"The lost portal shall at last swing wide. When the stars plunge into a cradle of flesh and blood, may Your domain engulf this false light—"
Atop the Sacred Tree, the ritual reached its fever pitch. The driders butchered one another in frenzy, and the victors among them raised blood-drenched hands, crying out one fanatical prayer after another.
Those prayers brimmed with zeal and devotion. Each word was bellowed with every ounce of their strength, as if they sought to tear out their own hearts, hold them aloft, and offer them to that loving Mother Goddess.
Some even tore open their own throats, heedless of sudden death as they shrieked wildly until their blood ran dry.
Finally, Theron sounded the final horn. Spreading his eight monstrous limbs wide, he cried aloud:
"O great Eight-Armed Mother Goddess, Weaver of Chaos! Rot is the holy stigma You bestow, and slaughter is Your most devout prayer! In the name of the blood moon, I beseech Your descent—"
"Beneath Your gaze, we shall attain eternity!"
As the driders' shrieks resounded, the cruel female laughter grew ever clearer, whispering right into the ears of all present.
The full moon in the sky turned an even deeper crimson. Sanguine moonlight bathed the world in a bizarre, lurid glow, like a grotesque new realm steeped in blood.
Accompanied by an incomparable pressure, the colossal spider shadow upon the blood moon began to move slowly, eventually coalescing into a beam of black light that shot toward the earth.
No—more precisely,
it struck straight into the remains of Fariti, suspended at the very crown of the Sacred Tree.
"No—!"
"Gods, what in the world is..."
"Why do I feel this urge to butcher my comrades as sacrifices? Th-this feeling... has an evil god descended?"
The people gradually shook off their stupor, only to find their hearts growing increasingly violent and bloodthirsty, as though on the verge of being swallowed whole by an unspeakable monstrosity.
They struggled to suppress the urges clawing at their minds, but those with weaker resolve were already roaring and turning on their own comrades.
Such was a deity.
Merely by being present, a god could inflict endless calamity upon mortals, driving them into madness, stripping away their lives, and plunging their very souls into the Abyss.
Even Catherine felt a sudden, fleeting impulse to slaughter the "lowly half-elf" beside her.
No, this wasn't her!
These were thoughts forced into her mind by that vile deity!
She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, cold sweat drenching her skin. A trickle of scarlet blood leaked from the corner of her mouth as she relied on sheer willpower to forcibly rein in the murderous urge.
People looked up, their gazes converging on Fariti's remains. On their diverse faces, fear, panic, tension, and hatred warred with one another.
Right then, the slumbering Fariti slowly opened her eyes.
Set within that haughty, glamorous face were a pair of scarlet eyes, fathomlessly deep and radiating a pressure that struck dread into the depths of the soul.
What kind of eyes were those!
The instant they looked upon them, they seemed to witness millennia of death, ruin, and torment. The tragic fate of the entire world seemed frozen in this single moment.
Eight monstrous limbs slowly unfurled. The drider's lips curved upward into an eerie smile as she looked down upon the teeming masses below.
A cruel yet melodious female voice issued from some unknown organ, echoing in the ears of all present:
"Lost wanderers kissed by moonlight, children who carry elven blood... Now that you have witnessed your Mother Goddess's advent, why do you not kneel before Me?"
"Is this... not the supreme grace you have begged for?" The scarlet pupils seemed to harbor the Abyss itself.
"L-Lady Sehanine..."
"Is She truly our Mother Goddess?"
"Could I truly have been following a rebel, making an enemy of my own Mother Goddess?"
In a daze, many of the silver moon elves present actually believed this "Mother Goddess." Falling to their knees, they murmured prayers that harmonized in ancient Elvish.
The wizard from the Arcane Hermitage attempted to weave a spell in secret to flee, only to discover in horror that the entire area was engulfed by the Demonweb domain.
Webs shuddered as the drider climbed slowly downward, fixing her gaze upon Catherine's face—one strikingly similar to her own.
"Are you... the scion of this flesh?"
The moment their eyes met, Catherine felt the fathomless greed and malice within that gaze, as if it intended to tear her soul to shreds and swallow it whole.
"Enough!"
Though pale, Catherine forced herself to remain steady and spoke in a trembling voice, "You... you are no Mother Goddess! How could the pure and flawless Sehanine possess such a hideous form!"
