Elden Ring, but with Wind Spirit Moon Shadow

Chapter 245: Horned Man? What is that?
Seeing that the ancient king was about to continue speaking, Bai Shi hurriedly stopped him.

'Stop, stop, wait a moment.'

The ancient king asked Bai Shi curiously.

"What's wrong? Isn't this what you wanted to hear?"

Bai Shi nodded, sorted out the story he had just heard, and asked the Ancient King:
'Yes, but I would like to ask a few questions first.'

"Can you explain to me what a horn man is?"

'Understand it first, otherwise I may not understand it.'

The few nouns in the story just now made Bai Shi very confused.

Especially the thing called Horned Man, it is obviously the most important part of the black material, but Bai Shi knows nothing about them.

Rather than asking questions one by one after everything is over without knowing what they are, it is better to understand them now so that it will be easier to understand later.

As for that inexplicable descendant of Marika, Messermo...

Although he is also one of the protagonists of the story, now it sounds like he is just a tool and a scapegoat, and is obviously not as important as the other characters.

Marika gave birth to so many demigods, this one is not a big deal.

At most, it would make Bai Shi sigh again: Marika is indeed worthy of being the King of Endurance in the Border Area.

King Gu thought about it and realized that this was indeed the truth.

"Well, in that case, I will explain these things to you first so that you can understand them more easily."

'You want to ask the Horned Man, right?'

Bai Shi nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, the Horned Man, is he a nation?"

The Ancient King carefully recalled and summarized his knowledge of the Horned People, and began to explain to Bai Shi:

"The Horned People are a people who worship horns."

'The Horned People like to hold various rituals to worship the gods, advocating blood and barbarity, just like uncivilized creatures.'

'But having said that, they did gain something from this blind worship.'

'For example... various magnificent buildings built because of faith, and special trance rituals used to obtain powerful natural life forces.'

'Their sphere of influence is vast and their power is very strong, and they once occupied most of the central area of the border.'

'But it's also because they are so scattered, and they are a relatively barbaric people.'

"Therefore, the upper and lower classes are completely different creatures. The disputes among the same race are more serious than any other race in the border area. They even use a large number of their own race for sacrifice."

Bai Shi frowned in thought. This amount of information is a bit overwhelming...

It is bloody and barbaric, but because of their faith they have developed an extremely amazing civilization and are quite powerful.

Bai Shi was not surprised that the ancient king was extremely disdainful of those horn people.

There is really nothing much to say about this barbaric nation driven by faith; the word "ignorant" is enough to describe them.

What’s more, wild beasts were once symbols of civilization and wisdom, and served as sacrifices to ancient dragons.

Stonewell is a force developed from the ancient dragons. It is completely reasonable for the ancient king, an extremely powerful storm eagle, to laugh at the horned people's barbarity.

The ancient king then said to Bai Shi:
'From the name, it sounds like a nation where everyone has horns, right?'

Bai Shi nodded. This was indeed his first impression.

However, the ancient king denied this.

'Horned people worship horns, but not everyone can grow horns.'

"Those who grow horns can obtain a high status among the horned people, but it is said that those who grow too many horns will disappear inexplicably... Forget it, if I go into details about these rumors, I will never finish. "

"In short, the horns are indeed respected there, and there is a huge disparity in status."

'The Horned People treat the lower class Horned People just like slaves.'

"Speaking of horns, you should be familiar with them."

Bai Shi raised his eyebrows and immediately thought of something.

'Bad omen horn?'

The ancient king gave an affirmative answer.

"Yes, the horns are now considered ominous and tainted by the Golden Dynasty, but in the past, they were considered a blessing from the Crucible."

Bai Shi nodded. Indeed, it can be seen in some texts.

For example, the furnace series amulet:
This is the remaining trace of the melting pot of the origin of life, and it is also a local intergenerational inheritance, which had sacred significance in ancient times.

However, after the development of civilization, it was regarded as a symbol of defilement.

If the Horned People were a barbaric people, then the Golden Dynasty could indeed be considered civilized, and the timing was also reasonable.

But Bai Shi suddenly felt something was slightly wrong.

The power of the furnace is indeed the power of life, and it should have been like this even before the Horned People emerged.

But why did the Golden Dynasty suddenly turn the Crucible Corner into an Evil Omen Corner?
There are a lot of Furnace Knights around Gefulei.

Could it be that Queen Marika and the Horned People have a deep hatred, so she deliberately did all this in reverse?

The more Bai Shi thought about it, the more he thought it was possible. Because the Horned People didn't even leave a sound, and it seemed that they had completely disappeared at the current border.

Bai Shi never got any information about them.

