Book 8: Chapter 69: Cause of the Calamity |
“Milleras, I feel like Firal is a bit different from before!” After leaving the stone chamber, Iristin looked worried and doubtful. She couldn’t help but ask the Sun Elf Prince.
“Really?” Milleras pursed his lips, glanced back at the stone chamber, and lowered his voice. “I feel the same way. But I think it might be related to the Ancient Inheritance. You know, many elves born from the World Tree Fruit are reincarnated elves. As the inheritance awakens, memories from past lives merge with the current body…”
“Hmm, I know. Elder Adeline told me once before. But she said this kind of inheritance usually just involves short memory fragments, like magical recordings, and doesn’t really affect one’s consciousness!” Iristin muttered sadly. “Firal won’t turn into someone else, will he?”
“That probably won’t happen. After all, Firal awakened his inheritance after growing up. It might just be a temporary effect.” Milleras sounded a bit unsure, but at a time like this, he had to stay calm and reassure the Elven Druid.
…
“Hey, why are you all gathered outside? Did you find a way out?”
Half an hour later, Joey came out of the stone chamber with Pakunoda and saw Iristin and the others still gathered near the entrance. He found it quite odd.
“The layout here is very simple, so it didn’t take much effort. This stone chamber is right in the center of the tower. Outside is a circular corridor, and there’s a spiral stone staircase on the right leading up and down. However, we were worried about defensive traps inside the tower, so we didn’t explore further!” Milleras said cautiously. “Firal, did you get any information from that undead Lich?”
“Yeah, it’s a bit different from what we thought earlier. There aren’t many undead left in the Tower of Durlag. Most of them have spread outside. A large portion have moved into the Serpent Forest south of Baldur’s Gate and the green fields northeast of Amn. Only a few remain near the Tower of Durlag, mostly scattered in the wilderness outside the tower.”
“Firal, are you okay? And who is she?” Iristin tugged at Joey’s sleeve, eyeing Pakunoda behind him with caution.
“She’s my alchemical puppet. She has some special abilities.” Joey grinned, completely unfazed.
“Oh!” Iristin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, her face brightening with a smile again. “Since there are no undead guarding the Tower of Durlag, let’s take this chance to leave quickly. I remember going north from the Tower of Durlag leads into the territory of Baldur’s Gate, right?”
“You go ahead first. Just leave some markers along the way. I still have some business here. I’ll catch up with you before dark.” Joey’s eyes glinted, and he showed a wicked smile, shaking his head slowly.
“Firal, that’s not a good idea!” Milleras frowned slightly, but after seeing the look on Joey’s face, he sighed. “If we go, we go together. Just surviving to get here means my envoy mission is already more than accomplished. This time, I absolutely don’t want to leave a companion behind again.”
“Lord Firal, is there some treasure hidden in this Tower of Durlag that has caught your interest?” Elr looked up, her lively big eyes gazing slyly at Joey.
“Right, there is something here that interests me, but it also carries great risk.” Joey then revealed all the information Pakunoda had obtained from Hasheed.
Amn and Baldur’s Gate lie close to the Sword Coast. As the natural boundary between the two nations, the Cloud Peaks run east to west but are still influenced by ocean monsoons and climate.
Over the past few decades, the western nations along the Sword Coast developed rapidly, and their populations grew greatly. The demand for both land and resources increased, which in turn affected the geographical environment. The extensive use of Magic Crystal machinery, along with city infrastructure and trade route construction, greatly damaged the continent’s vegetation, which then affected the climate and temperature.
For the humans living in Amn, Tethyr, and Baldur’s Gate, they didn’t really notice these changes. They only occasionally wondered why the monsoons hitting the coast each year were becoming more frequent, hot, and humid.
However, for the undead in the Twin Towers and the Tower of Durlag, the seasonal monsoons several times a year were a huge disaster. In the past, due to vegetation and temperature differences, the monsoons couldn’t penetrate deep into the mountains. Now, they often sweep across hundreds of miles, reaching even into the central parts of the Cloud Peaks.
Whether it was the southeast winds in spring and summer or the northwest winds in autumn and winter, they thinned and scattered the deathly clouds above the undead. Over the decades, outsiders couldn’t detect the changes in these two great Forbidden Zones of Life, but the high-ranking undead living here had already realized that the Forbidden Zones of Life were nearing their end.
Thus, under some external guidance, the undead from the two great Forbidden Zones of Life finally gave up their aimless wandering of thousands of years and began to spread into the outside world. They wanted to establish a nation of the undead centered around the Cloud Peaks.
Of course, achieving this wasn’t actually very difficult. Unlike other Sapient Races, the undead population could remain unchanged for millennia or explode to astonishing numbers in a very short time.
Previously, the scattered undead that the Amnian cavalry encountered in the Valley of the Undead were part of this entire event. If Qin Lun and the others hadn’t interfered, the undead would have gathered a large army in the valley. They would then have joined forces with the undead already invading the Serpent Forest to attack the Amnian Guard from both front and rear.
