Chapter 382

Anser composed himself and steadied his emotions.

There was no such thing as a free lunch. If he cooperated with a deity, he would inevitably have to give even more in return.

After all, their respective positions and bargaining chips were far from equal.

"Please, go ahead, my lady."

Sehanine kept studying Anser without saying a word.

Her stare was starting to make him uneasy. "My lady?"

"Who do you think is our greatest enemy right now?" Sehanine asked.

"The Dark Seldarine led by Lolth?" Anser ventured.

"No. Lolth has troubles of her own. The most troublesome threats at present are Talos and Gruumsh." Sehanine named two figures who weren't particularly surprising.

Talos, known in ancient times as Kozah, was the god of storms, a greater deity, and one of the oldest and most feared gods on Toril.

He had long coveted authority over the Weave and glorified destruction. His conflicts with the Seldarine and gods such as Tyr and Lathander were irreconcilable.

"Malyk was devoured by Talos long ago. The Malyk who exists now is nothing more than his divine avatar..." Sehanine continued, revealing secrets of the gods.

Talos used this avatar to continue playing the role of a symbol of rebellion and wild magic among the Dark Seldarine, usurping part of Malyk's divine portfolio while secretly plotting schemes of his own.

Malyk himself wasn't even worthy of carrying Sehanine Moonbow's shoes, so how could he possibly have severely wounded her?

Rumors among mortal worshipers claimed that Malyk had died and returned to life, but all of that was merely a smokescreen deliberately created by Talos.

The matter wasn't particularly secret. Lolth knew about it as well. The reason she cooperated with Malyk was precisely because she valued Talos standing behind him.

Gruumsh was the chief god and absolute leader of the orc pantheon. Known as the god of storms and war, the god of destruction, and the One-Eyed God, he, like Talos, was a chaotic evil greater deity.

It made sense. Anyone the arrogant Lolth considered worth recruiting couldn't possibly be ordinary.

Gruumsh's left eye had been put out by Corellon, chief deity of the elves, so he had always appeared as a one-eyed orc. His remaining right eye burned with the eternal flames of hatred, and his ancient enmity with the elven race ran deep.

"The two are already showing signs of joining forces. The orcs have allied with goblinoids to wage an indiscriminate war of racial conquest. The situation is very unfavorable for us..." Sehanine gazed intently at Anser, as though trying to see whether he was struggling with the implications.

Anser lowered his gaze. He really did feel as though he'd boarded a pirate ship.

Talos represented indiscriminate natural destruction, while Gruumsh represented organized racial conquest. If those two joined forces, wouldn't they form the darkest possible axis of power?

And with the Spider Queen Lolth added on top of that... how were they supposed to fight this war?

"Hehe." Amusement surfaced in Sehanine's eyes. "I nearly destroyed Malyk. Talos has lost that avatar, so he won't be able to threaten either of us directly for some time. You only need to watch out for his Chosen."

The more powerful a deity was, the harder it was for them to descend. Even Sehanine Moonbow, as an intermediate deity, had paid an enormous price to enter the Material Plane.

This was essentially the upper limit for divine descent.

"That's a relief." Anser made no attempt to hide his apprehension. "Are there many gods who have descended in their true forms?"

"Almost none. A few demigods have left the Outer Planes, though they won't necessarily come to Realmspace."

"Oh."

Realmspace really was more dangerous than other Wildspace systems, simply because far too many gods had ascended to divinity here.

Many deities, hoping to avoid the vicious struggle of being thrown into a pit to devour one another, chose to spread their faith in other Wildspace systems instead, and then... came back to beat up their old enemies.

"I want you to do three things for me. First, don't reveal my existence to anyone," Sehanine instructed.

"Of course." Anser nodded.

"Second, prepare for war. Make use of your advantages to unite humans, elves, and the other races, and completely crush the orcs' war of conquest."

"Mm. I'll do what I can."

The Holrewen Federation was itself part of human civilization. There was no way it could remain outside the conflict. The only question was whether it would enter the war voluntarily or be dragged into it.

"Third, hunt down Chosen!" Sehanine said it casually, but her gaze grew solemn.

Anser paused. He suspected that Sehanine might have come for his title of "Chosen Slayer" from the very beginning, while the Spirit Net had merely been something she'd thought of on the spur of the moment.

For her, learning a few things about Anser through the dreams of her elven worshipers wouldn't be difficult.

"What about your own Chosen?" he asked.

Different gods had different standards for selecting their Chosen, and Sehanine Moonbow's Chosen undoubtedly included Legendary Professionals. Why go out of her way to rely on him instead?

"Most of them aren't as capable as you. Besides, they're prey for others as well," Sehanine explained.

Chosen were like lantern-bearers in the darkness, with every move they made watched by others.

By comparison, Anser was a hunter in the night. Until the muzzle flashed, no one knew where he was or what he was hunting.

Chosen also had another major disadvantage. Their souls were closely bound to their divinity. If they died and their divinity was taken, their souls would be damaged as well. If they were unlucky, they might not even get a chance to be resurrected.

Resurrecting Anser, on the other hand, wouldn't be difficult.

Naturally, Anser wasn't going to refuse. This was exactly what he wanted.

"I'll do my best. It's just that I'm not strong enough..."

"Hmm?" Sehanine gave him a meaningful look. "I can sense everything that happens inside Viheral Castle and the temple. Your Sunburst and Gate were quite impressive."

"Thank you for the compliment." Anser didn't say anything more.

The spells he'd used most often tonight were Sunburst and Guiding Bolt, both divine magic. It certainly made misunderstandings easy.

Sehanine had quite a few conditions, and none of them were easy, but they happened to be things Anser was willing to do anyway, so he didn't consider them unreasonable.

Still, he felt certain that Sehanine was hiding something from him. A deity wouldn't risk descending without something extremely important that absolutely had to be done.

"How badly are you hurt? How can I help you?" he asked tentatively.

Sehanine's eyes shifted slightly. "Come inside."

At that moment, concentric ripples spread across the smooth surface of the crystal sphere.

Anser remained where he was and didn't move.

The dice couldn't detect any information about Sehanine, and everything so far had only been a verbal exchange. What if the being before him was actually another deity in disguise?

"You're very cautious. That's a good habit."

As she spoke, a crescent-shaped pendant flew out of the crystal sphere and landed in Anser's arms.

"Wear it. It's the key that controls the temple. It can help you locate nearby Chosen, and it will also allow you to contact me at any time." A trace of exhaustion could be heard in Sehanine's voice.

Anser closed his hand around the thumb-sized pendant. When he looked up again, the crystal sphere before him had vanished into thin air.

Sehanine was gone, and so were all the magical crystals that had surrounded the sphere.

'As expected, she doesn't really trust me that much either.'

Anser wasn't surprised.

The temple had already been exposed. Sehanine would undoubtedly choose another place to recover from her injuries, somewhere no one else knew about.

'She might be badly hurt.'

Anser was glad he hadn't gone inside. No one knew what method Sehanine might have used to establish "trust." Some risks simply weren't worth taking.

His tension eased. He looked around, and a grin spread across his face.

'Now, this place is mine!'

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