Game of the World Tree

After the Shadow Cultists used up their remaining magic stones all at once, the summoning array was instantly pushed to its maximum capacity.

As if reaching a crucial threshold, a seemingly infinite number of shadow creatures materialized on a scale that far exceeded their imagination, even causing the leader of the Shadow Followers to visibly lose color upon his face.

Countless shadow creatures poured out like rain, instantly engulfing the area outside Blackrock City…

“Oh my god!”

“Oh my god!!”

“This is too much, isn’t it?”

“Can the shield even hold up against this many?”

The players widened their eyes, shocked as they looked at everything outside the city through the defensive barrier.

As far as the eye could see, there were nothing but sea of squirming grayish black monsters.

The players had frequently witnessed portrayals of armies assaulting cities in movies and other games. However, encountering a siege involving tens of thousands of troops, particularly when these adversaries were monstrous creatures in a highly realistic setting, brought about an indescribable psychological impact like nothing else they have experienced before…

The scene of 5,000 Rohan riders charging the enemy in the movie “The Lord of the Rings” was already exhilarating enough, but the charge of tens of thousands of two-meter-tall shadow monsters was even more terrifying.

This magnificent and terrifying scene surpassed the players’ imagination, causing everyone’s expressions to undergo a dramatic change.

It was the psychological suppression brought about by the difference in numbers!

The legion of shadow creatures moved forward like a torrent, as the monsters completely surrounded Blackrock City.

They stormed towards Blackrock City akin to frenzied ants that had found delicious sugary food!

Evé did not push the defensive barrier to their limits, so when the Shadow Legion charged, the pale golden shield began to flicker and emit creaking sounds, as if they were on the verge of collapsing…

Seeing such scene, even the dark-dwarves within Blackrock City started to panic.

The High Priestess looked pale as she watched the Shadow Legion closing in and said incredulously,

“Have they all gone mad? Do they really want to destroy Blackrock City!? Aren’t they afraid that the entire Rift Cavern will be corrupted and overrun by these shadow monsters because of such a massive summoning!?”

Dense clusters of shadow creatures scaled the walls, shielded by a magical barrier. The sight instilled unparalleled psychological pressure upon those observing from within the city.

And a small portion of them seemed to have completely lost control and started flying around the entirety of Rift Cavern, slaughtering everything they saw.

At this time, the number of shadow monsters killed by the players through the gaps in the shields was insignificant compared to the entire shadow legion.

“Shrinelord! Please use the power of Her Majesty the Goddess! Otherwise… I’m afraid Blackrock City will really be breached at this rate!”

One of the clerics desperately asked as they looked at the increasing number of shadow monsters outside the city with a terrified expression.

The Head Priestess appeared conflicted, but ultimately all she could do was shake her head lamentingly.

“I’m sorry…but there’s nothing I can do. I’ve already borrowed the power of our patron god recently, and I won’t be able to use it again for the time being…I’m afraid It’ll take at least a month for me to fully recover.”

“What!?”

Every cleric turned pale upon hearing her response.

Meanwhile, Little Salty Cat, who also overheard their conversation, felt a sudden inspiration sparked within her mind.

After thinking for a moment, she started looking around and spotted a figure swinging a big sword nearby.

She quickly stood up and ran over towards the person, before shouting,

“Demacia, quickly go and call up your buddy Aél so that he could summon the incarnation of the goddess!”

“The incarnation of the goddess?”

Demacia was taken aback.

“That’s right. There are simply too many shadow monsters, and we cannot possibly defeat them all in our current state. Look, the defensive shield is on the verge of collapsing as well, so we have no option left but to seek assistance from the Goddess!”

Little Salty Cat spoke.

After hearing this, Demacia knitted his brows and smiled ruefully before replying,

“I’m afraid it won’t work… Before coming here, I already asked Aél about it. He told me that since he had already summoned the incarnation of the goddess back when we subdued the Spider Queen in Rivendell. He cannot do it again for quite some time.”

“The Spider Queen…you mean, Rose?”

Little Salty Cat’s eyes lit up again.

“That’s an option too! Quickly summon Rose instead! She’s so powerful, and she has so many crypt spiders under her command too. She can definitely defeat all these monsters!”

“No, that won’t work either…Even Brother Mu’s favorability with Rose is already barely acceptable, and my relationship with her is in the negatives. So, given my current level of favorability, I can’t just call the Spider Queen out here that easily…”

Demacia shook his head.

Little Salty Cat: “…”

“However…”

Demacia’s tone suddenly changed as he looked towards the direction of the Death Shrine.

“I know someone else here who can borrow the power of the goddess.”

“…Who?”

Little Salty Cat cheered up.

“I saw Lady Zero entering the shrine earlier. Isn’t she also one of the favored ones, just like Aél? Plus, it appears she has a much closer relationship with the goddess…If Aél can summon the incarnation of the goddess, then I’m sure Lady Zero should be capable of doing it too!”

Demacia reasoned but after speaking, he suddenly shook his head once more and reluctantly added,

“But once the goddess’s incarnation takes action, it will definitely be an instant kill, and we won’t be able to farm monsters for EXP anymore…”

“Why are you still worried about farming experience at a time like this? If we just let things continue on like this, then Blackrock City will really be destroyed you know…Completing the questline should be our top priority!”

Little Salty Cat puffed up her cheecks.

