【 JUST A FALSE GOD 】
Evé direct her attention to the prayers of her believers, allowing her consciousness to return to her divine kingdom before seamlessly connecting to her network of faith.
Currently, her believers were growing rapidly in number by the day.
As such, it was no longer practical for her to personally operate her faith network with her own essence and divinity at its core to listen to and respond to her believers’ prayers, and she had long since integrated its management with her divine kingdom.
Nevertheless, one critical aspect of using this method was that it wasn’t entirely without its own drawbacks.
Much like the novels she’d read back on Earth had suggested, even a deity like her could be driven completely mad if forced to endure such endless barrage of prayers from her believers — especially when many of those prayers were merely of trivial or mundane matters.
Such sheer amounts of annoyance could practically overwhelm even the strongest of gods.
But that wasn’t the most significant issue.
The greatest danger in this method lay in prolonged exposure to the overwhelming power of faith itself. The fervent emotions, desires, and beliefs of countless mortals, when channeled, can became an ever-present torrent that few deities could withstand without consequence.
Thus for most gods, immersing themselves too deeply in this huge amount of faith carried a far more insidious risk — the risk of corruption.Yes, corruption.
For deities who wished to retain the essence of their mortal selves from before their divine ascension, the power of faith could become a double-edged sword.
Inseed, faith from their believers can bestow great strength upon them, amplifying their divinity to heights beyond imagination.
Yet, this same power can also threatened to reshape them, influencing their very nature to align with the beliefs and expectations of their worshippers.
Over time, the god they once were could become unrecognizable and reduced to a mere vessel molded by countless prayers, stripped of the identity they had sought to preserve.
The power of faith was a powerful and mysterious force, which contains boundless possibilities. Even they the gods couldn’t fully comprehend it and could only harness and convert it.
Generally speaking, if a god remained directly connected to their faith network for too long, their essence could be corrupted by the perceptions of their believers.
Over time, their personality and thoughts would shift, transforming them into the deity their believers envisioned and not who they originally were.
Recognizing this potential risk early on, Evé adopted this method used by many seasoned gods when her believers reached a certain amount.
She severed any direct connection to her faith network, and used her divine kingdom as its core instead. As a result, she now only needed to control the network through her divine kingdom.
To put it in perspective, think of it as constructing a faith-based supercomputer within one’s own divine kingdom to automatically manage the network of faith on her behalf.
Personnel of her divine kingdom were entrusted with even the most routine prayers and minor requests in her stead, such as granting promotions to priests or clerics. This delegation of duties not only alleviated Eve’s workload but also protected her from the potentially corrosive effects of the power of faith.
Thus, now, all she needed to do was simply sit back and enjoy the divine power generated from her believers’ faith.
However, this also has disadvantages.
Maintaining a faith network through her divine kingdom consumed enormous energy. The more believers she had, the greater the consumption would be, which in turn lowered the conversion rate of faith energy into divine power.
This is why powerful gods often have an overwhelming number of believers.
To maintain strong divine power while preserving their original selves, they must offset the low conversion rate by amassing more believers.
Yet, more believers also meant heavier burdens and further drops in efficiency.
Essentially it was a vicious cycle, making the sheer number of believers needed by powerful gods astronomical.
Of course, letting the faith network handle routine prayers and responses was only for ordinary believers. Most gods still personally listened to certain prayers, particularly from devout worshippers or those in desperate situations.
In a way, the game system she had created was a specialized faith network, which can directly linked to her actual faith network.
Incidentally, the reason she boldly dared to reveal herself in public and openly showcased her rapid growth and offered protection to the elves wasn’t just because Hela served as her decoy or because she had assumed a new persona.
It was also because she had devised a plausible explanation for her origins and power, leveraging the unique nature of the power of faith.
A fitting explanation that even accounted for her resemblance to the previous World Tree…
But that was a story for another time.
Returning to the present.
As a deity committed to the long-term operation of her faith network, Evé had set specific conditions for which prayers warranted her direct intervention.
Her criteria were pretty simple: either the prayer came from devout or higher-ranking believers, or it was a desperate prayer from believers facing extreme danger.
Hence, when the faith network received these kinds of prayers, it would automatically forward them to her
Judging by the faint emotions she sensed from this particular prayer, this time it was clearly the latter.
Thus, Evé decided to take a look herself, and she already had a good idea of who it might be.
After connecting her consciousness to the faith network within her divine kingdom, Evé soon saw that believer whom prayer actually came from and the environment they were in.
It was a rocky mountain foothill.
Underneath the twisted, lifeless branches of a dead tree, a group of cloaked elves huddled together. Their faces, ghostly pale and filled with an all-consuming fear.
