Game of the World Tree

Eve’s movements were swift.

Having rehearsed this series of actions countless times within her mind, she acted according to her plan the moment the opportunity arose.

As a result, in just a matter of seconds, the subsequent events was completed seamlessly.

After Eve’s figure had finally disappeared, the sky above Maple Leaf City crackled with heightened energy fluctuations, pulsing with an ominous intensity.

The earth shuddered, as if recoiling from the fury of the True Gods who realized they had been hoodwinked while they were busy battling each other.

A harrowing cry then pierced the air, carrying with it a palpable sense of dread. Eventually, the oppressive aura ebbed away, leaving behind an eerie stillness that settled over the ruined city like a shroud.

Moments later, the underground Lair, which by now was completely empitied, is bathed in the soft glow of countless platinum orbs materializing out of thin air.

The orbs danced and twirled, before converging seamlessly to give shape into an illusionary humanoid form.

Its face was indiscernible, but it exuded an aura of majesty and nobility, illuminating the entire darkened hall with divine light.

This was the astral projection of the Eternal Lord, Etriōu.

Clearly, the clash between Nidhogg and the Patron Deity of Humankind was won by the latter.

Even Nidhogg, the Ancient Dragon of Despair, whom is at the peak of weak divine power, could not defeat the Eternal Lord, who merely projected his will yet could still muster strength comparable to that of a God at the peak of strong divine power.

As expected, being the reigning Supreme Deity of the current Eternal Era, the might of Etriōu indeed needs no further questioning.

Of course, regardless of his strength, this chief deity of the human pantheon seemed to have still paid a considerable price in order to project his will upon the mortal realm.

It was quite evident since the fluctuation of his projection was somewhat unstable, as if it could dissipate at any given moment.

The Eternal Lord’s illusionary figure simply stood in place for a few seconds before raising his hand, and a semi-transparent rainbow-hued crystal hexahedron appeared on his palm.

The object appears to be a projection of a true divine artifact as it then began constantly flickering and emitted a faint halo.

Seconds later, the halo wandered in a circle throughout the whole area before gradually emanating strands of green energy as well as ashen-black energy from various points of the lair.

Etriōu’s astral projection then waved his hand slightly, and those two contrasting energies that his hexahedron had detected floated into his hand.

“The Essence of Life and Divine Power of Death…”

“As well as a Divine Artifact relating to Life…”

Etriōu: “….”

“…Was it Hela?”

His rhetorical words flowed forth in a monotone, devoid of any emotion nor inflection.

Then, his entire astral projection shattered with a loud rumble, as it turned into countless scattered orbs of light, leaving behind the barren underground Lair as everything returned to it prior tranquility.

Elven Forest, the Chosen City.

Suddenly, a faint golden light shimmered upon the central square, as it gradually intertwined to form a massive circular magical array.

Then, to the astonishment of the mid-to-low-level players who happened to be within the vicinity, hundreds of figures suddenly appeared over the array one after another…

These were the hundreds of elves that was originally imprisoned and slumbering back in the underground Lair.

They remained enveloped in grayish-black cocoons, with their eyes firmly shut. But in addition to these elves, there were also five standing figures amongst them.

They were the players who had infiltrated the Despair Church, including Féng, who was actually Eve’s incarnation.

A few of these five players still seemed dazed but were equally excited, apparently not yet fully comprehending the whole subsequent series of events that transpired just now.

It was only when they recognized the familiar surroundings that they finally realized they had been teleported back at their homebase.

Their sudden appearance on the city square quickly attracted the attention of the players within the surroundings.

After all, the players who infiltrated Maple Leaf City were not only high-leveled players but also somewhat famous within the game, Elven Kingdom.

Even though they received a hidden questline and one of them even started to livestream their activities, this kind of limited quest that didn’t involve the entire server didn’t really attract much attention of the whole playerbase.

Thus, only similarly high-leveled players paid attention to it, whilst most mid-to-low-level players didn’t really care much, and instead opted to focus more on either grinding tasks in the Elven Forest or leveling up in the dungeon underground.

As a result, many newbies from the chosen city who were not privy to the Despair Church Questline were shocked as they curiously inspected the sudden appearance of the cocoons.

