Ashen Dragon

Mages from the City of Thousand Laws raised their magic wands and chanted spells. A clear magic image appeared before everyone.

It was a cocoon.

Every shadow was a giant cocoon wrapped in spider silk, numbering in the thousands, densely hanging upside down.

Moreover, those giant cocoons were all broken open, stained with blood, and inside each cocoon was an elf's corpse.

Their deaths were extremely gruesome, expressions of agony and ghastly grimaces. Their mouths and noses seemed forcibly torn open, and tiny bloodstained spiders crawled out from the corpses.

Everyone gasped in shock, even Rhea, seasoned in battle, turned pale and her pupils dilated.

"My god!"

"Oh Shanee..."

"What kind of fiend could do such a thing! To commit such a massacre in such a sacred place!"

"I, I know him, that was my friend, he was brutally murdered!"

Seeing this horror, the Silver Moon Elves were overwhelmed with grief and anger, some even retched on the spot.

To them, the Holy Tree was a sacred site, a place where life nurtured, a place all Silver Moon Elves longed for.

They could not, in any capacity, associate the Holy Tree with such a bloody, nauseating scene.

Even the Ancient Gold Dragon bowed its head, mourning for a moment for the brutally slain elves, and sighed: "Truly egregious... not even an evil god like Tiamat would do such a thing to the metal dragonkin."

"Your Majesty Catherine, your enemies are more deranged and unscrupulous than I anticipated."

Catherine, too, was visibly shaken, clutching her chest, feeling heartache for the violent deaths of her people.

But soon, her pupils began to focus, her gaze growing sharper: "Unforgivable villains... I will certainly make them pay for their heinous acts!"

"Wait—look at the surface of the Holy Tree!"

A human hunter with razor-sharp eyes suddenly shouted.

Something seemed to be flowing on the surface of the Holy Tree, like mottled ripples, and everyone soon realized—it was an overwhelming wave of spiders!

Nearby the Sword Bay Region, there are several well-known cities like Waterdeep City, Elturel, and Neverwinter City. Waterdeep City was established on the former capital of the Elf Empire, Ilfaen—Erin Vier, and houses numerous divine temples. Miracle Temple is the most magnificent temple of the Goddess of Magic in the game, boasting a lavish high tower adorned with various artworks and magic decorations, exuding a magnificent Baroque style. Meanwhile, Neverwinter City leans more towards Gothic architecture, initially developed by a human settlement named Aegostor over a century ago. The main city of the story, Bod Gate, is the largest and most prosperous trade city-state in the Sword Bay Region, a mix of everything from nobles to commoners and thieves, nicknamed the "hotbed of conspirators" by adventurers. The city of Bod Gate derives its name from a hero, the Grey Harbor adventurer Bodlan, who after exploring beyond the Sword Sea, returned to Grey Harbor with wealth and led a team to establish the city here.

Depending on the residents' status, Bod Gate is divided into the Upper City for nobles, the Lower City for commoners, and an Outer City District scattered around Chenyi Mountain. The gate that separates the Upper City from the Lower City is called Bod Gate, from which the entire city takes its name, also serving as a monument to the city's founder, Bodlan.

Currently, Bod Gate is governed by a council of four great dukes; one serves as the leader of the council, and in case of a voting tie, decisions are made by Grand Duke Elder Ravenclaw. Law enforcement in the Upper City is managed by an official police force of the elite class called the Watch. Other areas are overseen by a mercenary group named the "Flaming Fist." Grand Duke Elder Ravenclaw is also the highest leader of the mercenary group, which has its headquarters located in Bodlan Sea Tower, Bod Gate's strongest fortification against maritime invasions. Encircling Bod Gate like a crescent is the economic lifeline—Gray Harbor, with hundreds of merchant ships entering and leaving daily, bringing gold coins along with greed and corruption.

