Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 918: Chapter 714: Luskan’s Preparations for War

After confirming Oste’s status as a Chosen, Laila’s attitude towards him changed swiftly.

Even though this Elf’s Main God is still a Demigod, it is a Demigod who has established his Divine Kingdom and stands in the Starry Sky. Even if not as powerful as the Goddess of Magic, the gap between the Chosen is not decided by this.

The only issue for a Demigod is that he cannot create as many Chosen as Mystra because his Divine Power is insufficient for such extravagance... Generally, constructing a Chosen requires roughly the same Divine Power, with only those particularly valued receiving more.

At most, Oste is still young, hence slightly inferior to them, Mystra’s Chosen, but in reality, the potential of both parties is similar, and what level a Chosen truly is... only they know.

Laila understood clearly that even among the Northern Seven Sisters, far stronger than the male Chosen, only Elaströ received more benefits.

The others were just hard to kill, not unkillable... Among their Seven Sisters, there was one, Hillen, reduced to a wandering spirit in the Shadow Valley after being slain by an Ancient Red Dragon.

Indeed, Chosen can be resurrected by their Main God, but it depends on whether the Main God still needs them... Kelben was resurrected twice, but Hillen, mired in grief, could only remain in a soul state.

Throughout Toril’s hundreds of thousands of years of history, only Mystra dared to be so extravagant, creating a dozen Chosen. Other Deities, even those with strong Divine Power, usually have only three or four Chosen at most.

There’s no choice, as the former Mystra was generous with others’ resources.

Those in Toril who know the truth understood that it’s fortunate Suren is a broad-minded Goddess, who didn’t, upon returning to the Stellar Realm, fall out with Mystra, kill some Chosen, and reclaim the power that originally belonged to her.

Instead, Shaer grew to despise and scorn Mystra all the more for these matters. To her, every Mystra is a despicable person unworthy of managing the Weave.

Laila glanced around at her subordinates. Previously, she might have felt embarrassed watching Luskan’s Guard Corps lose to the Agleya City Guards and didn’t want to watch... but she wasn’t arrogant enough to think they could win.

But with a Chosen Sword Singer leading the forces, even if they lost, no one would think Luskan was disgraced.

Curious as ever about this match, Laila naturally chose to join the crowd.

Hill did not refuse the Undead Tribe entry, and they, unsurprisingly, flooded in.

Normally, it was them making a spectacle, with the Toril people watching... It’s finally their turn to be the audience!

Flying in the air, Hill noticed the Undead Tribe swarming from all directions in the city, along with some Toril people who hurried over upon hearing the news.

He quickly entered the Alchemy Hall, requesting the Temporal Artifact to take control... at least separating the Undead Tribe and the Toril people, and while his bird’s nest could hold hundreds of thousands of viewers, it was a dream to accommodate all the Undead Tribe simultaneously.

But the Temporal Artifact managed it... The reason a massive space accommodating over a hundred million was possible was that the elemental bodies of the Undead Tribe actually entered another folded space.

The Temporal Artifact and Luskan’s Tower Spirit Lucy soon took over the colossal arena... The top two layers of the space were handled by the Temporal Artifact, but Hill focused on sensing the artifact’s handling of space... to no avail.

He sighed lightly. In every world, some mages always sought to exploit Divine Power, which was understandable.

Luckily, he wasn’t a mage researching Dimensional Space... or else he’d go mad.

Hill smirked and flew back to Purwell’s back, deciding not to entangle himself with unfamiliar Laws, mainly because he couldn’t comprehend it at all.

Better to attend to serious matters first!

Purwell carried Hill, flying around Luskan’s defensive walls for a round, just himself... The Little Flower Fairies, having discovered something exciting to watch, had already flown to the graceful locks of the Agleya City Guards, picking an optimal vantage point.

For the Undead Tribe, who still have numerous mages capable of using Earth Magic, modifying Luskan’s original seven-meter-high city wall was meaningless, so they simply treated that wall as the Inner City Wall and rebuilt a higher, wider defensive wall around the thousands of mu of farmland outside.

A massive city wall, standing twenty-four meters tall and twelve meters wide, was completed by the Undead Tribe in just one month.

This was mainly due to needing to etch various defensive magic arrays... It was the first time Toril people witnessed the miracle wrought by millions of mid-high rank mages collaborating.

The Undead Tribe found the job overly simple... In Teraxil, due to the gigantification of magical beasts, even the laziest countries build their defensive city walls over a hundred meters high.

