Game of the World Tree

Why are the NPCs suddenly not following the usual routine?

The players watching Demacia’s livestream were left confused for a moment before they filled the chat with jeering comments:

⤷Pfft…He’s being sacrificed lolol…

⤷Hahaha, Demacia, you’re in big trouble now! xD

⤷Live streaming your own death, lmao what a show…

Demacia: “…”

After hearing the decision of the Chief Shaman, the Orcs who tied up Demacia and the two newbies laughed ferociously as they drew out the machetes hanging from their waists.

Seeing their gleaming blade draw closer to him as his ashen face gets reflected upon its metallic surface, Demacia widened his eyes in a panic and hastily exclaimed in a flattering tone,

“N-N-No…we are on the same side! I have important information to report, T-Taijun!”¹

Looking at Demacia’s fawning behavior, the two newbies beside him were so dumbfounded that they couldn’t even bear to look at this person who they once even called Big Brother…

This was so embarrassing!

The corners of their mouths twitched involuntarily and the two turned their heads away pretending they didn’t know him.

⤷Lmfao… Demacia, are you betraying the elves?

⤷Hahaha…this guy is a real bastard, this shit is so hilarious… Hahaha…

⤷Lol did he really called the Orc King Taijun?

⤷Demacia, listen to me, you should definitely try being a comedian!

The stream was as lively as ever, as comments filled with laughter bombarded the live chat as it moved at light speed.

“This guy…”

Even Evé couldn’t help but cringe and felt second-hand embarrassment as she watched the silly antics of this red-haired rascal.

But at the same time, a proverbial light-bulb goes on within her mind.

“Although he likes to act recklessly and seek death, this rascal might actually be able to deceive the Orcs…”

“Perhaps…it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to plant a seed on the enemy side. If the Orcs believe him, then I could delegate some tasks for him.”

And sure enough, after they heard what Demacia suddenly blurted out, the Chief Shaman and Lionheart King Imsh raised their eyebrows slightly.

“Don’t kill them yet, let’s hear what he has to say.”

The Chief Shaman said calmly.

The Orcs immediately stopped their actions upon hearing her words.

Demacia breathed a sigh of relief as if he had been granted amnesty.

However, just as he was starting to regain his excitement and organize his thoughts to begin his usual modus operandi of deception—

【❗ 】

A new system prompt suddenly appeared before him:

【You have been captured by the Orcs. You triggered a personal hidden quest: Deceive the Orcs.】

A personal hidden quest? Deceive the Orcs?

Demacia was momentarily stunned, then he became overjoyed.

A personal hidden quest!

He actually had triggered another hidden quest!

Hahaha! What luck! Was he actually the most fortunate player in the entire server all along?

Immediately after, the specific instructions of the quest appeared right before Demacia’s eyes.

【Personal Hidden Quest: Deceive the Orcs】

【Quest Objective: Gain the trust of the Orcs and gather information about the Orcs’ military situation.】

【Quest Reward: Overall Personal Reputation Score +1】

Whoa!?

The reward is an increased in reputation score!

Seeing the quest reward, Demacia’s eyes further widened to its largest capacity.

What an incredible reward!

Right now, what he needed most was a way to increase his abysmal overall personal reputation score and Demacia hadn’t expected that the system would actually give him an opportunity to address the issue he’d been tirelessly working hard to resolve all this time…

He couldn’t believe his luck!

Demacia felt so moved that he was about to cry…

However, just as he was about to praise the goddess within his heart, the Chief Shaman’s expression suddenly changed into one of alarm.

“Hurry! Kill them quickly!”

Her expression became intensely serious, almost shouting out the command.

Her order came so urgently that before Demacia and the two newbies could even react, the Orcs had already drawn out their machetes from their waists once more and with a single swift motion, beheaded the three players altogether…

Demacia’s last expression showed a look of utter disbelief, as his severed head bounced up a couple of times before rolling to a stop right in front of the Chief Shaman.

Poor Demacia.

He died at level 24, unable to even accept the rare personal hidden quest the system had granted exclusively into him.

The smell of blood gradually permeated the air as the bodies of the three players then lifelessly collapsed.

Lionheart King Imsh squinted his eyes slightly, and he looked at the Chief Shaman curiously and asked,

“Your Excellency, didn’t you want to hear what they had to say? What changed your mind?”

However, the Chief Shaman did not immediately answered his question. Instead, she looked around in suspicion for a minute before displaying a grave expression and took out a necklace made of string of skulls hidden underneath her chest.

The necklace seemed ancient and adorned with dark crimson hues as it emit a subtle, unsettling aura of chaos and malevolence.

Upon seeing the necklace, the Orc King’s pupils constricted as his face slightly darkened.

“As I suspected, you actually brought along this artifact…”

His tone was filled with deep apprehension and… fear!

“Of course I would. After all… our enemy this time is a God! Although they aren’t recognized by the Pantheon, they are still a true god nonetheless! We must give our all since we are facing a true god!”

