Chapter 110: The Statue of the Saint

Maya finally achieved her heart's desire and ascended to the position of Matron Mother. At this moment, she was in the temple, basking in the respect and admiration of the dark elves. But to Jan, those hypocritical formalities were meaningless; while Maya had satisfied her own ambitions, Jan had likewise achieved his own goals.

Jan stood in the chilly basement of House Dinath, gazing at the two corpses before him. Now that the ritual was over, these bodies were useless to Maya, but they were of immense value to Jan. From Maya, Jan had already learned that the only members of House Dinath privy to the details of the previous mission were Matron Mother Dinath, Vlatna, and her other two sisters. Maya was, after all, still too young and had not been involved. This, of course, also highlighted the importance of the mission; had it not been a task where success was deemed absolutely vital, Matron Mother Dinath would not have blocked a high-ranking priestess from joining. Clearly, she had feared that Maya’s lack of experience might lead to the failure of the mission.

Ironically, she had failed in the end anyway.

Glancing one last time at the corpse of Matron Mother Dinath, Jan snapped his fingers. Soon, Enya emerged silently from the shadows and came to his side.

"You know what to do, Enya."

"Of course, Master."

Hearing Jan’s instruction, Enya nodded. She turned her gaze to Jan, then stepped between the two corpses. Enya reached out, and soon, the bodies were dissected by invisible blades, exposing their flesh, internal organs, and everything within to her sight.

Faced with this nauseating scene, Enya’s expression did not change in the slightest. Instead, she smiled and reached out, plunging her hands into the viscera of the corpses without hesitation.

This was the primary reason Jan had come here. The Temple of the War God hoped to obtain a Saint’s Effigy, and Lolth was also seeking a similar item. It was possible that both sides were after the same thing, and Lolth’s attitude made it clear that the object was of significant importance to her. She would never let Jan discover her secrets, but unfortunately for her, Lolth had clearly not anticipated that Jan would be so persistent. In his pursuit of the truth, he had even disguised himself as a dark elf to infiltrate Menzoberranzan. Matron Mother Dinath certainly knew something, but Jan did not intend to extract information from her directly. She was a Matron Mother, a follower of Lolth; any rash move might alert the Spider Queen, and everything would end up like before—Lolth destroying the evidence to hide her intelligence, a result Jan could not accept.

That was why he had intentionally orchestrated a "reasonable" conflict. Maya was young, ambitious, and passionate. She possessed a devout faith in Lolth—even if Jan had twisted that faith. She remained loyal to the Spider Queen, and in dark elf society, it was perfectly normal for a fanatical high-ranking priestess to murder her sisters and mother to reclaim her family’s glory. Lolth would never harbor any doubts about such a murder. Even if the souls of Matron Mother Dinath and Vlatna entered Lolth’s realm, that mother spider could never extract any anomalous information from their souls.

After all, it was just a standard, routine change of power.

Enya’s movements were gentle and swift. Her slender fingers acted like sharp scalpels, parting muscles, reaching deep inside to extract the liver, stomach, and intestines. She then reached upward, severed Matron Mother Dinath’s vocal cords, dislocated her jaw, pulled out her tongue, and gouged out her eyes. Then came the ears, followed by the cranial sutures, which she pried open to extract the brain. Every formerly healthy organ withered like a flower in Enya’s hands, yet she continued her work with half-closed eyes. She was extracting every scrap of hidden intelligence from the body of the former dark elf matriarch. Soon, she had emptied everything from within the body.

Enya simply closed her eyes for a moment to categorize and synthesize the information she had gathered. When she opened them again, she set that matter aside and began the same process on Vlatna. As Jan’s adjutant, Enya did not merely collect information; understanding the context, the position of the individual, and the perspective from which they viewed events was equally important. Perhaps there were things even Matron Mother Dinath had not noticed, which Vlatna might have observed. Only by cross-referencing, comparing, and connecting these pieces could a relatively complete conclusion be drawn.

After a short while, Enya finally finished her work. She raised her hands and swept them gently through the air like a conductor at a concert. The next moment, the two corpses, which had been tortured beyond recognition, crumbled into dust and vanished into the air.

