Chapter 576

【 ALREADY CRIPPLED 】

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Southern Side of the Dark Mountains – Mountainpeak City

Thanks to the efforts of its members, the obsidian fortress-city situated atop the mountain had finally been completed. The construction division of Moe Moe Committee had once again showcased their extraordinary talent, sparing no effort in embellishing their very own fortress city. In the end, they even managed to give it the appearance of a fantastical castle.

As this guild was affiliated with her alternate identity, Evé would occasionally visit under her persona as “Féng.”

Of course, her primary purpose was to inspect the progress of the elemental fairies’ work within the Dark Mountains.

Overall, their results so far have been quite promising.

Although the changes were subtle, when Evé visited the region, she could clearly sense that the once-chaotic magical energies of the Dark Mountains were gradually beginning to stabilize.

At this rate, the magical flow across the region might fully stabilize even before the dimensional pathway of Seigües opened completely. Once that happened, vitality would return to the region, and the Dark Mountains former name, “Emerald Mountain,” could very well be restored before long.

While the elemental fairies worked tirelessly to improve the ecological state of the Dark Mountains, Evé faintly sensed an inexplicable power descending upon her—an empowering force that seemed to deepen her comprehension of the natural laws.

After a brief moment of reflection, Evé realized what this was:

It was divine feedback.

As the God who presided over the Divinity of Nature, the very act of regulating magical energy and restoring ecological balance naturally fell within the scope of her divine duties. Thus, by creating the elemental fairies and having them rehabilitate the mana in the environment, Evé was, in effect, fulfilling the obligations of her divine role and in return, was being rewarded by the governing laws of the universe for doing so.

At that moment, Evé also came to understand why so many true gods remained actively engaged in tasks aligned with their divinity.

In truth, when most gods ascended, they did not achieve complete mastery over the laws tied to their divinity. Rather, they were recognized by these laws and granted the status of being its personification and wielder.

After ascending, there are three primary paths by which a true god can grow stronger:

First was elevating the laws in which they govern. This was the most fundamental path. For example, advancing the divinity of Winter into the broader domain of Nature can serve as a key stepping stone to attaining the power of a Greater Deity.

Second was accumulating divine power and this was the most direct and effective method of all the paths. Among gods of the same rank, the one with greater divine power usually has the upper hand.

Whether it’s an ancient god who absorbed power from external sources, or faith-based deities who expand their believers to increase their reserves, the objective remains the same—acquiring abundant divine power.

The last was deepening the comprehension and mastery of their governing laws. This was not only a prerequisite for elevating one’s divinity but also essential for fully maximizing the effects and minimizing the consumption of divine power.

A true god who thoroughly understands and masters their governing laws can perform miracles and incredible feats, even if they remain limited in rank.

Naturally, the most powerful gods are those who have perfected all three paths.

“Come to think of it, my predecessor created the elves and repaired the destroyed world of Seigües right after the end of the Twilight Era. Perhaps this was not only due to Her benevolent nature, but also to deepen Her understanding of the Laws of Life and Nature.” Eve mused. ℞ÁŊοＢĘS

The former World Tree was, after all, an ancient god—one blessed with the [Absorption] ability. With such a gift, divine power was never an issue. Moreover, the Divinity of Nature and Life that her predecessor governed were among the highest-level laws in the universe, leaving little room for advancement.

From that perspective, enhancing comprehension of these laws might have been the main path her predecessor took to increase her strength.

“That said, I believe my predecessor’s weakness may have been in manipulating the laws itself, which was perhaps a common flaw among most ancient gods. Their power came innately, naturally wielded, but not thoroughly understood. So they needed to work harder in that area to compensate for it…”

“Or perhaps, it was all part of preparation for an even greater breakthrough.”

“I’ve now ascended to the rank of Intermediate Deity, but my true form still remains in its ‘initial stage.’ I wonder what form my predecessor took as a Greater Deity…”

“Still, I have a feeling that once I reach that rank, many things will become much clearer to me including some of the deeper secrets of my true form…”

There were undoubtedly aspects of the World Tree’s power that even Evé had yet to uncover.

Regrettably, those crucial elements were absent from the inheritance of the World Tree. Thus, Evé could only rely on her own efforts to discover them.

While she had entrusted all the affairs of her divine kingdom to Feynir, the Fairy King, and leisurely wandered the Dark Mountains while contemplating her future plans…

Suddenly she sensed a familiar and intense divine fluctuation coming from the northern region of the Elven Forest.

“Hmm?”

Evé instinctively looked up, gazing toward the north.

Lately, such divine fluctuations had occasionally been occurring in that area. Hence, Evé had already grown used to them.

