Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Hill's days finally got back on track.

A mage's daily life was always about constant learning.

In the process of making magic books, he revisited his learnings and discovered that he had made significant progress once more.

Hill estimated that in a few more years, he could advance another level.

He became utterly immersed in magic.

Aside from exchanging some herbs with Lynn in the middle, Hill only left home when he went to spend money at the library every few days.

Even so, Hill could feel the atmosphere in the town becoming tense.

The rangers might have discovered something, and even the mere descent of a Goddess's priest from the mountain could cause considerable trouble.

The poorly clad and starving priests were not the kind to spend money on their needs.

For most evil forces, robbery was the simplest method of procurement.

But a small town with three temples and a library wasn't so easy to attack; they likely observed the vicinity for some time.

Such surveillance was easily detectable by a town primarily constituted of rangers, so the rare times Hill went out, he could sense an atmosphere of tension and alarm.

Lynn even came to Hill in his capacity as sheriff to purchase magic scrolls above level five, and Hill readily sold him some ice series and wood element scrolls.

Unfortunately, since this was a woodland town where fire could not be used carelessly, he couldn't really test the effectiveness of his fire element magic scrolls.

If they were strong enough, Hill planned to make more.

People in Ferun, with their richer combat experience, would quickly realize he was a mage of the nature system.

What if they found a way to trap him in an environment where only the fire element existed!

Just preparing fire protection was not sufficient, as Hill always liked to plan ahead.

Since he planned to stay in the town for a longer period, Hill straightforwardly exchanged for a luxury mansion art using higher grade materials.

This time, the mansion could last for at least a month, and with additional materials, it could even be maintained for three months.

Hill looked with satisfaction at the beach coast and the stretch of shallow sea in the dimensional space; he had finally found the optimal mix.

Although the mansions summoned by the luxury mansion art were different each time, the basic environment could still be set.

Hill's preparations were timely; the night after he exchanged for the luxury mansion art, Quel'var Town had unwelcome visitors.

The luxury mansion art allowed one to see several kilometers around the dimensional space, and Hill frowned as he sat in the grand hall.

Lynn, plucking at his harp, was directing guards to hold off a group of enemies in black robes, while Mage Hughes also stood out, seemingly using support-type enhancement spells.

The rooftops of the town were filled with rangers bearing anxious expressions. They shot arrows in anger, but they dealt little damage to the enemies.

The enemies were agile in their dodging, and some could even become ethereal.

When Lynn's men began to retreat with serious injuries, and Hill noticed the priests from the churches had not yet decided to act, he couldn't help but leave the dimensional space.

He too cast only some support spells.

Such as a mass targeting aid. Of course, that was the name Hill had given it; the actual effect was to aid long-range attackers in calibrating their attack angles and establishing a clear tracking mark.

Although it didn't enable automatic chasing, it proved very useful for the rangers.

He then randomly increased elemental attacks—such a spell could allow a few dozen rangers to shoot arrows imbued with a bit of elemental power, albeit randomly selected elements, but that was still better than their utterly ineffective physical attacks.

Noticing elemental light flickering on their bodies, rangers quickly swapped positions with their peers to focus their attacks on the enemies that could become ethereal.

Lynn was right; the residents here truly were battle-hardened.

Hill then released a group mental resistance spell. These dark system professions clearly had the capability for mental attacks, yet the magic from the town's three temples could help resist such spells.

Thus, both sides attempted to outwit the other.

In Ferun's magical system based professions, it was exhausting, as one had to constantly calculate what spell the opponent might use, whether they could counter it, or how to directly convert the spell.

Striking first was possible only in one-on-one situations. During a melee, it was better to use magic as late as possible.

However, it seemed neither the attackers nor the defenders had expected Hill to suddenly make a move.

The town was under attack and Lynn hadn't even approached Hill, as they couldn't afford the hiring fee for such a high-level mage. They were already fortunate to have bought so many scrolls above level five. Hill even sold them two level seven magic scrolls.

Lynn dared to stand at the forefront and fully utilize his skills because he had the magic scrolls as a backup.

But he hadn't expected Hill to take action; a mage from Ferun, even a fingertip was precious.

Mages like Hill, if not previously agreed upon, would likely choose only to save their fellow clan member Lynn.

Black-robed thieves who had scouted the location in advance confirmed that he was a 'Run Alone Gang' mage. They believed that as long as they didn't harm the sheriff, they would not provoke this mage.

After all, few thieves dared to act against Lynn, with the Supreme Forest so close!

No one wants to incite a swarm of Gold Elves into a relentless pursuit over thousands of miles.

