Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 730: Chapter 529: The Heroes Who Entered the Undersea Temple

Tyr’s paladins were all feeling rather uncomfortable, powerless to do anything but stand by and wait for the final outcome, which was very distressing for them.

After all, knowing that Baal’s remnant soul was still there, they could only watch helplessly as these young people went to the bottom of the sea in search of treasure, not only delivering fresh soul force for Baal to devour but, more likely, the Silver Shield Paladin Legion would have to pay a hefty price as well.

Legion Commander Thorne placed his left hand on the giant shield in front of him, his right hand on his long sword, his mood somber.

What made them even more uncomfortable was that they could only watch these young people go to their deaths, and it was very likely that even their own members would lose their lives.

But Tyr told him that if it weren’t for the presence of their Righteous Knights in this town, Hill, as a foreigner mage, would not have encountered such trouble.

They were originally here to help their benefactor find stability in Toril, but now they had become the source of the trouble.

Even though Tyr repeatedly said he would compensate Hill, and even though Hill did not know the reason, Thorne still felt extremely embarrassed.

Moreover, the events of today made it clear to anyone with the slightest intelligence that the wretched Tablets of Fate were acting up again.

The behavior of the Righteous Knights today was a bit too far from their usual character—normally, Tyr’s paladins would just upend these brainless young people, tie them up, and send them home.

Especially that warrior with the sullen countenance.

His reluctant demeanor proved he was nothing more than an unwilling participant dragged along.

Thorne looked around, instructing the more experienced knights to keep a close eye on the novices, to remain constantly vigilant.

This was indeed a life-threatening affair!

Their start may bring death to half the people, but the survivors would gain a fortune.

Yet in the end, the Silver Knights had to clean up and possibly pay a massive price—how infuriating!

However, the Righteous Knights were naturally meant to battle evil, and even in death, they couldn’t seek compensation from those villains!

Tsk! It’s a good thing these guys all have homes to go back to.

Thorne lifted his chin high, pondering how to lodge complaints with the leaders of these cities.

Hill looked sympathetically at the paladins, understanding that allowing the Child of Bhaal to enter the temple they guarded was not the fault of the Silver Shield, from the legion commander to the members, who now lowered the visors of their helmets, leaving only pairs of inscrutable eyes staring at the group of future heroes.

Who knows how many would make it out of the temple alive.

Tyr must have given them a very clear divine edict, or else the Silver Shield would never be so quietly awaiting the outcome.

Thus, every story in Toril’s heroic epics carried a strange flavor.

Even if the deities, pressured by the power of AO and the Tablets of Fate, could not intervene too much, they would still inform their closer followers.

No deity wanted their favored followers to die for such inexplicable reasons and return to the Divine Kingdom; the silliest reason could lead to death.

The Toril Gods had always been selfish at heart, and the fact that most of them were acting responsibly was simply because they were afraid AO might cause another Years of Turmoil—none wanted to be the next unfortunate one.

The same went for the Evil Gods.

Hill thought indifferently, no wonder all the trouble is slated for next year.

This year, everyone is just waiting for this drama to end!

Hill didn’t know that Tyr had already decided to shoulder the blame himself, not knowing why Tyr believed that it was because of his meddling that Agleya Town ended up on the Tablets of Fate.

Perhaps it was because Hill acted so silent, as if immersed in magic and unrelated to everything else.

But in his heart, Hill knew very well how many things had changed because of him.

If Hill had not come to Toril, Undead Swamp here would be the territory of the Black Dragon Brothers; Black Dragons easily control swamps and the undead, so Baal’s decrepit soul would not dare to fight these two dragons and would have fled long ago.

The Metal Dragons of The North wouldn’t be as carefree as they are now, and the Silvermoon Dragon Queen, having lost her child, would not be as peaceful as she currently seems, still willing to seek out dragon eggs to send to Bahamut.

Even though it might not seem like it, it is Hill’s involvement that has turned the Sword Coast, which should have been more chaotic, into its current harmonious state.

However, according to the calculations of the Tablets of Fate, the whole of Ferun is supposed to be in a mess during these ten years.

Hill looked upward, where a golden peacock was leaning against the loft window with a strange big flower on its head, its two golden eyes staring unblinkingly at the people below.

Lansendel seemed particularly interested in these people—could it be that he has a role to play?

No, that’s not it—does he need to do some assistance in the middle, to reveal the presence of the Lord of Dawn and save the life of some hero who fled in panic to his temple?

Hill fell silent, considering that Lansendel intended to remember the faces of these people, so as not to mistake someone else when he showed up himself.

Hill looked at the calm water surface, then turned to look at Agleya who had just landed beside him; she had been hiding in her room until now, admiring the gift from Suren, but finally came out.

