Since it is difficult to restore the mind controlled by the mind flayers, coupled with the attacks of other species, the Kuo-toa people can only devote themselves to fanatical religious beliefs.
The Kuo-toa, once a thriving and intelligent race, have long suffered under the tyranny of the Mind Flayers and other races, their wills shattered, their minds twisted beyond repair. Stripped of their former reasoning and autonomy, they were left grasping for something—anything—to anchor their broken psyches. In their desperation, they turned to religious fanaticism, their fractured consciousnesses clinging to belief as their only refuge.
Unlike other races that receive divine guidance through centuries of tradition, divine revelation, divine texts, or any other medium, the Kuo-toa are unique in their ability to create gods from nothing—not through divine intervention, but through sheer, delusional belief. Their faith is not one of visions or ancient texts, but a raw, primal force born of necessity and madness.
With no gods to answer their broken prayers, they simply invent them. A piece of driftwood, a pile of stones, a crude carving in the cavern walls—anything can serve as a vessel for their belief. They repair shattered statues found in the depths, assign them names, and worship them with unrelenting devotion. Their faith, so unshakable and unyielding, does not simply mimic religion—it warps reality itself.
The power of their collective belief is so overwhelming that it transcends the metaphysical, forcing what was once an imaginary deity into actual existence. These fabricated gods—mere fragments of delusion at first—begin to take form, their essence coalescing from the raw energies of the planes. Some remain hollow idols, inert and lifeless, while others... awaken.
The most terrifying aspect of this phenomenon is that the Kuo-toa themselves do not understand the implications of what they have done. The gods they create may be benevolent, monstrous, or completely unknowable, born entirely from the unpredictable chaos of their broken minds. Worse still, the sheer magnitude of faith they generate does not go unnoticed—dark and unfathomable entities lurking beyond the veil of reality may be drawn to this surge of belief, manifesting in ways no mortal can comprehend.
Thus, the Kuo-toa exist in an endless cycle: creating, worshiping, and abandoning gods, each new deity shaped by the fears and needs of the moment. In their madness, they wield a power unlike any other race—a power that should not exist, yet does, reshaping the cosmos with nothing more than the intensity of their faith.
I withdrew my thoughts; there were too many things in the inherited memory, and only so many were about the Kuo-toa people.
The strength of this species itself is not too great; in fact, it's weaker than humans, but they created those messy gods and ghosts—who knows what they are and what abilities they have?
Anyway, in my view, they are definitely not real gods. After all, orthodox gods are quite powerful.
Even the Mother of Dragons, Tiamat, who possesses weaker divine power, is much stronger than these messy things.
Moreover, some Kuo-toa murlocs are still controlled by mind flayers, which is also crucial.
Mind flayers are another name for illithids, creatures born with psychic powers that can control and enslave other beings.
One must know that the Illithid Empire, in its heyday, spanned an unknown number of worlds and enslaved countless species.
These octopus-headed creatures have brought terror to countless worlds. In some worlds, they are called Doomsday Dominators. All Cthulhu-type evil gods are based on the powerful individuals among the mind flayers.
And the Illithid Empire finally perished after being outmaneuvered by some powerful gods, which shows the horror of the gods.
"Have you ever fought against the Kuo-toa murlocs? How is their strength?" I yawned, opening my mouth wide.
Elise continued, "Master, the environment in the Dark Sea is not suitable for the drow to maneuver, but we have fought a war with them."
"Those ordinary Kuo-toa murlocs aren't very powerful, but some of them caused us trouble with the spurs of Kuo-toa. There was also a high priest of Kuo-toa who didn't make a move!"
Elise honestly introduced all the details.
In fact, Elise's first thought was to ask Arthas from Death Valley to help them deal with the Kuo-toa murlocs.
But Arthas didn't care about her at all. For Arthas, the Master's order was the only one he would listen to.
What are drow elves? Are they worthy of dominating him?
"Tomorrow, we will integrate all the combat forces under our command and go see these Kuo-toa people!"
I didn't say much. Elise had been doing her best during this time, and I knew everything she had done through the chain of soul.
Only then did Elise breathe a sigh of relief, unknowingly covered in sweat…
---
In the bedroom of the palace, the massive bed was a mess at this moment.
Shea was cleaning my strong half-dragon body, her face flushed.
"Lord, I haven't heard from Sister Winnie for a long while." Shea's eyes were full of longing.
After all, she and Winnie had been best friends in the Rose Tribe.
"Don't worry, nothing is wrong with Winnie; she is safe!" I hugged Shea in my arms.
I was in a good mood, so my attitude was not bad.
Since the increase in my life value led to the evolution of the twisted seed, I had been able to sense the host's situation from an extreme distance—even across planes.
The red light in my eyes flashed, and I immediately perceived Winnie's situation.
