"Heh, the ignorant struggles of mortals—how laughably pathetic."
Lolth let out a raspy sneer. Two beams of crimson light burst from her abyssal pupils as her eight grotesque limbs continuously wove something in the air.
Moments later, a colossal spiderweb materialized midair, filling every inch of space. Even the moonlight arrows illuminating the sky were effortlessly intercepted by its strands.
"Pitiable mortals. You forever fancied yourselves heroes out of a bard's tale, utterly blind to the truth that the reins of destiny are held only by the truly great beings. And you—you are nothing more than insignificant specks of dust!"
"Your souls shall plunge into the Abyss, torn to shreds by the vilest, most ravenous lemures! Such is the end that awaits those who defy the Mother Goddess!"
That bloodstained web spread and expanded at terrifying speed, gradually blotting out the sky above the crown of the Sacred Tree. At the nodes of the web, space warped and twisted, giving birth to churning abyssal vortexes.
In an instant, an endless tide of spiders surged forth, scurrying along the silken threads as they lunged toward Rhea.
At the same time, the dense black mist once again veiled the heavens, roiling violently as it swept toward Catherine like a roaring, dark behemoth intent on swallowing everything whole and devouring every last scrap.
"Vain and empty lies!"
Catherine's voice rang clear and resounding: "If you truly were as omnipotent as you claim, would you be provoked to wrath by a nobody like me?"
"Whether you are an abyssal demon, the Spider Queen, or the so-called Eight-Armed Mother Goddess, I will stand before you without the slightest hesitation—"
"For this is my eternal duty as the sovereign of Therenia!"
As she spoke, silver moonlight coalesced around her left hand, taking shape as a spotless, softly glowing staff. At the crest of the staff rested a full moon resembling a disc of solid silver.
The Moonlight Staff.
In the legends of Therenia, it was the second divine artifact of the Goddess of the Silver Moon. It was said that Sehanine had used this very staff to create the Sacred Tree, from which the silver moon elves were born.
Catherine raised the staff high, and radiant beams of silver light burst forth from the silver disc.
A massive translucent sphere of light enveloped the coalition army, holding the onslaught of black mist at bay.
Amidst the gloom, Catherine's arrival was like a silver torch kindled in the dark, once again illuminating the surrounding world and shielding tens of thousands of coalition soldiers within its glow.
"For Therenia!"
"For Queen Catherine!"
Rhea raised her silver sword high, sending a beam of moonlight into the sky. Hundreds of ethereal blades tore through the night and plunged from the heavens, skewering the monsters before her.
"Protect the Elven Queen!"
"Do not let them breach the line!"
The coalition soldiers united as one, encircling Catherine. Pursuing righteousness, these fearless warriors clashed head-on with the grotesque fiends.
"For justice!"
Zayn, Lord of the Mountain, let out an enraged bellow. Swinging the Hammer of Bedrock with tremendous force, he slammed it heavily into the ground. Sharp pillars of stone erupted from the earth, impaling the monsters beyond the protective barrier.
"King Zayn!"
"Truly our king! Long live His Majesty!" the dwarves laughed heartily, roaring in triumph.
Soon, mounds of corpses piled up outside the glowing barrier. Most belonged to the grotesque abominations, but among them lay many humans, dwarves, and elves who had fought to the death.
"A swarm of ants huddling together for warmth... do you truly believe that will save you?"
Lolth bared a savage sneer. Thrusting forward one of her terrifying limbs, she pierced straight through the fabric of space itself.
Far in the distance, the world violently shook as a razor-sharp spider leg hundreds of meters long pierced through the dimensional rift and slowly extended from the void.
Stained with dark crimson blood and bristling with coarse spines, the leg bristled with suffocating malice as it thrust down toward the luminous sphere.
Before this colossal limb, the barrier Catherine had raised looked as fragile as a soap bubble, seemingly about to pop at the slightest prick.
*Rrrrip—*
The instant the razor leg pierced the barrier, heaven and earth seemed to shudder. The black mist surged into the breach like ravenous beasts, corrupting everything within.
"You will not prevail!"
The ancient gold dragon let out a mighty roar. Beating his broad wings, he soared into the air and unleashed a searing stream of dragonfire across the sky.
The dragonfire formed a magnificent sea of flames that incinerated everything aloft, temporarily holding back the invading mist.
Yet as the bladed limb tore through the opening, the tear widened. More and more black mist poured through the rift, until even the ancient gold dragon's breath began to falter, tainted by tendrils of dark haze.
