House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

Chapter 140: Chapter 139 – Revenge (IV)

The Titan’s roar put the Arsenal on full alert. Soldiers, who had been drinking and celebrating, grabbed their weapons and quickly ran toward the shipyard’s wall.

They scanned the sky for any enemy, but even though Bahamut was a dragon with such striking scales, it was still nighttime, and visibility was obscured by the faint autumn mist of Essos.

The fortified shipyard, fixed among the rocky island’s crags, looked like a monster bristling with weapons. It was fortified with stone battlements and packed with scorpions, trebuchets, and fire spitters. One could see why it was the second line of the city’s defense.

Maekar looked at the fortified shipyard with a surprised expression. Docked at the shipyard was an impressive fleet of ships. The prince knew immediately that this was the fleet that had brought White Harbor down days before.

Holding the reins, Maekar didn’t begin the fight against the shipyard but instead focused on the fleet of ships docked at the island. As long as the fleet was destroyed, Braavos could forget about protecting the seas it controlled. Maekar wouldn’t need to do anything else; the hidden pirates would handle the rest of the work for him.

Once that happened, Braavos would lose total control over the surrounding waters, and consequently no one would dare sail to Braavos in such a dangerous time. In other words, Braavos’s economy would collapse, since it was a port city and its wealth originated from maritime trade.

Maekar no longer hesitated; he had Bahamut fly close to the fleet and didn’t hesitate to give the order. “Dracarys, Bahamut.”

The dragon opened his jaws, and silvery flames lit up the dark world. The platinum flames swept across everything in a straight line forty meters long. About seven ships were hit. They began to burn like candles, lighting up the surroundings.

Even the dragon’s shape was revealed, emerging from the mist like an enormous monster, terrifying the soldiers of Braavos.

“FIRE!!!” When the dragon’s shape was revealed, the Sealord of Braavos, Luke, shouted loudly as he solemnly watched the gigantic beast. It was night, so it was hard to see the creature fully, but the size of the approximate silhouette was enough to send a chill down his body.

At Luke’s words, a rain of fire arrows shot into the sky and arced through the air, falling toward the dragon.

Normally, Bahamut would have ignored it, but with Maekar in the saddle, the dragon let out a roar and twisted his body in the air, using his own wing to shield Maekar’s form.

The arrows struck the membrane of the dragon’s wings, but besides sinking a little into the strong, elastic skin, they ricocheted off, falling from the sky like snowflakes and staining the water of the Great Lagoon.

Bahamut fixed his eyes on the ants that had dared attack him. The dragon banked in the air and changed direction, heading toward the battlements of the fortified shipyard. At a speed of over two hundred kilometers per hour, he quickly closed in above the shipyard, and flames burst from his mouth.

A long, extensive line of fire covered the battlements and all the men together.

Luke merely felt an infernal heat colliding with his face and body. His lips dried out as the ends of his hair curled and blackened as though burning. He wasn’t even at the front line, yet he still felt the dragon fire’s terrifying power.

Realizing he might encounter this beast out at sea, Luke showed a look of fear. Suddenly, Luke felt a hot touch on his face and unconsciously touched the hot spot on his face.

He looked at his finger, and his eyes trembled for a moment. He recognized the particles on his finger; they were ash.

Looking up, he saw a cloud of ash flying around, along with the sparks of the dragon’s platinum fire. Luke understood why the dragon was called Pale Death. It was like watching death itself flying around in a pale color.

“SCORPIONS!!!” Luke watched the beast’s shape coming toward the shipyard again and shouted loudly. Soldiers who were far off heard his words and shouted them to soldiers even farther away.

The gigantic ballistae aimed at the dragon’s fast-moving shape. The soldiers’ faces dripped with sweat as they tried to aim at the creature’s erratic form. They tried to anticipate the dragon’s movements, but the dragon seemed to notice it was under the scorpions’ aim and flew in erratic, hard-to-predict motions.

When Bahamut flew over the shipyard again, Maekar had the dragon aim at the tallest tower. The dragon opened his mouth and turned the tower into a gigantic candle, burning in silver flames.

Without wasting time, Bahamut wheeled around in a circular motion and looked at the fleet of ships still remaining.

However, just as the dragon was about to advance, gigantic black-tipped arrows shot toward him. It was already too late for any evasive maneuver. There were about fifteen. Of the fifteen arrows, only five hit. Three pierced the membrane of his wings and two struck his body. One in the chest and the other just above one of the dragon’s legs.

Blood poured from the wounds and hit the shipyard floor, as hot as lava. The smell was similar to sulfur and burnt coal.

“RHUAARRGGGGGHHHHHS!!!” Bahamut let out a pained sound as the dragon’s golden eyes sharpened, staring at the ballistae on the north side of the stone shipyard.

Through the bond between him and the dragon, Maekar felt Bahamut’s fury and pain. This made Maekar feel the same fury as well.

