356:
“How terrifying and decisive.”
Even Shelley, after figuring out what had happened over there, was secretly amazed.
“The Spider Queen has been on the Material Plane for a long time…”
Although Shelley, with his memories from his past life and some later speculations, had faintly guessed that Lolth might have taken the initiative to descend from her divine kingdom to the Material Plane in advance. Because at the end of the Time of Troubles in his past life, several gods had had their strength greatly enhanced. And Lolth was one of them.
With the strength she had revealed in her several attacks in the later stages… some players had speculated that Lolth might have even touched the boundary between a great divine power and a greater divine power.
Lolth was the god who most liked to weave conspiracies and tricks. If everything Shelley was doing now could at best be considered a venomous snake hiding in the dark and waiting for an opportunity… then Lolth was a venomous spider who was actively weaving a huge spider web, and then putting bait on it to wait for her prey to come to her door.
Fortunately, most of her time and energy were spent on dealing with the elven pantheon. Otherwise… her damage to the Material Plane would have been multiplied.
[The Spider Queen, Lolth]
[Alias: The Spider Queen, the Queen of the Demonweb Pits, the Spider Demon Queen, the Abyssal Demon Queen, the Chaos Weaver, the Mother of Lust, the Dark Mother of all Drow, the Spider Lady…]
[Holy Symbol: A black spider hanging from a spider web, with the head of a female drow elf]
[Home Plane: The Demonweb Pits]
[Alignment: Chaotic Evil]
[Portfolio: Assassination, Chaos, Assassins, Darkness, Drow Elves, Evil, Spiders]
[Worshippers: Drow elves, fallen elves, highly intelligent spiders]
[Cleric Alignments: Chaotic Neutral, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Evil]
[Domains: Chaos, Drow, Evil, Darkness, Destruction, Spider, Trickery]
[Favored Weapon: Spider (dagger)]
As Araushnee, Lolth had once been a weak god among the Seldarine, and also the first consort of Corellon Larethian. She was the patron god of artisans, the goddess of elven destiny, and later, according to Corellon’s decree, she also became the protector of those elves who shared her beautiful features.
Before she had turned against and betrayed her lover, Araushnee and Corellon had given birth to a pair of twin demigods—Vhaeraun and Eilistraee.
At the beginning, she had first aided Gruumsh in the long war between [the Orcish Main God, Gruumsh] and [the Elven Main God, Corellon]. Then, after watching Malar defeat Herne on the Material Plane, she had arranged for Malar to hunt the weakened Corellon.
When these plans had failed due to Corellon’s martial skills and Sehanine’s interference, Araushnee had gathered a large group of hostile gods—the “Enemies of the Seldarine.” This group of evil gods included [the Orcish Main God, Gruumsh], [the God of the Hunt, Malar], [the God of Slime, Ghaunadaur], [the Goddess of Winter, Auril]…
They had launched a surprise attack on the elven kingdom of Arvandor.
Despite Araushnee’s betrayal and Vhaeraun’s lesser degree of disloyalty, the surprise attack had ultimately failed, and the betrayal of Corellon’s consort had been exposed.
According to Corellon’s command, Araushnee was transformed into a spider-shaped tanar’ri demon and was exiled to the Abyss. Vhaeraun was also exiled. Eilistraee, on the other hand, had voluntarily been exiled because she had foreseen that after the drow elves were cursed by the Seldarine and exiled to the Underdark, the drow elves would need her redemption.
But Araushnee, who had been exiled to the Abyss, had not died a pitiful death there… On the contrary, she had called herself Lolth and had become a terrifyingly powerful abyssal lord.
In the Abyss, Araushnee, as an abyssal lord, had fought with various abyssal lords, including Juiblex, in the Demonweb Pits, and had finally, with the faith of the drow, had become a god again.
Lolth had constantly woven her conspiracies and tricks there, nibbling away at that filthy land step by step, and had finally obtained a power even greater than before she had been exiled.
She had become one of the two most terrifying and also most beautiful demon lords in the Abyss. And the other was the Queen of Succubi.
Their terror was not as simple as a rose with thorns. Anyone who wanted to get close to them had to be prepared to be completely devoured.
…
Although he had had a guess in his heart for a long time, when all of this really happened, Shelley still felt shocked. Especially when he realized that Lolth had actually been in the Underdark for a long time, he felt a chill down his spine.
“She actually let my church preach in the Underdark…”
Wow. I’m so brave. Isn’t this just jumping in her face?
[What’s the big deal?]
Chelsea, on the other hand, had a disdainful attitude toward this. She said, with some sarcasm, [You seem to think too highly of yourself.]
Shelley faintly grasped something after hearing her words. Before he could think clearly, Chelsea continued, [On the one hand, there is the risk of your whereabouts being exposed and thus falling, and on the other hand, it is just an inexplicable small church plundering faith…]
[Do you think she would expose herself for a weak church with no connections?]
[Even if you let this small church snatch some faith, so what? Not to mention that what they are snatching are the good drow who have never believed in her.]
[If you were to choose, how would you choose?]
Shelley had reacted halfway through. Chelsea was right.
Shelley understood his own talent, and the people around him also clearly understood Shelley’s strength. These people would subconsciously overestimate Shelley’s importance. But for the outside world, Shelley’s importance was just that, definitely below Nadia’s.
His existence needed to be noted, but it was far from the level of needing to be on guard.
After thinking this through, Shelley said with some pride, “All of this is because I’m good at hiding.”
Otherwise, if this incident had aroused Lolth’s interest, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
“Hiss, that’s not right.”
Shelley remembered the oppressive feeling in his heart before… he remembered that he had already killed a goddess in the Underdark.
“If it weren’t for the fact that I ran fast at that time…”
“…I would have been done for.”
From that time on, Shelley had definitely entered Lolth’s sight. And if it weren’t for the fact that Lolth’s main body had just been taken away by the Elf-Eater, and she was looking for trouble with the elven pantheon… it would have been very dangerous to face the Goddess of Pain and the Spider Queen alone.
“How terrifying.”
Although Shelley was very wary of the Spider Queen, the current lineup could definitely hold on under her. This could be seen from the now-mutually-wounded Elena and the others and Loviatar.
Everyone had wounds of varying degrees on their bodies, and their expressions were not as beautiful as usual, all twisted by the intense pain… but their eyes were burning with an excited fire.
Because they knew… they could do it.
They could… slay a god.
