Game of Thrones: The Road to Pirate King

Chapter 316 Sea Kings - The Giant Beast Incident

On the vast and boundless sea, the setting sun casts golden light across the crests of the waves.

Asara leaned against the ship's railing, the sea breeze gently caressing her flaxen hair. She put her fingers to her lips and let out a long, melodious whistle, the sound gliding across the sea and disappearing into the shimmering waves.

After a moment of silence, a dark blue "mountain" suddenly rose from the sea on the right side of the ship. With a loud splash, a huge sea monster burst out of the water—the peculiar creature the sailors called the "sea cat." It blinked its large, emerald-like eyes, then affectionately placed its scaly claws on the high gunwale, letting the cold seawater trickle down its claws like small waterfalls.

"Hungry?" Asara chuckled, lifting a shimmering silver mackerel from the wooden bucket beside her. The sea cat purred eagerly, like a child begging for candy. She tossed the fish high in the air, and it nimbly stretched its neck, snatched it accurately, and swallowed it whole in a few swift movements.

Euron chuckled. In reality, this little bit of food wasn't even enough to fill its teeth; it was more like a small snack.

This sight attracted a group of Greyjoy family children, who huddled at the other end of the deck, both frightened and curious. Their little heads peeked out from behind the ropes and barrels, their whispers rising and falling: "Look! A sea lion!" "It's here again, such a big sea lion!"

Asara turned around, her gaze sweeping over the excited little creatures, and gently corrected them, "Stop calling it 'sea cat' all the time." She reached out and skillfully scratched the relatively soft scales under the sea cat's chin. "It has a name, Marina."

The sea king's intelligence allowed it to understand her language. The giant sea cat, Marina, contentedly narrowed its deep green eyes, its massive head bobbing up and down in rhythm with Asara's tickling, emitting satisfied purrs that vibrated through the ship's deck. The sound was deep and warm, blending into the boundless sea and sky with the sunset.

The heartwarming scene on the vast sea had not yet faded when Baron Greyjoy stood high on the bridge, taking in the entire view.

He watched Ashara's intimate interaction with the docile giant, listened to the children's innocent cheers, and let out a barely perceptible hum. A hint of undeniable arrogance flashed across his face, roughened by the sea breeze.

"Playing with pets is ultimately a woman's thing," he muttered to himself, then strode to the other side of the ship's railing, took a deep breath, and let out a sharp, long howl that pierced the sky. This howl was completely different from Ashra's gentle call; it carried a primal wildness and an irresistible command, like a war drum that pounded on the calm sea.

Before the whistle had even faded, the seawater on the port side of the ship seemed to be pulled downwards by an invisible giant hand, suddenly forming a huge whirlpool. Immediately afterwards, a huge dorsal fin, gleaming with a cold, hard metallic luster, pierced the surface of the water, and with it emerged a fearsome behemoth, a steel-scaled sawshark, which he also named: Scale Blade.

Its body stretched four hundred meters long, like a moving steel mountain. Its entire body was covered in shield-sized scales, each gleaming with a dark, metallic sheen, like natural armor. Most terrifying of all were its towering dorsal fins, like a row of menacing, sky-pointing serrated blades, their edges gleaming dangerously white in the setting sun. A dark blue barb loomed at its tail, ready to spring out like lightning at any moment. When it slightly opened its massive jaws, what was revealed was not teeth, but a dense, layered forest of jagged teeth, enough to convince any observer that it could easily grind the hardest ship hull to dust.

"Now that's what you call a Sea King!" Baron laughed heartily, his eyes gleaming with conquest. With a nimble flip, he landed steadily on a specially made high-backed metal chair that was already fixed in front of the shark's broad dorsal fin. The chair was integrated with the giant shark's steel body, as if it were part of this killing machine.

"Scale Blade! Move out!" he commanded.

The massive body of the scaled creature suddenly activated, unleashing a terrifying speed completely disproportionate to its size, shooting into the distance like a giant black arrow released from a bow. Wherever it passed, the sea surface was forcibly cleaved open by its unparalleled power, and its enormous serrated dorsal fin carved a straight, bottomless white trench in the azure sea, as if it were not swimming in the sea, but rather using a sharp blade to slice the entire ocean in half.

Before the sea ripples left by Baron's "Scale Blade" had even subsided, a deep, distinctly disdainful laugh came from the direction of the main ship.

Everyone turned around and saw King Coron leaning his thick arms on the railing, his bronze face glistening with the oil from heavy drinking and the sea breeze, his eyes gleaming with an almost savage pride.

"A piece of cake!" His voice boomed, drowning out the roar of the waves. "Let me show you what a true master of the deep sea looks like!" He took a deep breath, his chest bulging like a bellows, and roared into the unfathomable, dark blue waters: "Apophis—!"

The moment the name was uttered, it was as if an ancient curse had been triggered.

Without warning, the seawater beneath the ship turned icy cold, the light was rapidly swallowed up, and a huge shadow rose straight up from the unfathomable abyss. Then, it appeared.

A 700-meter-long colossal serpent dwells in the deepest part of the ocean. Its body doesn't swim; rather, it rises and crushes all light and hope. Its dark purple scales grow in reverse, like decaying dragon scales, each edge as sharp as a scalpel. A viscous, fluorescent green liquid constantly seeps from the gaps between the scales, emitting a sickening hissing sound the moment it touches the seawater. Even more terrifying, the natural patterns of its scales strangely combine to form countless twisted skull designs, as if millions of souls are permanently imprisoned beneath its writhing skin.

