Rhea froze in place, her eyes widening in disbelief as she murmured, "Kill Her Majesty Catherine... How is that... even possible..."
"No, you're trying to sow discord! You're lying to me!"
Incensed, the half-elf paladin raised her sword and pointed it from afar at the avatar of Lolth.
"I have no need to deceive a pitiful mortal like you."
Lolth merely let out a soft laugh, her eyes brimming with mockery and cruel amusement. "Then wait to be slaughtered by your beloved queen. After all... you don't have much time left."
Rhea gritted her teeth, the hand gripping her silver sword trembling faintly. She turned to look at Catherine, where the black rose brand upon the queen's neck was billowing with thick dark mist, like a venomous serpent on the verge of waking.
She could sense that Lolth had spoken the truth.
The chaotic divine power within Catherine was continuing to surge. Once the suppression of the silver lunar power faded, the elven queen—bearing the intertwined powers of multiple deities—would morph into a horrific abomination.
By then, it would be too late for anything.
"Catherine..."
Rhea gazed at that familiar, strikingly beautiful face, torn with hesitation.
Was she truly to kill Catherine with her own hands? To slay the queen to whom she had sworn her allegiance?
Straining to maintain his Dragon's Grasp, the ancient gold dragon breathed a long, heavy sigh. "Rhea, follow your heart. We don't have much time."
Emerson gripped his staff with trembling hands, veins bulging across his temples and his eyes bloodshot from mental exhaustion. "Hurry, Lady Rhea! That power is overwhelming—I can barely hold on!"
In an instant, crushing pressure bore down upon Rhea's heart, leaving her breathless. Countless thoughts flashed through her mind—Therenia was in peril, and the queen had fallen into madness and was about to reawaken.
Rhea knew that if Her Majesty Catherine still possessed any trace of her consciousness, she would never want to become a slaughtering tool for the Spider Queen.
In the end, she made her resolve.
Taking a deep breath, Rhea channeled pure lunar divine power down her sole remaining right arm and into the silver sword. The blade instantly blazed with brilliant, shimmering radiance.
A Sword of Divine Might.
If a silver sword imbued with such divine energy pierced the heart, even a demigod could scarcely survive.
"Rest in peace, Your Majesty Catherine. You will die a hero..."
Bearing boundless reluctance, heartache, and grief, Rhea held out the silver sword and thrust it resolutely toward Catherine's heart.
Right at that moment, the distant Lolth flashed a look of intense anticipation. Her fingers twitched gently, and a strand of spider silk seemed to snap abruptly.
She let out a raspy sneer. "Mortal... I told you, I would have you die by the hands of the one you trust most!"
"Now let me savor this marvelous show!"
At the very same time, Catherine's eyes snapped open. Her gaze had turned clear and bright, shorn of scarlet fury, madness, and bloodlust, leaving behind only dazed confusion.
It felt as though she had awakened from an endless dream—a nightmare where she was locked in battle against inexhaustible monsters, fighting until death.
Catherine looked at Rhea before her, taking in her grievous wounds, her severed arm, and the silver sword driving toward her chest. Her pupils shrank violently, filled with disbelief.
Looking down at her own bloodstained hands and sensing the chaotic divine power suppressed within her body, Catherine deduced what had happened in an instant.
—She had been controlled by the Spider Queen, slaughtering her own kin and allies, even severing Rhea's arm with her own hands!
"What... what have I done?" Catherine's throat trembled, her voice choked with guilt and self-reproach.
Sensing Catherine's awakening, Rhea slowed her thrust considerably. Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes as she whispered, "Your Majesty, I'm sorry..."
Lolth's chilling, intensely malicious laughter swirled around Catherine's ears, echoing directly within her mind, impossible to dispel.
"Look, Catherine! This is your most trusted subordinate! Your most loyal hound! These treacherous wretches wouldn't hesitate to plunge a blade straight into your heart!"
"Yet you still have a choice—submit to me, forsake that bitch Sehanine, and become my Chosen! I will grant you peerless power to slaughter these traitors to the last!"
*In your dreams!*
Catherine cursed in her heart. *Even in death, I would never side with filthy scum like you!*
The thought of falling back into madness, of becoming a blood-drenched, sin-laden executioner who butchered her own subjects, steeled her resolve in an instant.
Even if it meant death, she would never become the Spider Queen's accomplice!
Before everyone's eyes, Catherine suddenly reached out, seizing the silver blade with her pale, slender hands. Leaning forward with all her might, she drove the radiant silver sword deep into her own chest.
*Squelch—*
The crisp sound of torn flesh rang out. The sharp silver blade pierced straight through the elven queen's chest, plunging directly into her still-beating heart.
