Game of the World Tree
chapter-345

World Tree, Divine Kingdom.

Evé, who had just returned from Blackrock City, sat upon her throne, as she pondered upon her recent conversation and agreement with Hela.

“I had foreseen that with Seigües increase in mana, the longstanding peace in various parts of the realm would inevitably be disrupted. However, I never could’ve imagined that the first signs of war would erupt in the underground…”

Indeed, the various forces living in the underground had began to prepare for war.

This time, Hela had used divine possession to seek Eve, not for anything else, but precisely for the third clause of their covenant when the two formed their initial oath:

She must assist Hela’s followers in combating the influence of the dark god, Hödur, in Seigües…

Speaking of which… this matter actually had something to do with her.

In the chaotic world underground, the various factions were intertwined and despite the recurring cycles of war, conquest, decline, and collapse among the diverse forces inhabiting Underdark, an intricate balance has persisted between each factions for thousands of years.

However, starting from last year, as the mana across the entire realm suddenly began to rise up exponentially, the underground was inevitably impacted as well.

The resurgence of mana caused a significant increase in the strength of the monsters and creatures living within Underdark. As a result, the power dynamics among various races had also underwent significant changes as well.

Those races that had high potential but were limited by the scarcity of mana underground and thus were restricted in strength all began to overcome their limitations, evolving into much stronger beings…

This newfound strength triggered a shift in mindset and a surge in aspirations.

Ambitions began to swell among the forces that benefitted greatly and naturally…flames of war began to burn.

Of course, warfare had always been the norm in Underdark, but with the increase in mana, everyone’s strength subtly grew stronger, and naturally, the intensity of war and the destructive power they could wield had also increased.

However, it would have been fine if it were just a small-scale conflict between various factions underground. But everything changed when the gods finally got involved.

The first to react was Hödur, the god of darkness and shadows. As an ancient deity and a true god worshipped in the underworld, his faction was already one of the most powerful forces in the Underdark even before the onset of mana resurgence.

But with the increase in mana, his faction’s overall strength further increased, and the forces in the underground that worshipped him began to wage war against the dark dwarves and gnomes protected by Hela, making the conflict inevitable.

Currently, some underground city-states had already erupted into flames, with a significant number of casualties on both sides piling up.

It was evident that Hödur intended to drive Hela’s influence out of Underdark.

Fortunately, two gods had not yet fully torn all semblances of reason and initiated a War of Faith or sent down their divine envoys.

Nevertheless, if it truly came to that, then it would mean a complete fallout between two of the highest-ranking gods of the Netherworld, and a war between them would be unavoidable…

Moreover, considering the locations of the divine kingdoms of these two Ancient Gods, the final outcome of this conflict might even involve the fall of either of them, or perhaps even more severely, the shattering of the Netherworld was not entirely impossible scenario either.

Therefore… even though their respective believers were already fired up and the city-states underground were already acting irrationally, warring amongst one another, the atmosphere in the Netherworld was still somewhat quite delicate.

In the end… it was because neither Hela nor Hödur were prepared to fully commit to a full-blown War for Faith for the time being.

Furthermore, both of them are Ancient Ones and unlike the Gods of Faith, their believers are merely complementary, serving as extensions of their power rather than their primary source.

Hence, even though the conflict between their believers has captured their attention, it is still not enough for them to risk everything and declare a proper War of Faith.

Yet the crux of the problem lies precisely in this…

Hela, the Goddess of death, established her influence in Underdark much later than Hödur, the God of Darkness and Shadows.

In the event of a war, while Hela’s army of heroic spirits could potentially defeat her opponent, it was clear that her underground forces alone were no match for the Dark Lord’s followers.

The most crucial reason for this was that Hela’s underground forces simply had too few people, and their ranks only have mid-to-low-end strength.

Facing this dilemma, the Goddess of Death naturally thought of Eve’s Chosen Ones.

The strength they showed during the battle of Blackrock City and the subsequent skirmish between the half-orcs, as well as their ever-increasing presence in the underground, had inevitably caught the attention of Hela.

Although these otherworldly visitors were overall relatively weak individually, they were entirely not afraid of death.

Moreover, they have formidable combat power collectively, most importantly, they are highly united and capable of endlessly resurrecting themselves, making them the ideal cannon fodder…

For wars merely involving mortal forces, having such an undying army would without a doubt tip the scales in their favor.

Therefore, Hela intended to borrow them from Evé.

One aspect that needs to be mentioned here is that there’s a significant gap in strength between ordinary and extraordinary beings, and among the latter, the strength difference between each ranks was also huge.

A weak Level 1 mage apprentice could only conjure a small fireball the size of a fingertip, while a 100th-level archmage at the pinnacle of golden rank could cast meteor showers capable of dealing lethal blows to an unprotected small town…

Not to mention those who had surpassed the secular ranks and ascended into mythical status, like beings who could casually unleash kilometer-wide forbidden curses, and demigods who could easily destroy a forest or a mountain range with just a flick of their hands…

As for true gods…

They could fight regardless of the consequences and could easily destroy an entire realms.

However, although there was a huge difference in strength between extraordinary beings, when two factions with equal strength fought each other, armies composed of mid-to-low-end experts and even ordinary people still played a crucial role.

This was because, while the strong were indeed powerful, they were also inherently scarce in quantity. Moreover, due to the abundance of divine artifacts in the universe, some weak entities whose armed with powerful artifacts, might even be able to defeat far more stronger opponents.

Therefore, a weaker army, when faced with a strong individual, would still had the possibility of overturning the latter due to carelessness.

Not to mention, if both sides in the conflict had true gods behind them, then caution was even more necessary.

Generally speaking, there is an unspoken rule among the major factions in the Seigües, wherein during wars, soldiers fight soldiers, generals fight generals, and armies naturally deal with armies, while strong individuals deal with strong individuals.

Of course, if one side lacked strong individuals, then there was no point in fighting to begin with and simply surrendering was the only choice.

As for if one side only had strong individuals and lacked an army composed of mid-to-low-end strength…

Hmm, in that case, it was almost impossible to start a war as well.

Because in the Seigües, there were no factions that consisted solely of strong individuals. Even if there were, their needs were different from those of ordinary factions, and the two sides were almost impossible to initiate a conflict.

In short…Hela and Hödur, had begun their preliminary clash in the underground, with both hoping to uproot each other’s influence in some way before the full scale war occurrs.

And to achieve ultimate victory and reduce the casualties of her already small number of believers, Hela naturally turned her gaze to Eve’s Chosen Ones.

To this, Evé naturally agreed.

On the one hand, it was because the two sides had an agreement, and on the other hand, it was because the players could also gain benefits from being involved in this conflict.

Of course, in addition to this, there was also one point to consider:

Hödur had close ties with some evil gods, and it was very likely that there were evil gods hiding within his forces.

And to this, Evé naturally felt intrigued.

Whilst sitting high on her throne, Evé already had a clear plan for her next move.

“All right, it’s time to design a new major quest for the players, maybe it can even turn into a dungeon. I hope they will like it and bring me some surprises.”

— 345 —

【 WAR UNDERGROUND 】

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