Green Monster Epic

Chapter 858: Tightening the Screws

The Thorns Ring has been holding frequent meetings lately. Aside from the Heart of the Wild, whose conditions weren't met, the other tribes simply stationed a legendary representative at Namur Fortress. This allowed them to communicate and coordinate with Greenwild, resolving any issues that arose.

You should know that the warriors conscripted by the various tribes were already in place. To avoid detection by the elves, the army's assembly point was chosen in the Barrenwood, territory of the Aman Sand tribe, a sparsely populated swamp basin adjacent to the Greenwild Plains.

Only the two tribes closest to the front lines, stationed at Nasir Fortress, did not try to hide the conscription and formation of their armies. Even their training exercises were conducted openly on the city walls, with shouts and battle cries echoing all day long.

There were many things that needed to be coordinated, such as the low-level leaders and officers in the army. Originally, each tribe had their own candidates, but Allen proposed a military examination to filter them out. This immediately eliminated a large portion, with only a few who possessed genuine talent and were nurtured by their families remaining in the ranks.

The many positions that were vacated were, after some discussion, ultimately filled by knights from the Greenwild Knight Academy.

Of course, Allen also took the opportunity to promote the Knight Academy to the various tribes, inviting them to select outstanding talents to come and study, receive formal education, and lay a good foundation for the future of their armies.

In fact, since the establishment of the joint tribal army, the tribes had already been consciously cultivating military talents within their own ranks. Even the Knight Academy in Green Lake Town had a small number of students sent by families who had long held military power in the various tribes.

It was just that, because the value of knightly talents was not high among the tribes and their development space was limited, the tribes had mostly preferred to cultivate their own within their respective tribes in recent years.

"...I have good news for everyone."

In order to keep a close eye on the movements of the elves to the north, Allen had returned to Namur Fortress to take charge, while Coeur was left in charge of Green Lake. Svara and Albard, on the other hand, quietly traveled south to join the Thorns Ring Allied Legion and train this new army.

Having just received the latest intelligence from Mansa City, Allen convened a meeting of the organization's members to share the good news with them.

"The Alliance has reached an agreement to reinforce our Northern Border with 200,000 troops. At the same time, they will also allocate an equal number of weapons and equipment, as well as supplies sufficient for 500,000 people for more than half a year."

"Although the scale of the army is a bit small, the Alliance has already conscripted a total of more than 600,000 warriors in the past two years. It is still very good that they can conscript another 200,000 troops for the Northern Border now."

"As I analyzed with you last time, this support from the Alliance is a good opportunity for our Northern Border. It may not be easy to have such an opportunity again in the future."

"So, if there is a chance, I will insert our people into the supporting army and use the allocated supplies to strengthen our tribes."

"When the elite warriors who survive the actual combat are weeded out, they will be the talents we can win over and absorb. Everyone should prepare in advance and let's have a fair competition to see who can retain these talents."

"...Your Excellency, most of these reinforcements have their own tribes. It won't be easy for us to win them over!"

Hearing the news Allen spoke, the representatives all looked happy. However, just as Allen continued to remind everyone of the benefits, the Lizardman commander Jerlang couldn't help but express his concerns.

The Lizardman race is not considered a large tribe in the wilderness, far inferior to races such as Gnolls, Kobolds, and Goblins in terms of numbers. In his opinion, Allen's current talk of winning over and absorbing talents, although attractive, was not significant enough.

Allen looked around. Apart from Tim and the Kobold commander Egad, who were very interested, the other members were somewhat evasive, seemingly far more interested in the distribution of supplies.

"As long as you have the will, there is hope for success, isn't there?"

"The warriors conscripted by the Alliance are basically vassals of the member tribes. The proportion of warriors from the main tribes will not be too high. Especially since our Northern Border has never been valued by the Alliance. Although they have reluctantly made reinforcements this time due to pressure, I don't have too many expectations for the quality of this army."

"Since they are vassals of the formal member tribes of the Alliance, then it shouldn't be too difficult for us to win over these warriors. Next, we will have to fight the elves to the death. Strengthening our power by even a small amount will mean one less member of our own tribe will sacrifice in the future. Isn't such a thing worth everyone's effort?"

