The candle flickered for the last time and was finally lost in tears of wax.

The darkness swallowed up the huddled figure on the bed and every corner of the room.

A long sigh...

Santila hugged her knees with her hands and rested her chin on her knees, recalling everything in her dream.

In fact, she rarely dreams, and even if she does, she almost forgets them all after waking up, even after having a nightmare.

But this time, she remembered some details deeply.

In her dream, she saw Eilistraee, the long-fallen drow goddess, in the forest, bathed in the moonlight, with a pergola made of white-green moonstones hanging from the treetops above her head.

covered.

This goddess is naked, and her silver-white ankle-length hair slides like flowing water over the goddess's black satin-like skin.

Two silver swords were suspended in mid-air on both sides of the hips. Their silver blades trembled slightly, and the sounds were mixed with each other, like the high-pitched singing of women, playing a wordless melody.

Her eyes are the ultimate memory of these mortal women: the changing blue light in the pupils can only be found in moonstone.

Although the goddess's perfect face and sky-blue eyes were full of confidence, what impressed Santila most deeply was her tearful and suffocating voice.

The inexplicable sadness that surged in her heart made her no longer want to look at this kind goddess, but forcibly turned her gaze to the other goddess of the drow elves, the Spider Queen Rose.

She sat on the dim iron throne, and the bloated spherical throne was supported by eight legs like a bulging belly.

Above her, tortured souls filled the hot black-purple sky.

Lolth is in her drow avatar form, her bark-like skin wrapped in a garment of spider silk that reaches up to her shoulders and into her long, bone-white hair.

As she spoke, tiny red spiders sprang from her mouth and fell through Rose's lower lip onto hair-thick webs that swayed in the foul-smelling breeze.

The red light in Rose's eyes is the reflection of the hell fire in the hell spider web, and this is the only shining place on her body.

Darkness enveloped her like a cloak.

The eyes of the two goddesses jumped across the huge chasm, passed through a portal, and stared at each other closely.

The portal stands between the planes of the goddesses, Lolth and the long-fallen Eilistraee, mother and daughter, the drow gods of darkness and cruelty and the gods of light and mercy.

A chessboard spans the portal between the two gods.

"We get on the board and play the game ourselves."

"A battle of life and death, the winner gets everything, and the god Io will be the witness of our bet."

…

Santila shook her head and forced the distracting thoughts away from her mind.

Out of instinctive precaution, she didn't want to know what everything in the dream meant. She just wanted them to disappear like smoke, that's all.

Goddess Rose, the goddess of kindness, and the battle of life and death on the chessboard are not as important as her own affairs.

She cheered up, a confident and familiar smile appeared on her sad and pretty face, and she stretched out her hands to comb her long, disheveled hair. Then she got out of bed, changed her clothes, and got ready to go out.

Today is a special day.

The once-in-a-millennium founding festival of the ancient city of Orens has arrived.

On this day, the clansmen in the city will visit family homes or hold picnics in the wilderness. They will even invite their families, who usually fight to the death, to have dinner together with smiles on their faces to celebrate the arrival of the festival.

At the banquet, a solemn toast is given, first to Lolth, then to the ancient city of Orens, then to the founder of the diner's family, and finally to the favorite ancestor or fallen hero of the relevant family.

and told about their great achievements.

The key is.

It is said that on this day, Lolth, the Spider Queen, will walk among her people, listening and judging her people in the form of a mortal of any gender, any age, any appearance, and any race.

Because no one can guarantee that the stranger passing by is not the incarnation of Spider Queen Rose.

Therefore, on the day of the City's Founding Day, no stranger or slave passing by will be refused a meal by the Drow family.

Instead, they are warmly invited to sit down, share food, and try to accommodate any requests they make.

Because if their hospitality makes Rose very satisfied, she will reward those who please her with magical power, the weakness of the other person, slight but permanent changes in flaws, or magic items.

Likewise, if the hospitality is not good, she will turn the food and drink into deadly toxins, killing the entire family that irritates or offends her.

If Lolth happens to hear or pass by a drow talking about her favorite person, she will sometimes appear in a real form reminiscent of the dead hero, responding to the words with silent hand ornaments and expressions.

It's as if they are still alive and can hear what they are saying.

Of course, she will use these illusions to encourage the drow to take on the tasks she wants them to take on, or make the decisions she wants them to make.

Santila couldn't help but think curiously.

If on this day, a smelly goblin asks the mistress of the Tux family to wash his feet or sleep with him, will this vicious old bastard bite the bullet and agree?

A smile appeared on the corner of the drow girl's mouth, and for some reason, she suddenly had the intention of finding a goblin to try.

After thinking about it, she shook her head again, but ultimately did not choose to put her thoughts into action.

