Chapter 1230 The Hill of the Unknown Warrior

The trek in the desolate wilderness was an arduous journey, but fortunately the journey did not last too long - the physical fitness of humans in the world of Koro far exceeds that of people on Earth, and the combat professionals among them are even closer to superhuman beings. The knights were lightly armed and marched on foot, a rapid march with very little rest in between. 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 Jungle yet, but the Traveler's Talisman in Veronica's hand has begun to emit constant light. This is a reaction to the magic beacon approaching the edge of the Shadow Jungle. If everything goes well, In up to half a day, everyone can see the iconic landmark landscape between the two areas: the Hill of the Unknown Soldier.

The journey along this journey was considered uneventful. Although the oppressive atmosphere of the Chaos Realm brought great psychological pressure to people, the "sacred objects" lent by Hao Ren to the Knights brought strong protection to the team. Veronica has never seen any military holy weapon that can bring such long-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 strongest. It has been everywhere for several days. The light of order released is almost constant and does not require recharging or cyclic purification. It is like the incarnation of divine power and continues to protect everyone in the chaos without any signs of failure.

This made Her Royal Highness the Princess couldn't help but think, if there were a few such holy objects in the kingdom's army, how many lives of brave soldiers could be saved? The Kingdom's Chaos Expeditionary Force will become extremely safe when fighting outside the border of Order. If there are more such holy objects and form a defense line at the Kingdom's border, then the forces of Chaos will never be able to threaten the safety of the people.

But she only kept these thoughts in her mind, and never said them out. She knew that each of these holy objects from ancient times was extremely precious, and only in holy places like the Cassuan Temple could there be so many. The number of sacred objects in the hands of Hao Ren, the "ancient guardian", must be limited, so he should not be too greedy.

In the past few days, apart from following the knights all the way as a "guard", Hao Ren spent the rest of his time basically learning about the world's worldview. On the one hand, he communicated with Veronica or Morian in a subtle way. , on the other hand, is to study various strange phenomena discovered on the road.

Rather than dealing with the old knight, he prefers to talk to Princess Veronica, who has a more straightforward personality. This is not because Her Royal Highness the Princess has an eye-catching appearance, but because the old knight has a rigorous personality and has the unique temperament of an old minister. Cunning and suspicious, even when faced with Hao Ren, the "ancient guardian", the old man's attitude was not so blindly trusting. Morian would often express doubts or ask rhetorical questions about some common sense questions raised by Hao Ren. In comparison, Her Royal Highness the Princess seemed much more cordial. Although Veronica had doubted Hao Ren's lack of common sense, she didn't say anything even if she suspected it. On the contrary, out of curiosity or other reasons, the princess would even take the initiative to chat with Hao Ren. Issues.

Now they are discussing things about ancient myths. These stories are quite useful to relieve boredom during the journey.

"...Ancient books say that Koro in ancient times was actually a complete land, called the 'Ancient Koro Continent'. All the current kingdoms were actually connected back then, and a large amount of water formed oceans and rivers. Running between kingdoms," Veronica vividly recounted the knowledge she heard from her scholar mentor, "but there is an evil giant imprisoned in the deepest part of Koro. This giant is called 'Locke' Marton', he was a prisoner of the goddess of creation, so he was sealed deep in the earth and suppressed forever. As time passed, Lock Marton's chains lost their effectiveness due to the inversion of the universe and stars, so this evil giant escaped. He struck the earth angrily, causing the ancient Koro continent to fall into pieces. There were five largest fragments, which are today's Ansu Continent, Glow Continent, the Kingdom of Eternal Winter, the Secret Realm of Cana'an, and the Order Country. In the Holy Land, except for the secret realm of Canaan, the other four continents are ruled by the Kingdom of Order."

Hao Ren listened to Veronica's narration of these ancient legends and silently connected "Rock Marton" with the "Eldest Son" in his mind. However, while doing so, he had doubts: The Eldest Son is a huge tentacle-like creature growing inside the planet. , their image is very different from the human form. Why do humans in this world call them "evil giants" in myths?

He thought for a while but did not delve into this issue: ancient myths often have flaws and distortions, and it is normal for such flaws to occur.