“W-Well, you’re right…Considering how those nasty developers of ElvKing usually operates, if the shadow legion really do manage to break in, Blackrock City might be permanently wiped out by those guys…”

Demacia’s expression also turned serious.

“Yeah I think so too! And we finally encountered a friendly faction after all this time, plus I haven’t had enough fun in Blackrock City yet!”

“However, this questline didn’t give us any hints about summoning the goddess’s incarnation. We don’t know if Lady Zero will take action.”

“Well, I just have to give it a try! I’ll go inside the shrine and personally ask her. I just overheard the dwarves talking, and it might be a clue regarding the quest!”

With these words, Little Salty Cat quickly left and ran towards the Death Shrine.

Evé had no idea that the players had pinned their hopes of completing the questline upon her.

At this moment, she was still immersed in her research on the dungeon core.

Nevertheless, as a true god, Evé still managed to develop a comprehensive central blueprint within her mind through her exploration and deductive abilities, despite the intricately complex structure of the dungeon core.

Some ingenious ideas in the core design even gave her some new insights on how to utilize her own divine power.

Evé was convinced that if she were to utilize her demigod-level power at this moment, she would be capable of sustaining it for a much longer period of time.

Not only that, but Evé also felt that she could reduce a considerable amount of the consumption required to maintain her demigod incarnation.

All these findings made Evé quite satisfied.

At this moment, she also noticed that the energy consumption of the central terminal within her hand was rapidly increasing…

“Hmm?”

Evé frowned and once again focused half of her attention on the outside of the city. She was then shocked by the sight of the large army outside.

“Is the other side crazy? Why have they summoned so many shadow creatures?”

By now, she could feel that the rate at which she had been expending her power into the dungeon core had exceeded the benefits she was gaining from the players killing shadow monsters and utilizing the passive skill [War Sacrifice] to siphon their life force.

“It’s a loss.”

Eve’s face darkened.

Although she could still maintain the city’s barrier and prevent the shadow monsters from breaking through the defenses of Blackrock City just as long as she uses her full power, alas…

It wasn’t a profitable endeavor anymore.

“No, there are even more shadow monsters now, but there are still too few players. With how the situation changed, I cannot profit anymore…Perhaps it’s time for me to take matters into my own hands.”

After studying the dungeon core, Evé had some ideas she wanted to experiment with. She believed that by using her demigod-level power now, she should be able to save a lot of divine power.

In the presence of a sufficient number of shadow monsters, she should be able to break even or even make a small profit.

However, there was still some regret within Eve’s heart.

“If there were enough players, I wouldn’t need to intervene this time. Let them eliminate all the shadow monsters, that would be highly beneficial. Not only would they gain training, but I could also absorb their power. Unfortunately…”

Evé shook her head.

She decided that after this questline, she would prioritize summoning more players for the third time.

The total number of players is now becoming a bit of a problem…

“But, I don’t need to act so hastily. I’ll wait and observe. It appears that the summoning array on the enemy’s side still holds some untapped potential. I’ll make my move once there are no more shadow monsters emerging from it.”

“And… I have to find an excuse to come out, and don’t make my intervention too abruptly.”

Evé contemplated.

Just then, a familiar figure stumbled in. It was Little Salty Cat who had decided to seek the NPC’s support!

“Lord Zero…pant…Lord Zero, the shadow creatures outside suddenly surged…and the whole situation is extremely unfavorable for us. Can you summon the incarnation of the Goddess?”

Guided by the dwarves, she ran all the way to Evé in the back hall of the shrine, gasping for breath as she asked.

As Evé looked at panting Little Salty Cat standing in front of her, she was slightly stunned.

Could this… be considered as having found a good excuse for her to intervene?

Outside Blackrock City.

The shadow cultists looked at the densely packed shadow creatures they had summoned and felt both fear and excitement.

“At last, Blackrock City is finished.”

“I didn’t expect… that activating all the magic stones at once could amplify the summoning effect several times…”

“If that’s the case, why did Lord Hearthstone want us to continue summoning steadily?”

“I don’t know…”

“But I heard that it might attract even more powerful beings…”

“But it seems we’re still lucky this time. The monsters we managed to summoned are only at the Iron-rank.”

“I think we should retreat now. This number of shadow creatures is already beyond our control…”

The cultists whispered among themselves.

Listening to his subordinates, the leader of the cultists nodded.

“Don’t worry too much. The summoning is coming to an end, and at this point, powerful shadow creatures won’t be attracted anymore.”

“When these energy pillars start to weaken, we will give the final order to the shadow legion and then close the array.”

Just as he finished speaking, the whole earth suddenly shook again!

Everyone felt a chilling cold energy descending into the depths of the Rift Cavern…

The expression of the leader of the cultists stiffened.

He slowly raised his head and saw the largest energy pillar in front of him suddenly trembling violently.

With a deafening roar, a giant claw wrapped in grayish black smoke then emerged from it.

The terrifying power instantly tore the smoke apart, even distorting and tearing the surrounding space under its might!

Then, from the torn space, a powerful presence emerged that was far larger and more terrifying than any of the ordinary shadow creatures that came out before it…

A wide set of bat wings that blocks the sky, a sturdy body enveloped in grayish black smoke, and an aura that exuded absolute intimidation came out of it afterwards…

Seeing such a massive black shadow above him, the leader of the cultists lost his composure in an instant.

“Shadow…Sh-S-Shadow Dragon!!?”