Arcane Journey

Chapter 13 The Desecrated Ceremony
five days later
The young drow wizard Santilla Pummer is back.

She wore dusty magic elf boots, tight leather pants, a silk top, and a dull chain armor vest. Her thin body was wrapped in a drow cloak stained with dust and dried blood.

In front of everyone present, she raised her head proudly, took off her hood neatly, and flung off her long snow-white hair.

Although her fresh and beautiful face was haggard, in those sky-blue eyes that were shining like stars, there was a sense of self-satisfaction.

Soon, almost all the members of the Tuks family were summoned and gathered together in Rose's shrine, the queen of spiders, waiting for the upcoming coming-of-age ceremony.

it is necessary.

Even if this is not the case, in order to witness the horrific carcass of the prey, most people will not miss the sympathetic pleasure brought by revisiting the hunting and pride of the drow elves themselves.

Because such a solemn moment can impressively remind all those present what a real drow is.

In the darkest midnight of Old Orens, the oldest city of drow.

Under the scarlet eyes of countless pairs of drow who were astonished, puzzled, and unbelievable, Santilla strolled leisurely to the very center of the hall, facing everyone.

Behind her, on the most eye-catching altar of the shrine, a huge magical illusion is endlessly changing between a giant black spider and a beautiful drow woman.

The young drow wizard stood on the high platform, and his blue eyes, which were extremely unusual and rare in the drow race, fell on his older wizard mentor first.

Santilla's cold and unfathomable sharp eyes shot directly into Joonara's bloody pupils that were floating red.

Her eyes are full of unflappable strength and deadly murderous intent, which is daunting.

Eventually, the older wizard lost the silent exchange and looked away uncomfortably.

Santilla bowed deeply to her mentor, and put her hand into the space pocket at her waist.

She took out a small pure black bottle and held it up high to signal to everyone.

This is the equipment that every young drow who participates in the blood ritual must carry: the bottle of capture.

Its purpose is to bring back the corpses of the prey he slaughtered intact, and sacrifice them to Rose, the queen of the spider god.

The crowd whispered, humming like a hive.

"You really surprised me, child." Joanara pretended to be calm, and said coldly, "You are indeed worthy of your talent and my careful cultivation."

"From today, I am no longer a child."

Santilla reminded her, a cold smile quietly climbed up her pretty face, "I will repay you for your extra care, my dear mentor."

With the quickest movement in her life, she suddenly dropped the bottle of capture in her hand to Joonara's feet.

In the eyes of everyone, this is the proof that Santilla showed the passing ceremony to her magic mentor.

this moment.

The crowd watching in the entire shrine subconsciously held their breath, kept quiet, and concentrated on witnessing the birth of a real drow.

The pure black crystal bottle was shattered, and a solid black smoke burst out.

That clear and sweet sound echoed for a long time in the silent hall.

As the smoke dissipated, Jonara stood there in shock.

Because standing in front of the elderly drow wizard was the battle mage from the Kingdom of Cormyr.

He was actually alive and well, with the purest hatred and anger shining in his deep eyes.

The most incredible thing is that he holds a dagger that exudes mithril luster.

The handle of this dagger was a spider, and the spider's eight legs stretched forward and finally came together to form its piercing phantom-like edge.

The frightening magic light seemed to be responding to the spider phantom above the temple, shining continuously, like thousands of daggers, stinging the eyes of most drow.

Brian's expression turned cold, and he charged at him with a dagger in his hand with lightning speed.

The dazzling mithril blade continuously broke through the triple magic barrier of the drow wizard's robe, piercing into her heart like a bamboo.

"Do not!!!"

The severe pain of tearing came, and Joanala exclaimed, but everything was irreversible.

The eight sharp long legs of the magic dagger firmly grasped her heart, tightened it suddenly, and crushed it mercilessly under Brian's tearing.

The dagger stuck in the chest, having completed its mission, turned into a silvery luster and disappeared.

