Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 1003: Chapter 798: Deepwater City’s Devastating Loss

Hill actually didn’t expect that his luck-imbued nature would be so useful in Toril, given that the blessings he received originated from the blessings of Teraxil’s Natural Consciousness.

However, this made him realize one thing: even without the various enhancement buffs from his own world, his luck was actually quite strong.

Perhaps this is why people who like to smile never have too much bad luck?

Hill couldn’t help but wipe off some nonexistent cold sweat… Amanata’s Holy Grail must have suffered extremely heavy torment during this time.

Actually, Duogasos’s magic experiment, although it sounds unremarkable, has been attracting the attention of many Archmages in Toril who all monitor this Dragon Lich’s magical experiment, even Mystra is quite interested.

After all, it is the great pursuit of using magic to regain the ‘joy of life’. If he really can succeed, the Goddess of Magic would even happily make him the greatest magical creature in Toril.

Those Dragon Liches would place him on a holy altar and worship him… even in skeletal form, he could have offspring, offspring born from himself, and the faith power he gains might make Duogasos a new Dragon God.

Even the Chromatic Dragon Queen would have to bow to him… her increasingly aging and barren companions could finally be useful again.

But for that proud Holy Grail, contributing his power for such a goal is simply a disgrace to his existence.

After Hill saw who its new owner was, he felt that the Grail would definitely be more than willing to be taken by the Zholar, even if it means losing control over directing Acreber’s followers’ actions in Kalinsan.

As expected, the Grail was unable to endure living soaked in certain dragon fluids… if it hadn’t suddenly betrayed during the battle with Duogasos and caused a Holy Light Strike, forcing the Dragon Lich to hide due to temporary blindness, the Zholar would definitely not have succeeded so easily.

Duogasos is an overly sensitive dragon, his severe paranoia makes him always watchful and wary of lurking enemies and potential attacks, which also leads him to continuously reinforce his strength and secure his defenses.

He is also a dragon that always maintains a vast array of spells… so if not caught off guard, even a demigod-level Zholar would not have been able to snatch away Amanata’s Cup from him so quickly.

However, the Grail indeed acted decisively; had it delayed even a second longer, the Spider Magic Net of Rose might have exploded… without that Spider Queen’s numerous Weave beneficial spells, the Zholar wouldn’t have been able to retreat calmly from the Dragon Lair even if they snatched the Grail… even if not capable of taking action himself, Duogasos was still a very powerful master of creating magical items.

The Grail’s surprise attack at most rendered him unable to act for ten minutes.

Hill isn’t planning to pay attention to Amanata’s Holy Grail’s whereabouts afterward… that Grail is very capable of controlling people, and if it weren’t for Duogasos’s formidable willpower, even Rose’s loyal priests might suddenly turn from evil to good, becoming a benevolent seeker of the sun.

Currently, Rose doesn’t have the mood to bother about some insignificant little priest anymore, as her dilapidated 66th layer of the Abyss will certainly take a long time to repair!

Moreover, the Wax Melt Demon Crystal Tower, which connects to all material world passages, was blown up, so Rose’s reach cannot extend to Toril in the near term.

Amanata’s Holy Grail should have enough time to escape from the Zholar’s grasp; for it, enduring a complicated process is better than staying in the hands of a Dragon Lich full of whimsical fantasies.

To make Amanata’s Holy Grail, which is highly manipulative, not want to control completely, this insidious thing is the very culprit that caused Lansendel a great misfortune in history, and it even pulled the little fairies into its schemes… and Duogasos is strong enough to rival deities… indeed, in some sense, this Dragon Lich is quite formidable.

Hill flipped through a few pages and couldn’t help but feel happy… no, smile with sympathy: Duogasos’s cave was located on Celdus Street in Deepwater City, the street closest to the eastern cliff of Deepwater Mountain.

The westernmost extension of this street is called the Folding Court, where there’s a huge warehouse… no one knows who owns this gigantic building, but people have always claimed to see a magic ship flying in the air there.

Now, it’s finally known who the owner is… what’s flying might not necessarily be a magic ship; it could also be a Bone Dragon flying without flapping wings.

In this night raid, the only fortunate thing in the misfortune was that those who encountered the Zholar’s attack were not civilians… the largest street near the Folding Court is Sword Street, which is mostly controlled by merchant nobles, and even those residing in nearby alleys are not ordinary people.

However, this is Hill’s view, while the owners of Deepwater City might not think the same: although there were no casualties, the loss of property was catastrophic, and Sword Street could be considered one of the best commercial streets in Deepwater City, but in this raid, it was almost completely destroyed, leaving no goods from the stores above ground to the warehouses beneath.

