Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1977 1949. Skeleton
"You failed?" Gideon Ofnir asked as Lan En led Qilin out of the elevator entrance. "Our observers spotted the arrival of the Holy Tree Legion."

Sir Hundred's words sounded like an accusation.

But in reality, there is no accountability or punishment mechanism among those who have faded away.

After all, there were only a few people in the Round Table Hall, and they were all heroes who had risen to fame during the War of the Titans.

The faded ones only have one life, and they still have to work hard for the will of the two fingers. How else can they be punished?

Therefore, the task of the faded one was essentially a failure.

They were all chosen by two fingers, those who remained just before their exile, implicitly assuming loyalty and that their agency was sound.

The only reason a task might not be completed is because it was impossible to complete under objective circumstances.

Therefore, even Two Fingers will not hold those who have faded accountable. These warriors remain an important force under His command, and the loss of any one of them would be a great loss to Him.

So Gideon Ophniel's words sound like he's demanding accountability, but actually they have a sense of 'wanting to get accurate intelligence and be on high alert'.

If the Holy Tree Legion also joins the demigod alliance outside the city, the difficulty of defense and the level of deployment for Rodel will obviously be on a completely different level than it is now.

Additional preparations are needed, and we need to start immediately!
Lan En stepped off the elevator leading out of the city and looked around.

On the broad and majestic walls of Rodel, the enormous statues of wise men and knights still stand proudly at intervals.

However, less than a month later, Lan En could already see the scars and damage on these statues.

The originally heavy and majestic stone sculpture was blackened by the fire.

Some statues were blown off, with only their lower bodies remaining standing against the city wall. It's estimated that the upper parts either crashed into the ground below the wall or were recovered by Rodel's garrison.

On the city walls, Rodel soldiers and knights were moving swiftly everywhere.

Huge golden crossbow bolts were placed against weapon racks on the city wall, and they were still being brought up.

Now Lan En also understood the purpose of the incense burner-like structure at the tail of these giant golden crossbow bolts.

Because there were several people dressed as perfumers standing next to the huge crossbows that were set up, pouring a shimmering fragrance powder into their tails.

These enormous crossbow bolts were actually perfumed crossbow bolts.

“The Sacred Tree Legion has indeed arrived, with Malenia leading the army personally, but it may not be a bad thing.” As Lann was speaking, a perfumer hurriedly ran between him and Baizhi. The Witcher stopped to let him pass. “As for the specifics, I need to go back to the inner city first and get a black knife.”

"A black knife? Oh!"

Gideon Ophnil is probably one of the most intelligent people in the region. With just a little thought, he could guess why Lann would immediately go and get a black sword infused with the power of [Destined Death].

"You want to imply that Godwin was killed by a demigod relative? Yes, that's certainly feasible! Marlenia isn't someone who forgives easily."

Sir Hundred Wisdom chuckled softly from inside his helmet.

"Looks like you're good at stirring things up, Lan En. Let's go. We'll handle this together."

"Hmm?" The witcher, leading the Qilin, walked towards the stairs leading from the city wall to the inner city of Rodel, saying as they went, "I'm just going to the inner city and back, is that really necessary? Can you manage?"

Gideon Ofnir walked beside him on the other side of the Qilin, across its neck, and gave a somewhat irrelevant reply: "It's evening now."

As he spoke, Baizhi pointed upwards at the sky.

"What happened tonight? What do you mean?"

"The world, the rules of this world are becoming increasingly unsettling, Lan En." Amidst the sound of Qilin's hooves, Sir Hundred's voice was deep. "The impact of the Queen shattering the Magic Ring is far from over. Let's go, you'll need me to talk to you on the way."

The Witcher was puzzled, but did not refute it.

The two descended the towering city walls, which resembled skyscrapers. Bai Zhi summoned a warhorse from the stables below the walls, mounted it, and rode with Lan En across the vast outer city territory of Rodel towards the inner city.

The outer city of Rodel was actually very spacious, except for the city gate leading to the inner city, which was surrounded by vast golden fields.

This field is so vast that even though a large area of ​​land was hollowed out to build those clusters of shrines that were like small hills, it has become a huge depression in the flat ground.

This field is still quite large.

In the past, during the Golden Age, the armies of generals and border nobles who came from afar to pay tribute and report on their duties would be stationed within the outer city of Rodel.

