Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 435: Chapter 234 Aurelio: The Journey to Find Hill’s Sleep

Hill suddenly felt the ground underneath his feet give way. He immediately used a levitation spell.

Hill opened his eyes and was amazed to find that this enormous underground cavern was incredibly beautiful.

The ceiling of the cavern was adorned with golden and light purple crystals, interspersed with glowing moss.

Below was a giant island surrounded by an underground river.

Various types of trees were growing on it.

Although they were not particularly tall due to the lack of sunlight, Hill recognized several types of cedar and oak trees.

A golden Earth Bear lay beside the largest tree in the island’s center. Its mountainous body rose and fell slightly as it snored, sounding like a tsunami.

The barrier on the island seemed to be supported by an inconspicuous little cedar tree beside the large tree.

Hill couldn’t have mistaken it; he was very familiar with the relic fragment of his oak tree artifact.

This bear also had a fragment of the World Tree artifact!

Hill hovered above it for a long time, counting the bear’s patterns, yet it continued to sleep soundly.

He circled it a few times, finally stopping his gaze at a peculiar spiral in the fur on the bear’s rump.

The Earth Bears in his memory all had smooth fur, except for one, whose rump fur bloomed like a chrysanthemum.

That one had not yet reached demigod status and wanted to rush to the World’s End to plant trees with everyone, only to be kicked off a mountain by Hill’s ancestral bear.

Hill pulled at the corners of his mouth and then descended a bit more, standing directly outside that layer of light membrane.

He was just about to lightly tap the membrane to indicate a visitor’s arrival.

His hand went right through it.

Was the barrier set to allow Earth Bears in directly? Such kinship was truly as deep as an ocean!

Could it be that Hill’s ancestral bear didn’t tell the Earth Bear about the bloodline passed down outside?

What if some elf with the Earth Bear bloodline entered, what then?

Hill didn’t think that the elves would take pride in having the Earth Bear bloodline. The elves were clearly hostile to Earth Bears, and the easiest way to become a full-fledged elf was to sacrifice an Earth Bear.

Watching the snoring Earth Bear, Hill quietly flew to its side.

Inside, Hill realized why this bear could only stay outside.

This cedar tree fragment was even more damaged.

If Hill’s oak tree could still sustain its own space, this cedar tree probably only retained storage and defense functions.

Forget about the ecological cycle of sun and moon; it seemed it couldn’t even grow grass.

Moreover, it was quite rigid, with no communication ability at all.

Hill placed his hand on the cedar tree fragment, observing quietly. He felt a faint trace of green within it.

Hill gently used Nature’s Blessing, not just to help the artifact fragment.

The trees here were in a pitiable state, surviving only because of the cedar tree’s halo.

The snoring behind him stopped.

Hill chuckled; if anyone cast a spell on his turf and this bear continued to sleep, Hill would have to admire its composure.

He turned around smiling, only to be stunned on the spot.

The golden Earth Bear had its eyes tightly shut, its nose twitching slightly.

It seemed to judge that the intruder was not an enemy, and it impatiently covered its head with a paw before continuing to sleep.

After standing in frustration for several minutes, Hill curled his lips and began tidying up the island.

He first heaped some soil from his valley under the cedar tree and the large tree beside it.

Dozens of roots quickly burst out of the ground, firmly reclaiming the soil beneath them.

This large tree was likely on the verge of awakening as a treant.

Hill then scattered many shade-loving flower and plant seeds from above, including some small shrubs that the Earth Bear could also eat.

Then he used another round of water mist, followed by Nature’s Blessing.

He tried to communicate with the cedar tree fragment, sending in some moss and fungi, plants that could survive with just a bit of light. Hill then flew to the cavern ceiling and sent in a lot of glowing moss.

Admiring the beautiful bicolor crystals, Hill couldn’t resist collecting quite a few.

Perhaps because of the nearby fragment of the Earth Artifact, these crystals carried a very pure earth aura, making them excellent alchemical materials.

No matter how much Hill busied himself, how loudly he knocked on the crystals, the Earth Bear remained steadfastly asleep.

In the end, Hill helplessly released the Cloud House, letting it float within the barrier. He then went inside to rest.

The barrier’s isolation capability was incredibly strong. Without Hill’s bloodline sense, it would have been impossible to discover this place.

Hill didn’t know why this bear chose to sleep here.

But as he had no desire to meet anyone in the near term, this spot seemed perfect for hiding.

Even if someone with good fortune searched every cloud in the Triangle Zone, they wouldn’t find Hill.

Each day, Hill chatted with Agleya, read books, and drank tea, spending a long time underground.

Adrian had contacted him three or four times already.