Moreover, Deepwater City once again lost a large number of Professionals… but no one would care about the fate of these managers and bodyguards… After all, nobles and big merchants always have their own means of escape when danger arises.

There is no place for small merchants around Sword Street, let alone shops of artisans; at best, there are some armor and weapon shops run by High-level Professionals… they won’t be easily killed.

Only someone like Hill, who observes coldly, would think that this outcome is quite fine… The Zholar are very disciplined robbers and would never engage in pillaging and looting before completing the orders of Rose. So, the commoners generally have no problems, especially in the slums, where on that night when all of Sword Street was burning, only a few easily frightened chickens and ducks were lost.

As for looting amidst the chaos, the real underworld of the slums would not choose to take risks at such a time… Those little thugs able to establish themselves in a place like Deepwater City are not foolish… Who knows if they might run straight into the curved blades of the Zholar.

However, those who have read the reports are well aware that the Zholar only casually started a fire, and they did this merely to prevent anyone from following them for a sneak attack. What actually turned Sword Street to ashes was that Dragon Lich who lost a Divine Artifact and was making a huge fuss.

After all, only the dragon fire of an ancient Giant Dragon could easily destroy the Defensive Magic Arrays attached to those shops, especially the dragon fire of Duogasos, which is known for its Arcane Fire, extremely hard to extinguish.

Most importantly, it burns quickly.

Seeing this, Hill couldn’t help but sigh… What a pity, Deepwater City didn’t intend to ask Duogasos for compensation… Hill thought they would lose reason due to bankruptcy!

Incredibly, they didn’t… or rather, someone managed to suppress all the Great Nobility who suffered losses, letting them deeply understand that life being more important than money is not an easy lesson.

After all, the Dragon Lich must be in a state of fury right now, and anyone who dares to approach will be swept away by the dragon’s tail, including Kelben, who would equally be bitten… Duogasos’s dwelling is extremely secretive, whether it’s a Giant Dragon or a Dragon Lich, nobody knows.

Even the Harpist’s judgment is merely that there must be a Dragon Lair in Deepwater City.

So only these top Great Nobility in Deepwater City can deduce his possible location from his frequent massive purchases of certain special Magic Materials from their ever-busy Folding Court warehouse and his recent bulk buying of pure young female slaves.

After all, these high-grade goods mostly flow from the hands of these Great Nobility.

So, the fact that Duogasos hasn’t targeted these Great Nobility in Deepwater City yet means he is already quite a restrained dragon… No matter how troublesome it is to use, it’s still a Divine Artifact!

To let an ancient Black Dragon… even as a skeletal remains, his nature is still that of a Black Dragon… suffer such a massive loss, for Duogasos to cause a huge ruckus is perfectly logical, yet he surprisingly held back from attacking all of Deepwater City, only venting his frustration on neighbors, which is truly astonishing.

Hill himself doesn’t know what Duogasos will do next.

Hill threw the report onto the table, somewhat curious if the Tablets of Fate demanded Deepwater City be completely destroyed once, or if this crisis, enough to bankrupt much of Deepwater City’s upper echelon, would suffice to fulfill the prophecy.

Walking to the eastern window of the study, Hill observed the citizens of Agleya City below replanting crops.

Though he despised Kelben and those bloated, foolish nobles of Deepwater City, seeing these refugees who had just settled, Hill couldn’t wish for Deepwater City to meet a fate where even rats couldn’t survive as foretold.

But if they continue their own follies… like the fools of Neverwinter City.

Due to allowing passage for the Zholar, the deep ties forged over hundreds of years between the Haber Family and Deepwater City, thanks to Marcos and Kelben’s friendship, have been severed. Unable to invite back the Righteous Knights of Tyr, yet unwilling to be entirely controlled by the Arcanists, the King of Neverwinter City extended an offer of friendship to the Haber Family.

The two sides swiftly reached an agreement.

Hill glanced coldly to the northeast… If the Haber Family still intends to target Edna, Neverwinter City indeed makes for a good pawn.

Hill, during this period, has demanded that all Undead remaining on the surface stay in Hidden Forest to guard against any attacks on the town, as the Haber Family, being long-established in Toril, had many High-level Professionals with connections… Due to ties with Cyric, the North has many high-level assassins.

Other professional killers are followers of Shaer, whom Hill does not worry about for now… Not because of the relatively amicable relationship between him and Shaer, but because after the Haber Family aided the Zholar, no follower of the Goddess of the Night would dare collaborate with them.