Chapter 734 : Corrosion

Southwestern Pritt, Igwynt.

Under the cover of night, the terrifying tornado that had just swept through the land of Igwynt had momentarily dissipated. As the entire city slowly awakened in a state of panic, a horrifying scene was taking place on a small hill in the remote outskirts.

During the battle between Anna and Artcheli, Dorothy discovered that the unleashing of Artcheli’s abilities caused an abnormal enhancement in the local connection with the Mirror Moon Goddess. Originally, she had intended to exploit this phenomenon—combined with her Fairy of the Lake Anecdotal Body—to summon the will of the Mirror Moon Goddess. However, unforeseen complications arose during the execution of this plan.

Though the Fairy of the Lake Anecdotal Body was successfully summoned, it underwent a transformation the moment Artcheli’s powers were further released. Yet this transformation was not something Dorothy had anticipated.

When the form of the Fairy of the Lake began flickering and distorting unnaturally, Dorothy immediately sensed that something was wrong. She tried to dispel the Anecdotal Body—but to her alarm, it no longer obeyed her control. As it spiraled out of control, the form began to change in a horrifying way.

“Spider Queen!”

Dorothy’s heart jolted with shock as she saw the head of the Anecdotal Body twist into a grotesque spider. The contrast between the beautiful woman’s body and the terrifying spider head was something she had seen before… during a blasphemous ritual held by the Eight-Spired Nest.

“The Spider Queen has begun to corrode Mirror Moon’s influence! Her plan in Pritt has already progressed far deeper than I thought! Has she been waiting for me all along?”

Eyes wide in horror, Dorothy realized the previous series of blasphemous rituals conducted by the Eight-Spired Nest likely served the purpose of allowing the Spider Queen to erode the lingering influence of the Mirror Moon in Pritt—ultimately to achieve some greater goal.

Dorothy had believed that her intervention in Glamorne—where she preemptively converted the Mirror Moon Cathedral and took out a Crimson-rank along with a divine-chosen Crimson—would have disrupted and delayed the Spider Queen’s plan. But now, the fact that the Spider Queen could interfere with even her Fairy of the Lake Anecdotal Body clearly indicated that the Eight-Spired Nest’s plan had made a giant leap forward. What had they been secretly doing all this time?

Flooded with questions, Dorothy knew this wasn’t the time to dwell on confusion. The Spider Queen’s will was now projecting into Igwynt through her Anecdotal Body. She had to run—immediately.

Putting thought into action, Dorothy, caught completely off guard by this development, prepared to elementalize and escape.

But just then, the spider-headed illusion form abruptly turned its head and fixed all eight of its eyes on Dorothy. At that moment, a circle of spectral spikes suddenly appeared around her.

These spikes, translucent and dark red, pierced the air from empty space, completely surrounding Dorothy from all directions. As soon as they appeared, Dorothy was overwhelmed by intense phantom pain. This pain forcibly interrupted her elementalization process—and worse, it made it extremely difficult for her to concentrate enough to attempt it again.

“Selene... the pawn... I’ve waited... so long…”

“Damn it…”

The phantom pain didn’t just prevent elementalization—it also disrupted nearly all her mystical abilities. Every time Dorothy tried to activate a power, the intense pain would cut her off.

These surrounding spikes were clearly exuding a faint divine aura.

In such a state, escape was impossible. All she could do was stand there, awaiting the moment the phantom spikes would pierce through her. Given the excruciating pain even before contact, she dared not imagine what would happen if they actually struck her flesh.

But just as Dorothy braced herself, eyes shut, for the inevitable impalement, all of the spikes suddenly stopped—less than half a meter from her. Not one moved a single inch further. Though they did not disappear, they were frozen in place, completely motionless.

Though she had narrowly avoided being impaled, the densely packed spikes around her still prevented any movement. She was effectively imprisoned within a cage of inward-pointing phantom spikes.

Cloaked in a hooded mantle that concealed her appearance, Dorothy stood frozen, cold sweat dripping. She hadn’t expected the Spider Queen’s influence to have reached the level of direct attack here. But then—why had it suddenly stopped?

Still puzzled, Dorothy looked toward the spider-headed Anecdotal Body. What she saw was even more unsettling: the form's flickering grew increasingly erratic. The out-of-control construct now blinked in and out of sight, visibly destabilizing. This was no longer her Anecdotal Body—it had become a special illusionary projection channeling the Spider Queen’s power.

