Once everything was in order, Gawain set off with Lillian toward the entrance of Nokron. The area where the meteorite had struck the earth was already surrounded and under heavy guard by his men.
There had been no reports of anomalies recently, and everything seemed relatively peaceful. No one would suspect that deep beneath the surface lay a vast population of Nox survivors and two full-fledged Crucible Knights; Gawain was already plotting how to recruit those two when the time came.
Traversing the Mistwood—where the Runebears and various beasts had been nearly eradicated—the two finally arrived near Fort Haight. Before them lay a bottomless crater, surrounded by a perimeter of man-made barricades.
In fact, immediately after the stars had been unsealed and the falling star blasted this path open, Irina had dispatched troops to isolate the area. She already knew where the hole led, making it all the more vital to prevent anyone with ulterior motives from entering.
The soldiers stationed here included reinforcements from Fort Haight as well as the exploration team that had been tasked with charting the Siofra River to open a path to Caelid.
While the leading Crucible Knight could fight almost indefinitely without rest, the ordinary soldiers still needed time to recover. Aside from the sentries, a large group of "construction blokes" was busy hauling materials to reinforce the fortifications. In a short span of time, they had already managed to erect a functional watchtower.
The current commander of the camp was a Kaiden sellsword named Calvin. He had been stationed here for several days. Previously, he had been busy dealing with the "Minotaurs" (Ancestral Followers) underground, so he hadn't had the chance to join the Caelid front against the Kindred of Rot.
However, luck had been on his side. He had just come up for a rotation of rest when he was privileged to witness the spectacular sight of a meteorite punching a hole through the world.
Shortly after emerging, he received orders to cooperate with Kenneth Haight of Fort Haight to blockade the perimeter and await further instructions.
For the past few days, aside from the occasional "Silver Tear" slime-thing crawling out, there hadn't been much of a threat. This allowed him to slack off every now and then. Sipping on tea brewed from leaves he'd scrounged from god-knows-where was, in his opinion, the pinnacle of human enjoyment.
Sensing someone's gaze, Calvin looked up. When he saw who it was, he practically levitated off his camping cot. Of all the times for the boss to show up, it had to be while he was secretly shirking his duties!
Gawain glanced at Calvin, whom he hadn't seen in some time. He noticed the man seemed to have bulked up; the dejected, scruffy look he'd had at the beginning was gone, replaced by a vibrant energy.
Clearly, life had been quite comfortable for him lately. Gawain's gaze drifted to the grill behind Calvin, where what looked like bear meat and wild rabbit were currently sizzling. This confirmed his suspicions.
This guy... lying on a cot and having a barbecue. He certainly knows how to enjoy life.
Of course, Gawain wasn't a cold-hearted boss who begrudged his employees a good life. He reached out, tore the fattest leg off the rabbit, and polished it off—bone and all—in one go. Then, he quickly shifted his gaze from the grill to get down to business. He had important matters to attend to.
"Good work. I assume there hasn't been much movement from below these past few days?"
Watching his favorite cut of meat disappear with a pang of heartache, Calvin let out a small sigh and cleared his throat to report his findings.
"Ahem. At least, nothing since I arrived with my men. I can't say if anything crawled out before that. As for the hole itself... it's far too deep; we didn't dare venture down casually."
"And the place is genuinely eerie. Even if you toss a stone down there, it just floats in the middle, refusing to fall."
"That's the meteorite that fell from beyond the Lands Between. Amazing, isn't it? It possesses the quality of warping gravity. You lot keep watch up here for a while longer. I'm heading down first. In a bit, some extra help will arrive to assist you."
"Right, leave it to me. The work is tough, but I can handle it!"
Gawain's lip twitched. He ignored Calvin's "please-praise-me" expression. The "help" he mentioned was the result of deep consideration over the last two days: the Albinaurics. Even if they lived in the outskirts of his city, they were still fundamentally alienated from ordinary people. Some things simply couldn't be forced.
Since he had promised them a home, he realized there was no place more suitable than the Eternal City. It would be a waste to let that ruined underworld rot; rebuilding it to its former glory was what he truly wanted to see.
Moving the Albinaurics in would not only give them a truly appropriate environment but also allow them to participate in the massive reconstruction of the underground city.
It was only then that Calvin noticed Lillian, who had been standing quietly to the side. He recognized the patterns on her clothing; back in Siofra, they often found tattered scraps of fabric with the same design falling from the heights above.
Seeing her put his mind at ease. His boss must have recruited some of the locals from below. At the thought of that treacherous underworld, his backside began to ache sympathetically. He'd been shot there by one of those Minotaurs—the wound was minor, but the insult was immense. He truly didn't want to deal with those snipers ever again.
Gawain stepped forward and looked down into the crater, which was many times more exaggerated than in the game. There was no convenient, pre-formed path leading down here. Instead, countless shattered stone fragments floated haphazardly in mid-air.
"It's time to head in. Are you ready?"
"Yes. Do not worry. I have waited for this moment for a very long time."
Without hesitation, Gawain shrouded himself in a storm and leaped down, taking Lillian with him. He soon realized that the gravity here was in a state of total chaos; the fluctuations emitted by the meteorite at the bottom were constantly warping the environment.
This made his descent somewhat shaky. He had to focus intently on controlling the storm and using gravity magic to adjust his position. After activating Radahn's Great Rune, such tasks weren't particularly difficult. Soon, the entrance to the cavern—radiating a faint, eerie blue light—appeared before him.
As he drew closer to the entrance of Nokron, the hazy blue starlight that had been swirling around him shifted. Ranni, who had been in a deep sleep, finally awakened. The condition she had set for her awakening was the aura of the Eternal City's "false sky," and they were now very close.
