Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 541 Brewing
North Gmir, Egra Peak, Karen's army encampment.

After slaying the giant serpent, Princess Lelana rushed back to Dydas that same day to take over her sister's command at the front lines. Queen Full Moon herself was still recovering from her old ailment, and after confronting Radagan and the New Party heroes for several days, her condition was showing signs of worsening. Until she was completely cured, she had to return to Starmoon City to recuperate.

Fulsanx was about to join the Mongtmont brothers in rushing to the aid of the North, but considering that the volcanic region had just been pacified and the army was not yet firmly established, in order to prevent the Golden Dynasty from launching a counterattack against South Gmir, he led several thousand elite troops back to Karen in advance, replacing Lani to go north, in order to quickly find a way to open up the ley lines.

Thus, in just two or three days, Mongot and Mongo naturally became the supreme commanders of the garrison, and for a time, the core area of ​​the volcano centered on Mount Egret suddenly presented an atmosphere that was completely incomprehensible to outsiders.

The sons of the ominous signs removed their heavy armor and threw aside their weapons, enthusiastically dismantling the palaces and halls that Egri had spent over a thousand years building. They then transported the dismantled bricks, stones, and timber to the surrounding mountain passes to construct defensive fortifications along the Yatan line.
This is actually quite normal, but what's outrageous is that the snake people, who should have been under strict supervision as prisoners, also joined the engineering army. Not only did they work hard and sweat profusely, but they also often put their arms around the evil omen, laughing and joking, just like half-brothers!

The culprit behind all this—Monge—was carrying a beam weighing several tons as he jumped off the eaves of the Serpent God's main temple. This ominous second prince dusted off his hands, took a bucket-sized bowl of rice from his attendant, and squatted down on the edge of the cliff to eat.

"Mmm, snake meat is so delicious!" Munger mumbled indistinctly. "By the way, did they add the right amount of ingredients to everyone else's food?"

"Yes, it's been added. As His Highness instructed, everyone's bowl contains at least 150 grams of the Serpent God's remains. By the way, when Prince Montget inspected the kitchen, he frowned and scolded us for messing around, saying that we had to make one first, and only after he tasted it and confirmed it was okay could we distribute it to the rest of the kitchen."

"The results of it?"

"Uh, His Highness Montgomery didn't say, but he did tell us we had to eat twice more."

"Tch, my brother is just a hypocrite. I told him a long time ago that after we wiped out those hopeless fanatics, the remaining snake people were all slowly mutated by Egrid's divine power. The principle is similar to our evil omen. As long as we explain the situation and the reasons, we can all be good brothers."

"But just a few days ago they were believers in the snake god, and now they're being forced to eat the remains of their own deity? Isn't that a bit—"

"What's wrong with that? This is called making the most of resources! Since everyone's mutations have stabilized anyway, we might as well absorb some of the divine power from Egret's half-body and grow stronger so we can fight the Rodel people. You guys just spout nonsense. When my brother brought this up yesterday, I told him, 'Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself? With our appearance, how much uglier can we get after eating this? Does he become Lucia if he doesn't eat it?'"

The attendant, himself a son of bad omens, had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept his prince's twisted logic, while also genuinely admiring his prince's shamelessness.

Yesterday, when His Highness Montgomery threw you upside down into the ground and kicked your ass, you weren't acting all high and mighty like this.

"Cough cough." Two familiar coughs came from behind.

"Your Highness! I just remembered I have important matters to attend to at the camp, so I must take my leave now!"

The squire immediately tapped his breastplate in a knightly salute that sounded like the beating of a drum, then turned and bowed again to the approaching Mongot before retreating to the camp without looking to the side, almost marching in formation.

Mongert's rough face twitched twice, and he looked at him with an unfriendly expression. Mongert, like an old, dilapidated mechanical doll lacking lubrication, stiffly turned his neck inch by inch and awkwardly laughed, "Ha, ha, brother... elder brother."

"Weren't you supposed to be meeting Lord Ingwell? How come you have time to come here for an inspection? Hahaha."

Montgomery glanced at his brother’s enormous snake meat rice and said expressionlessly, “We’ve already received Lord Ingwell’s outpost troops. I’m afraid if we don’t come back soon, you might dare to organize a few thousand people to eat the remains of the giant snake today, and tomorrow you might dare to incite thirty thousand people to line up and urinate on the golden tree.”

Monger's eyes lit up, but seeing his brother's eyebrows about to rise, he immediately lost his temper, scratched the back of his head and laughed, "This, how could this be? Brother, you know that I have always been supremely loyal to the Golden Tree. I will fight anyone who dares to tarnish my faith!"

"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense!"

Mongert knew he was worlds apart from his brother in terms of shamelessness, so he stopped pretending, nudged his brother to the side with his bottom, and grabbed the biggest, freshest strip of snake meat from the bowl, stuffing it into his mouth, chewing a few times, and swallowing. "You did a good job recruiting prisoners this time. I definitely couldn't have done it this quickly—"

No sooner had he uttered a compliment than Monger saw a dark tail sticking up in the air behind him. Immediately, he punched Monger on the head in annoyance and scolded, "I haven't finished yet! Don't take advantage of my kindness. I have to remind you, you need to consider the whole picture and analyze things carefully before you do anything! If you're always so rash and reckless, you'll just have to wait to fall down!"

