Chapter 444 - 223: The Wondrous Use of the Power of Rules, Rose’s Advent (Part 2)

Chapter 444: Chapter 223: The Wondrous Use of the Power of Rules, Rose’s Advent (Part 2)

In just ten days, his elementalization progress had increased by more than twelve percent!

This rate of improvement was simply staggering!

’Although the rate of improvement is gradually slowing, reaching 80% elementalization should be no problem.’

Pei Ze made up his mind on the spot. He would train here for the foreseeable future.

He had left a mark at the Wizard Tower. If the god-slaying operation began, Tower Spirit 1 would notify him immediately.

’I’ll also need to swap out the Thunder God Golems every so often.’

Pei Ze looked at the Thunder God Golems behind him.

While he was training, the Thunder God Golems had dealt with all the Elemental Giant Spirits attracted by the commotion.

In the past ten days, a total of three Elemental Giant Spirits had died at the hands of the Thunder God Golems, and more than thirty had been repelled.

The price was steep: seven Thunder God Golems were permanently destroyed. The remaining twenty-three all suffered varying degrees of damage and needed to be sent to the Golem Factory for repairs.

However, this battle conclusively proved the formidable combat power of the Thunder God Golems.

These Golem Puppets, improved and created by Pei Ze, truly possessed the combat capability to contend with level-four lifeforms.

After making his decision, Pei Ze made a trip back to the Wizard Tower. He had Tower Spirit 1 repair the damaged Thunder God Golems and took thirty new ones with him.

Returning to the Elemental Plane, Pei Ze found a spot in the outer region and began to condense the Power of Rules.

Pei Ze was pleasantly surprised to discover that, perhaps due to the significant increase in his elementalization, he could now condense six wisps of the Power of Rules at once before his Sea of Consciousness felt saturated.

This was undoubtedly good news.

It meant he could last even longer in the core region.

...

「Inside a gloomy grotto.」

The slanted walls were covered in cobwebs, where spiders large and small scurried about. Without exception, they all had blood-red eyes.

An exquisite octagonal altar sat in the center of the grotto.

The altar was cast entirely from steel, with various spider-patterned reliefs carved upon it, and Demon Fires of all colors swirled around it.

Eight enormous black spiders were crouched upon the altar.

They had eight red, simple eyes and long, black-bristled limbs. A red hourglass marking was visible on their glossy black abdomens. Their massive jaws hung open, revealing fangs that dripped with green venom.

The giant spiders glared at each other, seemingly wanting to kill their own kind, but they never made a move.

TAP... TAP...

The sound of light footsteps approached.

Countless slender, black-robed figures entered the grotto, silently approaching the altar and kneeling before it.

Before long, thousands upon thousands of figures were kneeling before the altar.

Following that, eight figures emerged from the crowd, came to the front, and threw back their hoods, revealing dusky skin and faces of stunning beauty.

They were eight female Dark Elves.

In perfect unison, they untied the laces at their chests. Their black robes slid slowly to the ground, revealing their wonderfully curved and delicate bodies. They then ascended the steps, gracefully mounting the altar.

Under the cold gazes of the eight giant spiders, the eight Dark Elves each stood behind one of them.

Each Dark Elf corresponded to one giant spider.

They then knelt down, raised their hands, clasped them before their chests, and chanted verses of praise in unison.

WHOOSH!

Purple Demon Fire suddenly shot out from under their feet, engulfing all eight of them.

The Dark Elves seemed not to notice and continued to chant.

When the chanting stopped and the flames disappeared, their bodies had already changed.

Their once graceful and alluring bodies were gone. In their place were eight monsters that looked like constantly melting candles. Eight whip-like tentacles writhed and extended from their bodies, a sight both terrifying and disgusting.

Despite their ugly and bizarre forms, the eight Dark Elves laughed genuinely.

The Dark Elves kneeling below the altar all showed looks of envy and awe.

For these were Wax Melting Demons.

In Rose’s realm, the status of a Wax Melting Demon surpassed that of any other demon.

