Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 474: Surrender
The 20,000 Holy Land Guards, although there are a lot of useless people with only bloodline but no talent among the middle and high-level officers, but as the super elite force with the highest individual quality in the New Dynasty, their tactical qualities are impeccable once they take action.

At the command, the guards, who had originally been in a somewhat disorganized formation and were roughly surrounding the left side of the temple gate, quickly retreated to the bottom of the long steps. Soon they formed a strict square formation. They sheathed their swords and unstringed their bows and crossbows as instructed, and quietly waited for the result inside the hall.

About five minutes later, the door finally opened from the inside.

Unlike what most of the guards imagined, there were no panicked elders running away, no fighting and scrambling, and even no blood-flowing river as expected in the worst-case scenario.
There was only a lonely figure between the two doors.

Carrying a bloody and deformed head in one hand, Kalerius walked out slowly. The empty temple behind him emitted pungent smoke and thousands of pieces of ashes that no one could distinguish.

thump—

He threw the head casually on the ground. Under inertia, it rolled down the long steps, leaving a dark red and terrifying track as it bumped and tumbled.

The 333 steps were very long, so long that it took the seriously injured Kalelius five minutes to climb them all the way up. He was exhausted when he reached the top, and even standing straight and looking at the well-dressed elders took him a lot of strength.

The three hundred and thirty-three steps were also very short, so short that when the head of the Holy Son Edmur fell from the clouds into the mud, the soldiers did not have time to see his disgusting face clearly.

Soon, a soldier recognized the owner of the head and opened his mouth to shout, but his more alert companions quickly covered his mouth.

Tens of thousands of eyes turned in awe at the man at the top of the long steps who had regained his heroic posture. What disappeared from him was not only the pain and weakness from half a day ago, but also the confusion that had been lingering since he ascended the throne.

Half of his robe was burned by the flames, revealing his naked and muscular chest and abdomen. In the center of his bronze skin, a single cracked eye proudly overlooked the creatures below. In the depths of his eyes, which were as hot as magma, eight inky black magatama hovered around his pupils, as if he had witnessed the destruction of the world with his own eyes just by looking into their faces.

"Saint Hertenis!" A guard soldier who was closer couldn't help but exclaimed, "Legend has it that only the first king possesses the eternal Eye of the Evil God!"

Since ancient times, the giants have been a combination of gods and kings.

The Fire God came from the one-eyed creature that the first king, Saint Hiteneris, dug out from his abdomen. He used his own flesh and blood to forge his divinity, and used the ancient giants' faith and worship of him to refine his divinity. Finally, he burned his body to ignite the Ash Fire in the center of the cauldron for future generations to worship day and night, thus opening up the path of faith for the giants.

From then on, this Eye of the Evil God has been parasitic in the abdomen of successive giant kings. Whenever a new king ascends the throne, the Eye of the Evil God on the old king's corpse will be burned to ashes, and the one eye of the god will be reborn with the help of the new king's flesh and blood.

Under the king, all giants have the Eye of the Evil God growing in their abdomens. However, only after sacrificing part of their own flesh and blood or enough power, will the Eye of the Evil God open briefly to bestow the powerful blessing of God on their master.

Among billions of giants, only the giant king's single eye, which represents God, will never go out.

Twenty years ago, at the end of the war in which the giants destroyed the country, it was said that after the giant king died in battle, the Fire God of Evil had no king to succeed him, so he temporarily chose the last high priest, Saint Helenmur, to entrust his power to. The high priest also died on the battlefield, and at the last moment of his life, he threw himself into the cauldron of fire and was buried forever in the ashes of fire together with the evil god.

As the victor, Marika captured most of the giants at that time. She used secret methods to forcibly activate the evil god's eyes of the giants, and ordered the Golden Expeditionary Force to gouge out the one eye along with the flesh and blood between the chests and abdomens of the captives. Then she used the golden tree to curse, completely depriving the giants of their proud bloodline, causing all the giants of later generations to become ice field goblins.

Before today, no giant could have imagined that the long-lost Eye of God would reappear in a dying new king.

The Council of Elders claimed to be descendants of the heroic ancestors, saying that Kaleris was only a fake king who temporarily took over the throne, and that Edmur, the son of the last high priest, was the true master of the dynasty's future - but how could a fake fake king be crowned as a true god!
"Your Majesty, Juno, pays respect to His Majesty Saint Karelias!"