You know, even in the Ulu Dynasty, which is an ancient dynasty away from the current border, there were still clay figurine priests.

The Eternal City also has Silver Tears and some Night People as proof of its existence.

But there was no trace of the Horned People at all.

Plus the deliberate erasure of the Golden Dynasty and the Royal Family of Kalia...

Being able to achieve this level is definitely not something that any of Marika's descendants can do.

"Is all this done at the behest of Queen Marika?"

The ancient king laughed.

"Yes, you are very perceptive. This is the truth of the story."

"I don't know what happened between Queen Marika and the Horned Man."

"But in the past, Stonewell, the Golden Dynasty, and the Horned People were all hostile to the Fire Giants, so they once worked together to defeat the Fire Giants."

'So even though the army at the time called it a holy war.'

'But it was just a betrayal, a massacre.'

'Finally, the existence of the horn people was completely wiped out from the border.'

"Comparatively, our Stonewell's fate was not that tragic. It was just a normal defeat."

Speaking of this, Bai Shi couldn't help but ask the Ancient King:
"By the way, how did you fight against the Golden Dynasty at that time?"

The defeat was not something difficult for the ancient king to talk about.

"I have said before that the golden tree in the past abundant times was all-embracing."

'After the destruction of the Flame Giants, the Golden Dynasty, the Horned People, the Royal Family of Kalia, and Stonewell are the four largest forces on the border.'

'But after the war to massacre the Horned People, the Shadow Tree disappeared along with the land. The Golden Tree could no longer drop its benevolent dewdrops, and the land was no longer fertile.'

"After the war, the royal family of Kalia and the Golden Dynasty formed an alliance. The only threat to the Golden Tree is us, Stonewell."

"If this is the case, a fight is bound to break out sooner or later."

"You know what happened next. Although the ancient dragon attacked the royal city to help us, it failed."

Bai Shi nodded. Now he finally understood the timing of those wars.

The Horned Man originally had a cooperative relationship with Marika, and together with Stonewell, the three major forces fought the Giant War together to eliminate the Fire Giant.

The magic academy probably did not participate in this war against the fire giants.

On the one hand, the origin of the magicians - the stargazers were originally on good terms with the giants, and on the other hand, it might also be due to the principle of not intervening in wars.

However, the Golden Dynasty went to war on two fronts because of this, and Radagon led his men to fight twice with the Magic Academy, which ended with Radagon and Lena getting married.

After the Giant War, the Golden Tree became the law, and the Age of Plenty began, with drops of grace flowing endlessly.

But at a certain moment, Queen Marika suddenly launched an attack, destroying the hard-won era of abundance with her own hands and driving all the Horned People out of the border area without leaving a single one.

After that, it was Messermo who bore the notoriety of a snake and became the target of curses by people in the border area. He was sealed up along with that area by Marika.

In the end, the stain of what was called holy war but was actually a horrific massacre was completely hidden.

The Golden Dynasty subsequently experienced wars with Stonewell and Ancient Dragon, and finally became the Golden Dynasty that Bai Shi was familiar with.

Bai Shi doesn't really understand what the grudge is between Queen Marika and the Horned People?
Why were they able to cooperate once, but ended up suddenly slaughtering the Horned People?
However, the horn people are no longer alive, so this will probably remain an unsolved mystery.

Bai Shi suddenly remembered the flaming chariot with Stonewell's eagle pattern that he had seen outside the magic academy.

So I took this opportunity to ask King Gu about it.

"Oh, by the way, I saw a flaming chariot with a giant face and the emblem of Stonewell on it."

"What is the relationship between the chariot and Stonewell? Why don't we have such a thing now?"

The ancient king thought about it.
"That thing was originally shaped like a shield, used to warn people of the horror of the fire giant."

"Later, it gradually developed into a vehicle for use on the battlefield. We at Stonewell are very good at making this kind of firearm."

"You've seen flamethrowers and gunpowder barrels used to defend the city."

'After the defeat, these things were taken away by the Golden Dynasty, so they are gone now.'

Bai Shi nodded. So that's how it is.

This thing was indeed produced by Stonewell, and later it came to the fire martial arts monks and was traded to Gaileed and the Cuckoos.

It seems that I have to find time to return them to their original owners.

However, compared to some flame battlefields, Bai Shi now wants to try to get the shadow tree.

Although the place is now completely sealed, there may be a way to enter.

The golden tree possesses enormous energy, and the symbiotic shadow tree must be no less powerful.

The ultimate effect of the Great Rune obtained from Greg is to bless, but this requires a large amount of Rune.

If the Shadow Tree could provide these consumption, Bai Shi would be able to pull out an army as powerful as the Golden Dynasty in the past.

(End of this chapter)