Elf Kingdom: Game of the World Tree-Chapter 1109 - 744: The Slaughtered Village

"Village! It’s a village!"

Upon seeing the scenery at the end of the road, the players became excited, even their steps became much lighter.

All of a sudden, they started running, overtaking Eve, and were the first to rush towards the village.

There were bonus rewards in the quest given by the Goddess; anyone who completed the exploration task first would receive more rewards than the others.

Although everyone was a top player in the game, this was the first time they were moving in concert with the Goddess, and all wanted to leave a good impression on Her.

So... the moment they saw an opportunity for the task, even the relatively laid-back Li Mu’s movements became a little more agile.

Looking at the village within her view, Eve’s gaze softened considerably.

The sealing power of this world was quite strange, even Her Divine Soul’s perception was largely suppressed.

Under the circumstances of suppression, Eve was unable to use Divine Soul sensing to explore distances beyond five kilometers.

With the True God Avatar’s senses suppressed, She had been ready for the possibility of leading the players in exploration for several days.

But now, being able to quickly spot a village with planar inhabitants was undoubtedly a good omen.

However, Eve’s gaze didn’t stay gentle for long.

After taking a few more steps forward, Her brow suddenly furrowed slightly, Her gaze towards the distance becoming somewhat solemn.

The players didn’t notice the expression on the Goddess’ face.

They were now eager to enter the village and look for NPCs to converse with.

But just a few steps into their run, Cyber suddenly halted.

He sniffed the air a bit, and glanced at the others:

"Hey, do you smell something bloody?"

"Bloody smell?"

The other players were slightly taken aback.

Dema sniffed hard, scratching his head in confusion:

"No, I don’t..."

Yet, even without having smelled the bloody scent Cyber mentioned, everyone became alert.

Cyber’s profession was Hunter, and his sense for scents was highly sensitive.

Especially after acquiring the Blood Elf’s abilities.

Very soon, Boxed Meal, who was at the front, suddenly stopped.

He squatted down and began examining the wheat on the roadside.

Seeing his actions, the players all turned their gaze over, noticing that he was seriously stroking a snapped wheat stalk.

"Boxed Meal, is there something wrong?"

Little Xian Miao asked vigilantly, gripping her Magic Wand tightly.

Boxed Meal nodded:

"This seems to be cut by a sharp weapon."

Then, he looked to the side of the road, pointing at a patch of messy wheat that could easily be missed if not looked at carefully:

"There are signs of a fight."

A fight...

Upon hearing this, everyone instinctively turned back to glance at the Goddess, only to realize that at some unknown point in time, the smile on Her face had vanished.

In its place, an expression of solemnity.

Seeing the Goddess’ expression, the players’ expressions turned solemn too.

If there was any authority within the group now, it was certainly the Goddess.

And the change in the Goddess’ expression undoubtedly indicated that there was something amiss in the village ahead.

Everyone’s expressions turned stern as their gaze became serious, entering a state of combat readiness.

Boxed Meal continued walking forward.

The players exchanged glances and followed his lead.

They continued advancing.

And after advancing a few hundred steps, even Dema, whose perception was the weakest, caught the scent of that metallic bloody air.

At this moment, Boxed Meal suddenly halted.

He walked into the edge of the wheat field, using the short knife in his hand to part the wheat.

Only to see within the wheat, there lay a human dressed like a villager, still holding farming tools.

He was already dead, with visible gruesome wounds on his body, seemingly caused by sharp weapons; his blood had turned black, staining the ground a dark red...

"Should be a villager from the village, this is a human settlement."

Optimist stated solemnly.

Everyone nodded.

"Been dead for a long time, probably for more than a day."

Cyber said after inspecting the corpse.

More than a day...

The players’ expressions stiffened.

This corpse lay beside the dirt road within the wheat field.

If it had been dead for more than a day without being discovered, then...

In the village ahead...

All at once, everyone turned their gaze towards the Goddess within the group.

Seeing the players’ looks, Eve sighed softly, and spoke in a gentle voice:

"Prepare for battle."

This statement entirely confirmed the danger in the village ahead.

"Close combat at the front, mages at the rear, keep an eye on your surroundings."

Li Mu ordered calmly.

With his command, the players immediately mobilized, rearranging their formation according to the ten-person squad setup commonly used in "Elf Kingdom".

Even though the Goddess was right behind them, everyone still remained exceptionally vigilant.

When triggered by the quest plot, the mission’s background had already described the Goddess’ current state; the players knew that in this world, the Goddess’ power was also mysteriously suppressed.

The Goddess had to conserve Her strength for the Avatar, so would not act unless it was critical.

Therefore, as task players, caution was never to be abandoned at any moment.

Of course, for Eve, conserving strength was just an excuse.

The primary reason being that with players around, naturally all the grunt work fell to them as the labor force, and as long as efficiency wasn’t affected, there was no need for Her to intervene like a babysitter all along the way.

Upon realizing something was amiss with the village, the group advanced more cautiously.

And as they gradually approached the village, the signs of past combat increased in number.