Chapter 609 460 Spring Is Coming

Talandor, riding on his horse, was depressed and hesitant. The discomfort in his body magnified his senses, and the low mood surged towards him like a tide. He gave a forced smile to his family, indicating that he was fine.

Although he said he was fine, he was in trouble... Last night, as the legendary Slann magic priest emerged from the pond, he saw a group of huge warriors coming out of the pond.

The warriors wore gilded armor and held bronze spiked sticks. These killing machines were even taller than the elves, and they were full of muscles under the thick blue scales. The warriors had powerful jaws on their heads, sharp fangs curled on the scaly lips, and cold and ruthless eyes stared behind the nictitating membrane, but the strange thing was that these warriors would actually obey the orders of an elf.

Talandor thought of the "Exploration Record of Belsarius" he had read in his childhood. This book was like a children's popular science book for some elves and was collected by some old families. There were Hellbane Family in Naggaroth, and there were also those in his family with the heritage of Ulthuan in Athel Loren. He knew that these warriors were the lizardmen who caused great damage to Belsarius's team in the book.

The words and pictures on the paper were presented in a different way before his eyes.

When the lizardmen entered the camp and prepared, he saw Baine sparring with the leading lizardmen. After seeing Baine's ease, he wanted to try on behalf of Asrai. However, he had no idea about the painful experience that Baine had experienced in sparring with those ancient blood warriors when he stayed in Lustria.

As a result, he died after trying, and the ancient blood warriors fighting him did not even have the intention to move. In the third round, the spiked stick spinning in place made a terrible whistling sound, and when his shield was smashed to pieces by the obsidian club, he flew out behind the shield like a cannonball.

Those ancient blood warriors who had experienced the great invasion did not care about the severity of their attacks. They fought completely on instinct, unlike the intelligent Gorok. Perhaps... they did not take out the heart of Tyrandor, which was the best result?

Heglia was eager to try and was ready to be the second person to try, but when she saw Tyrandor flying out, she was no longer eager to try.

For Tyrandor, physical pain was secondary, but more mental. He looked up at the lizardman array in the distance and the tree people on both sides. He could feel that Dursu's state seemed to have changed, which he did not know.

He saw those Duruchi and Ainir entering a state of preparation, which seemed not to be going to participate in the ceremony, but to fight. He could feel what would happen next, but he did not know what would happen and what role he would play in the next thing. The Lord of the Blade had not responded to him, leaving him lacking a kind of guidance, and at the same time, those spellcasters... it was better not to mention it.

Narhap was still sitting on his palanquin, but the palanquin was not a triceratops combat platform. The palanquin carried by the temple guards seemed to be fixed, without the slightest shaking.

The temple guards marched in an orderly formation under the leadership of the ancient blood warriors. After proper recovery, the slightly stronger temple guards shouldered the long bronze poles on both sides of the palanquin. Under the guidance of a lizard priest with a banner, they moved in a strange unity, like black people carrying a coffin. The scattered lizard boys spread across the forest, looking under every bush, listening to every bush, tasting the air of every road with their tongues, and occasionally catching some insects that had appeared.

The Slann magic priest focused a small part of his consciousness on the surrounding environment, using part of the knowledge of great mathematics to bend trees, drain ponds and streams that had just thawed, and fill in gullies that might interfere with the march. The beasts of the forest that tried to join in the fun retreated at his telepathic touch, or else they would crawl, slither, and leap to obey his commands.

Whether in the jungles of the South or in Athel Loren, there was no difference in Narhap’s cognition. These places were all created by his master, but he could feel the corruption, which was stronger than when he first came to this forest. His skin flickered as his senses were amplified. Telepathy gave him many eyes, but no matter how many there were, the power of the tiny minds of tree frogs and mud snakes was limited. He could not find the darkness lurking in the deepest depths.

The Skink Priest standing beside Narhap stood up, sniffed the air, and the feather crest on his head fluttered like a warship’s signal flag. As he gestured to the Lizardmen, the hissing and clicking sounds bursting from his mouth began to convey the message, conveying the orders he read.

Under the astonished gazes of the Asrai spellcasters, a fast road leading to the Oak of Ages was opened...

——

"We're almost there."

