Chapter 189: The Arrival of the Goddess

As the eldest daughter of the First Family, Adèle was not only a Silver Priest but also a Bronze Warrior, excelling both in close combat and remote spellcasting. In Scorpion Tail Flower City, aside from the head of the First Family and the master of martial arts, only the Magic Sword Carlisle and the leader of the Mind Merchant Guild could surpass her in skill. However, the former never dared to provoke the Four Great Families, while the latter had powerful backing, so Adèle also avoided provoking them.

Adèle’s team of family warriors all possessed skills at the Bronze level or above. The Dark Elves believed in the principle of survival of the fittest, hence their training for family members was extremely harsh—weaklings had no choice but to die, making competition incredibly fierce. Not only these family warriors but even Adèle, as the eldest daughter and future heir to the family’s leadership, had to overcome her sisters to reach that position.

Thus, compared to the mixed forces of the attacking side, the First Family’s defensive forces were elite.

Yet, the attacking side had gold-level swordmasters like Magic Sword Carlisle and many Silver-level strongmen. In terms of numbers, they had a large number of slaves as fodder, bloodthirsty mercenaries, and Donald’s powerful summoned creatures. As soon as battle began, the First Family’s defenders were immediately put at a disadvantage and forced into a nearly one-sided retreat.

“Defend the castle! Those who retreat will die!”

Adèle shouted angrily, slaying a retreating Gray Dwarf slave warrior with a single strike. Everyone was terrified and dared not think of retreating anymore.

At that moment, on Donald’s side, the old mage Messel had already prepared his spell. He summoned a magical array, releasing it toward the defending forces ahead. It was a Level 3 Mage’s Anti-Evil Array, a spell that restrained evil creatures within a ten-yard radius, locking them in place so they couldn’t move but could still use remote attacks. Normally, this spell held its effect for about ten minutes, with longer confinement time for those of lower rank than the caster.

Whether they were Dark Elf warriors or Gray Dwarf slave warriors, they were all evil creatures and were naturally affected by this spell. On the battlefield, even the slightest mistake could be fatal, let alone being unable to move at all—it was like waiting for death.

Although this spell belonged to the auxiliary category, its effect here was surprisingly good.

After trapping more than a dozen enemies, Donald immediately controlled his summoned creatures to attack. Many of those slaves and Blood Battle mercenaries also belonged to the evil faction and were unable to launch effective attacks due to the spell’s effect. However, aside from the undead troops, most of Donald’s summoned creatures were good or neutral beings.

The sudden inability to move left the dozen or so dark elf warriors and gray dwarf slave warriors in panic. They had previously been able to fight back with bows or throwing weapons, but now they couldn’t react in time and were quickly overwhelmed by the summoned creatures, dying in horrible ways.

With those enemies eliminated, a gap appeared in the Banry family’s defenses. The Blood Battle mercenaries, leading those slaves, seized the opportunity and advanced, on the verge of breaking into the Banry family’s castle.

“Retreat to the castle and activate the magical defenses!”
Seeing the situation worsening, Adèle shouted orders for her men to retreat and rely on the castle’s defensive fortifications.

After losing a few more men, the Banry family and others finally retreated into their family castle and activated magical defense barriers to temporarily hold off the enemies.

But just as the Banry family had a chance to catch their breath, three more groups joined the battlefield—sent by the Blood Battle mercenaries.

“Boss! We’re here!”
The half-orc assassins called out from afar.

The tall, muscular human warriors also said in rough voices, “Boss, it’s not my fault the mission failed! Someone got there first!”

After the three groups arrived beside the magic sword Carlisle, the dark elf mage saw Donald and his apprentice and narrowed his eyes. He whispered in Carlisle’s ear for a moment.

“What?”
Learning that all three of his main forces sent to attack the three major families had returned empty-handed, having been outdone by those two, Carlisle grew wary of the old and young mage pair.

To overwhelm the defenses of the three major families—even without their main forces—it wasn’t something ordinary people could do. Moreover, the opponents were just two people, uh, plus a bunch of summoned creatures.

Everyone had seen Donald’s summoned creatures turn into specks of light after being killed, so they knew they weren’t real magical beasts but creatures summoned through magic. Even real magical beasts were unlikely to have anyone capable of taming such large numbers.

Carlisle was truly extraordinary; his expression quickly returned to normal. He said to his three trusted men, “Dwarf, Axe, Blackskin—you came at just the right time. The stronghold of the First Family is about to fall!”

