Viserys watched the "person" appearing in the faint black mist, like a lost child.
Perhaps he was trapped here, walking in circles out of habit.
Only when Viserys sensed no movement from any Human-Faced Worms did he signal for the group to follow him forward.
Valyria was once prosperous and flourishing; the roads built by the Dragonlords stretched in all directions, and towering spires reached toward the sky everywhere.
Although the Valyrian Dragonlords were domineering and evil, relying on force to enslave the world, they had indeed developed their technology to a pinnacle of perfection.
After the city was destroyed, Viserys could still catch a glimpse of its former glory from the remaining spectacular buildings and wide roads.
Viserys walked toward the undead knight; along the roadside and in the ruins, he saw many scattered corpses, now reduced to white bones.
The swords that could once topple cities had turned to rust, and the armor had been utterly destroyed by the powerful forces within the ruins.
Viserys looked at the undead knight wearing tattered red armor; it was a creation similar to a "Fire Zombie."
"You guys cover me; I'll go take a look," Viserys said.
"The Undying Army, followers of Dragonlord Orryon of House Belaerys." Upon getting closer, Viserys clearly saw Valyrian script tattooed on the Fire Zombie, above the flame tattoo.
At the time of the Doom, Orryon was traveling in Qohor.
He then recruited an army among the Qohor colonists, proclaimed himself the first Emperor of Valyria, marched toward the ruins, and ultimately vanished without a trace.
At the time, it was only known that such a Dragonlord existed; now it appeared he was a descendant of House Belaerys.
Viserys felt a surge of joy—Dragonlord Orryon's Undying Army. It seemed Orryon's army and body were nearby.
If so, even if he couldn't find the great dragon lair, he could at least loot some spoils.
Viserys also noticed the wounds on the undead knight; there was a deep, fatal injury at his throat, revealing bruised blood and an open wound.
Most of the knight's blond hair had withered away, and what remained was like weeds; his skin had a terrifying, deathly white hue.
As for his face, it was riddled with holes.
The knight's face was covered in gashes, some crusted with dried blood, while others exposed the bone beneath.
Just like Lady Stoneheart and Dondarrion, whom the Red Robe Priest Thoros resurrected, the wounds sustained by a Fire Zombie would not heal after resurrection.
The ruby, the size of a quail egg, embedded in the knight's forehead was still emitting an enchanting red glow.
"It is the effect of the blood gem," Viserys thought. He had originally assumed only the slaves in the mines were subjected to such treatment—toiling even after death.
In those days, slaves from all over the world toiled like ants in the mine shafts deep beneath the volcanic lava, digging for red gold, gold, and silver for the Dragonlords.
The rocks around the mine shafts were too hot to touch, and the air was filled with the smell of sulfur, scorching the lungs with every breath; even with the thickest boots, the soles of one's feet would blister.
Some mine shafts were so low that the slaves could not stand, forced to crawl or walk bent over.
Sometimes, while digging through the cavern walls in search of gold, slaves would encounter steam, boiling water, or lava. The worst-case scenario was encountering Firewyrms and being burned to death.
He hadn't expected that under the influence of blood and Fire Magic, such soldiers could exist.
Clearly, after the loyal knight had died, the Dragonlord had used blood gems and magic arrays to make the knight rise and fight again.
"Clack!" As Viserys approached, the remaining Fire Zombie of the Undying Army reflexively brandished its longsword and began to charge at Viserys.
Not only was the red light on its forehead glowing, but the flame tattoos on its body were also faintly shining.
This sword was not made of valyrian steel, but its craftsmanship had been infused with some magic, and it remained quite sharp to this day.
This undead knight had long forgotten everything, retaining only the most primal urge to slaughter.
Viserys raised his spear of gaelis; steel clashed against steel, whipping up a storm of metallic sparks.
High and low, left and right, Viserys's spear was as agile and vicious as a viper; every strike was a perfect fusion of power and technique.
The undead knight had been a top-tier warrior when alive; his movements were agile and fast, reaching a shocking level of speed, and notably, he knew no fatigue and felt no pain.
This sword was not an ordinary weapon, and it managed to withstand several rounds of attacks.
Of course, Viserys's own attributes had now risen to a staggering level; Viserys exerted sudden force with his spear, directly knocking the knight to the ground.
Then, the silver spear pierced through the knight's chest and abdomen, pinning him down.
The others cheered; having followed Viserys here, the brave King who understood magic and the rules of Valyria was their source of confidence.
After all, anyone who didn't understand magic and the rules of the Valyrian Ruins would just be a reckless fool or a dead man walking.
