The next day, as soon as Dawn broke, the entire ship sprang into action. Everyone was too afraid of the unknown to sleep, so they woke up early.
When everyone was ready, Viserys ordered, "Depart. We'll enter the inner river. Slow down and keep quiet."
The shadow hunter adjusted its sails, moving like a silver fish, slowly passing through the Gates of Sighs and entering the Weeping River.
As soon as they entered the river, the surrounding environment changed instantly. Occasionally, a few reefs would protrude from the waterway, and the ship carefully navigated around these obstacles, continuing deeper. Traces of artificial carving began to appear on the rock walls on both sides. Huge, incomplete bas-reliefs depicted unrecognizable patterns, with only vague outlines of dragons, flames, and some twisted human figures visible. This was likely the history of the Dragon Kings of this area, as recorded by their families.
After about an hour of travel, a faint sound could be heard ahead. The ship rounded a bend, and the sight before them made everyone gasp.
The waterway widened here, forming a small, almost circular lake. The lake water was still dark red, but in the central area, it seemed to glow faintly with a sickly, eerie green fluorescence. But what was even more horrifying were the several "things" slowly moving on the lake shore.
They had a roughly human silhouette, but their movements were stiff and slow. Their skin, if it could still be called skin, was entirely stony gray, rough like weathered rock. Where their eyes should have been, there were only two empty sockets, glowing with an eerie green light. They seemed oblivious to the ship's arrival, just wandering aimlessly along the shore.
"Stone Men..." Someone whispered the word, their voice filled with fear.
Viserys looked at these peculiar Stone Men. Were these the poor wretches cursed by Valyria and turned into living stone statues? Were they still considered "alive"?
"Don't disturb them," Viserys ordered in a low voice. "Pass by slowly."
The ship moved as quietly as possible along the center of the lake, away from the moving Stone Men. Everyone held their breath, gripping their weapons, their eyes fixed on the slowly moving gray shadows. Fortunately, the Stone Men truly seemed to lack aggression, or perhaps their senses had degenerated to the point where they couldn't detect the distant ship.
Just as the ship was about to leave this terrifying lake and enter another narrow waterway, a piercing, inhuman shriek suddenly erupted from the bottom cabin where Marisus was held, followed by the clanking of violently shaking chains.
The sound was particularly jarring in the quiet environment.
The wandering Stone Men abruptly stopped, their stiff necks twisting at impossible angles, and their two eerie green lights uniformly "fixed" on the shadow hunter.
"Accelerate, leave here," Viserys quickly ordered.
The captain spun the helm, and the sailors rowed desperately. Finally, they managed to leave the area, though not without fright.
After escaping the danger, Viserys entered the cabin where Marisus was imprisoned.
The cabin was dimly lit. Marisus was curled in a corner, the valyrian steel shackles gleaming coldly. As Viserys pushed the door open, he saw Marisus's mouth agape, still muttering something, his teeth turned black and emitting an ominous aura.
Viserys stopped in his tracks.
He remembered. In the original story, when Daenerys was assassinated in Qarth, the assassin's mouth looked exactly like this.
"Are you from the Temple of the Undying?" Viserys asked, a hint of doubt in his tone.
Marisus suddenly looked up, a flicker of surprise in his remaining eye.
"How do you know about the Temple of the Undying?" he retorted.
He guessed right.
Viserys took a step forward: "So those Stone Men were your doing? Was your earlier shout a spell?"
Marisus grinned, black sludge oozing from the corners of his mouth: "Just a little trick, guiding you on the right path."
"The right path?"
"To go where you should go, to see what you should see," Marisus slowly sat upright, "and then, to die when you should die."
The air suddenly grew cold.
Viserys's hand went to his sword hilt, "Why? Why does the Temple of the Undying want me dead?"
"Because you came," Marisus's eyes began to whiten. "In the ruins of Valyria, some things should not be awakened by the living. Especially not by descendants of Dragon Kings like you."
He paused, his voice growing softer, "The Temple needs this place to remain as it is, to remain dead."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Marisus suddenly convulsed violently. Black sludge gushed from his mouth and nose, and then his entire body slumped as if melting, losing all breath.
Viserys stood rooted, staring at the corpse.
The Temple of the Undying. Stone Men. Guidance... So all the so-called "dangers" along the way were just part of a scheme?
He turned and walked out of the cabin.
On deck, Arthur and Alliser were waiting.
"Your Majesty."
"Give the order," Viserys said, "All hands to alert. We've been tricked. We need to be more vigilant from now on."
Viserys felt he had still underestimated this world too much. He had thought that he wouldn't encounter true sorcerers before the return of the magic tide. But the red god priest he met earlier and this puppet controlled by the Temple of the Undying had made him face reality. He should have understood this when he met the Three-Eyed Crow, but he had always thought of himself as a unique existence, subconsciously looking down on these "natives."
After a day of cautious sailing, they finally arrived at the Obsidian Plains. Under Barze's superb control, the shadow hunter skillfully avoided reefs and whirlpools, finally successfully landing on a small black sandy beach.
