Game of the World Tree

▪️HELA’S PLAN

The arrival of the Shadow Legion was swift, catching the players off guard as they had just accepted the quest. Numerous shadow creatures materialized almost instantly, leaving many individuals without the opportunity to retrieve their equipment yet…

“How could it be so fast?” Évè, disguised as Zero expressed her surprise.

She casually crushed a shadow creature that bumped into her and glanced at the four looming gray energy pillars in the distance, furrowing her brows slightly.

After some thought, she avoided the crowd and made her way to the Death’s Shrine in Blackrock City.

The entire garrison of Blackrock City had already been deployed, and the various priests within the shrine were busy with various tasks. Some attended to the injured, while others relayed messages, and a few still kept trying to activate the protective divine spell…

Upon her arrival, Evé also saw the dwarven High Priestess who had already returned after chasing after the leader of the Shadow Cultists.

Currently, the Shrinelord, who was recently under the divine possession of Hela, wore a conflicted expression upon her face.

“It’s all my fault. I was careless and didn’t anticipate that the Dark Lord’s Godwarden would go so far as to burn off his own power of faith outside the city, using it as an emergency signal. As a result, I unintentionally exposed the vulnerability of the shrine prematurely.”

Evé hesitated to speak and simply glanced at the other person, noticing the lingering aura of Death that had still not yet completely dissipated around the High Priestess.

The fault for the incident likely rests not upon this priestess’ shoulders, but rather at Hela herself as the Goddess of Death probably deliberately provided the clue about the depleted energy reserves of the shrine to the Shadow Cultists before ending her possession…

Of course, this poor head priestess probably hadn’t realized it yet that her actions had been subtly influenced by the Goddess of Death.

Heck, this clueless priestess didn’t even know that the person she was currently talking to was actually a god herself!

As for the reason as to why Hela had intentionally dropped such a hint that provoked the cultists into using their trump card, Evé could somewhat guess her motives.

Essentially, since Evé, who is a true god is currently present within the city, Hela expected that no matter how much the Shadow Cultists jumped up and down,¹ Evé would not sit idly by while they summoned their Shadow Legion.

This was decided by the oath between the two of them and Evé was obligated to deal with these monsters.

As someone who possesses the might of a true god, how is it possible for a person of her caliber to be unable to eradicate a mere group of Iron-ranked shadow monsters?

All those excuses like “your followers are not afraid of death” or “let your followers take action” were all just pretexts and the crux of the matter was that, Hela must have sensed that Evé truly possessed the power of a demigod, and thus made such a decisive move to deliberately provoked the enemies…

In other words, Hela doesn’t have to take anything else into account just as long as Evé is present within the city and keep her end of the bargain.

For Hela, simply using her own followers to provoke the opponent’s into using their trump card and forcing Evé to take action, would prevent any further complications…

Of course, it is also possible that Hela knows that Evé has been causing trouble while disguising herself as Death’s subordinate recently, thereby expressing some of her dissatisfaction in this manner…

“…I never expected that Hela would play a trick on me even after I signed the oath before she left.”

Evé ruefully sighed as she sensed the densely packed clusters of shadow monsters gathering outside the city.

The number of shadow monsters had already reached into the thousands and even if she ordered every player to participate in this event, dealing with this amount would be almost impossible without her direct intervention, not to mention that there was still a constant stream of monsters being teleported over.

Therefore…she had no choice but to intervene!

Evé understood.

Hela wants her to personally take care of the Shadow Legion…

However, if she really gets involved, then it would undoubtedly completely strain her relationship with the Lord of Darkness and Shadows, but at the same time, she would also become intricately bound to the same fate as the Goddess of Death…

There are pros and cons to this.

Overall, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. With Hela having a major influence within the underworld and her forces controls the entry point to the lands above, the shadow cultists will not be able to easily cause trouble for the elves on the surface.

However, after killing yet another shadow creature, Evé dismissed the idea of personally intervening in this conflict.

More precisely… she dismissed the idea of directly using her own demigod powers to quickly bring an end to this battle.

After killing the shadow creature, she found a gray translucent fragment in her hand, left behind by the shadow monster upon its death.

This fragment is called the Shadow Gem shard, containing both chaotic and cold energy within it, similar to the core of a magical monster.

With a thought, Evé tried to absorb the fragment, and after purifying it using her divine power, the gem shard transformed into pure energy that flowed into her body.

Sensing the energy entering her body, Eve’s eyes brightened.

“I can use my [Absorb] ability to consume the energy within these fragments, and I can also devour the lifeforce of the shadow monsters!”

“If I can devour this entire Shadow Legion, my divine power might increase exponentially!”

“But… if I were to fully utilize my demigod-level powers, it would require an excessive consumption of divine energy, and it wouldn’t be worth it in the end.”

“If I want to maximize the results of this battle, it’s best not to wipe out the Shadow Legion all at once. Instead, I should opt for a war of attrition and just let the players handle it while I subtly provide them with some enhancements…”

With this in mind, Evé finally made a decision.

