Bai Shi departed from the Lake of Rot, dragging the colossal Dragonscale Blade behind him.
The Dragonscale Blade was simply too imnse to fit into his spatial inventory.
It was so large that there was no way it would fit; trying to force it would probably break the space itself.
So, Bai Shi had no choice but to drag it along.
Furthermore, he couldn't just take the elevator or walk back up the usual path.
Bai Shi was forced to carve out a new passage leading back up to Nokstella.
As Bai Shi passed through Nokstella and reached the edge of a cliff, he imdiately spotted the Dragonkin Soldier below.
The Dragonkin Soldier was standing in the middle of a pool, lost in thought as it gazed at the giant skeleton seated upon a throne.
Ever since its true awakening, all manner of thoughts had constantly been swirling through its mind.
From discovering its own existence within its budding consciousness to searching for the very aning of that existence...
It had to be said, the Dragonkin Soldier was surprisingly introspective.
In stark contrast was Ashmi, another product of the Eternal City, who spent her days either lounging around waiting for a fight or thinking about where to find a Teardrop Chalice to consu.
Then again, thinking less had its advantages.
At least Ashmi never felt lost over such matters.
Bai Shi hoisted the Dragonscale Blade and dropped it over the edge of the cliff.
Hearing the sound of the great blade whistling through the air, the Dragonkin Soldier looked up and sprang into action.
Its seemingly cumberso body moved with incredible agility, striding forward to catch the Dragonscale Blade in its massive claw.
With the Dragonscale Blade in its grasp, the Dragonkin Soldier's aura sharpened, its entire form radiating a formidable edge.
Bai Shi was still reserving judgnt on whether it could actually wield the blade, but at least it looked impressive holding it.
Now that its scales were complete and its form perfected, the Dragonkin Soldier truly looked like a warrior, not a re beast.
Still, its appearance gave him a strange sense of déjà vu.
Bai Shi pondered for a mont before the source of this feeling clicked into place.
Ever since it had grown wings and begun to stand upright, the Dragonkin Soldier had started to resemble a gargoyle.
And now that it was ard, the resemblance was uncanny.
The Dragonkin Soldier was now, for all intents and purposes, a deluxe model gargoyle.
Not only was it significantly larger than any gargoyle, but its power was also on an entirely different level.
Even the most powerful of their kind—the Black Blade Kindred—were only on par with top-tier heroes.
Only by factoring in the infinitesimally small fraction of Destined Death's power, granted for their service to Maliketh, the Black Blade, could they be considered marginally stronger.
The Dragonkin Soldier, however, now possessed the strength of a true ancient dragon, a power on par with that of a demigod.
Bai Shi leaped from the cliff, landing gently on the giant claw the Dragonkin Soldier extended to catch him.
Gazing at his surroundings, Bai Shi's eyes settled on the giant skeleton and the throne it occupied.
He had already made another sweep through Nokstella on his way up but hadn't found any structure that looked like it might house a Dragon Halberd.
But now, there was one last, very likely place left to check.
At Bai Shi's signal, the Dragonkin Soldier knelt on one knee, lowering its claw to the surface of the water.
Stepping off the giant hand, Bai Shi made his way to the back of the throne beneath the massive skeleton.
After a mont of searching, he found a mysterious recess on the back of the throne.
He took out the Moon of Nokstella and held it up to the indentation. As expected, the shape and size were a perfect match.
Bai Shi reached out and slowly pressed it into the recess.
Instantly, a deep, heavy rumbling echoed from the cliff face beside them.
A section of the cliff wall pivoted inward, revealing a vast space to Bai Shi and the Dragonkin Soldier.
The interior of the rock had been hollowed out, and a row of colossal weapons was fitted perfectly into racks, arranged in neat order.
A quick glance revealed weapons of nearly every type, along with so massive pieces of armor.
It was an armory.
This enormous space must have been prepared by the kin of the giant skeleton during their lifeti.
Such a collection of massive weapons was likely forged by those sa giants.
However, despite the chamber being sealed, the condition of the weapons inside was far from optimistic.
Dense swarms of ants crawled all over the weapons, their formic acid having corroded the area beyond recognition as they expanded their nest.
There was no food here, so the ants had simply tunneled through the area, using it as a nursery.
As the sealed rock opened, ant eggs began to fall out as the colony scrambled to save their losses.
This was a separate ant nest, unconnected to the one Bai Shi had previously explored.
Several weapons had already been ruined by the formic acid produced by the giant ants.
Only two weapons remained intact and sharp amidst the acidic environnt.
An icy Dragon Halberd, and a jet-black greataxe shaped like a crescent moon.
