Trekking in the barren wilderness was an arduous journey, but fortunately, this journey did not last too long - the physical fitness of the human beings in the Kolo world far exceeds that of the people on Earth, and the fighting professionals among them are even closer to superhumans, knights The regiments marched lightly and marched on foot, marching in a hurry all the way, requiring very little rest in the middle. A few days later, Hao Ren learned from Veronica that the border of the plain was not far away.
In fact, no one, including Hao Ren, can see the shadow of the Shadow Forest, but the traveler's amulet in Veronica's hand has begun to emit a constant light, which is the reaction of the magic beacon approaching the edge of the Shadow Forest. If all goes well, At most half a day, everyone can see the iconic landmark landscape between the two regions: the Hill of the Unknown Soldier.
This trek along the way was also considered to be without any surprises or dangers. Although the oppressive atmosphere of the Chaos Realm brought a lot of psychological pressure to people, the "sacred object" that Hao Ren lent to the Knights brought strong protection to the team. Veronica has never seen any holy artifact that can bring such a lasting and effective protection of order. The light emitted by that light white plate has not weakened at all in the place where the atmosphere of chaos is the strongest. The light of Symmetra released is almost constant, it does not need to be recharged, nor does it need to be purged, that thing is like the incarnation of divine power, which continues to protect everyone in the chaos, without any signs of exhaustion.
This made the princess couldn't help thinking, if the kingdom's army had several such holy objects, how many lives of brave soldiers could be saved? The Kingdom's Chaos Expeditionary Army will be extremely safe in combat outside the borders of Order, and if there are more such holy relics to form a defense line on the borders of the Kingdom, then the forces of Chaos will never be able to threaten the safety of the people.
But she just turned these thoughts around in her heart, and she didn't say it after all. She knew that each of these sacred objects from ancient times was extremely precious, and only in a holy place like the Casuan Temple could there be so many of them. However, the number of holy relics in the hands of Hao Ren, the "Ancient Guardian", must be limited, so one should not be too greedy.
In the past few days, apart from following the knights as "guards" all the way, Hao Ren basically spent the rest of the time learning about the world's outlook. On the one hand, he communicated with Veronica or Morian On the other hand, it is to study the various strange phenomena found on the road.
Compared with dealing with the old knight, he prefers to have a few more words with the straightforward Princess Veronica—this is not because the princess is beautiful, but because the old knight is rigorous and has the cunning that is unique to old courtiers. Suspicious, even in the face of Hao Ren, the "ancient guardian", the old man's attitude is not so blindly trusting. Morian often expresses doubts or asks some common sense questions raised by Hao Ren. Her Royal Highness is much more cordial. Although Veronica did not doubt Hao Ren's lack of common sense, she didn't say much even if she doubted her. On the contrary, out of curiosity or other reasons, this princess would even take the initiative to chat with Hao Ren. Issues.
Now they were discussing things about the ancient myths, which were quite useful for amusing the journey.
"...an ancient book says that Kolo in ancient times was actually a complete piece of land, called the 'Ancient Kolo Continent'. There is a constant flow between the kingdoms," Veronica vividly recounted the knowledge she had heard from her scholar mentor, "but there is an evil giant imprisoned in the deepest part of Kolo, and this giant is called 'Lokmar He is the prisoner of the Goddess of Creation, so he was locked in the depths of the earth and suppressed forever. Years passed, and the chains of Loch Marton lost their effectiveness due to the inversion of the universe and starry sky, so this evil giant escaped. Hitting the ground angrily, the ancient Keluo continent was torn apart. There are five largest fragments, namely today's Ansu Continent, Glory Continent, Kingdom of Eternal Winter, Kana'an Secret Realm, and Holy Land where the Order State is located. In addition to the Kanaan secret land, the other four continents are ruled by the kingdom of order."
Listening to Veronica telling these ancient legends, Hao Ren silently connected "Lochmarton" and "Eldest Son" in his heart, but at the same time he had doubts: The Eldest Son is a giant tentacle-like creature that grows inside the planet , Their image is very different from that of human beings. Why do people in this world call them "evil giants" in mythology
He thought for a while, but didn't delve into this issue: there are many flaws and distortions in ancient mythology, and it is normal for such flaws to appear.
He picked up Veronica's words casually: "The story we know is similar to yours... Well, the world fell apart and then floated in the sea of Karnos (nothingness), right?"