The ancient gold dragon himself seemed to succumb to this corruptive power. Pitch-black lines traced the seams between his golden scales, and thick dark vapors swirled around his throat.
"Gods above..."
"What kind of monster is this?!"
Gazing up at the monstrous limb, elves, dwarves, and humans alike could not help but gasp in sheer terror.
Such a grand and horrifying presence—could this be the evil deity's true form?
"Do not fear, everyone."
Catherine's eyes flickered, her tone composed. "Beneath the boundless radiance of the Mother Goddess, this evil deity from the Abyss shall be reduced to ash."
Before her words fully settled, the Elven Queen raised her scepter. Countless beams of sacred moonlight streamed from the silver disc, shooting skyward and instantly purifying the black mist that had breached the barrier.
The moonlight even swept away the web veiling the heavens, allowing the silver crescent moon to emerge once more, hanging high in the sky to bestow purity and order.
Beneath that silver crescent, mist dragons took flight, moon horses galloped, clouds of myriad faces roiled, and elven celestial guards plunged downward.
With overwhelming majesty, they charged one after another toward Lolth's extended leg.
The Silver Moon Legion.
These sacred beings were incarnations of Sehanine's divine power, wielding great might capable of dispelling darkness and evil to bring light back to the world.
Mist dragons unleashed their breath, moon horses ushered in moonlight, sacred thunder rained down from the clouds of myriad faces, and elven celestials brandished gleaming silver swords.
Under the relentless assault of this divine host, tiny wounds appeared along Lolth's bladed limb. Each wound shimmered with silvery radiance that steadily eroded the appendage, forcing plumes of black smoke to billow out.
"That wretched whore again!" Lolth ground her teeth, attempting to retract her limb.
Catherine would give her no such opportunity. At her command, the Silver Moon Legion threw themselves forward in relentless waves, redoubling their offensive.
"Foul fiend! In the name of justice, I will make you pay!"
Seizing the opening, the ancient gold dragon beat his wings and soared forward. Raising the adamantine scepter clutched in his talons, he loosed a dazzling pillar of fire that struck Lolth's leg dead-on.
*Boom!*
The golden flames slammed into the middle section of the limb, instantly heating it red-hot and burning away every bristle on its surface into ash.
Rhea transformed once more into an Avenging Angel. Soaring into the sky, she held her silver sword aloft as patterns of light blazed across the blade, brimming with majestic divine energy.
With all her strength, she swung the silver sword, bringing the radiant blade crashing down from above.
*Whoosh—*
With a screech that shattered the air, a hundred-meter-long blade of moon-white light cut across the sky, slicing open space as it flew toward the weakened section that the flames had scorched.
*Clang—*
A metallic reverberation rang through the heavens. Lolth's leg shook violently before cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. Then, with a deafening snap, it fractured, foul venomous blood spurting from the severed stump.
The hundred-meter-long limb plummeted from the sky and smashed into the earth with a resounding crash, crushing hundreds of abyssal monsters beneath it.
"Vile mortals, how dare you commit such sacrilege against me?!"
Lolth let out a furious howl, her composure slipping until the cold, beautiful face belonging to Fariti contorted into a monstrous scowl.
The crimson webs in the sky wriggled and crawled like venomous serpents. Carrying an inexorable aura of evil, they surged toward the ancient gold dragon and the half-elf paladin, intent on wrapping them tight and crushing the insolent mortals to death.
Yet Catherine swung her staff once more, sweeping beams of silver light imbued with Sehanine's divine might across the heavens to purify the crimson webs again.
Livid with rage, Lolth unleashed a beam of crimson destruction from her eyes, blasting straight toward Rhea high above.
"Look out!" Titus shouted.
Facing this wrathful strike from the evil deity's avatar, Rhea dared not show the slightest carelessness. She beat her wings to evade, but the beam pursued her relentlessly like a shadow.
The ancient gold dragon swung his scepter to conjure a shield of light, seeking to block the destructive ray.
Yet the beam carried Lolth's divine power, infused with the chaotic laws of darkness, far beyond what ordinary magic could repel.
The spell shield Titus erected was instantly pierced, failing to buy even a fraction of a second.
*I can't keep dodging... if that light hits me, I'm dead.* Rhea gritted her teeth, a look of resolute determination flashing in her eyes.
Gripping her silver sword with both hands, she thrust it straight forward, releasing every ounce of divine power granted to her by the Goddess of the Silver Moon.
