The Mountain of Ice and Fire

A young boy in the Temple of Faith suddenly froze.

He was lighting a candle in front of the huge statue of the Manticore.

But a dragon's roar suddenly echoed, low over Manticore Keep.

The roar was filled with intense rage, and that rage brought a chilling murderous intent.

This was a very shocking signal, and it made the apprentice boy's eyes widen, his body stiffening in an instant.

He looked up at the high domed ceiling. On the ceiling were colorful paintings: a huge Manticore with a human face. The painting was somewhat similar to the 'human-faced harpy' worshipped by the Good Masters, Wise Masters, and Holy Masters of Slaver's Bay.

When the Manticore was worshipped as a god, the Sorrowful Men gave it a human face: a human-faced scorpion body.

The harpy is the god worshipped by the slave owners of Slaver's Bay, and she also has a human face: a human-faced harpy.

*

In the back garden of Manticore Keep, an old man in black who was sweeping fallen leaves heard the dragon's roar and froze like he had been struck by lightning, like a statue.

Without the protection of a roof, the impact of the dragon's roar was shocking, the sound of shattering gold and jade seemed to pierce through the old man's body like an arrow.

An unparalleled murderous intent swept over him.

The might of a dragon would make tigers, lions, wolves, and shadowcats tremble in fear, without any fighting spirit, only tucking their tails and scurrying away like little mice, not daring to look back.

*

In the meditation room, more than a dozen Sorrowful Men meditating opened their eyes together, their expressions surprised and uncertain, their slow and steady breathing suddenly becoming rapid. Some Sorrowful Men turned over and got out of bed, their meditative consciousness still wandering, and their eyes showed a brief daze.

Outside the meditation room, in the training room, the swords of a dozen young Sorrowful Men stopped together, maintaining the offensive and defensive movements they had been in, their faces shocked, involuntarily looking up at the ceiling, their gazes seeming to penetrate the ceiling and the top of the keep, seeing a giant dragon covering the sky and the sun in the low sky above Manticore Keep.

And in the Manticore breeding room, hundreds of Manticores and their tamers were like they had been frozen in place by magic, losing all ability to move in that instant. After a heartbeat, the Manticores desperately burrowed into the ground in the lingering echo of the dragon's roar, while the tamers looked up at the ceiling, their eyes filled with shock. The fear of the desperately hiding Manticores was transmitted to the tamers, increasing their panic.

Manticores are more sensitive to the murderous intent of dragons.

*

The Second Elder was awakened by the dragon's roar in his meditation room, his room being in front of the Manticore breeding room. The Second Elder was the Manticore breeding master among the Sorrowful Men. While he was still in shock and doubt, the door to the meditation room was pushed open, and the Third Elder hurried in: "The situation is urgent, four dragons have simultaneously appeared in the sky above Manticore Keep."

The Second Elder stood up at once, his head throbbing faintly. His divine sense, forcibly interrupted from the depths of meditation by the dragon's roar, had caused no small damage to his divine sense, but the Third Elder's words shocked him even more.

"Four dragons?"

"Yes."

"They're here for Manticore Keep?"

"Most likely."

"Go out and take a look."

"Okay!"

The Third Elder stepped aside, and the Second Elder hurried out. A fragment of starlight pulled out a line of light, shooting into his neck from the side like a shooting star. It was an extremely sharp narrow sword, cutting iron like mud, and cutting bones like tofu—originally named the Valyrian steel sword 'Lady Forlorn', now named 'Purple Star'.

Lady Forlorn was originally silver like moonlight, but to prevent the true owner of Lady Forlorn, House Corbray, from recognizing it, the Mountain had Tobho Mott change Lady Forlorn's color, turning the silver into purple. But the sharpness of the blade did not turn purple, still shining like a silver thread.

The Second Elder stared out his eyes in horror, dying on the spot, but remaining standing.

"All men must die!" the Third Elder whispered in the Second Elder's ear. Before the words were finished, the sword was pulled out, and the person floated away.

Fresh blood spurted from both sides of the Third Elder's neck, like small fountains!

Soon, a small shadow emerged from the ground at the entrance to the tunnel outside Manticore Keep. It was Arya Stark, the Faceless Men's Elder of Fate. She made a gesture to the sky, and then quickly disappeared into the woods.

*

Suddenly, the night sky was illuminated, as if a sun had suddenly appeared in the sky.

The surroundings of Manticore Keep were illuminated like broad daylight.

The small legs and wings of the insects in the forest were clearly visible.

The bright golden light seemed to penetrate the walls of Manticore Keep, making the interior of Manticore Keep also bright.

Boom!

