Game of the World Tree - Chapter 70
Chapter 70 – This must be some kind of prophecy!
In the Temple of Nature.
Alice listened to Li Mu’s report with a stony face and frowned.
“So what you want to say is that… it is likely that Demacia has been caught by half-orcs? And because you lack the strength, you wish to request my assistance?”
Li Mu nodded.
“That’s right. As you know, Lady Alice, we have a way to locate our companions, so we know where Demacia is right now.”
Demacia was still in the group he had formed with his teammates when he was captured, so his coordinates were being displayed on the system’s minimap.
Although he could not be contacted at the moment, his location was still visible to the players.
Alice and Berserker, having spent much time together with the players, were also aware of things like their location-tracking abilities.
“What I was thinking is … we can turn his capture into an opportunity. Didn’t you say that the half-orcs were likely to have a stronghold in the Elven Forest? I see this as an opportunity to destroy this orcish encampment in one fell swoop!”
As Li Mu finished his plea, he looked at Alice’s somewhat hesitant look and continued:
“Besides, I think that this would please the Mother Goddess…”
“The Mother Goddess …” Hearing these words, Alice’s heart skipped a beat.
But she returned to her previous, somewhat torn expression… After a few moments, she sighed.
“It’s not that I’m unwilling to help you, but since the half-orcs have a stronghold, they probably also have an orcish priest there.”
She looked at Li Mu and explained.
“As you know, the Mother Goddess has many enemies. Although She has returned, She cannot publicly show herself for her own safety, otherwise a horde of frenzied enemies would immediately descend on Her … As Her followers and believers, Berserker and I must at all costs avoid showing ourselves in front of the followers of other gods, as this will most likely expose to them the fact that the Mother Goddess has recovered …But unlike us, you players are not believers and your souls are strange, so your presence won’t arouse any suspicion …” Hearing Alice’s words, Li Mu could not help but smile bitterly.
“But … we cannot possibly defeat the half-orcs with our current strength alone. Their leader annihilated Demacia with just one blow.”
“Just one blow …” Alice fell into deep thought and her face turned solemn.
“That leader is likely an upper Iron half-orc warrior. At your level, you would indeed not be a match for the half-orcs…” After thinking about it, she said:
“About this matter … I shall pray to the Mother Goddess, who is merciful and omniscient, and inform her. She will surely enlighten us with her all-knowing wisdom!”
She moved over to Eve’s divine statue, closed her eyes, and began to pray.
Eve was immersed reading an e-book called “Game Design Essentials” obtained via Earth’s internet when she noticed Alice’s prayer. “Hm, is that Alice?” Did something happen to the players?”
She stopped reading.
Despite her game system, it was not possible for Eve to monitor the players’ movements 24/7.
This was why she had once asked Alice to pray and report to her as soon as possible if there was any problem involving the players.
It seemed something had happened to the players? She first glanced at the divine space that was filled with small blue masses of light, each dot representing a player. She did not see any problems.
With a little more peace of mind now, Eve listened to Alice’s prayer. A few moments later, she did not quite know what to make of it.
“Demacia has been captured by half-orcs? And the players are requesting Alice’s assistance?”
She pondered for a moment, and then sank her consciousness into the little light ball that symbolized Demacia.
Eve’s vision changed suddenly, and she soon “saw” through Demacia and noticed his situation. Inside a dimly lit cave, a bruised Demacia had been tied to a stone pillar.
It appeared as if he had been severely tortured. A group of half-orcs were surrounding him.
This was not a hunt for elves, but an interrogation! Listening to the half-orcs’ conversations, Eve quickly guessed the truth. “I didn’t expect that Ullr would send someone to investigate so soon.”
She suddenly felt a sense of urgency and crisis.
And upon seeing the serious looks on the half-orcs’ faces, Eve’s heart beat faster.
Wait a minute … Demacia, this fellow, hadn’t told them anything he shouldn’t have, had he? Then, the half-orc at the front of the group spoke up.
“So, you said your name is Thanos? And you’re the founder of what? Where is this Soul Society located? What are these Dragon Balls and this Sharingan? Who is Jack Sparrow? What is this One Piece treasure?”
Blackstone stared at Demacia, firing off his questions.
