【 AS EXPECTEDOF THIS GUY 】

The reason players were able to exploit Uller’s divine punishment was that it originally dealt AOE damage. However, once it was modified to target only those who desecrated his statues, players abandoned this strategy altogether.

Naturally, the change in the divine punishment mechanics led to an outcry among the players.

Some speculated that Uller had altered his divine punishment after noticing players abusing his punishment.

However, the majority preferred to believe that this was yet another attempt by the game developers to suppress unconventional playstyles.

After all… Elven Kingdom had provided countless instances proving that NPCs in this game genuinely reacted to players’ actions. However, for most players, a god was still a distant, almost unreal existence.

Meanwhile, after Uller’s divine punishment was changed, Evé noticed a flood of complaint threads on the official forums…

⤷ “Dammit! First, they buffed the statue’s protection, and now they nerfed the divine punishment?! What’s the dev team thinking? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻”

⤷ “QAQ My divine punishment meta… I only used it once, and they already shut it down?!”

⤷ “Sigh… what a shame…”

⤷ “Hahaha! Wasn’t there someone saying they’d never use such a cheap trick? And now that it’s gone, everyone suddenly loves it?”

⤷ “Sigh… You clearly haven’t tried it yet, haven’t you? Even the statues from small tribes, when used with Demacia’s strategy, could unleash divine punishment strong enough to vaporize even upper Silver-rank opponents! This wasn’t just divine punishment—it was literally a nuclear bomb! And don’t even get me started on the statues from medium and large tribes…”

⤷ “Holy shit! The damage was that high? No wonder… that’s really a loss…”

The players were filled with regret as they flooded the forum with these kinds of posts.

Evé, however, completely understood the players’ frustrations.

For players whose highest combat strength barely reached lower Silver-rank, Uller’s divine punishment had been an invaluable tool.

At the very least, whenever players used this strategy to attack Orc settlements, Eve, whose been overseeing everything through the game system could clearly sense a drastic increase in their efficiency. The red-marked Orc villages on the minimap were disappearing at an accelerating rate…

Although this meant a higher resurrection cost for Evé, the influx of life energy that’s she’s getting at the same time made up for it.

So naturally, she was more than happy with this outcome.

However, just when Evé thought the matter was over, a new thread appeared from none other than Demacia.

And once again, it was about the divine punishment meta.

Title: “My Thoughts on Uller’s Divine Punishment No Longer Working”

“It’s about the divine punishment again? Is this guy addicted to it?”

Evé was surprised.

Curious, she opened the thread:

“Hey everyone, it’s me, Demacia, back at it again!”

“From the title, you probably already guessed what I’m going to talk about. That’s right! The now ineffective divine punishment meta!”

“First off, it’s a real shame… but Uller’s divine punishment has now been changed to a single-target attack, meaning our old strategy is effectively dead.” 𝘳𝓪ＮɵΒÈs̩

“However, this whole ordeal with Uller’s statue has given me a ton of inspiration!”

“Before I continue, let’s clarify something: Was this change to divine punishment a bug fix from the developers after they deemed our strategy an exploit? Or was it purely the result of our actions catching Uller’s attention?”

“These are two completely different scenarios!”

“If it’s the former, then we’re out of luck—our strategy is truly dead. But if it’s the latter, there’s still hope.”

“Hehehe… That brings me to my next point: Everyone, let’s think outside the box for a moment. Uller isn’t the only true god in this game! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”

Eve: “…”

“…Not the only god in this game?”

She opened her mouth slightly, a sense of foreboding creeping in.

“Don’t tell me this guy is planning to target other gods now?”

Taking a deep breath, Eve continued reading:

“Hehehe… If only Uller’s divine punishment was modified, then… what’s stopping us from stealing statues of other gods?”

“At this point, I’m sure everyone knows exactly who I’m talking about.”

“That’s right! It’s the Goddess of—no, no, that’d definitely get us wiped out by the natives. Cough, just kidding, not the Goddess. I’m talking about another deity we’ve encountered before—the Eternal Lord!”