There were a dozen of them in total, ranging in age. The children were gathered tightly at the center, whereas the young and elderly stood guard on the perimeter, wielding weapons.
Many of them bore wounds and right at the heart of the group lay a golden-haired, green-eyed elven woman.
Her face was deathly pale, almost ashen, a telltale sign of magical overexertion or the backlash from using a powerful spell.
Seeing her face, Evé immediately recognized her.
Selena Galewind.
She was a high-ranking member of Oakhand Resistance and a close friend of the saintess, Alice Galewind.
Selena have been mostly active in human territories all year round, saving her fellow elves and half-elven compatriots who are hunted down by humans.
Previously, she had been captured during a mission and imprisoned in Holy Maniya Empire’s Maple Leaf City slave market, but was eventually rescued by the players (see Chapters 288-290).
Afterwards, she briefly returned to the Elven Forest, but chose to abandon the comfort of their homeland and resumed her mission to save her fellow brethren in human lands.
Now, it seemed she had encountered trouble once more.
Personally speaking, this particular elf was a believer Evé held in high regard.
Among the prayers she had just received, the one that came from her was the clearest.
Though Selena’s faith hadn’t yet reached the level of a fanatical believer, this blond-haired elven lady was already a deeply devoted believer of hers, so Evé had high expectations for her.
Earlier when Selena briefly returned to the Elven Forest, Evé had placed her as one of the individuals worth paying attention to, thus Evé had occasionally observed her actions from time to time to keep track of Oakhand’s activities.
Alas, due to her being preoccupied with the matters concerning the demi-realm of Ouros, Evé hadn’t checked in on her for several days.
Still, Evé had already made a decision: if Selena’s faith ever reached the fanatical level, then she would accept her as a favored one….
Now, as Eve’s gaze swept over the desolate mountain landscape surrounding these elves, her expression hardened.
“The Dark Mountains? Isn’t Selena supposed to be active in the human lands? Why would she be here?”
Indeed.
The location where these elves were gathered was none other than the Dark Mountains.
Eve felt momentarily confused.
How had they ended up in this remote region?
After all, the Holy Maniya Empire was far from the Dark Mountains, with the Elven Forest even lying in between them.
However, when Eve noticed the cloaks worn by these elves, a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
Unlike the solemn, understated style of the Holy Maniya Empire’s attire, the cloaks of these elves were adorned with intricate, lavish patterns instead.
This flamboyant design was a hallmark of the Kingdom of Aries, which is another human nation in the south, second in strength only to the Holy Maniya Empire.
In that moment, Evé finally identified their origins and guessed their purpose was.
So it turns out these elves were actually from Aries!
Following this discovery, she also began to piece together Selena’s actions.
Some time ago, Evé remembered she had received prayers from some members of Oakhand Resistance, indicating they were planning a rescue mission to the Kingdom of Aries.
The Kingdom lay to the east of the Desert of Death, which is south of the Fertile Plains, with the Dark Mountains forming a natural border between it and the Elven Forest.
If they wanted to return to the Elven Forest while avoiding the human territories, then passing through the Dark Mountains was naturally the safest route.
It seemed this particular group was the latest batch of elves rescued by the resistance.
However, since Eve’s player army had defeated the orc forces stationed in this region, the Dark Mountains had essentially become Eve’s backyard.
So in theory, this region should have been relatively safe.
As long as they avoided the most dangerous areas and stayed clear of powerful magical beasts, these elves should have been able to traverse the mountains safely.
Yet now, it was evident they had been attacked — or rather, hunted down.
This was concerning.
Each members of the Oakhand Resistance had grown significantly stronger after their return to the Elven Forest.
Even Selena herself had reached the peak of Iron-rank, and just one step away from reaching the Silver-rank.
So for them to be in such dire straits, their pursuers likely included intermediate ranked combatants.
Evé narrowed her eyes.
“…Humans?”
As her mood darkened, storm clouds seemed to gather within the skies of her divine kingdom.
It didn’t take long for Evé to see who the attackers were.
Thirty orcs, armed with greatswords and spiked maces, were surrounding these elves.
Eve’s expression shifted to one of surprise.
“Orcs?”
Indeed.
—Orcs.
The ones pursuing and surrounding these elves were orcs.
What’s more, they weren’t ordinary orcs either. Their strength was relatively high, with the strongest among them being a lower Silver-rank orcish warrior.
This unexpected sight caught Evé off guard.
After all, the Battle of Black Dragon Castle had decimated the orc army, with the players wiping out a 30,000-strong orc warriors.
For a race with a total population of only a few hundred thousand, incurring such a loss should had been devastating.
Not to mention, their chieftain and high shaman had also both fallen in that battle.
So ever since then, the orcs had retreated to the Desert of Death and significantly reduced their activities.
