Volume 21: The King of the Northlands
Chapter 376: The Cowardly Spider Queen
“My lord, there are two elves here—new arrivals. The nobles in the city haven’t had time to choose them yet. Might you be interested?”
Donald waved his hand dismissively, ignoring the price entirely. “Take them all!”
Ignoring the gray dwarf steward’s secret joy, Donald removed his cloak to reveal his true face. He spoke to the slaves, most of whom had blank eyes but some still showing determination and other emotions: “This city is about to be destroyed. There’s a chance now. Will you follow me?”
The slaves were stunned. Soon, hope appeared in a few of their eyes, especially in those of the two elves.
Though they didn’t know if what he said was true or not, it was good enough that he could take them away from this terrifying city devoid of humanity! And their buyer was a human.
Anyway, since destruction was imminent, it would be worthwhile to save some surface races as slaves or add more people to the demi-plane!
The gray dwarf steward, upon hearing this and seeing Donald’s true face, immediately sensed trouble. He waved behind him for two werewolf guards to rush and report to the security patrol!
Donald easily noticed the steward’s scheme but reacted nothing, too lazy to bother with these evil creatures who were oblivious even at the brink of death!
He turned and asked, “Are there any more human and elf slaves there?”
The gray dwarf steward replied nervously, “These are all the human and elf slaves in the market. The rest are likely in various families—especially male elves and strong human men, who are always the property of powerful matriarchs!”
Donald nodded, understanding now. With a wave, he brought all these human and elf slaves into the demi-plane, ignoring the steward’s screams. In a flash, he appeared on the streets.
By now, the tremors in the distance had grown louder, and the entire city could hear the growing roar. Alarms blared everywhere. Whether it was the dark elves, the city’s residents, or the slaves, everyone was in chaos, running around in panic.
Amidst the turmoil, only Donald walked calmly, even taking the time to appreciate the dark elves’ artistic style, which was no less exquisite than that of the surface elves. After all, this beautiful underground city would soon be destroyed, and perhaps he could reminisce about it from time to time!
In the chaos, the powerful military forces of various families rushed to the city walls to observe the enemy situation. Unnoticed, Donald slipped into the backyard of the city’s leading family, silently subduing the guards there and asking about the location where the slaves were held!
Slaves captured by female dark elves were usually elite men, some even hunted from the surface world—these were meant to satisfy the sexual desires of the female dark elves and produce superior offspring. Inheriting the temperament of the Spider Queen, the dark elf race, which revered women, was undoubtedly lustful and evil!
Donald didn’t bother counting them and gathered all the slaves, including a few dark elf guards, before moving on to the next family. He had to act calmly—destroying the avatar of the Destroyer Lord as quickly as possible. Once the enemy reached outside the city, he would have to leave. It was obvious that the forces of the entire Summer Capital couldn’t stop the rampage of the Destroyer Lord’s avatar; they might not even get a chance to breathe!
As for those slaves who refused to obey, Donald didn’t care. After all, there were people like Carlisle and Chikofield in the demi-plane, and they couldn’t possibly turn the situation around!
After finishing this, Donald didn’t stay in the Summer Capital any longer but headed deeper into the Dark Regions.
The environment of the Dark Regions was completely different from that of the main world. This world consisted of caves and caverns of various sizes, connected by tunnels. Aside from giant underground caves resembling surface plains, other caves of different sizes served as habitats for various subterranean creatures. The largest cave halls were like miniature versions of the surface world, with hills, valleys, underground rivers, and lakes.
Scholars who studied this generally divided the structure of the Dark Regions into three layers. The uppermost layer was located just a few miles above the surface. The creatures living in these upper caves had extensive contact with surface races through trade, attacks, and conquests.
The main inhabitants of the upper layer were dark elves, eye demons, dwarves, heart snatchers, underground dwarves, and ratfolk living beneath cities. Water and food were relatively abundant here, and their adaptability to darkness was relatively low.
The inhabitants of the middle layer often treated surface races as slaves. They included dark elves, heart snatchers, underground dwarves, and kraken ratfolk. Water and food were scarce in this middle layer unless one was near a lake or had an environment suitable for growing underground fungal crops.
The once-existent City of Scorpion Tail represented the upper cities, while the Summer Capital was located in one of the largest caves and cities in the middle layers of the Dark Regions. Donald’s ultimate goal, however, was the lower layers of the Dark Regions world.
The world of the lower Dark Regions is little known; it is said to be filled with incredibly strange societies and cultures.
Most of the caves in the lower world are ruled by evil and bizarre races such as bottom-dwelling demon fish, Dilo dwarves, sludge monsters, and heart-stealing demons. These terrifying races are hostile toward any beings that differ from them.
Food and water in the lower caves are extremely scarce, forcing the races there to fight each other for survival. Creatures that can live in such deep underground environments are highly adapted to darkness, with many even developing new, unique senses.
At that moment, Donald was diving into a passage leading even deeper. Suddenly, he stopped and looked up. The few summoned creatures he had left behind before leaving the Summer Capital provided him with information that left him somewhat disappointed.
Just now, the beautiful yet evil city of the Summer Capital had completely become history. Under the furious attacks of the avatar of the Destroyer Lord, the once-prosperous dungeon quickly turned into ruins!
The local forces of the Summer Capital couldn’t organize any effective resistance. The dark elf forces, led by several major families, could only despairingly pray to their deity. But even after sacrificing several precious virgins and children—offerings that used to please the Spider Queen greatly and even earn her divine favor—they received no response from the goddess!
Donald shook his head. Although the Spider Queen still pretended to be a true goddess in front of him, when the avatar of the Destroyer Lord attacked, she didn’t even dare to make a sound. She could only watch as her largest settlements of believers were destroyed.
Abandoned by their true deity, the dark elves, filled with fear and despair, gave up their faith and cursed and insulted the Spider Queen with all their might. Losing such a large number of believers, coupled with the backlash from their faith, would deal a significant blow to the Spider Queen—even though she was a powerful intermediate god. It would take hundreds of years for her to recover, or worse, her divine power might decline, causing her to fall to the rank of a lower god!