Chapter 190: The Temptation of the Divine Weapon
Before the Spider Queen could gather enough forces, the Goddess of Agriculture, Eilien, took action first. A brilliant light, even brighter than the sun, erupted from the hands of the young knight. The creatures from the dark regions, accustomed to darkness, were instantly blinded, tearing up tears; in severe cases, their eyes burned with pain, suffering permanent damage.
The effects of this fourth-level divine spell, “Light of Heaven,” didn’t stop there. Any undead or necrotic creatures within its range suffered fatal injuries. Lower-level undead couldn’t withstand the light for even a few breaths before being reduced to ashes by its positive energy. Additionally, evil extraterrestrial creatures and dark beings that feared sunlight also suffered severe harm in its presence.
Originally, the range of this spell was only sixty steps, but with Eilien’s divine attributes amplifying it, the range doubled, and the damage intensified. Among the Banrei family’s forces under the spell’s light, aside from “Adèle” and the Golden Knights who remained standing, all the dark elves and gray dwarves writhed in pain on the ground.
The Spider Queen naturally wouldn’t let her opponents eliminate her subordinates. Though these weaklings were of little use in battles at their level, they could still hold off those little insects, preventing them from becoming obstacles in a real fight and giving Eilien a chance to escape. Moreover, they might still be useful at critical moments.
The Spider Queen summoned a dark mist using the same method, using negative energy to counteract the effects of “Light of Heaven.”
As the two goddesses clashed, the slaves who had previously wanted to overthrow the dark elf regime and gain freedom lost all desire to rebel. They wished they had two more legs and fled instantly.
Donald, Carlisle, the Blood Battle Mercenaries, and the two members of the Goddess of Agriculture’s church also stepped back to watch from a distance, afraid of being caught in the battle between the two goddesses.
By then, the Goddess of Agriculture had already summoned her helpers: four elemental creatures from the Earth Element Plane—one golden and three silver rock puppets.
“Thinking of calling for help now? Dream on!”
The Spider Queen laughed maniacally and pointed at those summoned creatures from another realm.
“Expulsion Spell!”
In an instant, the light from the summoning circle flashed, forcing those Earth Element creatures to return to their original plane.
The Goddess of Agriculture, seemingly anticipating the Spider Queen’s move, had already unleashed her next divine spell while dealing with the expulsion of her own summoned creatures.
“Star of Avando!”
Dozens of starlight particles began to orbit above the avatar of the Goddess of Agriculture. Though each was only the size of a walnut, they exuded a sense of immense power.
This was also a fourth-level divine spell, the Star of Avando. Avando was the divine realm of the elf pantheon, and the effect of this spell was to summon natural energy to form starlight that could protect its user autonomously. Whenever attacked, it could also fire these starlight particles as remote attacks.
The power unleashed by this natural energy was formidable, especially effective against evil and undead creatures. However, it had a drawback: it inflicted non-lethal damage on creatures from non-evil factions with a 50% chance.
Depending on the spellcaster’s level, each level allowed for one natural star. Counting those orbiting the Goddess of Agriculture, there were as many as eighteen. This indicated that the goddess’s spellcasting level was as high as eighteen. It was unknown whether there existed spells or magic at that level, and even if they did, ordinary mortals like those below would likely never be able to access them.
Upon closer inspection, those who paid attention could see that since their appearance, both goddesses had only used spells below level five. It wasn’t that they lacked the ability, but using higher-level spells would drain the power they brought with them upon arrival, shortening their time in the main world.
While the Goddess of Agriculture unleashed the Star of Avando, the Spider Queen also summoned two Golden Demons from her divine realm back home.
After the Spider Queen’s downfall, her divine realm, the Deep Pit of Magic Webs, was established in the abyss. Slaving demons was naturally easier and more effective for her than for other true gods.
What appeared before everyone were two towering demons, at least fifteen feet tall, with robust physiques and strong muscles. They had dog-like heads, sharp fangs in their mouths, and purple eyes emitting a terrifying evil glow. They were high-ranking demons from the abyssal plane—Seduction Demons.
Both of these Seduction Demons had four arms on their backs: two with claws and the other two with powerful pincers.
Seeing the two Golden Demons appear, several powerful warriors watching from afar considered retreating.
It was clear that the Spider Queen held the upper hand on the battlefield. Given the goddess’s personality, their fate would likely be grim once the battle ended.
