Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 22 Sword Monument
After all, Lucia's speed at this stage is far behind Lance Shanks, so when the two were far away from Didas, the latter deliberately slowed down. Anyway, with the speed of Gu Long, he could reach Luoyang before tonight anyway. Del, there is no need to worry.

Along the way, they discussed in detail the follow-up plans for the few things that Lucia just mentioned, and Lance Shanks briefly introduced some things worth noting in Rodel. After that, most of the exchanges between the two focused on Chatting with various landscape characters in Sky City and Rodel.

After some ramblings, half a day slipped away unknowingly. Looking down from a high altitude, a large piece of fertile farmland and pastures gradually replaced the wilderness. Farther away, the golden king has already revealed a magnificent outline. , the gorgeous buildings made of marble and gold stretch to the end of the horizon.

At this moment, Lance Shanks suddenly flapped his dragon wings and hovered in the sky. Lucia then stopped, but saw her cast her gaze on a remote hill in the distance.

According to a rough estimate, there is at least a hundred miles away from Rodel. It is probably because the rugged terrain and the poor soil covered with jagged rocks have blocked people's footsteps. There is no smell of fireworks near the hills. People may only be impressed by a few strange stone pillars standing on the top of the hill.

"Follow me." Lance Shanks said, at some point, her eyes became a little melancholy, showing a bit of indescribable sadness.

They swooped down from a high altitude, and as the distance got closer, Lucia finally got a glimpse of the original appearance of those stone pillars—they were all made of obsidian, and they might also be enhanced by magic or prayer, so rough Its surface can still reflect some of the light of the sun and the moon, and its shape is flat with different sizes. Near the upper end, two protrusions like handguards can be distinguished. From an abstract perspective, it looks like It was a simple stone sword stuck upside down on the ground.

"Is this the sword monument?"

Lucia landed on the top of the mountain, looking at the vicissitudes of life and dilapidated stone swords, she couldn't help being slightly absent-minded for a moment.

"That's right," Lance Shanks walked in front of him, she stretched out her slender white palm, and slowly stroked the slightly mottled words on the tablet after being eroded by wind and rain, "It records the ancient dragon The history of the war, and those small tablets at the back are the list of heroes of the Golden Tree who made great achievements in the war."

Lucia looked in the direction of her finger, and at the top of the list was the head of the demigod who shined in the world - "Son of Malika and Godfrey, Ruler of the Sun, 'Golden' Godwin".

The inscription records the glorious deeds of the golden prince successfully defeating the ancient dragon Fursanks, who has the name of the strongest rock, in a one-on-one duel, and turned an enemy into a friend with him, and jointly created the ancient dragon belief in the king city.

"Lucia, I know that you have the inheritance of the goddess and your majesty in you, and you have possessed wisdom far beyond your peers since the day you were born," Lance Shanks whispered in the breeze on the top of the mountain, and she turned around , staring quietly at Lucia, "After the reunion today, I heard so many things you have done during this period of time, and I am even more convinced of this."

"But if I told you that His Majesty Malika had seriously consulted me before sending the invitation letter to Sky City, and I was the one who gave an affirmative answer—you would probably hate me very much, wouldn't you?"

Lucia was stunned on the spot when she heard the words, filled with surprise and doubt for a moment.

What surprised him was that he never thought that the elder sister he had just recognized would have such a powerful voice in front of the Eternal Queen. What surprised him was how could she think that she would prefer to stay in that airy city that was full of leaks? ?
At the time when he was invited by the Golden Dynasty, it was only one aspect that he had to be cowardly due to the situation. On the other hand, it was the best choice he made after he confirmed that he could not go back.Although the risk of being a proton is a bit higher, he is not the only demigod invited to the capital this time. Aren't the three Kalyanas also invited?
His initial thought was that after arriving in the capital, there would be two priests who had preached in Rodel for more than ten years, and he could still mix with the most powerful group of demigods in the Shattered War, not to mention being able to learn from others. What kind of stunts have you learned from your body, at least you can get in touch with your contacts if you are steady?

