Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 526 Showdown
South of the Sacred Tree Forest lies the headquarters of the Fourth Legion of the Giants' Royal Court.

The newly appointed Sixth Progenitor, Yuno, walked calmly towards the command tent through the heavily guarded camp, under the watchful eyes of many stern and cold gazes. Whenever his eyes met those of the fierce-looking personal guards under the Fourth Progenitor, Ophelia, he would cast a trusting and friendly glance at them.

It was as if he had no idea that he was a lowly bastard who rose to power as a human traitor, nor did he know that he was the main target of the army's westward advance.

"I apologize for troubling you two generals to inform her," Yuno said with a friendly smile, showing no airs of being the progenitor, as he faced the two second-generation centurions guarding the command tent. "I requested an audience with Lady Ophelia, and I informed her earlier."

The two centurions exchanged a glance. One of them reached into his robes to check the reservation records, but a clear, cold voice came from inside the tent, "Let him in."

"Yes!"

The two men immediately stepped back, separating their intertwined axes and spears, and said indifferently, "Please come in, sir."

"Thank you for your hard work," Yuno said with a smile, nodding to himself as he walked briskly into the tent.

Strictly speaking, there were two command tents in the Fourth Legion's camp. Although Yuno was looked down upon by the other progenitors and even most of the first generation, his status as a progenitor was appointed by the king, and no one dared to question it. Therefore, he still received all the treatment due during the march.

However, this legion was ultimately called the Fourth Legion. After Charlegios abolished the Council of Elders, he reorganized the royal court's military system, dividing it into eight legions. The first to the seventh legions corresponded to the current seven progenitors, while the strongest legion, the Royal Guard, was directly subordinate to the monarch.

The core of the current Fourth Legion is composed of the troops of Ophelia's Sixth Legion, which suffered relatively minor losses in the last great war. Although Yuno also brought several hundred personal guards with him, compared with the strength of Ophelia, they were like a drop of ink in the ocean. In fact, their military power was not even as great as that of a centurion by Ophelia's side.

Therefore, although Ophelia had recently suffered a defeat at the end of the Kurbandea Road, which thwarted the plan to besiege Luciasanx, she was still more trusted by the king than Yuno when the royal court was just beginning to restore order.

Therefore, it is self-evident that having the two progenitors investigate this case together was a test of whose loyalty.

The furnishings inside the command tent were quite simple. Apart from a long table in the center and a cot in the corner, there was only a huge map of the Sacred Tree Forest region hanging on the wall facing the entrance.

The newly established Giants Kingdom is extremely lacking in talent and has no ability to draw military maps on its own. Even this map was seized from the Northern Garrison.

However, the terrain of the forest area is quite complex. Even with the strength of the Northern Garrison at the time, it was impossible to conduct high-precision mapping. Later, as Oreg led his troops to Ottina, he blocked the original roads and set up a large number of outposts in the northern part of the forest, which immediately reduced the already limited reference value of the map by half.

At this point, in the upper half of the map, the staff officers used red pencils to mark dozens of punctuation marks, all of which were the outposts and fortifications of the Northern Expeditionary Army that the scouts had recently discovered. They also used blue lines to roughly trace several curves, which were considered the relatively reliable northward routes in the current simulation.

Near the 9th temporary outpost, which both sides attach great importance to, a large area of ​​markings appeared in a jagged pattern. The Fourth Legion had already deployed three elite thousand-man squads to that area, and Oreg's side was not to be outdone. Judging from the records of the past two days of fighting, the other side had also sent at least a dozen heroes to lead the defense.

Yuno stepped into the tent and saw Ophelia's back as she pondered over the map. He stopped five steps behind her and bowed respectfully, "My lord."

Ophelia turned around. In this guise, she was not wearing the black silk, and her naturally alluring face was framed by a pair of eyes as black as night.

“Lord Yuno, we both serve the royal court, and there is no difference in rank between us. Such formality makes me feel somewhat embarrassed.” “What are you saying, my lord?” Yuno waved his hands repeatedly, laughing heartily. “While you and I are both progenitors, the weight of one progenitor is vastly different from another. When you served His Majesty, I hadn’t even grasped the basics of evolving into a giant. If I weren’t worried about the royal court’s criticism, I would have followed the old human custom and apprenticed under you. There’s no reason for such formality.”

Ophelia ignored the almost fawning compliments, showing neither delight nor displeasure to embarrass Yuno. She simply smiled faintly, gesturing for Yuno to sit at the long table, and then sat down opposite him, calmly saying, "Since Lord Yuno has arrived, I presume there are results regarding the matter I asked you to investigate last time?"

“Exactly!” Yuno sat on only half of his buttocks, gave a wry smile and said, “I complained to you last time that the royal court clearly does not trust a surrendered subject like me who is of human origin, so they deliberately arranged this inexplicable and difficult task for me. At least this time we have found something, and you can report it to us so that we can finish our work.”

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket, pulled out two documents, and pushed them across the table toward Ophelia, saying, "Please take a look, my lady."

Ophelia had previously instructed him to investigate the specific reasons for the disappearance of the two original members near the 9th temporary outpost, but in the end, the key point that the Fourth Legion was going to investigate was this. If it were so easy to investigate, the two sides in the north-south confrontation would not have been able to find out the results after so long.

Therefore, she just made up an excuse to get rid of him, so that he wouldn't complain about the royal court every day. She also bought herself some time to thoroughly understand Yuno's background and intentions, and to wait for "herself" and Lucia to take their places as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, Yuno produced a result so quickly.

The first document that came into view seemed to be a copied historical record. If Lani were here, she would immediately recognize that the report Yuno had taken out was an excerpt from the "World Geographical Survey Report of Eternal Calendar 495". Although it was not as comprehensive as the ancient book preserved by Kalia, it contained a lot of research and interpretation by later generations.

Yuno's report also indicates the existence of a central node for the Furnace Leyline beneath the Sacred Tree Forest, but with an additional detail—

The so-called "furnace ley lines" are mostly enveloped by a crystalline layer of pure runes, which cannot be shaken except by the power of gods. Only a very few key nodes have fissures left over from the Star and Moon Era, which can be used for internal and external communication.

However, even in the areas where these fissures are located, they are far from the surface and filled with thick layers of rock and high-temperature magma, making them almost insurmountable by conventional means.

Upon reading this, Ophelia was already in a state of turmoil.

It wouldn't be surprising if this report came from one of the three dynasties, or even from Charlegios, but it should never have ended up in Juno's hands.

She raised her head and looked deeply at Yuno, only to see that he still had that kind and respectful look, smiling and gesturing for her to continue reading.

The second document is much simpler in terms of content.

It was a super-large magic array design with an extremely ingenious and complex structure. The methods used in it included both divine magic and magic. Countless magic gems and golden dewdrops, which served as the core of power supply, were scattered throughout. Divine power and magic power operated in a clear distinction between them, together supporting an arcane magic array whose effect could be described as a masterpiece of craftsmanship.

"With Your Majesty's vision, you should be able to see at a glance that this is the forbidden gate that allows you and me to step into the furnace's ley lines."

　I had a check-up a couple of days ago and was diagnosed with moderate to severe COPD. I think it was a misdiagnosis. I'm going to Beijing for a follow-up check-up tomorrow. I also have some family matters to take care of. I'll probably be back to update around the 25th or 26th.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)