"Patchface is the Drowned God?" The Red God's knight looked utterly confused.
"Your Majesty, you must be mistaken. How could the Drowned God serve as Stannis's fool?" Jorah said with a strange expression.
"Exactly. Why would the Drowned God act as Stannis's jester?"
Daenerys was equally puzzled.
What was so special about Stannis? Twenty years ago, the Drowned God had sought him out. Five years ago, when Robert was still alive, R'hllor, the Lord of Light, had also chosen him.
"Wooo—" Suddenly, a loud horn sounded from the pit beside them, followed immediately by cheers from the Night's Watch.
The collapsed layers of earth beneath the Wall had finally been dug through.
Daenerys walked to the edge of the pit and looked down by the red glow of a dragonfire orb. It resembled a sweet potato cellar, with a narrow opening above and a wide, bulging space below.
However, that bulging space had not been dug out by the Night's Watch.
This spot happened to lie beneath the outermost tower of Eastwatch. The bulge was actually the thick stone walls of the tower's first floor, now capped by a layer of ice.
The Wall's collapse had crushed and buried the tower, and the Night's Watch's tunnel network connected every structure within the castle.
The horn they had heard earlier was blown by the Watchmen as they crawled out from the tunnel entrance, hunched over inside the tower.
"Wooo, why did it take so long? I thought no one was coming for us!" A filthy, blond-haired young man crawled out of the pit and immediately burst into heartrending sobs.
Three to four hundred people climbed out one after another. Everyone was laughing and talking loudly, faces filled with the joy of surviving disaster. Only this handsome young man was crying.
"What are you crying for? Didn't I tell you yesterday that I was going to get help?"
Seeing the family crest on his finely forged steel armor, the disdain in Daenerys's eyes deepened. "With courage like that, you still came to the Wall to join the Night's Watch? Your father should have arranged for you to serve as a court knight in the Red Keep."
"A green fruit of summer," the Great Bear sighed.
"This little milk-fed brat didn't put on the black cloak of his own free will," Ulmer laughed loudly.
As the new drillmaster of Eastwatch, the old ranger knew everyone here well.
"Wasn't Lord Shyuf a court knight before? He was sent to Eastwatch only because he committed adultery with Queen Margaery."
"I was framed! I was Queen Margaery's guard, but I had no improper relationship with her at all!" Shyuf flushed red and shouted his defense at the Dragon Queen.
"At the later trial by the Faith, even Margaery herself admitted to adultery. What are you still arguing for?
And I don't care who you slept with. Just don't bawl so loudly and annoy people," Daenerys said impatiently.
"I really—" Shyuf still seemed unwilling to let it go. He glanced around, then grabbed a tall man beside him with black hair, a hooked nose, and three claw-like scars across his face. "Onnis, tell the Dragon Queen. I was framed by you and Queen Regent Cersei."
"This has nothing to do with me," the hawk-nosed man said angrily, shaking off his arm.
"How can you say that? Queen Regent Cersei used sleeping with you as bait and told you to seduce Queen Margaery. When you failed, you lied to the High Septon and said you had an affair with the queen, and you dragged me into it as well!" the blond Shyuf shouted.
The revelation was explosive. Not only was Daenerys drawn in, but even the Night's Watch brothers who had been noisily discussing the construction of watchtowers fell silent and turned to look.
"I have already taken the black. I don't want anything more to do with King's Landing," the hawk-nosed man said, face reddening as he addressed the Dragon Queen.
"You are… a Kettleblack brother?" Daenerys suddenly realized.
The dark-haired knight looked awkward. He stepped forward, dropped to one knee, and said, "Your Majesty, I am Onnis Kettleblack. I am willing to serve you."
"I don't need your service. Guard the Wall properly and kill a few more wights," Daenerys replied coolly, a trace of disgust flashing in her eyes.
"Heh heh…" The surrounding Watchmen let out low, malicious chuckles.