Amid the erratic flickering, the head of the form was especially unstable, alternating between the horrific spider visage and the serene female face of the original Fairy of the Lake.

“The Mirror Moon Goddess’s power hasn’t vanished! She’s still trying to project Her influence into Pritt!”

That realization surged through Dorothy’s heart. Clearly, the Spider Queen had used corruption to seize influence over her Anecdotal Body and inject her power. But the influence was not absolute. The local connection had also attracted the Mirror Moon’s divine power, which was now competing for control of the Fairy of the Lake Anecdotal Body. Though the Mirror Moon was slightly outmatched, she hadn’t been entirely suppressed.

Currently, the Mirror Moon was using whatever uncorrupted influence remained to intermittently inject her power—contesting the Spider Queen’s grip. It was likely due to this fragile stalemate that the dark red phantom spikes had abruptly stopped, unable to further harm Dorothy.

“Thank goodness… it seems the Mirror Moon hasn’t completely lost the ability to intervene.”

Dorothy felt a rush of relief as she observed the situation unfold. She focused more closely on the shifting illusion before her, mind racing to formulate a countermeasure.

And just then, the unstable form—momentarily shifted back into its spider-headed state—slowly turned its gaze to the distant horizon.

Its eyes locked onto the battlefield where Anna and Artcheli were fighting.

At this moment, in the direction that the unstable Anecdotal Body was gazing into, the confrontation between Artcheli and Anna was about to enter a new phase. After seeing her shadow clone broken, Artcheli was simultaneously praying in secret and further unleashing her abilities. But the instant the unstable Anecdotal Body turned its gaze toward the battlefield, the situation there changed.

“Light and shadow, intertwined... the outer and the inner, mutually reliant... O Saintess, I call upon thee to guide the name of Artcheli... Ugh—”

While sprinting across the desolate sands, dodging Anna’s attacks, Artcheli was just about to complete her invocation when she suddenly froze. Her body trembled slightly, and her expression began to shift.

“What... is this?!”

In shock, Artcheli widened her eyes—and within the whites of her eyes, dark red threads of blood began to creep out, gradually encircling the edges and eventually crawling across the entirety of both eyes.

“This is... the Saintess? No... this is—!”

At that moment, Artcheli felt a surge of hatred and cruelty rising inexplicably from deep within, a will not her own that began eroding and overtaking her mind. Despite her strong willpower, she couldn’t immediately resist the invasion.

Her head throbbed as though about to explode. Countless whispers buzzed in her ears, driving her mind into chaos.

Under this mysterious mental corruption, the further release of Artcheli’s power was forcefully interrupted, and her combat state was severely impacted. Yet even so, relying on her exceptional combat instincts, she managed to fully respond to Anna’s offensive.

As time passed, the corruption in Artcheli’s mind rapidly worsened. One eye's sclera was soon completely overtaken by dark red, and just as the other eye was about to follow suit, a flicker of silver light appeared, preserving the last glimmer of white.

“Ugh... ngh... this is... contamination... and it stems from the name of a Saint...?!”

Writhing in pain from the mental invasion, Artcheli, fighting purely on instinct, gradually began to fall into a disadvantage. Though her mind was heavily corrupted, that last trace of silver light safeguarded a fragment of her will—a strange power protecting her.

“So that’s it... The Spider Queen is using some channel to corrupt Artcheli’s mind via her influence in Pritt. But the Mirror Moon is interfering too—She’s trying to protect Artcheli from being completely overtaken!”

Still imprisoned by the spike cage, Dorothy deduced in her mind as she watched the scene unfold on the distant battlefield.

However, just as the last fragment of Artcheli’s consciousness was protected by the silver light, the unstable Anecdotal Body on Dorothy’s side suddenly stabilized dramatically. Yet even in its stable state, its head remained that of a terrifying spider—Mirror Moon’s power had been suppressed!

Seeing the Anecdotal Body stabilize into a spider-headed shape, Dorothy’s heart skipped a beat. Then, to her horror, the illusory spikes that had previously halted suddenly began converging inward—as if they would soon skewer her like a pincushion.