Because right now she has a more important thing that needs to be confirmed in person.

To the northwest of the ancient city of Orens, there is the most chaotic trade bazaar.

The purpose of most people coming here is to trade goods that are strictly prohibited, and merchants from hundreds of races do business in a dangerous environment.

It is said that this place was once the burial place of a destroyed first family of their drow race.

Over the centuries, many unmanaged ruins have become homes for other, more dangerous creatures.

From time to time, treasure hunters come looking for hidden treasures that have not yet been discovered.

Most of these explorers left behind piles of rotting bones, strong evidence of the traps and monsters still lingering in the family burial grounds.

Santila walked through the dark tunnel with ease, the magic elf boots dampening the sound of her footsteps, and the elf magic cloak helping her hide her figure.

In the intricate tunnel, she suddenly discovered a faint blue halo.

This is a magical warning that only those wizards with natural magical talents and hard training can detect.

She left the main tunnel leading to the trading bazaar and approached cautiously.

She saw a terrifying blue light like a glowing scroll, covering the entrance to the cave.

Santila, who was in the invisible state, looked around and noticed that several kobolds, orcs and goblins were walking and discussing which drow family to go to for a feast.

They passed by her as if nothing had happened, completely unaware of the strange situation here and the blue aura of the cave.

This made her instantly understand that this was a magical halo that only wizards could see, and the blue aura it emitted could not illuminate the surrounding scene at all.

She hesitated for a while, wondering whether to risk breaking the ban.

In the end, curiosity overcame the fear in her heart. She temporarily put aside her to-do items and began to carefully observe the restrictions on the sealed entrance. Then she whispered and summoned an elf flame ball.

As expected, when she summoned the flame ball, the blue forbidden light began to sway in and out, which made her realize that this was just the simplest illusion.

A smile appeared on Santila's lips. She put away the fireball and walked in as if nothing had happened.

In the spacious tunnel, the corpses of goblins, kobolds, and ogres were scattered, and the floor and walls were spattered with blood and dark red blood clots that had dried for a long time.

Seeing this situation, Santila was immediately disappointed.

Because this looks more like an ordinary cave, there is absolutely no chance that there are any unknown treasures.

She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeves, waved her hands to drive away the nauseating stench, and then cast her blue gaze on a dead goblin corpse, observing it carefully, trying to find out whether the cause of their death was due to the indiscriminate division of loot.

Infighting between the two.

She raised her foot and kicked the body, and found that the little guy's head had been neatly cut open.

The simple helmet and bones were cut cleanly, and the edges on both sides were smooth, as if they had been polished by a master gem cutter.

Then, she looked at a thigh belonging to a huge ogre. Just as she guessed, the incision at the thigh joint was also very smooth.

Obviously, all the corpses here should be caused by a person with superb swordsmanship. Almost all of them were killed in one blow without any resistance.

What a sharp sword and such swift swordsmanship, she thought in surprise.

In her impression, only the martial arts masters of major families could achieve this level.

For some reason, Brian's figure appeared in her mind.

He also seems to be a master of swordsmanship, and the weapons Brian wears are the result of her specially selecting them for him.

If he was asked to do it, could he do it to this extent? She couldn't help but wonder curiously.

When she mentioned him, her thinking suddenly became a little confused.

Because the purpose of her trip was to confirm whether Brian had escaped or not.

From some secret channel, she learned that several Lolth priestesses and drow warriors had indeed died in the Spider Cave.

This proves that Brian has escaped according to their pre-discussed plan.

However, in the vicious cave where the spider elves were transformed, more than twenty people were killed at once, including eight low-level priestesses of Lolth.

It is said that even the maid of the Queen of Gods, the Wax Melt Demon, was kicked over the altar by an intruder, and then was forcibly expelled back to the lower plane with humiliation.

That scene must be very interesting, Santila thought to herself, she almost thought of the wax melt demon showing its teeth and claws at the intruder, but it was helpless and funny.

This kind of blatant blasphemy naturally attracted the utmost attention from the top management.

Some high-ranking priests of Lolth even summoned waxmelts just to discover the location of the Blasphemer.

However, what is very disappointing is that the other party seems to have disappeared out of thin air, and there is no trace of it.

According to the descriptions of the survivors, they only knew that the person who trespassed into the forbidden area was a half-elf wizard, and when they were desperate, they jumped into the deep valley with an abyss crack.

When all the doubts pointed to this person being Brian, Santila clearly felt that some of the items she had secretly tampered with in the items given to him were ineffective, making it impossible for her to use her detective skills.

Use detection spells to detect any whereabouts of the opponent.