The drow wizard tried to speak, tried to cast healing spells or spells on herself, but only blood kept spilling from her mouth.

As the magic dagger disappeared without a trace like melting ice and snow, the blood in Joanara's chest gushed out from the shocking wound like a horse.

"what!!!"

Before dying, the drow wizard Jonara Tucks uttered a wail that would have made the banshee feel ashamed.

Then, with the last ounce of strength in her life, she fought back.

That speed was no less than the desperate fight of any Berserker.

Pain, despair, and rage mingled, unleashing the power of wild magic that roared like thunder through the trembling stone chamber.

Feeling the berserk energy coming with the momentum of thunder, Brian's expression turned serious.

He stood firm, mobilized all the arcane energy and power points in his body, raised his hands, crossed his wrists, palms outward, and a thick defensive force field instantly emerged.

"boom!"

The turbulent energy is like a majestic thunder, hitting the crumbling magic barrier.

After only holding on for a moment, Brian's protective force field exploded with a crisp crackling sound.

His vulnerable body pierced through the shrine like a sharp arrow, and slammed into the stone wall fiercely. With a series of clicks, he slid from the wall to the ground like a broken doll.

The dying drow wizard took his last breath and fell on his back, the red light in his eyes slowly extinguished.

at the same time.

Brian just fell to the ground on the other side, resisting the blood gushing out of his mouth, struggling to support the ground with his hands, leaning against the wall weakly, his completely collapsed chest heaving limply.

However, when he noticed the prompt from the system, a look of light appeared in his dark eyes.

Target is dead!
Extract target soul energy!

Gain experience points: 10000 points!
……

This scene without warning caused the entire shrine to burst into screams of horror and joy.

A group of drow priests hurried to Joanara's body, surrounded her, chanting healing spells in vain.

Naturally, Brian was not treated so well.

He was greeted by a group of drow soldiers with vicious sneers.

"boom!"

Just when a drow soldier was about to swing his sword at Brian, a powerful bolt of lightning struck, and the unlucky drow who took the lead was blasted into bloody pieces.

"Get out of here!"

The young drow wizard Santilla Pumo stood in front of Brian, yelling with murderous intent, exuding an aura around her as if she was the mistress of the family.

Her long hair was loose, and her eyes were as cold as ice.

As the drow's cloak lifted without wind, a radiant fireball burst out of her palm, pulsating with bursts of energy.

Looking at Santilla, who was full of killing intent, and the magical energy erupting around him, the drow soldiers who rushed forward looked at each other and retreated one after another.

Seeing the scene in front of her, the mistress of the Tux family was sitting in front of the throne. From the beginning to the end, she had an expression of indifference and gloating on her face.

"Profanity!"

The shrine's keeper Marina's screams tore through the din of the hall.

She rushed out from the crowd, raised her hand tremblingly, pointed at the young drow wizard, and roared angrily:
"The Queen's ceremony was desecrated by Santilla! According to Rose's law, the blasphemer must be executed immediately!"

"I don't think so."

Santilla shifted her gaze and said coldly, "What the queen of God needs is a sacrifice, whether it's a hunter or a prey, I just choose my own way to offer the most impressive sacrifice."

There was a sudden silence in the room, and the air seemed to freeze in an instant.

"cluck"

After an unknown amount of time, a strange laugh broke the silence.

Elisabeth, the matriarch of the Tux family, laughed a creepy laugh.

She was dressed in a black robe with a spider web embroidered with silver thread, and she sat on the throne in a cold and cunning posture, like a vicious spider squatting in the middle of the spider web and listening to the government.

Her laugh was frightening, but there was real joy in her crimson eyes.

"But if you don't offer the sacrifices you promised in advance, you will only annoy the great queen of God. You must implement Rose's law and punish the blasphemers of the ceremony! Appease the anger of the queen of God!"

The guardian of the shrine, Marina, argued angrily: "She broke the traditional rules and customs!"