Bai Shi clicked his tongue, feeling it was a pity about the damaged weapons.
Keeping ammunition separate from weapons was a standard arrangent in tis of peace.
Unfortunately, with the dynasty destroyed, there was no one left to look after this place.
Had the Nox dynasty still existed, sothing like this would never have been allowed to happen in such an important location.
Besides, the Malford Stars had co too quickly, leaving the Nox dynasty no ti to react.
Back in Nokron, most of the Dragonkin Soldiers had not even been activated.
These weapons never had a chance to be used, and the few survivors likely never even knew of this place's existence.
Just then, the ants located the culprits who had destroyed their ho.
A dense swarm of specialized ants beat their thin wings and charged toward Bai Shi and the Dragonkin Soldier.
The Dragonkin Soldier roared at the approaching insects. Without waiting for a command from Bai Shi, it leaped into the air to et the threat.
It beat its four wings, instantly stirring up a violent gale.
The giant ants had just taken to the sky when their bodies were buffeted by the storm, and they struggled to maintain their flight.
Hovering in the air, the Dragonkin Soldier’s body crackled with ice-blue lightning.
Unlike the electricity of ancient dragons, this frigid, cerulean energy flared from its wing mbranes, and dazzling bolts imdiately filled the entire cavern.
Each giant ant was precisely targeted by a bolt of lightning, their bodies instantly obliterated by the frigid electricity.
Not only were the flying ants destroyed, but the entire nest within the cliff was annihilated in an instant.
Once the pesky ants were cleared away, Bai Shi took a closer look at the remaining armory.
Though the weapons were embedded in custom-made slots, there was conspicuously no slot for a katana—nothing for the Dragonscale Blade.
That katana, ground from gravel stone, was likely a special case, stored elsewhere and eventually taken away.
The weapons corroded by formic acid were beyond saving, and even if they could be repaired, he wouldn't bother.
He only had one living Dragonkin Soldier, so there was no use for so many weapons.
Though only two weapons remained, it was better than nothing.
Besides, none of these weapons had been truly issued to the Dragonkin Soldiers. There was only one of each type, suggesting they were all prototypes of varying quality.
The two that had survived were undoubtedly the best of the bunch, and they were more than enough.
Even if the entire arsenal had been pristine, the lesser-quality weapons wouldn't have even been worth taking.
As for the armor, it mattered even less.
After Bai Shi's radical modifications, this Dragonkin Soldier's body was much larger, covered completely in thick, immortal stone scales.
The armor designed for an ordinary Dragonkin Soldier would be useless and wouldn't fit anyway.
Bai Shi shrugged. It was a freebie, so any gain was a good thing. The Dragon Halberd, imbued with the power of ice lightning, was a well-known weapon from the ga and was perfectly suited for the Dragonkin Soldier.
The wealthy Nox dynasty hadn't been stingy, upgrading it directly to
7.
That was likely another reason it hadn't corroded.
Bai Shi was now examining the other surviving weapon: the jet-black greataxe shaped like a crescent moon.
It was easy to see that this weapon was also modeled after the most revered object in the Eternal City, the Black Moon.
‘Black Moon.’
This greataxe, nad directly after the Black Moon, had been reinforced all the way to
8.
This confird for Bai Shi that the prototype weapons had always been of different qualities; they had just been stored together.
These two surviving weapons were the most powerful among them.
Bai Shi looked at the Black Moon greataxe and shook his head.
As expected of an experintal product backed by the full might of a dynasty. The Dragonkin Soldiers were truly well-equipped for war.
Even Bai Shi didn't have any weapons upgraded to
8, yet this Dragonkin Soldier was already using one.
Sotis, Bai Shi found himself imagining the once-glorious Nox dynasty.
What if the Dragonkin Soldier and the 'Lord of Night' Mimic Tear research had been successful...
Or even if they had just a little ti to react before the Malford Stars attacked, enough to activate all these experintal units.
If that had happened, they could have at least left scars of defiance before their destruction, a testant to the unwillingness of their mighty dynasty to fall.
Instead, as it was now, they never even had the chance for a final, desperate battle.
For creations like the Dragonkin Soldier and the Mimic Tears, born for war, it was a fate far too tragic.
Bai Shi looked up at the Dragonkin Soldier, which, after his modifications, had far surpassed the expectations of its original Nox designers. A slight smile touched his lips.
It wasn't just the Dragonkin Soldier; Ashmi, within his body, was also unprecedentedly powerful.
The people of Nox would likely never have imagined that these two projects, which they ultimately failed to complete, would be realized in his hands after countless ages.
The final glory of the Nox dynasty lived on through him, and that brought him a sense of gratification.