"You are the rebel from ten thousand years ago, the villain exiled by Lord Corellon, the evil god who fell into the Abyss—Lolth, the Spider Queen!"
The drider—or rather, Lolth's avatar—merely smiled playfully. In a voice dripping with mock pity, she said, "Child, the mist has blinded your eyes so deeply that you fail to recognize your own Mother Goddess."
"Convert to Her—"
"Submit to Her—"
"Offer yourself to Her—"
Reflecting the eerie crimson glow in their eyes, the silver moon elves chanted in unison, their expressions vacuous as they encircled Catherine.
The vile magical energies of the Demonweb domain welled up, trapping Catherine within a confined space.
"No..."
Catherine felt as if plunged into an icy abyss. She trembled all over, held fast as though by an invisible web, completely unable to move.
Was this how it ended?
No, impossible!
She had not yet reclaimed Therenia; she had not yet fulfilled her vow! She could not yield here!
O great and benevolent Sehanine, I am willing to offer You everything if only Therenia may be saved!
Catherine squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to look upon those eerie gazes.
She immersed herself in vivid reveries and waking dreams, calling upon her deity over and over in her heart, pleading with desperate fervor.
"Your Majesty... hold on..."
Rhea also struggled to keep herself upright. Raising her sword with a trembling hand, she used the last vestiges of her strength to shield the Elven Queen.
The past ridicule, cold glares, and hardships she had endured now crystallized into an unshakeable will to protect Catherine and save Therenia.
At last, Catherine's will pierced the barrier of the Demonweb domain, breaking through the planar membrane to forge a connection with her deity.
—Sehanine was both the Goddess of Moonlight and the Lady of Dreams, capable of bridging reality and the dreamscape.
At this moment, Catherine's spirit soared freely toward the realm of Arvandor.
"Mother Goddess, what... what should I do?"
"An evil god has descended upon the world. Blood has stained the full moon, and Therenia stands on the brink of total ruin. My people are still waiting for me."
Through the haze, she seemed to see an elven woman who appeared both youthful and ageless, at once like an innocent maiden and like an elder steeped in the passage of ages.
"The symphony of fate has long been composed. The bright moon shall reveal the path you must walk."
Clad in a translucent gown woven from threads of fluid moonlight, the elven woman stepped forward and lovingly stroked Catherine's head.
"Go, child. Go and fulfill your purpose..."
"Yes, Mother Goddess..." Catherine bowed her head submissively, lost in thought.
The next instant, the world spun and space shifted around her. Catherine's spirit returned to the Material Plane, and a long, resonant hymn drifted into her ears.
Beside the scarlet full moon, a milky-white crescent moon unexpectedly appeared, radiating a soft yet resolute silver glow.
Moonlight shimmered as holy beings manifested in the sky—mist dragons, moon horses, clouds of many faces, children of Ehlonna, radiance quasi-elementals, and celestial elven guardians—chanting sacred verses.
Beams of radiant light plummeted, piercing through countless fallen driders in an instant.
Bathed in the moonlight, the silver moon elves who had been bewitched by Lolth regained their senses completely.
Meanwhile, Catherine's crown shifted into a bright, lustrous silver. The scepter in her hand was enveloped by condensed moonlight, lengthening until it transformed into a bow as translucent as crystal.
It was the divine artifact that existed only in the legends of Therenia—the Moonbow.
"The Moonbow..."
"She truly is the worshiper chosen by that wretched whore! I will grind her bones to dust!"
Sensing that familiar resonance, Lolth's expression twisted violently, and she cursed with venomous malice.
At that moment, she tore away her guise of a loving "Mother Goddess." Her visage turned instantly vicious, no longer concealing her lethal malice.
"Lowly mortal—die!"
In an instant, vile power surged like a tidal wave across the Demonweb domain. It condensed into razor-sharp, venom-coated spider leg-blades, thrusting straight toward Catherine's heart.
These blades were forged from divine power of evil, chaos, and darkness, imbued with the weight of cosmic law capable of slaughtering even a tenacious dragon with ease.
Simultaneously, the evil driders, sword spiders, phase spiders, soul-eater spiders, and other monstrosities surged forward in waves, howling as they rushed toward Catherine.
"For the Mother Goddess!"
"Kill her!"
"Offer her head to the great Mother Goddess! Cleanse us in her blood!"