When the Night of the Black Knife is over and the Shattered War begins, judging from Fam Yazra's insignificant strategic position hanging overseas, as long as he closes the door and insists on neutrality, the Great Rune will be with me. It doesn't matter, don't even think about entering the country with the black sword of doomed death - no matter how you hit it like this, you won't be able to hit yourself on the head.

In contrast, if he stayed in Sky City and his father was still sleeping in the cracks of time and space for a long time, the old dragons in the Presbyterian Church would either ignore him because of their seniority, or they would simply be ambitious. Conceived with a ghost, when she is still fledgling, is she forced to stay in Sky City to be a puppet for others?

Later, when he really set foot on the territory of the Golden Dynasty, he witnessed many dragon warriors and storm knights dying to protect his life, and through Samuel's body, he saw the night-eyed queen as deep as the sea. Strength and wisdom, and later witnessed and participated in the war that devoured thousands of lives outside Karen City. Although it was only a few days, it was nothing more than a baptism of his soul from the outside to the inside.

So at this moment, in the face of Lance Shanks' question, he has long been convinced that his path to demigod should—and must begin with Rodel.

"Sister Lance," he sighed softly, and said with gentle eyes, "When I was in Sky City for a few days, I always saw that you were restless. Was it because you were entangled in this matter? At that time, you knew Ma Your Majesty Lika will definitely send me an invitation soon?"

"Obviously I asked you first." Lance Shanks shook his head and said helplessly, "The demigod really can't be guessed by common sense. According to human standards, you were only two days old at that time, and you should have been crying and eating. How can you tell so much about grandma's age?"

"Strictly speaking, I'm over 1000 years old, aren't I?"

"That makes sense," Lance Shanks raised his head slightly, "Yes, I was really thinking about it at the time."

"The three children of the Kalia royal family showed extraordinary blood talent very early on. Half a year ago, I was aware of the intention of the two majesties to bring them to Rodel. So, I knew the moment you were born , and they will certainly send us invitations soon.”

Hearing this, and standing in front of these sword steles, Lucia felt that she completely understood Lance Shanks' state of mind at that time.

On the one hand, Gu Long paid countless blood and lives for equality and independence ten years ago, but in the face of the growing gap in national power between the Golden Dynasty and Sky City in these years and the new party's increasingly undisguised hostility to foreign nations, what happened back then? The paper peace treaty of "turning an enemy into a friend" is already shaky, and rejecting the queen's invitation is tantamount to adding another weight to the already dangerous balance between the two countries.

On the other hand, as the ancient dragon royal family and the priest of the Sky Temple, she is not only a blood relative of Lucia, but also a minister of Tuogu in the real sense. The internal voice that has never dissipated that she or Furshanks is the new king, her choice is particularly sensitive.

As she said, if she accepts the invitation, Lucia is likely to resent her even more after knowing the truth, and there will inevitably be a rift between the two that is difficult to smooth out-this is not a wild guess, but a matter of indifference. Looking at the succession of countless dynasties in ancient and modern times, the affairs of the royal family are all like this.

"Sister Lance, in fact, you don't have to worry about it." Lucia took two steps forward and came to the position beside Lance Shanks. He reached out to touch the dilapidated sword monuments, feeling the palm The feeling of roughness came, and continued: "In the days before departure, I spent most of my time in the big library of Sky City, trying to understand the world, the ancient dragon dynasty, and the dynasty from those ancient books. everything else."

"It hasn't been long, but I know about the battle of the dragon tree, although the Rodel people prefer to call it the 'war of the ancient dragon', as if we are the culprits who started the war-but I know that if it wasn't for the ancient dragon The wings obscure the light of the Golden Tree, so how can we have the right to negotiate with them on an equal footing?"

"A peace treaty ten years ago ended that war, so that we don't have to crawl under the Golden Law, and we can even spread the belief of the Ring of Origin in the territory of the Golden Dynasty-I also understand that the end of the war is not actually the end of the war. It's not the peace treaty, but the fatal blow launched by the high priest of Gulan Shanks to the capital, and the bloody battle of countless dragon warriors on the Altar Plateau."

"So—" he looked calmly at Lance Shanks beside him, "how can I, who understand the importance of peace, hold resentment towards you?"

