Chapter 195: The Last Chance

Chapter 195: The Last Chance

The course of the war exceeded many people's expectations.

In the Year 1272 of the Starlight Calendar, during the Book Moon, the Starlight Empire breached the capital of the Snow Lion Duchy, leading to its complete downfall.

In the Year 1273, during the Winter Harp Moon, the Starlight Empire conquered the Newman Kingdom.

In the Year 1273, during the Summer Fields Moon, the Starlight Empire toppled the Atlantic Duchy.

Throughout the Year 1273, the Starlight Empire, with its relentless momentum, swiftly defeated one opponent after another at a pace that left many in awe.

Even while fighting on multiple fronts, the Starlight Empire displayed a terrifying power that left its enemies feeling utterly helpless.

By the Year 1275 of the Starlight Calendar, more than half of the over ten countries that had initially besieged the Starlight Empire had been vanquished.

The Starlight Empire showed no signs of weakening; instead, it grew stronger with each battle.

The scales of victory were clearly tipping in favor of the Starlight Empire.

Many now realized that the southeastern region of the continent might soon have its true ruler.

While the surface war raged on, Su Nan was deeply immersed in his cultivation.

Over the years, the front lines had delivered more than twenty corpses of spiderified elves to him. The divine energy extracted from these corpses had significantly increased his mental condensation.

By the Summer Fields Moon, Su Nan's mental condensation had reached 22.62%.

At his original pace, it would have taken him at least seventy years to achieve this level.

Now, he had accomplished it in just six years.

"The Spider Queen has given me a great gift," Su Nan mused with a slight smile, though a hint of regret soon followed.

Recently, the frequency of spiderified elves appearing had drastically decreased.

Though he had ordered the Star Alliance to hold back, the five-year-long war had thoroughly drained the war resources of the Spider City.

The city's military forces had been reduced to the point where they could no longer garrison the dozen or so city-states under their control. Their defensive lines had been continuously pulled back, and they had abandoned many of the outer city-states.

Not long ago, the dark elves had completely abandoned the last two subordinate city-states, retreating all their forces back to the Spider City.

At this rate, even if the Star Alliance did not launch an offensive, the Spider City would likely be unable to counterattack.

It wouldn't be long before the Spider City could no longer provide him with spiderified elves.

"If only they could hold on a bit longer. I should have told Xie Man to go easier on them," Su Nan thought.

"Should I just halt the offensive and give the Spider City some time to recuperate?"

This was a rare moment of consideration for his enemy.

After all, with only the Spider City left, leaving it alone wouldn't be a problem.

He could always get some 'supplements' from time to time.

However, the question was whether the Spider Queen would cooperate with him. No deity was a fool, and the Star Alliance's strange actions over the past few years had likely raised her suspicions.

Unlike the natives of the Starlight Continent, deities were well-versed in the ways of wizards.

The Spider Queen might already have guessed that he was collecting divine energy.

Shaking his head, Su Nan set the matter aside for now.

Apart from the Spider City, the war in the northwestern region was also going smoothly.

The so-called Falling Star Alliance was no match for the Star Alliance.

After the newly established third mid-sized golem army was deployed to the northwestern front, the already struggling Falling Star Alliance became even more vulnerable. They were now retreating on all fronts, and their defeat was only a matter of time.

Everything was moving in the right direction.

Spider City

The shadow of war loomed over the city.

The streets were unusually quiet, and the occasional fully armed dark elf troops passing by were hurried and grim-faced.

As Tiana passed through the lower quarters where the slaves lived, she heard the cries of tortured slaves from many houses.

Clearly, there were dark elves venting their frustrations on the slaves.

Many dark elves enjoyed this method of stress relief, and with the recent string of military defeats, the pressure on their people had become even more intense, leading to a more frequent use of such means.

As a result, it was common to see the bodies of slaves being transported out of the city for cremation every day.

Reflecting on the past few years, Tiana couldn't help but sigh.

This war might have been a mistake.

The dark elves had gained nothing from it.

The twelve families of the Spider City had gone from initial excitement and fervor to shock and disbelief, and now to confusion and despair.