The Chief Shaman spoke solemnly.

“Moreover, this divine artifact originally belongs to our Divine Father!”

Upon hearing her words, the Orc King’s face paled considerably.

However, his eyes were soon drawn to the necklace the Chief Shaman is holding as it suddenly emitted a faint and eerie glow.

Seeing the state of the necklace, the look on the Chief Shaman’s face grew increasingly grim.

“Indeed, as expected…a terrifying existence was observing us a moment ago.”

“A terrifying existence!?”

Imsh the Lionheart King was astonished.

Then, he asked with a tone of uncertainty,

“You mean—a true god!?”

“Yes… and I’m afraid that terrifying entity relied something to those elves! Your Liege, you should also be aware of the capabilities of this artifact.”

The Chief Shaman’s eyes gleamed with uncanny light.

King Imsh fell silent for a moment and sighed.

“I’ve heard some legends about it. From what I’ve heard, a thousand years ago, our Divine Father managed to defeat that ancient ‘entity’ mainly with its help. But…this necklace is truly terrifying. If possible, I hope that… we would never have to use it this time…”

The Chief Shaman raised an eyebrow and then chuckled lightly.

“That will depend on the strength of our army. If we can successfully defeat the elves and make this new god fall from grace, then we won’t ever need to use this artifact…”

But upon hearing the words of the Chief Shaman, the Orc King did not respond.

He stayed silent yet his gloomy expression revealed that he was not at ease.

Seeing King Imsh’s despondent demeanor, the Chief Shaman sighed out loud.

“Your Liege, there’s no need to worry. We have an army of thirty thousand warriors and can also summon several Totem Guardians. Victory will be ours just as long as this terrifying entity doesn’t directly intervene. Of course, if they do personally intervene, then we’ll have to make a choice…”

She then drew a bow-shaped symbol upon her chest and fervently declared,

“This new god will surely fall! Everything is for the glory of our Divine Father and the future of the Half-Orcs!”

She then looked at the corpses on the ground.

“The corpses of these elves shouldn’t go to waste either…they are all fine materials for sacrifices!”

After saying this, the Chief Shaman raised the necklace and closed her eyes as she solemnly uttered a prayer.

Shortly afterwards, the skull necklace gave off a burst of deep light.

A spine-chilling energy then gradually emanated from the necklace, as it cast an eerie light upon the lifeless forms of the three Elves, which caused their remains to slowly disintegrate…

However, during the process of the bodies disappearance, the Chief Shaman couldn’t help but let out a surprise exclamation.

“What’s wrong?”

The Orc King asked but the expression of the Chief Shaman only showed a look of confusion.

“Half of the sacrifices’ flesh and blood are missing…”

Elven Forest, World Tree.

On one of the massive branches of the World Tree, three orbs slowly coalesced, and after a while, three tall individuals clumsily emerged out from each them.

“Ahhh goddammit! I failed the hidden quest! M-My reputation reward is gone!!”

A heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the whole area.

It was none other than Demacia who was just resurrected.

“Ugh…we died.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have followed along. Shiet, I’ve wasted ten revival coins…”

The other two newbies also resurrected at the same time, looking dejected.

“I used twenty-four revival coins… and the personal hidden quest is now gone…fucking hell, the reward for that quest was a reputation boost too!”

Demacia felt entirely heartbroken.

In contrast to Demacia’s grief, his livestream chat was still filled with joy:

⤷Ah…he died so suddenly!

⤷How tragic lol!

⤷Hahaha! He died even before he could accept the quest. Lolol you’re really are unlucky Demacia.

⤷Demacia, did your intention to fool them somehow got revealed?

Watching the fast moving live chat, Demacia grumbled in frustration,

“How would I know!”

He then closed the livestream after a few moments and let out a long sigh…

The three newly revived players then looked at each other in an awkward silence.

“…Are we going again?”

After a while, one of the newbies asked.

“Go? No freakin’ way man, my hidden quest is already gone…screw this, I’m gonna study instead! Hit me up once the Orcs starts attacking the city!”

Demacia sighed and quickly logged out.

Eve’s mood was not much better than the trio as she silently watched from her mindscape Demacia and the two newbies log off from the game.

“My presence must have been discovered…How did those Orcs knew that I was spying on them? I should have hidden my presence well…”

“Not to mention, half of their avatar’s flesh and blood disappeared when I teleported the bodies of Demacia and the other two.”

“What is it? Did something interfere with my teleportation? I’m already a true god, so no one should be able to stop me from teleporting the players avatars…”

“Moreover, I sensed a strange aura lingering within their avatars when I checked their condition just now.”

A trace of doubt arose within Eve’s heart.

“…What could it be?”

Suddenly, it occurred to her that this upcoming war of faith might not go as smoothly as she had initially hoped…

¹ 太君 – Taijun was a term used by chinese people to address the japanese officials (a bit like “Master”) during their occupation of china before and during WW2.

After the war the term has been instead used in a sarcastic manner mostly as a way to deride the “masters” who had lost.

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