“Whoa! What’s going on here?”

“Huh? Guys look! There’s Elves sleeping inside those cocoons!”

“So many elves! Are they new NPCs?”

“Hmm? Aren’t those Little Salty Cat, Boxlunch, and HootyBird? What are these top-ranking players doing here all of a sudden?”

“Did they bring back these elves?”

“It seems so? I think I’ve heard that they were doing somekind of quest in Maple Leaf City…”

“Man, I’m so jealous! I’m only level 21, and the summer event is already done. I still have a long way to go before I can check out that Human City all the high-level players are raving about…”

These kinds of talks rippled among the newbies in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, the four fortunate players who were selected by Evé finally came to their senses.

Looking at the hundreds of cocoons around them, Little Salty Cat’s eyes lit up with joy.

“We did it!”

She then glanced around and quickly spotted several members of Moe Moe Committee who were observing from a distance.

With urgency, she beckoned them over, exclaiming, “Quick! You guys! Come help out! Get some Druids to take care of these NPCs! And make sure to call Sister Alice too!”

With Little Salty Cat’s call, the onlookers quickly sprang into action.

Some rushed forward to smash the cocoons and rescue the slumbering elves one by one, while others hurried to the Temple of Nature to inform the Saintess Alice of the situation.

Observing the actions of everyone around her, Little Salty Cat’s satisfaction grew.

As she glanced around once more, Salty Cat noticed Féng’s absence from the group. She quickly scanned her surroundings and found Féng striding by herself at the outer edge of the city square.

“Sister Féng, aren’t you coming to help rescue these elves?”

Little Salty Cat called out.

Féng only smiled and shake her head.

“No, the quest is almost done. I have something to take care of so I’m logging out first.” Evé replied before disappearing from Little Salty Cat’s view.

“H-Hey! The quest rewards haven’t been distributed yet, you know!”

Little Salty Cat shouted again.

However, Féng was already gone.

“Geez, why is she in such a hurry?”

Little Salty Cat muttered under her breath before shifting her focus and joining the other players in their efforts to rescue the elves trapped inside the cocoons.

In the divine kingdom of the World Tree, within the majestic Central Temple.

A dazzling holy light flashed, and Evé materialized in place.

“Those elves should be in good hands since Alice is overseeing everything…”

Evé whispered to herself.

Even before transporting them, she already analyzed the state of those slumbering elves.

They weren’t dead, just deeply asleep and weakened.

Therefore, with the help of the players, along with the assistance of Saintess Alice, all those elves should gradually recover as long as they rested for a while.

By then, Evé would be able to gain another batch of devout followers.

Of course, if Evé wished for it, she could also directly intervene herself and quickly restore all the elves’ conditions in one go..

However, it was better to involve the players upon their recovery and make good use of them.

Moreover, letting players communicate more with the natives could also increase cohesion and unity within her faction.

Therefore, it was a win-win situation.

Thinking of this, Evé casually sent a notification of quest completion to the players who participated in the questline and properly distributed the rewards.

Next, she sent a new set of daily tasks that the players could choose to aid these newly arrived elves.

After completing all this, she returned to her throne, settling back with a regal air.

As she reclined upon her throne, Evé extended her hand, conjuring a faint green halo within her palm.

Within the ethereal glow, fragmented pieces of a broken artifact lay scattered, faintly hinting at the shape of a Scepter.

However, upon closer inspection, one would find that these fragments seemed to be in an incomplete state. Although it vaguely outlined the Scepter’s shape, it became apparent that only two-thirds of it were left intact.

“So, as expected, Nidhogg still hasn’t collected all the fragments of the Scepter of Life…”

Eve’s voice hinted at her understanding.

The incomplete state of the Scepter of Life fell within her expectations. Furthermore, Nidhogg’s descent into a fallen evil god had forced him into hiding most of the time…

Thus, making the task of collecting divine artifacts’ fragments a daunting endeavor.

The mere fact that he managed to obtain two-thirds of the artifact’s fragments was already considered fortunate enough, given the challenges and dangers associated with such an undertaking.

—Yet, this revelation still managed to surprise Evé.

— 307 —

【 BACK TO THE ELVEN FOREST 】

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