The ruins of New Ghis shrank rapidly beneath them. In the sky, the Harpy's figure was incredibly agile, constantly swaying left and right to dodge Ghidorah's cross-attacks from behind.
The Harpy suddenly came to a screeching halt and turned to face the pursuing dragon. It spread its arms, and its wings, composed of thin metal sheets, vibrated at high frequency, emitting a piercing sound. In the next second, countless wind blades flew out from its wings, shooting toward Ghidorah and Viserys on her back.
However, Ghidorah's Golden Ray could annihilate energy bodies, so with one blast, most of the blades were destroyed. A few fish slipped through the net, leaving white marks on Ghidorah's scales, but they completely failed to break her defense.
Viserys, however, was not so lucky; a wind blade happened to catch a gap in his armor, wounding him.
Seizing the opportunity while the enemy paused, Ghidorah's left and right heads immediately retaliated with an icy breath, freezing it. Then, she blasted it with fire, melting part of its body. The Golden Ray shot out again, directly making one of its legs disappear.
Just as it tried to fly close to the ground, Black Flame struck from above, covering it in a blast of Dragonfire that melted part of its wings. Its speed slowed down as a result.
Without the advantage of speed, how could it fight Ghidorah? Its attacks couldn't even break her defense to begin with.
"I never expected that after so many years without fighting, I would fall at the hands of a mortal. I think we can talk; let this body of mine leave, and I will teach you how to become a 'god'." The Harpy landed on a plain, knowing that in its current state, this body certainly couldn't escape.
"Haha, no need. If you can do it, then I surely can too." To be honest, almost all of these Old Gods and Ancient Gods achieved longevity by transforming into or relying on special existences. If he had to become like that, he would rather just die of old age.
He still wanted to be like rhllor—ideally maintaining a human body while breaking the shackles of life to achieve transcendence.
Viserys looked at Ghidorah, and she immediately spat out a Golden Ray, no longer listening to its nonsense. The ray directly annihilated the Harpy's head, severing the 'god's' consciousness from behind the connection.
Relying on the remaining corpse and with Ghidorah's help, Viserys successfully peeked at the location of this 'god', though its current location seemed to be on the continent of Sothoryos.
This caused Viserys's thought of completely eliminating this hidden threat to temporarily fade. After all, Sothoryos was quite far from here, and he had no understanding of that continent. The unknown was the most dangerous; it would be better to wait until he was prepared in the future.
Viserys returned to the remains of New Ghis, walking on the charred streets with broken masonry and congealed blood beneath his feet. The air was thick with the smell of smoke and burnt flesh.
He found Earl Alliser, looked around, and gave his orders.
"There is no value left here. I give you two months to do three things. First, gather all the bodies in this city and burn them to prevent a plague. Second, scavenge all the treasures and useful artifacts that can still be found to enrich Valyria's treasury. Third,"
He pointed toward the vaguely visible harbor in the distance. "Take all the prisoners and liberated slaves of this city to the vicinity of the port. Use the usable stones from the ruins to build a sufficient outpost with a garrison of no more than five hundred. Then, have those people rebuild a small town near the outpost. In the future, this place will only serve as a stopover for caravans heading to the Jade Sea."
"Understood, Your Majesty," Alliser replied crisply.
Viserys said no more and turned to leave. He still had to rush to the next location, Tyrosh.
Almost at the same time Viserys left New Ghis, the gates of Tyrosh were opened.
There was no battle and no bloodshed. On the city walls, the three-headed dragon banner of House Targaryen replaced the heraldic flags of Tyrosh.
On the streets, Golden Company soldiers and the Tyrosh defenders patrolled side by side. Various shops had begun to open one after another, and the market gradually regained its bustle.
When he arrived at Tyrosh riding Ghidorah, he went directly to see Clinton.
"Your Majesty." Clinton had seen the dragon from afar and immediately stepped forward, kneeling on one knee. "Tyrosh has pledged its loyalty to the Empire."
It turned out that news of Volantis changing hands had reached Tyrosh earlier. The factions within the city, already panicked by the siege, could no longer sit still. The Temple of the Red God in Tyrosh secretly contacted some of the wealthy merchants and nobles, and also allied with generals dissatisfied with the Archon's policy of holding out to the death, launching a swift and clean coup.
To avoid being purged later, they privately executed the pro-war Archon and his core henchmen, then opened the city to surrender to Clinton. Clinton was experienced and naturally knew their motives, but he did not expose them.
After entering the city, he quickly took control of the main strategic points and strictly suppressed sporadic resistance, while treating the "city-surrenderers" generously to quickly stabilize the situation. In today's Tyrosh, aside from a few bloodstains from the flag-changing ceremony that hadn't dried yet, one could hardly tell the city had experienced the flames of war.
"You did an excellent job," Viserys said sincerely. "Better than I expected."
"It was Your Majesty who gave me the opportunity." Clinton lowered his head. "And allowed me to see my past foolishness clearly."
"Let's not mention the past anymore." Viserys patted his shoulder. "From now on, you are the Governor of Tyrosh and a Marquess of the Empire. The Golden Company will be officially reorganized into an Imperial Legion, and you will continue to lead it."
Clinton's body trembled, and he knelt again. "Your Majesty, I..."
Viserys helped him up. "What I need is not gratitude, but loyalty and ability. Tyrosh is the hub connecting the Narrow Sea; I need you to manage it well and make it a solid fortress for the Empire."
"As you command, Your Majesty," Clinton bowed.
Two weeks later, Viserys held a military council in the council hall of Dragonwing Fortress. The participants included Clinton, Duke Arthur, and Duke William.
A huge map was spread across the long table, marking the Empire's newest territories: the Valyrian Peninsula, the three cities of Free Bay, Volantis, New Ghis, Qarth, Tyrosh, and Myr.
The territory had more than doubled.
"We have won this campaign." Viserys looked around at everyone. "But next, we face new challenges. The newly occupied lands also need consolidation and development."
He pointed to the other side of the Narrow Sea on the map. "And here, Robert and his Small Council must be unable to sit still. However, the Lannister Family's previous trade with us for 'lightbringer' has already created a rift between them. We can certainly add more fuel to the fire to make the political situation in Westeros even more turbulent."
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