With a clear hum, luminous runes flared across the blade, and a thick beam of silver light erupted from its tip.
In an instant, the silver brilliance collided with Lolth's beam of destruction. The crimson ray split into two, scattering to either side.
Beneath the violent shockwaves of energy, the hands gripping Rhea's silver sword trembled uncontrollably, cold sweat beading on her brow.
"That was close..." she gasped for breath.
The bifurcated beams of destruction streaked behind Rhea and struck two distant hills, tearing them open. Fissures instantly raced across the hillsides before they crumbled into fine powder.
"Evil deity, your opponent... is me!"
Catherine slowly rose into the air. The starlight-adorned veil of her gown floated midair like a flowing river of stars.
Holding the Moonlight Staff in her left hand and the Moonbow in her right, she closed her eyes and softly chanted a prayer, her entire being bathed in gentle radiance.
Around the Elven Queen, moonlight surged like an undulating tide.
"O immortal Goddess of the Silver Moon, Guardian of Dreams, Sovereign of all elven flesh and soul, Prophet who knows all mysteries of the world—"
"Bestow Your blessing, I pray, that I may wield the strength to banish this boundless evil!"
Catherine opened her eyes. The light within her pupils was ethereal and fleeting; her mortal emotions receded further, while a subtle aura of divinity began to show.
The liquid moonlight roiled endlessly, gradually converging until it formed a translucent bridge stretching into the distant sky.
The Moon Bridge.
Only the righteous could walk upon it; creatures of evil would find it as insubstantial as the pale moonlight itself, pure and unreachable.
This Moon Bridge spanned the heavens, and Catherine walked upon it, advancing step by steady step toward Lolth's avatar.
At this moment, the Elven Queen seemed like the living incarnation of the Moon Goddess—beautiful, serene, and radiating an ethereal grace.
Moon horses, mist dragons, radiant elementals, and elven celestials circled her like loyal guardians.
"Queen Catherine..."
"This aura—could the Mother Goddess have descended into her vessel?"
"By Sehanine... what a breathtaking sight! It feels just like a dream."
"Long live Queen Catherine! Glory to Therenia!"
The elves looked up in entranced awe at their queen walking upon the Moon Bridge, their eyes brimming with worship, reverence, and yearning.
"Sehanine... is this the mortal you chose? I shall make you watch with your own eyes as I tear her to pieces!"
Lolth's face warped with fury. Her eight limbs swayed in an eerie, macabre dance.
In an instant, black mist rolled forward in waves. The corrupted branches of the Sacred Tree lunged toward Catherine, their tips sprouting gaping maws dripping with foul slime and lined with fangs, lunging forward like colossal serpents.
Yet Catherine maintained her effortless grace, continuing her tranquil advance. With each step she took, the gentle moonlight rippled outward.
Wherever the moonlight touched, the black mist dissolved. Even the twisted branches of the Sacred Tree were purified, their bark returning to a milky white that reflected a faint, gentle gleam.
Gazing at the Elven Queen cloaked in moonlight, a flicker of astonishment crossed Lolth's eyes. *She is merely a mortal—how can she bear such divine might? She must die!*
Lolth's expression darkened. Bloodlight surged around her as the boundless energy of the Demonweb domain flowed into her head, exuding a terrifying, crushing pressure.
Then, chaotic lights flared within the avatar's deep eyes—crimson, pitch-black, ochre... points of colored light danced within, sparking a tremendous magical reaction.
Finally, a beam of intertwined crimson and black shot forth, hurtling toward Catherine with an unstoppable, peerless might of chaotic divinity.
The Gaze of the Demon Queen.
Facing this horrifying beam capable of obliterating everything in its path, Catherine's expression remained tranquil as still water, though a trace of gravity surfaced in her eyes.
"In the name of the Goddess of the Silver Moon, Sehanine, Mother of the Night Sky—"
Catherine calmly raised her hands, nocking the Moonlight Staff against the string of the Moonbow.
In an instant, moonlight surged like a roaring tide, gathering into her hands.
As Catherine released her fingers, an infinite silver brilliance poured forth like a thundering waterfall. It instantly drowned out the Gaze of the Demon Queen, illuminating nearly the entire sky.
At last, the Goddess of the Silver Moon unveiled her true majesty.
The milky-white crescent moon blazed with blinding radiance, and the silver moonlight condensed into a colossal arrow a hundred meters long, shooting straight toward the avatar of Lolth.
Chapter 763