The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The power of the firearm was within the Mountain's expectations.

This was a firearm that Master Tobho Mott and Gendry, along with several skilled weapons masters, had spent half a month painstakingly crafting day and night.

No one had ever seen a weapon with such astonishing power.

This was the first personal firearm.

The strongest plate armor in war was like a layer of parchment in front of the short-barreled firearm.

Jorah Mormont was incredulous.

He knew how tough his plate armor was.

An Arakh could only leave a gash on it, unable to break through it in one strike.

Armor-piercing arrows could pierce plate armor when dropped from a height, but they would have no remaining force.

But the firearm's iron bullet pierced through the plate armor and even shattered the chair back behind it.

The chair back was thick and inlaid with a circular piece of jade.

The jade was hard, and if it had thickness, it would be equivalent to a miniature version of plate armor.

But the jade was also shattered.

Jorah Mormont stood in front of the chair, holding up his plate armor.

The chest area of the plate armor had been pierced through, leaving a small, circular hole.

The incredibly powerful bang, the bullet invisible to the naked eye, Jorah didn't know how that bullet was fired. He only saw the king raise the firearm, and then everything happened.

Raising the hand, a bang, the plate armor was pierced.

This attack happened so quickly that no one could dodge it.

Young Marquis Pylos Velaryon was completely stunned.

He had never seen such a powerful bow and arrow.

The chair back was thick, and the cracked jade fell onto the grass.

He reached out and picked up the jade fragments, his eyes close to the hole in the chair back, looking from one end to the other.

Following the dotted line of the round hole in the chair back, he found the round, black iron bullet on the grass.

He noticed that the iron bullet had a slightly pointed cone shape.

Such a small weapon, difficult to dodge with the naked eye.

If the plate armor and chair back were shields, this iron bullet would pierce through the shields and hit the person behind them.

In that case, no matter if you were wearing armor or holding a shield, you couldn't defend against this arrow without a shaft.

The penetrating power of the short-barreled firearm's bullet was too strong, unheard of and unseen.

Pylos Velaryon's face was filled with shock and admiration.

Daenerys Targaryen and Arianne Martell, standing beside the Mountain, were startled by the sound of the gun. They were not prepared, and the loud bang came suddenly.

Although they were the closest people to the Mountain, they were still seeing this new type of bow and arrow for the first time. Of course, the Mountain had given this convenient bow and arrow that didn't need to be carried on the back a new name: short-barreled firearm!

For the past twenty days, Daenerys and Arianne had been helping the Mountain deal with many affairs in Qarth and had not gone with the Mountain to see the gun testing at weapons master Tobho Mott's place.

In addition to manufacturing this short-barreled firearm designed by the Mountain himself, Duke Gendry and Master Tobho Mott were also leading hundreds of blacksmiths in forging a cannon.

The Grand Sage of the Alchemist's Guild was responsible for manufacturing the gunpowder he already knew by heart and teaching the blacksmiths and apprentices how to make iron cannonballs.

Daenerys and Arianne had both seen the power of the cannon with their own eyes and understood it relatively well; but for this new type of personal bow and arrow, they clearly underestimated the weapon's terror.

Compared to the Dothraki cavalry's bows and arrows, this weapon had stronger penetration and was more difficult to dodge or defend against because it was invisible to the naked eye.

The eyes of several Khals, filled with wildness, were all filled with shock.

This bow and arrow was impossible to defend against.

They didn't see the king take out an arrow, nock it, aim, and shoot, nor did they see the arrow's trajectory in the air. They only saw the king raise his hand, and that thing spewed out fire, and with a loud bang, the plate armor and chair back had already been pierced.

The speed of this attack to hitting the target was too fast.

If they were facing such a weapon, by the time they took out an arrow and nocked it, the opponent had already hit them.

But the Khals, who had a lot of combat experience, saw that this thing seemed a bit small. Small things probably couldn't shoot too far. Bows and arrows needed to be fully drawn to shoot far. But this thing didn't have a bowstring.

"Your Majesty, how far can your bow and arrow shoot?"

Range was a major advantage of bows and arrows.

"It can shoot very far," the Mountain said, "but it's still a shorter distance than your longbows."

"Not as far as bows and arrows?" several Khals asked together, as if they had found a chance to 'turn the tables' for their bow and arrow weapons.

This new bow and arrow was indeed terrifying and powerful, but its range wasn't as far as their bows and arrows, so they only needed to stay at a distance, and this new bow and arrow wouldn't be a threat to them. Hmm, it didn't seem so daunting after all!