Rhea swung her silver sword with all her might, holding back the frenzied beasts. Panting heavily, she shouted, "You will not lay a finger on Her Majesty—unless you step over my corpse!"
Right then, Catherine suddenly opened her eyes. Silver light flashed within her pupils, and her gaze seemed to hold a brilliant sea of stars, brimming with endless constellations.
The Elven Queen wore a silver crown upon her brow and held the longbow in hand, a silver ribbon tied at her waist. Against her chest, a moonstone pendant shaped like a flat disc on a mithral chain glowed resplendently.
Moonlight draped around her like gossamer. Though delicate in appearance, it repelled every blade, thorn, and venomous barb, withstanding the corruption of abyssal chaos so that none of those terrible strikes could approach her.
Then, centered upon Catherine, that brilliance rippled outward, sweeping across the earth like silver waves to cleanse every evil power in the vicinity.
"No—!"
"Wh-what kind of power is this?"
Amid shrill wails of agony, the twisted, evil monsters rapidly burst into flame, completely purified until they crumbled into grayish-black ash.
"Your Majesty, wonderful... you succeeded..."
Rhea turned around, delight written across her face. She could feel an abundant surge of energy pouring into her body, granting her boundless strength—a blessing from the Moon Goddess.
The half-elf paladin raised her silver sword, and it immediately radiated brilliant light, unleashing an intensely sacred power.
Catherine gave a slight nod of acknowledgment, then raised the Moonbow and drew the string formed of slender silver light.
As she drew the string taut, gleaming silver arrows materialized into place, each humming with majestic power.
"In Sehanine's name, I grant you peace and serenity—"
Catherine's voice was clear and cold, and she released her grip.
Swish—
Over a hundred beams of silver light shot forth. Each streak left a trailing wake of moonlit stardust, descending like a shower of falling stars.
Every arrow unerringly impaled an abyssal beast, purifying it in holy radiance.
In the distance, the ancient gold dragon let out an exhilarated roar and swung a massive talon, smashing the monstrous spider before him into pulp.
"Your Majesty Catherine, you truly are the ruler chosen by the gods!"
Atop the Sacred Tree, Lolth glared intently at Catherine cloaked in silver radiance, speaking through gritted teeth, "Had that whore taken the field Herself, I might have paid some regard."
"Yet you are nothing more than a lowly mortal. What right do you have to oppose a true deity? On the strength of this paltry blessing alone?"
"I shall teach you what it means to be a god!"
Lolth's eight limbs moved with blinding speed, manipulating the Weave like a spider spinning its silk, a cruel glint flashing in her eyes.
Hundreds of tentacles formed of black mist rose from the earth, whipping toward Catherine.
"Your Majesty, look out!"
Rhea moved first, interposing herself before Catherine. Swinging her silver sword, she unleashed a dense flurry of light blades that instantly severed the twisted tentacles in midair.
Then, under Lolth's manipulation, the laws governing the area shifted violently. The dead rose again, while the living were enveloped in an aura of death, their flesh slowly beginning to rot.
Not only the slain monsters, but also the fallen elves, dwarves, and humans clambered up from the ground, dragging broken, mangled bodies to attack their former allies.
"Rest in peace, fallen warriors! You should not have returned in such a manner!"
Roar—!
Titus exhaled scorching dragonfire, incinerating the undead monstrosities surging toward him and creating a vast, raging sea of flames.
"Shameless fiend, you meddle with the cycle of life and defy the laws of the mortal realm." Fury burned in Catherine's eyes.
As followers of Sehanine, the silver moon elves held an intense revulsion for necromancy.
They had always revered the mysteries of the moon, for the bright moon governed not only the ebb and flow of tides, but also guided the spirits of the departed, symbolizing the eternal cycle of life.
Raising the dead was the gravest insult to their faith.
Lolth sneered darkly. "And what of it? Once my Demonweb domain is complete, the cycle of life itself shall bend to my design!"
Catherine drew the Moonbow taut, aiming at Lolth atop the Sacred Tree, her gaze resolute. Upon the moonlit bowstring, an enormous, brilliantly shimmering arrow materialized.
"In Sehanine's name, I grant you oblivion!"
Swish—
With a roaring howl, the arrow shot toward Lolth's avatar, carrying incomparable power and imbued with the divine might of the Silver Moon Goddess.
The moment it was released, the arrow burst into blinding silver radiance, as though lighting up the night sky and turning it bright as day.
Chapter 762