He picked up Veronica's words casually: "What we know is similar to yours... Well, the world was torn apart, and then it was floating in the sea of ​​Karnos (emptiness), right?"

"Yes, the continent is floating in nothingness, and countless floating islands, large and small, are floating between the continents. The suspended rivers and waves of magic are endlessly surging between the cracks after the world is broken... But... To be honest, I have never seen a hanging river. I heard that they are very spectacular things, but there are no such rivers in the Kingdom of Talos. There are only two hanging rivers in the entire Ansu continent, one is above the Kingdom of Beacon, The other one is in the void outside the northern border of Ansu Continent, and only the most daring wizards built wizard towers near the hanging river."

The somewhat careless Princess waved her hand as she spoke: "Actually, I really want to go and have a look. Unfortunately, the Chaos War has broken out, and now there is no chance to travel around."

Hao Ren agreed casually, and at this moment, a hazy hill appeared in his field of vision.

"Is that the Hill of the Unknown Soldier?" he asked, pointing into 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 - the mortal body couldn't see very far in this fog of chaos. of.

But after continuing for a while, the Hill of the Unknown Soldier appeared in everyone's sight.

This famous local landscape appeared in front of Hao Ren. Compared with its fame, the hill itself is actually inconspicuous. It is just a small mound raised in the wilderness, surrounded by some messy There are stones, but just on this inconspicuous little mound, there is a stone statue standing quietly:

It was a sculpture of a warrior, carved from gray-black dense rock. The warrior's face was blurred, but he could still be seen wearing heavy armor and a majestic weapon. He was holding a broad sword in both hands, looking up at the desolation. Deep in the wilderness, it was as if a general was looking over the battlefield.

This is the famous "Hill of the Unknown Soldier" in the desolate wilderness, or "Hill of the Unknown Knight" in the ancient German language.

"There is such a sculpture here..." Hao Ren couldn't help but muttered when he saw this sculpture standing alone in the wilderness. There was no village in front of it, no shops in the back, and the hill itself didn't look like a historical relic. , but there is such a lifelike sculpture standing here, of course people can't help but be curious.

However, Veronica looked at him strangely 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 exposed his secret again, but making excuses at this time seemed to be too obvious, so he simply nodded and admitted: "I really don't know, or even if I know, I can't be right - ten It’s been a century, and the way we talk about many things has changed, and even many of our words have different meanings from what you mean now. The ‘last elven empire’ you mentioned was not even known what it was called in our time.”

This reason was well founded. Veronica slightly reduced her doubts and explained: "That is really an ancient legend. It is said that six thousand years ago, there was a very powerful elf empire in the desolate wilderness, named 'Suhoma', this empire had a great and ambitious emperor. This emperor unified all the kingdoms on the plains and almost ruled the entire Anzu continent. He wanted to build the greatest kingdom on land and almost Success, but just when he was about to swear to become the King of Kings of Ansu Continent, the tide of chaos broke out.

"It is said that it was the strongest tide of chaos in the entire millennium. Darkness broke out from the hinterland of the elven empire and quickly spread to the entire continent along the magical veins in the desolate wilderness. The empire experienced thirty days and nights of hell. Like a scorching heat, another thirty days and nights of apocalyptic winter that can turn steel into powder were ushered in, followed by various disasters such as plague, floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and finally 80% of order on the Anzu continent The land began to become desolate, and almost in the blink of an eye, the power of chaos broke through all the defense lines...

"The ambition of the Elf King was quickly shattered, but he still led his remaining soldiers to fight to the death. The last rebels fought and retreated. Their final 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 and saw only the vast wasteland.

"So this is the Elf King?" he asked, pointing to the "sculpture" on the hill.

"Many people think so. The Elf King died standing in front of his throne. After all his guards fell, he supported his body with his sword, looked at the burning capital, and said: I want to stand Here, watching my kingdom sink into darkness, it will one day rise, and then I will fall. So the oath of the Elf King was fulfilled: he stood in this place forever, for six whole years 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 Koro comes to an end."

After hearing this story, Hao Ren didn't speak for a long time, and finally he broke the silence: "Then this place should be called the Hill of the Unknown King."

Veronica shook her head: "The Elf King died standing while holding a sharp sword. He left this world as a warrior, so this place is called the Hill of the Unknown Warrior."