“As you all know, the Maple Leaf Territory in the human territories has been open for a while. Apart from trade and the occasional beast tide giving us some mercenary tasks, there hasn’t been much to do in this maps aside for leveling. But don’t forget—many villages in Maple Leaf Territory have small chapels dedicated to the Eternal Lord! And every single one of them has an enshrined statue of Him!”

“We may not be at war with the humans right now, but based on the game’s lore, we’ll likely be enemies in the future. So, I see no issue with targeting their statues!”

“Unlike the Orc settlements, those human villages have little to no security! We can easily sneak in and steal their statues!”

“If Uller’s divine punishment doesn’t work anymore, we can just switch to a different one! Let’s use the Eternal Lord’s divine punishment against the Orcs!”

“Hehehe… And according to the game’s lore, the Eternal Lord is an even more powerful entity than the God of Winter and Hunt. His divine punishment must surely be even stronger!”

“Let’s not forget—during the Maple Leaf City Questline, we even triggered a direct divine descent from him! That incident alone nearly obliterated half the city!”

“Cough of course, to avoid disaster, we shouldn’t go overboard when desecrating His statues… We should only trigger the standard divine punishment, and we must cover our tracks. Ideally, we should also use disguise or transformation magic to appear as Orcs before acting and then immediately die on the spot.”

“In short, we must eliminate all traces leading back to us.”

“Hehehe… This is just an idea, but I think it’s got serious potential! I call this strategy: ‘killing with a borrowed knife strat!’”

Demacia’s post were filled with excitement and pride.

After reading his proposal, Evé was left speechless.

“This guy… He actually took the concept of abusing Uller’s divine punishment and extended it to targeting the Eternal Lord?”

As expected of the most reckless player in the entire server…

Although Evé personally would love to see Uller and the Eternal Lord fight each other like two rabid dogs, she knew it was impossible.

The latter wielded only weak divine power, while the former was one of the most powerful deity in the Parthenon. So the difference between those two was simply too vast.

Moreover, even if players tried to fool the Eternal Lord, would Etriōu actually believe it?

True gods weren’t fools.

Eve seriously doubted Demacia’s new scheme would deceive the Eternal Lord for even a moment.

Last time, the blame fell on the Despair Cultists, and the players operated from the shadows. But now, they were openly fighting the orcs. At a time like this, anyone with half a brain could see through any attempt to shift the blame.

If the players really did attempt to trigger the Eternal Lord’s divine judgment, the true mastermind would be easily exposed as well.

Furthermore, if things went wrong… it wouldn’t just be Uller targeting Eve as there was also the risk of provoking Eternal Lord Himself. If that happened, Etriōu might even descend to deal with her directly…

“No, no, no… I’m not ready to face that many enemies yet. For now, I just need to deal with Uller and work with Hela to take down Hödur. Perhaps even eliminate a few more of their evil god allies too along the way. But facing the Eternal Lord? At the very least, I need to reach intermediate divine power first!”

Evé shook her head repeatedly.

The more enemies she had, the greater the risk of her true identity being exposed.

And if that happened, it would mean she would face an all-out siege from the gods.

With that in mind, Evé opened the system interface and added a new restriction to the players’ permissions:

Without Eve’s authorization, players are prohibited from approaching the statues of any true gods—except for Uller, the God of Winter and Hunt.

After making the change, she hesitated for a moment before modifying it again:

Without Eve’s authorization, players are prohibited from approaching the statues of any true gods—except for Uller, the God of Winter and the Hunt, and Hödur, the Lord of Darkness and Shadow.

Hmm…

Since she had already fallen out with those two, things wouldn’t get any worse regardless of how bad they became.

But as for the other true gods… it was better to avoid them for now.

“Good thing I saw that post early. If a player had actually gone and done something reckless, this could have escalated into a real disaster.”

Evé massaged her temples.

It was just as she expected.

There was nothing these players wouldn’t dare to do.

Their creativity knew no bounds, always coming up with new and unexpected ideas.

