A breeze swept across the Velvet Hills, whose gentle terrain was ideal for dothraki horsemen.
Viserys's armor was as black as eternal night, and he wore a black cloak with a red dragon, fastened by a red onyx dragon brooch.
Viserys's sword belt held a longsword and a Valyrian steel dagger with a dragonbone hilt, and he also had a spear on his horse.
The warhorse Viserys rode was the dothraki black steed he had "borrowed" from the Sealord of Braavos's menagerie.
Now, the black steed galloped across battlefields with its master instead of being confined to the menagerie, and the warhorse was excitedly prancing around.
dothraki horses are large and powerful in their charge, considered a type of famous horse. This is unlike the smaller, more enduring dornish horses.
Viserys donned his menacing black-and-red winged dragon helmet, making him appear not as a mere mortal, but as a human-shaped dragon.
Viserys's first advance into rhoynar territory was not for plunder, but rather he was invited by the rhoynar to suppress bandits, as a condition for their pledge of loyalty.
Some rhoynar traitors and dothraki remnants had mixed with horse bandits, plundering local villages.
dothraki tribes prided themselves on slaughter; smaller tribes were often brutally wiped out by larger ones, and some of the defeated would transform into mercenaries or horse bandits.
"Cross the river!" Viserys cracked his whip and spurred his horse forward, leading the charge, followed by the cavalry carrying the black-and-red dragon banner.
The knights crossed a small river in the hills, but they felt a sense of pride as if they were crossing the Rhoyne River.
For the andals, this river crossing marked their first operation within rhoynar territory.
Besides andals, some of the cavalry accompanying Viserys were entirely native rhoynar.
These rhoynar came from villages at the border between Andals and rhoynar, and the elders of these villages had almost all been invited to attend the coronation ceremony of andals.
Most of the rhoynar soldiers in the army resembled Rhaenys, with slender builds, smooth olive skin, black hair, and dark eyes.
There were also some rhoynar-andal half-bloods, who seemed to resemble andals more.
These rhoynar from the border areas had long interacted with Andals, through both intermarriage and conflict.
After witnessing the great city of Viserysgrad and attending the King's coronation, many border rhoynar had directly pledged allegiance to the andals' faction.
Many rhoynar princes and princesses had long been destroyed by the Valyrian dragonlords, except for Nymeria, who fled to Dorne.
The village-dwelling rhoynar, like the andals, were targets of bullying by various factions.
Moreover, the rhoynar were closer to the Dothraki and Volantenes, and thus suffered the heaviest blows.
Compared to the brutal Dothraki, the ancient enemies the Volantenes, and the greedy slave masters of Triarchy, the Andals were not so detestable.
It was better to align with the Andals than with the Dothraki.
"Your Majesty!" The mounted rhoynar, Gaylin, approached Viserys. "Those bandits are in the village ahead. After destroying this rhoynar village, they've occupied it, forcing nearby andal villages to provide supplies and women."
Gaylin had long, soft hair, was agile and swift, and skilled with a spear.
He was the first rhoynar knight to pledge allegiance to Viserys, who chose him to be the commander of the cavalry unit of the newly formed Second Legion, the "Old rhoynar."
However, the elite rhoynar troops were still javelin throwers and longship units. Once the rhoynar homeland was well-managed, Viserys also planned to leverage the rhoynar's strengths.
In the heyday of the ancient rhoynar, they were accustomed to wearing silver scale armor, fish-shaped helmets, and wielding spears and turtle-shell shields in battle.
"Enemies spotted!" Viserys picked up his Myr telescope and saw smoke rising from the ruined rhoynar village in the hills, his warhorse still reined in the forest.
The bandits had indeed made this their base, but this would be their last meal.
"Gaylin, take the javelin throwers and cut off the bandits' retreat. Don't let a single one escape," Viserys commanded.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Gaylin solemnly pledged. He had long wanted to kill these treacherous rhoynar scum and dothraki remnants, regretting only his lack of power.
dothraki cavalry still had a fearsome reputation and could not be threatened by ordinary villages.
Viserys squeezed his horse's belly, and the black steed surged forward at his will, becoming a black hurricane sweeping across the plains.
The black-armored cavalry surrounding the King moved with him, sharp as razors.
"Kill! Leave no one alive." Viserys led the charge, hooves thundering, black armor gleaming.
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
The bandit sentries were first struck down by archers; their makeshift watchtower was not particularly tall.
These bandits had long swaggered with dothraki remnants, never expecting the rhoynar to slaughter them all today.
It seemed they were not rhoynar, but outside reinforcements.
Viserys's spear seemed to have a life of its own, sweeping through enemies.
Viserys impaled a startled rhoynar bandit, then exerted force, flinging the rhoynar's corpse to the ground.
There was no fancy technique involved, just pure, simple brutality, a combination of strength and speed, as Viserys's attribute values were extremely high.
"Boom." The sound of the body hitting the ground signaled the arrival of slaughter.
"Warrior!"
"Warrior!"
