The reason Li Wei dared to do this was that, according to the knowledge in the Dragon Inheritance, he was certain Lolth, the Drow deity, wasn't all-knowing or all-powerful. Besides, he'd never heard of a god with so much free time that they kept an eye on every one of their followers all day long.
And he wasn't as reckless as others might have thought, either. He really did have a few advantages in terms of timing and terrain.
For starters, Zelandia lay within the Dark Magic Web region. More than that, it was most likely a Natural Cavern formed by Riotous Wild Magic when the Magic Web went out of control during the fall of the First Generation Goddess of Magic. The magic here was not only violent and chaotic, it also seriously interfered with the connection of faith.
That was also why the Drow so disliked being assigned here. It was like taking a nineties-era Big Brother Mobile Phone to some remote mountain village: if you wanted to contact your deity, you'd probably have to find an open area with decent reception just to barely get a "hello" through. It was practically made for stabbing someone in the back.
At the same time, Li Wei hadn't planned to go that far. All he needed was for her to do something that could be construed as blasphemy, giving him a modest fallback plan. He didn't want her to truly betray her deity, fall completely, and abandon her faith.
He also believed that this Drow named Dishana understood the cost of betraying Lolth better than he did. So even if she acted against her own conscience, she wouldn't dare let her faith waver too much.
If Lolth discovered what she'd done, she would fly into a rage. Whether she descended in person or used Dishana as a conduit for her Divine Power to send Wax Melting Demons and Spider Drow over, Dishana's weak and fragile soul couldn't withstand it. At best, her lifespan would be greatly shortened and her mind and soul damaged. At worst, her soul would be shattered on the spot, leaving her an idiot. And those two punishments might even count as mild. The worst fate would be to have her soul imprisoned in the Divine Kingdom, where endless torment and despair awaited her.
What Li Wei hadn't expected was that he'd apparently given her too much credit! Even if he was certain that, under their unspoken understanding, Lolth probably wouldn't notice what was happening here, that was no excuse for this bitch to pull something like this!
A follower's faith could send ripples if their thoughts became too turbulent. And when those thoughts were vaguely related to the deity herself, they really could attract a god's attention like a firefly in the night!
To be honest, when he saw this Drow daring to try to pleasure herself in full view of everyone, Li Wei was stunned for a moment. Then he was alarmed, and hurriedly kicked her to stop her and bring her to her senses. He also prepared to make a run for it at a moment's notice.
If this pervert really did attract Lolth's attention, it would be a spectacular way to get himself killed. Fortunately, it had been a false alarm.
Li Wei looked at the Drow, who was left gasping, with utter disdain. "You foolish Drow, stop testing what little patience I have left, and stop challenging my limits. There may still be some Elves alive over there. To me, backing you or one of your sisters makes no difference. All right! Since you've already used your god to wipe your filthy ass, go back to Gershon and fight for your Matriarch Position. My people will help you in secret. If you try any tricks, your Spider Queen will teach you a lesson for me!"
Just then, the Gnoll chieftain Huozi returned with his people, dragging a dozen or so Drow corpses behind them. He glanced disdainfully at the disheveled Drow on the ground, who was left twitching, then looked away and reported to Li Wei:
"Master, all thirteen Black Skin Rats have been taken care of! I swear on my nose that we didn't miss a single one. Tiger checked three times, too."
Tiger, standing nearby, nodded solemnly. He understood better than anyone that the fate of all Zelandia was at stake. Having already boarded Li Wei's ship, it was too late for him to get off. All he could do was follow Li Wei to the bitter end.
At least, fortunately for him, Li Wei was a powerful ally, and the Red Dragon backing him was even better. Though Tiger had no idea what age the Red Dragon was, it had fathered a Half-Dragon Gnoll as mighty as Li Wei. Even if it wasn't an old Red Dragon, it had to be in its prime!
'Still, that Red Dragon really is something. It'll even mate with a Gnoll? What a hammer, Dinggelian!' Old Dwarf Tiger thought, feeling both dirty-minded and utterly impressed.
If Li Wei had known what the Old Dwarf was thinking, he would have been so speechless and frustrated that he'd want to kill someone. Heaven knew that although the Half-Dragon Gnoll persona was one of the fallback plans he'd prepared for himself, he hadn't intended to use it in this situation.
After all, the Red Dragon disguise worked pretty well in the Underdark. As the strongest in Combat Strength among the Chromatic Dragons, all he had to do was show himself and crook a Claw, and most snobs would weep and beg to cling to him.
