Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 491: Shadow of an Old Friend
Lucia thought for a moment and said, "I've always heard that Osarion is a man of courage but no strategy, otherwise he wouldn't have just sat there and watched the giants grow stronger right under his nose. How come he suddenly became so resilient and reliable after such a great defeat? It's too strange that a group of recently defeated remnants could fight against Morcero's Western War Group for several months without any support or supplies."

"Could it be a smokescreen released by the Giant King's Court?" Borelius guessed, "to attract the scattered remnants of the garrison and the members of the Holy Temple, and to confuse our army. If General Neo really believes it and sends troops to rescue, the Thor defense line may be breached in one fell swoop."

"It's very likely, but it's probably not that simple—" Neo analyzed. "The letter for help does have Osarion's seal on it. I won't be wrong about that. The two people who asked for help were undoubtedly Templars. There were no signs of torture or mental control on their bodies. They were seriously injured before arriving at Sol, and died shortly after delivering the letter. This shows that these two people must have been from Osarion's guerrilla forces before they died."

Lucia sat silently on the saddle, many bad memories coming to her mind.

In this world, loyalty and passion are often particularly cheap in the eyes of those in high positions. Deception, exploitation and betrayal are the main themes of their actions. Anyway, as long as the tower of power does not collapse, they can spend a negligible price to reap one batch of young lives after another from the soil, eat them up and kick them into the abyss, and even deceive them into believing that they are dying for justice at the last moment.

He had seen too many disgusting betrayals along the way, and now it seemed that what was happening before him would hardly escape this pattern.

"Keep investigating," he said. "If we can't figure out what happened three months ago, we should trace back to three years ago, and thirteen years ago. We must find out why the Northern Garrison and the Flame Temple were defeated without a fight, and find out the source of those forbidden prayer books before the giants started the rebellion."

"In addition, we cannot limit our progress to Sol. The Giant King's army is several times larger than ours, and the deadline for breaking the Jedi Seal is uncertain, so we cannot place all our bets on Sol's defense line."

"I intend to lead Lord Oleg and lead 10,000 elite troops to establish a defense line westwards in the town of Otina. On the one hand, we will continue to search for the remaining forces of Ossarion, and on the other hand, we will establish a cavalry network along the northern edge of the Sacred Tree Forest to hunt down any small groups of giants that intend to advance northwards, and at the same time, issue early warnings of the movements of the enemy's large troop groups."

"On the eastern front, General Rosalind will lead 10,000 men to defend the southern shore of the frozen lake and attack the giants heading north along the ridgeline with all their might, ensuring that the enemy's main attack direction is compressed to the western front. The Thor Legion and the Samir Clan Corps will be freed up to keep 30,000 mobile troops, and the rest will be disbanded and incorporated into the reserve forces. All those who are able and willing to fight in the north will be mobilized to build a new army of 100,000, and be prepared for a decisive battle with the enemy starting today."

This arrangement was roughly similar to the earlier preparations made by Neo and Pollux. For example, Rosalind, Caedreus and others were already building fortifications at the northern mountain pass. Lucia's plan was only to expand the garrison area westward to the Sacred Tree Forest, so there was not much difficulty in its implementation.

From a macro perspective, once this garrison area spanning Otina, Sol, and Frozen Lake is completed, it will be equivalent to occupying the entire northern part of the ice field, confronting the Giant King's Court from north to south across the Snow Valley.

The civil strife in the royal court gave them a chance to adjust and catch their breath, but when this short rest was over, what greeted both sides was no longer small-scale clashes on local battlefields, but a protracted and brutal battle on a long front spanning more than 20,000 miles.

The generals then proposed some detailed adjustments and arrangements, and then took the order and left. Neo was to stay in Sol City, Oleg was to mobilize troops and prepare supplies, and then march west to Otina, and Lucia herself was to go to the frozen lake with Borelus first to finalize matters such as the reorganization of the rear army and the development of the base, and then conduct in-depth research on ways to crack the power of fire.

Time soon came to early April. On the day when Lucia arrived in the lake area, a scout came galloping from the north mountain pass and brought back the latest intelligence that Rosalind had obtained on the southern front.

Civil strife broke out in the Giant Sanctuary. The Giant King Kalelius was suspected of awakening the power of the evil god. He massacred all members of the Elder Council, including the Giant Son and the High Priest, in the Falling Star Temple. In the subsequent ceremony of re-enthronement of the ancestor, he displayed a special ability to directly control the blood of other giants.

The intelligence also said that the ancestors Mocero, Hilber, Ophelia, and Rexar, who had disappeared after the defeat, had all returned to the royal court. Karelius was further cleaning up the remaining resistance forces in the Holy Land. At the same time, he abolished the organization of the original six major regiments and reorganized the military forces with the legion system to prepare for the northern expedition. "It's coming," Lucia handed the letter to Borelius and smiled, "The bunch of rubbish in the Holy Land is really no match for Karelius. It's a pity that even after destroying the remains of the evil god, he didn't blow this guy to death. Instead, he awakened the power of his ancestors. He is really lucky."

Borelius read the information and said solemnly, "It is rumored that the ten great ancestors of the giants all mastered a forbidden spell ability, which corresponds to the ten prayers in the forbidden prayer book and also symbolizes the end of their respective evolutionary paths. The only exception is the giant king Calerius. He has no special skills except for his speed and strength that far surpass those of other giants. Now it seems that the rumor is true. It comes from the one-eyed god of Saint Hittenarius. I am afraid that this power is not 'awakened', but has been in his body since the beginning, and was not revealed until he was forced into a desperate situation by the Council of Elders."

"I just hope he still retains his will." Lucia sighed softly.

"Although we are on opposite sides and destined to fight to the death, Kalerius is indeed a respectable opponent. After the battle of Shattered Star, I have had enough of the old dead spirits reborn in the bodies of their descendants. It would be ridiculous if even giants with a heritage as ancient as that of the dragon race could not escape this reincarnation."

Polylus nodded and was about to say something when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a white shadow rushing in from outside the house. The other party was holding a huge chicken leg in his mouth. He jumped a few times between the table and chairs, and jumped onto Lucia's shoulder with ease.

When he saw the white fox's figure clearly and his eyes met those ice-blue eyes, he was suddenly struck by lightning. He took several steps back and his face turned as pale as paper in an instant!

Shirley acted as if nothing had happened. She swallowed the chicken leg in two bites, spat out the bone with a "pu" sound, and looked at the old dragon who was making a fuss with curiosity, tilting her little head.

Lucia quickly supported Borelios and asked in surprise: "Have you seen my shadow beast?"

Coincidentally, in the few days after Lucia met up with Polyleus, Shirley spent most of her time having fun in the army. She also recently made friends with the sisters Kurala and Kuralis, and would visit them every twenty minutes or half an hour. On the contrary, she rarely stayed at her master's place. This was the first time she met Polyleus.

"Shadow beast? She... She turns out to be your Majesty's shadow beast." Polyrelus gasped in shock and it took him a long time to calm down.

"That makes sense. I almost died of fear when I first saw it."

Seeing that Lucia had no idea what was going on, he smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that your Majesty has never seen His Majesty Heraris in person. Her aura is very similar to His Majesty the Dragon God. No, perhaps I should say - she is just like His Majesty the Dragon God's corpse."

ps. Today is the college entrance examination. The author took out his mobile phone in the examination room and quickly wrote two chapters and posted them. He was so nervous. Why don’t you guys vote quickly?

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(End of this chapter)