"Boom!"
"Ah, what kind of monster is that?"
"How did Xiu Fu turn into this?"
"He's not Xiu Fu. He's a demon. A demon has taken over Xiu Fu's body."
"Holy Mother, even dragonflame can't burn it!"
The monster's transformation shocked Dany and made the surrounding Night's Watchmen and Red God knights' scalps prickle as they cried out in terror.
With a whooshing roar, the ox-headed, serpent-bodied monster tilted its head back and inhaled fiercely. The blazing white "warrior" dragonflame was like smoke meeting a kitchen exhaust hood. It broke free of Dany's fire control, spiraled, and poured straight into the monster's mouth.
The monster's python-like body seemed as if it had been plugged into a power bank. A bright red glow slowly filled its lower abdomen, then piled upward, from the belly to the chest, then to the throat, until it overflowed.
Finally, every round scale on the monster's surface began to shimmer with scorching golden light. Each circular scale was like a miniature sun, and at the center of each sun, flame-like runes seemed to flicker.
"This kind of fire control, this kind of resistance to dragonflame, and what was said before, born from the First Fire…"
Dany's expression shook as she suddenly guessed who the demonic god before her was.
Though its form was strange, it was most likely the true god R'hllor's shadow demon, the Shadow of R'hllor.
R'hllor had indeed come to hunt her down.
Boom!
The monster abruptly lowered its head, opened its bovine mouth, and, like a giant dragon spewing dragonflame, blasted out a blood-red flame twenty meters long and as thick as a thigh.
Several Night's Watchmen were struck immediately, wailing as they melted in the raging fire.
That was right. The monster had seized control of Dany's and Big Black's dragonflame, absorbed it into its belly, converted it into fiery demonic power, and then spewed it out at those around it in the form of "demonic flame."
As the demonic flames were expelled, the once-bright circular scales gradually dimmed.
Great Bear, Garth, and Quill, even upon witnessing the monster's transformation, did not forget their duty. Confident in the Valyrian steel armor they wore, they advanced together the moment Big Black's dragonflame was absorbed, hacking with blades and stabbing with swords.
But aside from scraping up sparks on the monster's scales, they caused no damage at all.
Now, as the monster spewed demonic flame, they bore the brunt of it.
After burning several Night's Watchmen to death, the demon adjusted its direction and sprayed the White Knight nearby.
Boom!
Amid the horrified cries of the onlookers, black smoke reeking of rotting corpses and fire like spurting blood plasma erupted. Just a few dozen centimeters after leaving the monster's mouth, it suddenly exploded violently, like a firefighter pressing a fire extinguisher nozzle against a wall, foam spraying everywhere.
It was the Dragon Queen. She had rushed forward, her left palm clad in Valyrian steel gloves, encircled by a cyan dragon cyclone that formed a massive shield, blocking the monster's mouth.
At the same time, the demonic sword in her right hand flashed forward in a lightning thrust, striking the monster's throat where its magical fluctuations were strongest, abruptly halting its fire-breathing.
Clang!
Unfortunately, even with the Dragon Queen's inhuman strength and speed, the sharp dark-red blade struck as if against a slab of Valyrian steel. It left only a tiny spark on the circular scale at the monster's Adam's apple.
Dany's attack failed. The monster bared its teeth in a grin, its palm-sized black-furred hand clenching into a fist as big as a rice cooker, and struck her head in a lightning-fast blow.
Bang! Boom!
Dany was like Tony struck by Thanos in the battle on Titan. Her body arched backward uncontrollably, carving a ten-meter-long trench through the snow, killing two Night's Watchmen along the way, and only stopping after smashing into a block of ice.
Ignoring Great Bear and the Night's Watchmen's attacks, the monster charged forward in great strides, swinging its claws to slice apart a sword-wielding Watchman into several pieces.
Just as it was about to deliver a "finishing blow" to the Dragon Queen who was struggling to rise, a black shadow shot out silently yet swiftly from behind. Stepping on the monster's swaying tail, it climbed up its back like a monkey and reached its shoulder.
The monster reacted quickly, immediately turning its head and opening its mouth, preparing to unleash a soul-attacking roar.
"Demon spawn, die, die, die, die!"
Fivefold Dragon Spirit plus the Warrior's divine office plus Sword God divinity.
Beneath Dany's visor, her face was pale, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, yet she forced herself on, unleashing continuous soul-destroying strikes.