And, as he could well imagine, unless he left the Underdark and returned to the surface, it was best not to reveal his Silver Dragon true form. In the Underdark, where evil was everywhere, he'd stand out like the Morning Star in the night. He'd also be a prized target and sacrifice in the eyes of most predators.
So, by the same token, the Red Dragon was his main disguise in the Underdark. To deal with the crisis at hand, he'd had to shape that disguise into a mastermind behind the scenes. The awkward part was that this so-called Half-Dragon Gnoll...
Just thinking about how other creatures would look at him with the same fascinated horror they'd reserve for a pervert gave him a headache. Even if most Red Dragons had probably really done it and thought nothing of it.
Li Wei shook his head. "Good work. Let's wrap things up."
"Master, these Drow can't be trusted. Should we just take them out, too?" Huozi bared his teeth. His eyes were bloodshot from all the killing, and he made a slashing motion across his throat.
"It's fine. I have a little leverage over her. More importantly, our interests are aligned for now, and she isn't stupid. If we can have a Drow Matriarch in Gershon City who's at least willing to cooperate with us, things will go much more smoothly. Tiger, remember to prepare another Steam Bomb for these guests. Leave it at the entrance to the Upper City. They'll pick it up themselves."
"Yes!" Tiger bowed his head, holding his breath.
"That's that, then."
Li Wei glanced back at Dishana, giving her a look that said she'd better know what was good for her, then turned and disappeared into the shadows of the mine.
After Li Wei and his group had all disappeared, Dishana rose unsteadily to her feet. She calmly straightened her buttons and robe, then looked toward the place where Li Wei had vanished. Licking her still rosy lower lip, she smiled as though she'd just spotted prey she fancied.
The confidence and grace on her face made her seem like an entirely different person from the desperate, humiliated Drow Priestess she'd been moments earlier.
"Miss! What should we do now?" Jiaer, the captain of her guards, seemed worried about Dishana being coerced by the other party.
"Are you stupid? Of course we should cooperate with our dear new ally. We'll get the Steam Bomb tomorrow and return to Gershon. I can hardly wait to see the wonderful expressions on my dear sisters' and mother's faces. With all of Zelandia backing me, if I can't secure the Matriarch Position of a mere Jadier after a few years of planning and preparation, then my god might as well turn me into a Spider Drow!" Dishana's eyes shone with unprecedented confidence and fervor.
"And what about those three?" Jiaer asked hesitantly, looking toward her three comrades.
Dishana thought it over. "Let's all swear a River Styx Blood Oath."
The three Drow couldn't help but smile bitterly. Though they weren't swearing to Lolth, a River Styx Blood Oath still bound most mortals. Jiaer took the oath as well.
Had anyone else still been there, they would have been astonished by Dishana's attitude. She didn't seem to have fallen into utter despair after blaspheming against Lolth.
Yet apart from Lolth's Clerics, few knew that Dishana's actions really had been blasphemy. If she'd been discovered in another pantheon, she would likely have been wiped out without a trace by now.
But Lolth was an exception. Apart from the Abyssal evil gods, she was probably the only deity in the Material Plane who was so unconventional. She held dominion over chaos and evil, and one only had to look at the conduct of the Drow who worshiped her to guess what she was like herself.
Even back when she was the Elf Queen of the gods, she'd dared to cuckold the chief god, Corellon. After falling into the Underdark and gaining dominion over chaos, she'd become even more unhinged.
There were plenty of Drow Priestesses who tried to please Lolth by wearing her Divine Emblem while torturing other creatures, or by holding even more debauched blasphemous rituals. As long as their faith remained firm and they gave the Spider Queen more pleasure and actual sacrifices, Lolth could be downright erratic in some respects.
In other words, when it came to blasphemy of this sort, Lolth's reaction was rather like Schrödinger's cat. If she chose to punish it, her wrath would be devastating. But if someone paid enough to satisfy the Spider Queen, forgiveness wasn't out of the question.
So, although this was a thorny matter, there was still room to maneuver. Of course, that depended on whether Dishana could offer the deity enough to make it worthwhile.
Dishana was just as wary of the Spider Queen's fury, but she still believed that Lolth wouldn't invoke it lightly.
'Hogg was right. Their interests are aligned.'
Dishana wasn't stupid, and she had no intention of breaking their alliance right away. In fact, until their shared interests diverged, she didn't mind being one of Li Wei's dogs at all.
After sensing the unseen and invisible River Styx respond to their oaths, Dishana smiled as though she'd come away with a great haul. Leading her four lackeys, she strode toward the way they'd come.
The golden pendant still dangled behind her, swaying with her graceful steps. It looked just like a dog tail wagging along with its owner's mood.
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