Chapter 721: Just Ingredients

Lolth could figure it out without even thinking…

The presence approaching her raft from beneath the waves was no benevolent entity.

Her hands unconsciously accelerated their rhythm, driving the oar through seawater with renewed urgency.

Yet this remained a manually powered vessel – no mortal effort could transcend its physical limitations.

Within moments, the submerged silhouette had closed in to within a hundred meters.

Now the horror revealed itself clearly –

The armored spine of some leviathan breaching the surface,

A moving ridge of obsidian scales and jagged spikes resembling a migrating mountain range,

Its visible mass alone screamed primal predator.

Calculating its closing speed, Lolth instantly knew escape proved impossible.

Ten heartbeats collapsed the gap to mere boat-lengths.

She abandoned futile rowing.

"How thoughtless – I neglected to forge weapons," she muttered, then reconsidered:

Would stone-tipped spears even dent such armored flesh?

Yet even bare-handed against this hundredfold-sized foe,

Surrender wasn’t in her nature.

The paddle’s shaft creaked in her whitened grip.

Suddenly the creature’s spine vanished beneath swirling foam,

Diving to crushing depths until-

BOOM!!!

The ocean erupted. A nightmare visage shattered the surface –

Saurian jaws wider than city gates exploded upward,

Sending the raft skyward like child’s discarded toy.

Miraculously, the enchanted timber held firm midair,

Giant-tree lumber and vines laughing at mere physical trauma.

"Superb craftsmanship!" Lolth breathed,

Already arcing through salt-sprayed winds.

Securing the squirming shadow-pup with a quick harness,

She finally witnessed her attacker’s full glory:

Twin sulfurous eyes blazed like captive suns,

Their baleful glow dwarfing ten full moons combined.

The black radial lines and vertical pupils in its eyes tracked Lolth’s movements. As its elongated jaws parted slightly, they revealed massive interlocking fangs – even the smallest tooth measured half of Lolth’s height!

Beneath the night’s canopy, the leviathan’s silhouette contoured a grotesque, terrifying form that would drain strength from any observer’s limbs. It resembled the fabled sea dragons, yet surpassed them in monstrous distortion and predatory ferocity.

Simultaneously with its emergence came an explosive downpour of seawater. The saltwater deluge drenched Lolth completely, her dark garments plastered to her form like a second skin. Yet no chill penetrated her being – just as this primordial horror failed to spark any fear.

"What an enormous brute," Lolth murmured, her pulse quickening with primal excitement as if confronting destined prey. Her tongue flicked across lips gone dry. "This could sustain me… for seasons untold."

She perceived the thick divinity radiating from the creature – its colossal size, overwhelming magic, superior strength, and higher rank all signaling inevitable domination.

What of it?

This was her quarry. Though her memories offered no proof, some ancestral instinct thrummed in her marrow, howling through her veins:

"Slay it! Slaughter! Destroy!"

The beast became butcher’s fare upon her block, nutritious broth in her cauldron, savory morsel between her teeth. Sensing Lolth’s predatory stare and gathering aura, the creature answered with an earth-shaking bellow.

"ROAR—"

The concussive roar shattered the air. Lolth’s oar slipped from nerveless fingers. Her current power and rank couldn’t match this foe… yet muscle memory sang of countless similar kills.

"This suggests…" she breathed, eyes narrowing, "…I can become more."

The realization birthed immediate change. Her domain unfurled like dark wings – a personal extension where her presence attained timeless permanence. Limitless power and authority flooded her… then vanished like tide retreating from shore.

The empty domain persisted, yawning like an unfilled cauldron, awaiting ingredients to forge proper sovereignty. Something constituting true authority, perfectly aligned with her essence.

The answer came instantly, as if rehearsed through countless lifetimes.

"Culinary arts!"

A shimmering thread of essence unraveled from her core, weaving into the void domain. Lolth shuddered as…

A surging force rushed toward her—this world, every existing entity, and the realm itself resonated with the concept she’d embedded within.

All creation, divine and mortal alike, regardless of rank…

Became mere meat beneath the blade!

Lolth exhaled slowly, her gaze locking onto the giant beast before soaring skyward.

She needed a proper kitchen knife.

Golden light erupted from her palm as magic coalesced into a gleaming chef’s blade.

Then…

"Shink!"

The knife arced toward the beast’s gaping maw.

The blade’s tip pierced the distorted mouth’s upper palate, leaving what seemed a superficial scratch.

Yet…

This insignificant wound proved lethal.

Indeed, the beast had perished the instant Lolth moved.

No—death became merely an afterthought.

Flesh parted from bone with surgical precision. Scales cascaded downward as dense, succulent flesh segmented into perfect cuts midair.

Visceral components unworthy of consumption dissolved into viscous fluid, while choice organs transformed into translucent slices. Bloodstreams separated from meat, merging with discarded scales and skeletal fragments plunging seaward.

When Lolth chose to cut, the creature ceased being prey—

It became ingredients awaiting preparation.

This wasn’t hunting, nor slaughter.

Simply culinary process.

The world’s decree manifested as reality.

Processed meat formed a glistening mound atop scale-wrought barges rising from the waves.

"Much better…"

Lolth approved with a nod.

She returned to her raft, lashing the two primordial vessels with salvaged ropes.

As she worked…

A new silhouette emerged on the horizon’s edge, faint radiance bleeding through its shadowy contours.