Therefore, she had to go to the trade bazaar to verify whether Brian used the teleportation scroll she gave him and left the city of Ancient Orens.

Because the final destination of the teleportation scroll is a hidden cave in the trade bazaar.

After all, Brian is a true friend in her mind.

This is simply impossible in their drow society.

In Santila's young life, she suffered many betrayals. Each betrayal caught her by surprise and left her with a dull pain of emptiness. Most of them were based on trust, so she had to learn to pretend.

Own.

She has not lost her drow talent, and her ability to engage in intrigues and intrigues. Once she learns it, she will never forget it.

But in Brian, she developed something akin to trust.

Although the two occasionally deceived each other, Santila could feel that behind this deception was not the murder of the drow race, but a kind of goodwill that even she could not explain herself.

This is why she is willing to take the initiative to share her passion with him.

As a drow who grew up in the ancient city of Orens.

Santila knew that apart from the area she was familiar with that could be used to vent her emotions, she had no idea what other means could be used to deepen the relationship between the two before parting.

This made her involuntarily recall a pleasant exchange between the two before they parted.

That feeling is really amazing.

At first she felt pain for a moment, but the pain slowly melted into a sweetness, like a magic potion that could only be tasted once in a lifetime.

She let that feeling stay as long as possible. Gradually, the sweetness took over, and she was completely overwhelmed by the sweetness.

It wasn't until the end that she discovered that this incident brought more than just sweetness.

In the area that bloomed like a flower in front of him, she felt a dizzying spasm, and then the dizziness enveloped her whole body.

She once thought that there was nothing more pleasant than this, even if it cost her life.

Thinking about it...

Santila's cheeks suddenly became hot, and her heartbeat accelerated involuntarily.

She endured the stench of the cave, calmed her disordered breath, and diverted her attention.

Thinking back to Brian uncontrollably, she couldn't help but sigh depressedly.

In her opinion, the other party is obviously a very smart half-elf, so why doesn't he understand her own thoughts and the hints in her words.

When communicating with him, she had hinted many times that she was willing to go to the surface with him.

As long as he nodded in agreement, she would immediately abandon everything she owned in Ancient Orens and go happily, but he kept silent about this matter from beginning to end.

For the first time, Santila felt a sense of loss that she was being ignored.

I have to say, this feeling is very unpleasant.

A long sigh...

Santila brushed her hair in front of her forehead. Recently, she likes to brush her hair whenever she encounters something troublesome.

Even she herself doesn't know how this bad habit came about.

And she also found that she sighed more and more every day.

This was not a good sign. She quickly adjusted her mentality, put all her worries behind her, and thought about the good.

She couldn't help but begin to analyze her current situation.

Although she missed an opportunity to leave the underground world, she knew that with her own personality, it was only a matter of time before she ventured to the surface.

Therefore, she must start thinking in advance about everything she will abandon in the future.

After thinking about the problem, she realized that she no longer felt so regretful about the surface trip that she could only undertake a few years in the future.

After all, she still has a lot to do now. There is still a lot of magic knowledge to learn and many things to experience in the ancient city of Orens.

Although she didn't like her father, the chief mage of the ancient city of Orens, he was able to fill his wallet at any time and never had to frown at the high prices of spell materials and magic books.

But as a wizard, she needs it most right now.

In the final analysis, she is still too weak and she still needs to grow.

Only by gaining more power can she take this power to the Land of Light and find the Wandering Temple.

However, whenever that moment comes, Santila understands that she can only set foot on a strange land alone.

She must get used to not relying on anyone, including the chief mage whom she may not see for several years.

After figuring out the problem, she once again showed her most familiar confident smile, ready to end this treasure hunting adventure that disappointed her.

Just as she was about to walk out of the cave, an object that was inadvertently kicked caught her attention.

She looked down and found that it was a shallow and concave bronze bowl. The bowl was embossed with exquisite flower patterns, like roses, and the inner wall was inlaid with ivory.

This item seemed a bit out of place compared to the horrific wreckage and practical tools scattered around her feet.

It's hard to imagine that she didn't discover this unusual item right away, as it seemed to appear out of thin air.

This made her feel a little doubtful.

In the end, doubt prevailed over her strong curiosity.

She reached out and touched the edge of the bowl.

When she touched the bowl, a faint magical light appeared, and clear water filled the bowl.

Santila's eyes widened and she looked down into the bowl.

At first she only saw her own reflection, but in a moment the water turned black, darker than the deepest cracks in the Underdark.

Immediately afterwards, images began to appear, floating in the calm water.

The bowl of the seer.

The drow wizard guessed the name of the item, a magical item that could be used to spy on other areas.

It is said that there is a spider wizard hidden somewhere in the Malicious Cave, and the bowl of seer he possesses can even monitor every move of the entire ancient city of Orens.

