Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 557 A way to survive
Mountains crumbled, and rivers flowed backward.

Two terrifying, ferocious figures, like ghosts and gods, flashed and fought like lightning amidst the shattered mountains and rivers. Chareleus wielded his magma-like flames with abandon, scorching everything in the world into a molten red. But the heat wave that seemed capable of devouring everything surged to the center of the sky, only to be shattered by another tidal wave of sword light interwoven with starlight and black flames.

"Lucia Sanx!"

Charlegios—or rather, the One-Eyed—let out a bloodshot roar.

Beneath their feet lay the shattered remains of Mosero, torn apart by the aftershocks of the battle. In the distance lay Amotea, bow drawn but unable to keep up with the pace of the fight and thus unable to intervene. A giant king, now comparable to a god, along with two progenitors, arrived with the full force of the Furnace Leyline. What should have been a foolproof and sure-fire victory had turned into another massacre initiated unilaterally by the opponent!

The white dragon, shrouded in black mist and blood-red light, smashed Moselo's invincible chain blade with its fists right in front of him and Amotia, and then blasted the progenitor's body into a burst of flesh and blood fireworks with a devastating claw. Such combat power completely surpassed the level of a monarch, and would even make the gods tremble. It should never have appeared in Lucia now!

His years of growth are not comparable to those of his once invincible father, nor even to those of the two ancient dragon priests of the Sky Temple. Even if such a body possesses the unparalleled talent of the dragon race, how much power can it accumulate in such a short period of time?

The physical power enhanced by the Dragon King's body? No, impossible. Even if you include the divine and demonic power within this kid—

Charlegios suddenly froze.

"God and demon are one." He suddenly uttered in an old, hoarse voice, "Demon and prayer share the same origin?"

"A feat that has been accomplished throughout the ages and by countless ancient sages has failed to achieve, has actually been accomplished by a fledgling dragon that has not yet grown to its full potential?!"

As he finished speaking, his aged voice trembled involuntarily, revealing not only uncontrolled excitement but also a subtle hint of fear that even he himself could not perceive.

He suddenly flew backward, creating a distance of tens of thousands of feet. His fiery red pupils stared at the distant dragon shadow with suspicion. Amodia seized the opportunity and hurriedly fired a rain of dark red arrows to cover the attack. Lucia simply raised his eyes indifferently and snorted coldly. The space within a hundred meters radius instantly twisted into layers of ripples, squeezing and exploding the sky-covering Soul-Locking Arrows in mid-air!

"No. That's just an illusion he created; it's not the true unity of god and demon." Another voice, slightly younger but more serious and somber, rang out. "I can see that the power of law is operating at an extremely high capacity within him. If it were truly a unity of god and demon, that power should point directly to the source, transcending the law itself. How could the law suppress it?"

He stared intently at Lucia, exhaling a breath of foul air tinged with the smell of blood, and said, "After all, that's a realm that even He hasn't reached."

Lucia's eyes narrowed slightly beneath the bone armor that concealed his face. He swung his sword to dispel the lingering divine energy turbulence on its blade, and chuckled, "You're stronger than that old man, but you're not Chareleus's own consciousness—who exactly are you people?"

The middle-aged man was silent for two seconds. It seemed that no one had asked this question for so long that even his violent pupils calmed down for a moment, revealing a deep sense of reminiscence and remembrance.

"My name is Helenmur, the last high priest of the royal court."

He gazed deeply at Lucia and sighed, “I respect His Majesty Pratonsanx and Herald. Now, perhaps I should also address you as His Majesty the Dragon King. Before the lost millennia, my sister Helengard and I both answered the banner of Fam Azra and declared war on the evil god. If I had any other choice, I would not have wanted to be here, nor would I have wanted to be an enemy of His Majesty.”

"However, times have changed. If this mortal world is a grand game of chess, then His Majesty and the other demigods, as the most important pieces, have grown at a speed far exceeding the imagination of the players. Because of this, the war that exists on the chessboard, outside the mortal world, and has continued since the Forbidden War, has become even more intense. I understood after the Battle of Shattered Star that time is running out for all of us in this world."

"In the past, there was more than one path to godhood. As long as one devoted oneself to cultivation and practiced diligently, all races in the world could reach the heavens. But now, the Golden Tree has monopolized almost all the runes in the borderlands. If we delay any longer and allow Alpha to occupy the Furnace Tree and devour everything more and more frantically, it will be tantamount to sitting and waiting for death. But it is also a pipe dream to expect a single king to lead ten progenitors south to Lord Fortress and overturn the table of the Golden Dynasty."

"Therefore, we firmly believe that Marika can no longer be the only god in the world—before that war, which is destined to be even more brutal than the Forbidden War, arrives, whoever can raise a second god comparable to the Eternal Queen with the strength of a nation, will be qualified to protect their people and guide them into the next era." "Perhaps if we had been born two thousand years earlier, before everything became irreversible, my sister, His Majesty, that child Chareleus, and I could have been companions, even comrades-in-arms, learning from each other, catching up with each other, and verifying each other's achievements. We could have opened up countless paths for future generations that were far richer and broader than those of our ancestors."

