Lucian dragged the enormous Dragonscale Blade out of the Lake of Rot.
The weapon was simply too massive to fit inside his disc storage space.
No matter how he looked at it, there was no way something that large could be stuffed inside. It would probably break.
So he had no choice but to haul it along himself.
And because of its size, taking the elevator or climbing back up the normal way was no longer practical.
In the end, Lucian simply opened another path leading back up to Nokstella.
When he emerged from Nokstella and reached the edge of the cliff, he immediately spotted the Dragonkin Soldier below.
At that moment, the Dragonkin Soldier stood in the shallow waters, gazing thoughtfully at the giant skeleton seated upon its throne.
Ever since truly awakening to self-awareness, countless thoughts had begun arising within him.
From discovering his own identity, to searching for the meaning of his existence...
In terms of intellectual growth, the Dragonkin Soldier was surprisingly diligent.
Compared to him, Asimi, another creation of the Eternal City, spent every day waiting for a fight. Other than that, all she ever thought about was finding another Tear Chalice to eat.
Of course, there were advantages to thinking less.
At the very least, Asimi never suffered from existential confusion.
Lifting the Dragonscale Blade, Lucian tossed it straight off the cliff.
Hearing the weapon cutting through the air, the Dragonkin Soldier looked up and instantly sprang into motion.
Despite his seemingly massive body, his movements were incredibly agile.
His gigantic claw shot upward and caught the falling blade.
The moment the Dragonscale Blade landed in his grasp, his aura sharpened noticeably, his entire body radiating killing intent.
Lucian remained somewhat skeptical about whether the Dragonkin Soldier actually knew how to use a sword, but at least the result looked impressive.
Now that his scales and damaged body had been fully restored, he finally resembled a true warrior instead of a beast.
Still...
There was a strange sense of familiarity about him.
Lucian thought for a moment before realizing why.
Ever since the Dragonkin Soldier had grown wings and begun standing upright, his appearance had become oddly similar to a Valiant Gargoyle.
And now that he was armed, the resemblance was even stronger.
At this point, he looked exactly like an ultra-upgraded version of a Gargoyle.
Not only was he far larger than ordinary Gargoyles, but his strength completely eclipsed theirs.
Even the strongest among them, the Black Blade Kindred, were only around the level of top-tier heroes.
Adding the faint trace of Destined Death they received through serving Maliketh merely pushed them a little further.
The Dragonkin Soldier, however, now possessed power comparable to a true Ancient Dragon.
His strength was already on par with an ordinary demigod.
Lucian leapt from the cliff and landed atop the giant claw the Dragonkin Soldier had thoughtfully extended.
Looking across the surroundings, his gaze settled upon the enormous skeleton and the throne beneath it.
After returning from the Lake of Rot, he had searched Nokstella thoroughly once again but found no trace of where the Dragon Halberd might be stored.
However, there was still one final location.
And it was a very promising one.
At Lucian's signal, the Dragonkin Soldier dropped to one knee and lowered his hand toward the water's surface.
Stepping down from the claw, Lucian walked behind the throne-like structure beneath the giant skeleton.
After some searching, he discovered a peculiar indentation carved into the back of the seat.
Taking out the Moon of Nokstella and comparing it, he found that the shape matched perfectly.
Without hesitation, he slowly pressed it into the slot.
A moment later, a massive grinding sound echoed from the nearby cliff face.
The stone wall rotated open.
A vast hidden chamber appeared before Lucian and the Dragonkin Soldier.
The interior of the mountain had been hollowed out into an enormous armory.
Rows upon rows of gigantic weapons were embedded neatly within the stone, arranged with military precision.
At a glance, nearly every weapon type imaginable was represented.
There were even several oversized pieces of armor.
This was clearly a weapons depot.
The gigantic chamber had likely been constructed by the giant race to which the colossal skeleton once belonged.
Judging from the size of the equipment, those giants had probably forged these weapons themselves.
Unfortunately, despite the meticulous seal protecting the chamber, the weapons' condition was far from ideal.
Countless giant ants crawled over the racks.
The formic acid produced during their nest expansion had corroded much of the armory beyond recognition.
There was no food inside, so the ants had simply tunneled through the space and converted it into a breeding ground.
As the sealed mountain wall opened, ant eggs began tumbling from the damaged tunnels.
The colony was desperately trying to salvage its losses.
This was another nest entirely, separate from the one Lucian had previously explored.
Several weapons had already been ruined by generations of ant activity.
Only two remained completely intact, untouched by the acid.
One was an icy Dragon Halberd.
The other was a massive black greataxe shaped like a full moon.
Clicking his tongue, Lucian felt a pang of regret as he looked over the damaged arsenal.
Keeping weapons and ammunition separate was a perfectly reasonable security measure during times of peace.
Unfortunately, the kingdom that had built this place was long gone.