Allen sighed inwardly, somewhat disappointed with these short-sighted fellows. They were clearly still holding on to their inherent ideas, still believing that only the bloodline of their own race was the most reliable, and would be somewhat discriminatory towards warriors of other races.

Only the Temple Church, which shepherded lambs and regarded every wilderness native as a source of faith, would not care about the differences in race and bloodline, treating all wilderness natives equally.

As for Allen himself, he initially only envied the harmonious coexistence of multiple races in Mansa City. The Alliance seemed very powerful, so he thought about building the Greenwild tribe into a similar existence to Mansa City.

However, as he embarked on another path, and countless faces of different races gradually appeared among those who believed in him, he had another important reason to accommodate and absorb alien races into the tribe or camp.

"As for the supplies, we can prioritize arming our army. So, everyone should pay more attention to the training of the army and restrain the pampered cubs in the army!"

"...Yes!"

"In addition to the good news, there is also bad news. Everyone should think carefully about the potential implications of this bad news."

"The newly reinforced elven army in Thornsburg has taken its place. Among the total of more than 300,000 troops, there are also more than twenty War Treants accompanying them on the expedition."

"If we include the more than 200,000 elven troops stationed outside Coldwind Ridge, once the two armies merge, their overall strength will far exceed the Drow Federation!"

"How much binding force does the contract that the elves signed with us have? I have a negative attitude about this, because I myself was initially prepared to tear up this contract."

"We ourselves are planning to do this, so I think the elves probably don't have much intention of abiding by the contract either, otherwise there wouldn't be more than twenty War Treants in their army!"

"When they really defeat the Drow, and then take the opportunity to go south and attack Nasir Fortress, if we are not prepared, we may be wiped out in one fell swoop!"

"..."

Everyone was silent, feeling apprehensive.

"Although the Alliance has reached a consensus and will send reinforcements to the Northern Border, according to the Alliance's procrastinating habits, it will probably be difficult to gather these reinforcements in half a year or a year."

“At this time, the battle between the elves and the drow had long been decided, so we shouldn't place too much hope on the alliance reinforcements. We still need to focus on our own strength!”

“After returning, everyone…”

The meeting ended quickly, and the representatives, each having gained something, returned to their respective residences, or simply headed south to report the news of the day to their tribal leaders.

Allen was not idle either. After returning to the City Lord's mansion and giving Brennan some pointers, he left the castle and flew into the sky, heading straight south.

For more than a month, the fighting between the elves and the drow became increasingly fierce, but it remained in a state of relative restraint.

The elves did not make any major moves because their war trees, which served as siege weapons, had not yet arrived. Elven warriors, despite their excellent individual strength, were somewhat weak in siege warfare.

After all, whether elves or drow, they generally need more than forty years to reach sexual maturity. Although they have the longest lifespans among intelligent races, their reproductive ability is the worst among the four civilized races.

Difficult reproduction naturally means they are concerned about attrition rates. Therefore, when formulating various major plans, they always prioritize the casualties of their own warriors.

Especially in hard-fought battles like sieges, the elves will make thorough preparations. Before the siege equipment arrives, they will definitely tend to probe attacks, preferably luring the drow out of the city to fight.

The drow themselves were not ready either, and were happy to drag things out with the elves in front of Coldwind Hold, while the relatively safe Bonn City line was busy preparing resources and troops, ready to reinforce Coldwind Hold at any time.

The total population of the Hochath Confederacy is nearly two million, but in reality, the true drow population is less than five hundred thousand. After deducting the elderly and young children, the actual number of drow warriors capable of fighting is only over three hundred thousand.

As for the races that make up the vast majority of the Confederacy's population, in addition to a small number of gray dwarves, half-drow with other mixed bloodlines, most are earth stone ogre slaves with little combat power and unsuitable for living on the surface.

The stone ogres are a weak race born blind, relying on growing fungus plants underground for a living. Their individual strength is so weak that they are comparable to the kobolds, and their personalities are too docile. They can be used as slaves, but if you want them to be warriors, except for a few gifted individuals, most stone ogres have no combat power.