"Long live King Viserys!" The andal knights, with seven-pointed stars painted on their faces, cheered, adrenaline surging for a feast of slaughter.
Viserys's Royal Dragon Guard cavalry had better armor and were rigorously trained, and with formidable generals like Viserys and Argos leading the charge and catching the enemy by surprise, the entire battlefield quickly turned into a one-sided slaughter.
"May the Rhoyne River bless her children!"
"Long live King Viserys!"
"Kill them, kill these bandits, rhoynar traitors, and dothraki horsemen bastards."
The rhoynar javelin throwers responsible for the encirclement also found their positions nearby; their bodies, like taut bowstrings, suddenly erupted with power, and javelins were hurled directly.
rhoynar javelins were of two types: short spears were typically used on horseback, while infantry javelins were a bit longer, like javelins.
The power of the sharp spearheads at close range was also terrifying; javelins rained down like a storm.
Many unprepared bandits, who hadn't even had time to don their armor or grab their weapons, were directly impaled by javelins.
A crimson rain fell, and human blood soaked into the earth.
"Die! Coward in armor." A tall, almond-eyed, bronze-skinned roaring warrior shouted, swinging an arakh at Viserys.
He recognized Viserys as the leader of this group: bright armor, a good horse, good armor, and surrounded by guards.
Viserys had already discarded his blunted spear and was fighting with a longsword.
Viserys's longsword swung at extreme speed, and the Dothraki warrior was startled; this tall, slender dragon warrior seemed to possess extraordinary speed.
Viserys nimbly dodged the arcing blade of the arakh, his sword slicing like a venomous snake across the Dothraki's chest and abdomen, severing flesh.
"Coward!" the Dothraki cursed. Where Viserys's blade had passed, flesh was torn open, and intestines and organs spilled out like eels.
Viserys wasted no words, then slashed his sword across the Dothraki's throat. ["Fate Defier" Viserys Targaryen has completed the execution of multiple "villains" in battle, rewarding one basic attribute increase: Strength increased →, Agility increased →]
Viserys saw his attributes increasing and knew he was in the right place.
"Kill them for me!" Viserys commanded. The bloody battlefield would erode one's benevolent emotions.
Moreover, the andal and rhoynar soldiers accompanying Viserys had long suffered enough humiliation from the Dothraki, and they fought with exceptional ferocity.
Suddenly, this camp became a stage of blood and fire.
"Raise my dragon banner high, and slaughter these bandits," Viserys commanded.
The black-and-red dragon banner waved over the village ruins, and the struggles of the bandits grew fainter.
Finally, a few rhoynar traitors and dothraki horsemen, who had been stubbornly resisting behind stone walls, were smoked out by fire, and these individuals were all bound together.
Inside the camp, there were also women's sobs; they were captured rhoynar girls and maidens.
"Any last words?" Viserys asked.
"You are traitors to the rhoynar, to have sided with the Andals," the rhoynar bandit spy cursed angrily.
Gaylin snorted coldly, "What's wrong with siding with His Majesty Viserys? I have long been a person of the Andals and the rhoynar Kingdom. His Majesty Viserys has even established the Second Legion and is revitalizing the Rhoyne River. It's certainly better than you people, who side with the sheep-sleeping dothraki barbarians."
This left the rhoynar spy speechless.
The Dothraki captives, bewildered, also pouted, unwilling to surrender.
Perhaps understanding that surrender was useless, they had killed enough rhoynar, and the Dothraki, like the Ironborn, were completely social Darwinists, like beasts.
Viserys waved his hand, signaling Gaylin to step aside; these were all his experience packages, these bandits were all notorious villains.
Argos and Gaylin pressed the heads of these bandits onto the dry tree roots. The rhoynar bandits began to curse the name of Viserys Targaryen, very offensively.
"Spawn of the evil dragon!"
"You will surely be killed by Khal Drogo in the future; you are no match for the Khal!"
"Perhaps. Perhaps my sword will also taste Drogo's blood." Viserys's sharp sword rose and fell, a cold gleam flashed, followed by heads rolling to the ground with gurgling sounds.
Not only the tree roots drank their fill of human blood, but the earth also began to imbibe it deeply.
"Motherland, I come to you, willingly or unwillingly, because I always love you." Viserys surveyed the entire scene; the bandit gang had been entirely slaughtered. Viserys couldn't help but recite this short poem.
Viserys removed his dragon-winged helmet, supporting himself with his sword, its blade standing upright in the ground, still uncleaned of blood.
His armor and cloak were covered in dust and the stench of enemy blood.
The sun shone on Viserys's silver short hair and handsome face, like a solidified hero sculpture, like a god of slaughter on earth.
And the background scene was the burning rhoynar bandit lair, the heads on the ground, and the bandits shot dead by spears, swords, and arrows.
"Long live His Majesty Viserys!"
"Long live His Majesty Viserys!"
andals, rhoynar, and even the rescued rhoynar women, all knelt on the ground, involuntarily calling out the King's name.
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