In an instant, warm crimson gushed uncontrollably from the wound.
"Your Majesty Catherine..."
Rhea stood frozen, her voice choked with grief and shock. It felt as if a warhammer had slammed into her mind, and her grip went slack on the hilt.
Using the last vestige of her strength, Catherine raised her head and reached out a blood-streaked hand, murmuring weakly, "I'm sorry..."
"I couldn't fulfill... the oath I made..."
"Your Majesty Catherine! Your Majesty..." Rhea dropped to her knees in panic, cradling Catherine in her arms. Tears poured down like an open floodgate, streaming down her cheeks and dripping from her chin.
And just like that, the peerlessly beautiful elven queen collapsed into the pool of blood, completely still and silent.
A heavy sorrow hung over the air. Whether elves, dwarves, humans, or dragons, every soul present mourned the passing of their monarch.
They were mourning their own fate as well, despair clouding every heart.
Crimson webs blotted out the sky, blanketing nearly the entire Elven Forest. Monstrous spider fiends crawled in every direction, painting a harrowing portrait of the end of days.
And the only elven queen capable of leading them through this suffocating darkness had perished.
Ancient Gold Dragon Titus lowered his head as well, releasing another protracted sigh. "Her Majesty Catherine was a valiant, fearless king. History will remember her contributions, and it will... remember our struggle."
Though Cassius wore an expression of sorrow and regret on the outside, he felt entirely composed within, having already deduced the general direction of events.
Throughout this coup in Therenia, he had refrained from decisive interference in order to keep history on its intended trajectory, merely observing the unfolding events.
Now, even with Catherine's "death," not a ripple stirred in Cassius's heart.
*So that's how it is. Everything falls into place...*
In his memory, Catherine held the titles of "Lord of Miracles," "Heart of the Moon," and "The Resurrected," alongside her mantle as the "Silvermoon Queen."
And the half-elf paladin Rhea was celebrated as the "Left Hand of the Moon Goddess."
For Cassius—or rather, Titus—this darkest hour offered the perfect opportunity to harvest immense prestige among the forces of good.
With that in mind, the ancient gold dragon surveyed his surroundings and unleashed a commanding roar: "Everyone, all is not lost!"
"Will you stand idly by and watch those filthy abominations trample your land? Do you wish to go down in the bards' tales as cowards terrified out of their wits by an evil deity?"
"Even if we must face a true goddess, we will fight to the bitter end! No retreat, no surrender! Avenge Her Majesty Catherine!"
The ancient gold dragon's rallying cry resonated first and foremost with the silver moon elves. They were the first to scream their hearts out, ready to expend their very lives to avenge their queen.
"For Her Majesty Catherine!"
The dwarves and humans were soon swept up in the fervor. Before long, tens of thousands of coalition officers and soldiers brandished their weapons and roared in unison, their voices rising like an ocean tide.
"To the death!"
"Avenge Her Majesty Catherine!"
Beneath the blood-red moon and the gloomy canopy, coalition soldiers raised their torches high, becoming rare pinpricks of light in the darkened forest.
Rhea slowly lifted her head, her tears spent. She looked toward the distant avatar of Lolth, her eyes blazing with bone-deep hatred.
As the old saying went: an army burning with righteous sorrow was bound to prevail.
Now Queen Catherine was gone, the Elven Forest was enshrouded by the Demonweb domain, and even spatial travel was sealed off. The coalition soldiers were trapped with their backs against the wall.
Their only path was to fight these hideous monsters to the finish. Far better to die on the battlefield as true warriors than to fall victim to the corruption of the Abyss.
Moreover, whether they were silver moon elves or the dwarves and humans who had marched thousands of leagues to aid Therenia, nearly all were champions devoted to righteousness.
With morale ablaze, they unleashed thunderous battle cries and charged headlong into the demonic swarms, clashing and wrestling with countless spider horrors.
"I'll smash this disgusting vermin to pieces!"
A dwarven warrior swung a heavy hammer with all his might, slamming it squarely into a giant spider's head and sending shattered carapace and foul poisonous ichor flying in every direction.
Moments later, a bebilith emerged behind him, its blade-sharp leg skewering through the dwarf's chest. The bloody claw tip jutted out from his front, pinning him in midair upon the creature's limb.
Yet the dwarven warrior erupted with astonishing willpower. Coughing up mouthfuls of blood, he twisted around in an unnatural posture, his chest mangled beyond recognition, and hurled his warhammer straight at the bebilith's head.
"Die!"
The carapace on the bebilith's skull caved in, cracking open as toxic blood splattered.
