With his powerful magical perception, Lo Quen clearly locked onto the presence of those non-corporeal entities.
This was no illusion.
He suddenly recalled the legends of Westeros, the accounts of the ghosts of High Heart.
It seemed that such supernatural undead truly did exist in this world.
Hellhounds, and now ghosts…
Horrors once confined to ballads and ancient tales were appearing before him one after another, becoming grim reality.
"Dany, be careful. These things are strange. Let me deal with them first!"
Lo Quen shouted up to Daenerys and the others in the air. He immediately slapped Blooddancer's neck. The dragon let out a roar brimming with battle intent and surged straight toward the pale specters with him astride its back.
The ghosts seemed enraged by the presence of the living. They released soundless shrieks that felt as though they clawed directly at the soul and surged forward in response.
Aside from the Dragon Soul Guards, every other soldier who witnessed this supernatural sight turned pale, gripping their weapons with white knuckles.
"Blooddancer, Dracarys!"
Lo Quen gave the command.
Blooddancer threw its massive jaws open, spewing searing crimson dragonfire.
Wherever the flames passed, the pale phantoms evaporated instantly, leaving behind only a faint trace of icy cold.
In the air, Daenerys, Janice, Jaelena, and Chai Yiq immediately directed their own dragons to breathe dragonfire toward the ghosts emerging from other streets.
Gray flames, purple flames, silver flames, blue flames…
Dragonfire of different hues blossomed across the deathly still streets of Stygai, erasing the undead that dared approach.
Lo Quen flicked a glance at the system notifications pulsing in his mind.
[Dragon's Soul +100]…
[Dragon's Soul +100]…
The energy provided by these ghosts was far inferior to that of massive creatures like Hellhounds, but it was better than nothing.
Just as everyone began to believe the danger had passed, another change occurred.
High above, within the eternal gloom of the sky, an enormous shadow suddenly swept past.
Everyone instinctively looked up.
At the top of a sheer river valley rising thousands of feet, a colossal black creature was soaring with wings outstretched.
Its body alone stretched nearly two hundred feet, and when its wings spread wide, they blotted out the sky.
Its shape was strikingly similar to that of a dragon, yet there were clear differences in the details.
Its scales were rougher and thicker, its head more savage, exuding a raw, primal ferocity.
"A dragon!"
A seasoned veteran cried out in shock.
That was indeed a wild dragon, never tamed, dwelling deep within the Shadow Lands.
Blooddancer, Ashshadow, and the other domesticated dragons immediately sensed the threat posed by their own kind and released low, warning growls.
Yet the black wild dragon did not retreat. Instead, its ferocity was roused.
It circled once, then let out a thunderous roar filled with provocation and disdain, aimed straight at the city of Stygai.
Immediately after, from the canyon upstream along the River of Ashes behind it, five more wild dragons took flight.
They were slightly smaller in size, but no less vicious.
The six gathered together, circling and roaring, their cruel gazes locking onto the intruders within Stygai and the dragons accompanying them.
Lo Quen's expression sharpened. Six wild dragons.
The Shadow Lands truly were one of the dragons' natural habitats.
"Dany, fall back and hold your formation!"
Lo Quen shouted to the queens in the sky. "These wild dragons are enormous, hardened by years in a brutal environment. They're savage and aggressive. They're not something you can handle. Leave them to me!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a brilliant golden light erupted around Lo Quen.
Before everyone's stunned eyes, his body began to expand rapidly.
Scales spread across his form, wings unfurled.
In the blink of an eye, a colossal being over five hundred feet long, its entire body clad in radiant golden dragon scales, appeared above the skies of Stygai.
Its sacred, awe-inspiring presence stood in stark contrast to the feral wild dragons.
"Long live His Grace!!"
Below, the vast majority of veterans who had taken part in the Battle of Moat Cailin once again witnessed this miracle-like transformation. The fervor and worship they had suppressed for so long burst forth in an instant, and deafening cheers thundered through the river valley.
High above, the six wild dragons were clearly shaken by the sudden appearance of a golden behemoth far larger than any of them.
Yet the savagery and ferocity bred into their bones kept them from fleeing at once. After a brief moment of shock and hesitation, they responded with even more frenzied roars.
In his golden dragon form, Lo Quen's massive dragon eyes flashed with cold killing intent.
He did not hesitate in the slightest, directly unleashing a powerful area-of-effect skill.
[Explosive Dragonfire Projectile]!
An overwhelming surge of flame magic gathered and compressed like a vortex before his colossal maw, forming a blazing golden fireball of astonishing size.
The space around it warped under the extreme heat, crackling with sharp explosive pops.
Lo Quen locked onto the narrow stretch of sky where the six wild dragons were clustered. The blazing golden Explosive Dragonfire Projectile shot out like a falling star, moving faster than sound itself.
In its wake, the air was torn apart. The violent shockwaves it generated even churned the Ash River below into towering waves.
The six wild dragons had no time to evade.
They could only watch in terror as the blazing golden fireball, heavy with the aura of death, expanded rapidly in their pupils.
The next instant—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A deafening explosion rolled across the river valley.
The Explosive Dragonfire Projectile detonated precisely at the center of the pack, instantly expanding into a spherical firestorm over a thousand feet across.
Unbearable heat and violent shockwaves swallowed the entire stretch of sky.
The six wild dragons did not even manage to fully cry out in their final moments.
Their scales melted beneath the searing golden dragonfire.
Flesh vaporized in the inferno, and their massive bodies twisted violently within the blinding golden light.
As the brilliance faded, the lingering shockwaves slowly died away.
Six charred, mangled dragon corpses fell from the sky, crashing heavily into the green-glowing Ash River below and sending enormous plumes of water soaring upward.
The soldiers within Stygai witnessed the scene with their own eyes, mouths hanging open, their gazes filled with an incomparable mix of shock and fanatic devotion.
His Grace had not even engaged in prolonged combat. With a single strike, he had effortlessly annihilated six terrifying wild dragons.
Compared to the power he had displayed during the battle against the Ice Dragons at Moat Cailin, this strength seemed even greater.
"Long live His Grace!!"
"Long live the God-Emperor!!"
The soldiers' fervent cheers rose like a tidal wave, scattering the gloom and deathly silence that had shrouded Stygai for thousands of years.
Lo Quen reverted to his human form, clad in his innate golden dragon scale armor, and descended slowly into the city.
As a massive surge of Dragon's Soul flooded into him—reaching a staggering 110,000—and as his system panel showed [Dragonblood Purity] rising to 76%, the power coursing through his body left his expression calm and composed.
With his bloodline purity drawing ever closer to 100%, Lo Quen found himself growing increasingly expectant.
The soldiers looked at him now with nothing but pure reverence and submission in their eyes.
He immediately gave orders for the fleet's crews to retrieve the six wild dragon corpses.
These remains were invaluable research materials and resources for Qyburn.
After that, the army began a sweeping search of Stygai.
Lo Quen ordered that any suspicious objects be reported at once.
Meanwhile, Daenerys and the other queens rode their dragons, patrolling different sectors of the skies above Stygai, remaining alert for the possible return of ghosts or any other threats.