They are Rose’s handmaidens, representatives of the Divine Spirit, and often the messengers between the Spider Queen and mortals.

To become a Wax Melting Demon meant the favor of the Spider Queen, a supreme glory and honor.

As if a switch had been flipped, the spiders in the grotto began to grow restless, continuously tapping the ground with their limbs, forming a peculiar rhythm and cadence.

An eerie fluctuation gradually spread, filling the entire cavern.

Under the influence of this fluctuation, the eight giant spiders twisted their bodies frantically, let out piercing shrieks, and then began to slaughter each other.

As one, the Dark Elves below the altar held their breath, their eyes fixed on the slaughter unfolding on the altar, flashing with fanaticism and devotion.

At some unknown time, a bone-chilling wind began to blow within the grotto. A sound gradually arose, like a whistling gale, yet also like the howling of souls—intermittent, faint, like a call, yet also like a proclamation.

The spiders tapped on the rocky ground, their rhythm growing more urgent.

In response to this rhythm, the eight giant spiders on the altar fought even more ferociously.

They flailed their eight long legs, used their massive jaws to tear open their opponents’ carapaces, stabbed their fangs into flesh, injected venom, and then gnawed and devoured.

The flesh and soul of the loser would become sustenance for the victor, making it stronger.

And each time a spider died, one of the Wax Melting Demons by the altar would melt along with it, dissipating into mist.

But death did not cause the remaining Wax Melting Demons to falter.

Instead, they chanted even more devoutly.

The number of giant spiders rapidly decreased until finally only a single victor remained, standing in the center of the altar.

Seven Wax Melting Demons had disappeared. The final survivor raised her head, meeting the spider’s gaze as it looked down from on high.

She saw a pair of purple eyes.

Without needing a reason, the Wax Melting Demon understood in an instant what she had to do.

Kill, prey, devour. This is how spiders grow stronger. It is the teaching of Rose, and it is the law of the Dark Elves.

—Even the great goddess must follow this law.

The Wax Melting Demon walked toward the spider, step by step.

The giant spider watched her, then its features twisted into an ugly and dangerous smile.

The next moment, the giant spider’s jaws gaped open, exhaling a toxic gas, and its fangs plunged accurately into the Wax Melting Demon’s body.

In just an instant, the Wax Melting Demon turned into mist and flowed into the spider’s mouth.

Only a final whisper remained in the void.

"Goddess Empress."

"Goddess Empress!"

A louder cry rose up, this time from below the altar.

The Dark Elves, their faces alight with fanaticism, knelt on the ground and loudly praised the spider on the altar.

Countless thread-like strands of the Power of Faith escaped from the Dark Elves’ bodies, gathering behind the spider as if drawn by an invisible force, converging into a black, spider-shaped vortex.

On the other side of the black vortex, spider silks crisscrossed to form an endless web, and the entire world was built upon this web.

Land, rocks, caves, and mountains—all the terrain was formed from the weathered bodies of dead demons, densely covering the web and creating a barren world.

As far as the eye could see, there was no greenery, nor any source of water. Even the occasional lake held only boiling hot lava or acid that emitted a putrid stench.

The sky was pitch-black, without a single star. Dense clouds shifted and changed shape, revealing eight massive red orbs, now faint, now clear. Each orb glowed with a different intensity. Like the eyes of a spider, they monitored every subtle movement on the ground below.

This was the Spider Demon Web, once the sixty-sixth layer of the Endless Abyss, and now the Divine Kingdom of the Spider Goddess.

A dark, oppressive shadow suddenly appeared on the horizon.

It was tens of thousands of spiders, of varying sizes and shapes.

Waving their eight long limbs, they surged forward like a tidal wave. They passed through the vortex into the grotto, flowed around the kneeling Dark Elves, and poured outside.

「At the same time.」

Thousands of miles away, Annie suddenly looked up, a dark glint flashing in her eyes before vanishing.

"What’s wrong?" Gu Lin asked in confusion.

A faint scarlet glow emanated from Annie’s eyes, and the corners of her lips lifted slightly.

"Rose has descended."

"The war is about to begin."