Chapter 777: The Fall

"It can't be Lorath, can it?" 

Someone tentatively asked.

"Haha—"

The tavern immediately erupted in laughter, and the atmosphere relaxed considerably.

Because although Lorath was one of the nine Free Cities, it had the weakest overall strength. It was the smallest, poorest, least populated, and most backward of the city-states.

Even Lorath's military strength was only slightly stronger than Pentos, which had signed the humiliating treaty back then.

Ibbenese whaling ships could charge through Lorathi waters with impunity, and the Lorathi didn't dare fart in response. So how could they possibly have the guts to invade Ib now?

"Could it be some lost pirates?"

Someone spoke up to lighten the mood, and the tense atmosphere in the tavern immediately dissipated.

"Hmph."

"Looks like that's a real possibility."

Upon hearing this, Goron's brow relaxed, and he shrugged slightly.

Occasionally, some pirates lost in the waters around Ibben would trigger the local alarm. He put down his axe and shield.

However, at that moment, everything happened too fast, catching everyone off guard.

Boom—

The tavern's roof collapsed with a sudden explosive sound. No one inside had time to react; it was as if time had frozen.

Goron had just sat down. Hearing the sound, he raised his head and saw the most dazzling, brilliant icy blue flames he had ever laid eyes on, surging down along with the shattered roof.

The fierce and brave Ibbenese raiders didn't even have time for a look of terror to appear in their eyes before they were completely engulfed by the icy blue flames.

A colossal ice dragon, vast enough to block out the sun, had come from the north of Ibben, across the vast Shivering Sea. It suddenly appeared in the sky above the Port of Ibben and launched an attack on the port city.

The ice dragon's body was somewhat damaged, with some areas even revealing exposed white bones. However, these bones glittered like crystals.

"Haa—"

It circled in the sky above the Port of Ibben, its massive form hidden by the blizzard as it continuously let out deep roars. The eyes of this ice dragon also burned with the same icy blue flames.

The colossal ice dragon circled incessantly over the Port of Ibben, occasionally diving down to spew its dragon breath. The port city below was plunged into a sea of icy blue flames.

Anyone who came into contact with these icy blue flames would instantly lose all vitality, as if electrocuted, and collapse to the ground. They were all frozen to death while still alive.

However, in just a few breaths, these "corpses" that had just fallen to the ground, devoid of life, would rise again.

But this time, their eyes had turned the same icy blue as the flames, and they no longer recognized kith or kin. They could no longer remember friends, family, lovers, or anything else.

"Goron!"

"Give me a hand!"

The ice dragon's breath destroyed the small tavern, but another Ibbenese mercenary had luckily taken cover under a table and survived.

When he crawled out of the rubble with great difficulty, he saw his friend, the one who had just been laughing and chatting with him, now staring blankly at him with a pair of icy blue eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong with your eyes?"

The other Ibbenese mercenary seemed to sense something amiss and asked, slightly puzzled.

Then he saw the icy cold expression on Goron's face in front of him, and his eyes gradually changed.

"Goron?"

"Goron!"

"Aah!!!"

Then a piercing scream rang out from the ruins of the small tavern.

Father and son.

The white-haired old father was knocked to the ground by his son, who frantically bit him. Even his screams grew faint as he continuously wept.

Husband and wife.

The wife's corpse, carried on her husband's back, suddenly came back to life, opening a pair of icy blue eyes. Then she viciously bit into her husband's neck.

The husband, in pain, threw her off his back. The wife, with icy blue eyes, let out a chilling howl like a starving wild dog that had caught the scent of meat, and pounced on her husband again.

The man, holding an axe, had no choice. With one hand covering his still bleeding neck, he let out a desperate roar of rage.

"Ah!"

Crack—

He swung the axe in his hand, tearfully chopping off his wife's head.

But his wife's severed head, rolling on the ground, still continued to roar, as if wanting to bite him again.

Similar tragedies kept unfolding throughout the Port of Ibben.

Those who died under the dragon's breath rose again and killed others. After a while, those who were killed also rose and killed even more people.

In an instant, this cycle turned the once most prosperous port city of Ib into a living hell. A large number of Ibbenese became wights, joining the ranks of the army of the dead. Only a small number of Ibbenese warriors were still fiercely resisting.

"Kill!"

"Hold fast!"

Meanwhile, in the sky above the Port of Ibben, the colossal ice dragon, concealed by the blizzard, had stopped spewing its dragon flame at some unknown point.

The reason was simple.

Because now there was no need for the ice dragon to continue attacking. The surging army of the dead alone was enough to make this human city fall.

Any resistance at this point was futile.

"Where did these monsters come from?!"

The Ibbenese warriors' fierce counterattacks, their spilled hot blood, their desperate roars—in the eyes of a certain Pale One, it all seemed like a performance to amuse him.

The ice dragon circled in the sky above the Port of Ibben, and a figure sat atop its back.

He wore ancient armor made of cold ice and carried a stone sword on his back. He quietly looked down at the gradually falling human city below, his eyes burning with icy blue flames, as still as an ancient well.

The power of death combined with the magic of the ice dragon had given birth to a subtle effect. The ice dragon's breath was as if incorporeal; wherever it passed, it took away all life and made them rise again.

Under the cover of the long night, the lights in the Port of Ibben were gradually diminishing. The lights on this island were all lit with whale oil, said to be able to burn for a very long time.

However, in the end, the last glimmer of light disappeared on the hill that served as the headquarters of the Shadow Council, the rulers of Ib. The entire prosperous port city, the capital of Ibben, was completely plunged into darkness.

Even the last sounds of resistance on the ground vanished. The entire city fell into a deathly stillness. Only then did the figure riding the ice dragon in the sky turn his head to look south.

There lay Whale Bay, separating Ibben from the continent of Essos.

South of Whale Bay was the Ibbenese's new city of New Ibbish and the Kingdom of Ifequevron, home of the "woods walkers."