Its triangular head is twenty meters wide, and its massive jawbone, accompanied by a chilling grinding sound, slowly splits open at nearly 180 degrees, revealing seven rows of spirally arranged, gleaming venomous fangs. The snake's body is unsettlingly segmented, with each vertebra piercing the skin to form pale, gear-like "bone spur gills," which open and close erratically as it breathes, resembling rows of rotating, blood-red serrations.

Its skin has a sickly translucent appearance, and you can vaguely see the scorching venom flowing slowly like lava inside its body.

This colossal beast, named Apophis, seemed to fully understand that its master had summoned it to intimidate. It didn't unleash its full power, merely releasing a tiny amount of toxin, instantly turning the surrounding sea into a death zone. In the blink of an eye, the flesh and blood of the fish dissolved, turning into stark white bones that sank to the bottom. A strange, oily sheen, resembling vibrant paint yet exuding the stench of bitter almonds and rotting corpses, appeared on the surface of the sea.

"Hehe." King Koren smiled with satisfaction at this realm of death and patted its head, which was covered with skull scales.

Apophis obediently pressed its terrifyingly large head against the edge of the deck, causing the wooden hull to groan under its weight. King Coron boldly pulled on a thick, tough rein attached to the giant serpent's gills, and with a leap, nimbly jumped onto the back of the serpent's neck, which was covered in bone spurs and slime.

"Walk!"

With his command, Apophis silently slid into the water. It didn't charge with the ferocity of "Scale Blade," but every subtle ripple of its massive body, every opening and closing of its scales, created countless deadly whirlpools beneath the surface. The entire sea seemed to transform into a boiling broth, churned by an invisible giant ladle, its waves turbulent, swirling currents revealing an unparalleled, abyssal destructive power.

Just as King Koren's Apophis was stirring up the sea and creating countless deadly whirlpools, Asara had already gently patted the huge head of the sea cat Marina.

A look of longing lingered in those enormous, emerald-like eyes, yet she obediently sank into the deep sea, creating a gentle ripple. Ashara watched the massive figure disappear into the azure depths, her eyes filled with an undeniable protectiveness. She couldn't bear to let the docile Marina be drawn into this vortex of competition and danger, even if she were only slightly affected by the venom.

Not far away, Euron stood silently in the shadows, taking in his father and brother's boasting. A barely perceptible bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips, a smile that vanished into the sea breeze before reaching his eyes. When he distributed these sea monsters to the family, were they meant for them to show off?

Before his eyes appeared the image of the Greyjoy fleet sailing alone through the storm. He could not forever protect every longship, nor shelter every sea they conquered or traded. These behemoths were meant to be mobile fortresses, a deterrent to the deep sea, the cornerstones ensuring the safety of their family's sea routes and extending their rule over the Iron Islands, not playthings for flaunting their wealth at this moment.

His thoughts drifted further, sweeping across the tumultuous sea. Fortunately, his uncle, the battle maniac Balf, was currently stationed on the Stone Steps Archipelago and hadn't arrived. Otherwise, given his temperament, he would surely have summoned his terrifying deep-sea giant spider—"Thousand Eyes," a creature that terrified countless bloodthirsty pirates—and brought that monster covered in giant eyes to join this increasingly absurd sea king "gathering." At that point, this sea area would likely not only be fragmented and poisoned, but would have been completely transformed into a stage for madness and chaos.

While the vast sea was still turbulent due to the power of the three giant beasts, the atmosphere on the deck had quietly changed.

Victarion, Urgon, and Ellen Euron's three younger brothers had somehow gathered around. They didn't speak, but stared intently at their brother with their Greyjoy eyes, weathered by the sea winds.

In those eyes was an undisguised longing and a youthful ambition eager to prove oneself.

Immediately afterward, another, even more youthful gaze fell upon them. Rodrik and Maren, two boys who were barely grown up, along with their sharp-eyed sister Asha, joined this silent petition.

Euron once stood before a roaring campfire, gazing at the waves and the starry sky, and made a promise: "Every Greyjoy who flows with the blood of sea salt and steel will have a sea monster to protect his voyage." The children remembered this sentence more firmly than any family motto.

On the outskirts of the crowd, Dagmo, recently bestowed the Greyjoy name, appeared unusually hesitant. This warrior, renowned for his bravery, dared only glance at Euron with a fleeting, awe-inspiring look before quickly lowering his head to study the patterns on the deck beneath his feet. He was unsure whether this immense honor would be bestowed upon a name not born here.

Euron's gaze slowly swept over the faces—three younger brothers, three nephews and nieces, an anxious new member, and—the image of the one-month-old baby in his arms, Theon, floated into his mind.

Seven, no, eight. A full eight.

An invisible pressure, far more mentally taxing than controlling a sea king, instantly gripped him. He could almost hear the gates of the deep-sea treasure trove groaning. Euron raised his hand, rubbed his suddenly throbbing temples, and let out a sigh that was a mixture of helplessness and amusement.

"Alright," his voice broke the silence, carrying an unquestionable authority: "You don't need to look at me like that."

I have never broken a promise.

His gaze fell one by one on the youngest and most passionate faces, and his tone was resolute: "But the rules cannot be changed—it must wait until after the coming-of-age ceremony."

Euron glanced coldly at Tyrion, the little dwarf who had been staring at him: "What are you looking at me for, a Lannister!"

Tyrion looked up to the sky and sighed, for the first time lamenting the injustice of fate emanating from his own surname.