"I don't know how it works, but this thing let me steal fire without a hitch."
Throne shrugged. Theory bored him. Systems, mechanisms—meaningless noise. All that mattered was results. Adam claimed stealing fire required a medium, but Throne had tossed that idea aside. He'd gone with instinct instead, trusting the fragment in his hand. And it worked.
The fragment itself was ancient, older than The Lands Between, maybe even its origin. If it could channel fire, it had to have other uses. The Crucible Knights' hatred confirmed it.
"Eight of them. Ordovis and Siluria leading the pack."
He tilted his head, listening to the approaching hooves.
"They despise you. Deeply."
Melina's voice tightened with urgency.
"That's not all. Look closer."
Her eyes narrowed, sharpening on the frozen forest beyond. The Godskin were there—more than two. An alliance.
"This… they're working together."
Throne's lips curled.
"What's the story between Marika and the Gloam-Eyed Queen? Why are the Godskin and Crucible Knights coordinating?"
"Is now really the time?" Melina snapped, her voice rising.
"Focus! Do you plan to stand here and let them butcher us?"
"What's the rush? Answer me first."
She exhaled sharply, forcing herself to stay calm.
"I don't know what ties them together, but I'm connected to the Gloam-Eyed Queen. Just as—"
"Just like that seal under your left eye?"
Throne cut in.
Melina froze. She'd known Throne was sharp, unnervingly so, but this—seeing through her with a single glance—caught her off guard. Her mouth opened, but no words came. The thunder of hooves drowned out her thoughts. The Crucible Knights were here, their massive steeds armored and bristling with shields. The Godskin lingered in the shadows, watching, waiting.
The Fire Giant stood motionless at the far end of the chain, his tattered cloak billowing in the icy wind. His gaze locked on Throne and Melina atop the furnace. Throne didn't flinch. He stood tall on the mountaintop, surveying the scene below. No retreat. No path left. Yet his azure eyes remained calm, unshaken.
Sparks danced in the air, casting faint light across the frozen earth. The Erdtree's glow reflected off the icy ground. Throne planted his sword into the earth. Cling—
The sound echoed. He stood guard, silent, his gaze locking with Ordovis as the knight dismounted and raised his greatshield.
"You die today."
Ordovis' voice was flat, final. He didn't waste time on formalities. A gesture, and the shield-bearing knights advanced, Siluria's tree-like warriors following close behind.
They moved with precision, relentless, unstoppable. Throne's eyes narrowed. The terrain favored him—he could take down three, maybe four. But then they'd overwhelm him. Chop him and Melina to pieces.
Melina stepped forward, her voice low.
"I'll cover you. Go. Now."
"Forget it."
Throne grabbed her wrist, his grip firm. He watched as the Crucible Knights surged forward, their iron boots slamming against the chain. They didn't hesitate, didn't falter. They knew their goal.
"At a time like this, how could you…"
"Since I've come this far, I hate doing useless work."
Throne's voice was steady, his gaze fixed on the advancing knights. He tightened his grip on Melina's wrist, ready for what came next.
Melina wanted to say that Throne wasn't usually so indecisive. Throne simply tightened his grip on her hand, then dragged her away from the edge, running toward the back of the furnace. His eyes scanned the sea of clouds below, as if searching for something, and he shouted at the still-muttering Melina, "Shut up, just trust me!"
When it was time to be reckless, Throne could be crazy without hesitation, but when it was time to be calm, he would calculate every bit of his strength like a miser: first breaking through the fortress, then battling the Godskin. Even having absorbed quite a bit of Destined Death flame, it was impossible to fight eight full Crucible Knights plus a Fire Giant who was like a ticking time bomb.
Knowing oneself and the enemy is the only way to place a bet, and he had no interest in gambling on a losing game. As for a retreat route—it had been prepared before he even came to the snowy mountains! Seeing Throne drag Melina and run, the group of Crucible Knights were stunned for a moment.
They had been prepared for a bloody battle on the narrow chain; how could the enemy flee before the fight had even started?
"Not good, he's trying to escape, chase him!"
Ordovis was the first to react. Although he didn't know where Throne could escape to, he instinctively accelerated. Crossing the chain and stepping onto the cauldron, he saw the two of them on the other side.
His first reaction was that the opponent wanted to use the Destined Death flame to wipe them out. Both sides locked eyes. When he saw the smile in Throne's eyes, Ordovis even instinctively looked behind him, thinking there was an ambush. He had been truly traumatized by being tricked. The clouds were vast, and the cold wind was fierce.