They set up camp on this golden plain, paid tribute, and then left on their own.

The size of this plain was considerable, given that it served as both a base for large armies and a free-roaming area. As Lann and Gideon Ophnil rode across the plain, the Witcher could see a large cluster of newly erected graves in the northwest direction of the plain.

The small mounds on those graves still had a damp, moist feel to them.

In other worlds, the erection of new graves during a war is nothing unusual and perfectly normal.

But at the border...

"what is that?"

Lann's expression was strange and puzzled as he pointed towards the burial mounds towards Gideon Ofnir.

Who has seen these things since the Golden Law era? Of course they should look very novel.

Meanwhile, Sir Hundred Wisdom's horse followed closely behind the Qilin.

The supernatural darkness beneath his helmet concealed his face, but it was still clear that he was facing Lan En, along with the velvet ball and the unicorn, who were also peering at the burial mound.

"A grave is a place specifically for burying the dead and their corpses."

Actually, this was all quite new to him. He never expected to see things from such an ancient era so long after the Golden Age.

He was unaware that Lann was like him, born before the war of the giants and having witnessed the world before the Golden Age.

Born during the War of the Giants and joining the Golden Dynasty, he immediately enjoyed the blessings of the Golden Law.

So Baizhi even went out of his way to explain the uses of 'graves' to Lan En.

"But now, no one should be able to die anymore, right?"

The Witcher frowned and said, "This is the biggest abnormality in this world today."

“Originally, that should have been the case.” Gideon Ophniel did not immediately refute, but instead agreed before changing the subject, “But now, the Golden Law has collapsed and the Law Circle has shattered.”

"The world today may seem no different from usual on the surface; water is still flowing and flowers are still growing. But the underlying rules of operation are undeniably collapsing."

"And the world cannot tolerate the empty spaces created by the collapse. Naturally, something will always fill those empty spaces. This is an inevitable thing that will happen in the course of the world's operation."

"Now that the Golden Law has failed to address the issue of death in its collapse, the ways that dealt with death in ancient times have re-emerged in the world."

"Did you see the illusory spirit banners standing tall on the battlefield as you traveled here?"

The Witcher nodded, and the plush ball and the Qilin also cast curious glances at him.

"That is something formed from the souls of those who died on the battlefield; it is the final resting place of their souls. If they died elsewhere, their souls would form illusory tombstones."

Sir Hundred's tone revealed a sense of reminiscence: "In the past, in that central region where death converged, illusory spirit tombs were scattered across the grasslands, stretching as far as the eye could see."

"Then, after a long period of time, new souls will be born from the ancient tombstones and then disappear. People speculate that this may be because the new souls have been reincarnated. But others believe that they have truly disappeared."

"However, these debates ceased in the ancient past, because we have Queen Marika's Golden Law, which ensures that from now on we will have a real, reliable, and credible stable cycle, regardless of the past."

"Therefore, the scene of spirit tombs scattered across the land and spirit banners standing tall on the battlefield was something that happened long before the Golden Law era."

“But now,” Lan En interjected, tilting his head back towards the tall city walls, gesturing towards the spirit banners standing on the Yatan Plateau outside the walls, “the spirit banners are once again erected on the battlefield. Isn’t that a good thing? After all, those who are wounded to the point of wishing they were dead and have no resources to receive treatment can at least die a quick death.”

But Gideon Ofnier's tone suggested that he didn't think so.

His deep voice carried a hint of amusement and mockery. It wasn't directed at Lan En, but rather at this world where everything was crumbling, an era where even the magic ring had been shattered by the gods.

"Good news? Haha. Lan En, my friend. It seems you haven't seen these things before, have you?"

Before Bai Zhi could say anything, Lan En's keen [Lyman's Ear] had already heard some unusual noises from afar.

That was the sound of dry, bony skeletons rubbing against each other, gently bumping against each other, and constantly moving!
And there are quite a few!

If it weren't for some kind of bone merchant or something similar in Rodel City, moving bones on a large scale... then the bones themselves... were moving!
Lann and Gideon Ofnir rode their horses past the edge of the large cemetery.

Lan En thus clearly saw what those noises were all about.

—It was a large group of human-shaped skeletons, or to put it simply, skeletons that had been separated from human flesh.

Their bones still bear remnants of their tattered clothes or armor fragments from when they were alive.

(End of this chapter)