Even Uller, the Orcs Patron Deity had grown noticeably quieter in recent times.
Moreover, the escalating war in the Underground had further subdued Uller’s forces.
So this begs the question:
Why were orcs suddenly appearing in the Dark Mountains once more?
And why were they attacking these returning elves?
How bold of them!
The players were no longer the inexperienced newbies they once were!
Eve’s narrowed eyes glinted with a dangerous light.
“I left the Desert of Death alone because I had no interest in that barren land. Yet here they are, stirring up trouble in my territory once again?”
“Did losing thirty thousand warriors not hurt them enough? Must I wipe the Orcs out completely for them to stop?”
Despite her anger, Evé couldn’t shake a lingering suspicion.
Why had the orcs, after retreating and licking their wounds, suddenly returned to the Dark Mountains? And why were they targeting the elves again?
Clearly, something significant was happening beyond her knowledge.
Something troubling…
And without a doubt, it was nothing good.
It was possible, of course, that these orcs were simply driven by their primal instincts and sought to uphold their race’s long-standing tradition of pillaging the other races.
But regardless of their reason, Evé just wouldn’t stand idly by when her believers prayed for help, especially when the safety of elves was at stake.
The incident that occurred during the Rageblaze Clans return had already taught her a painful lesson.
At that time, her strength had been far more weaker, and her mistakes had led to the deaths of several elves.
Even now, that mistake weighed heavily upon her.
To Eve, every elf was precious.
Now that her power had grown significantly, she wouldn’t allow her believers to suffer without intervention — even if using divine power across such a great distance would come at a considerable cost.
Resolving herself, Evé decisively split a portion of her consciousness and sent it hurtling across the void…
༺⟐༻
The Dark Mountains
The elves, encircled by orcs, glared at their attackers with fury in their eyes.
But beneath their anger was a deep sense of despair and helplessness.
“We were so close to returning home… and now, we encounter these orcs?”
“Those damned beasts!”
“I thought the Dark Mountains had already been reclaimed by our kind! So why are there still orcs around here?”
“Don’t be afraid! The Goddess will surely protect us…”
“The Goddess of Life? Hmph. Even if she inherited our Patron Deity’s divinity, in my heart, there is only one true god worthy of my faith, which is the Great World Tree, our Divine Matriarch!”
“But the Matriarch has already fallen… and it was our fellow clansmen who raised the Goddess of Life to ascend into Godhood.”
“Still, the Goddess of Life is not our Divine Matriarch…”
“If only we were stronger… then we wouldn’t have to rely on divine intervention.”
“I-Is this the end for us?”
Their voices were filled with hopelessness and despair.
At the center of the group, Selena Galewind lay injured, her expression bitter.
Indeed, having the Matriarch present herself as the Goddess of Life as her public persona had kept her safer.
But it also made proselytizing far more difficult.
Without returning to the Elven Forest, she couldn’t reveal the truth to her fellow brethren — that the Goddess of Life was actually none other than their Divine Matriarch but just in a new guise.
All actions were taken with Her safety in mind.
Selena coughed weakly and said with great effort:
“Do not despair. The Goddess of Life is merciful. This land is already under Her influence. If we pray sincerely, She will inevitably hear our plea and intervene…”
It saddened her to think that in times of crisis, her own people had no choice but to turn to their Patron Deity for salvation.
…But what else could they do?
They were weak.
And weakness was a sin.
If only she were stronger…
At that moment, an intense desire to grow stronger burned within Selena’s heart.
“Praying? To the Goddess of Life? You must mean that Impostor Eve,” a rough, mocking voice suddenly rang out.
It came from the orc leader, a Silver-ranked warrior standing at the head of the group.
“She’s nothing more than a false deity who stole our Divine Father’s authority! Our Father will surely make her pay for her insolence. Her time is running out…”
The orc sneered.
“Today, you all shall die!”
“Are we leaving no survivors?” another orc asked hesitantly.
“Leave one elf alive!” the leader growled.
“That’s the High Shaman’s command. Every other elf must die! We cannot risk letting any of them escape to become an immortal demon under the false god’s protection!”
The elves were incensed by his words.
“Blasphemy! How dare you insult the Goddess? Beware — divine wrath will strike you down!”
“Divine wrath?” the orc leader laughed coldly.
He sneered, his gaze filled with disdain.
“A false god can never bring down divine punishment. In the presence of a true god, your so-called goddess will cower in fear.”
Spreading his arms wide, he raised his gaze to the stormy sky.
“Go on, then! Strike me down! I stand here, waiting! I fear no wrath from a thief!”
As his mocking words echoed, the skies rumbled ominously.
A moment later, with a deafening boom, a bolt of purple lightning split the heavens and struck him directly.
— 476 —
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