In her form as a miniature doll, she sat upon Gawain's left shoulder. She glanced around to confirm her location before turning her gaze to the Black Witch in high-ranking clerical attire standing beside them. Ranni easily recognized the woman's origin; only the town of Sellia produced such vestments.
Ranni had a vague recollection of this Black Witch. If her memory served her correctly, the woman's name was Lillian. It brought back a hint of nostalgia; back when her brother Radahn was studying in Sellia, Ranni had visited him and heard of the Sellians' movements.
Those people, after realizing Ranni had been chosen as an Empyrean by the Two Fingers, had seemingly begun to focus on training a new generation of Black Witches to welcome the birth of a potential "Lord of Night."
Lillian was a perfect candidate, possessing the rare Nightfolk bloodline. One look at the equipment she wore told Ranni how much the Sellians valued her. After the great war, while checking on her brother's condition, Ranni had also looked into the state of the Sellian people.
Ranni's eyes flickered. To be honest, her understanding of the Eternal City couldn't compare to that of these true descendants of the original inhabitants. Her own knowledge came mostly from her mother, the Full Moon Queen, and secrets she had access to as a Demigod of the Golden Lineage.
She knew for a fact that a power capable of harming the Two Fingers was hidden here. She had to obtain it to exact her revenge against the Fingers that sought to constrain her fate. She was also curious to see if this trip would yield any unexpected harvests; only then would it be worth the effort of coming here in person in this form.
A strange sensation interrupted her thoughts. Ranni suddenly felt an unfamiliar aura—one very close to her, emanating from within the body of the man she was currently haunting. Is this... a Silver Tear?
What is going on? I only slept for a short while. It's not like the person I'm possessing has been swapped out, is it? Confused, she turned her head and met Gawain's gaze. Upon seeing him, she instantly understood the situation.
"You actually... inhaled it voluntarily? That is unexpected indeed."
Ranni was quite interested in the unique individual residing within Gawain. She was curious about the nature of a creation that the Nox had poured so much effort into, but now was not the time for an investigation.
Judging by the surge of power within Gawain, the creature must have been in a state of extreme weakness, leading it to risk finding a host. Any other Silver Tear would likely have attempted to mimic and then replace the host; after all, that was the original purpose for which they were created as weapons.
Thinking of this, Ranni marveled at Gawain's terrifying physical constitution. Logically, since Silver Tears were highly toxic to living beings, a normal person doing this would have dropped dead instantly.
Even a powerful warrior would be gradually corroded by such a parasite. When the Academy created the Albinaurics, the toxic nature of their blood originated from the Silver Tears; it could even be used as a vicious tool in combat.
Generally, those who used Silver Tears in battle kept them in spirit-jars, summoning them only when needed and injecting a temporary surge of life force to sustain their activity.
Yet here was this man, housing a Silver Tear in his body as if it were nothing. The silver substance was practically being "reverse-dyed" into another color by his own power.
Gawain, of course, had no idea what Ranni was grumbling about in her mind. His body was fundamentally different from that of an ordinary human; the vast majority of toxins, including the Scarlet Rot, simply didn't affect him.
He only felt a slight tingly sensation whenever Asimi writhed inside him. If he had to describe it, it felt like a leaky electric hot water bottle. It was actually quite comfortable.
Asimi, on her part, was experiencing self-awareness for the first time and had no idea that what she was doing was generally considered suicidal. Thus, both parties had reached a perfect, happy consensus.
However, Asimi's original Silver Tear body was undergoing some wondrous changes due to the daily infusion of power from Melina (whose Faith had broken past 99) and Gawain (a Faith-scaling warrior). She just hadn't realized it yet.
Entering the bounds of Nokron through the shattered crater, Gawain found himself in a fractured hall, just as in the game. The floor had collapsed into a bottomless abyss.
Through the broken structural ribs of the buildings, he could see glimpses of the world outside. He had no idea how deep the Nox had built this place, but the former glory of the Eternal City was manifesting its depth before his eyes for the first time.
Gawain took Lillian and leaped down, controlling their descent until they landed at the exit on the opposite side. It wasn't long before they stepped out of the building.
What appeared before his eyes was a vast expanse of tilted, abandoned architecture. Swarms of Silver Tears writhed upon the structures, seemingly moving toward the direction of the surface.
Lillian couldn't help but reach out her hand, touching the starlight that shimmered everywhere. This was the "false sky" created by the Nox after they lost the Dark Moon—a symbol of their imprisoned fate.
Although the seal on their fate had been lifted, the place was no longer what it once was. Its former splendor had long since vanished.
"Don't daze off. Keep moving," Gawain said. "This is your city. Even if it has declined, the opportunity for restoration is not gone. But before that, we need to make contact with the Nox survivors here."
Lillian nodded and followed him, though she couldn't help the lingering sense of loss in her heart. Back then, even a civilization this powerful had no ability to resist the malice from the stars. Even if they rebuilt their former glory, would things truly be different this time?
Ignoring the mindless Silver Tears, Gawain followed the route in his memory, pushing deeper into the city. To be honest, the place was far larger than he had imagined. The density and complexity of the architecture far exceeded his expectations. It was hard to fathom what this city must have looked like in its prime.
After exploring for a while, he finally discovered living beings that weren't Silver Tears. It was a group of pale, undead-looking figures carrying silver-white torches. If his memory served him correctly, these were the unfortunate souls of the Fallen Hawks legion.
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Elden Ring: In the Name of Ash (201 chapter - Ongoing)
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