If soul attacks were visible to the naked eye, everyone would have seen her eyes like Superman's heat vision, firing torrents of sword blades in black, red, gold, white, and green.
"Roar!"
The monster clutched its head and let out an earth-shaking howl. Shockwaves radiated from its body, whipping up a ring of shrieking snow spray.
Night's Watchmen with weak wills dropped to their knees, clutching their heads and screaming in agony.
At that moment, the black shadow already on the monster's shoulder suddenly swung a streak of silvery lightning.
After the strike, the shadow immediately leapt away from the monster's shoulder, its slender body flung four or five meters through the gale.
"Ugh!"
The ox-headed, serpent-bodied monster covered its left eye and cried out in anguished pain.
One of its lantern-like green glowing eyes went dark.
It was Danys.
The little assassin had been lying in wait all along. When the Dragon Queen was punched and sent flying ten meters away, she finally could not hold back and sprang into action.
Through the dragon's vision, Dany saw everything clearly.
She understood that with the little assassin's skills, facing the ox-headed demon god alone would be suicide. So she endured the agony of ruptured organs and used the fivefold dragon spirit to control the battlefield.
The results were good. The ox demon's scales could even block Dany's knockoff magic sword, but its eyes were still pierced through by Danys' Valyrian steel dagger.
By then, the others had also recovered from the sudden shock and roared as they launched attacks on the demon god.
"That's a demon. Kill it!"
Ulma drew his bow and loosed an arrow. The dragon crystal arrow flew over ten meters and exploded at the bull monster's brow.
"Kill it. Protect Queen Daenerys!"
Four Unsullied wielding short swords and tower shields charged toward the bull monster.
"Kill the demon!" Hundreds of Night's Watchmen roared in unison.
At Great Bear's command, twenty Night's Watchmen first coordinated with the four Unsullied, pressing four massive shields against the bull monster. Behind them, hundreds of burly men pushed with all their strength while thrusting iron swords and dragon-tooth knives through the gaps, hacking relentlessly at the monster.
"Kill it, this is a servant of the Cold God!"
Even Erlu's seven wyvern riders, led by Pockmarked Richard, joined the fray.
Under the bizarre gaze of the bull monster's right eye, the Knights of the Fiery Heart shouted in unison, "For the Lord of Light, glory belongs to R'hllor!"
The bull monster was enormous, yet only about three meters tall. Its strength was terrifying, but shields of Valyrian steel as large as double doors were braced all around it, with several hundred burly men packed tightly behind them.
No matter how great its individual strength, it could not surpass that of several hundred strong men combined.
If there had only been these people, the bull-headed, serpent-bodied demon could have used magic. Its magic of flame and shadow would have been unstoppable to everyone except knights in Valyrian steel armor and the Unsullied.
But every time it began to gather magical power, Dany struck it with seven or eight consecutive Soul-Extinguishing Blows.
Using the Soul-Extinguishing Blow repeatedly tore at Dany's mind with splitting pain, yet her effort brought clear results.
The Soul-Extinguishing Blow did not deal a fatal wound to the bull monster, but again and again it interrupted its attempts to gather magic.
"Whoosh!" Dany used holy healing to barely stabilize the injuries to her internal organs, then unfurled her Wings of Flame and leapt thirty to forty meters into the air, head down and feet up, her sword like a falling star as she stabbed straight toward the monster's crown.
"Clang!" A spray of sparks flew. The attack achieved nothing.
She then stepped on the heads of the Night's Watch soldiers, trying to strike the monster's right eye and mouth.
Unfortunately, it was already on guard. Its eyelids opened and closed, blocking every thrust of her sword, and its jaws snapped shut, nearly wrenching the blade from her grasp.
"Such terrifying defense?!" Dany was horrified, her face filled with disbelief.
Even if this monster were a true god-tier dark demon, this was far too absurd.
"Awoooo!" Just as Dany was considering whether to call Big Black into the battle, the bull monster seemed to suffer a fatal blow and suddenly let out an unprecedented, piercing howl.
"Hahaha! The monster's hide is thick, so attack its steel gate!" In the crowd, Pockmarked Richard raised a bloodstained iron sword and laughed triumphantly.
With another roar of laughter, he drove the sword in again.
This time, the wide blade, 1.2 meters long, sank in only up to the guard.
Richard even snarled as he twisted the hilt with all his strength.
Dany stood there, dumbfounded.
