Game of the World Tree

In the depths below the Underdark, to the southwest of the Deep Chasm, a massive earthwater lizard was currently gliding through an underground lake…

Sitting atop its back were over a dozen individuals consisting of various races, with dark dwarves and gnomes being the largest contingent among them.

And upon closer observation, one would notice that although the various races in this group were dressed differently, all of them bore the same sickle-shaped emblem on their chests.

It was the symbol the Goddess of Death and is often used by her believers during formal occasions.

Here in the underground, however, this emblem held another layer of meaning…that is, it indicated that the wearer belonged to the Hermetic City-State Alliance, a large-scale city-state coalition force in the western region of the Underdark, comprising of numerous underground denizens who worshipped the Goddess of Death.

The Hermetic City-State Alliance was a well-known coalition force in the underground, and despite its loose structure and internal rivalries among its various member city-states, some of which were even sworn enemies, they tended to unite together when facing any external threats.

The Hermetic Alliance comprised many small to medium-sized city-states that primarily followed the Goddess of Death as their Patron Deity.

The members of these coalition predominantly inhabited the western regions of the upper-to-mid layers of the Underdark, wherein they often clashed with the Dark City-State Alliance, a rival organization solely devoted to Hödur, the god of darkness and shadows, which resides in the same western territories.

However, in contrast to the long-established Dark City-State Alliance, which boasted a history spanning generations and encompassed nearly of fifty member states, the Hermetic Alliance was a comparatively newer and smaller coalition force, consisting of only seventeen member cities in total.

It’s also worth mentioning that while Blackrock City in the Deep Chasm now worships the Goddess of Death, it initially stood as a remote and modest settlement, independent of any city-state coalition forces due to its residents primarily being Dark-Dwarves refugees of diverse faiths.

It was only recently that they joined the Hermetic City-State Alliance after the Church of Death finally gained full control of Blackrock City after chasing away all of Hödur’s believers.

With its strategic location and Blackrock City being close to the western entrance to the surface world, the Hermetic Alliance easily allowed them into their coalition force.

The group riding the earthwater lizard is the delegation from the Hermetic Alliance, and their destination is Blackrock City in the Deep Chasm.

At the head of the earthwater lizard stood an elderly dark dwarf with a long grayish-red beard and a bald head, leaning on a staff, whilst silently assuming the leadership role of the group.

Cloaked in a billowing black mage robe, his expression remained solemn, revealing no trace of emotion. Yet, the deep wrinkles and weathered appearance on his face imparted a sense of melancholia to his overall demeanor, suggesting a heavy burden of worries weighing upon him.

The elderly dwarf’s name was Firebeard and he turned 141 years old this year.

He chose this particular name because among their kind, a full beard was considered beautiful, and back when he was young, he had a fiery red beard that was a source of his pride and adoration from many female dark dwarves…

Of course, this was from a long ago.

Even though Firebeard was a lower gold-ranked expert, with a lifespan nearly twice that of an average dwarf, he was now over 100 years of age, which is considered an elder among the dark dwarves.

Generally speaking, someone of his age, no matter how strong they were, would normally choose to retire by this point, opting to spend their twilight years in peace, or at most, would only participate in the decision-making of some major affairs as a member of the Council of Elders.

Alas… war had come.

The Dark City-State Alliance, who worshipped the god of darkness and shadows, initiated a war with the simple goal of defeating and destroying the Hermetic City-State Alliance.

The Dark City-State Alliance has been hostile to and coveted the territories controlled by the Hermetic Alliance for a long time.

However, due to constant internal conflicts among its member states, the Hermetic Alliance had somehow thwarted their previous attempts and even managed to maintain its existence for over a thousand years despite their overall strength being far superior than the latter.

However, ever since the mana within the entire realm of Seigües recovered last year, Perone, the Lich King who is the reigning Citylord of the largest underground city of the Dark Alliance, seized the opportunity to break through to the legendary-rank with the help of some hidden beings, and quickly consolidated the strength of the entire Dark Alliance in a very short period of time.

Thus, the status quo within the underground was shattered.

And this shattering immediately led to war, as tensions erupted between the two opposing coalition forces.

Given his former role as the chief of Blade City, the largest underground city of the Hermetic Alliance, along with his position as one of the Godwardens of Death and leaders among the dark dwarves in the underground, Firebeard naturally bore the weight of his responsibilities.

This time, he was tasked with leading their coalition’s delegation to seek aid from Blackrock City.

Being a Dark-Dwarf himself, Firebeard had traveled all across the underground in his youth, and naturally, he had also once visited Blackrock City.

However, from his recollection, Blackrock City appeared as nothing more than a remote, small settlement, housing a population of just a few thousand residents, hardly deserving the title of a city…

A city of such feeble strength and meager foundation, aside from its resident Godwarden, could be deemed exceedingly weak in his opinion.

Hell, one could even say that if Blackrock City weren’t located in a remote region of the underground, such a city would have long been annexed by some other forces!

However, to his surprise, according to the divine oracle of their Patron Deity, this remote city was destined to become the beacon of hope in the war against the Dark Alliance, and that they should seek their help since this land held the key to victory.

Moreover, the Goddess of Death even issued a decree to set up an ultra-long-distance teleportation array in this location and connect it to every other member city-states of Hermetic Alliance!

In other words, the reinforcements they needed to defend their cities would be teleported directly from Blackrock City. However, Firebeard couldn’t comprehend why such a small city would have any reinforcements at all.

Having once visited Blackrock City himself, he knew there were only a few thousand inhabitants living there, and among them, very few had even reached the upper Iron-ranks.

Given the grand and unprecedented scale of this ongoing war, what contribution could a mere few thousand dark dwarves, lacking proficiency in combat, possibly even make?

Of course, as a devout believer of the Goddess of Death, Firebeard had long been accustomed to his Patron Deity giving out oracles in cryptic ways…

Besides, he had indeed recently heard some rumors pertaining to this city.

That is, half a year ago, its local inhabitants had been attacked by a Legion of Shadows and had somehow successfully defeated them, even killing a Shadow Dragon!

Although such a rumor was absurd, the oracle of their Patron Deity might have been connected to this…

Furthermore, considering all the strange phenomena that had been occurring all over the realm in the past year, with all sorts of bizarre and absurd news spreading through the black market, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, Firebeard didn’t know whether this rumor was actually true or not.

Nonetheless, despite his doubts, he still carried out their Patron Deity’s orders.

But others were different.

In fact, most of the rest of the delegation wore heavy expressions, with traces of apprehension even visible between their brows.

This situation persisted until they crossed the underground lake and finally arrived at Blackrock City.

“Is this Blackrock City? The place of hope mentioned in the divine oracle of Her Majesty? The very same city rumored to have defeated a Shadow Dragon?”

Someone in the group said as they frowned and looked at the low walls of the city, surrounded by rocks that could be seen from afar.

— 347 —

【 ARRIVAL OF THE DELEGATION 】

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