Of course, there couldn't be an ambush in this godforsaken place.
"Watch out for tricks, split into two teams, left and right, and flank them."
He decisively issued the order, but before the Crucible Knights could launch an attack, Siluria behind him couldn't help but let out a low growl.
"Wait, what is he trying to do?"
Everyone looked over and saw that instead of advancing, Throne was retreating. He slowly extended his legs over the edge of the furnace and raised his hand, waving it gently. There was no powerful magic or sword skill, it was simply—a wave goodbye? Ordovis was still analyzing what kind of finishing move this was, when suddenly the man and woman in his field of vision were gone. They had leaned backward and vanished into the cold wind of the mountaintop.
What!?
His brain froze for a split second. He had seen Throne's bravery and cunning, but he had never imagined he would jump off a cliff to commit suicide. Could it be that he could fly? The group of Crucible Knights instinctively leaned over to look. Even with 'Aspects of the Crucible: Wings', one could only glide briefly; how could anyone survive a fall from a thousands-of-meters-high mountaintop?
They didn't see any golden wings, and Throne hadn't used Gravity Magic or storm combat skills to slow down. The two of them were embraced together, falling rapidly, and soon turned into a small black dot.
"Throne, what are you doing!"
Melina almost couldn't help but scream.
She had just been filled with guilt and prepared to fight to the death, but before she could react, she had been dragged off a cliff by Throne. When she suddenly came to her senses, she only felt the fierce wind whistling in her ears, her entire body continuously falling, and the sensation of weightlessness made her heart hang in the air.
She knew that when Throne was pushed to a desperate situation, he often made unexpected moves, but she never imagined he would drag her along to commit suicide. Even if Melina could turn into spirit form, she might not necessarily die from the fall, but Throne still held her tightly in his arms and shouted in her ear, "I said it before, trust me!"
The short sentence calmed Melina down.
She closed her eyes. Dying in Throne's arms didn't seem so bad after all. The wind's sharp howl softened, and Melina felt an odd calm settle over her. She tightened her grip on Throne and lifted her chin.
"I won!"
"What did you say?"
Melina drew a deep breath and shouted into the gale, "The one who dies with you is me! That means I won!"
Throne stared at her, momentarily stunned. Her logic was so bizarre he couldn't think of a response.
A roar erupted from beneath the clouds.
"Well said!"
Melina froze. The voice sounded familiar.
Before she could process it, her plummeting body jerked to a stop. Something lifted her upward. She looked down and saw gray-white scales stretching across her vision, followed by two pairs of massive wings. She blinked, speechless.
"That is…" Ordovis, watching from above, saw it clearly.
The clouds arched upward as if something was breaking free. Then a colossal body emerged, tens of meters long, its gray-white scales gleaming like the finest armor.
"The Ancient Dragon, Lansseax," Siluria finished for him, her eyes fixed on the ferocious creature as it beat its wings and tore through the clouds.
So this was the knight's plan all along. A stepping stone waiting below.
"Of course I recognize her! But why is she here?"
Ordovis' veins bulged as he gripped his greatsword. He'd been tricked. He'd traveled thousands of miles, prepared meticulously, and still been outmaneuvered by this man. He roared down at the dragon, "Lansseax, do you wish to make an enemy of the Erdtree?"
On this mountaintop with no room to maneuver, the Ancient Dragon was unstoppable. If Throne became a Dragon Knight, he could turn the tide of battle.
As soon as the words left Ordovis' mouth, the knights scattered. A muffled boom echoed as red lightning struck the edge of the furnace. Electric arcs spread, and the knights unfurled their golden wings, leaping from the giant's cauldron back to the platform below.
That place was no battlefield. If they were paralyzed by the lightning and swept into the furnace by the dragon's tail, they'd be dead on the spot.
A massive shadow loomed over Ordovis. Lansseax spread her wings, blotting out the sky. Her golden eyes swept over the Fire Giant and the knights below.
"Ordovis, you little brat, you dare tell me what to do?"
Her arrogance was palpable. Ordovis took a deep breath, forcing down his anger. He'd fought in the Ancient Dragon War. He knew their temper.
Ancient Dragons were untamable. Even if Godfrey himself came, even if his head were twisted off, they wouldn't yield.
"He is the enemy of our King and the Erdtree. Think carefully," Ordovis warned.
"Don't bluff me. Godfrey's been exiled. Since when does he speak for the Erdtree?"
Lansseax's sharp tongue left Ordovis choking.
"But the King will return. Who can stop him?"
"Hmm, true. Only his return can clean up this mess and restore the Erdtree's power."
