Game of the World Tree

“Hold it! Don’t let it escape to the urban area! Deal with it here on the city wall!”

“Oh dammit! I’m out of mana!”

“Idiot if you’re out of mana, you should retreat and rest. Don’t waste time here!”

“Did anyone bring Black Dragon Potatoes? Lend me some please!”

“This monster is tough. My sword broke. Does anyone have a spare sword? Even a wooden one will do. Let me use it first!”

Within the city wall, numerous voices of elves arguing incessantly could be heard one after another.

Yet despite the commotion they’re making, they still fought fiercely against the shadow monsters.

This time around, no player resorted to their usual sacrificial tactics.

On one hand, the players’ strength had truly improved and they could now confront any shadow monsters even without resorting to sacrificing themselves. These shadow monsters were different from the orcs. They had little intelligence, similar to monsters and any team of players’ could easily handle them in combat.

On the other hand, the players were lamenting the contribution points they had spent on purchasing perfect resurrections…

Newer equipment was available at the exchange store, but due to everyone’s limited contribution points, nobody wanted to spend a substantial amount in order to save for these equipments.

Even the mages who had already depleted their mana didn’t choose to commit suicide to refill their MP. Instead, they obediently descended from the city wall, found a quiet spot, and consumed Black Dragon-brand potatoes, which have the bonus effect of slightly enhancing their meditation since meditating can restores one’s MP…

With a large number of players, as some stepped back, others swiftly filled their place, maintaining the entire battle situation.

Although the massive legion outside the city wall that sent shivers down people’s spines was still visible through the defensive barrier, they were blocked by hundreds of brave players guarding the gaps, thus preventing any shadow creatures from entering Blackrock City.

As for the dark-dwarves, they had completely become mere spectators…

However, they quickly reacted and spontaneously became the players’ supportline.

“I have a sword! This is my dwarven scimitar. Warriors, please use it!”

“I am an alchemist. I have alchemical potions that can restore magical power…”

“But our mana potions are inferior. They have strong side effects and taste extremely awful. Excessive use of them can even harm the magic circuit, which in turn affects meditation and advancement…”

Hearing the words of the dark-dwarves, the players’ eyes lit up one after another.

“Dwarven Scrimitar? Oh Nice…very nice! Bring it over quickly!”

“F*ck! So this game has mana potions! Bring me a bottle! The side effects are tolerable! Hmm… wait, do they cost money?”

“Uh…no, they don’t…The side effects are too severe. Even if we give them to you.”

“That’s good then. Hurry up and bring them over!”

With the equipment and potion support from the Dark Dwarves, the morale of the players instantly rose, and their attacks became more reckless.

Typically, players would be cautious about their equipment’s durability in battles, ensuring they don’t overuse it. However, since the dwarves have provided them with weapons, they no longer need to worry about such concerns.

Anyway, since the Dark-Dwarves are offering this all free of charge, they can simply attack any monster they see and enjoy themselves…

As for the mages and druids, once they obtained the magical potions from the Dwarves, they became more generous with their use of magic and started unleashing spells without any hesitation.

As for the mana potion’s side effects, the players didn’t care at all.

What’s that you say? Using too many would harm their magic circuits and affect meditation and advancement?

No problem! Just have fun and complete the quests!

Anyway, it’s free!

If the impact of the side-effects is significant, then they can just accumulate a large amount of contribution points and experience points, then simply commit suicide to clear the negative effects!

Anyhow, this method is way better than their typical method of committing suicide just to restore MP!

The Dwarven alchemist looked with conflicted eyes at the elven mages and druids who had consumed their mana-restoring potions he had provided, treating them as though they were mere ordinary water.

In the end, he sighed and remarked, “Truly, you are a warm and friendly race. You guys would even go so far as to willingly sacrifice your own future potential just for the sake of your allies. You are true friends of the Dark Dwarves…”

Of course, nobody knew what he truly thought.

After all, there were no idiots in the world underground who would drink potions like this.

Especially the lowest-quality mana-restoring potions with the greatest side effects and the most unbearable taste…

With Evé providing a magical defense shield and the players diligently guarding the barrier gaps, the progress of the Shadow Legion was hindered, trapping them in a proverbial quagmire.

Even the cultists whose remotely controlling the shadow monsters outside the city gradually realized something was wrong.

For a while, the shadow followers maintaining the summoning array whispered to each other:

“No, fighting passively like this just don’t work. Despite the gaps in the magic barrier protecting the city, we still can’t find a way to rush in!”

“The rate at which the magic stones are being consumed is too fast. Even with the Dark Lord’s blessing, cross-summoning monsters from other dimensions still drains too much energy…”

“I can sense that the shadow creatures that rushed in have all been annihilated…Dammit just when did the guards of Blackrock City become so competent?”

“It seems that the elves are helping the guards. I can’t see the details clearly, but there seems to be elven figures alongside them on the city walls!”

“Elves? Could they be the ones Lord Hearthstone spoke of, possibly followers of an evil god? Have they forged an alliance with the Church of Death!?”

As he listened to his companions’ discussion, a dark-dwarf, clearly the leader, gazed at Blackrock City in the distance, wearing a gloomy expression.

“…How many magic stones do we have left?”

He asked pensively.

He was the third person who had a hoarse vouce who had previously discussed the matters of the players with the Godwarden Hearthstone and Elder Barain.

Although he was not a Godwarden himself, he was a devout follower of the Lord of Darkness and Shadows!

“Not much, only two-fifths remaining.”

Some other shadow followers replied.