Still, while Eve had prevented them from causing further trouble, Demacia’s post had given her some inspiration…

“Desecrating statues… Hmm. It may not be honorable, but given the players’ immortality, it’s a cunning and effective way to provoke the other gods while yielding great results. Perhaps not now, but if I ever go to war with the Eternal Lord, there will be plenty of time to use this tactic again…”

She muttered to herself.

Demacia’s post wasn’t over yet and there was actually one final section in the bottom.

And after implementing the restriction on the players, Evé resumed reading…

“Of course, this second strategy is based on the assumption that the second hypothesis is correct. If the devs really have banned the Divine Punishment Meta, or if this plan also fails, then we’ll have to say goodbye to this Meta for good…

“But before that happens, I think we should take this opportunity to deliver one last heavy blow to the orcs’ morale!

“After fighting them for so long, we all know that these guys aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. That means they’re easier to deceive and manipulate!

“Heh heh heh, and that brings us back to Divine Punishment…

“We might not be able to use Uller’s Divine Punishment anymore, but we can use it to spread rumors!

“We can say that their God’s Divine Punishment has weakened! Which means Uller’s power is waning! Or that even though we desecrated their precious statue, yet them, the orcs still had to pay the price, proving that their Patron Deity doesn’t actually care about his own followers!

“We can even claim that despite the our actions, Uller couldn’t stop his statues from being defiled, proving that his era is over!

“And once we successfully defeat an orc tribe, we can use this to further shake their faith!

“In short… even if the Divine Punishment Meta is no longer viable, we can still use our recent victories to crush the orcs’ faith and morale, giving us an edge in future battles!”

The post finally ended there.

Evé clicked her tongue twice.

“As expected of this shameless rascal.”

༺⟐༻

Demacia’s post once again sparked heated discussions on the official forums.

Especially the part about targeting other gods—it was as if he had opened the players’ eyes to a whole new world.

What made the Divine Punishment meta so appealing to players was its sheer destructive power.

As for the Eternal Lord’s Divine Punishment? There were still videos of it online, showcasing its power comparable to that of a hydrogen bomb!

Before long, plenty of players took Demacia’s advice and headed to Maple Leaf Territory to try stealing a statue of the Eternal Lord…

Moreover, as if his idea had sparked even more creativity, Evé also sensed that some players had even turned their sights toward enshrined statues of Hela, the Goddess of Death, and Hödur, the Lord of Darkness and Shadow.

At this rate, the only one they hadn’t tried to mess with was Evé herself…

Of course, that was only because they had already “unlocked” and gained some favorability points with her— so naturally, no one was willing to risk lowering it and triggering her wrath.

However, thanks to Eve’s preemptive restriction on the use of statues, aside from those of Uller and Hödur, all their attempts ended in failure.

Although Eve hadn’t banned them from approaching Hödur’s statues, the players’ activities in the underground were mostly confined to the Hermetic Alliance’s territory…

And after the underground war, Hödur’s sanctified statues had all but disappeared from the Alliance’s lands.

As a result, the strategy of using sanctified statues to trigger Divine Punishment was temporarily retired for the moment.

From then on, the players had no choice but to return to conventional tactics, launching ambushes against the orcs and mapping new areas as originally planned.

With this shift, their operations entered a steady rhythm.

As time passed, orc settlements near the Dark Mountains grew scarcer and scarcer…

Meanwhile, the players due to their actions have lived up to their reputation as a walking natural calamity.

They were ruthless and relentless in battle, sweeping through their enemies like a plague of locusts.

Every orc tribe they set their sights upon eventually vanished from the map with most of the orcs ending up as experience points.

The lucky few who escaped spread the horror of these evil elves far and wide, while some of the captured ones became the players’ prisoners.

As a result, nowadays a wave of fear toward these ‘evil elves’ have began to spread across the Desert of Death.

Under this growing terror, many smaller tribes panicked, with some even abandoning their settlements entirely and seeking refuge in larger tribes instead…

Even though the final battle between the two races hadn’t officially begun yet, the orcs who once stood proud and defiant under the guidance of their god were now utterly demoralized, their fighting spirit a mere shadow of what it once was.

— 502 —

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep