Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 986: Chapter 782: Zholar Attack—Roles Reversed

Fran wisely kept silent... let’s allow Celene to think he didn’t understand the implication of her words...

He felt that Celene wouldn’t necessarily think she performed worse than the Goddess of Teraxil Silvermoon... whether human or deity, there’s always a tendency to unconsciously embellish oneself.

The Undead Tribe reached their resting period again: a small portion of those with energy left began their daily construction tasks, while most rushed into their clan’s exclusive Alchemy Hut, probably logging off to rest.

Fran picked up a book and decided to return to his study: following the usual style of the Undead Tribe, if no one controlled the current giant screen, it would randomly switch to highlights from recent times...what the Undead Tribe finds exciting, Fran may not necessarily want to watch.

However, an eternal maiden might be interested instead... her judgment of disgust differs from normal people, Fran decided not to meddle.

Fran stood by his study window, looking towards the northeastern Hidden Forest: people and things related to Midnight were appearing more frequently... it seemed not only Amanata intended to resurrect while Mystra was offstage, but even Milko wanted to take action opportunistically.

The most crucial point was that the Horned Crown had clearly been preparing for this for a long time.

Fran had some desire to ask Celene whether the Toril Gods had long anticipated Midnight would have her day... but he was rational, deciding to observe further later.

This Maiden of the Moon certainly decided to idle around his Agleya, and Fran didn’t feel she valued the Underworld matters much... don’t be fooled by Celene and Shaer’s hostile stance; there’s evidently some tacit understanding between them... every time Shaer stirs up major trouble, it never seems that Celene’s temple suffers the worst... although the targets are always Celene’s followers, the subordinates of other deities sustain nearly double the damage.

And Celene’s followers underground were more from Zholar and half-orcs inclined towards goodness... these two, if they embraced evil, would certainly not seek Shaer.

Fran didn’t know if Shaer was aware of Edna’s identity, but Celene evidently knew... although at that time Shaer was busy managing her Shadow Realm flooded with Primordial Power, she might not have had the leisure.

On the contrary, Celene, who received a big gift at home, likely noticed that strand of splattering Primordial Power falling into Edna’s body... unless deities resurrected onto their descendants, they cannot easily possess other’s bodies, unless invited by the body’s original owner.

Therefore, Fran never had any opinion on Edna... Midnight’s capability to resurrect in the little girl only proved her soul was already lost at that time.

As for how it was lost, Fran did not know, at least he could confirm one thing, AO would never cruelly harm a youngling... so the only thing Fran could do was, after opening the waterways to the Hidden Forest, refuse Silvermoon City’s request hoping for permission to reside in Hidden Town.

That meant, even after the spring blossoms, the ships of national forces from the eastern Ferun Great Land, traveling to Luskan via Riven Ruven and then detouring to Deepwater City, could only rest temporarily at the port of Hidden Town, with those without permission unable to disembark.

Fran was probably the only Mage Lord in the Northern Ferun who would keep Silvermoon City outside the door, causing a little trouble... Elaströ’s millennium efforts seemed to place Silvermoon City too high up.

After he rejected Silvermoon City, no other forces came to apply for residence... so Fran simply started collecting tolls at the entrance of Hidden Town.

The White Dragon Queen was responsible for guarding the post with her subordinates and collecting the money.

Fran was more than willing at this time to let Edna understand more about the situations on the Ferun Great Land... he thought Edna’s understanding of human relationships was even stronger than Midnight’s past... probably taught by a good teacher.

Although the spiritually traumatized Midnight directly took the little girl’s memory as her own, once her spiritual power recovered, she could naturally remember who she was.

At that time, she would face a tough choice again.

Though AO was somewhat unpredictable in his ways, this deity was never cruel, or rather, not overtly cruel... he merely lays out countless paths before you to choose yourself; if you chose incorrectly out of greed, he would merely watch coldly, awaiting a conclusion, good or bad... if it was against his will, he would keenly await the next opportunity to try again... as for if you’d die due to these many chances, that wasn’t his concern.

Anyway, with so many Toril people, he could always find the next suitable candidate.

If the Tablets of Fate weren’t always trying to fill Toril’s missing laws with foreign deities, Fran wouldn’t be so averse to it—after all, those are other people’s stories. If not constantly trying to drag him into the water, Fran actually quite enjoyed stories like Edna’s.

