【 DEMONIZED ELVES 】

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The demons that had been besieging the elven stronghold gradually withdrew. However, the clamor on the battlefield had only just begun, as it was once again time for the players’ routine of scavenging for dropped equipment.

Aurora returned to the wall and let out a helpless sigh as she watched the base’s gates swing wide open, while crowds of Chosen Ones rushed out of the stronghold, shouting excitedly as they surged toward the battlefield outside.

【

】

【Demigod Aurora’s favorability toward you has decreased by 1 point…】

Many players nearby received this notification. Even so, it did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm for scavenging.

After all, even if their favorability dropped, then so be it. It was better to seize the opportunity to gather more equipment and send it to the goddess as an offering to make up for the loss.

After all, these were contribution points!

Moreover, most demons were generally of relatively high level. If luck was on their side, they might even stumble upon a valuable loot.

On the other side of the battlefield, the heroic spirit warriors of the Netherworld had also concluded their battle.

The demons they had transformed into undead collapsed one after another, and the soul flames within their eye sockets gradually flickered out.

At the same time, strands of faint blue radiance drifted from the demons’ withered remains and merged into the heroic spirit warriors, the flames within their eye sockets seemingly burning slightly brighter.

Soul devouring.

Just as Evé could consume the life force of her enemies through her innate abilities, these heroic spirit warriors, being followers of the Goddess of Death, could also devour the souls of other undead to strengthen themselves.

However, they showed no interest in the tattered equipment scattered across the battlefield. After the battle had ended, they instead formed neat ranks and marched into the stronghold under the curious gazes of the players.

The players, for their part, were quite fascinated by these undead figures.

Their imposing armor, the faint blue flames on their eye sockets, and their silent, disciplined demeanor all held a strong appeal for many of the players.

Quite a few of them bounced along behind these undead warriors, following them the entire way.

Moreover, when the players discovered that these towering undead NPCs possessed neither the favorability system nor the reputation system typical of NPCs, their courage grew even greater.

They crowded around them, shamelessly taking screenshots and group photos, climbing up and down, and generally causing a commotion.

Aurora: “…”

【

】

【Aurora’s favorability toward you has decreased by 10 points…】

Only when this system notification floated across their vision did the players react as though they had been splashed with boiling water, jumping up in alarm.

They hurried away from these heroic spirit warriors as if fleeing from a plague and immediately began behaving themselves.

This proved that sometimes it was not that a deduction in favorability had no effect. Rather, it was simply that the deduction had not been large enough.

Some players hurriedly began searching for Aurora. Eventually, they spotted the demigod standing atop the base’s wall.

They then approached her with ingratiating smiles, attempting to curry favor and recover their lost favorability.

Only after Aurora rubbed her temples and deducted another point of favorability from each of them did the players finally become completely obedient and retreat.

Watching these unfortunate fellows, several veteran players standing nearby burst into laughter before lowering their heads once more to continue rummaging through the scattered equipment on the ground.

Yet just as Aurora watched these Chosen Ones—powerful yet lively—people who inspired both affection and exasperation, a series of startled cries suddenly rose from the distance.

Aurora’s gaze sharpened as she looked toward the source of the commotion and saw a few Chosen Ones were fighting several demons.

They appeared to be stray demons that had been chased down by the players.

However, when Aurora saw the demons’ appearance, she paused slightly.

Her expression turned solemn and without hesitation, she unleashed her divine power and flew toward them.

༺⟐༻

Inside the stronghold’s temple, within a chamber that belonged exclusively to Evé.

Inside, the Goddess of Death, Hela, sat leisurely.

As she sipped elven flower tea, she looked at Eve, who had appeared before her, with a smiling expression.

“Your Grace Evé, it has been a long time. The strength of your Elven Chosen Ones has grown increasingly formidable.”

Evé glanced at the noisy players outside the window and sighed inwardly.

She decided that afterward she would further optimize the game system and impose additional constraints on their behavior in front of outsiders.

“It has indeed been a long time, Your Majesty Hela. The aura of your incarnation has also grown much stronger. It seems your advancement to Higher Divine Power is no longer far away.”

Evé replied.

Yes, an incarnation.

The moment Evé saw Hela, she immediately realized that the Goddess of Death had not personally entered the Abyss but rather, she had manifested a temporary incarnation of herself.

However, compared with the time they had met in the Underground in the past, Hela’s current incarnation had become far stronger. It was no longer a divine descent that relied upon a borrowed body, but rather a temporary form directly condensed from divine power.