The Upper City stands on high ground, composed of Castle District, Temple District, Manoburn District, and Wide Alley District, housing numerous religious buildings. The Miracle Hall and Supreme Miracle House are the Church centers of the God of Craft, Gund, in Bod Gate. Miracle Hall showcases Gund's great creations, while Supreme Miracle House also functions as a workshop. The Lower City mostly consists of stone houses, divided into six districts: Sea Tower District, Blonrich District, Steep District, Crowded Side District, East Road District, and Branpton District. The middle class usually resides in Blonrich District, close to the affluent Upper City. The East Road District, near the Stone Lizard Gate connecting the Outer City District, is relatively more mixed, featuring many bustling bars and cheap inns. The Flaming Fist Mercenary Corps is stationed in Sea Tower District, and the largest rocky offshore island hosts the mercenary group's headquarters at Bodlan Sea Tower. Branpton District and Steep District are relatively dilapidated, serving as living areas for sailors and laborers. The Outer City District stretches along the Chongsar River, filled with temporary buildings and shantytowns, with a landmark stone bridge crossing the river—Flying Dragon Crossroad, bustling with vendors who even extended the bridge using wooden boards, having constructed numerous buildings on top. Law and order are virtually non-existent here, and even the Flaming Fist Mercenary Corps can only provide limited protection, with the area's poor and criminals gathering there.

Moss on the arch of the sewer glowed eerily green under dim phosphorescent lights, muddy sewage lapping against boot soles, producing a sticky "glub" with each step. Purple-black viscous liquid seeped from cracks in the walls, converging towards the drains like veins—this unique neural corrosive substance characteristic of the Spirit Sucking Monster Nest, causing hallucinations when inhaled by ordinary people, as if countless tiny tendrils were squirming in their ear canals. Suddenly, a distinct snapping of bone misalignment echoed from behind a broken cast iron pipe, like something forcing its way through the narrow space. Three patrolling guards just raised their lanterns when the sewage burst open! Four Spirit Sucking Monsters erupted from the water, pale humanoid bodies covered in detritus, octopus-like heads with tendrils vibrating at high frequency, releasing a visible purple mind shock wave. The helmet of the guard in front caved in, his eyeballs bursting into a blood mist under increasing intracranial pressure; the second had a tendril pierce his ear canal before he could scream, spinal cord extracted like a marionette string from its shell; the only surviving guard stumbled back, the roar of his firearm misfire drowned by the collective sub-frequency shriek of the Spirit Sucking Monsters. These Spirit Sucking Monsters were evidently tactically trained. Two individuals feigned attacks, striking the water's surface with tendrils, raising a fog barrier with corrosive liquid obstructing vision; a third descended from the ceiling, using a suction cup to grasp the guard's skull, tendril tip precisely stabbing through the foramen magnum—not to kill immediately, but to puppeteer the captive, forcing him to turn and reload the firearm for his companions with trembling hands. Meanwhile, a fourth Spirit Sucking Monster was using knuckle blades to carve open the fallen guard's chest cavity, extracting a warm liver to stuff into its maw, pale yellow digestive fluid dripping from its jaw, sizzling smoke rising where it hit the ground. The parasitized individual did not completely die; the guard's convulsing corpse suddenly clawed back to its feet, translucent tendril tips of a Spirit Sucking Monster larva emerging from the nape's tear, pupils expanding into a cloudy milky white. He grabbed a dagger, stabbing at his former comrades, forcing nonhuman synthetic speech from his throat: "Skull…for the Elder Brain…". And the true horror was just beginning—distant sewage pools began bubbling, more pale figures emerging from beneath the water, dragging along about a dozen captives wrapped in mucus cocoons. Those human faces twisted into silent screams beneath the cocoon shells. As the last gunshot faded, the sewers returned to silence. Only the floating tattered uniforms and still pulsating nerve-corrosive fungal mats proved the slaughter that took place here. The Spirit Sucking Monsters dragged their captives into the depths of the drainage tunnels, the mucus cocoons occasionally writhing as if the "seeds" inside were about to hatch. In the Elder Brain's psychic network, the coordinates of these new shells transformed into a string of cold violet light, converging towards the pulsing massive shadow beneath Bod Gate.