After exclaiming, Kerillian became speechless again. She moved lightly and silently in the forest, feeling the trees, roots, shrubs, and even mosses. She was so familiar with all of this, all of which was born, decayed, died, and decayed, turning into a poem of reincarnation.

"The forest is the world, and the world is the forest."

After walking for a while, Kerillian sighed again. She grew up with such advice. The forest is so vast and so green, providing everything she needs and will always need. Her nature is to explore and discover. At a young age, she showed a great talent for archery and a love of roaming in the forest. She knew every hidden path and hidden corner in the forest.

Later, she joined the Arahan Neighbors and became a watcher, responsible for protecting Athel Loren. It was her duty to kill the invading beastmen and the Bretonnian fools who entered the forest to find the Lady of the Lake. In addition to monitoring and killing invaders, she also began to track other Asrai as a game to see if she could avoid their attention.

Part of it was nature, and part of it was out of a desire to improve her skills. Whenever she was discovered and questioned, this was the reason she gave. She was born with an irrepressible curiosity about everyone, everything, and everywhere, which often made her cautious instincts ignored.

Therefore, in the process of tracking Sephian, she became a so-called friend with Sephian, who was also a watcher. She knew Sephien before, but she didn't like Sephien. She didn't like the lover relationship between her sister Ethel and Sephien. She thought Sephien was too self-centered and arrogant. She could see the weakness and bravado deep in Sephien's heart.

When Kerillian returned to the Gray Hall after completing her mission, something unexpected happened. Dilandra, who stood there, disappeared out of thin air, and her relatives also disappeared without a trace, leaving only an empty hall. Fortunately, she saw the illusion left in the hall. After staying alone for a few days, she felt bored and embarked on a journey to Taseen.

Kerillian could already hear the voices and fragments of music coming from the front. Many of the voices were familiar. She knew that she was very close to the Oak of Ages. As a watcher, she rarely came here. The few times she came here made her heart full of uneasiness and anxiety, especially when she saw Orion and the group of wild cavalry.

A majestic stag grazes, its coat a brilliant white, its massive antlers forming a broad fan of bone atop its head. She hunts as a watcher, but she has never seen a creature so graceful and majestic.

The stag stands in the middle of a field of yellow primroses, where the scent grows strong and intoxicating. As she approaches, the deer lifts its majestic head, as if sensing her scrutiny, and when the stag’s eyes meet hers, Kerillian is struck by the ancient wisdom it reveals.

Hooves crunch over the frosty earth.

A shudder ripples through the ground, sending the wood spirits frolicking in the water shrieking and fleeing into the undergrowth. A powerful energy rises from the earth, and Kerillian feels her heartbeat quicken with an unknown excitement, an uncontrollable sense of foreboding coursing down her spine, a raw energy filling her muscles with a frantic urge to run, fight, and hunt.

When she turns her head again, the stag is gone.

"Primroses..." Kerillian gasped, an ancient longing filling her voice as a majestic hunting horn echoed in the distance. She looked toward the sound, and as the last leaf fell into place, a terrifying figure emerged.

It was a tall giant, covered in blood and covered in human scalps and animal fur. He rode a beautiful stag, his naked red body topped by a pair of slender spiral horns.

Kerillian knew the figure's name, Artomis, the Chosen of Kurnos, the King's immortal servant. When Artomis's eyes turned to her, fear surged in her heart.

An image flashed through her mind, it was summer, and the Wild Hunt was underway. Artomis was beside Orion, both of them were draped in wreaths and oak leaf robes, their bodies were covered in blood, dragging terrified victims, forming a terrible, screaming pile of corpses. Artomis laughed madly, surrounded by pale ghost hounds.

This was her first memory of meeting Orion and Artomis. She could not escape the memory of the hounds barking and biting in the bushes. For a long time afterwards, this scene was her lingering nightmare, and she often woke up in her sleep.

"Kerillian?" Artomis reined in the stag and looked at Kerillian who was close at hand. His huge black eyes scanned Kerillian unscrupulously, and a low roar came out of his mouth.

The trembling and roaring brought Kerillian back to reality. She tried to calm herself down and forced herself to look at Artomis. She could see that Artomis' pale face was covered with fresh ritual scars, and blood formed thin traces on his face like a grille.

"I welcome you on behalf of Orion, Kerillian." The low roar came out of Artomis' mouth again.

"This is what I should do."