There was no one left to maintain it.
Had the Nox Dynasty still existed, a location this important would never have fallen into such a state.
Besides, when Astel and its kind descended, everything had happened too quickly.
The Nox had never even been given a chance to react.
Even in Nokron, most of the Dragonkin Soldiers had never been activated.
These weapons never received an opportunity to see battle.
The survivors likely didn't even know this armory existed.
At that moment, the ants finally discovered who had destroyed their home.
A dense swarm of specialized ants beat their wings and surged toward Lucian and the Dragonkin Soldier.
The Dragonkin Soldier roared.
Without waiting for instructions, he launched himself skyward.
His four wings spread wide, unleashing a violent gale.
The giant ants had barely taken flight when the turbulent winds disrupted their formation.
Their bodies swayed uncontrollably, struggling to remain airborne.
Hovering above them, the Dragonkin Soldier's body began crackling with icy-blue lightning.
Unlike the Ancient Dragons, his wing membranes glowed with a unique frost-blue radiance.
A blinding storm of lightning instantly flooded the entire cavern.
One by one, the giant ants were locked onto by bolts of freezing thunder.
Their bodies were annihilated in an instant.
Not only the flying ants, but every ant hiding within the nest was exterminated as well.
Once the pests had been cleared away, Lucian finally turned his attention back to the remaining weapons.
Although each weapon rested within a dedicated slot, one category was conspicuously absent.
There was no slot for a katana.
In other words, no place had ever been designated for the Dragonscale Blade.
The katana forged from Ancient Dragon stone scales was likely a special case, stored elsewhere before eventually being carried away.
As for the weapons damaged by the ants' acid, there was no restoring them now.
And even if restoration were possible, Lucian had no intention of doing it.
After all, he only had a single living Dragonkin Soldier under his command.
There was no need for that many weapons anyway.
Even if only two weapons remained, that was still better than nothing.
Besides, these weapons had never actually been issued to Dragonkin Soldiers. There was only one of each type, suggesting they had all been prototypes. Their quality likely varied greatly.
The two that had survived were undoubtedly the finest among them.
Having these alone was more than enough.
Even if the entire armory had remained intact, most of the inferior weapons wouldn't have been worth taking.
As for armor, it mattered even less.
After all, the Dragonkin Soldier had been heavily modified by Lucian. His body had grown far larger, and his thick, immortal stone scales now completely covered him.
The armor originally forged for ordinary Dragonkin Soldiers was both useless and impossible for him to wear.
Lucian shrugged.
They were free spoils anyway. Any gain was a good gain.
The Dragon Halberd imbued with frozen lightning required no explanation.
It already existed in the game and could practically be called the perfect weapon for a Dragonkin Soldier.
The wealthy Nox Dynasty had spared no expense, upgrading it all the way to +7.
That was probably why it had survived the acid corrosion.
What interested Lucian more was the other surviving weapon, the massive black greataxe shaped like a full moon.
It wasn't difficult to see that this weapon had also been modeled after the most sacred symbol of the Eternal City:
The Black Moon.
[Black Moon]
The greataxe that bore the Black Moon's name directly had been upgraded even further to +8.
That confirmed Lucian's suspicion.
These prototype weapons had never been equals. Some were simply superior to others, even if they had all been stored together.
The Dragon Halberd and Black Moon were clearly the strongest among them.
Looking at the Black Moon Greataxe, Lucian shook his head.
As expected of an experimental weapon created with immense expectations behind it.
The Dragonkin Soldiers had truly enjoyed extravagant funding.
None of Lucian's own weapons had even reached +8, yet the Dragonkin Soldiers had gotten there first.
Sometimes, Lucian found himself imagining the glorious Nox Dynasty at its height.
What if the Dragonkin Soldier project and the Night Lord Silver Tear project had actually succeeded?
Or even if they had simply been given a little time before Astel's attack...
Enough time to activate all these experimental creations.
At the very least, they could have left scars upon their destroyers before perishing.
Proof that the mighty dynasty had resisted to its final breath.
Instead, they had been erased so suddenly that they never even received the opportunity for one last battle.
For creations like the Dragonkin Soldiers and Silver Tears, beings born solely for war...
It was an exceptionally tragic fate.
Lucian looked up at the Dragonkin Soldier, now modified far beyond anything the Nox had originally envisioned, and smiled.
Not only the Dragonkin Soldier.
Asimi inside him had also become stronger than ever before.
The Nox could never have imagined that the two great projects they failed to complete would finally reach fruition countless ages later in Lucian's hands.
The final glory of the Nox Dynasty lived on through him.
And that brought him genuine satisfaction.
The two Eternal Cities had already given him so much.
The Fingerslayer Blade.
The unsealed Selinsax and Sif.
The adorable and incredibly useful Asimi.