To Hill’s surprise, someone was indeed searching the sky’s clouds to find him!

But what made Adrian laugh for a long time was that it was none other than the Legendary Half-Elf Mage Gillenskjaern and the Legendary Water System Sorcerer Alexis.

The Half-Elves had stayed quiet, likely because their Queen knew Hill had no favorable feelings towards her and would never help her in any way.

So after using Hill’s name, the Half-Elf envoy team didn’t search for him further.

At most, they tracked Adrian.

Their main goal was to negotiate peace with Saral.

After all, Half-Elves generally had human blood, and if they surrendered, the Human Kingdom might not continue to block them.

But they had to first deal with the difficult King of Saral.

Although they had an understanding with Viola initially, William was a very rigid individual.

When it came time to establish formal diplomatic relations, there were many conditions, and the Half-Elves needed to carefully study them before deciding.

William’s refusal to compromise meant no Human Kingdom would initiate contact with the Half-Elf Kingdom on their behalf.

As for why those two were looking for Hill, everyone knew the reason.

Nobody expected that the pressure to ascend to godhood would make them shameless.

Then there were the dwarves, who had been furious ever since most of their mines were sealed off.

They had already burnt down two mountains themselves.

The dwarves initially thought sacrificing the upper parts of mountains would suffice while preserving the underground.

But they didn’t expect that fires capable of igniting the Emerald Butterfly couldn’t be extinguished.

The Emerald Butterfly seeds turned out to be a kind of oil!

Once ignited, the raging fire couldn’t be put out even by heavy rain, and it spread very quickly.

If not for the dwarves’ quick reaction, the surrounding mountains might have burned down.

Adrian laughed about it for a long time, praising Hill greatly.

He said that when William found out, he sat in the royal palace and laughed heartily for a long time.

William kept praising Hill’s thoroughness and attention to detail.

No wonder Hill chose the Emerald Butterfly out of so many metal-absorbing seeds.

Nobody would have guessed that the seeds of this nearly metallic plant were natural fire accelerants.

The dwarves had lost confidence in reclaiming their mines anytime soon.

More dwarf warriors were now coming out to fight the undead.

Meanwhile, the dwarves’ mineral stockpile was dwindling, so even more would join the fray in the future.

Adrian said that William concluded that the dwarf tribes were not harmonious amongst themselves, making large-scale coordinated combat impossible.

William had already rounded up all demons in the Triangle Zone, so now the undead were attacking the Dwarf Kingdom in full force.

Even mages of only Archmage level had joined the effort.

Adrian cheerfully told Hill that His Majesty the King had declared that once the undead had driven all outside dwarves into their capital, he would personally lead the campaign.

At that point, the dwarves would have no choice but to fight desperately as a tribe.

Adrian would notify Hill when that happened, to see if he wanted to watch.

But lately, fewer people had been following Adrian to try and find Hill.

Adrian purified the forest array every few days, but unless there was an issue, he never bothered to speak to the bells.

So even if people knew they could contact Hill through the forest array, they didn’t know how to do it.

A few days ago, someone had been loudly calling for Hill in the forest array, only to be ridiculed by the undead.

They even got directly attacked by the undead because of their annoying tone.

Although Adrian didn’t say much, Hill was quite pleased.

His revenge had been effective.

Hill walked to the deck, watching the still-sleeping bear, unsure of what to do with him.

More than this bear, Hill wanted to know what secret was hidden in the Dwarf Kingdom’s capital.

If the Earth Bear remained asleep by then, Hill would have to leave some things and words for it.

Perhaps sensing Hill’s intent or due to the Earth Bear’s keen instincts, the lethargic bear finally awoke a few days later.

It yawned widely, sticking out a long tongue.

Then it raised a hind leg high, stretched its torso for a moment, and stood, straining lazily.

”Got any food?” It raised its head, looking at Hill standing on the Cloud House.

”Yes,” Hill said, flying down to set a clean tablecloth in front of the approaching bear’s head, before laying out the food.

”I’m Hill Polanio,” Hill introduced himself, watching the Earth Bear as it buried its head in the food.

”I know!” It sniffed around, looking for its favorite flavors, ”I came to find you! My name is Aurelio. Earth Bears only have names.”

”Hello, Aurelio.” Hill’s eyes widened in surprise. ”You came to find me?”

”That’s right!” Aurelio moved a bit, sitting down against the big tree, grabbing a roasted goose with its paw and taking a big bite.

”When you awakened your bloodline, we felt it!” It grinned, oily-mouthed and excited, ”I was the only one with no pressing matters, and getting on in years, so they sent me to find you! What if you got captured by elves or dwarves?”

Hill smirked. And then you sleep here?