Ordovis' face lit with hope, but Lansseax snorted.
"But let's be honest. Is this still the Golden Order's peak? Isn't it precisely because it's in ruins that Godfrey's allowed to return?"
Her logic was flawless. Ordovis opened his mouth but found no retort.
The Erdtree's decline after the Shattering, coupled with Caria's mounting pressure, left the door open for Godfrey's return.
"Do you intend to start a war?"
The words crackled with lethal intent. Throne, perched on the dragon's back, felt his breath hitch.
The plan had been simple—retrieve him, not engage the Crucible Knights head-on. Lansseax didn't falter. Her tone remained flippant, almost mocking.
"Kid, it's high time we settled our accounts."
The Erdtree's rise had been built on the corpses of former overlords. Gransax's single-dragon siege still lingered as an old wound.
The two sides hadn't clashed since the Rivers of Blood, but their past battles had left scars. The air thickened, heavy as ice. Ordovis studied the Ancient Dragon in the sky, his grip tightening on his sword.
"Very well. The war begins now."
"Hmph. War it is. Go tell Godfrey to prepare. We'll settle old and new scores together."
Lansseax shook her head, dismissing them. Suddenly, she summoned a bolt of crimson lightning. The war declaration barely finished before she hurled it. The lightning blade collided mid-air with a fireball from the giant, erupting into a blinding curtain of light. Residual electricity pierced through the flames, spreading across the ground.
The Crucible Knights scattered, weapons raised—swords, shields, spears—ready for battle. But as the dust cleared, the massive figure in the sky was gone. Outmaneuvered by that damned dragon. Ordovis scanned the area, understanding dawning. Lansseax had retreated. With one dive, she was untouchable.
Even Godfrey wouldn't dare wage war against an Ancient Dragon thousands of meters in the air.
"She fled," Siluria said, stepping forward. Her tree spear still glowed with golden light, poised to strike had the dragon lingered.
The Crucible Knights had survived the Ancient Dragon War. The so-called deterrence of sky overlords didn't intimidate them. They'd slain monsters before. Ordovis waved away the dust, frowning.
"She fled decisively. That knight didn't want a fight either. He's cautious, unwilling to take risks."
"We don't need to fight to the death here either. Losing two knights without certainty is too costly."
Siluria's voice was calm, her caution a steady anchor.
Ordovis glanced at her, conceding the point. The ancient era's survivors were few. Those Godfrey could trust were even fewer, but—
He surveyed the dust-filled air, the blade-sharp wind. The war had begun today. And already, it promised to be grueling. Caria and the Ancient Dragon together were more than Morgott could handle.
The distant Erdtree still shone brilliantly, but its light failed to reach the gathering shadows. Powerful enemies lurked in the darkness.
"Damn it. The Lands Between has fallen to these vermin."
"No time for lamentation. When we left Leyndell, who could've imagined we'd pacify the entire Lands Between? This is nothing more than another Golden Conquest, and the forces at our disposal are stronger than before."
Siluria's fighting spirit burned bright. Every Crucible Knight carried an epic, a legacy of endless bones. Even the most fearsome monsters and gods had bowed their heads.
"Yes, it's nothing more than another Golden Conquest. Victory is ours while the King lives."
Ordovis flexed his iron fist, exchanged a glance with the Fire Giant, and swept his cloak aside.
"Pull back to Leyndell. The dust must have settled by now."
This wasn't Throne's first dragon ride, but Lansseax flew like a dream compared to that twitchy Glintstone fool Adula. She even angled her head to break the wind—first-class service. Now this was how a Dragon Knight should travel.
The scale of her made lances laughable, but the real advantage came from casting spells mid-flight. No more lagging behind as a slow-footed mage. Throne chewed the thought like bitter herbs.
He'd learned his lesson last time—no more experiments on ancient dragonback. But gazing across cloud oceans from this height, watching mountains shrink beneath her wings... Only the distant Erdtree matched her majesty.
No one could catch them at this speed, this altitude. The Erdtree's glow made him think of Melina. He turned to find the girl kneeling rigidly, face buried in silence.
"Danger's passed. Still sulking over earlier? I thought you had no shame."
"Who's shameless!" Melina's head snapped up. She eyed the dragon's neck, voice dropping to a hiss.
"You could've warned me this overgrown lizard was coming. I thought—"
"Thought I'd drag you down for some tragic romance? Please. If the Greater Will itself came knocking, I'd take a chunk out of it before dying."
Throne's grin turned feral, then dissolved into a shrug.
"As for the reason? Didn't you not ask?"