However, the Tablets of Fate constantly wanted Fran to become the next Tyr, as if knowing Tyr greatly missed his homeland but still trying to keep him through some means again... not many deities in Toril could be as selfless and willing as Tyr; once he left, who could they find to take over Tyr’s duties?

Family matters should be resolved within the family; it’s rather shameless to rely on others to take the fall when unable to do so.

Therefore, Hill always approached matters related to the Toril World with caution... The divinity within him was, on the contrary, a hassle in this regard; one careless move could resonate with certain laws of Toril.

However, Hill wouldn’t recklessly flee at the slightest sign of trouble... This was also a form of tempering his will. As long as Hill remained ungreedy and focused only on matters concerning himself, concepts like the Tablets of Fate would remain mere thoughts.

This stone slab also had certain rules to follow. Like how it wished to entice Hill to remain in Toril, yet it would never target those around Hill... The Little Fairy, however, was different; Vila’s fate had been involuntarily sealed thousands of years ago.

But Lynn and Terry basically hadn’t encountered any trouble... Hill subtly inquired about this with Coron, who gave him a very clear answer. The restrictions on the Tablets of Fate were actually quite significant, and if pushed too far, the already cracked Tablets of Fate might just shatter.

AO had delegated many powers to it, but not the authority... Exceeding that authority would mean the stone slab wanting to self-destruct.

Just like Celene, who enjoyed herself in his garden, and Shaer, who wallowed in self-pity in the Shadow Realm, the slab had no authority over them... Even though many things had become unrecognizable due to them, the slab could only carefully adjust its plan instead of angrily turning these favorite daughters of AO into its pawns.

Hill withdrew his gaze from the northeast, feeling that as long as things remained stable at Hidden Town until Edna’s Mental Sea was completely intact at sixteen, it would suffice. As for Luskan, let the lady slowly modify it according to her own design... Neither Hill nor the Temporal Artifact had any intention of fully claiming control over Luskan.

The location there was too crucial, so it’s better to hand over the leadership to the Toril people.

Hill only had one request for Ms. Laila: just don’t let the forces he despised take up residence, like the Temple of Heim.

However, when he generously told Laila that he didn’t mind if she built a Temple of Mystra in Luskan, the lady’s reaction was rather amusing... Her face showed resistance, full of reluctance.

The Chosen of Mystra were indeed quite distinctive.

Hill relaxed his mood and returned to the desk to continue his reading life... The historical biography was soon to reach a conclusion, and once he entered the stage of spell theory, he wouldn’t worry about Fran discovering his slipshod study life; Hill would certainly copy honestly.

Hill assumed that the Undead Tribe would rest longer on that mountain this time... Just as when they arrived at Agleya City with billions of numbers, yet only tens of millions participated in the underground war... The Undead Tribe couldn’t undertake tasks endlessly.

They were playing a game, not being played by the game.

At least the information Hill obtained was that the Undead Tribe planned to stay on that mountain for half a month.

During this period, the daily tasks of the Undead Tribe were patrolling and planting on this wasteland they smoothed from a hill.

Then those Undead who planted moss and some edible mushrooms on the wasteland were caught off guard by the invaders coming from deep within the Underdark... Numerous arrows shot from the pitch-black caves on both sides directly sent them back to the city.

A massive bell rang atop the castle: this time the Undead Tribe shifted from offense to defense.

But the Temporal Artifact was not unprepared... During this time, the Undead Tribe had carved defensive magic arrays from top to bottom on the mountain... Those black-clad Zholar riding all sorts of bizarre mounts could only choose to surround the mountain tightly.

When the bell sounded, Hill returned to the garden, and also had List inform Fran and Lynn: the Zholar had arrived.

Both Fran and Lynn would want to see the Zholar’s combat style... Rose’s followers were considered enemies in their minds.

At first sight, Hill noticed at the forefront of the Zholar Great Army several Lady Zhuoers riding large lizards, exquisitely dressed, accompanied by dozens of deep brown gigantic arthropods around them. Their bodies oozed with green-yellow dark light, and their eight eyes glowed with fiery red... These were Soul-Eating Spiders, the attendants of Rose.

Hill frowned while observing; this seemed to be an alliance army of several Zholar families. Combined with so many Soul-Eating Spiders... Given the usual scheming of the Zholar, without an existence that could adequately suppress them all, they would turn on each other.

Yet, he found nothing... The Zholar behaved quietly and obediently.