Turning the reins, Maekar guided Bahamut and charged against the scorpions. The dragon flapped his wings with tremendous force and advanced rapidly, reaching the north battlements of the shipyard almost instantly.

Without any hesitation, and even without Maekar’s orders, Bahamut opened his mouth and burned everything in front of him. The two scorpion bolts were still lodged in his muscles, making the dragon feel even more pain and fury because of it.

Those men didn’t even have a chance to scream in agony, since they turned to ash the moment the flames hit them. The ballistae made of steel and wood met a similar fate, but the wood vanished while the weapon’s metal melted and formed a pool of molten metal on the ground.

Maekar regretted that Bahamut’s flames were so strong, since he wanted those people to suffer. Still, Bahamut’s flames couldn’t compare to Balerion’s, though they weren’t far from that level either. They managed to melt stone that wasn’t particularly hard. Though the flames would be somewhat weaker if they struck the stones of Harrenhal.

Taking a deep breath, Maekar set these thoughts aside and focused on the fleet not far off. He decided to finish this as quickly as possible and leave Braavos. Even though the scorpions hadn’t done much damage to Bahamut, this was only a naval shipyard of the Arsenal of Braavos.

He hadn’t even reached the city itself, and he didn’t want to get close either. The number of scorpions in that city was simply insane. The founders of Braavos, who were former slaves of Old Valyria, had fled the Valyrian peninsula and built Braavos as far away as possible.

When founding the city, they hadn’t hesitated to arm the entire city with weapons capable of wounding dragons.

Maekar didn’t want Bahamut turning into a cheese full of holes, and if a scorpion bolt struck the dragon’s eye… It wouldn’t just be Bahamut who died, but he as well. The prince didn’t want to share the same fate as Rhaenys, Aegon’s wife.

Bahamut turned in the air and advanced against the fleet docked at the island. But before reaching the fleet, he lowered his head and, with his mouth, tore the scorpion bolt from his chest. He did the same with the one in his leg. The dragon was surprisingly flexible.

Letting out a loud, thunderous roar, Bahamut advanced toward the fleet. But instead of getting too close, he used the flame’s range to burn the ships from a much greater distance.

In the saddle, Maekar leaned forward while using the shield on the right side of his body, protecting himself from anything that might hit him. Though he didn’t think the shield would help stop a scorpion bolt.

With his hair whipping in the wind, he watched the silver sparks of the flames fly around him with the wind as ships burned before him like candles. The columns of smoke rose to the sky like gigantic fingers.

It was a spectacular and terrifying sight at the same time, especially with him and Bahamut being the ones responsible for such an act of power.

“Fire and blood.”

Watching the ships burn and the shipyard’s tower blazing in flames, Maekar thought calmly.

Pulling the reins, Maekar turned his gaze toward the Titan of Braavos. It might seem difficult to destroy a titan like that. But Maekar wasn’t foolish enough to try to collide head-on with something so massive. Besides, no structure was perfect.

The titan had its legs spread apart, as though opening a passage through the natural wall of stones into the Great Lagoon. But that was exactly the weak point of the entire structure. The legs and lower torso of the statue, also of granite, had originally been a natural stone arch.

If one of the legs fell, the Titan would collapse.

That was exactly what Maekar did; he had Bahamut land on the wall of stones and collide with the ankle of the Titan of stone and bronze.

With a crash, Bahamut’s heavy body slammed into the rock and granite, creating cracks in the structure. The dragon didn’t stop; he kept colliding violently against the structure.

Maekar felt his whole world shake each time he struck the rock, but there was a wild smile on his lips as he watched the cracks spread like spiderwebs.

Then, under Maekar’s gleeful eyes, a thunderous sound rang out, and soon after, another.

The entire gigantic Titan shuddered.

Maekar quickly pulled the reins and had the dragon take flight. He didn’t want to be beneath the Titan when it toppled.

In the air, Maekar watched with delight as the gigantic titan’s ankle failed to bear the weight of its own structure and shattered into thousands of pieces. The titan leaned to the right and kept going until it truly toppled over. As it fell, the sword that had once pointed to the sky now pointed toward the sea.

The Titan, the symbol of Braavos for thousands of years, toppled and crashed into the sea as a gigantic wave surged outward in every direction.

Watching the breathtaking scene, Maekar knew he would go down in the history books. Even if he died someday, he would be remembered forever as the Titan Slayer, the Nightmare of Braavos.

———

Note:Yesterday I went on a date with a really nice girl. Unfortunately, she had kids.You might say, “But it’s just dating, you’re not getting married.” Unfortunately, there’s a law in my country called “Socio-Affective Paternity.”

If the judge rules that the child has become attached to you, you’ll have to pay child support for another man’s child.Of course, there are certain criteria that must be met, but the risk is still enormous.

Read my other books:

House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos

Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.

Game Of Thrones: The King’s Court Wizard