Their experiences vividly illustrated the concept of turning from joy to sorrow.

Over the years, the twelve families had conducted numerous rituals, resulting in the birth of over twenty spiderified elves, all of whom had been slain by the mysterious young female wizard.

The Spider City had even arranged multiple spiderified elves to ambush the young wizard, but they had failed to kill her and instead suffered a complete defeat.

After several attacks, the city of the Demon Spiders was finally intimidated. They deliberately avoided the city-state where the young witch resided and instead targeted other areas.

However, what was truly perplexing was that no matter which city-state they attacked, as soon as the spiderized elves appeared, it wouldn't be long before the young witch showed up on the battlefield!

After a few more instances, the young witch had become the Demon Spiders' worst nightmare!

She and the Star Alliance stood like an impenetrable wall, steadfastly holding their ground no matter how hard the Demon Spiders tried to break through.

Their strength was so overwhelming that it instilled fear and even despair.

The only thing the war brought to the Demon Spiders was a drastic reduction in their population.

Some of the casualties were from battles with the Star Alliance, but a significant portion was the cost of their rituals.

Many of their kin willingly sacrificed themselves to become part of the spiderized elves.

Unfortunately, their sacrifices were in vain and did not bring victory to the Demon Spiders.

Tajana still saw no hope of defeating the Star Alliance.

"Tajana!"

A voice interrupted Tajana's thoughts. She turned to see Vinya approaching her quickly, her gaze filled with curiosity.

"What are you so engrossed in? I've called you several times."

"Nothing," Tajana shook her head. Seeing Vinya's weary appearance, she asked, "Have you just returned from outside?"

Vinya nodded. "The combat master needed a few skilled hands to investigate the Star Alliance's situation, so I volunteered."

"Did you find anything?"

"No." Vinya shook her head with a dark expression. "Those spider puppets are too troublesome. I couldn't even detect their presence, so we didn't dare get too close."

Tajana's face showed a sense of sympathy.

Drow elves were renowned for their assassination and stealth skills, and few creatures could match them in the shadows.

However, the Star Alliance's dual-blade spiders were an exception.

These puppets had no soul aura, and their life force could be suppressed to an extremely faint level. When they lay still in the shadows, even the Drow found it difficult to detect them.

Moreover, they moved with incredible speed, navigating the complex terrain of the Underdark with ease.

In many ways, they were even better suited for reconnaissance than the Drow.

At first, the Drow underestimated the dual-blade spiders and suffered significant losses. Many well-trained Drow scouts died at the sharp limbs of the spiders.

Now, no Drow scout dared to get too close to the Star Alliance's territory.

No one knew how many dual-blade spiders lurked in the darkness.

"The Star Alliance has taken over the two city-states we evacuated. Now, the Demon Spiders' city is completely surrounded."

Vinya's tone was heavy, tinged with a hint of confusion.

"Tajana, do you think we can win?"

Tajana pursed her lips and whispered, "The Demon Spiders still have the protection of the Goddess."

Mentioning the Goddess, Vinya's spirit immediately lifted, and she nodded vigorously.

"That's right. We have the Goddess's protection. The Goddess is all-powerful!"

Tajana forced a smile, knowing how much of that statement was against her true feelings.

If the Goddess were truly all-powerful, the Demon Spiders wouldn't be in this dire situation.

"By the way, isn't the Matron Council meeting today?" Tajana changed the subject.

Vinya nodded, glancing in the direction of the Central Temple.

"It should have already started."

The Demon Spiders' city had twelve families, each with their own family temple, all independent of one another.

However, six years ago, when the Goddess descended with a divine message, the twelve families abandoned their internal conflicts and united against their external enemies. They immediately pooled their resources to build a Central Temple.

The new temple was larger than any of the family temples.

It housed the statue of the Goddess and served as the meeting place for the twelve families to discuss major issues.

At that moment, the council chamber of the Central Temple was filled with the matrons of the twelve families.

Twelve young, beautiful Drow women with different appearances sat around a long table, their expressions ranging from indifferent to grim, all silent.

A heavy atmosphere permeated every corner of the room.

After a long while, the matron of the Lestra family, the first family of the Demon Spiders, broke the silence from her seat at the head of the table.

