Chapter 144: The Power of Black Flame
But he knew those things were already in the past. Now he lived as a dragon—he forcibly suppressed the sudden anger rising in his heart.
Just as he calmed down, a lewd sound suddenly came from the gray mist in the distance.
There are people here?
He flew a little closer and vaguely saw, within the forest, a tall middle-aged man entangled with three seductive women who looked almost identical.
For a moment, Drogon even wondered if he had inhaled too much toxic smoke and was hallucinating.
Then—
The four figures suddenly vanished.
He paused, looked around, then continued forward.
Soon, deep within the forest, he saw a complete square-shaped building.
He entered through the open doors.
Inside—it looked like a church.
Two rows of seats lined both sides of the hall, and on the platform ahead stood seven statues.
After getting the small conch earlier, Drogon had deliberately read books about the gods. He immediately recognized them—
The Seven.
The Seven were not seven separate gods, but seven aspects of one deity. Each represented something different, and worshippers prayed to whichever aspect suited their needs.
The Father represented judgment and justice, holding scales.
The Mother represented mercy.
The Warrior stood for courage, holding a sword.
The Maiden symbolized innocence, holding a flower.
The Smith represented labor and craft, holding a hammer.
The Crone represented wisdom, holding a lantern.
Clang!
Just as Drogon was wondering why a church of the Seven would appear in such a place—
A bell rang outside.
The moment the bell sounded, indistinct prayers filled his ears.
At first, he could still make out different voices—men, women, old, young.
But soon they merged together.
Endless whispers flooded his mind, piling up, pressing in—
His head felt like it was about to split apart.
"Get lost!"
A furious roar burst from his throat.
The voices stopped instantly.
When he looked around again—
There was no church.
No forest.
No weirwood.
He was still hovering above black reefs, surrounded by thick smoke.
An illusion.
When he first saw the weirwood, he hadn't noticed anything wrong.
But when he saw the man and the three women, something felt off.
They reminded him of something from the books—an offshoot of the old gods, the Lady of the Waves and the Lord of the Skies worshipped on the Three Sisters.
After realizing something was wrong, he had deliberately played along, wanting to see what came next.
Only when the overwhelming prayers became unbearable did he break the illusion.
No wonder almost no one ever returned from the ruins of Valyria.
The harsh environment alone was deadly—
Add constant mental interference, and escaping this place was nearly impossible.
Splash!
Just as Drogon broke free from the illusion and prepared to leave—
A long tentacle suddenly shot up from the boiling sea below, lashing toward him.
The moment the water moved, he reacted.
There was no way he'd let it grab him.
With a beat of his wings, he dodged. His wing-hook slashed across—
And the thick, arm-sized tentacle was severed instantly.
A faint, baby-like cry rose from beneath the sea. The boiling water churned, and two tentacles shot out at the same time, reaching for Drogon again.
This time, he didn't dodge.
He flew straight in, claws sinking deep into the flesh of the tentacles. With a powerful pull from both his forelimbs and wings, he yanked the creature out of the sea and slammed it hard against the reef.
Only then did he see it clearly—
A giant octopus, as large as a full-grown horse.
The octopus was still dazed from the impact. It froze for a moment, as if it couldn't believe this tiny thing had dragged it out of the sea.
Ignoring the pain, it remembered the overwhelming strength it had just felt and didn't dare attack again. It struggled to crawl back toward the water.
Drogon didn't give it the chance.
He tightened his claws and smashed its head several times in a row. By now, he was already completely used to fighting with his forelimbs.
The octopus felt that terrifying strength again. Thick black ink burst from its mouth, and its body went limp, unable to move.
Drogon was just about to decide whether to hit it a few more times—
When he suddenly turned his head.
To the right, a long head had just slipped back beneath the surface.
He flapped his wings and flew over, then plunged straight into the sea.
Through the murky water, he could only see a long shadow swimming away in the distance.
He chased it with all his strength.
Even at full speed, the distance between them kept growing.
Realizing he couldn't catch up like this, Drogon burst out of the water, flew above the shadow, then dove down again.
The moment he re-entered the water, he saw it—
A massive shape descending into the deep.
He chased after it.
The creature had already noticed him earlier. After seeing how Drogon had handled the octopus, it had no intention of fighting—only escaping as fast as possible.
It swam desperately, glancing back from time to time.
When it saw Drogon leave the water, it thought it had escaped.
But the next moment—
A sharper splash sounded.
It turned its head—
And nearly lost its wits.
That tiny figure was now moving almost twice as fast, closing in rapidly.
It pushed itself harder, diving deeper.
But before it could get far, a sharp pain exploded across its back.
Its body was seized and dragged upward.
It twisted wildly, trying to break free, but the more it struggled, the worse the pain became.
Those claws had already sunk deep into its flesh.
Unable to shake him off, it opened its massive jaws and lunged to swallow him whole.
Drogon didn't let go.
Clinging tightly to the enormous sea serpent—thicker than two barrels combined—he tore into its back, almost ripping open a hole just to keep it from escaping.
Seeing the huge mouth closing in, he simply opened his own—
And released a mouthful of black flame.
The black fire met the boiling seawater like oil on fire.
With a sharp sizzling sound, the water in that area was instantly burned away, leaving a hollow space.
And it didn't stop there.
Even without water, the black flames continued burning, consuming everything around them.
The sea serpent saw the flames forming in Drogon's throat just as it was about to bite down and immediately pulled back.
But it was too late.
A few sparks touched its face, burning two small holes straight through its flesh.
It froze.
Staring at the black flames that continued to consume the seawater, feeling its own flesh vaporizing—
It didn't dare move at all.
Afraid that even the slightest motion would bring another blast of that fire.
"Roar!"
Drogon let out a low, threatening roar, filled with dragon might.
A mere sea snake daring to act wild in front of a true dragon—
He didn't mind teaching it what that meant.
The sea serpent, still stunned, felt it immediately—
A shiver rising from its soul.
And a crushing pressure from bloodline itself.