Just as the Mermaid Queen's emotions surged, a graceful, melodious song suddenly drifted across the battlefield. Pale blue ripples of light moved with the rhythm, echoing everywhere. That energy seemed almost conscious, constantly seeking out the Valyria Empire soldiers who were acting strangely.
Before long, the Deep Abyss Hydralizard and the five members of Team Rakshasa were the first to regain their senses. Seeing the fishmen monsters closing in on all sides, the five of them didn't hesitate—each immediately launched an attack.
Meanwhile, the Mermaid Queen stared coldly at Ningfu, who continued singing atop the city wall. Displeasure surged in her heart. To her, this was a betrayal of the merfolk race. She had heard rumors of Mako before, and when she learned he supposedly had a mermaid wife, she found it utterly absurd.
At first, the Mermaid Queen had taken it as nothing more than legend—a piece of propaganda created by the Valyria Empire. But now that she was seeing it with her own eyes, she finally accepted that it was real.
And yet, in her understanding, humans never truly loved mermaids. They only ever used mermaids as tools. Countless human kings through history had done exactly that.
But when the Mermaid Queen looked at the blissful expression on Ningfu's face, an endless fury and bitterness flooded her chest. Part of her wanted to rush forward and warn her clanswoman that humans could not be trusted.
But another part of her heart couldn't bear to shatter that dream. Because once—long ago—she too had worn such an expression.
This conflict of emotion made her heart seize painfully. She lowered her head and pressed a hand to her chest, which was still throbbing sharply, a glint of brutal resolve flashing through her eyes.
Taking advantage of the Valyria soldiers being stalled, the Mermaid Queen pulled Luse Bolton—still bound by the octopus tentacles—close to her. The newly-awakened Dominic Bolton then witnessed a scene that nearly made his eyes burst in rage.
The Mermaid Queen's hand suddenly produced a dagger that looked like black glass, and she stabbed it straight into Luse Bolton's chest.
A flicker of pain appeared in Luse Bolton's unfocused gaze, but it was quickly swallowed by an eerie blue glow. Blood streamed from his body to the ground.
Then an intense wave of spell-chants burst from the Mermaid Queen's mouth. The mysterious incantation grew louder and louder until the sound alone forced everyone nearby to stagger backward.
A huge sphere of light formed around her, rapidly expanding and swallowing the four mermaid maidens standing at her side.
The orb gradually twisted into a spiral, whirling faster and faster as though gathering some terrifying force. When the light finally dispersed, a massive, warped silhouette stood in its place.
Even the space around it seemed to distort. Through the warped nodes, Mako could see bizarre creatures flickering within.
"Rrrrhh—"
The roar shook their eardrums violently, spreading outward like a shockwave. Both Valyria soldiers and fishmen alike were forced several steps back by the oppressive power.
Watching from afar through farsight magic, Mako immediately used the Light Magic spell Shiftform Transposition, teleporting onto the city wall. With him were Yueying and Danni, whom he had sent ahead, and Maive, who flew there herself.
Seeing the giant monster standing at the center of the fortress, Mako frowned slightly. He could feel that it was at least level 7… perhaps even stronger.
It was a massive soft-bodied abomination of mottled gray-green flesh. Its head resembled a huge octopus, two enormous eyes glowing ghostly blue. Its arms were made of three elongated tentacles—each longer than its torso.
Its lower body squatted frog-like, radiating fierce power. As it appeared, a blood-red mist gathered across the surroundings of the Dreadfort.
With his mana-sensing ability, Mako saw peculiar life-energy activity within the reddish fog. It seemed closely connected to the octopus abomination.
As he studied the creature, he noticed three completely different energy signatures inside its body. Then—abruptly—the battlefield's strange energy began to surge violently.
The octopus giant sharply turned toward Mako's position. Its hind legs coiled, and an explosive wave of power burst from its body.
Using this incredible recoil, the creature leapt—soaring over the Valyria soldiers—and landed beneath the city wall, right below Mako.
A cloud of black-gray miasma spewed from its mouth, swallowing Mako's group whole. Immediately after, a massive tentacle whipped toward where Mako stood. It was clearly aiming for him.
"Rrrhh—!"
A pained howl erupted. The monster recoiled its tentacle, and a roasted scent drifted from its burned flesh. Furious rage flooded its single huge eye.
Blood-red energy swirled violently over its body, as if it were preparing some special attack—but its opponent did not intend to give it the chance.
"—Skreee!"
Flames burst from the black mist, and a colossal Fire Phoenix shot forth, its sharp beak stabbing toward the monster's eye. The octopus giant flinched back in terror, narrowly avoiding the deadly strike.
Seeing the creature restrained, Mako quickly signaled Maive and the others to attack. He could clearly sense the monster's strength rising rapidly.
All of this was connected to that eerie red fog within the fortress. The Bolton family, like the Stark family, had an ancient history. Mako judged that this bizarre situation was related to their bloodline—or possibly to the fortress itself.
"Rrrhh—!"
Suddenly the octopus behemoth roared, red light exploding from its body. It lunged straight toward the Fire Phoenix, its three huge tentacle-arms winding tightly around the phoenix's flame-wreathed body.
