Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 530 Ripples
Lucia lightly stomped his feet on the snow, the soles of his leather boots squeezing the glistening snow crust, making a soft rustling sound. Looking down, the snowfield in the forest was like a spotless mirror, and in the dim light of dawn, it seemed that even his face could be clearly reflected.

This place is located north of the 9th temporary outpost. Judging by the distance, the battle that killed two of the first Titans should have taken place nearby. However, after multiple unsuccessful investigations by both humans and Titans, the two sides maintained a tacit understanding and cleared out the center of this vortex to prevent further unnecessary bloodshed.

It is said that the new giants are just a bunch of savage and bloodthirsty beasts. However, as time goes by, the attributes of "civilization" grow like fungi in the cracks of rocks after rain, uncontrollably emerging from the savagery and violence they depend on for survival. Starting with Charlegios and down to the lowest-ranking low-level giants, their tribal habits are becoming less and less, and they are becoming more and more like a real new civilization.

If this newly risen royal court had not relied on distorting the growth paths of other races and alienating other creatures to increase its population, if they had not committed those horrific and numerous blood debts against the Northerners, if Charlegios had met him a little earlier.
Lucia had also fantasized that if they did this, they wouldn't have to fight each other.
Would the blood of the Northern Expeditionary Army, the Thor Storm Army, and the Samir Knights not have to be spilled on this cold land? Would the Giant King be able to join the other progenitors and first generation, and together with him, replicate the glorious feat of all races pointing their swords at the evil god at the border, and draw his sword to strike the supreme will in the inevitable war between humans and gods in the future?

In the end, he could only laugh at himself for his unrealistic thinking.

Although he did not agree with the saying "to fight external enemies, one must first pacify internal ones," and hoped to unite all forces in the border region that could be united, just as Sky City had allied with the Eternal City back then, he also had to admit that since the end of the last forbidden war, thousands of years had passed, and those who had fought side by side had long since parted ways, with some of them having gone too far astray on the wrong path.

At this point in the battle, both sides had their hands stained with each other's blood. The only thing they could do was to muster their last bit of strength and plunge their daggers into each other's hearts.

Only those who survive are qualified to decide the future of the mortal world.

He believed that from the moment the Jedi Seal rose from the ground, Chareleus had the same thoughts as him. Therefore, although they respected and even admired each other, they had to fight to the death time and time again.

Now it seems that the initiative for this final battle lies on this mysterious land beneath our feet, the land that silently swallowed the two first Titans.

Lucia silently expanded his mental vision to its maximum while concealing his aura to its lowest point. He was almost as if he had merged into the fleeting breeze at the turn of the night, sensing every rustle and movement within a radius of a thousand meters.

He was certain that whether it was the mysterious forces that killed the two first-generation members, the garrison and remnants of the Holy Temple that had suddenly disappeared on the far north ice plains, or Olivia and the others who had suddenly lost contact with Katopella, the only possibility that they were able to evade repeated searches by the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Fourth Legion of Giants was that they had hidden in some kind of extremely ingenious spatial barrier.

The reasoning behind this judgment is simple: these people have disappeared without a trace, so they could only have been teleported away. The nearest teleportation portal is located in Ortina, 1,600 kilometers away, and it has temporarily lost its effectiveness due to the Jedi Seal.

As for teleporting someone out of thin air beyond the northern border through the seal, it is absolutely impossible unless the father, who controls the laws of time and space, comes in person.

Therefore, the person must still be within the northern borders and has used some kind of spatial barrier to escape into a region isolated from the outside world.

In the North, the most likely answer is the furnace ley line buried deep underground.

This makes the problem very clear: the Northern Expeditionary Army, the Giant Royal Court, and the mysterious forces are all vying for control of the ley lines.

The giants rely on the power of the furnace to maintain the Jedi Seal, mass-produce their kind, and build up their top-tier combat power. He, on the other hand, wants to cut off the giants' runes and then find a way to bring outside reinforcements into the North along the ley lines, and wipe out the Starfall Peak Cemetery in one battle.

The mysterious forces that haven't yet revealed themselves are after nothing more than this largest and strongest rune source besides the Golden Tree. A single portion of it has created a Giant King and ten Progenitors. If this rune were poured into the bodies of high-ranking heroes who have reached the end of their paths, it would be tantamount to creating gods again. Thinking of this, Lucia stopped in her tracks, suddenly lost in thought.

What about Katpera?
What she sought was to devour this rune, heal the severe injuries she sustained at the end of the War of the Gods, and thus return to her peak.
If that's all there is to it, why can't we just tell him the truth?
If they were afraid that he would also be eyeing these runes, and deliberately concealed information to avoid having multiple competitors, then why did they send him to his doomed death, and then spare no effort to support him all the way, and even recently spent a huge amount of money to save his life?
As the lord of Sky City Fam Azra and the new king of the Ancient Dragon Dynasty, he is no longer the same person he was when he was in Rodel, under the protection of Lance. Now, every decision he makes affects the fate of countless people.

Conversely, this responsibility, even heavier than that of Sky City, also compels him to never let emotions cloud his judgment in any matter.

But if you asked him to interpret everything Katpela did from any utilitarian perspective, he would firmly believe it was a defilement of her.

After a moment of stunned silence, Lucia wearily closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let the icy cold air fill her lungs, burying all her increasingly uncontrollable distracting thoughts under the snow.

Given enough time, he believed that they would eventually reach an answer, regardless of who ultimately provided it.

Just then, in this mental vision that he had forcibly suppressed to a state of complete stillness, he suddenly "saw" a beam of light flash by in the distance.

Lucia suddenly awoke with a start; it was the very power fluctuation he had been tracking all along.

The spatial barrier hidden deep in the snowfield must be based on some kind of divine magic or magical array. However, both the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Fourth Legion of Giants are full of experts in the fields of divine magic and magic. The fact that both sides failed to achieve their goal several times suggests that either the mysterious group possessed technology far superior to that of the Giant Royal Court and the three great dynasties, or they used some kind of special array that simultaneously mobilized divine and magical power, making it impossible for outsiders to find their whereabouts no matter which fluctuation they investigated individually.

Lucia took a step and his figure transformed into a streak of silver light, shooting away at the same time, his mind racing.

Unified spells? Impossible—he had just discussed this with Katarina. Even the Eternal Civilization at its peak had only just begun to touch upon this area, and in the present world, the person closest to the origin of magic and prayer was probably himself.

That must be some kind of extremely complex composite divine magic array. He had dabbled in this subject during his studies at the royal private school, but without the support of a unified spell, divine power and magical power are mostly naturally mutually exclusive. Interference between the two circuits could easily obliterate the caster. Therefore, very few composite magic array blueprints exist in the three great dynasties; almost all of them are from the stockpile preserved before the War of the Gods. Related records have also been largely lost, and only a fraction of them are still usable today.

That group of mysterious people dug out a "forbidden door" that allowed free movement between the earth's veins and the outside world from this pile of relics from the old era.
In the mental vision, the barrier flickered twice. Just when Lucia thought it was about to disappear underground again, hundreds and thousands of spell circuits actually appeared on the ground in reality!

A flash of light appeared, and a figure that had just stirred ripples in his heart inexplicably emerged.

This time, Katpera wasn't wearing the black veil that covered her eyes. Her stunningly beautiful face revealed a pair of deep, dark eyes that blinked at him as she chuckled softly, "Well, it seems I was one step ahead after all, hmm?"

(End of this chapter)