Chapter 41 - 39: The Heir of the Dragon Slayer
The cool, subterranean staircase seemed to descend endlessly into the bowels of the earth, each step slick with age and forgotten time. For twenty minutes, the party walked in near silence, the sound of their boots echoing off the narrow, wet stone walls. The heavy, damp air of the ruin’s upper chambers slowly thinned, giving way to an eerie, dry atmosphere that felt altogether alien.
And then, the cramped tunnel abruptly ended.
Stepping out from the narrow archway, the party froze as their vision expanded into a breathtaking, massive subterranean vault.
The chamber was colossal ,so vast that the illumination from their magical lanterns dissolved into the distance before reaching the far walls. Rising up into the vast gloom like silent primordial sentinels, colossal stone pillars carved in the intricate likenesses of coiling dragons held up a vaulted ceiling lost in utter darkness.
The air here was completely devoid of the damp, earthy rot of the upper levels. Instead, it smelled of ancient metal, cold ozone, and a faint, electric heat that hummed directly against the skin, raising the small hairs on their arms. It felt less like a dungeon floor and more like a long-forgotten temple forged by gods.
"What is this place...?" Kael breathed, his voice barely above a whisper as his sapphire eyes swept across the colossal dragon statues surrounding them.
Victor didn’t answer immediately. He stepped out onto the pristine, polished marble floor of the central vault, his dark coat rustling softly with every deliberate stride. Beside him, Lyra kept her silver rapier drawn at a low, deadly guard, her icy gaze darting across the dark shadows of the massive chamber for potential traps or hidden sentinels. Behind them, Kael walked with heavy, cautious steps, his broad frame shielding a visibly exhausted Elena.
"We made it," Elena whispered, her breath hitching slightly as she leaned heavily against her wooden focus staff. Her face was dangerously pale, her shoulders trembling from the sheer magical exhaustion of their earlier battles. "Is... is this the absolute bottom of the dungeon?"
Victor stood quietly near the center of the hall, ignoring her question for a moment as his Fate-Shattering Perception flared to life behind his dark eyes. His vision pierced through the lingering dust and ambient gloom, locking onto a raised stone dais situated at the true center of the vault.
Deep within the chamber, resting atop two pristine pedestals, two distinct, blindingly powerful relic signatures radiated like twin suns in his supernatural sight.
One was a suffocating aura of pure, unadulterated combat force,a heavy, brutal violence woven with ancient draconic magic that seemed to make the very air vibrate against his eardrums.
The other was a gentle, primordial surge of liquid vitality, glowing with an ethereal, iridescent light that pulsated like the calm rhythm of a sleeping god’s heart.
The two treasures... Victor thought, a faint, rare wave of profound relief washing over his cold, calculating chest. The ancient Dragon Slayer Battle Axe and the Tears of Ancient Dragons. The entire reason I dragged this party into the depths of this hidden ancient ruin, altered the course of the canon, and fought through those hellish trials in the first place.
"Finally..." Victor murmured under his breath, his pitch-black eyes reflecting the distant, ancient glow ahead. A cold, stoic smile briefly touched the corner of his lips before disappearing entirely. "Over there."
He gestured toward the dais, leading the group across the pristine marble floor.
As they stepped up the shallow stone stairs, the full form of the first relic came into clear view. Embedded three inches deep into a solid block of white marble stood an enormous, double-headed battle axe. Its haft was wrapped in dark, scaled leather that looked as fresh as the day it was bound, and its massive twin blades were forged from a dark, iridescent metal that seemed to actively absorb the ambient light around it.
Kael stopped dead in his tracks, his sapphire eyes widening into massive circles as he stared at the terrifying weapon. "That axe... it looks like it weighs a ton."
"It is the Dragon Slayer Battle Axe," Victor explained, stepping up to the very edge of the pedestal. "The weapon I specifically brought you down into these depths to obtain, Kael."
Kael blinked in utter disbelief, pointing a calloused thumb at his own chest. "For... for me? Victor, you’re joking, right?"
"You are a berserker who fights on the front lines," Victor replied coldly, turning his gaze back to analyze the weapon. "A standard broadsword or round shield will shatter into splinters under the sheer kinetic force of your unlocked bloodline trait. As your strength grows, standard weapons will become nothing more than disposable toys. You need something built to withstand absurd, unnatural pressure."
Victor reached out, hovering his gloved hand a few inches above the weapon’s dark, wicked blade. He activated his specialized perception, sending thin threads of dark mana into the weapon to dissect its underlying spell-matrix and structural foundation.
A subtle frown crossed Victor’s pale face.
Despite its imposing size and legendary appearance, the axe’s ambient aura felt strangely quiet... almost entirely dormant.
Interesting... Victor observed, watching the intricate, dormant spell-matrices woven into the metal. Its special abilities are completely sealed. The spatial matrices, the dragon-slaying combat arts, and the aura amplification won’t ignite until its wielder reaches specific physical strength and mana thresholds.
Victor slowly withdrew his hand, his eyes narrowing as he calculated its immediate worth. In its current, dormant state, it’s essentially just an extraordinarily heavy, blunt piece of metal. But the raw material alone ,ancient mithril infused with dragon bone and scale gives it the durability of a Legendary-tier weapon. Even without its abilities unlocked, its sheer material value alone is comparable to a national treasure of the kingdom.