A loud noise. The dragon Sheepstealer spewed out a huge bright golden fireball, violently impacting the top of Manticore Keep. The wooden pavilion and handrail staircase built on the top of the keep instantly burst into flames, and the marble-paved ground deformed, twisted, and melted, becoming a sauce-like liquid… The fireball exploded, and the golden-red flames spread like waves, filling the top of the keep, and flowing down the outer walls of Manticore Keep on all sides. The walls made of rock turned into black-red liquid at a speed visible to the naked eye…

Boom!

A pillar of red fire, like blood cast, like a large knife, slashed into the middle of the outer wall of Manticore Keep. It was the pillar of fire spewed out by the black dragon Drogon. The black dragon circled Manticore Keep, and the pillar of fire cut a circle of flames in the middle of the outer wall of Manticore Keep. The rock softened in the dragonfire, recessed, liquefied, and the upper half of the castle was on the verge of collapse.

Boom boom boom!

The white dragon and the bronze dragon spewed fireballs one by one on the outer wall of Manticore Keep, as if it were a precise burst.

Rumble!

With a loud noise, the upper half of Manticore Keep collapsed entirely, smashing onto the lower keep body. The earth-shattering loud noise resounded throughout most of the city, the ground shook, and in the forest outside Manticore Keep, the birds, beasts, and insects desperately fled close to the ground. Many birds and beasts were unable to escape as if they had been hit hard, scurrying around close to the ground.

Sheepstealer, Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion surrounded Manticore Keep, and dragonfire sprayed together, the flames illuminating half the sky, alarming the entire city of Qarth.

Three small dragons appeared beside the four large dragons. They were the new generation of small dragons hatched by Sheepstealer: Knight, Terror, and Lady.

The three small dragons followed their parents, spewing out small flames, small fireballs. This was their first battle. With their mother and father teaching them, the three small dragons flew up and down, the flames small, but the dragon's roar was sharp, chirping non-stop…

*

Rumble!

With a loud noise, the entire Manticore Keep collapsed inward, and golden-red, white-bright, black-red, and bronze-colored flames poured down like the waves of the sea, completely submerging the entire Manticore Keep…

*

The Royal Palace.

On the Moon Tower to the west, King Feodor Raymond Horn stood high, looking at the place where the firelight rose. The composure of the burly and handsome king completely disappeared, his face cold and stern as ice.

Behind him was an Undying warlock who served the king for life.

"Your Majesty!" the warlock said, "That's in the direction of Manticore Keep."

King Horn nodded stiffly, opening his mouth, but found that he didn't know what to say at all, his lips seeming to crack in an instant, a bitter taste spreading from his mouth.

In his prophecy, he had not seen this scene of Manticore Keep.

In the Red Jade Palace next to the Moon Tower, the royal family members all appeared at the windows of the high-rise building, looking at the direction where the firelight rose, all surprised and suspicious, their faces filled with unease.

"The direction of the Sorrowful Men's Manticore Keep," the eldest prince said in a low voice, as if afraid that someone in the night would hear his words.

"I heard the dragon's roar," the princess said softly, her big eyes flashing with surprised light.

"Maybe we should go see Father," the little prince took his mother's hand, his expression pitifully fearful.

"Father will see this firelight," the queen touched the little prince's face, "Let's go, we should go to rest."

"Mother," the eldest prince called out to Her Majesty the Queen, "It seems that King Gregor's dragons are besieging Manticore Keep." The eldest prince's voice was trembling slightly.

"That's not something we should consider, I believe your father understands everything." The queen showed a hypocritical smile, trying to maintain her elegance and composure, "When tomorrow comes, we will know exactly what happened."

The queen took the little prince's hand and walked into the bedroom.

The eldest prince and the princess looked at each other, they were very uneasy in their hearts.

An Undying warlock followed behind the prince and princess.

In the Royal Palace, there were several Undying warlocks who served the royal family for life.

"Master, the dragons are attacking Manticore Keep," the princess said cautiously, her heart as tense as a drawn bow.

She wanted to know the truth, but she was also afraid of knowing the truth.

"I think so."

"Why is King Gregor destroying Manticore Keep?" The eldest prince's eyes flickered, his voice revealing worry.

"Your Highness, I heard that Manticore Keep once sent Sorrowful Men to assassinate King Gregor."

"Oh!" the prince and princess said in unison.

"The Sorrowful Men assassinated King Gregor Clegane…" the prince said, his tone seeming to lighten a lot, "The Sorrowful Men are a terrible assassin organization, I hate their Manticores, King Gregor Clegane is… a reasonable revenge, right…"

The prince was not worried about the life and death of the Sorrowful Men, he was mainly worried about himself, worried about the royal family.

If King Gregor Clegane suddenly wiped out Manticore Keep for no reason, the prince would worry about the safety of the royal family. But if the Sorrowful Men provoked King Gregor first, it seemed that it made sense.