Faced with the incoming phantom spikes from all sides, Dorothy tensed in fear. Just as she felt death was imminent, the Anecdotal Body flickered once again. The stable spider-head could no longer maintain itself—reverting to an unstable alternation between a normal female and a monstrous spider.

At the moment the Anecdotal Body destabilized again, the phantom spikes that had been about to impale Dorothy suddenly halted once more. After briefly seizing complete control over the form, the Spider Queen’s dominance was once again challenged—Mirror Moon’s power resurged, wrestling for control, delaying the deadly punishment about to befall Dorothy.

However, this resurgence came at a cost. On the battlefield, within Artcheli—who was still resisting the mental invasion—the last glimmer of silver light in her eyes began to fade. In an instant, both of Artcheli’s eyes were consumed by dark red.

It was clear now: compared to the Spider Queen, Mirror Moon’s ability to project power into Pritt was woefully insufficient. With only a limited tether of connection, Mirror Moon could only concentrate Her remaining power to contend with the Spider Queen.

In other words, when the Spider Queen had the greater share of projected power, Mirror Moon could not protect both Dorothy and Artcheli. When She failed to fully seize control of the Anecdotal Body, the Spider Queen turned to corrupt Artcheli’s mind. Mirror Moon split Her power to defend Artcheli—weakening Her hold on the Anecdotal Body, giving the Spider Queen the opportunity to retaliate against Dorothy. Mirror Moon then had to re-divert Her attention back—allowing the Spider Queen to fully claim Artcheli.

Right now, Mirror Moon’s projection capacity was limited. In the battlefield of the Anecdotal Body—where power input had an upper limit—She could contend with the Spider Queen if focused. But the moment another battlefield opened, her stretched power could not keep up.

In simple terms, for Mirror Moon, it meant She could only truly protect one of them: Artcheli or Dorothy. She tried to protect both—but if forced to choose, She would undoubtedly choose Dorothy.

However, for the Spider Queen, it didn’t matter who Mirror Moon chose—in the end, She would still win. Even if Dorothy was spared for a time, with Artcheli completely corrupted and under Her control, Dorothy would not escape either.

Today, the Spider Queen was determined to use this opportunity to eliminate Dorothy—the one She regarded as the final trump card Mirror Moon had left in Pritt.

Once Artcheli’s eyes were fully consumed by the dark red, she turned toward Anna with a cold expression. Dodging Anna’s wind blades and air cannons with incredible agility, she drew her revolver and opened fire, unleashing beams of light.

But Anna had already anticipated the attack. With a twist of her wind spear, she conjured a swirling storm barrier, scattering and deflecting the incoming beams. Artcheli, seeing this, seized the opportunity to fire in another direction—

The direction where Dorothy was currently trapped!

Realizing what Artcheli intended, Dorothy immediately signaled Anna to stop her attack and intervene.

Thus, after spinning the storm shield only twice, Anna diverted its force into a blast of wind toward Artcheli’s location. Just as the gale swept across, Artcheli fired her gun.

With a crisp bang, a dazzling beam of light burst from Artcheli’s revolver, cutting straight across the city of Igwynt—crossing from one distant edge of the outskirts to the other.

The beam was aimed squarely at Dorothy’s head. Trapped and immobile inside the phantom spike prison, she had no way to evade it.

Fortunately, Dorothy had predicted Artcheli’s move and prompted Anna to interfere at just the right moment. The resulting windstorm introduced the tiniest deviation to Artcheli’s aim.

That tiny deviation was incredibly subtle—barely affecting Artcheli’s overall accuracy. In her current state, she could still easily hit targets at 700–800 meters, even several kilometers away, with perfect precision.

However, Dorothy was more than 20 kilometers away.

At that range, even the slightest deviation would be greatly magnified—causing the shot to miss entirely.

When the beam fired from Artcheli’s hand appeared in Dorothy’s vision, she saw a dazzling orange light streak past just a few dozen centimeters to the right of her head. Had the shot been any more accurate, she would’ve been sniped in the head from over twenty kilometers away.

Artcheli’s shot had missed—but that hardly mattered to her, because her other ability was now activating.

In an instant, Artcheli dissolved into a pool of shadow and vanished into the ground. Anna, who had been rushing in on the wind’s acceleration with her spear raised to intercept, arrived a step too late—her wind-imbued spear slammed straight into the earth.