"Victor?" Kael asked, catching the subtle shift in Victor’s expression. "Is something wrong with it? Is it broken?"
"No," Victor said, taking a step back from the dais. "Its true abilities are sealed until you grow strong enough to unlock them through sheer martial mastery. But even as it is now, it will never break, no matter how much force or aura you funnel into it. Try holding it."
Kael approached the pedestal cautiously, his heavy boots clicking against the marble. He wiped his sweaty, dirt-stained palms against his torn trousers, taking a deep breath to steady his racing heart. Slowly, hesitantly, he reached out and wrapped his right hand around the scaled leather grip.
The instant his bare skin made contact with the haft, a violent spark of crimson light ignited.
HUMMMMM!
The dormant, ancient runes carved along the twin blades illuminated in a brilliant, blinding flash of crimson light. The massive weapon vibrated fiercely against the white marble, echoing with a deep, reverberating purr that felt less like vibrating metal and more like the low rumble of an awakening dragon. A faint, perfectly controlled crimson aura flowed smoothly from Kael’s hand, wrapping around the dark metal as if the weapon were greedily drinking in his ancestral bloodline.
Elena gasped, taking a sudden step back and covering her mouth. "It’s... it’s glowing!"
Lyra’s eyes narrowed into sharp silver slits as she watched the display unfold. "It didn’t react like that when Victor hovered his hand near it. The weapon responded directly to his mana."
Victor watched the crimson light dance across Kael’s awestruck face, a cold, satisfied smirk touching his lips. It recognized him instantly. Just as the Blood Trial did. The blood of the ancient dragon slayers flows purely in his veins.
"The weapon has chosen its owner," Elaria spoke softly. The ancient Dryad floated up the steps of the dais, her bare feet hovering inches above the cold marble. "Legend says this very axe was forged by the first architects for an ancient warrior who slaughtered dragons to protect the realm. Over centuries of bloody warfare, the steel drank the soul and blood of its master. It has been waiting down here in the dark for a descendant worthy of carrying its weight."
Kael stared down at his glowing hand, struggling to process the sheer weight of what was happening. He looked up at Victor, his voice shaking slightly with genuine confusion and awe. "How... how do you even know about all this, Victor?"
"House Vance was once the absolute foundation of this empire," Victor answered smoothly, spinning a convenient lie without a single flicker of hesitation in his voice. "We still possess restricted, hidden records detailing ancient relics buried within these lands. I simply knew where to look."
Kael swallowed hard, overwhelmed by a sudden wave of guilt and deep indebtedness. For Victor to hand over an artifact of this magnitude was unthinkable.
"Victor... this is a literal national treasure," Kael said softly. "I... I can’t just take something like this from you. I haven’t done anything to deserve it."
"Take it," Victor commanded, his tone dropping into a low, cold register that left no room for debate. "A weapon is useless if it sits collecting dust in a vault or in the hands of someone who cannot swing it. You earned it by surviving the Blood Trial. Do not waste my time with foolish arguments."
Kael looked down at the glowing axe, then back at Victor’s unyielding eyes. He gave a firm, resolute nod, wrapping his second hand securely around the scaled grip. He took a deep breath, braced his legs, and pulled.
With a heavy, grinding sound of displaced stone, the massive battle axe slid out of the solid marble pedestal as if it weighed nothing more than a wooden training sword in his grip. As he lifted it high, the heavy weight balanced perfectly in his arms, feeling like an extension of his own skeleton.
"Thank you, Victor," Kael said, his voice thick with sincere, absolute gratitude. "I swear on my blood... I won’t forget this."
Victor merely gave a slight, indifferent nod, turning his back on Kael.
He thinks I’m being generous, Victor thought internally, his stoic expression unreadable. In reality, securing Kael’s absolute loyalty and equipping him with a Legendary-tier anti-dragon weapon is far more valuable to my future plans than keeping a sealed axe in my estate’s storage room. The next arc in the web novel will definitely require a frontline monster with an anti-dragon weapon it’s far better to give it to Kael now than let it sit uselessly in my possession.
Leaving Kael to adjust to the surprising balance of his new battle axe, Victor glided over to the second pedestal situated at the absolute center of the vault. His eyes locked onto the glowing crystal container resting quietly in the marble depression.
Inside the delicate, translucent vial sloshed a brilliant, golden-blue liquid that shimmered like condensed starlight, emitting a faint, soothing heat that washed over his face.
The Tears of Ancient Dragons... Victor thought, stepping up to the pedestal. The legendary miracle medicine mentioned in the web novel. The liquid that the original protagonist, Lucas, used to cure his shattered mana core and save himself from the brink of absolute death.
Victor paused, hovering his hands over the crystal vial. Before I consume or store this, I need to verify its exact purity, properties, and potential side effects.
"System," Victor commanded silently within his mind, calling upon his hidden interface. "Scan the relic."
A faint, glowing blue light flashed across his field of vision as the system interface initiated its diagnostic scan:
[Scanning target relic...]
[Error: Unable to analyze.]
[Relic classification unavailable. Unknown mana signature.]
Victor froze. His pitch-black eyes widened imperceptibly, his breath catching in his throat.
Unable to analyze...?