Chapter 76
Chapter 76 - Blackstone's trump card
"Uncle B is here!"
"Uncle B! Kill them!"
When the oak guard Berserker arrived, cheers rose up from the players.
Berserker stretched out his arms and slammed the ground.
He roared:
"War ... Sacrifice!"
In an instant, his arms turned into countless vines and rushed towards several half-orcs. Under the shocked and horrified gazes of the other half-orcs, they were entangled one by one and were drained of their life force. In the blink of an eye, they had been turned into a dried husk before eventually disintegrating in ashes.
"F$ck! Uncle B, don't attack the mobs! Leave them to us!"
"Uncle B! Hit the big guy with the wolf's-teeth club! That guy killed many of us!"
Seeing Berserker kill four or five half-orcs in an instant, the elves looked a bit pained as those points went up in smoke.
At the elves' words, Berserker looked at Blackstone again.
All of Blackstone's danger senses immediately screamed out … He felt his scalp tingle.
An oak guard! Having once served as a guardian of the Holy Land, Blackstone could not have been more aware of this legendary creature. He had seen images of these creatures carved into the frescoes.
During the Silver Age, tales of mythical oak guards abounded in Sagas.
They were terrifyingly strong, with the highest among them even approaching Demigod rank and being capable of fighting legendary dragons. What's more, their abilities were incredibly bizarre. Their unique War Sacrifice druid skill gave them them the unparalleled ability to sustain themselves indefinitely in group battles.
Even the weakest oak guards had Silver strength, but the average oak guard had strength higher than Gold rank. If it were not for the fact that oak guards were unable to reproduce and give birth to offspring, they would even have been called a golden race, on par with the dragons!
However, it wasn't these mythical tales about them that struck fear in Blackstone's heart. It was the significance behind seeing a living one in person ... oak guards could only be animated by the World Tree, who controlled the force of nature and life! And the life of an oak guard was inextricably linked to the World Tree!
It was then that Blackstone understood everything. "It's not the God of Death moving behind the Elves, it's the World Tree!"
Only the World Tree had the power to create oak guards! And it was also only the World Tree that could command the complete allegiance of all elves! It also explained the bizarre resurrection ability of the elves ... To raise the dead was to violate the law of nature, and such actions inevitably had a cost associated with them.
Because reanimation dealt with the secrets of the soul, this cost would be high. A cost so high that even true gods would refuse to dabble in it! Only the divine force of life and death could bring back the dead at a cost that was not too steep! Among the true Gods, since the beginning of time, only two Gods have had this ability ...
One was Hela, the God of Death.
The other one was the World Tree Euktrahill! Before, Blackstone had thought that these strange elves were Hela's doing. But the appearance of the oak guard overturned everything. And the appearance of another new figure reaffirmed his suspicions.
Alice, the saint of nature, appeared among the elves in her noble ceremonial dress.
She closed her eyes in prayer, and radiant holy light spread out with her at its centre. A constantly spinning ball of light with a strong aura of nature and life was generated.
At Alice's command, the ball of light darted among the elves, and the wounds on every elf it touched began to close at an astonishing speed!
[Spirit of Healing], a fourth-grade divine healing spell and the most powerful mass healing spell that lower Silver priests could cast! The elves got even more excited seeing their bodies recover.
"Alice's support is here!"
"Let's go! Kill them all!"
They took up their weapons again and attacked with increased fury and recklessness.
"A Silver priest! A Silver priest of nature!"
Blackstone's pupils shrank slightly again.
Silver-level priests and clerics could only exist by the faith of a true God! Now, there really was no doubt anymore ... what with the followers of the Death God? It was all bullsh$t! The truth was plain to see. They were the followers of nature!
"The World Tree ... has really revived!"
Blackstone felt his whole body tremble, his heart being overwhelmed with fear. Ullr's contribution in the victory over the ancient god Euktrahill had been an epic legend passed down from generation to generation among the half-orcs. It remained the greatest battle achievement of the God of winter and hunting.
And now, this legendary God, who had been the unequalled master over all of Sagas in the previous epoch, had recovered! He then thought of the recent disappearance of the half-orcs. Fear gripped Blackstone's mind once more.
"She ... she is taking revenge. She's back and she's going to take revenge on us half-orcs! She will take revenge on Father God!"
The majesty of a true God could not be desecrated.
And since the half-orcs had been persecuting the elves for millennia in an attempt to completely stamp out the faith of the World Tree, they would never be forgiven by this ancient god!
"This news must be passed back to the tribe! The half-orcs are in danger!"
Blackstone instantly made his decision.
He gritted his teeth and said in a voice tinged with hatred:
"To send in two intermediate Professional ranks, do you think I really have no way to fight back?"
Caution had always been his life motto. Suddenly, the aura around Blackstone began to rise ... pressure was being constantly released.
In an instant, his strength rose directly from the peak of upper Iron (level 40) to lower Silver! Level 45…This was the true strength of Blackstone. He too had been hiding secrets!
"He's also Silver!"
Berserker and Alice were surprised.
And then, Blackstone took out his pocket a piece of bone on which a mysterious pattern had been carved.
He immediately wore a holy and pious expression.
He raised the bone fragment high and mumbled something under his breath. A faint wave of divine power spread out ...
"This is bad!"
Eve, who was watching the battle from the players' perspective, had a sinking feeling in her heart.
Before she could do anything, the bone fragment in Blackstone's hand burst into a dazzling light, forming a huge arrow of energy hovering in the air!
[Hunting Arrow], an eight-grade offensive technique used by Ullr's priests. It was a true, high-level technique!
A powerful aura was being released from the arrow. The expressions of both Berserker and Alice changed dramatically at the same time.
"Everyone, take cover now!"
However, it was too late.
The energy arrow suddenly burst into a silvery brilliance and spawned several more arrows with a swishing sound. In the blink of an eye, a ring of arrows pointing outward had been formed.
One by one, the arrows flew off into all directions.
The largest arrow flew towards the intermediate Silver (level 51) oak guard Berserker! Berserker, with a serious expression, roared:
"Oak barrier!" A barrier made out of oak branches appeared in front of him.
Alice also took action and shouted:
"Nature's armour!"
A green energy shield appeared on everyone's bodies.
The arrows collided with the barrier and shields in a violent explosion.
*BOOM*
The ground shook.
For a while, the world was white.