However, as soon as the words came out, he found that the expression on Lance Shanks' face was very subtle. She seemed to be forcibly enduring something, and finally couldn't hold back and laughed out loud after several times of hesitating to speak.

"Hehe, hahaha. You are indeed the prince of our ancient dragon dynasty, and your consciousness is different!" After a burst of hearty laughter, she looked at Lucia jokingly, the corners of her eyes glistening with tears were still full of smiles.

"Sister Lance, you..." Lucia looked blank.

"You! You can think so much at such a young age, it's already very touching, but—"

Lance Shanks suddenly slapped Lucia on the head lightly, "Do you think it's such a small matter that can make my sister and I struggle for so long?"

"Huh?" Lucia was completely stunned. The threat of the second battle of Nagarjuna in the near future is a trivial matter, so what is a major event?
"My sister, I was already very powerful during the last war!"

Lance Shanks narrowed his eyes slightly, "At that time, Godwin was in the capital, relying on the golden tree to exert almost godly power, but I just slaughtered a whole dozen heroes under the golden tree in front of his eyes, even now The new party is getting more and more arrogant, and no one dares to yell in my face."

"Do you think the letter I sent back to Sky City is fake?" She looked at Lucia with soft emotions in her eyes, "If you really don't want to come, even if we fight another battle of Nagarjuna What about fighting?"

"Sister, you..." Lucia wanted to say something, but her words suddenly choked up, and she couldn't say a word.

"I want you to come to Rodel because I have seen so much here over the years—" Lance Shanks sighed softly, "The Golden Dynasty has ruled the entire continent in fact, and Queen Malika even She is an immeasurable hero. Under her governance, countless capable people of different races, different civilizations, and even different beliefs gathered here."

"There are ancient and powerful furnace knights here, there are magicians who have traveled here from Rhea Lucaria and Selia, there are court perfumers who can save people and kill people with their perfume skills, and even There are black kings and white kings from beyond the sky. Different cultures collide and merge here, and new combat skills or magic, or brand-new mechanical creations are born almost every day. Such scenes have not appeared in the junction for thousands of years. up."

"In the distant ancient times, we used to lead an era like this," Lance Shanks sighed quietly, "but the taboo war hidden in history destroyed everything, and Sky City became what it is today. In this way, the goddess is missing, and His Majesty is seriously injured and sleeping. The High Priest of Gulan Shanks kept silent about this matter back then, so even I don’t know who our opponent is.”

"I only know one thing—" She looked at Lucia, "We can no longer guard the Sky City, otherwise we will only become a decaying rock, and one day we will be crushed by the wheels of the times. "

Lucia's eyes lit up, as if a flame had sprung from the depths of his pupils, and his heart beat more and more violently - he knew better than anyone that this era would soon usher in the future. All the shocking upheavals that have been overthrown and restarted, before this brilliant trend, change will lead to life, and rebellion will lead to death.

"I want you to come to the royal capital, come to the most central stage of this era, and grow up with those talented demigods. I want you to learn the physical arts from the melting pot of life, from Rhea Lucaria The magic of the academy, the prayers from the golden tree become the best of all demigods."

Lance Shanks looked into Lucia's eyes, "I believe that one day, you will become the king who will lead us to the next glorious era."

Lucia looked back at her clear eyes, and there were also beating flames in those eyes, and something was burning fiercely in their chests.

"I will," he promised.

"I know," Lance Shanks smiled softly, "I knew from the time we met again in Didas today and saw the unsheathed dragon scale knife that you are already walking on the road of king. "

"However," she blinked, "you are still very young. If you encounter that kind of thing again one day, I hope you will remember one thing before making any decisions."

"What?" Lucia asked curiously.

"You are not alone. Behind you, there is a city in the sky that will eventually rise."

　ps1. "Ring of the Beginning" refers to the ancient Elden Dharma Ring. The subsequent plot will be introduced in detail. Due to the context of the text, no explanation is given here.

　　ps2. Ahhhh, I finally got [-] words today, so I have the audacity to ask for a follow-up!Thank you everyone!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)