The leading figure hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said,

“Use up all the remaining magic stones and summon all the shadow creatures that can be summoned!”

“There are gaps in the defensive magic, indicating that the power stored within the Death Shrine might not possess sufficient faith energy. However, if we increase the number of monsters and apply more pressure, the magic shield will undoubtedly crumble, unable to withstand the onslaught.”

Upon hearing his words, the other followers exchanged glances…

One of his subordinates paused for a moment, his expression grave, before speaking earnestly,

“My Lord, the summoning of shadow creatures from another realm is already fraught with risk. Even with the Dark Lord’s blessing to control them, if we push the summoning formation to its limits and bring forth an excessive number of shadow creatures simultaneously, then we might lose control over all of them.”

“That’s right My Lord. Although we can still currently manage the existing quantity, but if we summon more, then it will become exceedingly difficult. Moreover, it might even draw the attention of more formidable shadow creatures that’s beyond our control! “

“Yes, and if they were to go out of control, even after capturing the city, the population of Blackrock would be at the mercy of uncontrollable number of shadow creatures… What the Dark Lord truly requires is the devotion of a city, not an empty one.”

The other shadow followers also agreed one after another.

Upon hearing the reasoning of his subordinates, the leader of the shadow followers struggled for a moment, sneered, and said,

“It’s fine. Just do as I say and use up all the magic stones!”

After uttering those words, his expression turned fanatical.

“If we cannot capture Blackrock City, then we might as well destroy it!”

“After all, even without an official declaration of a religious war…His Lordship Hodur and the individual those betrayers worship are already in opposition.”

“Sooner or later, the Dark Lord will wage war against that individual, reclaiming control of the underworld and the Divinity of Death. Therefore… we must prevent that individual from acquiring what His Lordship also cannot attain.!”

“As for the possibility of summoning more powerful shadow monsters beyond our control… hehe, isn’t that even better? It will just help us destroy Blackrock city!”

“After all…the believers of Death in Blackrock City are not strong, and those elves are insignificant. There is only one silver-ranked Godwarden within the Church of Death. Until the religious war officially starts, that individual in the Netherworld will not intervene in this battlefield, unless she wants to face retaliation from His Lordship.”

“And if the gods don’t participate in this conflict, then we will definitely win in the end. It’s just a defense shield on the verge of collapse. I want to see just how long it can hold!”

The leader of the shadow followers smirked and said,

“Still, if we can’t capture Blackrock City, then we might as well just destroy it!”

Upon hearing his chilling words, the other shadow followers looked pensively at each other but ultimately fell into silence.

On the city walls of Blackrock City,

Little Salty Cat descended from the city wall, wiping off her sweat as she took the recovery potion handed to her by a dwarf.

She opened the bottle and gulped it down.

However, soon after, she frowned and almost spat out the potion she had just consumed…

It was bitter and astringent, making it extremely difficult to drink.

Then, Little Salty Cat opened up her game settings and quickly disabled her sense of taste in the system configuration menu and managed to force the potion down into her throat.

As the potion settled within her stomach, she could feel her MP replenishing at a speed visible to the naked eye, but at the same time, she also noticed a debuff icon appearing underneath her status bar—

[Inferior Potion Poisoning: Meditation Effect -100%].

Nevertheless, she didn’t really care much about it since she had multiple resurrection chances. She could simply commit suicide after completing the questline.

However, as she regained her magical energy, she noticed HootyBird sitting nearby looking at the potion with a thoughtful expression.

For this particular campaign, Little Salty Cat also brought along HootyBird with her to grind monsters, but this completely life-oriented player seems to be less interested in combat itself, and started researching potions instead.

A thought crossed Little Salty Cat’s mind.

“Sister Bird, have you figured something out?”

HootyBird shook her head.

“No, I was just thinking… Since dwarves can create potions that restores magic, then can’t we make them too?”

Regarding the recovery magic or healing potion, players had once inquired about them even when they first encountered the Rageblaze Clan.

Unfortunately, the Rageblaze Clan had gained renown for their expertise in forging elven equipment and creating intricate runes and magical arrays, rather than focusing on potion research.

In fact, as long-lived beings with inherent healing magic and rarely engaging in battles, the elves had no need for such potions.

As a result, players had believed for quite a long time that Elven Kingdom was judt not like most other fantasy games that features mana and health potions.

—Until today that is…

In fact, even the dark-dwarves themselves rarely used these kinds of potions that restores mana since no matter how good the quality of such potions may be, in the end they always had severe side effects.

Actually, the dwarven alchemist who provided these potions would usually just use it to water his own magical plants…

No one actually drank these vile tasting things.

And the dark-dwarves didn’t have more advanced restorative magic potions either.

This was because mages were extremely scarce amongst the dark-dwarves, and apart from a small demand coming from the dwarven alchemists, no one else needed them.

However, HootyBird had made up her mind and plans to consult the dwarven alchemist regarding these potions after the questline had ended in order to learn the method of creating these things and see if there was a way to improve them…

While Little Salty Cat was restoring her mana, suddenly, the entire ground trembled slightly.

A collective exclamation escaped from both the players and dwarves stationed on the city walls as they instinctively reacted to the tremors.

The already dim world underground suddenly grew even darker once again.

Little Salty Cat instinctively looked over the horizon and was shocked to see the four dark gray energy pillars in the sky suddenly intensifying!

In that instant, a greater number of shadow creatures descended upon the battlefield…

“This is getting troublesome…”

Upon witnessing the newly summoned shadow creatures, densely packed outside the city walls, the Dwarven Head Priestess’s expression grew unusually grave.

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