Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Hill watched indifferently as the thieves madly fled from the leaf-shaped blades flying all over the place on the screen.

This was a wood element ultimate move that only appeared after the second stage of the maze had started.

Hill would never completely seal off escape routes from the beginning, even though deadly ground spikes appeared in the first stage. However, if it was an intruder who realized their mistake immediately and desperately ran towards the exit, they actually stood a fifty-fifty chance of survival.

It was entirely possible to wait until the puppets within the Forest Array determined whether someone had entered by mistake or with malicious intent.

But with today's situation, puppets wouldn't show up at all, and naturally, the safety point by the exit remained closed.

The maze naturally transitioned into the second phase, full lockdown.

These magic leaves, all shooting out at the same time, acted like automated machine gun fire, sealing every direction, and automatically released every five minutes.

Add to that the ground spikes whose speed had increased.

The first few thieves who entered had already been wiped out.

In the end, only the thick-skinned Blue Dragon Goblin and that exceptionally agile gnome thief remained.

Hill and Lynn's attention was entirely focused on that thief; he wasn't someone that a mere merchant could hire as a Professional.

"Wonder whose person he is?" Lynn murmured, "Hopefully it's not that Dark Sun. Quelva is too weak to withstand his scheming."

"For this gnome, it's more likely to be another one, right?" Hill couldn't help but ask.

Although the thief hadn't suffered a fatal injury, his black coat was now tattered, revealing the brightly colored inner garment beneath.

While Cyric, the Prince of Lies, had many thief underlings, his tastes were relatively normal; silver-black and purple-black were colors befitting the aesthetics of an Evil God.

It was only the God of Thievery, Mask, who greatly favored such bright colors.

Although both deities enjoyed manipulating conspiracies, it was evident that Lynn was only worried about Cyric, known by the nickname Dark Sun.

After all, most of Mask's schemes ended up backfiring on himself.

It seems like the people of Ferun were well acquainted with his character.

"That person's people!" Lynn said nonchalantly, "Their target wouldn't be our little town with little money. Silvermoon City is their true love.

But being so eager to come in here, maybe they hoped to steal something good from you."

Hill felt the same and increased the maze's intensity without hesitation.

After all, the moon was high in the sky, and the night, reflecting the moonlight on the snowy ground, looked as if dawn was breaking; he could feel that more people were about to enter the maze.

Hill stretched out his hand and directly transformed the falling snowflakes into endless ice crystals.

In the future, it should be the Elemental Spirits who take action at this stage of their residence.

Hill watched casually as the gnome thief, caught in a three-sided assault, let his guard down for a moment and was pierced through the chest by a ground spike. His small body struggled atop the spike for a few minutes before it stopped moving.

"Hill, is that guy dead?" Lynn asked after carefully observing for a while, still unable to determine.

"No," Hill said with a cold laugh, "He's feigning death!"

"He's one of God's Chosen! Are you going to keep attacking?" Lynn frowned, "If he stops bothering you, it would be best to let him go."

Hill nodded, "I know, that was a clear use of Shadow Power. I have no interest in getting entangled in a struggle between deities.

He's really good at playing dead.

With a Feign Death Technique of that level, unless I set him on fire, he's unlikely to wake up for at least seven days.

Interesting indeed~

Obviously, my place isn't the target of their mission, so is he here on a personal errand?"

"To Mask's people, personal errands are their daily routine. Divine tasks are just incidental," Lynn said without hesitation.

Lynn and Hill exchanged a look, both understanding what Hill's "interesting" remark meant. The God of Thievery, Mask, was a bastard who would play dead when trouble arose, and his actions were always chaotic. If he wanted to steal something, he might even overturn the original entire plan.

And this underling was acting just like his deity.

The Blue Dragon Goblin, on the other hand, held out a bit longer despite being gravely injured.

"Hill, this one's a second generation, isn't it?" Lynn asked, looking at the blood the goblin had spilled on the ground, frowning.

"Yes, what's flowing out isn't Dragon Blood anymore," Hill acknowledged, "Unlike the first generation, they won't be hunted just for showing up.

To extract Dragon Blood from a second generation, you'd almost have to kill off a whole family.

But doing that is tantamount to directly confronting the Blue Dragons, isn't it? A few deaths might not matter, but if an entire family were extinguished, those four Blue Dragons would surely seek revenge."

Lynn looked for a moment, then said with a hint of regret: "Are you still going to kill him?"

"Definitely!" Hill answered without hesitation, "Why do you think he suddenly wanted to see my maze? It can't be that he wants to improve his sense of direction."

"How would Blue Dragons know you're wealthy?" Lynn muttered, turning his head toward the next area, "What's that guy doing over there? Driving away those Goblins?"

"He trapped a few of those Blue Dragon Goblins with the Thorn Technique; it's quite amusing. The ones who went there included a first generation," Hill said with a faint smile, "Those Tree Spirits didn't attack the trapped Goblins at all."