If the Amnian Guard were destroyed, the undead from the two great Forbidden Zones of Life would pour directly into the Two Rivers Region of Amn. As a densely populated area, once overrun by the undead, it would immediately become a major catastrophe.
With ample corpses and populations, the undead of the Cloud Peaks, once a minor nuisance, could quickly grow into a serious threat to the entire continent. The elves, despite their brilliant civilization, couldn’t compete with humans’ high reproductive rate. However, the undead, who see the living as a population source, could conversely exploit humanity’s huge population base and ultimately bury human civilization.
For thousands of years, the high-ranking undead in the two great Forbidden Zones of Life had thought about these things before. However, firstly, they still retained some of their original memories and didn’t really want the dead to replace the living in ruling the world. Secondly, after becoming undead, they had lost their life goals and desires. For immortals, conquering the world seemed rather boring.
It was only now, with the two great Forbidden Zones of Life about to be destroyed, and with external guidance, that the undead finally took this step.
“So, humans are in big trouble!” Milleras grinned like a fox, full of schadenfreude.
For the Sun Elves, most of them were heading to Evermeet. They didn’t really care what happened to Faerûn. Although most human kingdoms on the continent hadn’t openly warred with the elves within their borders, humans, filled with desires and strong ambition, didn’t have a good reputation in the hearts of the elves.
“Prince Firal, never mind the humans’ troubles for now. What treasure is hidden in this Tower of Durlag?” Lorlin widened his bull-like eyes and asked curiously. The young Dwarf, having heard many legends from his elders, was very interested in treasures.
“About that, the Lich named Hasheed wasn’t very clear. He only knew that the underground part of the Tower of Durlag used to be the library of the Uwelun Elves. Before the fall of the Fourth Royal Kingdom of Uvaeren, this place was abandoned by the elves without being cleared out.”
Hearing Joey’s explanation, Pakunoda behind him couldn’t help but roll her eyes. This time, the Serial Killer wasn’t telling the truth. As a high-ranking undead, Hasheed had clearly stated before his death that the Tower of Durlag contained half a volume of the Nether Scrolls. It was very likely that the Demi-Lich Lendi had hidden it in the tower’s underground library.
The treasure Joey mentioned was this half-volume of the Nether Scrolls, and the danger naturally referred to the Demi-Lich, who might or might not have left the Tower of Durlag. Logically, with a Demi-Lich’s Perception, if it were in the tower, they should have already encountered danger.
However, Hasheed’s memory indicated that this Demi-Lich seemed to have had an accident during an experiment a few years ago. Its Lich body was almost immobile, like a vegetable, and could only move relying on alchemical golems and undead beasts.
Of course, Pakunoda actually misunderstood Joey somewhat. How could Joey possibly care about something like the Nether Scrolls? The treasure he actually meant was the Demi-Lich itself. It was precisely because he found something more interesting to play with that Joey gave Hasheed a quick death and hurried out to find the “treasure.”
“The library of the Uwelun Elves! Let’s go down and take a look now!” Lorlin spun around excitedly, unable to wait.
“Firal, what’s that in your hand?” The observant Iristin suddenly pointed at a staff Joey was holding.
“Oh, it’s that Lich’s staff. It seems to be an Undead Sacred Artifact. It can enhance and spread the Lich’s consciousness, used to control low-level undead.” Joey raised the staff in his right hand and casually tossed it to Iristin.
Iristin caught the staff and examined it curiously. This Undead Sacred Artifact was a short staff. The lower part was refined from two slender creature tibias, twisting and winding together like two white snakes. At the top was a huge purple gem, polished into a diamond shape, but its size was no smaller than a palm. If it were in the Earth Federation, it would surely be the world’s largest purple diamond.
Through the Star Void’s identification, this staff was of very high quality. Judging by Apostle equipment ranks, it should belong to the High Rank Legendary Item category. After all, allowing a Lich who originally could only control a few hundred cannon fodder to control tens of thousands of undead was no easy feat.
Unfortunately, like the World Tree Longbow in Qin Lun’s hand and the Serthel prismatic sword obtained from Ironstar Fortress, this staff couldn’t gain the recognition of the Shattered Starry Sky. Although it could be brought into the Star Void, it would lose its spiritual nature and become only top-tier crafting material.
For ordinary items, Qin Lun could use Shattered Crystal for law fusion. But items crafted from treasure-grade materials contained a spiritual nature that ordinary Shattered Crystal couldn’t control. Once brought into the Star Void, they would lose all spirituality and turn into mere forging materials.
“Hey, by the way, Firal, what about that Necromancer you captured?” Milleras suddenly remembered something. “Having him guide us should save us a lot of trouble, right?”
“Him? I’m afraid he can’t guide us anymore.” Joey licked his lips and showed a ferocious smile.