Trekking in the wilderness was a difficult journey, but fortunately, the journey did not last too long. The physical fitness of the humans in Collow was far superior to that of the people on Earth, and the combat professionals among them were even more superhuman. The knights traveled on foot with light gear and only needed a 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, could see the shadow of the Shadowy Forest. But the Traveler's Amulet in Veronica's hand had begun to emit a constant light, which was the response of the magic beacon on the edge of the Shadowy Forest. If everything went well, they would see the landmark between the two areas in half a day: the Mound of the Unknown Soldier.
The journey had been a smooth one. The oppressive atmosphere in the realm of Chaos had put a lot of psychological pressure on them, but the 'sacred relic' that Hao Ren had lent to the knights had given them a strong protection. Veronica had never seen any sacred relic that could bring such a lasting and effective protection of Order. The light of the lightweight white plate did not weaken even in the place where the aura of Chaos was the strongest. The Light of Order that it released was almost constant. It did not need to be recharged or purified. It was like the incarnation of divine power that continued to protect everyone in the Chaos, and there was no sign of exhaustion.
The princess could not help but wonder how many brave soldiers would be saved if there were a few of these sacred relic in the army of the kingdom. The kingdom's Chaos expeditionary force would be extremely safe fighting outside the border of Order. If there were more of these sacred relic and formed a line of defense at the border of the kingdom, then the forces of Chaos would never be able to threaten the safety of the people.
But these thoughts just turned in her mind, and she did not say it out loud. She knew that each of these sacred relic from ancient times was precious, and only a few of them could be preserved in a sacred place like the Cassouin Temple. And as an 'ancient guardian', Hao Ren must have a limited number of sacred relic in his hands. One should not be too greedy.
In the past few days, in addition to following the knights as a 'guard', Hao Ren basically spent the rest of the time understanding the world's worldview. On the one hand, he would communicate with Veronica or Morian, and on the other hand, he would study the various strange phenomena he found along the way.
Compared to dealing with the old knight, he preferred to talk to the more straightforward Princess Veronica. It was not because the princess was beautiful, but because the old knight was cautious and had the unique cunning and paranoia of an old courtier. Even in the face of Hao Ren, the 'ancient guardian', the old man's attitude was not so blind. Morian often expressed doubts or rhetorical questions to Hao Ren. In contrast, the princess was much more cordial. It was not that Veronica did not suspect Hao Ren's lack of common sense, but she did not say anything. On the contrary, out of curiosity or other reasons, the princess would even take the initiative to talk to Hao Ren about some things.
Now they were talking about the ancient myths, and these stories were very useful to relieve the boredom of the journey.
"… The ancient book said that the ancient Collow was actually a complete piece of land, called the Ancient Collow Continent. All the kingdoms were actually connected at that time, and a large amount of water formed oceans and rivers, flowing between the kingdoms." Veronica vividly described the knowledge she heard from her scholar mentor. "But there was an evil giant imprisoned in the deepest part of Collow. This giant was called Lockmarton. He was a prisoner of the goddess of creation, so he was sealed in the depths of the earth and suppressed forever. As time passed, Lockmarton's chain lost its effect because of the reversal of the universe, so the evil giant escaped. He angrily hit the earth, and the Ancient Collow Continent was torn apart. There were five largest pieces, which are today's Ansu Continent, the Radiant Continent, the Kingdom of Everwinter, the mysterious realm of Kanaan, and the Sanctum where the Theocracy was located. Except for the mysterious realm of Kanaan, the other four continents were ruled by the Kingdom of Order. "
Hao Ren listened to Veronica's description of the ancient legends and silently linked Lockmarton to the First Born. But at the same time, he had doubts. The First Born was a huge tentacle-like creature that grew inside the planet, and its appearance was very different from that of a human. Why would the humans of this world call it an evil giant in the myths?
He thought for a moment and did not delve into this issue. There were many missing and distorted ancient myths, and it was normal for such a mistake to occur.
Hao Ren picked up where Veronica left off. "What we know is similar to what you said. Well, the world was torn apart, and then it floated in the Sea of Carnos (Nothingness), right?"
