Game of the World Tree

▪️Totem Guardian

Night Wanderer was very excited.

One of his reasons for becoming Uller’s follower is that he wanted to gain immense strength, and now, he finally saw such possibility!

It was difficult for a member of the Blood Clan to be promoted, also, he had already stayed too many years within the ranks of Low-Gold.

“Magical blood… coupled with the favor of the Hunter God, hehe… it seems that I have taken another step towards my goal of achieving the position of duke!”

The vampire thought whilst rushing towards the base of the orc tribe in a joyous manner.

However, he then abruptly stopped to a halt after a sudden foreboding premonition. His excited mood gradually calmed down as his expression slowly turned cold and calculating:

“Wait, something’s not right…”

He immediately took out his storage ring, give it a dubious look with his handsome and pale face etched in uncertainty.

“…That Elven Godwarden fore sure noticed that I abducted an elf, so why didn’t she stop me from escaping?”

“Furthermore the Elven Forest is so vast yet why did she arrive so quickly just moments after I attacked those weird elves…”

This entirely reeks of conspiracy.

“Hmph, did that woman really thought she could fool me, a specialist in subterfuge in my own game?”

Night Wanderer snorted coldly and summoned the elf that he had hidden inside his ring and threw his limp body down on the ground to examine it.

“Does this elf have a tracer spell on him? I can’t find anything but my intuition’s really telling me that I shouldn’t take him back to the base.”

“The elves have now became quite cunning…Alas, I will have plenty of opportunities to hunt them down in the future, there’s no need to rush things right now. If I fail the Hunter God’s mission just because of negligence, then all my accomplishments would be futile.”

The vampire took a deep breath, comforted himself ruefully, and finally returned to the orc tribe without the captured elf, leaving the injured fellow on the spot with some reluctance.

Finally when he returned to the tribe, Night Wanderer found that the Beastmen loitering outside are acting oddly lively as if there’s some sort of a festival happening.

He frowned slightly then saw more than a dozen lined up carriages parked on the open ground on the side of the Caverock tribe.

The carriages were loaded with goods, surrounded by human mercenaries wearing full plated armor, and many orcs were crowding around the carriages, arguing with several well-dressed humans as they seem to bargain over fur and beast fangs, and so on…

And in the distance, several strong orc warriors were escorting a chained elf girl, while they talk to the caravan’s leader whose demeanor and attire implies that he’s some sort of human noble.

Looking at a certain emblem on the carriage, a hint of understanding crossed Night Traveler’s face.

“Huh, it’s the smuggling caravan of the Sauron Household…”

The Sauron family is a wealthy household within the human society, that mostly rely on smuggling and slavery business to make a living.

They smuggle magical materials and various rare items between several human countries all year-round, and also engage in the slavery trade of any kind of races.

Their caravan passes through the Dark Mountains once a year in the summer, conducting some trade with the Caverock tribe along the way.

Generally speaking, the Orcs would buy some products produced by humans in exchange for the fur and fangs they have collected, and would sometimes also trade elves in case they captured some for food and common currency.

Night Traveler took a few more glances at the goods but didn’t pay any further attention when nothing had really caught his interest and instead just returned to the chieftains tent.

Upon seeing the Uller statue placed at the center of the tent, Night Traveler’s expression then became somewhat reserved.

He coughed lightly as if in preparation and knelt before the statue, praying devoutly:

“Under the orders of the Hunter god, This Envoy has already finished investigating the Elven Forest and is now reporting some important news to you, your grace!”

After speaking, the statue then suddenly emitted a brilliant light, enveloping him in an incredibly holy and awe-inspiring manner.

The High Priest of the Orcs, who had already received the news, quickly arrived as well. When he saw Night Traveler surrounded by holy light, his expression suddenly became devout and respectful as well.

He knew that the Count had received the favor of the Hunter God and was communicating directly with him!

“Godwardens! This is the power of an envoy! No need for any magic circles nor offerings, just a simple prayer can elicit a response from our god!”

Looking at the Count’s face radiating with holy light, the high priest ‘s face revealed a hint of envy and longing.

However, he quickly adjusted his mindset and knelt in the direction of the statue.

The priest couldn’t hear what Night Traveler and their god said, but he could clearly see that the light on the Night Traveler’s body was becoming more and more brilliant, while the divine power in the tent was increasing in intensity.

From the looks of it…the Hunter god was extremely satisfied with the news the Count had reported!

What had he discovered in the Elf Forest?

The Orc chieftain became more and more curious.

Finally, Night Traveler ended the communication with their deity.