But a moment later, the red light on the knight's forehead flared again, and he began to reach for the silver spear with trembling hands.
Just like Lord Dondarrion, Fire Zombies could rise again in the face of death; ordinary physical attacks were not very effective.
Later, the Lightning Lord Dondarrion had his skull crushed, an eye gouged out, his neck strangled, and wounds on his chest, yet he was still resurrected by the Lord of Light.
"Give me a piece of dragon glass," Viserys said.
Dragon glass was obsidian, also known as frozen fire, and it was everywhere in the ruins.
Argos handed Viserys a piece of dragon glass, which Viserys thrust into the undead knight's chest, but it had no effect.
The knight was still struggling to pull out the spear, numb to pain, with two additional wounds on his chest.
Viserys looked at the struggling knight and finally drew his own longsword.
With a powerful strike, the cold flash of the blade directly severed the knight's head.
Then, Viserys used his valyrian steel dagger to quickly pry out the ruby embedded in the knight's brow; this time, the undead knight was truly dead.
Before long, his body would naturally decay.
The blood gem was warm to the touch, a proprietary technology of the Dragonlords.
Viserys looked at the results of his study: White Walkers—those ice zombies—feared dragon glass, but Fire Zombies did not; only by cutting off the Fire Zombie's head or removing the blood gem could one truly end it.
Perhaps ice magic and water magic could also work. Water and fire coexist and counteract each other; Viserys felt it was worth a try.
"Why did he keep living, Your Grace?" Argos wiped the sweat from his face.
"It is the problem with the gem," Viserys said.
The blood gem and the tattooed magic array provided power like a battery, and with the abundance of blood and Fire Elements in the Valyrian Ruins, the Fire Zombie was resurrected from death.
"This sword is for you," Viserys said, gifting the knight's sword to Argos.
It was a red sword with a crossguard coiled by dragons; although the blade had some rust, once sharpened, it would be a formidable blade, stronger than ordinary refined steel.
Viserys carefully ran fire and water over the undead knight's sword, ensuring there was no hindrance; it was the only valuable thing on the knight's entire body.
"For this sword, I will forever remember Your Grace's kindness. I shall call this sword the Dragon-Guard Sword. Argos exists to protect the True Dragon and will be forever loyal to the True Dragon."
Viserys patted Argos on the shoulder and looked around at the others: "All of you following me here is already the greatest loyalty to me."
The group continued to follow Viserys forward, only occasionally discovering one or two straggling Fire Zombies, which they killed to pry out the blood gems.
It seemed that as Orryon's elite, he hadn't deployed too many of the Undying Army.
They passed through a corridor filled with black mist and arrived beneath a ruined hill.
Before the hill, they felt the space open up significantly; it was a small plaza between two hills, where a large group of soldiers arranged in a military formation still stood before them.
Thousands of gray-white figures were frozen in place like statues; this military formation gave Viserys a sense of magnificence, layered with the passage of hundreds of years.
The soldiers still held various weapons in their hands—long spears, great axes, sharp swords, and so on.
"There are more beneath the ruins, Your Grace," Argos said.
When Orryon rushed in, the situation in the Valyrian Ruins was unstable, with volcanoes still erupting violently, which had cost this entire group of people their lives.
Many soldiers were likely buried by the ruins, while these soldiers had remained in the plaza.
Their bodies seemed to have turned into statues frozen in place; it was not a true petrification, but rather they were covered in a layer of volcanic ash.
Beneath these hollow shells of hardened ash, the long-decayed skeletons remained.
After all, these were just ordinary soldiers; even the Dragonlord could not escape death, so they were helpless in the face of such a natural disaster.
Through the dragon-wing, long-horned helmets on the soldiers' heads, it was clear that they were the remnants of the great army from that era.
"What is that?"
"It is a dragon corpse," Viserys said, looking up.
On the ruined hill to the right of the entire military formation, a massive black dragon corpse lay prone.
The dragon skeleton was over a hundred meters long, truly a behemoth.
Because the dragon bones were very light, the ruins had not been crushed even after such a long time.
It seemed Orryon had originally intended to avoid the volcanic lava, sulfurous mist, and ash, but he could not bear to abandon his tens of thousands of troops.
Or perhaps Orryon had already been injured when he charged into the ruins and could not move himself.
Viserys saw a glimmer of light radiating from the dragon corpse; it looked like a huge, twisted horn.
"Is it the Dragon Horn?" Viserys had a guess in his heart.
The Dragon Horn might not be for taming dragons to fly, but for driving them, tormenting the dragons, and of course, it also had the ability to boost the morale of an army.