"Yes, the continent floated in the nothingness, and countless floating islands, large and small, floated between the continents. Suspended rivers and magic waves surged endlessly between the cracks after the world was broken. But to be honest, I have never seen a suspended river. I heard that it was a spectacular thing, but you can't see such a river in the Kingdom of Taros. There are only two suspended rivers in the entire Ansu Continent, one above the Kingdom of Beacon Fire, and the other in the void outside the northern border of the Ansu Continent. Only the most daring wizards built a mage tower near the suspended river. "
The somewhat careless princess waved her hand. "In fact, I would like to go and have a look. Unfortunately, the war of Chaos has broken out, and now there is no chance for sightseeing."
Hao Ren casually agreed. At this moment, a hazy hill appeared in his vision.
"Is that the Mound of the Unknown Soldier?" Hao Ren asked, pointing to the distance.
Veronica immediately looked in the direction where Hao Ren was pointing. Of course, she did not see anything. Even if she rubbed her eyes hard, she still could not see anything. The mortal body could not see too far in the fog of Chaos.
But after moving forward for a while, the Mound of the Unknown Soldier appeared in everyone's sight.
This famous local landscape appeared in front of Hao Ren. Compared to its reputation, the hill itself was actually not eye-catching. It was just a small raised mound in the wilderness, surrounded by some messy stones. But on this inconspicuous small mound stood a stone statue.
It was a statue of a warrior, carved out of gray-black dense rock. The warrior's face was blurred, but it was still visible that he was wearing heavy armor and had a dignified appearance. He held a broadsword in both hands and looked up into the depths of the wilderness as if he was a general overlooking the battlefield.
This was the famous "Mound of the Unknown Soldier" in the wilderness, or "Mound of the Unknown Knight" as it was called in ancient Devanian.
"There is such a statue here …" Hao Ren could not help but mutter when he saw the statue standing alone in the wilderness. They were in the middle of nowhere, and the mound itself did not look like a historical relic. But there was such a lifelike statue standing there, of course, people could not help but be curious.
But Veronica gave him a strange look and whispered, "Don't you know? Haven't the people of the previous generation heard the story of the 'Last Elven Empire'? "
Hao Ren was stunned. He immediately knew that he had exposed himself again. But at this time, it would only make things more obvious. So he simply nodded and admitted, "I really don't know, or even if I know, I can't match it. It has been ten centuries, and many things have changed. Even many of our words have different meanings from what you have now. The 'Last Elven Empire' that you mentioned might have been called in our era."
This reason was reasonable, and Veronica's doubts were slightly reduced. Instead, she explained, "That is really an ancient legend. It is said that six thousand years ago, there was a very powerful elven empire in the wilderness called 'Sukhoma'. This empire had a great and ambitious emperor. The emperor unified all the kingdoms on the plains and almost ruled the entire Ansu Continent. He wanted to build the greatest kingdom on the land and almost succeeded. But just as he was about to take the oath to become the king of 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 broke out from the hinterland of the elven empire and quickly spread to the entire continent along the magic vein in the wilderness. The empire experienced thirty days and nights of hellish heat, and then welcomed thirty days and nights of doomsday winter that could turn steel into powder. Then came various disasters such as plagues, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Finally, eighty percent of the land of order on the Ansu Continent began to become barren. Almost in the blink of an eye, the forces of Chaos broke through all the defenses …
"The great ambition of the elven king 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 throne of the elven king. Right here, this was the capital of that glorious empire."
Hao Ren looked around and only saw a vast wasteland.
"So this is the elven king?" he asked, pointing to the 'sculpture' on the hill.
"Many people think so. The Elven King died standing in front of his throne. When all of his guards had fallen, he used his sword to support his body. He gazed at the burning capital and said, "I will stand here and watch my kingdom sink into darkness. One day, it will rise again, and only then will I fall." So the elven king's vow was fulfilled: he stood in this place forever. The wind and rain for six thousand years did not destroy this stone statue. It was said that he would stand here forever until the elves became the masters of this continent again, or until the world of Collow came to an end. "
After listening to the story, Hao Ren did not speak for a long time. Finally, he broke the silence. "Then this place should be called the Hill of the Nameless King."
Veronica shook her head. "The Elven King died standing with a sword in his hand. He left this world as a warrior, which is why this place is called the Mound of the Unknown Warrior."
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