For Agleya, these odd ways of entering the water were of no interest—it was only worth watching when they got underwater.

Agleya bestowed Hill with a radiant smile, she had not enjoyed watching the grand spectacle on the big screen with Hill’s Dad for a long time.

She waved her hand and summoned a wall of water; the entirety of the undersea instantly appeared before them, offering an excellent view. It looked like Agleya had been keeping the Bhaal Temple under comprehensive surveillance for quite some time.

She left a chair for Lansendel, who had already noticed them, and Hill and Agleya took their seats on a sofa floating in mid-air.

They could at any moment switch to any part of the water screen to observe, since after all, Baal was capable of possession and they needed to pay close attention.

The Sun Peacock over there really did slide down, ”The people below can’t actually see us here, right? Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”

He finally understood why Hill and Agleya had hosted him and Suren in the rooftop garden,

Realizing that anything happening here was invisible to the outside world.

Then why had he been hiding and sleeping these past few days?

Lansendel paced back and forth in irritation.

”Yes, the mist obscures all vision directed towards here,” Hill answered softly, ”only the gaze of deities can penetrate the mist.

I assumed you were avoiding the sight of a certain deity.”

But plainly speaking, Hill’s power was not as great as theirs, and he wouldn’t be able to block it even if he wanted to.

If it were lesser deities like Ambori and Marla with faint divine powers, most of those with lower rank divine powers, and even some with intermediate divine power, they usually couldn’t see through the reality of Hill’s place.

However, anyone who could detect this place was someone Hill couldn’t afford to provoke, most likely they were at least 10 levels above him.

So Suren could also be called someone with intermediate divine power?

Her power had actually recovered to the peak of intermediate divine power, and the Silverfire Halo she casually gifted to Agleya had reached the level of a lesser artifact.

Hill had no intention of asking about the effect of Agleya’s headband, for those were tokens exchanged between girls and any wise parent should know to let them keep their little joys to themselves.

However, the simplest and most direct effect of Suren’s Silverfire was life preservation.

No matter how severe the injury, as long as Silverfire was present, it could save Agleya’s life.

Just like Suren herself, even AO might not be able to kill her just like he did the Goddess of Magic, Mystra.

As long as the Silvermoon existed in the skies above Toril, she couldn’t be directly killed.

Even with Shaer’s strength, she only managed to weaken her by killing Suren’s avatar, but that was something only Shaer could do, to a certain extent being able to suppress the vitality of the Silverfire.

The divine power of an avatar was limited, so it was possible to destroy it.

But as for Suren herself, she could outlast most enemies in battle, suffering only severe wounds herself.

Yet, Suren disliked fighting and preferred to avoid conflicts when they arose.

Otherwise, with her abundant curiosity, she could easily foil many schemers’ plans.

Bhaal’s temple may be underwater, but it was an independent space divided by an array, and within the inverted bowl-shaped defensive formation, except for the puddle under the adventurers’ feet, all other places were quite dry.

The young adventurers had already entered the array.

The tool-like Child of Bhaal was indeed very useful -- the array opened for them as soon as they approached.

Hill watched speechlessly as the group carelessly adjusted their clothes, without any form of guard up.

Indeed, there were no people around, but there were ghosts!

Had they all drunk the Holy Water from the Agleya Temple? How many days’ supply had they brought with them?

”Ah! Did they not bring any Holy Water?” Agleya suddenly exclaimed softly.

Someone had already been possessed by a spectre.

If they had drunk the Holy Water from Agleya Temple before diving in, it wouldn’t have happened so quickly.

It was a person dressed like a ranger, and a nearby priest who seemed to have realized something was amiss, walked up to him with a stern expression, took a small bottle from the ranger’s belt pouch, firmly grabbed his throat, and poured the water down his agape mouth.

”Morrison! Have you lost your mind?” the priest shouted angrily, ”What’s the use of being stingy with Holy Water? If I hadn’t noticed, were you planning on saving it for the spectres to play with?”

”Occupational hazard! Occupational hazard!” Morrison replied with a cheeky grin, ”Eirene, thanks for saving my life!”

”If it weren’t for the fact that this domain only allows those of a kind alignment to reside, I would never have brought a stingy wretch like you along,” the Princess of Neverwinter charged over, ”You can get a vial of this Holy Water every day! It loses its effect in 15 days; what do you plan to do by not using it?

If you cause trouble again just to save money, I absolutely won’t let Eirene save you next time.”

”Of course, great Airebis, your word is final,” Morrison bowed deeply in respect.

The people from other cities just watched with smiles, not intent on interjecting, indicating they weren’t very familiar with each other.