Viserys was the first to step ashore. Underfoot were fine obsidian gravel, crunching with a "shush" sound.
"Set up camp, repair the ship. We'll rest here tonight," he ordered.
The warriors began to move supplies, and the sailors started inspecting and repairing the ship.
At night, a team of warriors stood guard at the camp entrance.
Just then, an extremely subtle "shush" sound, like countless tiny metal pieces rubbing together, came from all directions beneath the ground.
"Something's there," a sharp-eyed soldier whispered.
The grayish-black "ground" began to writhe and bulge. Fist-sized creatures, shaped like a combination of cockroaches and crabs, emerged. Their exoskeletons were dark, their compound eyes glowed dark red, and their mandibles constantly opened and closed, making a grating, teeth-aching sound. Their numbers grew rapidly, forming a dense encirclement in an instant.
"They're Ash Crabs," a scholar who heard the warning rushed over. "Their shells are very hard, they can bite through leather. They're afraid of fire and strong light."
"Shields up. Spearmen forward," Ser Arthur, who had arrived, remained calm and quickly ordered, "Light the torches."
The team immediately moved. Shield-bearing soldiers formed a circle, and spears poked through the gaps in their shields. Torches were lit, standing out brightly in the dark environment. The creatures called Ash Crabs indeed showed fear of the flames, slowing their advance and nervously pacing at the edges illuminated by the firelight, their pincers clacking more densely and jarringly.
But their numbers were simply too great, and more kept appearing from a distance. Some bolder Ash Crabs began to try to crawl under the shields or through side gaps, only to be immediately smashed by longswords or maces, splattering viscous, foul-smelling bodily fluids.
Viserys did not draw his sword. He stood in the center of the circle, his gaze sweeping over the surging tide of monsters. He tried to concentrate, spreading a strong mental wave, imbued with deterrence and repulsion, outwards. This was another application of a Skinchanger's ability, not very effective on intelligent creatures, but perhaps useful against these lower-level beings.
Wherever the mental wave reached, the forefront of the Ash Crab swarm clearly showed confusion; they collided with each other, their forward momentum momentarily halted. But soon, a new problem arose. The Stone Men from earlier in the day now appeared behind the crab swarm; they had followed the river, chasing the ship all the way here.
Soon, they engaged Viserys's soldiers. Ser Alliser drew his longsword and struck at the first Stone Man that lunged. "Clang." Ser Alliser's longsword only inflicted a small cut on the Stone Man's shoulder, but the recoil made Ser Alliser's tiger's mouth numb. The Stone Man didn't care, reaching out to grab his face.
Fortunately, Ser Arthur's Dawn arrived in time, and with a flash of his sword, one of the Stone Man's arms was severed. However, the Stone Man felt no pain and continued to attack with its other arm.
"Attack their joints!" Viserys observed and shouted a reminder.
The warriors changed tactics, focusing on the Stone Men's knees and elbows. It worked; one Stone Man collapsed after its knee was crushed by a heavy hammer. Although it still crawled on the ground, its threat was greatly reduced.
The battle lasted a quarter of an hour, and all a dozen Stone Men were "dealt with." They couldn't truly be killed, only dismembered into immobile fragments. Even so, the severed limbs still twitched slightly.
The cost was seven dead and six wounded. Most terrifyingly, a soldier's arm was scratched by a stone claw, and the skin around the wound began to slowly petrify, turning grayish-white. "Cut it off," Viserys decided immediately. Amidst the soldier's screams, his entire forearm was severed, blood gushing from the stump, but at least it stopped the petrification from spreading. This was like the zombie virus in his previous life's movies; the infection was too fast.
However, they did not relax, after all, these Stone Men were only a portion of those they had seen today, and more had not yet arrived. They had to quickly find advantageous terrain to settle down, making it easier to deal with these Stone Men.
However, they did not relax, after all, these Stone Men were only a portion of those they had seen today, and more had not yet arrived. They had to quickly find advantageous terrain to settle down, making it easier to deal with these Stone Men.
Ultimately, Viserys decided to lead the team to a nearby castle marked in ancient texts, belonging to the Dragon King Satherean family. He had originally planned to explore this castle tomorrow during the day, but circumstances now forced him to go immediately. After all, dealing with both Stone Men and Ash Crabs simultaneously on the plains would be quite difficult, potentially leading to total annihilation.
Viserys led them towards a nearby mountain. At the foot of the mountain, his gaze rapidly scanned, finally settling on a hidden spot where the rock face had a distinct indentation, vaguely revealing artificially carved steps leading upwards.
"There, go to higher ground."
The team began to gather at the indentation in the rock face.
The stone steps here were steep and slippery, severely worn by the passage of time. After climbing several hundred steps, the view suddenly opened up. They arrived at a platform located halfway up the mountain, and at the end of the platform, the outline of a castle could be seen.
The castle was built of obsidian, with a peculiar style, many angles and few curves. The main gate was closed, and on it was the three-spiral emblem of the Satherean family.
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