However, in Toril, without giants as enemies, the adversaries are primarily humanoid creatures, so a twenty-meter-high city wall is already considered remarkable by them.

The most crucial point is... The energy concentration in Toril’s atmosphere is very low. Even the much-disturbed Teraxil still possesses an elemental concentration several times that of Toril.

Therefore, Toril has many strange materials, but few have the high quality of Teraxil’s special materials... For example, the obsidian used by the Saral Kingdom to build its border walls, which in Toril is exclusively for mages.

On the other hand, the various defensive magic arrays in Toril are much stronger than those in Teraxil, and there has even been such powerful magic as the puzzle lock... a classic case of using external forces to compensate for quality deficiencies.

Hill couldn’t decide which is better. For mages, it certainly is the latter, as it has much room for improvement, but for ordinary people, Teraxil’s quality is definitely better.

Even though the professionals are not strong enough, they can still survive.

If Teraxil hadn’t encountered problems... humans, or rather the earth sprites, could very well develop and thrive on their own, leading the whole world to take on a completely different style.

Hill sat quietly on the whale’s back, gazing below. For the people of Toril, the quickly built walls are indeed considered a miracle.

No wonder Luskan’s officials are wary of the elves. Given the strength showcased by the Teraxil Elves, if they unite, although Luskan might still seem in control on the surface, in private, its allegiance could be quite different.

Hill, a person with the bloodline of Coron, would not necessarily support them. After all, it’s their own lack of capability to blame.

The most frightening thing is how resourceful the Teraxil Elves are. They see no humiliation in being deployed to build such formidable walls; rather, they take pride in it...

Toril would scarcely have any mages agreeing to use their skills for wall construction. They’re already doing well to set up the magic arrays on the walls with their available magic slots.

Hill nodded contentedly; the height of this wall was sufficient.

As for Toril’s most troublesome enemies, the dragons, handling them requires air superiority weapons, and no matter how high a wall is, it’s futile.

Thus, in the major cities of Toril, the corners of the city walls and the central areas feature towering structures with lofts where heavy crossbows capable of piercing dragon wings are stored, with magic-breaking arrows as part of the standard equipment.

Luskan is no different, as they are more prone to assaults compared with other cities.

Every year, a few brainless, starving white dragons descend — whether they come to Luskan or to Icewind Valley for food depends on which direction their heads turn in their hunger frenzy.

Hill surveyed the white spires standing over fifty meters tall at each corner. The giant crossbows inside the lofts were fully drawn, and the sharp black magic-breaking arrows were already set, ready to be released at a moment’s notice, each under a crystal bowl capable of creating stasis in time.

When needed, Laila can instruct Lucy, the tower spirit here in Luskan, to directly activate a tower to shoot piercing arrows at any dragon bold enough to attempt an ambush.

When Laila first learned of the effects of those crystal bowls, her face changed.

She understood the terror of such power... Hence, this proud and reserved Mistrala elector was willing to cooperate amicably with the temporal artifact and even heed its commands during defensive operations.

If it had been just Hill’s orders... Tsk, this lady was notorious for her skill in pretending to obey while actually undermining authority, always adept at dragging her feet.

Much like Kelben, forgotten and set aside by her — he probably never thought that displeasing his wife would lead to such dire consequences.

Since Laila joined Hill, the Black Staff’s prestige has been irretrievably tarnished.

Such a formidable weapon under the control of the tower spirit who regarded Hill as its sole master left no room for dissent... No one dared to mention it.

Hill glanced at the city wall facing the World’s Ridge. His only concern was this section of defense, as its proximity to the mountains might allow the athletic half-orcs to jump directly over it.

These irrational creatures have no fear of high-altitude jumping.

However, the temporal artifact considered this matter thoroughly, adding a series of five-meter-high walls separated by small crenels on this side of the wall close to the mountain. The crenels were generally built at a height of two meters, with some slightly shorter. The top three meters curved inward and were covered with sharp spikes.

On the other sections, while there are also crenels at the edge of the walls, the height above the crenels is only one meter.

For the humanoids in Toril, two meters is practically the limit, and a three-meter-high wall body is sufficient for them.

As for the undead tribe, there are quite a few giants over two and a half meters tall... Some people simply enjoy talking down to others, but fortunately, William has set a height limit for them.

Hill quietly observed his city and its citizens, feeling the fighting spirit simmering beneath Luskan’s calm surface.

They were ready, just awaiting the flames of war to ignite the stage.