"Fire!"
A hail of arrows rains upon the Sea Dragon, who is struggling to move as I hold its body using my magic and see it die a few seconds later after a dozen or more arrows are buried deep into its body. I release a tired sigh before falling to the ground. I'm exhausted. The closer we are to the island, the more of these Sea Dragons appear.
The shield around the ship is about to break, and I need to constantly feed it using my mana for it to stay alive. I lost two of my men, and a dozen of them were injured. If not for my healing magic and the potion we bring with us, they would be dead by now.
Even with that preparation, we still lose men to the Sea Dragons.
"How much longer?"
I look at the captain while gathering mana from around me. It was slower than normal because the area was filled with corrupted mana. It takes a lot of effort to make sure there is not a single corrupted mana inside my body.
"We are just about to arrive, your highness. Three more minutes we will arrive on the shore."
I nod my head and say.
"Tell me when we are about to land. I need to meditate."
"Yes, your highness."
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I can feel the mana in the air and carefully filter them before absorbing them little by little. I also ensure the filtered mana goes to the ship's barrier and feel it get stronger and stronger.
It takes a good beating, and I must ensure it is always in top condition.
"Your highness."
I release a breath and slowly open my eyes.
"Yes?"
"We are about to arrive, your highness."
"Truly?"
"Aye. We can see the shore."
I get up and walk to the gunwale of the ship. I can already see the shore not too far away from us. I can see my men lowering the smaller boat for us, and after a few seconds, the boat is ready.
"Captain, I leave the ship to you."
"Of course, your highness. I will make sure nothing can harm this ship."
"Good."
I then look at my men before pointing my finger at fifteen of them.
"You guys will come with me."
"Yes, your highness!"
I nod my head and get into the smaller boat with Melisandre and the fifteen men I choose. They row the boat to the beach, and when we arrive at the beach, I look at the Red Sorcerer and say.
"So, where is it? Where is the castle?"
"There"
Melisandre pointed her finger at the cliff in the distance that was covered in thick fog.
"That is the location of the Dragon Palace of old. That is the castle that stores the weapon of destiny. The weapon that can kill even an immortal."
Why must it be located in a place that is covered in thick fog?
"Very well. We will go there and bring home all the treasures we find. Come on!"
=||=
I swing my sword down and destroy the undead in front of me. Bloody hell. Is this the monster that many people thought resided in Valyria? They are a ghoul!
"Take out their head! It was their weakness!"
The ghoul cannot survive when its head is cut off. Sadly, it was not as easy to cut their head off as it sounds. They are fast and have some sort of danger intuition that lets them know where danger is coming from.
However, they have one glaring weakness that makes it easy to cut their heads off. They are afraid of fire. So they prioritize running away from fire rather than the sword coming at them. After we know about this, I give my men a torch and let them use it to make the ghoul lose their balance and then kill them in a single swing.
Not only that, but I also bring a creature of fire that gleefully burns any ghouls on his path. Alduin has the time of his life as he keeps breathing fire upon the poor undead in front of him. After eating a lot of Sea Dragons on the ship, Alduin grew a lot. His height increased by four meters, and his length increased by five meters. He needs to curl up when he is on the ship, and even then, his body is big enough to cover most of the deck.
After killing the last ghoul coming at us, I look around us, and I must say that I'm disappointed. I thought the path would be filled with creepy trees after seeing that fog-covered castle.
I was thinking about a stereotypical kind of place. Creepy castles need a creepy forest in front of it.
Instead, I was greeted with a city ruin. I can see what looks like a former tower destroyed and a building with half of it destroyed. However, some towers are still intact and create an imposing infrastructure.
"So this is Valyria, huh?"
I look around as we walk deeper into the ruin of Valyria. As we get deeper, once again, we are greeted by a horde of ghouls. This time they are wearing armor on their body. Some of them even wear full armor.
"Archer at the back! Shield, front!"
I take my shield from my back and create a small shield tower with my men. The archer on the back opens fire, and Melisandre gives them support by accelerating their arrows. I grunt a little as the ghouls slam their bodies into our shield, but I hold on and release a spell.
Thirty spikes made of stone appear from the ground and pierce ghouls in front of us. When the spike appeared, my men and I pushed the ghouls in front of us and took out our swords to kill them.
"Push!"
We push the ghouls and keep stabbing and slicing for each step. While holding my shield, I also ensured my men did not get injured by releasing a healing aura. After five minutes of fighting, we manage to hold ourselves against a hundred ghouls.
I put away my shield and weapon before walking toward Alduin and then patting him on the head.
"Great job, Alduin. I'm proud of you."
"Grooo!"
If not for him, we would not be able to defeat them this fast and with this fewer casualties. I look at the castle not too far away from us and say.
"Come on. We are almost there."