation's high-level leaders, who are standing alone on the surface world after leaving the Underdark, need to learn and understand.

Penelope and Carol in front of her were both clear that although their Hothia Federation seemed powerful enough in the northern wilderness, even if the gnoll Allen integrated the power of the six major tribes, it could only barely contend with the drow federation, but internally, their drow five city-states had never truly united.

The nature of the drow, as well as their past actions, made them afraid to easily trust each other. Beneath an atmosphere of peace and friendship, no one knew whether the other city-states harbored any conspiracies or had any actions against any of its members.

Penelope herself had also made many attempts to integrate the power of the five city-states in order to cope with the dangers that might appear in the surface world at any time. Of course, based on the drow's style of doing things, Penelope's methods were mostly shady. In the end, her attempts not only did not help the drow unite, but also intensified the estrangement between them, making the relationship between the five city-states of the federation increasingly complex.

By the time Penelope regretted it and wanted to ease and mend their relationship, it was too late. The matriarchs of the other three city-states were deeply wary of her, preferring to garrison at Coldwind Ridge rather than being with Penelope in the same place.

Even Carol, the matriarch of the Mosika City-State, who was forced to stay and garrison Bonn with Penelope, was said to have received promises from the matriarchs of the other three city-states in private and gained considerable benefits before agreeing to be with Penelope.

“If we could also join the Thorns Ring, that would be great!!”

Penelope's eyes revealed a smile, as if she was moved.

“However, they want to develop the eastern foothills of the Cartol Mountains, maybe we can also get involved.”

“If you want to get involved, go ahead, I just want to manage the land under my city-state.”

Carol was too lazy to speculate on Penelope's thoughts. She only wanted to maintain a distance from Penelope, so that even if she might still be plotted against by the other party, the risk would be within her tolerance.

Moreover, to be honest, now that the rainfall in the northern region has increased, the natural environment around Bonn has also improved. Coupled with the drow's scorched-earth policy of driving away or simply enslaving countless wild natives, a large amount of land is waiting for the drow to develop. Carol really has no interest in doing thankless things.

“Alas!!”

A cold light flashed in Penelope's eyes, and a resentful sigh floated from the corner of her mouth.

… … … …

In Bone City, Davinci, the strongest of the kobolds, had a stiff expression. The surging fire element rippled in the sky above the castle, scaring the servants in the castle into silence.

The thin piece of paper that Davinci held in his hand was sent urgently by Kozmo's men. The content written on it in just a few dozen words was the reason for Davinci's anger at this time.

“Useless things!!”

The paper spontaneously ignited without wind, turning into a black ash in the kobold's chicken claw-like withered fingertips. The old man looked out the window and softly ordered: “Next time there is a league meeting, remember to remind me, I will go and meet this newly promoted demigod of the alliance.”

“Yes!”

In a dark corner, a blurred figure that was almost integrated with the environment responded in a deep voice.

Davinci was not worried about the threat of this newly promoted demigod to him. As the strongest in the wilderness, the true ruler of a super-large force with a population of over one million, he did not think that a mere newly promoted demigod could pose much of a threat to him.

What he cared about was that Urok, the leader of the kobold tribe, had actually betrayed him and chosen that gnoll who had just advanced to demigod. This was like a slap in the face!

Davinci couldn't remember how long it had been since he had experienced such humiliation. Even the other three demigods in the wilderness, or the demigod-level powerhouses of other forces, would not make him lose face in front of him.

“Humph!!”

A cloud of fire suddenly burst out in the castle. In the cold snort, Davinci's figure suddenly disappeared.

… … … …

Deep in the Central Mountains, there was a series of violent tremors. Exploring the source of the vibration, one could soon see a towering mountain slowly collapsing, with countless rocks splashing and rolling down the mountain, making a dull roar.

A figure, like a ghost, shuttled through the splashing gravel. Under his constant waving movements, huge rocks were turned into smaller stones. Single-handedly resisting hundreds of tons of rocks, soil, and dust, he almost cut off the collapsing mudslide that was carrying huge momentum, which was enough to show the strength of this figure itself.

When the dust settled and the mountain's collapse temporarily stopped, the ghostly figure suddenly disappeared again. A cold light stirred with a violent energy storm, and another distant high mountain was artificially destroyed.

The earth shook and the mountains swayed for an unknown amount of time. Anyway, within a radius of dozens of miles in this area, no living birds or beasts could be found. It was not until the sun slowly set in the sky that the ghostly figure finally stopped his movements.

The goblin demigod assassin Marvin was spotless. The previous violent movements only made his breathing a little rapid. After venting his anger, his expression returned to calm at this time.

Since learning that his goblin compatriot Allen might break through the demigod shackles, Marvin felt threatened and wanted to eliminate the future trouble before the other party had fully advanced.

With his demigod assassin's burst and stealth abilities, Marvin was very confident in assassinating Allen, but he didn't expect that his actions would be seen by Kirill, a demigod of the Ranger Church of the same profession. Before he could even approach the Greenwild Plains, he was intercepted halfway.

At that time, Marvin didn't fight Kirill to the death, but in his anger, he did exchange several serious blows. The final result left him somewhat frustrated; his strength in the confrontation was still a bit inferior to Kirill.

Unable to achieve his goal, Marvin returned dejectedly. He was already feeling frustrated, and he didn't expect that just a few decades later, he would hear the news that Allen, this hobgoblin, had officially advanced to demigod.

News from the Greenwild Plains kept pouring in. Which tribes had sent envoys, the names of the envoys, and their status in the tribes, etc., were all clearly heard by the spies that the Yucatan tribe had planted in the Greenwilds.