“Much of this is thanks to the Bloodborne Divinity you had provided.”

“Although I am still unable to leave the Netherworld, as you can see, I can now project a greater portion of my power outside. Henceforth, if you require protection during your ascension, I can stand guard beside you using the Scythe of Death and a divine descent incarnation.”

“Furthermore, several of my divine envoys and my heroic spirit legions shall remain stationed here to assist you in resisting the Demons.”

“This is only the first group of heroic spirit warriors. Others will descend one after another.”

So said Hela.

However, after speaking, her expression gradually turned solemn.

“Your Grace Evé, there is also some information I must inform you of.”

“There is both good news and bad news.”

Evé felt a slight stir in her heart and nodded gently.

“Please go ahead.”

Hela continued:

“The good news is that the Heavenly Gods will no longer dispatch a Legion of their Einherjars here, including the God of War faction that shares responsibility with you for the Third Layer of Hell.”

“It was because the battles on the First Layer of Hell have progressed even more smoothly than anticipated. However, the other Abyssal realms have encountered fierce resistance.”

“The demons have acted unusually. They have constructed a large number of fortresses along the edges of each realms.”

“Based on my observations from the Netherworld, the Heavenly Gods have likely decided to shift their strategic focus and concentrate their forces on attacking Hell’s First Layer.”

The Netherworld existed at the intersection between the Abyss and the Prime Material Realm, thereby making it a particularly unique realm.

From there, one could observe nearly the entire scope of the war between gods and demons.

Therefore, it was not surprising that Hela was aware of the general movements of the gods of faith.

And if the Heavenly gods were no longer sending forces to the Wasteland of Desolation, then Eve’s ascension here would be even less likely to draw their attention.

However, for Evé in her current situation, this could no longer truly be considered good news.

After all, she had already reached a near certainty that this world was likely the primary bridgepoint through which the Demons intended to invade the world of Seigües.

Moreover, the information brought by Hela led her to consider even more possibilities.

Her expression gradually became more serious.

Noticing the calm yet faintly solemn look on Eve’s face, Hela’s thoughts stirred.

“Oh? You do not seem particularly pleased by this news?”

Evé let out a faint sigh and explained her judgment regarding the Abyss to Hela.

After listening, Hela’s brows knit slightly.

“If that is the case, then we are indeed facing a serious problem.”

Evé nodded softly.

If this world, the Wasteland of Desolation truly represented the main focal point of the Abyss’s invasion, then Eve’s plan to quietly ascend here would almost certainly collapse.

Beyond that, the two also realized another issue.

Combining the information they each possessed, it could almost be inferred that the demon lords were likely using the First Layer of Hell to delay the armies of the gods, buying time to prepare for an invasion of the world of Seigües.

“We should warn those fools in the Heavenly Realm not to venture too deeply into Hell.”

Hela frowned.

As long as the God’s army did not advance too deeply into Hell, they would be able to withdraw in time. So even if the Demons launched a large-scale invasion of Seigües, they could still return to provide reinforcement and attack the main Abyssal forces advancing through the Wasteland of Desolation.

After pondering for a moment, Hela continued:

“Lady Eve, I have another suggestion.”

“Perhaps… you could wait a little longer.”

“I can sense that within three years, I will inevitably complete my Divinity of Death and prepare for my own ascension.”

“At that time, you could come to the Netherworld and we could ascend simultaneously when I advance to Higher Divine Power.”

“However, if you choose this path, you may need to assist me before my ascension in completely eradicating the forces of Hodür and stripping him of all his divine authorities.”

After hearing Hela’s proposal, Evé nodded slightly.

It was indeed a possible solution.

Yet she felt that delaying her ascension for three years would be too long.

The rate at which mana was recovering in the world of Seigües was accelerating. If it were plotted on a graph of magical concentration, the curve would almost resemble exponential growth.

Thus, three years was simply too long.

There were far too many uncertainties.

Still, if no other option remained, then this might be the only path available for her.

Letting out a faint sigh inwardly, Evé looked again toward Hela.

“Lady Hela, did you not say there was also bad news?”

Hela fell silent for a moment before sighing.

“In truth, I am not entirely sure whether it should be considered good news or bad news.”

Her expression grew serious as she continued:

“Lady Eve, I have once again detected some dead elven souls you asked me to search for in the Netherworld…”

“This time, their memory dates back to two days ago.”

Upon hearing this news, Evé immediately became alert.

“You have located more of them?”

The fact that there was once again news of the lost elves meant that they were still holding on.

Most likely, they had been trapped within some hidden realm out there.

