Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 544 Three Days
The so-called "core area" is the central hub of the thousands of miles of underground furnace veins beneath the Sacred Tree Forest.

Yuno's camp was very large, but it was empty at this time, with almost no one in sight. Seeing this, Yuno explained, "The unsealing array is about to be activated, so I have already ordered my subordinates to evacuate in batches. I alone am enough to handle the handover properly for the two emperors."

“That’s quite a thoughtful plan,” Katpera chuckled. “Lead the way.”

"Yes."

The three of them made their way into the camp. The closer they got to the center of the camp, the denser the network of rivers flowing on the ground became. The "river water" flowing in the river gradually changed from scorching hot magma to a misty, gentle liquid rune.

The Blazing Sun Crystal and Azure Moon Crystal, revered as noble gemstones in the outside world, are as common as pebbles on a mudflat here. Fist-sized star amber is also frequently seen. At this location, even Lucia and Katopella can feel the obvious activity of divine power within their bodies.

If you soak in these rivers for a hundred or two hundred years, even an earthworm could probably be transformed into a snake god by the inexhaustible and enormous runes.

"I wonder if Your Majesties have heard of an interesting story—" On the way to the unsealing altar, Yuno seemed to be in a very good mood because he was about to complete his mission, and even acted as a tour guide for Lucia and Katpela.

"The serpent goddess Egraine, who has ruled the volcano for two thousand years, is said to have been a primordial being born from a section of the Rune River that flowed in Gemir after Saint Hethenes blocked the ley lines of the furnace. Over the long years, it gradually developed sentience and was born. Two thousand years have passed, and even if it does nothing, it has accumulated a near-divine power."

"I've heard of it, and I even met it once. I borrowed some things from it," the Queen said lightly. "Back then, it was just a showy figurehead with divine power. I wonder if it has improved at all over the years. If it's still that unlucky, all-powerful but weak-willed creature, I guess Marika will be too lazy to let it roam freely anymore. It will probably arrange for some demigod to kill it in the next couple of years, which would be a good way to make use of it."

As she said this, she deliberately glanced at Lucia, as if to say that she had long seen through his plans in Karen and that she hadn't gone to rob him in the past two years out of respect.

"Ha, the Queen of Death truly lives up to her name. Your Majesty's words make all our usual tricks seem insignificant. The two of you are handling matters of great importance concerning the fate of the world." Yuno didn't feel embarrassed at all, and simply smiled and agreed.

"In short, whether they are trash or heroes, in the face of those serpent gods, demigods, and noble beings like the two emperors who are born extraordinary, people like me and the false king Charlegios, who are born ants, would naturally resort to dirty and despicable means to climb up. It is only natural that we cannot catch the eye of the two emperors."

He looked at Lucia and said with a warm smile, "I only hope that Your Majesty will not be so ruthless in pursuing this traitor in the future. If I can survive a little longer, when you step onto that more dangerous battlefield in the future, even a despicable person like me may have a day when I am put to good use."

Lucia smiled faintly and did not reply.

Finally, as evening approached, after rounding several mountain corners, a black hill surrounded by a network of rivers appeared in the distance.

The underground world shows no sign of day and night, and the sky is always shrouded in oppressive darkness. However, here, scattered torches adorn the area around the almost golden river, and together with the faint light emitted by the pyroxene, they illuminate the surrounding mountains and rivers for miles around. Only the central hill seems unaffected by the light, remaining perpetually a somber, pitch-black expanse.

Only when he got closer could Lucia make out the full view of the "hill".

Its main body should be the charred skull of some kind of giant beast, but no corresponding record can be found in any historical materials that Lucia has consulted.

The behemoth's protruding jaws and broken fangs resembled those of a canine creature, while its cheeks were lined with gill bones similar to those of a fish. Even though countless years had passed since its active era, one could still feel the savage, bloodthirsty aura that sent chills down one's spine.

