Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 520 Otina

"Phew, we've finally arrived at Otti's place—"

Katpera leaped off her horse, stretching her slender and graceful body from side to side. She raised her arms and stretched out a big yawn, saying, "Frostflame is such a good horse, it's a waste to have such a terrible rider like you. If I rode it, I could be at least a third faster, and I wouldn't break my back from all the jolting."

Lucia took out roasted meat from her bag and fed it to the horse. She reached out and stroked Frostflame's silver mane. Frostflame snorted happily and nuzzled its master's cheek, effectively rejecting the Queen of Death's failed attempt to turn the horse against her.

"As it turns out, that won't work. Frostfire isn't as easy to bribe as Sherry. If you were riding it, you wouldn't last ten meters before it threw you off the cliff," Lucia shrugged.

Sherry, who was fast asleep in the other duffel bag, suddenly jumped out and squatted on Frostflame's head, chattering and berating him as if trying to prove that she was not a heartless and unfaithful beast.

“Oh, I’m glad to see at least one sensible little one in our line of work who can tell the difference, even though she’s just a fox,” Katpela said, lifting Sherry by the scruff of her neck and pulling her into her ample arms. “Don’t you think so, Sherry?”

The little fox scurried back to the Queen's meticulous care throughout the journey, including but not limited to delicious food, gentle caresses and massages from morning till night, and a pillow of unparalleled softness and comfort that only the Priest of Lance could rival when she fell asleep.
Considering that Lance had only hugged her a handful of times, the wavering Shadow Beast still chose to betray him, humming twice and acknowledging its current allegiance.

"What do you see?" Katpera's charming eyes narrowed slightly with a smile. "The saying 'the righteous gain many supporters, the unrighteous lose few' is exactly like this."

"Really? What I usually hear is about birds of a feather flocking together, people conspiring together, and things like that."

"Get lost."

"Ah."

Along the way, the two gradually got used to this casual way of communicating. One was a god who once competed with the Eternal Queen for the world, and the other was a king who ruled the Sky City with hundreds of thousands of soldiers. In their respective territories, they always showed their strategic and decisive side. They rarely had the opportunity to talk nonsense. After getting through the initial adjustment period together, they both seemed a bit more lively.

Aside from a few malicious moments of mockery, Lucia no longer deliberately addressed Katopella as "Your Majesty," while Katopella, though never showing Lucia the respect due to the Ancient Dragon King, had lowered his guard and distance over the past few days. He was less likely to make sarcastic remarks for no reason, and instead, they were exchanging more meaningless chatter.

But the two of them seemed completely unaware of this, or perhaps even if they had realized something, they would never admit it.

Lucia didn't press Katpela about his plans in the North, and Katpela didn't say anything either. On the way, the two did talk a lot about the lost history of the Resurrection Era. At that time, Sky City had just experienced the Baylor Rebellion and was still in complete isolation, knowing very little about the outside world. Taking this opportunity, Lucia filled some gaps in his knowledge and confirmed many of his own conjectures.

For example, after the forbidden battle, the Supreme Will was severely injured, and the reason for its split into Chaos and Order can indeed be largely attributed to the shot that pierced the origin of the gods by the mother. Afterwards, He was unable to directly rule the borderlands, but had to seek out gods and men from the eternal descendants to inherit the orthodoxy, which was also influenced by this.

For example, the birth of a demigod is an unprecedented and unique case. Such an existence, which is not subject to any system and can freely control any power, is definitely not a life that can be born from the natural evolution of the boundary. It just so happens that the laws of life have been controlled by Queen Marika for the past hundred years, and she must have played an extremely important role in it.

The reason why the Supreme Will and even other deities could tolerate the birth of demigods was probably related to their parents, whose whereabouts and fates were uncertain. The spacetime storm at the center of Fam Azra was vast and all-encompassing; everyone said that the Dragon King Platonsanx was severely injured and slumbering there, but only the ancient dragons of Sky City knew that the other side of the storm was an undetectable alternate dimension. They couldn't even confirm whether their former king existed in the present timeline, let alone his specific location and condition.
Aside from these, Katpera remained silent about his plans after arriving at the Sacred Tree Forest, seemingly convinced that Lucia's campaign to pacify the North would go hand in hand with his own.

Lucia was first gifted with the Predestined Death and the Greatsword for Hunting Gods, and not long ago he was saved by someone. He also believed in his heart that Katpela would not harm him. If it really came down to a critical moment, he would be willing to help without her having to ask.

Since there are hardly any survivors left in the vast Northern Territory, even if Katpela really plans to use the Black Flame Seed to control the giants and extract a huge amount of runes to restore them to their peak, let her do as she pleases.

Katpera stood on the edge of the cliff and looked down at the confluence of the Holy Mountains, the Holy Tree Forest and the Elunga River. The town of Ottina, with its magnificent buildings in the style of the ancient Storm Dynasty, stretched all the way down the mountain.

Oregon was a strict disciplinarian, and the fortifications were built meticulously. Lights from all directions illuminated the deep night below the mountain like stars. In the north of the forest to the southwest, many torches resembling swimming fish could still be faintly seen, which should be the cavalry scattered into the forest for patrol.

Across the dark, dense forest, all the way to the nameless plains to the south, it was as if a raging fire was burning. Even from hundreds of miles away, the horizon was tinged with a crimson hue. Judging from this intense momentum alone, the Giant King's army currently stationed on the western front must be no less than 30,000 strong.

However, after several days, apart from small-scale scout skirmishes inside the forest, the two sides have not yet clashed head-on, but instead are both searching for something in full swing.

Even without personally visiting the scene, Lucia could guess that the area around the 9th temporary outpost where the two first Titans died must have been thoroughly searched by both sides, and the nearby forest area must have been scoured dozens of times by the Rangers. But so far, neither side has been able to find any trace of the murderer. Could those mysterious people have really vanished into thin air?

"You can't ride a horse any further south from here. The Sacred Tree Forest is full of scouts from the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Giant Legion. If you want to find out the whole story without leaking any information, you can only go there on foot and hide your tracks."

Lucia untied the bag from Frostfire's back, patted the horse's back to signal it to go back on its own, and then tied the bag back up and carried it on his shoulder.

"Do you need to tell me?" Carterpella snatched a smaller bag from his hand and carried it on her back, while slung the little fox over her other shoulder, and walked down the mountain on her own. "But it's a pity, it was actually quite comfortable sitting on your back the whole way. You dragons have thick skin and are quite reliable at blocking out wind and snow."

"That's a pity. Frostfire won't be there when you go back. Your Majesty will have to face the wind and snow on your own."

"Go back? It's not certain whether you'll even be able to go back alive. I intend to use your Dragon King body to complete an unprecedented evil plan. Once it's over, I'll go back and happily be my Queen of Death. You can be buried here with the likes of Charlegios."

"Yes, I'm so scared."

"You'd better be afraid."

(End of this chapter)