Each time, the aura was unmistakably familiar—it belonged to Hodür, the Lord of Darkness and Shadows.

And every time it happened, Evé knew it meant another adventurer had met an unfortunate end.

Most likely, yet another one had fallen victim to the players’ notorious “Divine Judgement Bombs.”

Hodür was truly pitiable.

The Underground was already a chaotic place and those who lived there viewed morality as negotiable. With enough gold, nothing was out of reach.

So, by simply throwing gold coins around, players could easily hire bold and reckless individuals to steal or loot holy statues from various city-states that worship the Lord of Darkness and Shadows…

As a result, desecrating Hodür’s holy statues had all but become the players’ primary method for crafting their bombs.

However, after being exploited by the players so extensively, this Nether god had clearly reached his limit. Recently, his divine punishments had been growing weaker and weaker, almost as if they were performed only for show.

Moreover, if he detected that his holy statue had fallen into the hands of players, Hodür would immediately detonate it, unleashing an immensely powerful divine punishment capable of reducing the bold and reckless players to ashes on the spot.

Of course, while the risks were great, so too was the power of divine punishment.

For the players, the allure of these “divine punishment bombs” far outweighed the potential danger. Many were even willing to gamble with their lives for the chance to use one, despite the risk of being obliterated in advance.

This was especially true after an ambush conducted by the First Legion, where they successfully eliminated a Legendary-rank opponent using two of Hodür’s holy statues in combination with a ninth-circle fire-elemental scroll salvaged from the shattered divine kingdom…

However, this time, the divine energy fluctuation was far more intense than any that had occurred before.

Not even the previous instances, where Hodür preemptively detected stolen statutes and greatly amplified his divine punishment, could compare to the magnitude of the fluctuations just now.

More importantly, this energy did not originate from Hodür.

“…This is the power of the Eternal Lord? And it occurred near the divine ruins?”

In that instant, Eve’s expression grew solemn.

She had witnessed the power of the Eternal Lord once before during the battle at Maple Leaf City. At the time, even a mere incarnation of that deity had crippled the Despair Dragon Nidhogg, allowing Evé to seize an unexpected opportunity.

Having experienced the might of the Eternal Lord firsthand, Eve knew without a doubt that he was destined to become a formidable enemy once her identity was fully revealed.

The Eternal Lord, Etriōu had been the strongest among the deities who besieged the former World Tree a thousand years ago, and was the true god who led the assault against it.

However, typically he was not the type to waste time monitoring the Elven Forest.

According to both the inheritance of her predecessor and Hela’s descriptions, he was an arrogant god. As long as the seat in the Pantheon that once belonged to the World Tree remained shattered, he would, at most, dispatch some subordinates to investigate the Elven Forest.

Judging by the nature of the divine fluctuation just now, Evé suspected it had been a divine punishment…

Clearly, the players must have pulled another outrageous stunt.

“Was that truly a divine punishment from him? Did the players get their hands on one of his statues? Have they completely lost their minds? And who was the poor soul on the receiving end this time? With power like that… even a demigod could have been struck senseless, if not obliterated. Hmm… wait a minute. Didn’t I already prohibit players from approaching the statues of other true gods? How did they pull it off? Or could it be… that something else triggered the divine punishment?”

At that thought, Evé immediately extended her awareness.

Winterhold, the player-built stronghold, had long since been completed, and a holy statue of Evé had already been enshrined there. As such, the northern region of the Elven Forest had effectively become part of her faith network.

Using that network, Evé quickly pinpointed the exact location of the divine fluctuations. Through the game system, she identified the nearest player to the site.

Shifting her vision to that player’s perspective, Evé beheld the aftermath of the divine punishment.

It was a massive crater, spanning hundreds of meters across. The surrounding forest had been ravaged by the aftermath, as though a hurricane and thunderstorm had just torn through the area.

A dozen players lay sprawled near the crater, looking equally miserable with nearly half of them barely clinging to life…

Yet their expressions were nothing short of ecstatic.

“Holy crap! That power was insane! Absolutely off the charts! The Eternal Lord is so OP!”

One player, whose leg had been blown off by the blast, was cheerfully removing a still-intact boot from the severed limb as he spoke with excitement.

“No wonder he’s the god who nuked half a city with one divine punishment… Good thing the statue we got wasn’t too big, or we’d all be dead by now.”

Another player, his equipment in tatters and still bleeding from multiple wounds, said with awe.

“Cough, cough… Quick… cough…guys check on that Legendary mob…”

A third, his face pale and vomiting blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, spoke eagerly.

Evé: “…”

No matter how many times she witnessed scenes like this, she still found the players’ complete disregard for their own near-death conditions deeply unsettling.