In the newly formed crater, Anna looked on with concern toward the distant direction of Dorothy’s location.

At that very moment, from within the shadow cast by the beam that had just grazed Dorothy, Artcheli suddenly emerged—blade in hand, slashing toward her.

Dorothy’s expression grew grim, but not the slightest trace of fear showed in her eyes.

“Chains of Fate.”

Suddenly, the sound of iron chains echoed through the air. In the void, out of nothing, chains materialized—solid and golden, inscribed densely with all manner of sacred scripture. A closer look revealed that these were none other than the canonical verses of the Radiance Church!

These golden chains manifested beside Artcheli, instantly and of their own will, coiling toward her to bind her. They moved with incredible speed. Artcheli tried to dodge—but to her astonishment, she couldn’t. No matter where she tried to move, chains would appear from thin air to intercept her!

With a flurry of clinks, the chains wrapped around her limbs and torso, binding her tightly in place. In the blink of an eye, the nimble and swift Artcheli was completely restrained—utterly unable to react. She struggled desperately, but not even slightly could she loosen the iron bindings.

Even the spider-headed Anecdotal Body nearby showed a rare expression of surprise at the sight.

“Chains of Fate”—this was another application of the divine authority of Heaven’s Arbiter, one Dorothy had crafted by fusing her divinity with spiritual threads. When imbued with Heaven’s Arbiter’s divinity, these spiritual threads transformed into chains capable of binding by means of jurisprudential and historical force.

Currently, the Spider Queen was interfering with this place by corrupting the lingering influence of the Mirror Moon in Pritt. That is to say, all of Her interference relied on that corrupted divine imprint. She had even tainted the Mirror Moon power within Artcheli to gain control of her.

Thus, everything the Spider Queen was doing here was ultimately dependent on remnants of Mirror Moon’s power. If Dorothy could restrict that power—then she could also restrict the Spider Queen.

But could Dorothy restrain a god like the Mirror Moon? The answer was yes—through her divinity as Heaven’s Arbiter.

Dorothy’s Fairy of the Lake Anecdotal Body had been summoned based on mutated remnants of Mirror Moon lore left behind in Pritt. The reason that Mirror Moon’s worship had faded to mere folklore in this land was almost entirely due to centuries of suppression by the Church.

For hundreds of years, the Radiance Church had cleansed Mirror Moon’s faith from Pritt through methods such as altering chapels, distorting legends, indoctrination, persecution of heretics, and more—ultimately erasing it from mainstream culture.

Now, Dorothy was leveraging this very legal-historical pressure. Using her Heaven’s Arbiter divinity, she channeled the Church’s centuries-long suppression campaign into spiritual threads, manifesting them as chains.

These Chains of Fate, embodying the Church’s jurisprudence and legacy in Pritt, exerted powerful suppression and binding effects on all non-Radiance faiths and their derivative powers within the region. Though they were most effective against Mirror Moon, they also suppressed the Spider Queen—whose faith, after all, stemmed from another native cult.

Artcheli’s power, tied closely to Mirror Moon, was now also entangled with the Spider Queen. Thus, when Dorothy activated the Chains of Fate, they bound her completely. When opposing powers grounded in jurisprudential constraint, the chains exerted absolute causal binding—speed and agility meant nothing. The chains’ strength was determined by the corresponding legal authority. In Artcheli’s case, escape was impossible.

Of course, by theory, a power sourced from Church jurisprudence should not be able to bind a Saint of the Church like Artcheli. But right now, she was not herself—she was the Spider Queen’s puppet, corrupted by a defiled version of Mirror Moon’s power. Her heretical state had far outweighed her saintly one—hence the chains worked. This was why Dorothy hadn’t used them earlier during Anna and Artcheli’s fight. When Artcheli was still a true Saint, the chains wouldn’t have worked—unless Dorothy found some power that could override Church authority, which was nearly impossible.

Moreover, such a powerful ability wasn’t something Dorothy could use at will. The strength of the Chains of Fate derived from the Church’s jurisprudence—and Dorothy couldn’t tap into that out of thin air. Just like how she had needed Anna to channel Pritt’s national legal force, she now needed a node to channel the Church’s.

That node... was Vania.

