Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1901, 1873. Engineering Strength
The power of the Golden Dynasty was fully unleashed. After the assassination of the Golden Prince and the devastating blow to the dynasty, the Age of Gods immediately went berserk as if in a stress response.

The knights thundered out of the gates of Rodel, their menacing appearance making no one want to stand in their way.

In order to increase the success rate of the ritual to save Godwin's soul, after a brief discussion, the knights who were loyal to the Golden Prince believed that simply setting up a shrine in the deep roots was not enough.

Godwin's personal charisma was enough to quell the war with Gu Long in the midst of battle. People were willing to give their lives for him, even to the point of their souls being unable to return to the tree, meaning they would die a terrible death. Such people were numerous.

Since so many knights are willing to cut off their own heads for their lord and let their souls linger in the same place, why just build a shrine?
—They not only want to build many shrines, but also plan to make these shrines mobile and spread them throughout the entire border area!

Just to increase the success rate.

"Boom!"

On a plot of land in the city on the outskirts of Rodel.

With the prayers of the clergy of the Golden Tree and the technical support provided by the Golden Clan, those massive stones seemed to possess independent life, breaking free from the earth as a whole.

These enormous earthen and stone creatures resemble tortoises thirty to forty meters tall, carrying the buildings of the outer city of Rodel on their backs, while their bodies are mainly composed of huge stones.

A huge, specially made bell hangs from the lower part of the building's trunk, emitting a deep and resonant chime as it ticks.

Knights and craftsmen busied themselves on the tortoise's back, transforming the structure there into a mortuary.

Because the building itself was backed by Rodel's architecture, the project progressed very quickly.

...and on a very large scale!
How big exactly?
The land near the inner city of Rodel has been excavated to reveal a level of geological transformation!

Tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of tons of rock are activated and freed from the land!
This clearly hollowed out a large part of Rodel!

The earth and rocks churned, the sound of rubble rolling down and the rushing of water flowing into newly formed depressions and siltation mingled together, creating a magnificent sound that seemed to resonate throughout the entire Altai Plateau!
"Thump thump~ Bang~"

These "walking mausoleums," designed for easy movement, are accompanied by the heavy footsteps and the swaying of the large bells beneath their bellies.

Standing atop the inner city wall, looking down at the Golden Dynasty, Lan En watched as they completed a massive earthmoving project, a feat of immense scale, in just a few hours.

One by one, the wandering mausoleums emerged from the depressions in the earth caused by their own birth.

The earth of Rodel was excavated to the size of a small mountain, two hundred meters high!
In the future, this huge and abrupt depression may accumulate melted snow from the northern snow-capped mountains of the Altai Plateau, forming a small lake.

The Golden Dynasty, this prosperous divine dynasty, on the very first day after being attacked from an unknown source, displayed such power in just one royal city.

The earth trembled, and the wandering shrine was led out of the gates of Rodel and began to roam the entire borderland.

Their footsteps and the sound of bells echoed far into the sky.

And around them, many knights loyal to the Golden Prince have already begun to draw their swords and commit suicide.

They wore ornaments on their backs similar to those of the Polish Winged Hussars in the history of Lann's homeland, which were the curse they had to bear to become the [Temple Guardians] and prevent their souls from returning to the tree.

The feathers adorning the back came from a creature called the "Bird of Death" from the border region.

That was something that handled the souls of the dead in the cycle of life and death in this world before the Golden Age of Law was established.

However, since the Golden Law was put into operation by the Elden Ring, death itself has been sealed away and disappeared, and the Bird of Death has also vanished without a trace.

The reason why not all of these knights cut off their heads, but only some of them, is because the Golden Dynasty only has so many dead bird feathers stored in its warehouse for who knows how many years.

In an instant, not only did the earth shake violently, but human heads rolled and blood flowed like a river.

However, neither the knights waiting to have their heads cut off nor the residents of Rodel City were greatly affected by this situation.

The knights were accustomed to fighting, bloodshed, and the grand scale of the wars of the Age of Gods.

The residents, however, remained insensitive to death during the Golden Age of Law.

Seeing one's own kind being dismembered or disemboweled evokes feelings of unease and disgust, because living beings associate the death of their fellow beings with their own.

However, the people of the Golden Tree did not believe that these people would truly 'die,' so naturally they had no feeling about it.

The road to the deepest roots has been opened, and it is said that Queen Marika and King Fraldagan personally led the way to transport the Golden Prince's body down there.