The Spider Queen has a cruel and capricious personality; she embodies all the negative traits of dark elves—evil, cunning, brutality, and malice. Being both wicked and suspicious, she harbors hostility toward everyone. This fallen demon deity has long coveted the power and followers of other gods on the surface world. Since the Spider Queen enjoys deliberately plunging her followers into endless internal strife, forcing them to kill each other for power, most believe her mind has long been twisted and corrupted. In short, falling into the hands of this Spider Queen means a fate far worse than death itself! The two worshippers of the Agriculture Goddess, on the other hand, seem full of confidence in their goddess and show no fear at all. Donald thought this would be a simple task of guiding them, something he could finish easily, but it turned into a huge ordeal, even drawing in fierce characters like the Spider Queen and the Agriculture Goddess’s avatar! Fortunately, the Book of Truth had been repaired not long ago, restoring some of its functions, making it relatively easy to conceal the will of these two divine avatars. After all, these were merely fragments of the gods’ divine consciousness, not saints or incarnations who had descended as gods. Donald thought to himself that since the two goddesses were engrossed in battle, they probably wouldn’t have time to deal with these two human mages. They likely didn’t know about the teleportation spell, so he didn’t teleport away right away, planning to escape when they weren’t looking. Otherwise, with the abilities of these divine avatars, they could easily seal off all spatial spells within a certain range, making it difficult to leave. However, the appearance of two golden demons made Donald hesitate. “These are rare golden-tier powerful demons in the main world. Unlike that muscle-bound fool, the Demon Baron from before, these ones are Temptation Demons renowned for their magical abilities.” “If I can absorb the power of one of them, and then train further in the House of Time, I could save several years in reaching the golden rank.” Even among high-level demons, Temptation Demons can rank among the top ten, just below the Flaming Balor, the Six-Armed Snake Demon, and the Assassin Demon, and on par in strength with the Soul Judger Demons. Powerful Temptation Demons can even reach legendary status. Moreover, they possess several powerful and rare spell abilities. Such a formidable demon naturally posed an immense temptation to Donald, a demon hunter.
Just as Donald hesitated, the core forces of the four major families from the north of the city, who had originally been stationed at the Spider Academy, were rushing toward this place, along with an envoy group from the Shadow Demon City.
“Haha! My men are here! Eilien, how will you escape this time? I’ll suppress your will, strip off the clothes from your avatar in front of these mortals, and let the evil creatures in your eyes humiliate you, you self-proclaimed goddess of justice!”
The Spider Queen grew more and more excited. Her twisted expression and tone made Donald, who was watching from afar, shiver. He thought to himself, “This Spider Queen truly is a goddess who enjoys torturing others. If this happened in my past life, she might even have been worshipped by many sex and torture enthusiasts and given the title of a god of sex and torment!”
At that moment, the First Mother of the Dark Elves, the martial arts master of the First Family, the leader of the envoy group, along with two Temptation Demons, made up five Golden-level powerhouses. There were also many Silver-level powerhouses.
On the side of the Agricultural Goddess, aside from the Golden-level Sword Saint, Karel, the leader of the Blood Battle Mercenary Group, the strongest one was merely a Mage at the peak of Silver level.
They were clearly at a disadvantage. Even several Silver-level powerhouses like Donald couldn’t intervene at this point—after all, a large gap in rank couldn’t be made up for by numbers, let alone their inferior numbers compared to the enemy.
The Agricultural Goddess, who had always worn a smile, now showed signs of anxiety. Before the enemy reinforcements arrived, she risked using the two Natural Stars above her head to withstand a divine spell from the Spider Queen, then used an excommunication spell to send one of the Temptation Demons back to the abyss.
“Haha! Even you, the mighty Agricultural Goddess, know fear!”
The Spider Queen laughed maniacally and ordered her subordinates to surround the Agricultural Goddess.
“Hmph! It’s still too early to determine a winner!”
Suddenly, the Agricultural Goddess called out to someone behind her, “Sord!”
A strong golden light burst from the middle-aged priest who was with Donald and the others. As the light flowed into him, his strength soared rapidly. In just a few seconds, he broke through the Golden level and continued to rise.
Through his divine vision, Donald could see that the source of the golden light was a golden horn that Sord had somehow taken out and held in his hands.
“The Horn of Harvest!”
The Spider Queen screamed upon seeing this familiar golden light.
“You foolishly brought a divine artifact down to the main world and handed it to one of your followers! Haha, I’ve reaped a huge reward this time!”
Unless it is an incarnation with power comparable to that of a demigod, true gods will not grant their avatars divine artifacts, as they can easily be seized by enemies in the event of defeat. Generally, avatars rely only on minor divine power attacks or projections of divine artifacts, which are sufficient to deal with opponents below legendary status.
Thus, when the Spider Queen saw the Goddess of Agriculture bring her famous divine artifact, the Horn of Abundance—a powerful intermediate-grade divine artifact—how could her greedy nature not rejoice?
“Kill her! Once we obtain the Horn of Abundance, everyone will receive my rewards!”
Ditlinde, the matriarch of the First Family, wore an excited smile as she was the first to follow the Spider Queen’s orders and charge at the priestess holding the divine artifact. The matriarchs of the other three major families and the powerful dark elves also followed closely behind.
At that moment, a sudden change occurred in the leader of the envoy group from the Shadow Demon City—a female shadow priest.
“Heh…”
A series of bell-like laughter sounds rang out. As the shadow priest’s eyes opened, it seemed as if endless darkness descended, suppressing all light. Everyone present faced a dark, majestic presence, as if returning to the world at the dawn of the universe.
After witnessing the arrival of the Spider Queen, everyone knew now that another god had arrived. As for which true god it was, it could be determined by the vessel through which their will manifested.