Vania Chafferon had already advanced to Crimson-rank, qualifying her for the Church’s upper echelons—naturally serving as Dorothy’s legal conduit. Even more importantly, following the Glamorne incident, Vania had temporarily served as Archbishop of the entire Pritt Diocese! For several months she had overseen the Hymn Cathedral and handled even a major heretical attack, earning widespread respect.

Her experience as interim Archbishop gave her a stellar connection to the Pritt Diocese’s legal framework. Within the Church’s system, an Archbishop is the embodiment of the diocese’s authority—making Vania the perfect node for Dorothy to draw upon.

The moment Dorothy was trapped in the spike prison, she had already initiated a secure information channel to Vania—requesting her to perform a short on-site ritual that would allow Dorothy to borrow her as a remote node. Just as the corrupted Artcheli closed in, Vania had finished preparations. This kind of legal node borrowing was something Dorothy could perform remotely.

Although the spike prison prevented Dorothy from using normal spirituality-based powers due to the phantom-pain spikes, the Chains of Fate were different—they were a divine power. They ignored the Spider Queen’s restrictions entirely.

This wasn’t ordinary spiritual force. This was divine authority! And not just any god’s power—but that of a higher-ranking main deity compared to the Spider Queen!

Now, on the battlefield: the ambushing Artcheli was completely bound by Dorothy’s Chains of Fate, utterly immobilized. Dorothy herself, still trapped in the prison of spikes, also lacked freedom of movement. The Spider Queen, meanwhile, was simultaneously controlling Artcheli and fighting Mirror Moon for control over the unstable Anecdotal Body. For the moment, all sides were locked in a stalemate. No one could do anything to the others—yet.

However, this standoff wouldn’t last long. On Dorothy’s side, Anna was racing toward her. At her speed, she’d arrive soon—and her arrival would immediately shift the balance of power. Meanwhile, the Chains of Fate would continue to suppress both the Spider Queen and the corrupted Mirror Moon power inside Artcheli. Before long, Artcheli would break free and awaken.

Given the current situation, time was on Dorothy’s side—but it was clear the Spider Queen wasn’t willing to concede.

The Spider Queen began gradually retracting Her influence from Artcheli, while also reducing the number of illusory spikes in Dorothy’s prison by a third. By actively loosening Her grip on Dorothy, She traded that for greater power in the struggle against Mirror Moon. The spikes removed from Dorothy’s vicinity scattered into the air and then exploded violently.

Those phantom spikes burst apart midair, transforming into clouds of vivid blood mist that quickly spread—blanketing the area.

Dorothy, newly freed from part of the restriction, immediately used a Water-Breathing sigil on herself and raised a compact emergency water supply seized earlier from the Abyssal Church to her lips.

However, the Spider Queen’s purpose in releasing that blood mist was not to poison anyone. The mist gathered in the sky, forming a dense crimson cloud that barely descended. Her true intention was to block the bright, full moon above!

Moonlight—the channel through which Mirror Moon projected Her influence—was something the Spider Queen could not corrupt. Though Mirror Moon’s current state was abnormal, the domain of the moon still remained under Her control. The Spider Queen had no way to taint even a fraction of it. The influence Mirror Moon still wielded at the scene—untainted and pure—was most likely being projected through the moon itself.

By shrouding the moonlight, the Spider Queen had effectively severed Mirror Moon’s primary channel of power projection.

At that moment, the Spider Queen nearly fully seized control over the unstable Anecdotal Body. The previously unstable spider-head stabilized entirely, and Mirror Moon’s will within the Anecdotal Body began to be suppressed.

That spider-headed Anecdotal Body was the only node through which the Spider Queen could project Her power into this area. With Mirror Moon’s interference diminishing, the Spider Queen was finally able to exert more direct control. She turned her gaze toward the remaining dark red spikes surrounding Dorothy and sent them all lancing toward her at once.

Dorothy’s expression darkened as she watched the dense wave of spikes closing in. In the next second, she would be impaled from every direction like a pincushion.

“I won’t allow you to run rampant in my domain, heretical god!”

Just then, a sudden storm erupted, winds roaring in from all directions. A massive stream of air gathered beside Dorothy and took the form of a young knightess. As Anna appeared, she swung her spear imbued with divine power and, in an instant, shattered every dark red spike around Dorothy.

Seeing Anna appear, the spider-headed Anecdotal Body showed a rare expression of surprise—clearly caught off guard by this unexpected turn.