Perhaps, the prince just wanted to find a self-deceiving excuse so that he could sleep peacefully.

However, his mother knew that the king was different from the past, and that the king no longer discussed many things with her, nor would he let her know.

*

The Thirteen's Giant's merchant hall.

The top of the tower.

The tall, dark-skinned Hadji Morr stared blankly in the direction of Manticore Keep.

Manticore Keep was inside a forest, with no other buildings around.

No one dared to approach Manticore Keep, and no one wanted to approach Manticore Keep.

That was a forbidden area for the people of Qarth.

The fire was raging, and in the illuminated night sky, the shadows of the four dragons could be seen very clearly on the Giant's Tower of the Thirteen.

Sitting on the backs of the dragons were dragonriders.

Lord Hadji Morr also saw the flames spewed out by the small dragons.

A total of seven dragons submerged Manticore Keep in dragonfire.

The Manticore Keep, which had been passed down for thousands of years, was about to become a pile of black liquid.

Anyone and any Manticore inside the keep, everything, would be burned to ashes.

Except for a few Sorrowful Men who were outside, the entire Sorrowful Men organization had been uprooted by the Mountain.

This was very sudden!

And before that, no one had heard any hint or information that the king wanted to eliminate the Sorrowful Men organization.

Hadji Morr turned to look in the direction of the Royal Palace.

The distance was very far, but he seemed to see King Horn standing on the Moon Tower.

King Horn was Grand Master Pyat Pree of the House of the Undying.

Grand Master Pyat Pree had not told Lord Hadji that Manticore Keep would be eliminated.

Did he see the prophecy but it didn't warn him? Or did he not see this prophecy at all?

No matter what the reason, Hadji Morr believed that Grand Master Pyat Pree was becoming unreliable.

Fine beads of sweat oozed from Hadji Morr's forehead and the tip of his nose.

*

In the House of the Undying, separated from Manticore Keep by most of the city, the warlocks were also standing at the windows and on the roofs, watching the fire. Their blue lips turned black in the night, and the light of candles and torches illuminated their faces, those faces appearing unreal in the flickering firelight.

In the highest level of the Temple of Faith, the swollen heart suspended in the air was slowly rotating, the blue light still emanating. From the surface, there was no difference between this heart and the heart opposite the heartless skeleton and usual.

But the new leader of the Undying warlocks looking at the heart already knew that Qarth had completely changed, and the future of the House of the Undying had become unpredictable.

There are many gods in the world who can show miracles. In Qarth, the miracle of the Warlock God is the prophecies of the Undying warlocks; in addition, there is another faith in Qarth: the Red God R'hllor.

R'hllor, the god of fire and shadows.

And fire and shadows exist in Qarth, in any place where there are people.

And the dragon is the incarnation of fire, and the dragonrider is a godson who is naturally favored by the god of fire. It is understood that the new king has no faith in the Red God, nor does he have faith in other gods, but it seems that he is undoubtedly loved by the gods.

Perhaps, this has something to do with his killing of the Night King, the servant of the Cold God, in the North of Westeros!

Manticore Keep surrendered to the Mountain, but the Sorrowful Men did not swear allegiance to the Mountain. The Sorrowful Men only pledge allegiance to the Manticore God.

The House of the Undying also surrendered to the Mountain, but the House of the Undying did not swear allegiance to the Mountain. The Undying warlocks only pledge allegiance to the Undying Warlock God.

The Undying warlocks looked at each other.

Manticore Keep was vulnerable to dragonfire.

The House of the Undying would be the same.

Didn't Grand Master Pyat Pree in the Royal Palace see the destruction of Manticore Keep tonight?

The new king Gregor Clegane's cold-blooded ruthlessness and sudden killings made the warlocks of the House of the Undying collectively uneasy, worried, panicked, and shocked… many emotions mixed together…

The Gregor Clegane who had promised not to kill any commoners or nobles suddenly attacked Manticore Keep, uprooting the ancient organization of the Sorrowful Men.

But in fact, this is very dangerous.

Because not all of the Sorrowful Men are in Manticore Keep, they also have disciples outside, in other cities.

The revenge of the Sorrowful Men was also sown tonight.

The Sorrowful Men are assassins, and their revenge will make the Mountain difficult to defend against.

But the Mountain still dared to burn down Scorpion Tail Keep. Was he not afraid of death? Or did he have something to rely on?!

In an extremely oppressive atmosphere, all the Immortal Wizards gathered in the Hall of Faith.

"We need to contact Master Puli. We need the guidance of the Master's prophecies," the new leader of the Immortal Wizards said indifferently.

Among the Immortal Sorcerers, only Master Puli could foresee the future and see the past.