Therefore, the total force that the drow can mobilize is only slightly stronger than the elves currently stationed under Coldwind Hold, so they will naturally not act rashly.

Of course, the drow were also equally anxious. They were also worried about the arrival of the subsequent elven army. At that time, the drow might fall into a tragic war.

Intelligence from within the elven kingdom was constantly transmitted to the drow, and after learning that the enemy's army was approaching Thornsburg and would soon join forces with the frontline elves, the drow matriarchs could no longer sit still. While constantly sending requests for assistance to the Church of the Natural Temple, they repeatedly contacted Allen, hoping that they could take action as soon as possible.

The military mobilization within the Thorns Ring organization was not only hidden from the elves, but also from the drow. In the eyes of the drow matriarchs, these wild natives in the south have not made any major moves until now, making them lack confidence in the consensus reached with the hobgoblin leader.

Asking others is not as good as asking oneself. Outsiders are ultimately unreliable. The suspicious and sensitive drow have repeatedly asked for help, but the person in charge of Green Field has rejected them with various reasons. What else can be said about the reasons behind this!

Flying all the way, he quickly felt the atmosphere of war drums beating. Allen descended from the sky from afar and approached Coldwind Hold on foot. A earth-shattering battle was taking place in front of Coldwind Hold.

Two elite armies with similar appearances but different skin tones, wearing standardized armor of different colors, the only thing they had in common might be the disgust and hatred in their eyes, and the merciless killing intent.

The main force of the drow had already completed the preparations for gathering in Coldwind Hold in the past month. Although the elves wanted to besiege the city, the strength gap between the two sides was not large, and the drow, who were fighting on their home turf, had even greater advantages, so the elves would naturally not be foolish enough to divide their troops and give their opponents a chance to divide and devour them.

Several black dragons, having formed a blood pact with the drow, transformed into their true forms, wearing heavy armor tailored for them to protect their vital points, and plunged headlong into the elven ranks. Finally, they were resisted by giants, dragons, and other equivalent beings transformed by the elven powerhouses, avoiding the danger of the elven army formation being torn apart.

The existence of nearly ten behemoths, every move they made could set off a violent storm, scaring teams of warriors from both sides to stay far away from the ground where they were fighting and find another battlefield.

In the sky, a dozen drow powerhouses led by the demigod matriarch Penny Lai were also fighting with the elven powerhouse team. Both sides had similar talents and similar abilities, and the sky was full of magical halos and whistling arrows.

Sword dancers and archer powerhouses moved like ghosts, wandering around the few melee-type strongmen and shield warriors, each move aimed directly at the opponent's vitals, slender figures dancing on the tips of knives, still maintaining an elegant posture.

But in reality, the most tragic battle had to be seen in the melee between the sea of ordinary warriors from both sides. The desolate wilderness had long been stained scarlet with blood, and the dense arrows overhead blocked the sunlight, as if they were in a rainy day.

The elves and drow, who have always pursued speed and flexibility, have a different style of legion combat from what Allen experienced in the human world.

Humans are limited by the shortcomings of individual combat power, but have the advantages of overall quality and sufficient knight officers. Therefore, when fighting on the battlefield, they always fight steadily, looking for flaws in the opponent while defending, and gradually accumulating small victories through the excellent quality of the commanding officer, eventually transforming them into advantages.

However, the elven and drow legions are more accustomed to flexible formations, like sharp steel knives scraping bones, tearing and cutting flesh again and again at the weak points of the opponent's legion.

Two armies with the same style, at this time, use the vast wilderness of dozens of miles as a stage, sometimes turning into sharp arrows to shuttle back and forth, and sometimes transforming into wandering eagles to strike and leave.

Coupled with the various blessing magics that never stop in the army, the two armies seem to be tireless machines, never staying in one position for long.

Allen hid in the crown of a tall tree in the distance to spy and observe. At the roots of the tree under his feet, there were also two elven scout corpses lying on the ground, and a moist, sweet aura slowly rippled out.