?FINDING THE GODDESS
The three leaders of the elven mercenary regiments whom they invited were remarkably straightforward. Hearthstone, the Godwarden of Shadows, found that the rhetoric he had initially prepared was entirely useless, since the other party have easily signed the contract.
However, even after the three elves left, he remained silent, looking at the blood contract that had already been signed.
“Your Eminence, what are you thinking about?”
Another dark dwarf came in front of him. It was the grey-robed dwarf who had earlier guided Little Salty Cat to this place.
Hearthstone remained silent for a moment before speaking,
“I’m thinking… they agreed far too easily.”
The grey-robed dwarf nodded.
“You’re right, Your Eminence. I’m afraid these elves might have some other plans… Moreover, I feel that you may have been too bold and reckless by revealing our entire plan to them.”
Hearthstone chuckled.
“Too bold and reckless, you say?”
The grey-robed dwarf nodded again.
“We have been preparing for so long… If something were to go wrong and we cannot control Blackrock City this time, then we might lose the opportunity to resist completely.”
Upon hearing this, Hearthstone shook his head and responded, “Don’t worry, I never intended to rely on these elves in the first place. The plans mentioned in the contract are all fake.”
“What?”
The grey-robed dwarf showed a look of surprise.
“Hehe, how could I have placed all my hopes upon these elves? I’m merely using them to incite chaps. As Barain mentioned, while these elves may not wield considerable power, they display unwavering courage in the face of death. If they start causing trouble for the betrayers, it will undoubtedly offer a favorable opportunity for us…” Hearthstone said.
After finishing his words, he smiled once again.
“However… Barain also said something else. These elves do have a powerful entity behind them! Quest, Offerings, True Gods… From the contents of our surveillance, they often mentioned these words frequently. Although the precise true name of the deity they worship remains hidden, it appears to be a mythical being or at most, a Demigod.”
A Demigod!
The existence of Demigods and beyond are the stuff of legends!
“So… don’t take this blood contract too seriously. If a Demigod-level existence intervenes, then the blood contract we set up can easily be undone.”
“But if they genuinely believe in the terms of the contract, that would be even better. And even if they do not believe it and instead choose to disclose everything to the Church of Death, it still would not harm us either.”
“Anyway… the Church of Death has been aware of our presence lurking within the city for some time now, so the information leaking won’t make much of a difference. Moreover, the plan outlined in the contract is just a red herring that the elves wouldn’t know about, but someone within the Church of Death would easily see through it. The elves don’t have any other evidence, and there’s even a possibility that the Church of Death might start suspecting them as well…”
“However, if these elves genuinely believe in the words of the blood contract and take the initiative to attack the Church of Death in the city, presenting us with an opportunity to accomplish our goals, then why not consider rewarding them? What harm would it do to show them some little bit of appreciation?”
“Hehe, the blood contract only gives them two days. Let’s wait and see.”
Hearthstone chuckled.
“Let’s go. We might attract ‘her’ minions if we stay here any longer.”
On the other side.
After they signed the blood contract, Little Salty Cat and the two others finally stepped out of the mine shaft.
While still under Eve’s control, the three of them walked side by side until they reached a quiet alley on the more safer side of Blackrock City.
“We can’t simply take their words at face value. Considering that we’ve already established a friendly agreement with the high-ranking officials of the Church of Death, we cannot engage in any actions that would betray their trust.”
‘Little Salty Cat‘ spoke firmly, her expression excited as she revealed her two cute little fangs.
“That’s right! We elves are a noble race. We cannot betray our friends. The blood contract we just signed was an act of helplessness while being behind enemy lines. Now that we have escaped, we must take everything seriously!”
‘Demacia‘ solemnly agreed, his expression uncannily serious, although his comical explosive hairstyle may had somewhat undermined the heavy atmosphere.
“Agreed! Even if it means risking death, we cannot let the elves become a race that breaks their promises. Moreover, it is said that the Lord of Darkness and Shadows is also involved with the Sauron Syndicate, making them our enemy as well!”
‘Tomato’ nodded repeatedly, looking the most normal among them.
Then, the three of them said in unison:
“This matter involves a dispute over other god’s religious beliefs. We should report it to the goddess and let her make the final decision!”
“….”
For a brief moment, the air was filled with awkward silence.
Suddenly, the three individuals trembled involuntarily, before finally regaining control over their bodies and breaking free from their previous state of being automatically controlled.
Little Salty Cat widened her eyes, moved her limbs around and said, “Whew, we can finally control our bodies once again. Was that a scripted cutscene? The dialogue was so awkward…”
“Hahaha! Your expression while speaking, Cat… Hahaha… it’s honestly too funny. Your childish face doesn’t really suit serious expressions at all… Honestly, it’s just sooo cute, especially those two little fangs… Hahaha…Oh man I’ve already recorded it…”
Demacia couldn’t help but burst into fits of laughter.
“Get lost! Delete it you idiot!”
Little Salty Cat’s face darkened as she fiercely kicked him, sending him sprawling onto the floor.
