Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 514 Ambition
Scenes that should have been buried by time kept flashing through Egrid's mind. It was from that day that she realized that the era did not belong to her, but to the two queens who held the power of life and death.

From that same day on, Egret's thoughts changed.

He no longer shut himself away, hiding in a corner of the volcano and daring to think himself invincible. Instead, he began to send his best believers to all directions to collect all kinds of information, so as not to fall behind the times again without realizing it.

However, for a century, the outside world gained virtually nothing. The only useful information was that the Eternal Queen Marika defeated the Queen of Death, Katopera, at the end of the War of the Gods, and then swept across the land in the subsequent war of unification. Even the Giants' Court, which had restrained the Storm King Odis's unification five hundred years earlier, was no match for the Golden Tree. By the end of the war, all the Carians and the Ancient Dragons could do was sign the Three Dynasties Alliance and tacitly acknowledge the Golden Dynasty's rule.

And all of this was within His expectations.

After witnessing the Eternal Queen firsthand, how many ambitions in the world could remain unextinguished and dare to compete with her for the position of the protagonist in the world?

The last challenger was the Queen of Death, who was defeated and perished. Egrid neither wanted to nor dared to be the next one. Even if she were, all she could do was lie low under the golden age that belonged to the Eternal Queen.

Until nearly ten years later, he suddenly heard about the existence of those called "demigods".

To be honest, after witnessing the emergence of thousands of wild gods during the revival era, it's hard to take the title of demigod seriously at first glance. After all, even those "true gods" who truly embodied the faith of a race or a nation mostly became mere decorations on the robes of the Queen of Death and the God Skin Apostles. Those with such poor strength didn't even qualify to have clothes sewn on. Given this precedent, what kind of outstanding character could a demigod be?

Like Segnis, the "Dark Star," whose understanding was stuck a hundred years in the past, Egret initially thought that demigods were merely products of Marika's manipulation to win people over and balance the power of various factions. It was one thing for her and War King Griffith's offspring to be called demigods because of their extraordinary bloodline, but the fact that the offspring of King Fladagan and the Queen of the Full Moon could also be granted the title of demigod simply because of their maternal lineage—wasn't that enough to prove how low the value of demigods was?
But in the following decade, everything that happened in the outside world completely overturned Egra's understanding of the world.

First, there was Marika's inconceivable founding of a royal private school, concentrating all the resources of the entire borderland to provide the demigods with the best training, regardless of the cost. Then came the series of astonishing victories achieved by the demigods—

A battle on the shores of Lake Rodel comparable to that of a high-ranking hero, the first slaying of Twofinger since the Golden Age, the victory over an elder-level ancient dragon in northern Dikedas, and a series of top-tier magical battles at the Magic Conference that overwhelmed contemporary mages—last October, six demigods joined forces to actually kill Estelle, the Starry Sky Evil Goddess who could only be sealed away a thousand years ago by the combined power of the entire Star-Moon Civilization!

Although most of the terrifying records were set by the new dragon king, the monstrous growth rate of the other demigods was still incomprehensible to Egrid.

They seem to have no such thing as a talent bottleneck. All power systems in the world are like gold scattered everywhere to them, readily available for them. Whether it is those exquisite and unpredictable secret combat techniques, complex and profound arcane magic, or divine prayers that require pure faith, as long as they want, there is no technique they cannot learn or power they cannot master.

Even among demigods, there are exceptional beings like Michaela and Malenia whose talents are confined to specific areas. However, they seem to be particularly favored by the heavens, often possessing extraordinary talents in their respective fields as compensation. Michaela, for example, began to understand the essence of law at such a young age, and Malenia possesses an unparalleled ability to cut down anything. With powerful physiques, endless lifespans, such terrifying cultivation talent, and inexhaustible resources, what kind of monsters will the Eternal Queen raise in the future?

Egret felt suffocated just thinking about it. She even guessed that the two portions of essence that Marika had taken from her back then were probably used on the demigods. The only strange thing was that none of the ten demigods in the world had ever shown the power of snakes and fire.

There are rumors that Marika and Goughley briefly visited the Shadow Isle, deep in the Sea of ​​Mist, before the start of the War of Unification, and adopted a prince there. However, the prince did not return to the Borderlands with his parents, but was instead isolated from the mortal world along with the Shadow Isles.

However, those secrets were too far removed from Him and had no connection to Him in the short term. Egrid was unwilling to bother with them and instead focused all her energy on the concept of demigods.

He knew that every demigod was an incomparably sharp divine sword—and Marika, who was already invincible in the mortal world, forged these divine swords to deal with beings that were definitely not from the mortal world.

As a remnant of the old era who had experienced most of the Star Moon Era and the entire Resurrection Era, Aigle understood better than anyone how high the sky was. Throughout the millennia, those who could even look up at that height were extremely rare, let alone draw their swords against it.

He didn't think Marika could win, but if any of the swords Marika left behind fell into His hands, with His divine body, almost entirely formed from pure runes, and the experience accumulated over countless years, He could potentially merge with them.
As long as I don't act as recklessly as I did hundreds of years ago, and don't try to do something like Marika's attempt to cause a major disaster, I can still make a significant contribution to understanding the realm of mortal gods.
Egrid wouldn't claim to be particularly brilliant in this approach, but compared to last year's waste like Segnis, whose mind was still preoccupied with usurping the power of ancient evil gods, fusing with a demigod was clearly a more forward-looking and feasible path to godhood.

If He were to close His eyes and make a wish, He would dream of devouring Lucia Sanx. If He were to actually possess the body of that new dragon king, He would dare to stand up and ask how high the sky is, and question the legitimacy of the supreme will's rule over the borderlands.

But Egret isn't stupid for being able to survive in the volcano for thousands of years. Marika was able to create ten demigods right under the nose of the Supreme Will. Even if the rumors that the Supreme Will's power was mostly used for internal strife after its self-split were true, there must be a higher-level bigwig backing up the mortal world behind this.

Ultimately, compromise is when everyone is in a similar situation and no one can kill anyone else in the short term. Marika, on the other hand, doesn't care whether she has anyone protecting her or not. Without saying a word, she conjured up ten God-Slaying Swords. The Supreme Will didn't even ask who she wanted to kill and just silently agreed—isn't this just offering her face to be slapped?
Now, in this borderland, who can withstand the pressure of the supreme will and support the mortal world? The half-dead March Goddess alone is certainly not enough. Surely it can't be the Mother of Truth and the Crimson Corruption?

So, no matter what, Egret only dared to target the other eight demigods besides Lucia and Godwin. If possible, it would be best to remove Grek as well. After all, she, the Serpent God, wanted to merge and evolve, not to provide targeted poverty alleviation.

With these thoughts swirling in her mind, Egrid slowly sank into the seabed of magma, swimming along a dark, lightless crevice beneath the cliff towards the depths of the earth's veins.

(End of this chapter)