The werewolf, still locked in a bitter fight, quickly overturned his earlier thought. He had suddenly remembered that the person he served also lived for a dream, and if it was Ranni's dream, then of course everything was worth it.
Blaidd darted back and forth through the ruins, soon breaking out of the encirclement of three Dragonkin Soldiers. But the moment he burst from the dust, he saw a group of Nox swordsmen who had clearly been waiting for him.
Their Shotel swords, thin as needles, flowed into fluid forms. The liquid-metal blades lashed out like long whips, instantly shredding the buildings in front of Blaidd.
Blaidd hurriedly raised his Claymore to block, but the tremendous impact sent him flying backward.
Before he could steady himself, several Dwelling Arrows shot from a nearby building like meteors.
The arrows seemed to have eyes, striking Blaidd's Claymore with perfect accuracy and driving him even farther back, straight into the attack range of the Dragonkin Soldiers.
The Ancestral Followers drew their bows and prepared to keep firing, but several cannonballs dropped from above. Firelink Army knights were galloping down the wide street on warhorses, raising portable Jar Cannons and blowing the entire building apart.
Blaidd snapped his head up, and his heart tightened at what he saw. That Greatsword and that Halberd again!
These monsters seemed to know exactly who their opponent was. They completely ignored the knights harassing them from the side and charged straight at him.
Sword and Halberd came crashing down at terrifying speed. Blaidd instinctively tried to dodge, but the instant he moved aside, he suddenly realized that the ground beneath his feet had not shaken violently as it usually did.
The strange detail startled him, and he whipped around.
A man and a horse stood where he had just been besieged by the three Dragonkin Soldiers. A purple, translucent barrier spread around them, as though the world itself were expressing its will for Rejection.
Blaidd looked closer and realized the knight was Nolan, and the horse beneath him was naturally Torrent.
Nolan only raised one hand slightly, and the weapons in the three Dragonkin Soldiers' hands were stopped as though blocked by an invisible gravitational force, unable to move even an inch farther.
"You little brat, you finally showed up!" Blaidd spat, glaring at the highly pretentious Carian Lord Consort-in-waiting before him with no small amount of irritation.
He muttered under his breath, "All those flashy tricks. Her Highness the Princess must have been fooled by Nolan's little stunts for impressing girls!"
"Knight Blaidd, how dare you treat a Lord so rudely? You should address me as Your Majesty or Your Grace!"
Nolan's voice carried a trace of authority and displeasure. With his back still turned to Blaidd, he seemed to have already written the werewolf knight off as a rebellious subject of his own household.
"However, for Ranni's sake, I'll forgive you this time." Nolan's tone was calm, but the arrogance in it made the corner of the werewolf knight's eye twitch.
He was really pushing his luck. If Blaidd could beat him, he would have charged up and cut him down on the spot.
Nolan seemed completely unaware of the false killing intent radiating from Blaidd behind him. He merely opened his palm slightly toward the three Dragonkin Soldiers.
The three Dragonkin Soldiers were immediately dragged by an invisible force and flung away, smashing into the surrounding high-rises and causing a vast stretch of buildings to collapse.
...
Nokron was enormous. Its inner city was filled with towering structures that made people seem impossibly small.
In this vast city, the Nox moved like busy worker ants, hurrying back and forth through its streets.
Only higher-ranking monks and swordsmen were permitted to move freely through the core district.
They hurried through one long corridor after another, eventually reaching the highest point of Nokron.
From here, they could overlook most of the city, and even the distant Water-Greeting Bridge lay within sight.
But what entered their eyes was not only the city's magnificent scenery. Half the city had been reduced to ruins in an instant.
The dust in the southeast had yet to settle, and already several more high-rises had fallen in the northwest. The Noxians who had marched out with heads held high at the start were now being carried back one after another.
The swordsmen and monks gripped their Nox Flowing Swords and Nox Flowing Hammers tightly. Though their faces showed no obvious panic, their steps were unusually rushed, as if evil spirits were chasing them from behind.
At last, they arrived before a heavy wooden door.
With a creak, the wooden door was slowly pushed open, and a stale smell rushed out to meet them.
Grayish-white Torches on the walls gave off a faint glow, barely illuminating the room. The air was thick with the sharp stench of formaldehyde.
Firelight flickered in the darkness, its weak glow falling over one mutilated corpse after another.
The corpses came in all shapes and forms. Some were Noxians, some were Ancestral Followers, some were round-headed, big-frog-like Albinaurics, and some were writhing, fluid Silver Tears. There were even strange creatures no one could identify.
The place looked like a mad scientist's bloody laboratory, and also like the specimen hall of an eccentric collector.
Such a sight should have filled anyone with revulsion and fear, but the Noxians seemed entirely used to it. They were the mad scientists and eccentric collectors.
At the moment, however, they were clearly in no mood to admire these so-called "collections."
They hurried on without lingering in the room and soon arrived at the next one.
Inside, three women sat quietly in chairs, their figures slightly blurred by the firelight.
The Nox entered the room and immediately bowed, speaking in unison.
"My Lady Priestess, the southeastern sector has been taken back by the enemy again, and the situation in the northwestern sector is not looking good either. The three Dragonkin Soldiers likely will not hold out much longer."
The three figures in the room rose from their seats.
They wore black armor, their silk cloaks drifting gently in the breeze. Silk gauze covered their eyes, and white twin crowns, symbols of the Eternal City's highest authority, rested upon their heads.
Swordsmen and monks stood around them as guards, following close behind. They were the highest-ranking clergy in the city, and its true rulers: the Night Witches.
One of the Night Witches turned to the side and said, "Priestess Estrid, it seems you made the wrong decision. Your reckless counterattack not only failed to bring us victory, it drew in a terrifying enemy."
"Priestess Aurora, I do not believe my judgment was wrong. Two of the three Dragonkin Soldiers were already close to being scrapped. With the power currently available to us, we had no choice but to take a risk."
Priestess Estrid did not back down after being named. She straightened and answered without yielding.
"This is our last chance. Of course, if you can find more resources to replenish our forces, then we can afford to wait longer. But we cannot. Returning to the surface is our only option."
The other two Priestesses had no answer, because they knew Estrid was right.
Nokron had not begun its counterattack because the enemy was pressing them step by step, but because they were out of time.
Dragonkin Soldiers were currently the biological weapons they were most satisfied with. Though they were defective products that had failed to meet expectations, they possessed strength on par with the dragon race. Yet their short lives also made the Night Witches understand just how urgent their situation had become.
"Let the Lord fulfill his responsibility," the last Priestess, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly said. Aurora and Estrid both turned to look at her.
Worry appeared on Aurora's face. "But the Lord is not complete yet."
"When will it be complete?" The Priestess looked at Aurora and Estrid. She knew she would not receive an answer, so she did not wait for one.
"I remember the last time this research made any progress was a thousand years ago. I do not mind that the two of you still hold hope for the 'Lord,' but do not forget. Once the city falls, the future we have awaited for thousands of years will be destroyed all the same."
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