And now all these new spoils.
He would ensure that both Asimi and the Dragonkin Soldier became figures admired throughout the Lands Between.
Consider it repayment for the gifts of the Nox Dynasty.
Standing atop the Dragonkin Soldier's claw, Lucian had him gather the weapons and strap them across his back.
Once everything was ready, Lucian raised his head and stretched a hand toward the heavens, his gaze seeming to pierce straight through the mountain above.
Gravity sorcery spread outward from his palm.
The rock overhead began changing shape at astonishing speed.
Within the false star-filled sky of the Eternal City, a crack suddenly appeared.
For the first time in ages, the underground realm was completely opened to the surface.
Under the power of Lucian's gravity magic, a passage large enough for the Dragonkin Soldier's immense body was forcibly torn through the earth.
The Dragonkin Soldier tilted his head upward.
Through the opening, he saw the real night sky.
Countless stars glittered overhead.
The mists of Liurnia could not obscure their brilliance.
It was a sky he had never been meant to see.
A sorrow unique to a being born as an artificial weapon.
The fierce light in his eyes faded into stunned wonder.
He had been created to become a dragon.
Yet fate had denied him.
Unable to inherit the immortal scales of true dragons, the unfinished weapon had been destined to wither away as a malformed imitation.
But now...
Without a single word spoken, the Dragonkin Soldier made a decision.
He would devote everything he possessed to Lucian.
Even his life.
Lucian gazed at the stars as well and spoke softly, almost as if talking to himself.
"It is only natural to feel lost when new thoughts begin to awaken within you."
"It is only natural to feel overwhelmed when the world you know starts to change."
"For everything that lives beneath the vast sky and upon this earth, there is a place where it truly belongs."
"And in time, all things find their way back to it."
"The reason your heart is restless,"
"the reason your mind is clouded with uncertainty,"
"is not because something is wrong with you—"
"it is because you have not yet found your place."
"But when you do,"
"when you finally arrive where your soul feels at home,"
"the confusion that once weighed on you will quietly fade away,"
"like mist disappearing beneath the morning sun."
Patting the Dragonkin Soldier's claw, Lucian smiled.
"Let's go."
"Go to where you belong."
"From this day forward, you have a home."
"You'll never have to wander aimlessly again."
The Dragonkin Soldier let out a low growl in response.
Taking one final look at Nokstella and the giant skeleton upon its throne, he spread his wings and launched himself into the air.
Carrying Lucian in his claw, he pierced through the Eternal City's false sky and ascended into Liurnia's cold, damp night.
Along Liurnia's eastern shore, many people from Stormveil had already settled down.
The Cuckoo forces had been completely expelled from Liurnia.
The region now lay firmly under Stormveil's control.
A steady stream of Tarnished traveled from Limgrave into the area, hoping to explore this relatively unfamiliar land.
Then they would inevitably discover nothing.
And curse the greed of the Cuckoo Knights.
The bastards had scavenged everything.
It was as though they had tried to dig every last Rune out of the soil itself.
Apart from a few hidden caves and catacombs the Cuckoos had overlooked, virtually nothing remained.
Still, many chose to stay.
After all, they had already come this far.
It was deep into the night, and most people were asleep.
Then suddenly—
The earth shook.
Everyone was startled awake.
People rushed out of their tents and stared toward the horizon.
There, a colossal figure rose from the ground and soared into the sky.
The creature spread its wings to their fullest extent.
Its powerful tail swayed behind it.
Then, wrapped in roaring winds, it streaked through the darkness toward Stormveil.
Even at night, under the radiance of the Erdtree, the Dragonkin Soldier's silhouette remained clearly visible.
His icy-blue wings swept across the camps overhead, making Liurnia's already damp winds even colder.
The people below stared in astonishment as the gigantic figure passed overhead.
Flattened by the gusts, they nonetheless cried out in excitement.
"Four legs! Four wings! It can fly! That's an Ancient Dragon!"
"So that's what an Ancient Dragon looks like?! Powerful! Beautiful! Immortal!"
"Mom! I saw a dragon!"
Those who had actually met Selinsax, however, were far more confused.
Particularly the knights who followed her teachings and sought dragon blood.
"Is that Lady Selinsax? It doesn't look quite right..."
"Yeah. Besides, isn't Lady Selinsax spreading Dragon Communion and Ancient Dragon faith in human form?"
"Wait... is that thing heading toward Stormveil?!"
Standing within the Dragonblood Knights' camp, Hakkan listened to the growing commotion around him and simply shook his head.
The dragon-like creature was flying extremely fast.
But with Hakkan's current strength, he could still vaguely sense Lucian sitting within its claw.
And if Lucian was there...
Then there was absolutely nothing to worry about.
That terrifyingly powerful monster was undoubtedly just another thing Lucian had somehow picked up from who-knows-where.