"Unfortunately, the gods are heartless, and the living are helpless. There are only a few ways to survive. If the giants want to leave, they will not be able to accommodate the dragons and humans. Conversely, the same is probably true for Your Majesty."

Helenmur placed his hand on his chest and bowed deeply. When he looked up again, the gentle composure in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by overwhelming bloodlust and ferocity!
"Therefore, High Priest Helunmur of the Royal Court begs His Majesty the Dragon King to die!"

His final words were quickly drowned out by the roars and howls that broke through the oppression. His body was a mixture of three different wills, to the point that this once valiant and wise giant king seemed to have become a madman with a chaotic mind.

"We should have charged in long ago. You juniors just love to ramble on. No matter how strong he is, he can't be stronger than his father—"

"Using the power of laws to suppress the three elemental forces cannot last long; if we drag this out, we will surely be able to kill him!"

"Shut up!"

"."

With madness in his eyes, Charlegios raised two black suns simultaneously from his palms. The evil flame domain that had once shattered the Queen's spacetime domain with the support of the furnace ley lines expanded once more, churning up surging magma that crashed directly onto the ground, as if carrying a burning sea of ​​fire down from the sky, smashing into the tiny, dust-like Lucia.

Lucia crossed his two swords, bent over to gather his strength, and suddenly unleashed a cross-shaped sword light. In an instant, he sheathed his swords, and with a burst of wings, his figure transformed into a silver lightning bolt and soared into the sky!

A vast and boundless domain unfolded, with the Divine Throne resisting the domain of evil flames, preventing the sea of ​​fire from advancing an inch. At the same time, within a radius of a thousand miles, endless natural divine power and natural magic surged in like a howling wind, and the golden runes within the earth's veins transformed into a reverse-flowing river, stirring up monstrous waves that plunged into the rapidly expanding dragon's body!
In the next instant, the sea of ​​fire engulfed the dragon before it could take flight. Chareleus's eyes lit up with excitement as two black suns, protected by hundreds and thousands of soul-binding arrows, blasted towards the blurry dragon shadow!
brush!
Suddenly, two silver-white dragon claws wrapped in black and red lightning emerged from the sea of ​​fire that should have been melting everything. From the other side of the fire curtain came a cold and furious dragon roar!

Immediately afterward, under the horrified gazes of Charlegios and Amotea, the sea of ​​fire tore a canyon-like rift along the central axis of the two dragon claws, splitting everything in between—the raging fire and magma formed from the power of the evil flames, the already dilapidated spatial barrier, and even the mountains, forests, glaciers, and ley lines within hundreds of miles!
The white dragon, which they had thought was doomed, actually tore open an entire sea of ​​fire!

The crimson dragon eyes flashed past tens of thousands of feet away. Charleus only saw two red tails of light flickering in the air before a destructive claw, far heavier than the one that tore apart Moselo, broke through the spatial barrier, shattered his sternum, and pierced his chest!
whoosh-

Another highly condensed and amplified Soul-Locking Arrow shot out, but Lucia suddenly turned around and crushed it with a claw. Her other claw, which was stuck in Charlegios's chest, suddenly burst out with a large amount of black flames, which quickly burned towards the volcano-like heart!
Suddenly, a sense of extreme danger surged into Lucia's mind. He quickly withdrew his arm and saw that Chareleus opened a single, radiant eye on his abdomen, shooting out a golden beam of light only the thickness of a bowl. Wherever it went, space shattered inch by inch, and the natural divine power and natural magic that surged back were completely annihilated, leaving behind a large area of ​​dark and terrifying spatial cracks!

Both missed their attacks and distanced themselves again. Chareleus regained control of his main consciousness, and his unprecedented combat talent among the giants began to take effect. He tried his best to sense the state of the laws operating within Lucia's body. Although he didn't know what method his old rival had used to temporarily fuse divine power, magical power, and physical power, these three primal forces were too powerful for a monarch-level being. Even if he could temporarily suppress them with his unique multiple laws, it would not last long in the fierce battle.

In other words, even if he can't defeat him head-on for the time being, he can drag it out until the laws of Lucia can no longer suppress the rampaging three elemental forces. He won't even need to take action; the clash between divine power and magical power will be enough to burst him apart!
“You won’t last much longer,” he said. “The Queen of Death is on the verge of death and can barely save herself. Borelius is far away at the frozen lake. The likes of Aurelius are no match for our battle. You can’t kill me in a quarter of an hour, but after that, you will surely die.”

Lucia, now in dragon form, no longer displayed any human expression. He remained completely unresponsive to Chareleus's provocations, which were intended to throw him into disarray. The situation had indeed deteriorated to his disadvantage, but as long as his power didn't spiral out of control—

Suddenly, a crystal-clear, pure white snowflake fell from the sky and landed gently on his brow.

(End of this chapter)