Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Deepwater City, known as the City of Radiance, had stood on the Ferun Great Land for a full thousand years. It was not a place that could be completely dominated by the Black Staff.

The former ’Iron Throne’ had a much stronger control over Deepwater City than the Black Staff, exceeding the tolerance of the Deepwater People. That powerful leader, in the end, had no choice but to flee underground and live beside the Zholar.

It seemed that nowadays, everyone followed Kelben’s orders, even completely ignoring the fact that his actions had brought countless enemies to Deepwater City. This was because over the years, Deepwater City had indeed gained a lot of advantages under Kelben’s leadership.

Even within the Silvermoon Alliance, due to Kelben’s dominance and Elaströ’s concessions, Deepwater City received plenty of benefits.

For these benefits, even if it meant offending other cities and countries, or even the Elves, those who wielded power in the shadows actually acquiesced.

One’s own interests were the most important.

But this did not mean that when the Elves truly mobilized in full force to cause trouble for Kelben, others would be willing to help share the burden.

Kelben was indeed very powerful, and with the Goddess of Magic, Mistral, standing behind him, he was a force that ordinary powers dared not provoke.

But were Coron and his Elves weak?

When Mistral resurrected Kelben, didn’t she let Coron march right into the Divine Kingdom?

If not for AO’s intervention, a God War might have broken out!

During that time in Ferun Great Land, who wasn’t afraid? If these two deities had clashed, the entire continent might have been annihilated.

Fortunately, in the end, everything returned to worldly confrontations.

No one cared about that.

When the Black Staff offended the Elves, he should have known what would result.

The revenge of the Chaos System is relentless, and it has nothing to do with which faction one belongs to.

So when a large number of Elves appeared in the neighboring city, the Wise Ones in Deepwater City understood that the current situation was bound to happen.

But no one expected the Elves to start with the greedy City Guard, positioning themselves squarely on the side of justice.

The Elf Lady who spoke out did not mention the past, yet every word she said was loaded with meaning.

These powers were also puzzled; the Elves were on the doorstep, and Kelben hadn’t dealt with the City Guard? Wasn’t his nephew and son known for their far-reaching influence?

To have allowed such a big mistake to happen, who would dare to lend a hand?

Kelben either had to obey the overt words of the speaker and kill those few City Guards to make an example, or he would have to shoulder it himself.

Others surely wouldn’t come forward to help.

But the current state of the City Guard in Deepwater City was also related to the Black Staff Tower, which sought to eliminate any dissenters within the city, naturally leaving no room for a competent patrol guard.

Otherwise, how could those recent incidents with the Elves have occurred?

Weren’t they seeking to remove the Black Staff Tower, hostile to the entire elven race, from its lordship because they had been in Deepwater City for so long?

The intense sounds of battle had rang out, yet no City Guard interfered, and it was glossed over as a gang fight.

Whether the Elves had died or fled, the City Guard ended up dividing the dropped wealth amongst themselves!

For Coron to confront Mistral was all too normal!

It had turned into true hatred.

If Kelben couldn’t hold on, it wouldn’t be bad for most powers in Deepwater City.

The guy was a bit too arrogant; the Elves’ rebellion against him resulted in this situation, and what about them? If they let Kelben continue his rampage, the days of being suppressed by the ’Iron Throne’ until they couldn’t turn over would return.

Moreover, if Kelben fell, even if most of his rich assets were taken by the Elves, the leftovers would be enough for many to live extravagantly.

As long as they remained neutral, many powers didn’t believe that the Elves would strike at everyone.

The attitude of these powers was too obvious.

Hill didn’t believe that those warriors and Knights who had abandoned their defenses were Holy Knights of the Kind Alignment, needing to be responsible for their beliefs.

But indeed, a large number of people had put away their weapons and stood aside.

The small part that remained, judging by the City Guard’s behavior, were surely their masters.

The many Holy Knights standing by, looking around in shock, certainly recognized to whom those armors belonged.

The City Guard of Deepwater City was never anything decent, and compared to the city’s long-infamous gangs, it was even hard to tell who was worse.

But nobody knew who supported their extortion and bribery behind the scenes.

This incident happened so suddenly, these High-level Warriors behind the scenes, never thought that their own comrades would simply walk away, thereby exposing themselves.

In surprise, they also watched a part of those complicit with them choose to stand by and watch, failing to understand why they would opt to be spectators.

How powerful Kelben, stationed in the Magic Tower, truly was, the people of Deepwater City should be well aware!

Those on that side could only smile helplessly and bitterly.

Both sides were exposed together.

But they had to do it, otherwise, they would have been tied to Kelben’s chariot.

Making money together was one thing, but fighting desperately for the Chosen of Mistral was quite another.