"The blood sacrifice has been completed, and Goddess Rose is very satisfied with this sacrifice." Mistress Elisabetta, who was sitting on the throne, interrupted Marina's insistence domineeringly, and declared to everyone:

"The main purpose of the blood sacrifice is to make the young people into true drow, as evidenced by the cunning mind and the blood-stained hands."

She directly ignored the angry guardian of the temple, turned her eyes to Santilla, and praised:
"Good job! In the name of the first family in the city of Orens, I declare that you are a real drow, the princess of the Tux family, and the respectable daughter of the Spider Queen!"

Mother Elisabeth stood up from the throne, raised her hands, and blessed:
"Santilla Tucks, from this day on, leave your childhood behind and rejoice in the joyful power of darkness that was born with you!"

The young drow wizard accepted the blood sacrifice's congratulations frankly.

This time, instead of bowing deeply, she nodded slightly.

Because she is no longer a child, as a noble woman of the first family, her noble status does not require her to bow to any low-ranking drow.

After all, this ceremony not only marks the end of her childhood, but also means that she will be fully accepted by the First Family.

She glanced back at Brian, who was leaning against the wall, and seeing his encouraging gaze, she took a deep breath, walked across the altar, and came to Jonara's body.

A group of onlookers avoided the priest one after another.

She bent down and looked at her former mentor with complicated eyes.

She unhurriedly restrained her magic items all over her body, as well as a bottle of antidote hidden in her corsage.

Then, under some ignorant impulse, she touched her hands to the blood gurgling from the corpse's chest on a whim until the blood soaked her hands.

Then, standing up abruptly, she turned to the Matriarch of the House who was watching her, and showed her her hands, which were covered in Joanara's blood.

"The blood sacrifice is complete. I am no longer a child, but a real drow." She declared coldly, with the purest hatred and challenge in her eyes.

Do not know why.

When the young drow wizard said these words, she suddenly felt an unspeakable sadness hit her heart.

Before she had time to marvel at this strange feeling, she disappeared without a sound.

In drow society, it is never the darkness of fear that torments people, but the soul struggling to pursue the light, she thought sadly.

Since then.

She was no longer pure and innocent, and with that came pride and power, betrayal and intrigue, survival and victory—all of which she had to accept.

A long, uncomfortable silence filled Rose's shrine.

Because the meaning of Santilla's behavior has long gone beyond the limits of traditional etiquette, in the highly hierarchical drow society, this is simply deviant.

"very good."

Mistress Elisabeth nodded gloomyly, pondered for a moment, and said:

"Your ingenious, intricate methods accomplished the blood sacrifice not only literally, but in its essence, for which you do yourself honor.

Joanara's death was just following the rules.And using your own prey as your vehicle for revenge is a clever twist.

But in the end you washed your hands with the blood of your opponent, which is a stroke of genius!
You let her fall into your own plot, and then claimed your victory in bloody fashion, Santilla, you are indeed a born drow. "

"Thank you for your compliment." Santilla replied sullenly, and walked towards Brian's side, and the drow soldiers gave way one after another.

"But!" Madam Elisabeth's tone suddenly became harsher and crueler.

"The prey is the prey after all, and his duty is to serve as the sacrifice of the Queen of God. Failure to offer the sacrifice we promised will bring about even greater disasters. An inferior race, who killed the devout people of the Queen of God, he must Pay for your actions."

"Do you know what to do?" she asked in an unquestionable tone.

Matron Elisabeth's elite guard surrounded Brian.

"I know what to do."

Santilla looked at Brian softly, and she said softly, "Spider Kiss."

"Very well, it seems that you have considered everything comprehensively."

Madam Elisabeth nodded with satisfaction, "There is always something worth sacrificing. To heal the wounds of this inferior race, only after experiencing the 'spider's kiss', your body and soul can be regarded as real. Drow."

(End of this chapter)