Santila immediately concentrated her attention and looked at the water in the bowl.

When she cast her gaze, she was surprised to find that she actually saw Matron Elizabeth of the Tux family.

This old woman was dressed in fine clothes, standing in the banquet hall, looking around her, her vicious eyes shining with satisfaction.

Under the order of the mistress, the attendants took the most precious treasures of the family and placed them in the banquet hall:

The chair made of the bones of the Deinoclaw, the onyx table supported by dragon claws, and the crystal goblet rendered in crimson, which contained the blood wine of the surface elves, are some of the exhibits that even Santila was amazed by.

It won't take a while.

A guard led a hunchbacked troll with green moss skin and a face covered with abscesses in.

She noticed that Matron Elisabetta forcibly controlled the strong desire to whip her snakehead whip on the other person, and forced herself to fake a smile to the ugly troll.

Apparently, she'd heard many similar stories about families who chased away some poor creature, only to discover that it was Lolth in disguise, and that they happened to die from food that turned to poison.

Santila gloated in the bowl at the funny scene.

The smiling Mistress Elizabeth welcomed the troll and warmly extended him an invitation to dine.

The troll nodded its head high, rubbed its trunk-like hands against each other, grinned, revealing its full mouth of yellow teeth, and walked towards the banquet hall with steps that it would be disowning.

When the meal was over and Mistress Elisabetta used the water in the silver basin to clean the troll's crusty feet, Santila suddenly noticed that the troll's eyes bulged and it suddenly looked up.

This move obviously startled her, as if her voyeurism had been discovered.

When she focused her attention on the bowl again, the water in the bowl had disappeared, and the bronze bowl was completely damaged with dense cracks.

Could that troll really be the incarnation of Rose? Santila was shocked by her thoughts.

At this moment, a strange black flame suddenly ignited in the cave.

This flame has no temperature and no halo, but Santila's eyes will feel stinging as long as she looks at it.

Just when she was overwhelmed by this strange black flame, the flames suddenly dispersed and disappeared, and what appeared in front of her turned into a bouquet of black flowers.

The shape of the flower was similar to the red roses she saw in the jewelry store. She subconsciously reached out and caught the bouquet of black roses suspended in mid-air.

The smooth touch made her think that the production process of this bouquet of black roses should be to pour an amber-like liquid on a bouquet of black roses and condense them into shape.

But the flowers gave off a faint venom-like smell, which made her feel very uncomfortable and made her feel a little irritable for no reason.

"Hello, Santila Tax." A sexy female voice came into her ears.

Santila looked shocked and turned around in a circle.

In the empty cave, a shadowy scene appeared in front of her.

She is the most beautiful Zhuo lady Santila has ever seen.

Her skin is as dark as onyx and as gorgeous as demonic fire. Her long bone-white hair slides over her smooth shoulders, flowing down in soft ripples.

She was wearing a floor-length gown that looked like it was sewn from thick black velvet. A faint smile bloomed on her crimson lips, revealing her pearly white teeth.

"Child, we meet again." The lady said with a smile, her smile was like a clear spring flowing over the black stone.

"Meet again?" Santila looked at the black rose in her hand and said doubtfully, "I have never met you, how do you know me?"

"I know a lot of things, and you will know a lot in the future." Ms. Zhuoer looked at her meaningfully and replied with a smile.

Her dress was trembling slightly, as if the breeze was causing ripples on it, but Santila didn't feel any breath of wind.

She was surprised to notice the truth.

It's her dress that moves on its own.

Her dress was not made of velvet, but was woven into a living fabric by tiny spiders hugging each other.

A bold guess emerged in the mind of the drow girl.

"Don't be afraid, I'm just here to take what belongs to me and return the Kirashar Rose to me." The lady in the spider dress showed a dangerous smile to Santila, then raised her slender arms,

A gentle wave.

In a daze, Santila noticed that the rose in her hand disappeared together with Ms. Zhuoer.

On the day of the Founding of the City, if someone clearly witnesses Rose in person, the whole city will boil.

And her family and herself will be respected by all drow in the next year - because she is a person favored by Monrose, so she should not be angered or hurt.

Santila recalled the last description of the founding day.

However, she was not happy at all.

Anyone who is not a fool can see what happened today. It is obviously a conspiracy.

From the moment she became interested in the magical restriction that only she could detect, she had entered a web of conspiracy woven by a certain being.

This conspiracy was not cleverly woven, but it was just right for her to be ensnared.

Santila knew Rose's reputation very well, and also knew what kind of misfortune would befall the drow who lost Lady Chaos' favor.

Lolth's favor is a double-edged sword.
Chapter completed!