Winnie had lost contact since she last hunted down High Priest Nadia, and I had only been able to sense that she was in a safe state.
But now, from my perspective, I saw her situation...
---
It was a very magnificent and somewhat primitive hall, and Winnie was stroking her dagger, her mood obviously not very good.
At that moment, a strong tauren opened the door and walked in.
"Winnie, you shouldn't have come back this time." The tauren sighed as he looked at Crok and Winnie in front of him.
"I need to know the truth!" Winnie put down the sharp dagger in her hand and stared at Crok like a wild cat with bristling fur.
She had always thought she was just an ordinary catwoman, but her family had been implicated because of her involvement in the civil strife between the Tiger Clan and the Golden Lion Clan.
Was she just a helpless, ordinary catwoman?
But the drow in the Underdark had told Winnie many things.
For example, her race should be the Shadowcats, who had lived in the Underdark since childhood. Due to their talents, they were born assassins.
But in Winnie's mind, she had lived in the Demi-human Empire since she was a child, always believing that her race was just cat people.
This was obviously not right, and after recalling Crok's strange behavior, she felt something was wrong. So, she returned to the Demi-human Empire to investigate these things.
After a long time and extensive investigation, she was here.
"Crok, let me tell Winnie the whole story." Footsteps echoed from the door as a middle-aged tauren, similar to Crok, walked in.
"Uncle Hauge!" Winnie respected the tauren in front of her.
Not only because he was Crok's father, but more importantly, because he had rescued her when she was a child. When they were about to be executed, Hauge had personally sent them out of the Demi-human Empire.
"It's like this..."
Winnie's mother was indeed from the Shadowcat family, but her father was not just an ordinary cat person, as Winnie had thought.
The Demi-human Empire was jointly ruled by the powerful Tiger Clan and the Golden Lion Clan.
There were also six major tribes beneath them, such as the Tauren Tribe, the Wolf Tribe, and others.
And Winnie's father was Gris, the former Bloodfang Prince of the Demi-human Empire—the strongest of the younger generation of the Tiger Clan.
Winnie's mother had come to the surface for some reason and met Prince Gris of Bloodfang. After going through many hardships, the two came together.
But something major had happened later. Winnie's mother seemed to have stolen a very important sacred object from the Demi-human Empire—an artifact related to the legendary Demi-human treasure. This theft directly disrupted the power balance among the tribes.
As a result, a civil war erupted. Winnie's father died in battle, and her mother disappeared. The Tiger Clan was besieged by the combined forces of the Bear Clan and the Golden Lion Clan.
However, the Golden Lion Clan had not sought total extermination, leaving a trace of life.
Some other races were also implicated…
Winnie felt dazed. She hadn't expected her origins to be so bizarre. So, her mother had simply disappeared? Could she still be alive?
But Winnie's reaction made Hauge frown. Did she not yearn for maternal love?
Yet, she had been alone for so long and had never met her parents. So, when she heard about them, she didn't seem to have strong emotions—just like listening to a stranger's story…
---
I withdrew my thoughts. As long as I was sure that she was safe, that was enough.
As for these bloody matters, I had no interest in paying attention to them.
Anyway, in my plans, the Demi-human Empire was also a target of attack. While it wasn't as rich as the human kingdom, its land area was vast. Over so many years, there were undoubtedly many valuable things there, including legendary Demi-human treasures.
Then, I checked on my other family members, like watching an immersive movie.
After that, I got off the massive bed and returned to my true form.
A huge black dragon reappeared in the palace.
My dragon body was still the most comfortable. I stretched my wings. I only took my half-dragon form when I was intimate with my women.
In all other cases, I used my original body—transformation made me feel uncomfortable.
After walking out of the palace, Elise and the others were already waiting early. Although I had said we would leave today, I hadn't specified when.
Therefore, Elise could only prepare with her subordinates and make all necessary arrangements in advance.
After that, she simply waited here. After all, no one dared to disturb my interests. If they were crushed to death, they wouldn't even have time to cry.
"Master, your men have assembled..."
Elise said cautiously; her behavior at this time was different from before, and she was not pretending.
I waved my wings and flew directly over Charles City, and the underground drows were ready.
All kinds of giant spiders, giant bats, and drow riding lizards were neatly arranged.
I nodded. Not to mention combat effectiveness, this neat formation was much more pleasing to the eye than those dark creatures, and it seemed to have a bit of discipline.
Of course, strictly speaking, drow elves were also a kind of dark creature.
Roar~
Accompanied by my dragon roar, the large troop of drow began to set off in the direction of the Dark Sea.
---
In the boundless Dark Sea, there was a huge isolated island.
This strip-shaped island was one of the largest territories of the Kuo-toa murlocs in the Underdark.
The area of this island was very large, and there were thousands of Kuo-toa living here.