She turned around and ambiguously smiled at the High Priestess.

“Don’t worry, leave everything to me! However, I do need to set up a teleportation array here.”

“….A teleportation array?”

The High Priestess was taken aback.

“That’s right, to teleport my warriors.”

Evé laughed mischievously.

The Shrinelord hesitated for a moment, but eventually relented.

Although the priestess didn’t know what exactly had happened while she was under divine possession, she was well aware that an oath had been made between the Goddess of Death and the mysterious entity behind the elves, making them as allies in the battle against the Lord of Darkness and Shadow.

Furthermore, prior to her departure, the Goddess of Death had even instructed her to comply with the arrangements made by the Godwarden named Zero for the defensive battle of Blackrock City.

At least until the enemies are completely dealt with!

Initially, the dwarven High Priestess was hesitant, but her attitude changed to one of respect upon realizing that the Godwarden named Zero was, in fact, a high-ranking practitioner.

Within the Deep-Rift Cavern, where the Dark-Dwarven tribe currently lives, the highest-ranking practitioners among them were merely at the Silver-rank.

After getting the Dark-Dwarves’ permission, Evé then proceeded to set up a teleportation array directly in front of the shrine, establishing a connection between Rivendell and Blackrock City.

After setting up the array, Evé immediately then sent a new system message to all of the players—

【❗ 】

【The teleportation array connecting Blackrock City and Rivendell has been established. Players can now teleport to Blackrock City through the teleportation array.】

【The Blackrock City battlefield is now officially open!】

Then, Evé used some her divine powers once again.

In an instant, all the players on the city walls experienced a sudden surge of power coursing through their bodies. The various parameters on their status screens also witnessed a substantial increase, particularly in terms of defense, with each person now sporting a faintly visible magical shield encapsulating them.

At the same time, another message appeared in the vision of all the players gathered within Blackrock City…

【❗ 】

【Unyielding and fearless! The goddess has decided to bestow a battle blessing upon all the players currently participating in the defense of Blackrock City!】

【You have received the enhancement BUFF: Blessing of the Goddess】

【Your weapon has received the enhancement BUFF: Blessing of the Goddess】

【Effect: All players currently active in Blackrock City will receive a magical shield, their physical attributes will double, and all skill damage will now also be imbued with a “purification” effect】

【Brave chosen ones, for the glory of the goddess and the elves, charge forth!】

Under the astonished gaze of the Dwarven High Priestess, the elves on the city walls suddenly burst into cheers. They shouted in unison, “Long live!” ² while fighting the shadow creatures that had climbed onto the walls.

At the same time, the teleportation array began to activate as it flicker with light.

Not long afterwards, fully armed elves began to emerge from the array one after another…

They paid no attention to anything else and instead brandished their weapons, dashing and leaping with excitement as they rushed towards the city walls in wild abandon.

The High Priestess: “……”

The Shrinelord and the dwarves around her were left dumbfounded as they watched the supposedly dignified elves charge excitedly towards the walls, as if they had lost all semblance of composure.

Actually these are the players who happened to be stationed in Rivendell and received the system notification.

There were also players who ambushed the Shadow Legion outside the Dark Forest, but upon witnessing the overwhelming number of shadow creatures, they decided to abandon their suicidal strategy. Instead, they turned back towards Rivendell with the intention of teleporting directly to Blackrock City for a defensive battle.

After establishing the teleportation array, Evé, along with the dwarven High Priestess, entered the inner premises of the shrine.

“Where is the central defense control terminal of the shrine?” Evé asked.

The Shrinelord hesitated for a moment and then spoke, “It’s in the rear hall, but unfortunately, the energy stored within the statue has already been depleted. I’m afraid it can no longer be activa—”

The High Priestess couldn’t finish her words because she saw Evé already walking towards the rear hall of the temple.

The Shrinelord quickly followed a step behind as Evé arrived in the rear hall of the shrine, which was connected to the central defense control terminal of Blackrock City.

Beneath the statue of Hela, a cube-like apparatus resembling a hexahedron adorned with intricate patterns kept hovering in midair.

Within these lands underground, similar defense central control terminal like these were very common. Almost every city underground have one, and this particular type of terminal also had another name—The Dungeon Core.

Under the horrified gaze of the High Priestess, Evé suddenly reached out and deftly inserted her hand right into the Dungeon Core without any hesitation!

¹ 上窜下跳 – ‘Jump up and down’ is a Chinese idiom that means either being too excited, or too worried, or even too high. It can also implicates that someone is actively connecting with important people trying to pull some strings to get things done. For the second meaning, it is used with negative connotation.

² 万岁 – In various East Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, the phrase “Wànsuì”, “Banzai”, “Manse”, and “Vạn tuế”, respectively, literally meaning “myriad years” is used to wish long life, and is typically translated as “Long live” in English.

The phrase originated in ancient China as an expression used to wish long life to the emperor and in some countries, this phrase is sometimes also used when expressing feeling of triumph, typically shouted by crowds.