Eve was speechless.
What was this nonsense? For a moment, she froze up, thinking that she had somehow traveled back to her high-school anime club in second grade on earth. Seeing Blackstone ask these questions with such seriousness, Demacia was stunned as well.
“Gosh, I was just bullsh$tting… They actually believed all that?”
He mumbled.
Unbeknownst to Demacia, elfkind, as a famous and noble race in the world of Sagas, has always been known for their unity, kindness and honesty.
In their worldview, the word lie didn’t even exist.
Put differently, elves could not lie.
They either told the truth or didn’t say anything at all! This was how the elves were in Sagas.
So, the half-orcs, although they were dumbfounded, did not doubt the veracity behind Demacia’s words.
Eve picked up Demacia’s whispers and soon had a good idea what had caused this nonsensical scene.
“This Demacia fella sure knew how to talk while being interrogated, huh?”
After thinking about it, she realized that the players weren’t really afraid of torture. So why would they just give away secrets?
On the other hand, it was quite possible that an NPC would have cracked under interrogation.
Seeing that the half-orcs actually believed him, Demacia continued his nonsense.
“Ahem… Soul Society is where the Shinigami death gods dwell.”
“The Dragon Balls, on the other hand, are a precious treasure. Legend has it that if you collect all seven of them, you will be able to summon the divine dragon Shenron and have any wish fulfilled!”
Sharingan is a powerful bloodline power…As for Jack Sparrow… he is a famous hero in the human world! If you find his treasure, you can obtain all the wealth, fame, and power in the world!”
Demacia shook his head, pretending to be genuine.
Eve was speechless.
The half-orcs, too, still looked dumbfounded.
Why … Why did the half-orcs, despite understanding every one of Demacia’s words, not understand at all what was being said when the words were arranged into sentences?
The sole half-orc priest, who had been thinking deeply, then suddenly exclaimed:
“I understand now!”
What… What?! Demacia looked at him in astonishment. What did he understand?
Eve also looked confused. What did he understand?
Blackstone’s eyes twinkled, and he looked over at the priest with an air of respect.
“Priest, what did you discover?”
Although Blackstone was far more powerful than this lower Iron half-orc priest, the servants of Father God deserved his full respect. The priest took a deep breath and then said:
“Shenron, powerful magic, and mysterious treasures … Lord Blackstone, all these things are beyond our comprehension. Some sort of encryption must be at play here! I am afraid this is some kind of prophecy!
Although we cannot comprehend this message, if we pray to Father God, He will undoubtedly be able to decrypt it!”
The priest’s expression contorted into that of a fanatic.
“Lord Blackstone, please assist me immediately by organizing a sacrificial ritual so that I can inform His Majesty the true God of this news! If we do this, you and I will definitely be able to receive a reward from Father God!”
The priest was not a fanatic believer and his power of faith was not sufficient to support direct interdimensional communication with Ullr. So, aside from having the priest’s soul ascend into God’s kingdom after death, the only way to communicate with Him was by means of a sacrificial ritual.
Hearing the priest’s words, both Demacia and Eve were stunned into silence.
A reward? The only reward they’d get would be getting whipped … a moment later, Eve sighed inwardly.
“How wise could the elvish race possibly be, to allow themselves to get hunted down and thinned out by retards of such calibre…”
But now that she thought about it, elves were originally also incredibly single-minded with those rigid mindsets of theirs… However, she believed that was balanced out by the mental retardedness of the half-orcs, so she didn’t worry too much.
A sacrificial ritual? Eve noticed that there was no divine statue of Ullr here. If they wanted to lay a cross-dimensional sacrificial magic circle, they had to gather the materials first. This would be a great opportunity for the players.
As long as the operation was properly planned and executed, even the weak players could overwhelm them. More importantly, the half-orcs would give her a delicious amount of life energy.
With this in mind, Eve prepared to issue a quest.
It was just then that she suddenly noticed the stone prison in the cave … “Hmm?”
Her eyes immediately became sharp.
“Oho, this is indeed the stronghold of an elven hunting party.”
Eve’s voice was icy and solemn.
She paused for a moment to make some modifications to the mission quest, and then contacted the saint Alice.