"Hey, I know, I was just being a little clever." Monger stood up straight after being hit, and his attitude of admitting his mistake was excellent.

Upon hearing this, Montgomery's expression softened slightly, but then he added, "For matters requiring great wisdom, with you, Lucia, Lani, and that kid Lakad all at once, so many heads in the wings, what do we need me for? Just like you expect Marlenia to use her brain—hey, hey, hey, talk things out, don't resort to violence so easily. You're so high and mighty! You're not so rude and reckless! Oops, I was wrong, I'll change! I'll change, okay?"

After a flurry of emotional exchanges, the two brothers, now close friends again, sat down side by side once more.

Montgomery cracked his knuckles and said seriously, "Seriously, Lord Ingwell set off before us and has already cleared out all the bandits, outlaws, and remnants of the cult around the volcano. He will be able to lead his troops to join our army by tomorrow morning at the latest. Also, judging by the time, Lani should arrive tonight."

"Hmm, I understand." Munger rubbed his swollen cheeks, using his divine power to reduce the swelling and pain, and replied with a wronged expression, "Why do you think I have to subdue these snake people so quickly? Although their direct combat strength is a bit weaker than ours, they are naturally resistant to high temperatures and can move through some narrow fissures. I have been organizing them to excavate the ley lines left by Egrid for the past two days, just waiting for you to come back."

After hearing this, Mongot's expression became even more "amiable," and he smiled and said, "Very good. As soon as Lani arrives, we will explore the depths of the ley lines and make sure to open up the road to the north as soon as possible."

"Speaking of which, don't you think Radagan's recent actions are strange, bro?"

Monger put down his rice bowl, wiped his mouth, and said, "Apart from the 150,000-strong Dynasty fleet led by Duke Kelly and heading south to the Hoslau Islands, Radagan himself has only been leading his main force of over 200,000 men, stalling the Kalia in Dikedas. There hasn't been a single probing skirmish these past few days. Earlier, it could be said that they were unsure of the situation and unwilling to engage in a direct war with the Kalia too early, but now that we've flattened the volcano, if you were in the New Party, what would you do?"

“While we are still establishing a foothold, we should gather at least 30,000 elite troops to launch a surprise attack on Karen, cut off the connection between Gmir and Dydas, and at the same time make it appear as if we are going to attack the Pelum Fortress at all costs, at least creating the impression that we could block the return route of the 100,000-strong army of Kalia at any time,” Mongot analyzed.

"Regarding the Hoslau Islands, Duke Kylier should also bypass the heavily fortified North Ningmgford in Ratan and take advantage of the Dynasty's fleet's naval superiority to launch a strong attack on Galid, at least taking down Torrens Port. This would allow them to either advance and conquer North Galid or retreat to defend the Storm Sea. In this way, not only would the Caria army be caught in a dilemma, but the Lance priests and the ancient dragon fleet would also be forced to return to their positions, thus returning the strategic initiative to them."

“That’s exactly the point,” Munger clapped his hands. “Ultimately, before Lucia returned, the New Party had more mobile forces and stronger combat capabilities. After the Mad Fire incident in the capital, everyone turned hostile, and the New Party struck first. How could they back down halfway through a fight? Although Radagan and those New Party nobles are a bunch of idiots when it comes to their beliefs, they were forged in the real battles of unification. They’re not ruthless militarily. They couldn’t possibly not have thought of these things, could they?”

Mongot frowned and said, "Priest Fol also mentioned these suspicions to me before. At that time, they speculated that Radagan was hiding some kind of backup plan that could overturn the situation, either an Order Messenger under Alpha or colluding with heretical sects in secret. But now it seems that apart from secretly contacting Egraine a few times and returning empty-handed, they really haven't done anything."

"If this drags on any longer, by the time we've established a foothold in the volcano, and Rataen and Michaela have solidified their southern and eastern borders, once Lucia returns, even if all those divine messengers possess demigod-level combat power, they won't be able to withstand the combined attack from all sides outside the altar. Could it be that Radagan has actually started drafting surrender documents in bed ahead of time?"

“Impossible,” Monger scoffed. “Given our ‘His Majesty’s’ loyalty to the Golden Tree, he would rather blow up Rodel and half of the Altar than leave it to anyone else.”

"If you ask me, he's either shameless and has reached an agreement with the giants to make sure they can kill Lucia in the North, or he's holding back some big secret and is afraid of making a move that might backfire. Maybe it's both."

Monger remained silent. Although Monger's words were a bit rough, they were exactly what he was thinking, and he was thinking about things on a deeper level.

In the final battle of the Shattered Stars, Lucia, carrying the will of almost half of the borderlands, rebelled against the supreme will. In that confrontational situation, their mother, the Eternal Queen Marika, chose to stand behind Lucia, even at the cost of angering Alpha and unleashing the blessing of the Law of Life.

Although this war has a wider reach, its intensity is far less than the last one. Why then did Mother choose to retreat and remain asleep within the Golden Tree until now?

What is Radagan planning? And what is Mother avoiding?
“Whatever they want to do, all we can do is speed things up,” he said, quickly getting up and brushing the dust off his robes. “We’ll go into the ley lines first, then hand over the camp to Lord Ingwell, and have Lani meet us directly in the depths of the rift.”

　Would it be better to change it to 3k words per chapter? That would make it easier for everyone to use chapter cards.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)