The human giant axe warrior known as Axe stepped forward and said, “We’ll join in too!”
“Haha! Just thinking of that old woman’s furious expression makes me feel pleasure!”
The half-orc’s shrill mockery angered the eldest daughter of the First Family on the other side.
As the enemy forces grew stronger while their own side continued to suffer losses without being able to mount an effective counterattack, the magical barrier outside could not hold much longer.
Adèle, the leader of the First Family, glared resentfully at the enemies outside, then gritted her teeth and spat in hatred, “This is all because of you! I originally planned to use this last resort only after overthrowing my mother and seizing the position of leader. Today, you despicable men deserve to die!”
With a solemn expression, Adèle began reciting a prayer consisting of hundreds of words.
“Great Lord of the Deep Pit Web, you are the Queen of Spiders, the patron of the dark elves… I, Adèle of Banrei, pray to you for…”
Suddenly, a powerful magical energy erupted from the dark elf girl, and her demeanor began to change.
At that moment, the three members of the Agricultural Women’s Cult, who had remained inactive until now, stepped forward. Previously led by a middle-aged priest, they were now led by the young girl Ely, with the other two guarding behind her.
“What’s going on? Could it be?” Donald sensed a disturbance coming from the other side, and his divine instincts trembled, leading him to a shocking hypothesis.
As Donald’s divine instincts trembled, the young knight Ely suddenly turned to look at him. Her eyes were completely different from before—her golden pupils made Donald feel an overwhelming sense of authority surrounding him.
The girl smiled lightly. Even with the power granted by her will, she couldn’t see through the soul of this young mage. This kid must have strong protective gear, but now wasn’t the time to investigate such trivial matters. She temporarily abandoned trying to communicate with Donald and focused instead on the changes in Adèle, the eldest daughter of the First Family.
It wasn’t until the girl turned away that Donald broke into a cold sweat in fear.
If it weren’t for the Truth Book, which had remained silent in his soul until now, suddenly emitting a beam of golden light that completely shielded his consciousness world, all his secrets would have been exposed to the other party.
By this time, the situation on Adèle’s side had also reached a critical moment. Although her appearance hadn’t changed, her aura was now completely different.

The magic overflowing from her made her appear like a deity, and a giant spider silhouette appeared behind her. Seeing this scene, all the dark elves present knelt in worship, except for the dark elf mage from the Blood Battle Mercenaries, whose pale face showed he was still struggling to hold on.
“Foolish mortals! How dare you invade the dark elf territory I protect? You must pay for your ignorance!”
At this point, Adele was no longer herself; her voice had completely changed to that of another sinister being. Everyone present, except for a few less intelligent slaves, knew it was the Spider Queen descending through Adele’s body. The Spider Queen’s notorious temper in the Dark Regions filled people with fear, leaving the rebellious slaves too terrified to even try to escape.
Just as “Adele” enjoyed everyone’s fear and submission, a light laugh broke the atmosphere.
“Hehe! Flora, you’re still so vain. You’re already infamous in the Main World. Besides the dark elves, how many mortals would worship you? Even among the dark elves, most are just afraid of your punishment!”
“Adele” suddenly turned her gaze toward the three members of the Agricultural Goddess Church and shrieked in anger, “Eilien! It’s you, you wretched woman…”
The young knight, having her identity exposed, completely dropped her disguise, and her golden divine power surged, revealing the full might of the goddess.
“You and Elsa plan to form an alliance—there must be some scheme. Of course, I have to come and add some chaos to make things more fun for you!”
The Spider Queen’s avatar’s face trembled as she gathered anger, but then, as if she thought of something, the goddess suddenly burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! Eilien, you’ve lost your mind this time. You brought your will avatar to the Dark Regions. As long as I gather a few of my golden-tier subordinates, I can eliminate this avatar of yours…”
Although destroying just a fragment of the original being’s will wouldn’t greatly affect the main body, eliminating an enemy’s avatar was undoubtedly a great achievement for the Spider Queen.
Avatars like theirs, born from willpower, were limited by the rules of the physical world, with strengths at most surpassing gold-tier but slightly weaker than legendary-tier. Yet since true gods possessed far greater control over the power of laws than ordinary strongmen, their superior experience allowed them to fight against legendary warriors without falling behind.

However, due to the limited power brought by the will, such clones cannot sustain high-intensity combat for long. Once the time runs out, they must return their will to the main body. This time, Spider Queen Flora seized the opportunity, determined to keep the clone of the Goddess of Agriculture, Eilien, in the Dark Lands, or at the very least embarrass her badly. Then she would see if Eilien still had the face to continue fighting her. Though confident and already calling upon her powerful followers nearby, Spider Queen Flora felt something was wrong when she saw Eilien’s calm demeanor. She wondered, “Could this bitch still have some backing?”