Game of the World Tree

Following their usual daily routines, most players who had already completed their tasks for the day would usually choose to rest for a few hours to replenish their in-game stamina at this point.

However, a sudden system notification outlining a random quest abruptly interrupted the actions of those players preparing to log off for the night.

“Huh, what’s this? A time-limited random quest?”

“Crocodile Mercenaries?”

The sudden quest notification, broadcast throughout the entire server, immediately captured the attention of all the players currently online.

The newbies from the third batch who had never experienced a questline curiously examined the system notification, while experienced players from the first and second beta tests who had already completed multiple similar quests lole this were filled with excitement.

“It’s a questline with a unique plot description! Nice, we’re in for some action-packed events once more!”

“It has a time-limitation? We only has 24 hours to complete it?”

“From my experience, the more time constricted the quest is, the more generous the rewards tends to be!”

“Haha…fifty-eight players got captured by some human NPCs; what a bunch of noobs…”

“Oh, finally a unique quest! Hey guys, let’s team up for this event!”

“Wait… everyone, carefully read the quest details! This human mercenary group has over a thousand members, and they even have intermediate silver-ranked NPCs in their midst!”

“…Well fuck.”

“Goddammit!!”

“So they’re powerful? Looks like this isn’t a quest that one or two small teams can handle!”

“One of the quest hint suggests that we should form teams before accepting this quest…”

“It seems like this event is another large-scale team battle. Let’s first enter the Raid VC and wait for the announcements from the three major guilds there.”

“Raid VC?”

“Yes, that’s a voice channel created by first and second beta test players specifically for coordinating large-scale raids and campaigns. Brother Mu specially uses this chatroom to command multi group battles.”

“I see…that’s awesome.”

Outside the Black Dragon Castle.

Li Mu, who had brought some members of the Heart of Nature guild to support him, also noticed the quest notification.

“Chase down the mercenary group… this quest reminds me of that event where we attacked the Orc Tribe.”

Li Mu’s expression grew serious.

Beside Li Mu, HootyBird, the vice-leader of Moe Moe Committee, sighed while checking her mini-map.

“But this time, there’s a 24-hour time limit… that’s tight. If we convert it to Earth’s time, then we’ll only have six hours!”

Li Mu nodded and turned his head to ask her, “Where are Little Salty Cat and the others now?”

“They’re in the northeast, about five kilometers away. However, it seems the mercenaries are already packing up right now and intends to leave during the night.”

“Direction?”

“It should be along the northern road.” HootyBird replied.

“That means they’re heading back to human territory. I’ve escorted some elven NPCs who returned recently, and asked them about the situation in the northeast. Based on what they told me, it seems there’s a large human empire over there called the Holy Maniya Empire. Meryer obtained the poultry and livestock he brought back awhile ago from the borderlands of that empire.” A deep, hoarse voice chimed in.

Li Mu and HootyBird widened their eyes and turned to see Tomato, the Guildmaster of First Legion behind them.

For a moment, the atmosphere grew somewhat tense.

The playerbase was well aware of the ongoing conflict between Li Mu and Tomato, which sometimes led to frictions between the two guilds.

Nevertheless, following a brief tense silence, Li Mu finally gave a curt nod in a courteous manner, and Tomato reciprocated with a subtle nod of his own.

Perhaps there had been bad blood between the two Guildmasters, but when faced with such a large-scale battle, they both understood the need for cooperation.

Elven Kingdom stood apart from typical online games. In particular, the developers mostly discouraged conflicts amongst the players and instead emphasized the importance of cooperation.

Seeing the relatively harmonious interaction between the two Guildmasters, HootyBird, the Vice-leader of Moe Moe Committee, breathed a sigh of relief and added, “It seems like we still won’t have access to the map of Holy Maniya Empire. Since, according to the quest description, we can’t let the mercenaries leave the current map and pass the three-hundred-kilometer mark.”

“That means we must pursue them, ” Tomato grinned.

“Cat said that the mercenaries are carrying a lot of cargo, and their traveling speed isn’t that fast. We can easily catch up to them if we go all out. Not to mention… many players now have pet familiars, especially the Crypt Spiders; their movement speed during nighttime is fast, perfect for ambushes.” HootyBird added.

Li Mu nodded and turned to asked, “HootyBird, how many players can your guild mobilize for this quest?”

“Hmm, well, today happens to be the weekend, so we have quite a lot of members online right now. We can easily gather around three hundred players, though it’s worth noting that less than half of them are above level fifteen.” HootyBird replied.

With the addition of the newcomers from the third round, the number of players belonging to the three major guilds has once again skyrocketed, all exceeding a thousand members!

Amongst the big three, Li Mu’s guild, Heart of Nature, which does not have a high admission requirements, has gathered more than 2,000 members and has become the largest guild worthy of its name!

Of course, high-leveled players still remained the minority.

After hearing HootyBird’s response, Li Mu then wordlessly turned to Tomato, who, in turn, raised his chin slightly.

“First Legion can provide at least five hundred players, with at least three hundred of them being above level fifteen!”

First Legion mainly recruits hardcore and combat-focused players, so while they have the lowest membership amongst the big three, they consistently maintain the highest battle proficiency instead.

Li Mu nodded and replied,

“My guild can gather about four hundred people, with approximately two hundred players above level 15. If we combine all our forces, that’s a total of 1,200 players, with around six hundred above level 15. Moreover, if we make an announcement in the public channel and invite smaller guilds and solo players, then we should be able to assemble around 1,500 to 1,600 players.”