Onnis grew even more embarrassed. He lowered his head, offered a hasty salute, then stood and prepared to withdraw quietly.
"Onnis, explain yourself clearly!"
The blond Shyuf grabbed him again, pushing past Mormont and Garth and advancing to within three steps of the Dragon Queen, only to be shoved back by the fat eunuch Belwas, who blocked him with his belly.
"The Queen doesn't like you. Don't get so close," the fat eunuch said bluntly.
Onnis shot Belwas a cold look, then turned and snarled at the blond youth. "Stop making a spectacle of yourself. Who here even cares whether you really slept with Margaery?"
"I care!" Shyuf retorted, eyes wide. "I can take the black, but I will not become a man of the Night's Watch in a way that disgraces the honor of House Clifton."
"Are you out of your mind?" Onnis snapped, both furious and baffled. "What's wrong with you today? When they asked you before what Queen Margaery was like in bed, you were bragging nonstop."
Hearing this, Daenerys froze for an instant, then her expression changed drastically. "Watch out—"
Another person's expression changed just as abruptly. Fine, barbed scales spread across the fair and handsome face of Shyuf Clifton. His eyes glowed an oily green, like ghostly flames hanging over ruined graves.
"Gurgle—" His purplish-black lips made a bubbling sound, like a pot of porridge boiling over. Before anyone else could react to the sudden transformation, he lunged forward. His mouth split open as wide as a serving platter, and a jet of pitch-black liquid shot out like shadowy tentacles, splitting midair and rushing separately toward Belwas and the Dragon Queen behind the fat eunuch.
"Begone!" Daenerys had already reacted before the attack unfolded. Five layers of dragon spirits surged forth. A soul-destroying strike, like two divine blades, cleaved straight into the monster Shyuf's radiant green pupils.
At the same time, she dipped her body low, pressed her right hand to the hilt, and a ring of azure wind coiled rapidly around her. As the foul, reeking liquid shadow reached her, she burst forward in a sudden acceleration. With a sharp ripping sound, her sword leapt from its scabbard.
"Awwooo—" At that moment, Xiu Fu was struck in the soul by two Soul-Extinguishing blows like divine swords. Clutching his eyes, he let out a scream of agony.
A dark-red sword light flashed. Dany dodged the liquid shadow, drove her greatsword into Xiu Fu's mouth, and with a sharp "shk," it pierced straight through the back of his skull.
"Ah— it hurts so much!" Bevos wailed.
His reaction was also swift. He swung his blade and struck the shadowy tentacle lunging toward his face head-on.
When the shadow was hit by the Valyrian steel scimitar, it instantly exploded into countless splashes of liquid.
But the fat eunuch refused to wear full armor. He only had on a Valyrian steel vest, with Valyrian scale armor protecting his chest and waist, while his arms and face were covered by nothing more than ordinary clothing.
Thus, when the black liquid splashed toward him, he instinctively raised his empty left arm to block it.
Where the liquid shadow landed, it was as if concentrated sulfuric acid had been poured on him. His woolen garment was burned through, his skin rotted, and layers of boiling blisters swelled up. Thick white steam rose, carrying a nauseating, acrid stench of decay.
"Your Majesty, watch out for the shadows!" Even after being hit, Bevos still instinctively cried out a warning.
"What the hell is this thing?" It was only after the Dragon Queen drove her sword into Xiu Fu's mouth that Onis and the others beside her finally reacted.
"Ngghhh!" With the sword impaled in his mouth, Xiu Fu did not die. Instead, he clenched his teeth, locking the blade, which was nearly the width of a palm, firmly in place. With both hands, now covered in thick black fur and bearing long dagger-like, cold-glinting claws, he rapidly slashed seven or eight times across the Dragon Queen's face and chest.
Yes, Xiu Fu's speed was astonishing. In the brief span of a single breath, while the Dragon Queen activated the runes of the demon sword in his mouth, he managed to attack seven or eight times in succession.