It was no wonder adventurers referred to them as “mad elves” since anyone who saw this scene would walk away with psychological trauma.

However, as she listened to the players’ conversation, something caught Eve’s attention:

“Legendary mob?”

So they had actually taken down a Legendary-rank expert using the divine statue of the Eternal Lord?

Considering the power of that punishment, the victim was almost certainly already dead.

With that in mind, Evé turned her gaze toward the center of the crater.

The ground was still smoldering with wisps of white smoke. At the center lay a crimson battle axe with faint cracks running along its surface…

It was clearly a divine artifact, but one that had been partially destroyed by the divine punishment.

There was no trace of its original owner. However, Evé, whose sensitivity to soul energy was extraordinary, detected fragmented remnants of a shattered soul.

These fragments had been completely obliterated by the divine punishment, reduced to pure soul energy and stripped of all consciousness. Thereby rendering them incapable of returning to their patron deity’s divine kingdom.

In other words, the Legendary mob mentioned by the players… was utterly and irreversibly dead both in body and soul.

“Who was that? How tragic… they were completely obliterated, it seems.”

Evé, watching the scene unfold, clicked her tongue in amazement.

Meanwhile, the surviving players, after tending to their injuries and stabilizing their health, dragged their battered bodies into the crater to search for spoils of war.

“What the hell! There’s only an axe left! And it looks cracked too!”

Upon discovering that only a single axe remained in the crater, their expressions immediately darkened.

“That Legendary was so weak? Heck, they couldn’t even withstand the divine punishment?”

“We really lost big this time… this was a total loss.”

“I knew we shouldn’t have used the Eternal Lord’s statue. We should’ve stuck with the Lord of Darkness since at worst, we could’ve just used more of them.”

“Well, there’s nothing we could’ve done about it. No one expected the Eternal Lord’s divine punishment to be this strong…”

Each surviving First Legion member in the area looked visibly disheartened.

However, their focus quickly shifted:

“Wait a minute… wasn’t there someone else with that orc? Where did they go?”

“Don’t tell me they were vaporized too?”

…Someone else?

Evé paused for a moment.

She had only sensed one fragmented soul, meaning only a single Legendary had perished.

In that case… someone else had survived?

She expanded her awareness again, and as expected, she soon located a figure sprawled on the ground nearby.

The players noticed it as well.

“Look, over here! Hey guys, they’re over here!”

“Huh, so they’re actually alive…”

“Jeez… that’s rough.”

“Wait… why isn’t he bleeding? Huh? His blood… it’s silver!”

“Hold on—is this a rendering glitch? What’s going on with his outfit?”

It was a burly human warrior.

He lay face down, still struggling to crawl away…

Yes—he was actually crawling!

He was on the brink of death, his expression twisted in horror and shock.

But more strangely, his physical condition was… abnormal.

At least, from the players’ perspective.

Unlike the players—who had been scorched or tattered by the blast—his clothing remained largely intact, though it was crisscrossed with cracks. Yet, these cracks extended beyond the garments and into his body, making it appear as though his clothing was part of his very being.

The cracks, like spiderwebs, covered his entire form, making him look like a porcelain vessel on the verge of shattering.

From within those cracks, no red blood flowed. Instead, a silvery liquid—his blood—oozed out.

He occasionally convulsed, spewing more silver blood, evidence of the divine punishment still rampaging through his body.

By the looks of it, this man was utterly devastated.

To make the matters worse, the players gathered around him excitedly, trying to strip his equipment.

Although his body was covered in cracks, the fact that he had survived the divine punishment at all made his belongings extremely valuable.

If they could find a storage artifact, it would be even better!

However, to their surprise, they soon discovered that no matter how they tried, they couldn’t remove his clothes at all.

“What’s going on?”

“Is this really a bug in the system?”

They frowned in confusion, under the warrior’s angry and humiliated glare.

Evé: “…”

She, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening.

This unfortunate soul who had been struck by divine punishment was not a Legendary-rank being at all but rather a demigod.

And, most likely, a demigod who had ascended through the path of Supplication.

Demigods who ascended via Supplication were especially weak against divine punishment. As beings composed of energy, their bodies were not physical in the conventional sense since their clothing and form were simply projections of their divine power.

As such, unless the demigod summoned their own divine artifact from another dimension, the players would not be able to extract anything from them.

Of course, in his current state, he couldn’t summon anything since it seemed that even speaking was a struggle for him.

The divine punishment was still wreaking havoc within him, relentlessly destroying his already ravaged body and soul. The foreign divine power clashed violently with his own, rendering him completely unable to access his divine strength.

Though not yet fallen, he was critically wounded.

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