"Awooooo!" The bull monster, in agony, went berserk. With a violent heave, it unleashed unprecedented power and shoved the shields back two or three meters in one burst.
Under the savage impact, two Unsullied and dozens of Night's Watch soldiers were severely injured, blood spraying from their mouths.
After forcing open a patch of space, it planted its tail on the ground, flexed it hard, and leapt four or five meters into the air.
However, two Knights of the Fiery Heart were still clinging to the two-meter-long scorpion tail, one of them being Pockmarked Richard.
Yes, the monster had the head of a bull and the body of a serpent, dragging a long scorpion tail behind it. At a rough glance, it even looked somewhat like the Nüwa clans of Chinese xianxia tales.
Earlier, more than a dozen Night's Watch soldiers had pinned the scorpion tail down, preventing it from thrashing.
Richard was a knight fanatically devoted to honor. The demon's appearance and power were terrifying, yet his blood boiled. Whether or not it was truly a servant of the Cold God, it had defeated the Dragon Queen. If he could slay it himself—
So, while the Night's Watch held the serpent tail down, he kept hacking at it wildly, sparks flying and the blade curling.
Enraged and frantic, inspiration struck him. He bent low, slid both hands up along the tip of the tail, and at last felt a soft spot. Ecstatic, he plunged the iron sword in with all his might.
Filthy blood splattered, corroding his armor into a cloud of foul black smoke, but he did not care. He clung to the serpent tail, stabbing again and again with savage force.
Until it was a mangled mess.
"Big Black!" As the bull-headed, serpent-bodied demon leapt upward, Dany immediately drove two Soul-Pacifying Thrusts into the minds of the two Knights of the Fiery Heart clinging to the scorpion tail.
They cried out in pain and released their grip, tumbling from the thick, long tail.
Rip! A black bolt of lightning flashed across the dim sky.
"Hiss-ga! Boom!" Big Black roared in fury, his tail striking like lightning and smashing into the demon as it rose into the air.
The demon crashed down like a missile that had lost control, slamming into the snow twenty meters away.
The speed was so great that the crowd only saw a blur of black shadow before the snow exploded into a massive crater. Ice, snow, and stones were hurled up more than ten meters into the air.
Even the ground shuddered slightly.
With her fiery wings gently beating behind her, Dany leapt over the twenty meters, landed at the edge of the crater, and raised her sword to strike.
Suddenly, Richard staggered to his feet, his face twisted with ferocity, and roared at the Dragon Queen, "I killed the bull monster! Don't steal my honor!"
After shouting, he raised his iron sword high and charged howling toward the snowy crater beside Dany.
"Use my sword, the Valyrian steel demon blade, to break evil!" The Dragon Queen seemed momentarily intimidated by his momentum and actually handed her treasured sword to him of her own accord.
Pockmarked Richard froze, his mind clearing a little. "Why?"
"This honor belongs to you," Dany said sincerely.
What a pity. If Erlu were here, she would surely give him every scrap of the honor without reservation.
As Richard hesitated, the demon at the bottom of the crater also struggled to its feet and roared at the Knight of the Fiery Heart, "Fool, you are profaning the gods!"
Dany immediately said, "Ser Richard Hope, this is a dark demon god. Only Valyrian steel weapons can slay a god."
Slay a god?
What immense honor. Once the news spread, it would be enough to make everyone who had mocked me bow before me like I was a god!
Thinking this, the pockmarked knight no longer hesitated. He accepted the sword and solemnly bowed to Dany. "Thank you, Your Majesty. You are a great knight-king who honors honor."
"May honor be with you!" Dany returned the salute gravely.
(PS: Richard Hope, from House Hope of the Stormlands. His sigil is three skull moths circling above ashes and dry bones.
When he served as a squire in King's Landing, he dreamed of donning the white cloak to serve the king, and he strove toward that goal all his life.
In theory, as a scion of an old Stormlands noble house, a direct subordinate of Robert, and a man of considerable martial skill, he had a very real chance of realizing that dream.
In fact, Robert did appreciate him somewhat, but Cersei spoke many ill words about him before Robert, such as his pockmarked and scarred face being too ugly and damaging the image of the Kingsguard.
And so he was ignored by Robert.
One additional note: setting aside their individual personalities, most of the knights around Erlu are resolute, fearless, and fanatically devoted to honor.
If they had no ideals, they would never have abandoned their families and lands to follow Erlu thousands of miles beyond the Wall.)
(End of chapter)
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