Meanwhile, Tomato looked at the backup copy of the contract in his hand and smirked before saying,
“Although ElvKing is good in all aspects, the plot’s dialogue is still too rigid… I just learned from ‘myself’ that the God of Darkness and Shadows is actually connected to the human smuggling group while personally being unaware of this fact at all…”
“”It could be a plot bug, don’t you think? Perhaps, according to some official assumptions, we were supposed to know this news already, right? It’s possible that this hidden quest was accidentally triggered.”
Little Salty Cat said while stepping on Demacia’s ass with her high-heeled boots.
“So…our next course of action is to find the goddess, right?”
Tomato’s eyes flashed with a hint of anticipation.
At this moment, Demacia, whose struggling to climb up from the ground, noticed the change in his personal status screen.
“Huh…What’s this? I have a debuff called Blood Curse in my status screen. Do you guys have it too?”
“Huh? Yeah, I have it too. Let me check the description… Hmm…it says, it’s a blood curse made with the Dark Dwarves. If the contract is broken, one will die unless a great being intervenes… and it has a time limit of two days.”
Little Salty Cat recited.
Tomato “…”
Demacia “…”
Little Salty Cat “…”
“W-What the heck! I’ve been doing nothing but cleaning the toilets for a while now, and not completing any other quest, so I have no more perfect revival left in me! I can’t die in the next two days!”
Demacia’s face turned pale.
“Tch, just exchange some perfect revivals with your contribution points. It’s not that expensive you know…I myself saved over thirty of them. You’ve been doing those MLM pyramid schemes so you shouldn’t be short on CP, right?”
Little Salty Cat said curiously.
Demacia: “…”
“Your highness Lord Cat, it might not be expensive for you, but I just exchanged all my contribution points for a purple-class armor and had already spent it all… I can’t die anymore! H-How about… you lend me some?”
Demacia sighed.
“Get lost! Go borrow from your dear brother Mu instead!”
Demacia: “…..”
Tomato ignored the banter and instead frowned.
“This curse… there must be a way to remove it, right? A great being… could it be the goddess?”
Just as he was finished speaking, a new system prompt message appeared in their field of view—
【?】
【You have decided to report the information you obtained to the goddess Evé. After the goddess makes a decision, proceed with the next phase…】
Upon seeing this message, the spirits of Little Salty Cat and the two others were lifted.
“Reporting to the goddess… could it be the same as being summoned by the goddess and having a conversation with her?”
Little Salty Cat’s eyes sparkled with delight.
“That must be it! The last time I triggered the main questline, I was summoned to her temple by the goddess and received generous rewards!”
Demacia exclaimed excitedly.
“The goddess should be able to lift the curse! And she is also crucial to the next phase of the quest!”
Tomato made a judgment.
After saying that, the three nodded at each other and made a decision:
“Let’s go, we’ll head to the goddess’s temple right away!”
With that said, the three quickened their pace and soon left Blackrock City to return back to surface.
There’s another main questline! And it’s a hidden main quest!
The news of Little Salty Cat and the others triggering the quest quickly spread amongst the entire playerbase.
More precisely, it spread amongst the three major guilds first…
Although they didn’t know the exact details of the triggered quest this time, it seemed to involve internal issues of the Dark Dwarves, and Little Salty Cat as well as the two others triggered the special quest of [Meeting the Goddess]
This was quite a rare occurrence in Elven Kingdom!
And based on Demacia’s previous experience, it was estimated that the three would receive a substantial reward.
Of course… this news was proudly spread to the public by Demacia himself.
This guy actually triggered the [Meeting the Goddess] quest twice in succession, causing envy among other players.
This incident also raised the expectations of other players for the hidden main quest that was triggered this time…
It should be noted that the previous instance when the goddess summoned players directly resulted in the battle with the goblins, and a significant number of players were promoted to Iron-rank during that time!
Based on this assumption, one could imagine that this time’s quest would also be another big event, and it’s very likely to be related to the Dark-Dwarves…
For a while, numerous players who were on the verge of leveling up expedited their monster hunting activities and leveling pace. Their intention was to enhance their strength and grind as much as possible, in order to accumulate lots of EXP and contribution points for the upcoming quests.
As for Little Salty Cat and the two others, they finally arrived at the Chosen City’s Temple of Nature.
Alice, who had already received Eve’s divine oracle, was already inside the temple, fully prepared. She nodded slightly at the three players who entered the temple’s inner area and stated, “The Divine Matriarch has been informed of your purpose and has granted your request.”
With that, she took the lead and approached Eve’s statue, devoutly kneeling before it.
Little Salty Cat and the others suppressed their excitement and followed suit, kneeling beside the Saintess Alice.
Led by the Elven Holy Maiden, the three then began to pray before the statue.
“Praise be to the Mother of Nature, praise be to the Goddess of Life, praise be to the great Elven Supreme Being—Evé Yggdrasill!”
In an instant, a gentle radiant holy light engulfed the surroundings, enveloping the three players completely…
After a few seconds, they finally opened their eyes once again and discovered that the scenery around them had undergone a complete transformation.
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