He had gained quite a lot from the two Eternal Cities.
Whether it was the Fingerslayer Blade, the freed Selinsax and Shivr, the adorable and useful Ashmi... or his current spoils of war.
He would make sure Ashmi and the Dragonkin Soldier were revered by the world. Let that be his thanks to the Nox dynasty.
Bai Shi stepped onto the Dragonkin Soldier's giant claw, had it secure the three weapons on its back.
Once everything was ready, Bai Shi tilted his head back, reaching a hand toward the sky as if his gaze could pierce straight through the thick mountain rock.
The magic of gravity spread from his hand, and the shape of the rock overhead began to rapidly change.
Amidst the false night sky of twinkling, eternal stars, a crack appeared out of thin air.
The sunless underground was pierced through completely.
Under the imnse power of gravity magic, Bai Shi parted the rock, creating an opening large enough for the Dragonkin Soldier's massive body to pass through.
The Dragonkin Soldier tilted its head back, gazing through the fissure at the true night sky beyond.
The stars were brilliant. The mists of Liurnia could not obscure the countless celestial lights.
It was the real sky, sothing it should have never had the chance to see.
This was the unique sorrow of a being once created as an artificial weapon.
Its ferocious eyes were captivated by the beauty, staring in a daze.
The Dragonkin Soldier was born to be a dragon, yet fate had decreed otherwise.
Failing to inherit immortal scales, the unfinished weapon could only march toward its demise in a decaying, dragon-like form.
But from this mont, without any need for words, the Dragonkin Soldier resolved to offer everything it had to Bai Shi.
Even its life.
Bai Shi also gazed at the night sky, speaking as if to himself.
"It's perfectly normal to feel lost about your budding consciousness, to feel overwheld by such drastic changes."
"In this world, every living thing has a place it belongs, a place it must return to."
"Your confusion and uncertainty stem from not having found your place yet."
"Once you find it, you will no longer be lost."
Bai Shi patted the Dragonkin Soldier's claw and said,
"Let's go."
"Go to the place where you belong."
"From now on, you have a ho. You need never feel lost again."
The Dragonkin Soldier let out a low growl, as if in response.
After one last look at Nokstella and the skeleton on the throne, the Dragonkin Soldier, with Bai Shi upon its claw, beat its wings and rose into the air.
It soared past the false, glittering night sky and into the cold, damp darkness of Liurnia.
—
On the eastern shore of Liurnia, many people from Stormveil had already settled.
The Cuckoos had all been driven out of Liurnia, and the region was now under the complete control of Stormveil.
A steady stream of Tarnished made their way here from Limgrave, trying to explore this relatively unfamiliar land.
They would soon find themselves empty-handed, cursing the Cuckoos for their thorough avarice.
It was as if the Cuckoos had tried to squeeze the very runes from the soil; they had left nothing behind.
Aside from a few catacombs and caves the Cuckoos had overlooked, there was nothing left in Liurnia.
But, on the principle of "since we're already here," they decided to stay.
It was the dead of night, and most people were already asleep.
Suddenly, the earth shook violently, startling everyone awake.
People erged from their tents, staring in astonishnt toward the distance.
On the horizon, a massive figure rose from the ground and took flight into the sky.
The figure spread its wings to their absolute limit, its powerful tail whipping behind it.
Then, the behemoth stirred up a furious wind, hurtling through the night sky toward Stormveil.
Even at night, illuminated by the light of the Erdtree, the flying form of the Dragonkin Soldier was clearly visible.
Its ice-blue wings swept over the camps, churning Liurnia's damp, cold winds into an even more biting chill.
The people on the ground watched the Dragonkin Soldier's form streak by, letting out cries of shock as they were bowled over by the gale.
"Four legs, four wings, and it can fly—it's an ancient dragon!"
"So that's an ancient dragon? Powerful! Beautiful! Ageless and immortal!"
"Mama, I saw an ancient dragon!"
However, those who had actually t Ancient Dragon Senessax before were perplexed.
For instance, the knights who followed her guidance, thirsting for dragon blood.
"Is that Lady Senessax? She looks... a bit different."
"Yeah, and isn't Lady Senessax spreading Dragon Communion and the faith of ancient dragons in her human form?"
"That thing seems to be heading for Stormveil?!"
Standing in the dragonblood knights' camp, Hakan listened to the discussions around him and simply shook his head.
Although that dragon-like creature flew quickly, with his current strength, Hakan could at least perceive Bai Shi's presence in its claws.
And if Bai Shi was there, then there was nothing to worry about.
This powerful and terrifying creature was surely another one of Bai Shi's finds from who knows where.
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