“By the way, some newbies from the third beta formed a guild with over a thousand members. The Guildmaster is a player called, Transformer Ji Gang. I contacted him, and he said that his guild can bring over two hundred players, although their levels are slightly lower…”

“Looking at it this way, we should have nearly two thousand players.”

With that rough estimate, the trio felt an overwhelming sense of excitement.

Two thousand players!

Quite honestly, after years of playing various online games, they had participated in many large-scale battles, but having over a thousand players was still a relatively rare occurrence!

Moreover, Elven Kingdom was far more realistic than any other online games!

After experiencing several major battles beforehand, they knew that warfare within this game felt remarkably lifelike, as if they were in a real war!

Li Mu took a deep breath and said,

“Let’s form several smaller teams as usual. All players who accepted the quest should at the very least belong in a party. Hmm… let’s begin by joining the party Salty Cat created with the other captives. Please transfer leadership to me when the time comes; I’ll continue to lead to raid. How does that sound?”

“Agreed.”

“Sounds good.”

The other two nodded.

Li Mu continued on:

“In that case, kindly inform your guild members to join the raid voice channel, the same one we used during the Orc War. Also, make an announcement on the public channel stating, ‘Players who accepted the time-limited random quest, should join a party first!’”

“Also… try to privately contact those top-ranking players who are currently offline. Get as many as you can, including Boxlunch. Their team’s combat power alone is equivalent to five teams!”

“Then, for the next hour, assemble all your forces swiftly, then we’ll meet up at the Black Dragon Castle before embarking on our pursuit.”

“I’ll have Demacia see if we can ask for the assistance of Aél in dealing with the Silver-ranked Boss. HootyBird, see if anyone in your guild can contact Zero and Meryer. In any case… bring along any NPC support that you can, just in case things go south!”

Hearing Li Mu’s words, HootyBird nodded.

“I’ll do my best, but… Zero tends to be elusive; there’s no guarantee we can find her. As for the Black Dragon, given that Little Salty Cat has been captured, Meryer should be willing to help us.”

Tomato thought for a moment, and then an idea came to him.

“Actually…perhaps we can have Meryer set up a teleportation array ahead of the mercenary group’s path—”

“That’s not possible.”

HootyBird interjected before shaking her head.

“Our time frame is too tight, and there’s no time fur us to prepare the materials for a new teleportation array. Besides, makeshift arrays have their flaws. The mana needed was minimal when we were at lower levels, but considering our current levels, the mana consumption would be astronomical if we attempted to use a makeshift teleportation circle once again at this time.”

“What about dismantling an already existing ones? I remember the teleportation array in various regions have been strengthened by the Goddess’s blessing righr?” Tomato suggested.

HootyBird shook her head again.

“That still won’t work. After receiving the Goddess’s blessing, those teleportation circles can’t be relocated anymore. Even if they could be dismantled, players who haven’t joined the quest would likely be unwilling to give up their main mode of transportation.”

“In that case, let’s just forget about it. The distance isn’t that far anyway. Since Little Salty Cat can monitor the mercenaries’ real-time location, we’ll pursue them directly. However, this time, we won’t have the luxury of endless resurrection. So, let’s aim to eliminate them quickly in one go instead.”

Li Mu sighed with regret.

After the high-ranking leaders of the three major guilds discussed their plans, trio quickly took action.

No, it wasn’t just the three major guilds anymore.

Under the leadership of Transformer Ji Gang, the newly established fourth major guild, “Autobots,” also started moving at Li Mu’s instruction.

Players level 11 and above, whose scattered across Shadow Dungeon, Underground Forest, Blackrock City, the northern part of Elven Forest, Florence, the Chosen City, and other locations, began rushing towards Black Dragon Castle as soon as they received the notification…

At the same time, some of the dimly-lit houses in the Chosen City, once again lit up with light as some players who had already logged out earlier had once again came back online and fully equipped themselves, before going outside of their homes.

Groups of high-leveled players, riding Crypt Spiders, quickly crossed forests and districts on their way to the teleportation point of Black Dragon Castle, all while being watched with envious gazes by others.

For a moment, the central area of the Elven Forest fell into a bustling atmosphere.

Meanwhile, inside Black Dragon Castle…

“What? A group of disgraceful human mercenaries attacked this Lord’s castle just now!?”

Seeing the lingering bloodstains on the castle hall’s floor, Meryer was very livid and flustered.

Without a second thought, he immediately rushed deeper into his castle…

But when he saw that his hidden treasure was still intact, the Little Black Dragon breathed a sigh of relief…

“Thank goodness… my treasures are still here!”

Meryer calmed down considerably and wasn’t as angry as before.

“…By the way, is there anything else?”

Feeling relieved, Meryer asked while eating skewered meat and looking at HootyBird who had rushed over.

HootyBird adjusted her expression and said,

“Although those human mercenaries have left, they’ve also captured many of our people. We’re currently preparing to rescue them. Meryer, the enemy is quite formidable, and we need your help!”

“Some Chosen Ones got captured?”

Meryer was momentarily surprised, then said nonchalantly,

“What’s the rush? Besides, you guys can resurrect… Why not just take the risk and die since you’ll be revived back here anyway?”

“Well, Little Salty Cat was captured too. She said that if you don’t rescue her this time, then she won’t prepare your meal ever again.”

Meryer: “…..”

The little dragon’s face immediately changed and after awkwardly coughing a couple of times, Meryer loudly proclaimed, “Where is she? Ruuah! Lead the way quickly!”

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