By all logic, a high-ranking Beyonder of the Storm Path shouldn’t have been able to arrive so quickly. The battlefield where Artcheli and Anna had fought was over twenty kilometers from Dorothy’s location. From the moment Artcheli had shadow-stepped to Dorothy’s side until now, only about ten seconds had passed. Even if Anna had rushed at full speed, she shouldn’t have made it in time.

But Anna’s speed had not come from the Storm Path—it had come from the power of her Heroic Spirit Armament, just like with the earlier “Lord’s Banishment Order.”

The origin of the Field family was Yarlin Field, whose most legendary and glorified deed was the tale of the Thousand-League Charge—where he rode alone to intercept an entire squad of the Blackthorn Knight Order to rescue a captured prince. This was the battle that earned him eternal renown.

Once she took on the Heroic Spirit Armament, that very legend was sublimated into a special ability bound to Anna. Whenever someone close to her—or bound to her by contract—was in danger, Anna could teleport across vast distances to their side, assuming the role of a guardian knight. The range of this ability encompassed nearly all of Pritt—meaning she could instantly traverse the majority of the country to render aid.

While fighting in defense of her charge, Anna would also gain a boost in combat power from Yarlin’s legend. If her target happened to be connected to the Blackthorn Knight Order, as in the tale, the boost would be even greater—adding a divine enchantment with divine rank suppression.

Anna had thus arrived instantly to protect Dorothy. And her target—the projection of the Spider Queen’s power—was clearly linked to the Blackthorn Knight Order that had appeared during the Wind King’s Rebellion. Only with such a connection could Anna cleave apart the Spider Queen’s blood-red spikes.

Seeing Anna, the spider-headed Anecdotal Body raised a hand and conjured another wave of spikes to strike at her. Dorothy immediately warned her.

“Don’t use any long-range attacks—just cut them from the side! Don’t block them directly!”

Dorothy knew well the nature of the Spider Queen’s divine power. A moment’s carelessness could transmit overwhelming pain through the attack, so extreme caution was needed in battle.

Nodding at her advice, Anna began rapidly swinging her spear, slicing through the conjured spikes one by one. However, the Anecdotal Body continued generating more and more spikes, and it looked like Anna might soon be overwhelmed.

“Raise the wind—blow those clouds away!”

Dorothy shouted the reminder, and during a brief opening in her defense, Anna redirected her power upward—manipulating the high-altitude airstreams in an attempt to sweep away the blood mist clouds. But the mist was dense and viscous; even the howling gales Anna summoned could only push it slowly. The clouds wouldn’t scatter so easily.

Seeing this, the spider-headed Anecdotal Body quickly launched two more waves of spikes—one aimed directly at Anna, the other at the rising winds.

Her goal was to attack the mystical phenomenon Anna had created, transmitting the resulting pain directly to her. While Anna could defend herself and Dorothy, she couldn’t protect the sky as well.

Just as Anna was caught in a moment of vulnerability, a black streak flashed through the air. The dark red spikes targeting the sky were instantly sliced to shreds. As the dark figure landed, its form became clear.

It was Artcheli.

She had completely broken free of the Spider Queen’s control. In her hand was a blade that exuded a sinister black aura—like a sword forged of pure shadow. Her eyes burned with fury as she stared down the spider-headed Anecdotal Body.

“How dare you tamper with my mind... You’ll pay for this, heretical god!”

The moment her words fell, Artcheli charged at the Anecdotal Body with blistering speed. The form tried to retaliate by conjuring more crimson spikes—but just as the first few launched, the air around it twisted. In the next instant, golden chains burst from the void, binding the spider-headed Anecdotal Body from every direction.

Now that Artcheli had regained her senses, Dorothy’s Chains of Fate were freed up and could be redirected to a new target.

After dodging a few stray spikes, Artcheli drew her pistol and fired straight at the Anecdotal Body’s head.

A massive, charged beam erupted from the weapon, striking the spider’s head dead on and detonating in a brilliant burst of light, blasting it apart.

At the same time, Anna finally succeeded in blowing away the blood-mist clouds above. Moonlight spilled down through the thinning haze and illuminated the Anecdotal Body, now deprived of its spider head. Bathed in the light of the moon, the form—once writhing and unstable—began to settle into a state of calm.