With a flash of crimson, the octopus giant heaved the phoenix toward its mouth—and in the next instant, its body swelled monstrously and consumed the Fire Phoenix whole.
The phoenix did not even have time to cry out. Swallowed completely. Even its resurrection trait couldn't activate.
Then, radiating crimson light, the octopus giant turned its sights on Maive and the others, seeming prepared to devour them the same way.
But they were no magical beasts. Their agile movements let them constantly evade the monster's lunges, and they carved wound after wound across its hide.
"Rrrh—!"
Seeing its attacks failing, the creature became frantic. With a feint, it forced the four back, then leapt off the wall—rushing straight toward the Valyria soldiers below.
It had seemingly abandoned attacking Mako and now aimed to butcher his troops instead.
But Rakshasa King and the others had already anticipated this. The moment the giant hit the ground, their assault followed instantly.
The Deep Abyss Hydralizard rammed into the creature head-on, pinning it against the wall like a living shield.
The Ancient Treant then swung its massive thorned branches, stabbing deep into the monster's upper torso. Dark green blood spurted everywhere as the creature screamed in agony.
Vines and roots from the Ancient Treant wrapped around the octopus giant, restraining it further. Then the Flame Lords and the others launched attacks aimed at its head.
"Rrrhh—!"
The creature unleashed a deafening roar, a sound-wave so tangible that Rakshasa King's group froze in place like statues.
The closest to the blast—the orc chieftain Gaotai—took the worst of it. His body was covered in wounds, blood streaming down in countless thin lines.
"Kill—!"
He was the most injured, and also the first to recover. With a furious roar, Gaotai charged, battle-axe raised. The octopus giant swung its limb toward him.
Gaotai answered with his own war-cry magic—Fear Howl—an aura like a charging army, causing the monster to hesitate for a brief moment.
Gaotai seized that instant. His axe slammed into the monster's head, the force of the enraged blow nearly cutting it in half.
"Rrrh—!"
Infuriated by pain, the abomination went berserk, flinging the Hydralizard and Ancient Treant away. Gaotai, however, used the momentum to climb onto its back.
Like a serpent, he scuttled across the monster's flesh with his orcish claws, searching for a weak point.
The giant twisted violently, trying to dislodge him. Its tentacles wrapped around each other like ropes, attempting to grab the "little bug" on its back.
But Gaotai dodged them all—and even found his fallen battle-axe embedded in its flesh.
Using the distraction caused by his allies' grappling, Gaotai leapt up to its shoulder just as the creature broke free of restraints and reached to tear him off—
But another thunderous roar echoed.
Mako's own Fear Howl burst forth at that precise moment, stunning the monster. Its remaining single eye flickered with fear.
Gaotai swung his axe again—this time smashing through the eye and splitting open the creature's skull entirely.
Even as it thrashed madly, its body failing, everyone sensed something was off. With Mako's command, they shifted their attacks to the monster's tentacles.
"Uuugh—…"
The nearly dismembered abomination let out a shrill wail. Then it collapsed, its enormous body rapidly shrinking.
In moments, six figures lay on the ground.
One human corpse—and five mermaid corpses.
Or rather, five mermaids twisted into shrunken miniature versions of the giant octopus monster.
Following Mako's orders, the Deep Abyss Hydralizard howled and charged forward to finish them. But before it reached, the five small octopus-forms spat jets of black mist.
Shrouded by the fog, the five monsters fled instinctively toward the main keep. Even though Rakshasa King's group had their senses sealed, their battle instincts let them faintly detect the fleeing creatures' movements.
The lightning-fast Rakshasa King slashed with his four blades, cutting down two of the creatures.
Meanwhile, Dominic—guided by faint intuition—made his way to his father's corpse to check Luse Bolton's condition.
But perhaps he was too distraught. He completely forgot the strange events that had just occurred. As soon as he approached, tentacles coiled around him tightly.
When the mist cleared, Dominic stared at a half-human, half-fish Luse Bolton—now a monster—its blue-and-red eyes filled with murderous intent as it lunged for him.
"Aaagh—!"
Dominic, about to call out and try to awaken his father's consciousness, felt a wave of dizziness. Then his father's creature-form wailed in agony.
Before Dominic could react, a blur of whipping shadows flashed before his eyes—followed by the sound of flesh being torn apart.
His father was dismembered before he could even scream.
"Your father is dead. That creature didn't even spare his corpse. There is no saving him now."
Mako's voice came from behind Dominic.
Then a massive fireball engulfed the remains, reducing them to ash.
And so, the Iron Throne formally witnessed the end of Luse Bolton—Lord of Winterfell and the Dreadfort, Warden of the North, Duke of the North—reduced to a heap of black ash.
His end was far worse than in the television series, where he was stabbed once by his son. Here, he was sacrificed, turned into a monster's shell, and finally obliterated with not even a corpse remaining.
Though Luse Bolton lived a life steeped in schemes, his strength and cunning were among the highest in the North. Against ordinary enemies, he would have certainly emerged victorious.
But fate placed him before Mako—and into the conflict of ancient gods.
Thus, he met this tragic end.
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