"That's right, the mainland is floating in nothingness, and countless large and small floating islands are floating between the continents. The hanging river and the wave of magic power are surging endlessly between the cracks after the world is broken... But to be honest , I have never seen hanging rivers, I heard that they are very spectacular things, but I can't see such rivers in the Talos Kingdom. There are only two hanging rivers in the entire Ansu continent, one is above the Kingdom of Beacon Fire, and the other is In a void beyond the northern border of the Anzu Continent, only the most daring wizards built a mage tower near that hanging river."
The carefree princess waved her hands while talking: "Actually, I really want to see it, but it's a pity that the war of chaos has broken out, and now I don't have the opportunity to go sightseeing."
Hao Ren agreed casually, and at this moment, a hazy hill appeared in his vision.
"Is that the Hill of the Unknown Soldier?" He asked, pointing to the distance.
Veronica immediately looked in the direction of Hao Ren's finger. Of course, she didn't see anything, even if she rubbed her eyes vigorously, she still couldn't see it - a mortal body can't see too far in this chaotic fog .
But after continuing to advance for a certain distance, the Hill of the Unknown Soldier appeared in everyone's sight.
This well-known landscape in the local area appeared in front of Hao Ren's eyes. Compared with its fame, the hill itself is not very eye-catching. It is just a small mound protruding in the wilderness, surrounded by some messy trees. Stones, but just above this inconspicuous little mound, there is a stone statue standing quietly:
It was a sculpture of a warrior, carved out of gray-black dense rock. The warrior's face has been blurred, but he is still wearing heavy armor, and his weapon is imposing. With a broad sword in both hands, he looked up at the barrenness In the depths of the wilderness, it seemed as if the general was looking at the battlefield.
This is the famous "Hill of the Unknown Soldier", or "Hill of the Unknown Knight" in Old Draic, on the barren field.
"There is such a sculpture here..." Hao Ren couldn't help muttering when he saw this sculpture standing alone in the wilderness. There is no village in front of this place, and there are no shops in the back. The hill itself doesn't look like a historical relic. But there is such a lifelike sculpture standing here, of course, people can't help being a little curious.
However, Veronica gave him a strange look, and asked in a low voice, "Don't you know? Haven't people in the previous generation heard the story of 'The Last Elf Empire'?"
Hao Ren was stunned, and immediately knew that he had revealed the truth again, but at this time, making excuses would seem to cover up, so he simply nodded and admitted: "I really don't know, or even if I knew, I wouldn't be right—Ten Centuries Now, the expressions of many things have changed, and even many of our words have different meanings from yours now, the 'last elf empire' you mentioned, maybe what it was called in our time."
This reason is well-founded, and Veronica slightly reduced the doubts in her heart, but explained: "That is really an ancient legend. It is said that six thousand years ago, there was a very powerful elf empire in the barren wilderness, named 'Sukoma', this empire has a great and ambitious emperor, this emperor unified all the kingdoms on the plain, and almost ruled the entire Ansu continent, he wanted to build the greatest country on the land, and almost He succeeded, but just as he was about to take the oath to become the king of all kings in the Ansu Continent, the tide of chaos broke out.
"It is said that it was the strongest tide of chaos in the entire millennium. Darkness erupted from the hinterland of the elf empire, and quickly spread to the entire continent along the magic vein in the barren wilderness. The empire experienced thirty days and nights of hell It was scorching like scorching heat, and ushered in another 30 days and nights of doomsday winter that could turn steel into powder, followed by plagues, floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and finally 80% of the order on the continent of Ansu The land began to be deserted, almost in the blink of an eye, the forces of chaos broke through all the defenses...
"The elf king's ambition was quickly shattered, but he still led his remaining soldiers to fight to the death. The last rebel army fought and retreated. Their last battlefield was in front of the emperor's seat in the elf king city. — Right here, this is the capital of that glorious empire back then."
Hao Ren looked around, only seeing the vast wasteland.
"So this is the Elf King?" he asked, pointing to the "sculpture" on the hill.
"Many people think so. The Elven King died standing before his throne. When all his guards were down, he propped himself up on his sword, looked at the burning capital, and said: I will stand Here, watching my kingdom sink into darkness, it will rise one day, and then I will fall. And so the oath of the Elf King was fulfilled: he stood here forever, six Thousands of years of wind and rain have not destroyed this stone statue, and it is said that he will stand here forever until the elves become the masters of this continent again, or the world of Kolo comes to an end."
After hearing this story, Hao Ren did not speak for a long time, and finally he broke the silence: "Then this should be called the Hill of the Unknown King."
Veronica shook her head: "The elf king died standing up with a sharp sword in his hand. He left this world as a warrior. That's why this place is called the Hill of the Unknown Warrior." (To be continued~^ ~)