Ashen Dragon

But the spider's compound eyes glowed with a sinister red light, suddenly shooting out hundreds of rays filled with evil energy, amazingly able to resist the pillars of fire released by the Ancient Gold Dragon.

Titus let out a long howl, abruptly soaring hundreds of meters, then spreading his wings and diving towards the giant spider, swinging his sharp claws, attempting to smash it flat with one slap.

Yet the giant spider burst out with incredible speed, its eight slender legs swiftly maneuvered, easily dodging the Gold Dragon's attack and even spraying highly corrosive venom, eroding the scales on the side of the Ancient Gold Dragon.

Titus roared in anger, turning to sweep with his tail, a powerful blow directly sending the giant spider flying, rolling over several times on the ground, crushing a number of unfortunate Fallen Elves.

But the spider quickly scrambled up from the ground, spraying extremely sticky webs from its fanged mouthparts, entangling the wings of the Gold Dragon, restricting its actions.

Titus became furious, breaking free from the webs, charging toward the spider with great force. The two massive creatures engaged in close combat, grappling with each other.

The Fallen Elf officer with a ferocious expression raised a saber, shouting, "Quick! The Gold Dragon is held up, take this chance to charge in and cut off the rebel leader's head!"

The Fallen Elves swarmed forward, launching a desperate assault in Catherine's direction. Even with Rhea swinging the Silver Sword unleashing blades of light, and Melisandre continuously firing arrows, they could not be stopped.

Rhea swung her sword, slaying over a dozen Fallen Elf soldiers in front of her, launching an advance towards Catherine's direction.

But Seryan and several mages simultaneously raised their magic wands, chanting ancient spells, causing one after another pitch-black thorns to rise from the ground, emitting dense black mist, trapping Rhea inside.

Some Fallen Elves even charged to within a hundred meters of Catherine, crazily throwing poison-tipped spears.

"Quick! Protect Her Majesty!"

The Silver Moon Followers, holding shields, swiftly positioned themselves in front of Catherine, striving to resist the onslaught of the Fallen Elves surging like a tide.

Catherine, with a calm expression, rode on the back of a Unicorn, the magic wand in her hand emitting a gentle glow, instantly boosting the morale of the Silver Moon Followers around her, and healing all their wounds.

Yet at that moment, an elite squad launched a sneak attack from behind.

On the former site of Erin Vier, the capital of En, there are numerous temples of the Divine, with the Miracle Temple being the grandest Magic Goddess Temple in the game, featuring luxurious high towers adorned with various paintings and magical decorations, abundantly baroque in style, while Neverwinter City leans more towards Gothic architecture. It was established after a century of development by Aegostor, the earliest human settlement. The main city in the story, Bod Gate, is the largest and most prosperous trade republic in the Sword Bay Region, a melting pot of nobles, commoners, and thieves, considered by adventurers to be a "cauldron of conspiracies." The name Bod Gate comes from a hero, Bodlan, a Grey Port adventurer who explored lands beyond the Sword Sea, returning with wealth to Grey Port, where he led his team to establish the city.

Based on the residents' social standing, Bod Gate is divided into the Noble Upper City and the Commoner Lower District, along with the Outer City Districts scattered around Chenyi Mountain. The gate separating the Upper City and the Lower District is called Bod Gate, after which the entire city is named, simultaneously serving as a monument to the founding hero Bodlan.

Currently governed by a council of four Great Dukes, one of whom serves as the council leader and makes decisions in the event of a tie. The Upper City's law and order is maintained by an elite official police force known as the Guards (Watch), while other areas are patrolled by a mercenary group named "Flaming Fist," led by the Great Duke Elder Ravenclaw. The headquarter of the Flaming Fist is located at Bodlan Sea Tower, the strongest fortress against maritime invasions. Enveloping Bod Gate's economic lifeline is the crescent-shaped Gray Harbor with hundreds of merchant ships entering and exiting daily, bringing wealth but also greed and vice.

The Upper City, positioned at a higher elevation, consists of the Castle District, Temple District, Manoburn District, and Wide Alley District, housing numerous religious buildings, the Miracle Hall, and the Supreme Miracle House, both being the central churches of the God of Craft Gund in Bod Gate. The Miracle Hall showcases Gund's great inventions, while the Supreme Miracle House also functions as a workshop. The Lower District buildings are mostly stone houses, with six districts including Sea Tower District, Blonrich District, Steep District, Crowded Side District, East Road District, and Branpton District. The middle-class generally resides in Blonrich District, close to the affluent Upper City, while East Road District near the Stone Lizard Gate connecting to the Outer City District, is more chaotic, with many lively bars and cheap inns. The Sea Tower District hosts the Flaming Fist Mercenary Group, with their headquarters built on the largest rocky offshore island near the Sea Tower District, the Branpton District, and Steep District are relatively run-down, belonging to the sailors and laborers' community.

The Outer City District stretches along the Chongsar River, with shantytowns and makeshift buildings gathering, its landmark being a stone bridge spanning the Chongsar River—Flying Dragon Crossroad, home to many vendors. They even widened the bridge with wooden planks and added numerous structures on it. Here, law and order do not exist, and even the Flaming Fist Mercenary Group's protection is highly limited. The impoverished or criminals unable to settle in the city gather here.

The mold on the sewer arch glows faint green in the dim phosphorescent lamp, murky sewage laps over boot soles, each step stirring a viscous 'gurgle.' Cracks in the walls seep with purple-black ooze, converging on the drain like veins—this is the nerve-corrosing substance unique to the Spirit Sucking Monster Nest, inhaling it causes hallucinations for ordinary people, as if thousands of tiny tentacles wriggle in their ear canals. Suddenly, a 'snap' of dislocated bones echoes from behind a fractured cast-iron pipe, as if something is twisting through a narrow space. Three patrolling guards barely raise lanterns when the sewage suddenly erupts! Four Spirit Sucking Monsters burst from beneath the waters, pallid humanoid bodies covered in detritus, octopus-like heads twitching their tentacles at high frequency, releasing visible purple mind-shock wave ripples. The foremost guard's helmet indented; eyes burst into bloody mist under increased cranial pressure; the second pierced through the ear canal by tentacles before a scream forms, spinal cord extracted like a marionette's strings from the shell; the sole survivor staggers back, accidental firearm discharge's explosion drowned by the collective infrasonic scream of the Spirit Suckers. These Spirit Sucking Monsters are evidently tactically trained. Two decoy individuals slap tentacles on the water, stirring corrosive liquid while releasing visible purple mind shock waves. The foremost guard's helmet crumples, eyeballs collapsing, while the remaining guard stumbles backwards, muscles spasming, the firearm's blast swallowed up silently. Just then, the fourth one uses sharp bone blades of its finger joints to slice open the chest of a downed guard, extracting the warm liver and shoving it inside a wounded husk. At this moment, the fourth Spirit Sucking Monster use its knuckles' bone blade to open the chest cavity of the fallen guard, remove a warm liver, insert it into a captive's body. Emerging from the nape, the translucent tentacles of a juvenile Spirit Sucking Monster crawl, whose pupil dilates to an opaque milky white. Grabbing a dagger, he stabs at a former comrade, guttural synthetic sounds echoing from his throat: "Skull... for the Overmind...". As the final gunshot resounds, silence falls in the arch once more. Only the floating, tattered uniforms and still-pulsating neurological corrosion mold mat testify to the existence of this massacre. The Spirit Sucking Monsters drag captives, their coordinates in the Overmind's pulsating dark shadow beneath Bod Gate are reduced to a cold purple light.