If the Shadowshade Clan could truly be located, another thought suddenly surfaced in Eve’s mind.

Could she perhaps use the realm they inhabited as the place for her ascension?

She had already confirmed that the sea monsters fighting the elves in those memories were followers of Leviathan.

Furthermore, she was certain that the realm in question had been hidden by Leviathan.

And it had been concealed extremely well.

Under such circumstances, it might even be possible to conceal the fluctuations caused by an ascension to higher divine power.

However, another problem also existed.

The worlds within the Prime Material Realm were fundamentally different from the sunken realms in the Abyss.

Because fallen realms were polluted by Abyssal power, their overall level had effectively been elevated. As a result, mythical-rank beings could descend there freely.

In contrast, among the realms in the upper worlds, aside from the world of Seigües in its prime, the Heavenly Realm, and a very small number of worlds, most realms could not even withstand the power of a true god, let alone the ascension of a god to higher divine power.

At present, according to the knowledge Eve had inherited from the World Tree, the only places capable of supporting an ascension to higher divine power were the realm of Seigües, the Heavenly Realm, the Abyss, and the Cosmic Void.

Other worlds, even those capable of supporting the descent of a true god, would be unable to endure the emergence of a god with higher divine power. The moment such an ascension occurred, the entire realm would inevitably collapse.

As such, if her ascension succeeded but the world itself collapsed, the resulting disturbance would only be even greater.

At the same time, Evé was also quite curious about how the Shadowshade Clan had managed to survive under Leviathan’s control.

Since he was capable of concealing an entire world, it also meant he could at any moment drag that realm into the Abyss and assimilate it into an Abyssal realm.

Yet the fact that Hela had once again obtained new information meant that Leviathan had still not done so.

Seeing Hela’s solemn expression, Eve’s thoughts stirred, and she asked again,

“Lady Hela… you said you were uncertain whether this news was good or bad. Has something unexpected happened?”

Hela nodded.

“You should see it for yourself.”

As she spoke, she raised her hand slightly and conjured a series of images.

They depicted a small village, wherein elves with black hair and dark eyes were laboring peacefully.

Suddenly, the sky darkened without warning as black mist spread rapidly, swallowing the entire village.

The elves began to struggle in agony. Their skin split apart, grotesque growths bulged from their flesh, and the black mist coiled around them. Before long, they transformed into hideous demons.

After devouring the village and corrupting the elves, the black mist continued to spread outward, moving toward the distance and consuming everything in its path.

Finally, the vision ended there.

After watching the scene, Eve’s mood sank slightly.

“Demonization… the corrosion of Abyssal power.”

She immediately understood what had happened. That world was being rapidly consumed by the power of the Abyss.

Seeing the grave look on Eve’s face, Hela sighed.

“That is why I said this news may not truly be good news for you.”

Evé: “…”

Indeed.

At present, she had no method of locating the Shadowshade Clan. Even knowing that their world was being destroyed by Leviathan, she was powerless to intervene.

At that very moment, Evé suddenly heard a commotion coming from outside the temple.

She frowned and looked toward the source, sensing the presence of many individuals, including Aurora, along with a large number of players.

There were also several sinister auras that seemed to belong to demons.

Hela sensed the disturbance outside the temple as well and raised an eyebrow slightly.

After a moment of thought, she said, “Very well, Lady Eve. I have delivered the information I wished to share.”

“Recently, Hodür has been acting suspiciously. I suspect he may be secretly plotting something while taking advantage of the war between gods and demons.”

“I will return back to the Netherworld for now. If you require my assistance, simply inform my divine envoys and I can descend again at any time.”

Evé nodded gently.

“I understand.”

A moment later, light flashed across Hela’s body and her aura rapidly diminished as she dispelled her temporary incarnation.

After Hela disappeared, Evé left the temple, transforming into the appearance of Zero.

“Lady Aurora, what has happened?”

she asked.

Aurora’s expression was grave. She ordered the players to push several hideous demons forward.

“Lady Zero, please take a look.”

Evé frowned.

There was something strangely familiar about the appearance of those demons.

Then Aurora began to chant a purification spell and cast it upon them.

Golden light blossomed across the demons’ bodies. They howled in agony as the black energy surrounding them dissipated and their scales shattered.

At last, their vitality faded completely, leaving only lifeless corpses.

By that time, their appearance had already undergone a dramatic transformation.

Looking at the familiar figures before her, Eve’s gaze suddenly sharpened.

These demons turned out to be members of the Shadowshade Clan!

〘 〙

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