The knights who followed all carried cursed ornaments made of bird feathers, seemingly preparing to commit suicide as soon as they arrived at their destination, so that their souls would linger and become spirit knights.

The entire Rodel was in an uproar overnight. The Faded Ones were no exception, and were even busier due to their higher status and special status as direct subordinates of the Two Fingers.

But even with all their busy schedules, the Faded Ones still managed to find an opportunity to hold a brief meeting on the inner walls of Rodel during this special and crucial moment.

The moonlight was fading, and the background behind the golden tree began to brighten slightly.

Looking into the distance, a dozen enormous walking shrines had been led out of the gates of Rodel. Their footsteps shook the ground, raising a long trail of dust and smoke that rose into the sky on the Altar Plateau.

The smoke rose so high that it even covered the walls of Rodel, shooting straight into the sky.

However, the Faded Ones on the inner city walls did not react to this.

After all, they were all veterans who had experienced the war of giants and the real power struggles of dynasties.

The scenes of monsters and demons in the war are not so strange now.

Although the base material for the Strolling Temple was made in a hurry, it directly activated the soil and stone within the city of Rodel, and its location was right next to the inner city wall.

However, even standing on the city wall at this moment, people still did not feel any instability.

The stroll through the Mausoleum demonstrates the engineering prowess of the Golden Dynasty in emergency situations, but the walls of Rodel represent the pinnacle of that engineering capability.

Since its construction, Rodel has never been completely breached. Even in the most critical battle, when the ancient dragons raided Rodel, they only managed to cross the first wall but failed to breach the inner city.

On the contrary, the Great Ancient Dragon Granzanx lost his life on this.

Compared to the destructive power of the ancient dragon, these earth and rock cavities caused by terrain changes are nothing.

Just now, Lann handed over the black-knife assassin he had caught on the road to a gloomy figure among the Faded Ones. After being introduced, he learned that this person was named Krepp and was a two-finger spy.

"Isn't there any explanation?" Lan En asked, frowning. "The Queen and the King Consort were both in the royal palace, yet they only unleashed their power after the incident, weakening the power of the veil of concealment. Even if they didn't notice it at first, their reaction speed afterward was far too slow, wasn't it?"

[Dragonlance] Vic was very approachable. Even though it was their first meeting, he still chatted warmly with Lann: "It's not appropriate for us outsiders to talk about the affairs of the Golden Clan. I only heard from the Queen that they were inside the Golden Tree before, so they were slow to react to things outside."

“No one knows what the Queen and the Prince Consort were doing inside the Golden Tree,” Krep added in a low voice. “But it’s said that when they came out, before they even knew the prince had been murdered, their expressions were already grim.”

“Krepp!” Vic reminded him again, “I told you, this is not a topic we should discuss!”

Lan En also held a wary attitude towards this, after all, the Golden Clan was not only an ordinary royal family, but also a divine race that controlled the highest power of the Golden Dynasty.

Criticizing the Gold Clan without grounds or necessity will only bring trouble.

So the Witcher smoothly changed the subject: "What about those assassins called Blackblades? Are you planning to torture them?"

“Of course,” Krep chuckled softly, “I will certainly treat them well.”

His malicious laughter made almost everyone around him unconsciously frown and feel uncomfortable.

“But not now.” Gideon Ophniel interrupted him coldly and rationally. “All our energy now, and indeed all the energy of the Golden Dynasty, must be devoted to rescuing the prince.”

"I don't care about the cost, any cost! As long as we can save Godwin!"

Sir Hundred's words made those around him frown even more deeply.

After all, that statement was far too absolute.

“It’s not that complicated, Gideon,” Dolores interjected. “We all know who did it, we just need to find some evidence…”

Bai Zhi turned his head, peering into the darkness beneath his helmet at his old friend: "So what, Dolores? Did you think I didn't know who you were talking about?"

“We captured the Black Knife Assassins alive and seized their black knives. The death runes on them were buried deep inside through some kind of ritual. Do you think I wouldn’t understand who the mark left by that ritual points to?”

Dolores looked surprised: "So, you..."

“I know, of course I know, because I am the [Hundred Wisdoms],” Gideon Ophniel said with an unquestionable tone. “But even if we know, and even if we find complete evidence, what can we do in this situation?”

"What are you doing?" Vic asked with an absurd expression. "We've found the murderer who killed Godwin! Of course, we should report to the Queen and have her order his arrest!"

(End of this chapter)