"The Beast Heridon, an ancient behemoth that roamed the Altan Plateau, was the totem of faith for at least twenty ancient kingdoms," Yuno introduced with an uplifting tone. "Unfortunately, it had only just begun to condense a wisp of divinity when it was slain by Saint Hethenes with a single blow, its head used as the linchpin of the leyline array. In my early years, I searched through the entire library of the Royal Library of Rodel, but I couldn't find even a trace of related records. It was only later, after borrowing many ancient texts from the Gulag from the former dynasties of the giants, that I learned the story behind it. By the way, there are a total of seventy-one such linchpins."

"The reason we chose its location to construct the unsealing array isn't because it's strong, but precisely because over the past two thousand years, its power has been depleted more severely than other nexus arrays. Furthermore, the Royal Court's activation of the Absolute Seal consumed excessive amounts of runes, which is why it revealed a slight flaw here." "Those two half-dead lumps of rotten flesh over there," the Queen said, looking at two altars covered in rune circuits on the side of the hill, "are those Marion and Steinbeck who went missing recently?"

Following her gaze, two first-generation giants, each tens of meters tall, were revealed in their true forms and hung on crosses above the altar, one on each side. Hundreds of crystal conduits were inserted into their bodies, channeling the molten, scorching blood of the first generation into the dense array of runes beneath their feet.

Those two pairs of eyes, once majestic, fierce, and arrogant, had long lost the liveliness of intelligence and life; only a trace of fear and trembling remained in their depths.

"Yes," Yuno replied, bowing his head.

"Why did you choose those two?"

Yuno raised his head, revealing a bright smile, and said, "During the Starfall Coup, those two fools were cowardly and ran away beforehand, missing the reward from the false king Chareleus. Afterwards, when I was made an ancestor, they came and cursed me, using their seniority as giant nobles to force me to recommend them to the false king to fill the vacancy of the ancestor's position. I have always been kind to others, so I went along with it and recommended the two of them to Chareleus to go to the western front to investigate the military situation in the direction of Ottina. What happened afterward is known to both of you."

Lucia used his mental power to sense the condition of the two original generation members. In terms of power fluctuations, they could still be considered to have a breath left, but in terms of mental fluctuations, they were completely dead, at best they were living dead.

Charlegios, thousands of miles away, was able to accurately sense the changes in their souls. Combined with the information that he had recently re-established the ancestor, it seemed that his old rival now indeed possessed a powerful authority similar to that of Hethenes back then.

"Is the blood of those two giants enough to break Hethenes' seal?"

"Your Majesty, it's still a bit short, but I already ordered the execution of the forty-six giant guards who came with me. Combined with the supplies I had previously collected, it's more than enough."

Throughout his speech, Yuno maintained a respectful and elegant demeanor, even more composed than most people when discussing trivial matters like killing chickens and sheep.

"Let me explain the specific process."

"Yes, I will stand on the teleportation array prepared in the center of the altar shortly. I will use the dual imprints of bloodline and spirit to activate the unsealing array. Before the royal court can react, the runes from the ley lines at the foot of the entire far northern ice plain will flow back to this altar at a speed a hundred times faster than before. About ten percent of these runes will be injected into my body to charge the teleportation array and send me away. After that, the array will automatically continue to operate, temporarily gathering the remaining runes at the core of the altar. How Your Majesties intend to use them is beyond my control."

When will the royal court notice anything amiss?

“There is a rune exit left by Saint Hethenes inside Starfall Peak. The royal court calls it the ‘Forbidden Gate.’ It is not opened unless a great figure above the level of the progenitor needs to use it. In addition, the runes used for the Absolute Seal are also drawn from here.”

"To avoid being discovered immediately, my unsealing formation will only draw runes from the main body of the earth veins. Once the runes have finished flowing back, the remaining runes near the Forbidden Gate will, in principle, still be able to support the operation of the Absolute Seal for about three days."

"Three days later, the seal of the Jedi will be broken, and the royal court will naturally notice the anomaly. Given Charlegios's character, he will probably choose to seize this opportunity and fight His Majesty to the death before the reinforcements from the three great dynasties head north, right?"

"Three days?" Lucia pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's enough. Let's begin."

(End of this chapter)