These Kuo-toa mermaids were tall, with blue skin, a fish-like head on the upper body, and fish fins and scales on their body.
The lower body consisted of two pairs of powerful legs, with sharp claws on the toes, and there were puncta between the claws, similar to the soles of ducks.
There was also a temple made of piled stones on the island.
At this time, a Kuo-toa fish priest holding a scepter was praying devoutly to a huge strange statue. There were catfish-like tentacles around his mouth that swayed from side to side as he prayed, "Great god, your humble believer prays to you..."
Behind him were countless Kuo-toa murloc warriors standing in neat lines, holding harpoon spurs and other weapons in their hands.
"Master High Priest, those despicable and evil drow have come to invade our territory again."
At this time, a Kuo-toa murloc, who was taller than other murlocs and had a mouth full of sharp teeth, came in and spoke.
After a while, the Kuo-toa fishman priest, who had finished praying, opened his eyes.
"Drow?"
A fierce look flashed in the eyes of the Kuo-toa murloc priest. "Let's keep all these despicable creatures this time!"
"But their strength is not too weak. If we want to deal with the drow elves, we will lose a lot of fighters." Unlike ordinary Kuo-toa murlocs, the wisdom of the Kuo-toa murloc spurs and the Kuo-toa murloc priests was still relatively normal.
So they would also consider gains and losses.
"They will come and go this time!" The Kuo-toa fishman priest made a piercing sound.
Then he slowly walked to the front of the Kuo-toa's pusher.
Puff~
One arm of the Kuo-toa's pusher in front of him was directly pierced by some kind of transparent weapon, and with a tear, the whole arm was ripped off by some invisible creature.
Immediately, the Kuo-toa's pusher's face turned ugly, but even after being hurt like this, the Kuo-toa's pusher in front of him remained silent.
"Geor, I hope there will be no next time!" the Kuo-toa murloc priest said slowly.
"Obey, Great High Priest!" Geor knew what High Priest Kuo-toa meant. After all, he had truly offended him just now.
The status of the high priest of the Kuo-toa fish was very high, and no Kuo-toa had the right to question the decision of the high priest.
"I have a hunch that this time we will meet a very powerful opponent. The threat that the so-called drow can bring us is less than one percent of this opponent!"
The gray light in High Priest Kuo-toa's eyes flickered away.
"But don't worry, we won't lose this time!" High Priest Kuo-toa roared, his bloody mouth open.
Immediately, the Kuo-toa people erupted in bursts of cheers because the High Priest Kuo-toa knew a certain degree of prophecy, and if he said they would win, they definitely would!
"One day, under the leadership of the great king of the deep sea, our clan will retake the ocean, the land, and everything that belongs to us!" said the High Priest of the Kuo-toa murlocs, looking at the seemingly endless Dark Sea in the distance.
---
At this time, the drow elves beside the Dark Sea were already in place.
"Lord, those damned Kuo-toa murlocs live on a small island in this Dark Sea. Last time we thought about attacking them by force, but those murlocs are too powerful in underwater combat. We can't take advantage of it at all," Elise said, looking at the vast Dark Sea.
Although the drow elves were not landlubbers, there was still a big gap compared with the Kuo-toa murlocs, who lived amphibiously.
"And those guys can also control water bodies, and Kuo-toa's pushers also have strange perception abilities."
"Kuo-toa's pusher? He must be this kind of guy!"
As soon as my words hit the surface of the Dark Sea, a wave exploded.
A tall Kuo-toa murloc wearing hideous bone spur armor was pierced by a huge ice spike from the bottom of the water.
Then the body came to me from the bottom of the water, carried by the continuously growing ice thorns.
At this moment, Elise was both angry and frightened. She hadn't expected that a Kuo-toa pusher had been hiding in the sea. This kind of elite Kuo-toa murloc warrior, second only to the Kuo-toa's high priest, was very difficult to deal with. Only Elise could defeat the opponent with powerful magic.
The other drow could do nothing against him.
But the Black Dragon Lord was able to easily seriously injure and control the opponent with just one water magic spell.
"Dragon... Black Dragon..."
At this moment, the Kuo-toa's pusher hadn't died yet. He looked at the huge creature in front of him in shock.
It was a Black Dragon. Behind these damned drow was actually a Black Dragon.
Kacha Kacha~
Then I threw the body into the reincarnation space to kill the opponent and froze the body, intending to keep it as food.
Immediately afterward, a new Son of Death was formed, though this Son of Death was very weak.
I began to examine the memory of the Son of Death.
On Sea God Island, there was a Kuo-toa murloc priest, who should actually be much stronger than an ordinary human legend of the first level.
There were also 39 Kuo-toa pushers—there should be 38 now—and more than 4,000 ordinary Kuo-toa murloc fighters, equipped with bone spurs and magic props...
And they also enshrined the god of the deep sea king…
*****
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