"Tch," Lynn exclaimed impatiently, "That neighbor of ours, because the Temple doesn't have any organization, sometimes lacks any cohesive power.

There would always be those attracted to the atmosphere of wielding great power outside, to the point where they seemed to lose their minds.

But he definitely wasn't one of the Blue Dragons, the Blue Dragon Family of the Nai'se Mountains doesn't have that kind of intelligence.

But if he is colluding with the Chromatic Dragons, could he be from the Dragon Worship Church?

"I'll go to the Temple first thing tomorrow!"

Lynn's expression became very solemn.

The madmen of the Dragon Worship Church cause tremendous harm to ordinary people, including low-level Professionals.

One wrong move, and the entirety of Quelva could be completely destroyed.

"Maybe you should take a bath first?" Hill glanced at the Goblin who was reaching his limit and asked Lynn, who had just gnawed off another roast chicken.

Lynn looked at Hill oddly, then, as if struck by a revelation, noticed his own clothes.

Looking at Lynn's changing expressions, Hill sighed regretfully.

It was a prank to have a cleanliness-loving Elf walk the streets in dirty clothes, something to be laughed off.

But to let a follower enter their Main God's Temple in disheveled attire, that was simply wrong.

Although Lynn would likely tidy up before entering the Temple, Hill felt obliged to mention it.

Lynn hesitated for a moment.

Logically, he should return home to change his clothes before heading directly to the Temple.

But having not noticed the stains before, now that he had, he really didn't want to be seen on the streets in dirty clothes.

Many people must be secretly observing the happenings around the labyrinth.

"Lend me a place to bathe." Lynn made a decisive call, taking advantage of the time before midnight when he could still cast a Purification Spell.

Marsha immediately appeared and led Lynn to the guest room.

Hill chuckled, looking at the Goblin who had already perished on the screen.

This guy was truly formidable, Hill mused silently, his Dense Forest Stars Attack Spell combined with the Forest Array had almost the same attack power as a machine gun.

Back in Teraxil, even High-level Demons could be shot dead outright.

Although here in the summoned labyrinth, Hill had slightly suppressed the level, it was definitely much stronger than before.

But to take down a Blue Dragon Gnome, it nearly took four rounds of burst fire, plus the Ground Spike Technique and Hill's Ice Lance Technique to finally kill him.

Yes, after realizing that the Leaf Blade attack wasn't so effective, Hill had converted the falling Ice Crystals into stronger Ice Spears, which finally forced the Blue Dragon-blooded Gnome to his death.

And this was just a second-generation.

Hill finally found the weakness of this Maze Matrix, it was fine against low-level opponents, but if faced with individuals of high strength, Hill had to take action himself or summon Elemental Spirits.

He couldn't help but sigh, no wonder even with such a powerful Magic, his Magic Book had still not reached the status of a Divine Artifact.

Hill had even thought it might become a Lesser Artifact!

He considered for a moment and felt it was still lacking in attack power, for the next round of spells, he should consider focusing on single-target attacks.

Hill watched coldly as more Thieves came in to meet their death, with the labyrinth's second phase not yet subsided to revert to the first, they were about to experience what Ten Thousand Arrows Pierce Heart really meant.

He glanced again at the Priest from the Dragon Worship Church, Melikai, who was still putting on an act, fighting the Blue Dragon Gnome.

Moreover, probably thinking that enough time had passed and no one would pay attention, he was becoming less and less convincing.

The Tree Spirits had even given up on fleeing or spectating from the perimeter, instead scattering far away in a cluster which seemed irrelevant, but Hill did not let his guard down.

Indeed, those Tree Spirits were actually scattered in fixed positions, and near each of them lay one or even several Treants.

Winter had arrived, and the Treants were all in deep slumber, completely unaware of what their neighbors were up to.

Hill finally remembered that before this suspicious Priest arrived to take over Quelva, the previous Priest or Druid was also supposed to wake the Treants or Tree Spirits.

And clearly, he had a greater preference for Treants.

Hill furrowed his brow, extended his view even further, and finally pinpointed the focal point of both parties' attention: the Supreme Forest.

Although Melikai's people had also devoted some of their willpower to the Supreme Forest, more of their efforts were focused on defense against the desert.

The Treants with stronger attack power were over there.

At the Supreme Forest, most were Cypress Trees, the kind that even if awakened, would be reluctant to move, mixed with some Pine and Oak Trees.

However, the person suspected from the Dragon Worship Church had concentrated most of his effort on the Supreme Forest.

Hill no longer paid attention to the Thieves struggling between life and death, but turned to Lynn, who was coming downstairs, saying, "That position is so close to the Supreme Forest, isn't it!"

Lynn raised an eyebrow, glanced at the screen where the Thieves no longer posed any threat, and said with a smile, "The previous Priest from Melikai had a good relationship with an Elder in the forest, it seems they had some sort of agreement.

As for the other matter, my Lord will be informed."

As Hill saw Lynn out, he thought to himself, the Singer was too compliant!