They carry the Bloodline Imprint, and all creatures of the Gold Elven bloodline can feel the presence of the life-long enemy who has killed one of their kin.

"Hill?" Lynn shouted, "Can you still use so many support spells?"

Only then did Hill realize, these thieves had chosen their time carefully, three hours before the refresh of magic slots.

Some magical professions probably burned through a day's worth of spells and might have memorized spells that would be of no use.

No wonder those few low-level mages didn't show up, and only Mage Hughes with a pale face managed to use a few spells before running away.

Hill used another group defense spell before leisurely saying to Lynn, "The rest are just to save my own life. If we still can't win, I'll have to take you and run."

Lynn laughed heartily, "Brothers, let's give it our all and wipe out these fools! So many support spells aren't something just anyone can enjoy!"

The warriors charged with howling cries.

Even some of the rangers drew their curved blades, the battle that didn't seem to threaten their lives appeared to excite them.

Hill silently retreated to his Dimensional Space.

He sensed that the High Priest, standing at the outer edge of the battlefield, had already retreated.

He glanced at the open-air church of the Forest Goddess next door, where the Priest who had been sitting on the tree was the strongest combatant in the town aside from Hill.

In theory, Melikai's Priests should not have remained silent; he must have exhausted all his Divine Arts.

Meaning, these thieves struck at the rare moment he had spent his Divine Arts, even without the chance to use his talents to convert them.

Hill wondered if Lynn was aware; he hadn't even felt the Priest use his powerful Divine Arts near the Temple.

An insider, indeed, can be found anywhere, not to mention in a town co-inhabited by humans and half-elves.

Hill frowned as he surveyed the battlefield; the High Priest had left to drive away a group of Goblins, Ogres, and Werewolves assaulting the town, and even some Desert Lizardfolk were joining the fray.

There weren't enough Rangers. Rather than intercepting the black-robed ones, they needed to protect their homeland.

The thieves simply wanted to steal, but those mindless vermin aimed to dismantle homes.

In particular, those several hundred Goblins, who'd even pick up and eat bones off the ground.

The Rangers could only watch as their foes faded into the night sky and retreated.

Hill checked the time, it was almost midnight, and if he delayed longer, the Priest next door might recall some offensive Divine Arts and break out.

Hill noticed Lynn looking over several times, only continuing to confidently command the battle after seeing no movement from Hill's side.

It seemed he didn't wish for total annihilation either.

That is what makes Ferun so troubling. Defense is one thing, but one must not kill the following enemy rashly, or no one would know who might come next.

Unless one has gained enough strength not to fear even the Deities, or has a more powerful backer than the adversary, sometimes one has to turn a blind eye.

Like those thieves, no matter how numerous they come or how fiercely they kill, they wouldn't easily slay a Priest in the Temple or a Sheriff with a clear backer like Lynn.

The truly tragic ones in Ferun are always the common folk, thus those with even a bit of ability tend to live in larger cities.

Even though those places are not entirely safe either, at least there's a chance it won't be them who perish.

Annihilation or chance, without other options, one can only choose chance.

Those mindless bandits though numerous and around levels 5-7, weren't really something to fear for Ranger Warriors protected by Defensive Magic.

It was just more tiring to kill them.

Rarely do Goblins choose to fight to the death, which was actually a good thing for Rangers who had to find a way to clear nearby Goblin thieves annually.

With fewer young Goblins born in spring, the Goblins wouldn't starve and consequently, wouldn't come out to ambush.

However, it was precisely because of the overt Bloodlust Divine Arts on those Goblins that everyone could be sure they were the minions of the Priest who tortured the Goddess Loweta.

It seemed their winter supplies had indeed been burned away by Blue Dragons.

In the Naish Mountains, the temperature in underground caves during winter is not suited for the living, and the Monastery Monks who failed to raid Quel'var Town's supplies probably had to give up on this stronghold.

When Lynn came to thank Hill the next day, he mentioned this concern.

Usually, the Blue Dragons inhabiting the high peaks of the eastern Naish Mountains rarely cross over the westernmost Monastery.

But once the Monks leave, the equally devastated Blue Dragons could cross the mountains to raid.

Even though they preferred preying on Beastmen, any rational Dragon knew the Silvermoon Alliance was much wealthier.

Even if they feared the Supreme Lady of Silvermoon City, Elaströ, a swift raid and retreat, with few casualties, would mean Elaströ couldn't pursue them into their caves.

Hill didn't know how to comfort him, as he certainly couldn't say that those few Dragons would soon lose their sanity!