Yuno took the lead and knelt on both knees in front of the crowd, just like the most loyal subject and believer bowing to his king and god!

"Your servant, Glenn Cilia, pays respect to His Majesty Saint Karelia!"

Glenn Cilia led the wolf hunters to kneel down together and issued a heavy and powerful declaration.

Soon, the 20,000 guards, who had just woken up from their dream, knelt on the ground and shouted in unison: "We pay our respects to His Majesty Saint Calerius!"

The mighty sound shook the holy land. For a moment, even the birds in the sky trembled and wailed, and the clouds on the top of the Falling Star Peak were scattered in all directions!
Kalerius looked down at the kneeling guards, and his eyes first fell on Yuno who was in the front. "The first giant Yuno——"

"The minister is here."

"When the royal court was first established, you abandoned the dark and joined the light, helping our dynasty to pacify the Holy Flame Temple. During this turmoil, you also organized the army and suppressed the turmoil. You are rewarded for both merits. From today on, you are promoted to the sixth ancestor."

"The original ninth ancestor, Amodia, was promoted to the first ancestor, the fifth ancestor, Vikia, was promoted to the second ancestor, the fourth ancestor, Hilber, was promoted to the third ancestor, the sixth ancestor, Ophelia, was promoted to the fourth ancestor, the seventh ancestor, Rexar, was promoted to the fifth ancestor, and the third ancestor, Mocero, fled during the battle and was demoted to the seventh ancestor."

"The third-generation giant, Glenn Cilia, assisted the sixth ancestor in suppressing the rebellion and was promoted to the first generation and the Marshal of the Royal Guards."

"All the soldiers of the Imperial Guards have their bloodlines upgraded by one level, and all their treatment will be improved accordingly."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kalerius opened the five fingers of his left hand, and thousands of flames poured out from his palm and sank into the chest of every giant present, from Yuno down.

The next second, a miracle happened that was unbelievable to all the giants.

After absorbing the fire source, their bloodline had already solidified, and they thought that their lifelong strength had come to a halt. Who would have thought that within just ten breaths, the blood of giants flowing in their bodies would continue to be refined, purified, and break through the upper limit until it was elevated to a higher level!

Glenn Celia felt the heat flowing through her blood vessels like magma, and an unprecedented sense of power filled her body, and she was immediately ecstatic.

Yuno, who had just been "promoted" to the position of the ancestor, was even more shocked. Before this, all the ten ancestors had reached the pinnacle of their respective evolutionary paths in the process of absorbing the fire source, and coupled with the ability to comprehend forbidden spells, they were then elected as the ancestor giants.

It was not until this moment that he realized that the power of the "Ancestor" could actually be obtained through the grace of the king?

In addition to the divine power surging like a landslide and tsunami, a lot of unheard-of knowledge suddenly appeared in his mind. At first glance, it seemed to be some kind of method of consuming vitality in exchange for strength, which just corresponded to the forbidden spell ability "Deformed Flesh" of the tenth ancestor Adonis who fell not long ago.

He would not complain because His Majesty only bestowed the tenth forbidden spell. In his opinion, the ten forbidden spells were essentially equal in strength, and the final effect depended on the caster's own level.

"Your Majesty, I, Yunuo, bow my head to thank you for your blessing!" He kowtowed deeply again, his heart boiling with excitement.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your blessing!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your blessing!"

The guards shouted in unison, and the younger soldiers among them had already tears in their eyes.

If the guards were more afraid of Calleris than convinced of him when they first saw Edmur's head and the eye of god, then now, facing the miracle that befell them, they had only pure admiration and loyalty to the new king until death.

Today they can be promoted from the fourth generation to the third generation, and the third generation to the second generation - then in time, as long as they perform sufficiently outstanding feats on the battlefield, can they also become the first generation, or even the ancestors?

Karelius raised his hands, and an invisible soft force lifted up the 20,000 soldiers. At the same time, the king's gentle and majestic voice once again rang in the ears of every soldier -

"The sacred name should only be used to commemorate the countless ancestors who have worked hard to build our tribe and paved the way for the future. It should not be used for us who are living in this world and have not yet accomplished our great cause—"

"From today on, I will retain my real name. The Giant King and the High Priest will no longer be called holy. The Council of Elders of the Holy Land will no longer exist. All the nobles of the Holy Land will be incorporated into the army. Under my rule, all giants will share honor and disgrace, and there will be no distinction!"

(End of this chapter)