Sure enough, as Marvin had worried before, the goblin-dominated tribes among the alliance members were the most eager to visit Allen's advancement to demigod. The envoys sent were mostly core members of their respective clans, and the gifts were also very generous.

Although this matter doesn't seem to have a significant impact on the current situation, after all, choosing a camp is not just as simple as seeing whether the other party is of the same race as oneself. At the same time, one must also consider whether the other party is a radical, a conservative, or a balancer, etc...

However, Marvin still knew clearly in his heart that at least the goblin compatriots would have one more choice in the future, which would be equivalent to one more bargaining chip, so that when the Yucatan tribe wanted to win over these tribes, it might have to pay a greater price.

Now that the other party had just successfully advanced, news came that he had integrated the six northern tribes, making them move in step with him. This also gave the hobgoblin the initial confidence to contend with himself and others at the next ten-year alliance meeting, which also indirectly verified the other party's ability and means. How could Marvin not feel worried?

Demigods are not immortal; they have only gained a relatively longer lifespan than other ordinary compatriots. Non-long-lived races such as goblins, humans, and trolls have a lifespan of 1000-1200 years when they advance to demigod, which is no more than one and a half times longer than that of high-level legends.

Now Marvin is only over 700 years old. According to common sense, he still has a lifespan of 3-400 years, but compared to Allen, this newly promoted demigod who is only about 240 years old, Marvin will definitely die earlier than Allen.

At that time, the Yucatan tribe will also fall into the situation of other demigod tribes after losing their demigod powerhouse, gradually declining from prosperity.

However, there are also priorities in this process. Some tribes may quickly revert from super-large clans to ordinary tribal members, while others can still maintain the scale of population and talent. Although they cannot be as glorious as they were at the beginning, they can still be among the best in the hundred or so member tribes.

Today, the top twenty tribal members of the alliance are basically tribes that have produced powerhouses above demigod level. This is the benefit and foundation that the demigods have fought for their tribes in their thousand-year time.

Marvin's time to advance to demigod was only three hundred years, and the first half of the time was spent on competing with other demigods and fighting for his own power. The time to truly help himself and the tribe fight for benefits was only over a hundred years.

And this is still thanks to the fall of the demigod powerhouse Black Guard, which saved Marvin a lot of time, allowing him to share the benefits from Black Guard's interest plate, instead of snatching food from the interest plates of his other three colleagues.

Now that he has finally gained a firm foothold at home and is preparing to seek long-term benefits, Allen's sudden promotion has once again caused turbulence in the hard-won balance of interests, which cannot help but make Marvin feel anxious.

Marvin had also looked for the Assassin's Guild, wanting to issue an assassination mission, but these guys' ears and eyes were so well-informed that they also knew about Allen's advancement and directly rejected Marvin's mission.

This made Marvin even more angry. He couldn't figure out why, even if he offered what he thought was an astronomical reward for the mission, why the Assassin's Guild just didn't like it!!

......

What Marvin didn't know was that in the eyes of Garvin, the person in charge of the Assassin's Guild in Mansha City—the demigod mage—the hobgoblin Allen was far more worthy of investment than Marvin, who seemed to be an old-fashioned demigod, in terms of ability and prospects.

You must know that Marvin's lifespan is already over halfway, while the hobgoblin Allen's lifespan, if viewed from the perspective of a demigod's lifespan, is only just coming of age. At this time, if he offends him because of assassinating Allen, then the Assassin's Guild will probably not have peace for nearly a thousand years in the future.

If he can kill the hobgoblin, that's naturally good. The guild can obtain a considerable mission reward and also gain the friendship of a demigod; but if he can't kill the hobgoblin, then if he wants to extinguish the anger and hatred of Allen, this demigod, I'm afraid that Marvin's mission reward alone may not be able to satisfy the other party.

Moreover, to kill a demigod, one needs to plan, dispatch manpower, invest various precious magic tools, and also be prepared for the various backlash and losses caused by the other party's desperate struggle.

Obviously, Garvin, as a rational spellcaster, would naturally not take on this mission after weighing the pros and cons, a mission with huge risks and disproportionate returns.

Of course, Allen's ability and talent as a newly promoted demigod are also placed in front of Garvin. Allen's past experiences have long been compiled into several registers by the Assassin's Guild, which collects information in a very terrifying manner. Even the secret of Allen's mother being hunted by wyverns has been found out.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!

If Allen knew that the books in Garvin's hand at this time recorded the most detailed meeting minutes of their Thorns Ring organization recently, even every word he had said was recorded without any difference, then Allen would probably immediately launch a purge against all participants present at the time, except for the leaders of the various races.

Several books of minutes are somewhat old, obviously someone often flips through them to check, and with Allen's current strength and status, only the demigod mage in front of him, who has a human appearance but actually has orc and elf bloodlines, can access these materials in the Assassin's Guild at any time.

The more carefully Garvin examines Allen's experiences, the more he appreciates this newly promoted demigod, especially the other party's initiative to cede Nasir Fortress, inviting the Snow Mages and Raven's Claw tribes to settle in, and then slowly pulling these two tribes onto his chariot through taxation, trade, and other means, until the establishment of the Court Council.

With such a method of operation, and based on the information on the three tribes of Cartor Fortress collected by the Assassin's Guild, Garvin can easily judge Allen's purpose and ambition.

"What an interesting fellow!!"

Garvin stroked the books of minutes in his hand, his eyes revealing a look of interest.