"How is it? Any results?"

Only then did Jan speak. Hearing his inquiry, Enya nodded.

"Yes, Master. If the memories of these two are accurate, the patrol they sent was intended to head to the Stone City of Brandon to seek a Saint’s Effigy."

"A Saint’s Effigy?"

Jan frowned. He narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment before his expression darkened.

"You mean... a statue of a Saint?"

Enya nodded in response.

"That is correct. They were looking for a statue of a Saint. According to the information they obtained, this effigy is sealed somewhere deep within the Stone City of Brandon..."

"I see."

Jan nodded. He finally understood why Lolth wanted to hide this secret.

A "Saint" referred to the avatar of a deity. When a god wished to enter the Prime Material Plane, they would use their power to create an avatar to act in their stead, ensuring their true strength would not cause catastrophic destruction to the plane. This was known as a Saint.

According to the history books of the Demon Realm, at the dawn of the creation of the continent of Krynn, there were many gods and demon lords. Due to unknown reasons, the passages between the Celestial Kingdom and the Demon Realm were blocked. The gods and demon lords were forced to remain on the Prime Material Plane as avatars. In order to find a way back home, they each took action. Naturally, this led to wars between the evil demon lords and the avatars of the good gods, and many fell during those conflicts. Others, through fortuitous circumstances, seized those positions.

For example, the War God Maka was once an ordinary, renowned human warrior on the Prime Material Plane. His homeland was utterly destroyed by the flames of war ignited by the War King Bane. To avenge himself, Maka, under the guidance of several benevolent Saint-avatars, defeated Bane’s army and killed him, eventually claiming his divinity and becoming a god himself.

At that time, the entire continent of Krynn was in chaos; Saints walked the earth, and demigods were as common as stray dogs. If you threw a wine bottle in a tavern, you were likely to hit the avatar of a demon lord or a god. A random bandit encountered in the woods might be the agent or scion of some divine power, capable of toppling a mountain with a casual strike.

But then, it all ended without warning. One day, people awoke to find that the problems that had plagued them had vanished. The Saints were gone. The demon lords were gone. The entire continent of Krynn returned to its original path. The world, previously filled with war, smoke, and chaos—nearly broken—seemed like nothing more than a nightmare. When the nightmare ended, everything returned to normal.

But these were not nightmares.

In that war, many gods fell, and many demon lords died. Both the Celestial Kingdom and the Demon Realm suffered significant losses. Some entities vanished from memory forever.

Their corpses turned to ash and were placed inside Saint’s Effigies. One could say that these effigies were the urns of the gods and demon lords of that era. However, the purpose of each effigy varied based on the identity of the occupant—ranging from objects of worship to seals—depending on how the individual inside had died.

If Lolth’s target was indeed a Saint’s Effigy, then it was highly likely that the Temple of the War God was seeking the same thing: an effigy containing the remains of a divine avatar. But this made the motives of both sides highly suspicious. The War God Maka had fallen after the Year of the Saints, and he and his body had been dragged into the Demon Realm; he did not receive the "treatment" of a Saint’s Effigy. Thus, it was certain that the Temple of the War God was not searching for Maka’s effigy.

In Jan’s memory, the only deity who fit the description of dying during the Year of the Saints and possessing a Saint’s Effigy was the former War King Bane, who had been killed by Maka. But... Bane was a demon lord. Setting aside whether he was currently wallowing in some hellish mire in the lower planes, there was no way he would collaborate with the inhabitants of the Celestial Kingdom through an oracle.

If that were the case, why would Lolth be involved? Lolth did not like war, and she should have kept her distance from the War God. Yet, she had sent people to find this effigy. Did this mean the effigy was not Bane’s? If so, whose urn was it?

The next question was...

"Did Lolth reveal any information about that Saint’s Effigy?"

"I apologize, Master. Matron Mother Dinath did not have detailed intelligence on that. It seems Lolth was unwilling to let her know too much."

"Hmph, as cunning as ever... but that doesn't matter."

Jan’s eyes glinted as a thought occurred to him, and he nodded slightly.

"I will find a way to get to the bottom of this."