"Scrrrk!" A string of blinding sparks flashed across Dany's visor and the plate armor on her chest.
What was terrifying was that after the sparks, dozens of crisscrossing claw marks were clearly visible on the smooth, mirror-like surface of her armor.
Though the scratches were shallow, like a normal person scratching a wooden table, he had indeed torn through Valyrian steel with nothing but his bare hands.
So horrifying that even Dany froze for an instant.
"Shk, shk, shk!" At that moment, Jorah, Garth, and the others also reacted. Their swords left their sheaths and stabbed into Xiu Fu's body like lightning.
Moreover, they all struck vital points. The Great Bear's longsword cleaved into his neck, filthy blood spraying everywhere, nearly severing half his neck. But because of the gorget, the force was spent and his head did not fall.
Garth's sword pierced straight through Xiu Fu's back and pressed against the chest plate in front. Xiu Fu's strength was not particularly great, and he was wearing a fake full suit of armor with weak back protection.
Quilo struck a sword straight into Xiu Fu's eye socket, driving it deep into the skull.
It could be said that if Xiu Fu had been a normal man, he would certainly have died.
But he was not normal.
"You're hurting me~~~" Xiu Fu let out a soul-shaking roar. The teeth clamped onto the Dragon Queen's blade began to grow, nearly a finger's length, sharp and keen like daggers.
They bit into the blade, producing a harsh, grating "creak, creak" sound.
"There's worse pain coming," Dany said with a cold smile. Magic surged, and the dark-red blade ignited with blood-colored flames. From Xiu Fu's nostrils and the hole in the back of his skull, tongues of fire burst out.
At that moment, his mouth seemed to become a steel furnace, filled with blazing blood-red flames. Even his skull turned translucent, as if cracked with countless fissures, radiating a crimson glow.
"Heh heh heh, a familiar taste. Pity. The fake demon sword in your hand is far, far inferior to Azor Ahai's, like an ordinary steel sword compared to Valyrian steel."
The green ghostly light in Xiu Fu's eyes was also ignited by the flames, shooting out long streams of fire. Even the right hand with which Quilo held his sword began to feel a faint burning heat.
Yet Xiu Fu remained extremely calm. His voice was full of vigor, and the fluctuations of his soul not only did not weaken but grew stronger and stronger. The power he had long suppressed seemed to be gradually awakening.
"Who are you?"
Hearing these words and seeing this scene, Dany could not help but feel a chill of dread.
"Who am I?" Xiu Fu threw his head back and laughed wildly. "Hahaha, I am the world—"
"Enough. I'm not interested in who you were. Soon, you'll just be a corpse!"
Dany gripped her sword in her right hand and raised her left toward the sky. Thunder rumbled.
Brilliant white "Warrior" dragonflame burst from Da Hei's mouth, then arced upward, passing over everyone's heads like a cascading heavenly waterfall, pouring straight down onto Xiu Fu's head.
"Ahh!" Xiu Fu let out a piercing scream beyond the limits of human hearing, a sound like countless flying needles stabbing into the souls of those around, riddling them with holes.
"I am the first god, born at the beginning of the world, from the primal fire. Hahaha, your dragonflame is utterly useless to me," Xiu Fu howled in agony while laughing madly.
At that moment, his flesh and skin melted and peeled away in the dragonflame, burning fiercely like waxed paper.
Yet the shedding of flesh was like breaking free from the bonds that bound him.
A gigantic monster burst forth from beneath Xiu Fu's human skin.
Ram's horns, a bull's head, the body of a serpent, a scorpion's tail, a tiger's claws, eyes burning with two clusters of eerie green flames, three meters tall, its skin covered in overlapping layers of circular dark-red scales.
It bathed in the surging dragonflame, laughing with carefree delight, like a rugged northeastern man enjoying a vigorous scrub in a bathhouse.
(End of chapter)
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