Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 515 Earth Vein Rift
The underground fissure, which was a hundred paces wide, appeared extremely narrow in front of Aigle's bulky serpentine body, so much so that her scales would always scrape against the edges of the fissure as she moved through it, making a soft sound like a sharp blade slicing through the stone.

As the firelight, growing ever closer, was reflected in her vertical pupils, Egra's excitement grew. When the entire serpent's body disappeared into the cave at the end of the crevice, the scenery before her suddenly changed.

It was a huge cave with a radius of more than ten kilometers. The scorching heat brought by the magma outside stopped clearly at the entrance of the cave. The air inside was not only not scorching, but also fresh and moist, refreshing the mind and body.

A pure golden river flows across the spiderweb-like cracked earth, its rich and pure runic energy condensed into liquid and flowing through it. Countless stalactites, ranging from pale gold to dark gold, hang down from the top of the stone wall. The golden dewdrops at their ends transform into beads of life-giving amber before they even touch the ground, tinkling and rolling into the river. The splashing water forms a hazy mist, enveloping everything in sight in a veil of sunlight.

Aegley once tried throwing a piece of burnt dead wood into this place. The dead wood didn't even touch the river water before it sprouted tender green branches and leaves, and then began to take root and grow rapidly. If he hadn't uprooted the dead tree in time, it probably would have grown into a whole forest by midnight.

A year ago, this blessed land looked completely different.

Egrid knew every detail inside and outside the volcano like the back of her hand, about this birthplace and the kingdom that had ruled for two thousand years. A year ago, the fissure behind her was just an old rift valley no more than a hundred meters deep. Ever since the runes in the northwest section of the Furnace Leyline converged to form His serpentine body, the Leyline itself collapsed and broke under the impact of the rune torrent. The rift valley itself was the trace of the Leyline's final convergence. The layers of cracks on both sides and the riverbed of the golden river today were also left behind by the changes in the landform at that time.

However, more than half a year ago, as the remnants of the long-destroyed giants rose up in the North, the ley lines that had been dormant for two thousand years began to quietly change. Unbeknownst to outsiders, a new passage had been opened in the crevices of the magma seabed.

Inside the passage, surging runic energy rushed in from the north. Although it failed to break through the rock wall that had been sealed for two thousand years, it did create countless gaps in the rock layer. The runic energy that escaped gathered into a river, creating the miraculous cave landscape before our eyes.

At first, Aigle was startled by the sudden upheaval deep within her lair, which resembled a mountain collapsing. After realizing what had happened, she immediately began to make a public appearance near the volcano, creating a false impression that the ancient dragon dynasty's northward expansion from Karen had angered the long-lived serpent god. This even attracted many outlaws who could not submit to Sky City to join her.

In reality, Egret was just afraid that before she could reap any benefits, Marika would discover the truth, break the alliance, find her, kill her, and take away the remaining treasures. Fortunately, until the magma seabed returned to calm, there was no disturbance in the outside world. Only in the far north ice plains, thousands of miles away, suddenly hundreds of thousands of new giants appeared. It is said that they even breached Lord Fortress for the first time in history, and even Marika inexplicably fell ill.

Due to the limited information, Egret was unable to analyze all the causes and consequences, but he knew that what was happening now was most likely the work of the remnants of the Giant King's court who were unwilling to be destroyed. And just like his own birth, the taboo that the Giant race had violated against all conventions had, by chance, benefited him as well.

Given enough time, this body, naturally formed from pure runes, will be able to merge seamlessly with the runes in the cave. At that time, not only will its strength be able to break through to a level on par with those kings, but it will also have the opportunity to break through the rock layers and go upstream along the direction of the rune torrent, and take advantage of the deadly fighting between the restored giant royal court and the three dynasties to launch a surprise attack on Starfall Peak and seize the royal court's runes.

This plan sounds risky, but the volcano, this godforsaken wasteland, has been deserted for millennia. Even if the Ancient Dragon Dynasty has been restless in the last two years, they'll at least have to wait for their new king to return alive before considering this matter. So the first half of the plan is practically a free lunch; anyone could do it. No matter how dangerous the second half is, with His transformed strength, dealing with a one-of-a-kind monster like Griffith is probably out of the question, but dealing with a couple of ordinary kings is a piece of cake. That newly emerged giant king will definitely be focusing his main attention on Luciasanx from the front. If he can't even succeed in a sneak attack from behind, he can forget about his dreams of becoming king or god; he should just give up and go to sleep.

Now, after absorbing nutrients in the cave for two months, His transformation has unknowingly reached nearly halfway. Although the armies of the Dragon and Moon Kingdoms on Karen's side have begun their northward march, by the time they break through the accumulated resources of the Divine Sect and fight their way to the Serpent God Temple, His transformation will have already been completed.

At that time, he could attack or defend as he pleased. If he couldn't defeat Falsanx and the Twin Moons, he could escape into the ley lines of the Forge at any time. If he could defeat them, he might even be able to kidnap the Darkmoon Princess from Karen. His grand plan would be accomplished in one fell swoop, and he would never have to depend on anyone else for the rest of his life.

This is the source of His confidence to turn against the Radagan envoys. They are still somewhat useful now, but they are acting all high and mighty and stingy. If we wait another two months, even if Radagan himself kneels down and begs, it won't make a difference.

Egrid leisurely poked out her snake head, plunging it into the golden river's flow, feeling the life energy wash over her scales. Each of her enormous scales became increasingly tough and thick, and the divine essence within her, which had been slowly growing for two thousand years and had even suffered two calamities, visibly grew stronger.

This must be the feeling of power.
boom! ! !
A loud bang came from the outside without warning, and the entire mountain shook.

Egrid suddenly raised her serpentine body from the golden river, looking at the end of the river with a mixture of fear and dread. Could it be that before she even had a chance to steal chickens from the giants, the giants had turned around and raided her lair first!
Fortunately, the stone wall in the distance remained as stable as ever, but the runes flowing down the gaps began to tremble. But what was that explosion just now? Could it be that his bunch of useless subordinates set fire to some gunpowder depot?
Boom boom boom——

Before the Serpent God could process what was happening, a series of even more powerful explosions descended from the sky. In an instant, the entire volcano seemed to be shaken by a tremendous force, and even He lost his balance and crashed headfirst into the mountain!
"Damn it, Ratman! Isaacs! What are you two idiots doing?!"

As Aigle roared, she swam toward the outside of the crevice. Just as her huge head emerged from the cave, a white shadow flew backward, smashing through the relief above the Serpent God Temple and falling into the sea of ​​lava. The terrifying force of the attack even caused the shadow to skip across the water several times!
Egri quickly extended her incredibly strong snake tail and coiled around the newcomer, only to find that it was none other than Rathman, the snake god priest she had just loudly rebuked. Rathman's chest was caved in and his ribs were broken; he was clearly not going to live.

"Oh, so the big one was right here. I was thinking I'd have to dig three feet into the ground to find you, you little earthworm."

Two incredibly burly figures emerged from the dilapidated temple gate. The one who spoke carried a trident on his shoulder, with another serpent priest hanging from its blade. The corpse of the serpent-headed, human-bodied creature was covered in orange-red blood, which flowed from outside the temple and spread behind the two men like a red carpet.

(End of this chapter)