Just then, another dwarven warrior who had been lying in wait leaped out from behind, bellowing "Revenge!" Clambering onto the bebilith's back, he split the fractured skull in two with a single axe strike.
Similar clashes unfolded across the battlefield. The coalition soldiers fought without fear of death, determined to drag the Abyssal horrors into oblivion even at the cost of their own lives.
"Hmph, futile mortal struggles..."
At the center of the dense, swirling vortex of webs, Lolth sneered with sheer contempt, her alluring face cold and disdainful.
Striding across the web on her eight grotesque limbs, she advanced step by step toward Rhea and the others, her greedy gaze locked onto Catherine's remains.
"Hahahaha, only the final step remains! A saint's vessel of Sehanine... Once I sacrifice her, I can break free from the cage of the Abyss and descend upon this world anew!"
"I shall make the hypocritical Seldarine pay! I will make the elven race taste true agony, until the very gods shudder in terror at my name!"
As Lolth's avatar drew nearer, a suffocating aura of malevolent, chaotic dread washed over the battlefield, striking terror into the depths of every mortal soul.
It was as though she were a living calamity, darkness incarnate—an insurmountable, invincible presence.
"Lolth..."
Rhea glared fixedly at Lolth's avatar, her eyes harboring nothing but marrow-deep hatred and venom.
She would make this arrogant, deranged goddess pay the price!
The half-elf paladin reached out and gripped the silver sword buried in Catherine's chest, intending to draw it free.
Just then, a vast surge of divine energy radiated from Catherine's body.
"This is..."
Rhea stared in shock.
Lolth's avatar underwent a sudden, drastic change in expression. As if witnessing something unthinkable, she shook her head and muttered, "No... impossible! She is clearly dead, and she was infected with my Poison of Qilashar!"
A pillar of silver light erupted from the elven queen's chest, rocketing toward the heavens. It shattered the dense dark clouds and tore through the crimson web above, restoring the milky-white crescent moon to the night sky.
Like a surging tide, moonlight spilled outward in every direction from Catherine, purifying countless grotesque and wicked fiends in its wake.
Exquisitely pure lunar divine power gathered at Catherine's pierced chest, gradually coalescing into a crystal-clear heart that radiated a soft milky luminescence. Flesh, sinew, and skin knit together and regenerated at a pace visible to the naked eye.
This was the "Heart of the Moon."
Surging divine radiance traveled up through the silver sword and flowed into the half-elf paladin's body. Rhea felt a warm current course through her veins.
Intertwining silver threads and starlight coalesced into physical form at her empty left shoulder, weaving together into an arm as pristine and radiant as the moon itself.
This was the "Left Hand of the Moon Goddess."
Melodious hymns resonated across the land. Ethereal silver palaces manifested in the sky, shedding majestic luminescence that transformed the mortal realm into a divine sanctum.
Beholding such a sacred spectacle, the humans, dwarves, and silver moon elves were thoroughly revitalized, their spirits soaring. The elves even began chanting holy hymns.
"A miracle! Lady Sehanine has bestowed a miracle!"
"Praise the Mother Goddess!"
"We pray that You dispel the chaos, destroy the evil god, and bathe Therenia once more in moonlight!"
Sensing that familiar divine pressure, Lolth wore an expression of venomous fury, her features dark as her voice betrayed thinly veiled panic and dread.
"Damn you, Sehanine! You cunning bitch!"
"You will regret this! I will make you pay a price you will never forget!" Lolth shrieked toward the silver moon suspended high above, roaring in madness.
Watching from the side, Cassius saw through the whole affair with perfect clarity.
Sehanine also bore the titles "Lady of the Luminous Mystery" and "Prophet of Mystery."
As a paramount deity within the Seldarine pantheon, she governed the portfolios of prophecy, death, and dreams. She possessed the power to foretell the future, manipulate the deaths of elves, and rule over their slumber.
Bound by the restrictions of the Material Plane and her divine portfolios, Sehanine could not descend into the mortal realm in person. Instead, she had extinguished a portion of her immortal divinity to slip past the planar will, conveying and concealing it within Catherine's heart through the dreamscape.
The "key" to awakening Sehanine's divinity was Rhea's silver sword, charged with lunar power—coupled with the death of Catherine, the elven queen.
Furthermore, the vessel of Sehanine's saint had been the indispensable conduit for Lolth's descent. No matter how meticulously Lolth plotted, she was inevitably guided toward this predestined outcome.
*Tch, as expected of the Prophet of Mystery. Everything was within Lady Sehanine's calculations from the start...* Cassius mused to himself.
Chapter 766