As war engulfed Westeros, at Conquest Keep, Lo Quen had already begun his preparations.
He stood atop a high platform, gazing down at the army assembled below.
Twenty thousand well-equipped regular troops, together with forty thousand slave soldiers gathered from the Three Daughters and Volantis, formed a vast host.
To secure the safety of the Triarchy, he ordered Luo Wen to recruit an additional twenty thousand local Irti new levies, tasked with homeland defense.
He had long given careful thought to the plan for landing in Westeros, dividing the campaign into two routes.
The first would strike directly at the North. Lo Quen would personally take command, with Roro as his aide, leading twenty thousand slave soldiers to land near White Harbor. They would support Jon and Waymar in defeating the Boltons and the remaining northern lords, then escort Waymar into the Vale to eliminate Littlefinger.
The second route would be led by the three queens—Jaelena, Janice, and Chai Yiq—with Luo Wen serving as chief strategist. They would command twenty thousand regular troops and twenty thousand slave soldiers to land in Dorne, coordinating with the army of Yronwood Lord to attack Sunspear, where Prince Doran resided, cutting off the Dornish retreat.
As Lo Quen's bloodline purity continued to rise, the number of Dragon Soul Guards the Flame Knights he could create and sustain increased significantly.
At present, Janice commanded 900 Dragon Soul Guards, Jaelena 600, Chai Yiq 700, and the newly advanced Flame Knight Daenerys 800.
In total, three thousand powerful undead warriors.
Lo Quen kept Daenerys's eight hundred Dragon Soul Guards with him for the northern campaign.
The force advancing on Dorne was equipped with the remaining 2,200 Dragon Soul Guards to ensure a decisive advantage.
They spent half a month preparing ample provisions and weapons.
In addition, Lo Quen instructed Meizo to formally spread rumors throughout the Seven Kingdoms regarding Young Aegon's true identity, aiming to weaken the alliance between Young Aegon and Dorne.
After Oberyn's death, this would surely deepen the rift between them.
Before long, the immense fleet finally set sail, heading toward their respective destinations.
This time, Lo Quen was reunited with Roro after a long absence.
Years of service as a Magister had given the former pirate chieftain a commanding presence and the bearing of a man in power, though the fierce edge in his brow had not faded.
"Your Grace, the landing plan near White Harbor has been finalized. Khorane and Moreo of Skagos have written to say they will receive us at the landing site,"
Roro reported calmly.
Lo Quen nodded.
"Proceed as planned."
After more than ten days at sea, the fleet reached the waters near the Three Sisters.
Then, without warning, the clear sky darkened. Gale-force winds swept in with dense storm clouds, and towering waves rose as a violent storm descended.
The massive fleet was thrown violently by wind and sea, lifted high and slammed down again.
Several smaller transport ships teetered on the verge of capsizing.
"Give the order. All vessels head for the nearest islands and take shelter from the storm."
Lo Quen stood at the bow of the violently pitching flagship, his voice steady.
The fleet struggled toward a cluster of reefs faintly visible through the storm.
Just as the ships slowly entered a relatively calm, sheltered bay, Lo Quen suddenly frowned. An extremely subtle sensation of being watched brushed across his mind.
He snapped his head around, staring into the pitch-black sea, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes.
"Continue directing the landing," he ordered Roro, then leapt into the air.
The red dragon Blooddancer, flying low over the waves, let out a deep growl and caught him securely.
Lo Quen mounted the dragon's back. Blooddancer released a thunderous roar that split the storm, surging upward into the raging sky.
Seated on the dragon, Lo Quen swept his gaze across the dark, churning sea below.
Suddenly, his pupils shrank.
Deep within the storm-tossed waters, several enormous shadows were slowly writhing upward.
Their outlines became faintly visible whenever lightning briefly illuminated the sea.
Each shadow was vast as a mountain. Even a rough estimate suggested their main bodies exceeded a hundred feet in length, perhaps even rivaling his own golden dragon form.
What made his scalp prickle even more was that those shadows extended countless massive, thick tentacles. They writhed and churned through the seawater, and wherever they passed, violent undercurrents surged, forming an enormous zone of swirling vortices.
Kraken!
Lo Quen's expression darkened as he realized it at once.
He could not allow these monsters anywhere near his fleet.
Those transport ships would be no sturdier than eggshells before creatures like these.
Even the massive whaling ships of Ibben Island ended with shattered keels after a Kraken attack.
"Drop altitude. Move closer to those shadows."
Lo Quen gave the order to Blooddancer.
Blooddancer let out a roar that carried both excitement and caution. It could sense the immense threat below, but a dragon's pride and its loyalty to its master left no room for hesitation.
It drew in its wings, pierced the curtain of rain, and spiraled downward toward the terrifying shadows.
The distance closed rapidly, and the shapes beneath the sea became horrifyingly clear.
Lo Quen could even make out the faint outlines of sucker-like structures along the massive bodies.
They had clearly noticed the audacious intruder in the air.
"Now! Breathe fire. Aim for the sea between them!"
Lo Quen shouted sharply.
Blooddancer snapped its enormous jaws open. A blinding, searing light flared deep in its throat.
The next instant, a torrent of dragonfire of staggering width erupted forth, slamming violently into the sea between the Kraken.
BOOM!!!!!!!!
The extreme heat instantly vaporized vast stretches of seawater, unleashing deafening, hissing explosions.
White steam surged skyward, mixing with the storm clouds into a towering wall of mist.
The terrifying energy and heat carried by the dragonfire clearly disturbed the colossal beasts below.
The shadows beneath the surface churned violently.
At once, a gray-brown tentacle studded with bowl-sized suction cups burst through the boiling sea, lashing toward Blooddancer at astonishing speed.
The tentacle was immense. Even its tip rivaled the thickest mast of a warship, trailing sheets of seawater like a cascading waterfall.
Lo Quen's pupils shrank, his reaction lightning-fast.
"Left! Full climb!"
Blooddancer displayed astonishing agility.
Its massive wings beat hard, whipping the air into a violent gale as its huge body twisted sharply left and surged upward.
The enormous tentacle swept past, barely grazing the scales of Blooddancer's belly and the tip of its tail.
The failed strike only seemed to enrage the creature below.
In the next instant, two more equally terrifying tentacles tore free of the sea, lunging in from both sides in a pincer attack, intent on crushing the defiant dragon in midair.
"Dive! Straight through the middle!"
Lo Quen remained calm under pressure, his voice cold and steady.
Blooddancer answered with a piercing dragon's roar, as though accepting the challenge.
It folded its wings and plunged downward, slipping with hairbreadth precision through the narrow gap between the two whistling tentacles.
The violent wind stirred by their passage nearly tore Lo Quen from the dragon's back.
Breaking through the encirclement, Blooddancer immediately spread its wings again, leveled out, and shot away at full speed in the direction opposite the fleet.
As expected, the three terrifying Kraken were thoroughly enraged.
They seemed to have fixed on the "fire-breathing giant bird" as their primary threat. Their vast shadows shifted beneath the waves, pursuing Blooddancer's retreat, while countless writhing tentacles churned the sea into even larger whirlpools and surging waves.
Lo Quen glanced back. Seeing the Kraken's attention fully drawn away from the fleet, he finally let out a small breath of relief.
Then his gaze dropped to the enormous sea monsters still chasing relentlessly below, a sharp, dangerous glint flashing through his eyes.
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on P@treon.
[Upto 50 chapters ahead for now]
[email protected]/BlurryDream