The simple conversation marked the end of the meeting, and Artomis controlled the stag to turn around and leave.

Kerillian exhaled, she felt the huge pressure disappear, after a moment of recovery, she continued to move forward.

As she moved forward, the Oak of Ages appeared before Kerillian's eyes. In her vision, the Oak of Ages was like a constantly changing wall of images, extremely wide, and after thousands of years of rituals and magical nourishment, it hardly looked like a tree. Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, the Oak of Ages might look like a huge mountain made of roots and branches, but she, like other Asrai, was part of the forest, and her soul was inseparable from the strangeness at the core of the Oak of Ages.

As she got closer, Kerilian saw all the life unfolding in front of her. The tree roots were like a bottomless abyss, covered with every elf that fell from the mortal world, and countless lost souls stared from the dark void. Looking at her, there were groups of haggard, gray faces, full of loneliness and regret. She saw not tree trunks but the entire world, oceans, mountains, and scorched desert plains, entwined with each other, spinning in endless cycles of life and death. Instead of the tree canopies, there was a slowly rotating sky.

Faint shadows played among the branches, dazzling Carillion even in their subtlest form. She had witnessed this kind of scene before, but it was always at the climax of the ceremony. This time...she seemed to feel something different, a kind of vitality that she had never seen before? Even without the guidance of rituals and prayers, she was so shaken that she fell to her knees uncontrollably.

"Val..." She saw the hammer strike the huge anvil, and lightning-like light filled the woodland. She murmured, and she recognized the face of the man holding the hammer, painful but blindly dazzling, as if the stars were exploding under Val's hammer.

Then, Kerilian saw the figure of Hoth, the master of knowledge. Hoth was reading forgotten texts, interpreting the language of heaven, and absorbing wisdom with his ancient and profound eyes. Behind Hoss was a dark, undulating figure, lithe and graceful, moving among the vaults of the trees with a sly smile. The figure tumbled and spun merrily across the sky, as light as a falling comet.

"Loic..." Kerilian shook her head in wonder.

The scene kept flickering, and finally, when Kerilian was lying on the grass, she saw an existence so dazzling that it made other gods insignificant. At first, she thought it was the arm of the Milky Way Spiral, but in fact But they are the wings of a phoenix.

"Asuryan..." Kerillian woke up with a start as the name came out of her mouth. She looked away from the Oak of Ages and desperately tried to bring her thoughts back to the Council Grove.

"The opening ceremony is about to begin."

Carillian closed her eyes tightly and sat quietly for a while. Without the interference of the Age Oak, she heard the sounds coming from the other side of the huge trunk. Hundreds of voices floated from the trees, full of excitement. and expectations. After breathing for a moment, she opened her eyes and looked for her bow. The bow was still lying on the grass next to her, so she grabbed the bow from the grass and stood up.

"Alaros would laugh at me if he saw me like this."

She hurried around the tree trunks, her eyes fixed on the grass, trying not to be disturbed by the charming vision. Along the way, memories kept flashing through her mind. As she thought about it, she suddenly thought of Alalos. She couldn't imagine Alalos having to face such a situation all year round. In fact, she was very jealous of Alalos' ability and status. , but what made her most angry was that Alalos knew nothing about it.

A few minutes later, Carillian came to an area of ​​dark shadow cast by twin moons, behind the Age Oak. On the other side, the sound grew louder and more feverish, and she heard the sound of gongs and the tuning of harps, and the nobles seemed to have assembled to receive their king and queen. She remained calm and it seemed to her that it was a good place. She has noble blood, but she doesn't want to meet that group of nobles, and she doesn't want to see her cousin, the current lord of Tarsain Wood, Araloth.

“In the heart of the shadow, where light never shines.”

Carillian muttered a long, vague incantation and hid herself in the shadows. Then, she took out the food she had brought with her and ate it. The pleasure brought by Avelingo made her dangling legs swing uncontrollably. She could feel the trees around her begin to ripple, as if they were grass blown by the wind. She saw Artomis coming towards her again, but Artomis didn't seem to sense her presence. He nodded with satisfaction.

"spring is coming."

Carillian looked up to the sky, she could feel the dawn approaching and Ariel and Orion about to emerge to greet their admirers. Thinking of this, her heartbeat began to beat faster, and she could almost smell the smell of blood in the air. (End of chapter)