Who doesn’t have a deity behind them?

Even an Evil God is still a god!

The Holy Knights shifted their footsteps, clearly unwilling to stand with either of these two groups.

They felt somewhat alien in the city they had lived in for so long, let alone understand what kind of ghosts their former comrades were. Holy Knights are supposed to be dedicated to the path of Orderly Good to qualify for their position, and they really had nothing to do with these underhanded affairs.

But many Holy Knights were recalling if they had done any small favors in their capacity for those past comrades.

To them, such matters were significant, potentially impacting their future advancements—their failure to rank up over many years might stem from these small deeds.

The members of the Undead Tribe crossed their arms, watching everything with a cold and disdainful smile.

The mage named Flumastir, Hill thought, probably wasn’t an ally of Kelben.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t allow these warriors so much time to differentiate friend from foe.

Indeed, a figure swiftly flew over: ”Flumastir, what are you doing? Letting so many Elves watch Deepwater City divide?

If you don’t know what to do, don’t meddle in these affairs!”

Hill couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow—Kelben’s people are quite arrogant!

This Flumastir was wearing the standard robe of a Sage Mage, a profession only available to those who advance past a 17th-level Mage.

And the one who had flown out was clearly just an ordinary Mage.

To be scolded so arrogantly to his face by a lower-level Mage, have the Archmages no shame?

”Heh,” a clear wave of anger washed over Flumastir’s face, but he held it back.

He gently floated to one side: ”These matters should not be my concern as a Pharmacist in the first place. Since you’re here, you handle it! It’s Black Staff Tower’s issue after all.”

The people of Deepwater City understood very well why the Elves were picking a quarrel with them.

Everyone had heard of Coron’s rage.

”That’s so lame~” ’Magic Sword’ remarked on the side, ”He’s that angry yet he doesn’t just kill him? A Mage of such high level and he’s got so little courage!”

Hill silently observed.

This was a true Mage. His first reaction was, of course, anger, but he suppressed it instantly.

A 17th-level Mage is certainly powerful, but Kelben, who is at least at level 34, stands within his Magic Tower, a presence that suppresses all rebellious forces.

’Chattering’ understood quite clearly: ”His level must not be very high, otherwise why would he be stuck guarding the gate? He’s only slightly higher than us at best, and without any numerical advantage, he must be afraid of Black Staff!”

Hill was silent for a few seconds before slowly saying, ”Your Scroll Scholar profession will share similarities with his advanced profession later. He’s a Sage Mage, not the combat type; most likely involved in Potion Brewing and scroll Rune crafting.

There are many Mages like him in Deepwater City; very few are strong in combat, with most being in the Black Staff Tower.”

The two Undead nodded together: ”If you can fight, why bother with all the talk?”

Hill shut his mouth. The Undead’s perspective wasn’t necessarily wrong—if Flumastir were able to defeat Black Staff, he would’ve already sent that arrogant young man to meet Mystra with a swing of his wand.

The Mage was taken aback; he had no right to speak directly on these matters.

Although everyone knew that Kelben had been resurrected, he wasn’t actually able to leave the Magic Tower.

Coron may have tried to settle his dispute with Mystra by summoning Elves from other worlds, but that was just to avoid escalating into a God War.

It didn’t mean he would give up on directly eliminating Kelben.

Especially since in the newly-built Agleya City nearby, there were Coron’s Seraphs!

Should Kelben dare show himself, the Seraphs would surely transform into Coron himself.

Moreover, Kelben had offended more than just the Elf Deity System.

The moment Deepwater City auctioned the Chromatic Dragon’s Dragon Egg, Kelben had made enemies of all dragons.

The formless and colorless Chromatic Dragon Queen, no one knew where she might appear.

Those who could perceive her were either Metal Dragons or Nature System Mages and Druids... These were either Elves and Fairies or people with Elven Bloodline, and even if they were Human, they would need an Elf mentor.

All of them had grievances against Kelben.

Kelben must be cursing the being who revealed his resurrection to Coron by now, right?

Hill thought he might even suspect the Deity of Mages, since Mistral wanted to replace him as her strategist.

Hill hoped he cursed a bit more.

Shaer has never been known for her tolerance, and even if she knew Kelben mistook someone else for her, she would not hesitate to believe that Black Staff was cursing her.

Hill gazed at his fingers, sighing softly.

While he was annoyed by Kelben, his actions had not crossed Hill’s bottom line.

He could never go so far as to seek endless vengeance over such trifles.

He had already taken his revenge, so he’ll leave the rest for the Undead to handle!

Hill had heard from passing merchants that in Deepwater City now, the prices of beef and lamb had risen to six times their original cost, and the lesser Nobility had started dining on chicken and duck.