Update: The diligent folks on the Not Finding A Cow Level Discord server have discovered that the 666,666 second timer seems to have nothing to do with relic collection. They also discovered that only the first relic drop requires 666 cows, with subsequent relics dropping at any point thereafter. The following articles have been updated to reflect these new details.

Original Story The cow gods are finally pleased: after four months of no news, a Diablo 4 player has made a major discovery in his search for a secret level of cows that he thought did not exist.

"Hey man, I just killed about 666 cows (it was hard to count) and got Musty Tome from a cow," a user calling himself Grampajoe wrote on the Not Finding A Cow Level Discord server last night." The cow died from a red curse effect and the tome fell from there."

A few minutes later, Grampajoe shared a video of finding an item previously thought to be unobtainable, the Musty Tome, along with the Bloody Wooden Shard and Metallic Fragment, in reference to old Diablo items, suspected to be involved in unlocking secret levels of cattle like those found in Diablo 2 and 3.

In July, Blizzard removed from the game's files a quest that had relics used to perform a purification ritual for "The Oxen Gods."

Despite Blizzard's claims that no secret levels existed, the existence of this quest was the search for secret levels The deletion of the quest led to the search for the secret level. The quest's removal might have been taken to mean that there really was no cow level, but in the last 24 hours, players have found all three relics found by Grampa Joe and performed the ritual. Now they are trying to figure out what to do with a basement full of cows, dead bodies, and one stamina potion.

Here's what we know so far:

Defeating the Cow King at the cow level in Diablo 2 drops 8 stamina potions, named after their milky white color. The "I can't find the cow level" discord people have already tried drinking eight potions at once, to no avail.

Ideas like using potions in a throwback sequence in a campaign or counting the spots on cows in storage and killing them in a specific order keep popping up. streamers like Echohack, Raxxanterax, and AnnacakeLIVE are also are also looking for answers with the help of viewers. These cows can't hide for long.

Unless, of course, the secret cow level doesn't exist in Diablo 4 yet; Blizzard has only said it doesn't exist, and neither the relic nor the Forlorn Hovel are mentioned in the latest patch notes. So far, all clues have been discovered by datamaniacs scouring files and players trying silly things like killing 666 cows. The next step may not appear until a future patch.

But, as before, people will not stop looking until the cows in the sanctuary are extinct.