"The Star Alliance is advancing rapidly, and the Demon Spiders' city is now completely surrounded by the golem army. Does anyone have any good solutions?"

Silence.

Finally, the matron of the Olori family spoke up.

"We can't counterattack until we deal with that witch."

Everyone fell silent, at a loss for words.

Everyone knew this, but no one had a good solution.

Even the spider-ized elves were no match for the young female wizard. What could they do?

If there were a solution, they would have acted on it during the past five years.

"I wonder if the Star Alliance is plotting something in secret," the matriarch of the Valduray family suddenly said. "Their actions over the years have been strange. I always get the feeling that they aren't going all out, but are intentionally letting us off easy."

The hall fell silent.

The matriarchs exchanged glances.

Matriarch Philier sneered, "You're overestimating the Star Alliance!"

Matriarch Valduray shot her a cold glance. "I'm just stating the facts."

"I think the Valduray family is just afraid to fight and is trying to preserve its strength. If it weren't for the Valduray family's retreat first, the defenses at Ulu City wouldn't have collapsed, and it wouldn't have fallen to the Star Alliance!"

"That was just an accident. Afterward, I turned the responsible commander into spider feed. What more do you want?"

"You—"

"Enough!"

Matriarch Letha, seated at the head of the table, interrupted their argument, her gaze cold as she scanned the two.

"Now is the time for unity. Put aside your grievances for now, or do you want to defy the Empress's command?"

The mention of the Empress caused Matriarch Philier and Matriarch Valduray to change their expressions. They glared at each other before falling silent.

Matriarch Letha ignored them, her gaze sweeping the room as she spoke with a solemn tone, "After more than a thousand two hundred years, the dark elves have finally regained the Empress's attention. This is a hard-earned opportunity!"

"We must complete the Empress's command and regain her favor!"

"If we fail and lose her protection, Spider City won't last long against the Star Alliance's attacks!"

As Letha spoke, the matriarchs' expressions grew increasingly grave.

They understood this all too well.

Spider City was undoubtedly at a critical juncture.

If the Empress no longer favored the dark elves, Spider City would stand no chance against the Star Alliance.

"But what can we do?" Matriarch Ororey asked, frowning.

"Hold a larger ritual!" Matriarch Letha said without hesitation. "We need more spider-ized elves!"

The others wrinkled their brows in unison.

The ritual to create spider-ized elves required dark elves as sacrifices and a large number of spider eggs. Over the years, to hold these rituals, Spider City had almost exhausted its supply of spider eggs. The new batch of eggs had only recently hatched and needed time to grow.

Letha, of course, had considered this and spoke gravely, "Use secret methods to accelerate the growth of the spider eggs. The slaves we brought from the other city-states are taking up too much space and can be used as feed."

Matriarch Ororey's eyes widened in realization.

No wonder Letha had insisted on bringing the burdensome slaves from the two city-states. It was all for this moment.

The others couldn't think of a better solution and agreed to Letha's proposal.

But just then, they all turned their attention to a direction outside the council chamber.

That was where the Empress's statue stood.

In the next instant, a spider illusion appeared in the air.

"Empress!"

The twelve matriarchs rose from their seats and knelt, their expressions filled with reverence and piety.

Then, a voice echoed in all their minds.

The content of the voice left the twelve matriarchs shocked and bewildered, but they quickly composed themselves and bowed their heads respectfully.

"Great Empress, your command is our mission!"

The spider illusion in the air slowly faded.

The twelve matriarchs remained kneeling for a while before slowly rising.

"You have all heard the Empress's command," Letha said, her face hidden in the shadows beyond the firelight, her expression unreadable.

"The Empress is very displeased with our previous performance. Now is the time to make amends."

Matriarch Philier was the first to speak, "The Philier family is willing to provide a hundred of our most loyal dark elf warriors!"

Seeing this, the other ten matriarchs, despite their heavy expressions, also pledged their support.

The matriarch's meeting quickly reached a consensus.

Then, the twelve women left, heading to their respective families to make the necessary arrangements.

They all knew this would be Spider City's last chance!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end