The light in the tent slowly dissipated, and at the same time, the high priest heard the weighty voice of the hunter god within his mind:

“Caverock tribe, assist my Godwarden with all your might.”

After speaking, the statue finally stopped emitting glow and returned to normal.

Divine prophecy! It was another divine prophecy!

The high priest was excited.

He suppressed his doubts and devoutly replied, “… I obey the divine decree!”

The high priest then slowly stood up and inspect the vigorous looking vampire, before excitedly stammering,

“M-My lord Count, you…”

Night Wanderer just nodded slightly, smiled, and said, “Tribal Chief, there is now an opportunity to receive divine favor. Would you care to aid me?”

Divine favor? Jushan’s eyes lit up, and he respectfully asked, “What did you discover in the forest? What do me and my tribe need to do to assist your excellency?”

Night Wanderer squinted his eyes in satisfaction and said,

“As we saw before, a new god has indeed appeared in the Elven Forest, and it is very likely the very same one that our God has been searching for! Moreover, this infant god should be a subordinate of the goddess of death, but it’s status should still be very weak, and possibly has not yet mastered its divinity… It’s divine power are probably related to Life Divinity.”

Hearing Night Wanderer’s explanation, the Orcish Chief’s expression changed greatly:

“Do you mean… that the goddess of the underworld stole the divinity of the world tree and impart it to a new vessel?”

Only the goddess of the underworld, who has a turtle shell-like defense, would dare mess with the world tree, despite the Hunter God eyeing it as well.

Night Wanderer smiled slightly with a firm expression:

“Most likely.”

After speaking, he then licked his lips and said, “This is an opportunity for our divine lord, as well as for you and me.”

The vampire stood up with an ecstatic expression, “I have already reported everything to the Hunter God. He has decided to send down a totem guardian with demigod strength to deal a fatal blow to the forces hiding within the Elven Forest!”

Directly sending down a totem guardian with a Demigod level strength! Jushan’s expression changed dramatically.

The Totem Guardians are the messengers of Uller whose status is comparable to that of the Oak Guardians of the World Tree and the Archangels of the human gods!

This… is really a big deal!

For thousands of years, the mana of the mortal realm has been to the decline, and the gods have long stopped descending on the surface. At most, what they can only do is to send avatars or messengers to deal with worldly affairs.

However, crossing the boundary and descending with the power of a demigod within the realm of the mortals requires a great consumption of mana. Not to mention that the believers also need to spend a lot of resources for pre-preparation offerings. Every realm crossing action takes a huge toll for Gods living in the Heavenly Realm hence why events like these rarely happen nowadays!

This time, Uller is really determined to get the Divinity of life at all cost!

This recent discovery that Hela had already procured a new vessel for the Divinity of Life is really making him anxious.

With her being an Old Ancient One, it would be easy stealing the Divinity of life from the almost dead World Tree and control the new vessel while hiding its presence deep within the Elven Forest.

For Uller who has already regarded the power of Life as his, this is undoubtedly a great offense to make.

Not only that, as time goes by, the new god’s control over its powers will definitely become better, and its strength will also become stronger, not to mention that there is also the goddess of death who would surely expedite the process!

But fortunately, this new god is hiding, which shows that it is still very much weak. The reason why it dare not show up must be that its strength is still not strong enough to protect itself!

This… is Uller’s only window of opportunity!

He did not intend to expose this matter to anyone, nor did he intend to let his divine faction know anything as well. Instead, he decided to directly send down his most trusted Totem Guardians to handle this delicate matters.

The Totem Guardians are Uller’s right-hand man.

Also at a critical moment, Uller can even sacrifice them to achieve a pseudo divine descent!

“But…”

After listening to the words of his Godwarden, the Hunter God was in a dilemma:

“There are not enough resources in this Orc tribe to support the descent of totem guardians.”

Uller silently watch as the vampire pondered about this problem but then he smiled slightly and looked at the imposing castle situated on the hill behind the tribal base:

“High Priest, didn’t you mention that there was a dragon’s nest on the back hill before? although it was only a young dragon, but its accumulated wealth must still be considerable enough.”

“In addition, didn’t the Sauron caravan just arrived? They are smuggling magical materials between the major kingdoms. They surely must have abundant goods infused with magic in their hands. Perhaps we can use the dragon’s wealth to purchase a batch of sacrificial resources from them.”

Can it be done like this?

Uller’s eyes lit up.

After all, the black dragon, is already dead.

Its wealth is now just the wealth of the tribe, isn’t it?