Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 303: The Sleeping Egg
Black - this is the only impression that the Tomb of the Gods leaves on people at first sight. Everywhere you look is pitch black, and only the starlight magic summoned by the wizards above their heads can bring a ray of light, barely illuminating the outline of the passage ahead.

Cassius and Luther took the lead, leading the three demigods and twenty-three high-ranking members of the magic world all the way inward. The passage under their feet was a gentle slope that gradually sank, but the slope was so gentle that it was difficult to detect. Especially in such a dark and silent environment, it was difficult for ordinary people to judge how far they had advanced, let alone how deep they were.

"The outer wall of the passage is made of a mixture of Zenithite, Black Steel and Mithril. It also has superb resistance to divine arts and magic. The thickness is at least 15 meters, and it also has a strong inhibitory effect on mental perception."

Lucia silently observed everything around her and roughly outlined the layout of the entire passage in her mind. "We have advanced about eight kilometers now, which means that the depth has reached at least three hundred to four hundred meters underground."

The construction method of this passage was too familiar to him. Zenithite was a rare mineral unique to the East China Sea Islands and was also the hardest natural stone known. The Ancient Dragon Dynasty had always strictly prohibited its export.

This technology of building a black steel frame inside the ceiling stone bricks, supplemented by mithril with high magic affinity, to construct a double seal of divine arts and magic came from the ancient dragon dynasty in its heyday. Even the Eternal City, which is also proficient in magical creations, cannot replicate it, let alone the current Kalia and the Golden Dynasty.

There is only one building in the outside world that was built with this technology, and that is the sky city of Fam Azra.

At the same time, Lucia's powerful spiritual perception penetrated the surface bricks and stones, and captured a large number of mysterious rune arrays under the passage. With his existing magical knowledge system, he was unable to effectively interpret them and could only intuitively feel a terrible threat.

"This is probably the technology of the Eternal City—" he said to himself.

"It can pose a great threat to me now. If it targets a normal hero, I can almost guarantee that he will be killed with one strike."

A magic circle that has survived from thousands of years ago can possess such power. It is truly fascinating to think about how advanced the Eternal Civilization was during its heyday.

Perhaps it was because of the great pressure from the news of Esti's impending recovery, or perhaps it was because of the influence of the surrounding environment, no one spoke along the way, only the sound of footsteps echoed in the empty passage.

About an hour later, a gate similar in shape to the entrance of the passage finally appeared in front of them.

Cassius stepped forward again. This time, he did not write the secret text. Instead, he placed his palm on the surface of the stone door. A faint blue magic halo emanated from his body, and the door slowly opened.

The two stone doors retracted into the mountain, and behind the doors was no longer pitch black, but instead was as bright as a galaxy.

Ahead was an incredibly tall and wide cave. Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the colorful pyroxene crystals in the center of the cave.

It was an "egg" formed by countless pyroxenes. The priceless blazing sun crystal and blue moon crystal were connected to form a huge shell with a scale of more than 100 meters. Star amber, known as the king of pyroxene, was also seen everywhere like weathering spots dotted on the surface of the eggshell. And deep in the eggshell, there was a whole layer of pure golden life amber!

"The value of this thing is almost as much as one-third of Kalia, right?" Lucia couldn't help but exclaimed.

Latan glanced at him and said, "Can't you use your own family as an example?"

Lucia laughed awkwardly and explained, "If it were Fam Azra, he would probably be half as good. It's a bit presumptuous to make such a comparison casually, and it seems a bit disrespectful to our ancestors." Latan was choked and felt a headache. "Then you are really too presumptuous!"

As the two of them joked like this, the oppressive feeling brought by Esther seemed to be diluted a little. Everyone focused their attention on the deep part of the giant pyroxene egg. Through the amber layer of life, they could vaguely see the terminal tissues of several membrane wings, tentacles and scales.

At this moment, the surface of the amber layer was covered with spider-web-like cracks, many of which even extended to the surface of the eggshell, creating tiny cracks in the crystal structure, from which emanated magical energy so rich that it was suffocating.

On the rock walls on all sides of the pyroxene egg, the high-level night wizards of Selia dug out hundreds of caves that could only accommodate one person sitting cross-legged. Each cave was filled with pale blue magic light, emitting a magic thread that connected to the surface of the giant pyroxene egg.

Deep in the light that was too bright to look directly at, Lucia saw one haggard and blurry figure after another. No, rather than being figures, they were more like "skeletons" that retained some human form.

The robes of the Night Wizard were already too bulky for them. The empty robes hung outside their pale, shriveled skin, and beneath the skin were the outlines of bones visible to the naked eye. The flesh and blood that should have existed between the two had melted away. It seemed that as long as they raised their hands to touch them, they would shatter into debris like dried-up magic crystals.

Among the many caves, there were two that emitted light several times brighter than the others. If Esti in the center of the cave was compared to a scorching sun, then the two Night Wizards were as dazzling as stars.

"That's the second seat, Inovice, and the third seat, Euoris."

Cassius stood on the cliff at the edge of the cave, and for the first time, a fleeting trace of sadness flashed across his rock-hard face.

"If I didn't have to tell you about the situation here, I would have turned myself into a torch like them, burning my original magic power to slow down the coming of darkness."

"Due to some unknown factors, Esti's recovery is visibly accelerating. They have gained three months for the border. These three months are also our final preparation time."

He turned to look at the complicated faces of the magic world's high-ranking officials, and spoke again in an earnest voice: "Everyone, Ceria has given everything we have for the lives of mortals. It was so in the past and it is still so today. Therefore, I implore you to temporarily put aside the conflicts and disputes of the past."

"That is the abandoned child of darkness, Esti, the evil god who destroyed the Star-Moon Era, the disaster and nightmare of the entire border area—"

Cassius drew the sword from his waist and pointed it at the giant pyroxene egg. "If we still persist in our wrongdoings, even the golden age of abundance and prosperity will collapse before the dark stars."

"Next, the Hall of Mystic Arts will arrange for every Origin Mage who is still within the scope of Selia to undergo a comprehensive examination," Master Lusert took over the topic and said, "I will personally examine their physical conditions one by one to ensure that there is no possibility of any abnormalities."

"But, no matter who is here who planned these things, I hope that we can stop here. If you and I can survive the upcoming war, Ceria and Rhea Lukalia will forgive us for what happened."

"On the contrary," a sharp light flashed in the eyes of the magic master, "for those scums who put personal conspiracy above the safety of the border, no matter your origin and purpose - you must be killed!"

(End of this chapter)