"Lengthening the barrel will exceed your bows and arrows. This is a short barrel, suitable for close combat. Any enemy who wants to get close to me will be hit by it first. And the long-barreled new-style bow and arrow will far exceed the power of your bows and arrows. Few of you have archers who can shoot a series of arrows, but my new-style bow and arrow, whether short-barreled or long-barreled, can fire a series of arrows with further improvements."

Daenerys, Arianne, Asha, Jorah, Pylos... everyone present was shaken.

This bow and arrow was divided into long-barreled and short-barreled, and could also fire a series of arrows? The range of the long-barreled one could shoot farther than the Dothraki's bows and arrows?!

Unimaginable, but exciting!

"Your Majesty, can I touch it?" young Pylos said cautiously.

"Not for now!" the Mountain said. "The real power of my short-barreled gun is more than five times the armor-piercing power you just saw."

The whole place was silent!

Missandei, the scholars, the priests, Quaithe, and others didn't understand weapons, but they were all stunned to hear His Majesty the King say this. Quaithe even suspected that His Majesty the King knew dark magic.

"Your Majesty, are you saying that your short-barreled bow and arrow can pierce through five pieces of plate armor like mine in one shot?"

"No, it's the area," the Mountain said.

The Mountain was a giant-like fierce man, and the so-called short-barreled firearm in his hand was actually like a short-barreled cannon, several times larger than a normal person's short-barreled firearm. The Mountain used a sword that was two meters long and weighed dozens of pounds; while the most powerful knight's two-handed greatsword was at most one and a half meters long and had to be wielded with both hands. Moreover, the one-and-a-half-meter-long two-handed greatsword was mostly used for executions rather than charging into battle because it was too long and heavy, making it inconvenient to use.

The Mountain's Ice was the ancestral sword of House Stark, and no warrior, past or present, in House Stark could use this sword for combat because the sword itself was too long and too heavy. But the Mountain used Ice, able to chop left and right with one hand, spinning and slashing at will, stabbing straight or sweeping horizontally. Ice, which even the most powerful warriors couldn't use for combat, was as easy as a short sword in his hands.

When the Mountain wielded Ice, no one should be within a three-meter radius, or they would be cut in two. The Mountain's arm span was also extremely long, and with the length of Ice, enemies would be cut into two pieces before they even came within attacking distance.

And this short-barreled firearm was the same, equivalent to Ice among firearms.

This short-barreled firearm, tailor-made for himself, was actually several times larger than the normal size, and the barrel was also several times larger than a normal barrel. If it was fully loaded with gunpowder and bullets, the huge recoil when firing would be impossible to handle without the Mountain's wrist strength.

The firearm muzzle, shaped like a cannon, was loaded with several times the gunpowder and bullets of a normal firearm. The recoil when firing was not something a normal person could withstand.

The Mountain had only loaded one bullet when testing the gun just now.

The area of the plate armor was very large, and it wouldn't miss at close range.

Daenerys and Arianne heard the Mountain say that the power of this new bow and arrow was several times greater than what they had just seen, and the two women couldn't help but look at each other, their faces filled with rich and wonderful expressions of surprise.

"Your Majesty, I want to see the real power of your bow and arrow," Daenerys said.

"Your Majesty, I want to see the real power of the short-barreled firearm," Arianne said.

The two spoke in unison, with slightly different words.

One was a discussion, with euphemism; the other was a request, with assertiveness.

The Mountain smiled slightly, enjoying the surprised expressions of the courtiers and generals. Even the silent Jon couldn't remain calm, and Quaithe, who liked to stand in the shadows with a wooden lacquer mask on her face, showed a surprised look.

"You want to see the real power of the short-barreled firearm, but that will destroy Jorah's plate armor."

"Your Majesty, I will ask a weapons master to forge me a better one," Jorah said.

"Good!" the Mountain nodded.

He had a bullet bag on his waist.

He filled the gunpowder chamber with gunpowder, loaded a handful of bullets into the barrel, and with a lift of the muzzle and a loud bang, a flash of fire, a large hole the size of a bowl was blown out of the plate armor in front of him, and faint black smoke rose from the torn edges of the plate armor. The back of the wooden chair behind the half-sword was also completely blasted through, the chair back broken and wood chips flying. The huge impact drove the heavy wooden chair to the ground. The dense conical bullets shot into the ground, creating a circular ring of pockmarks.

Everyone who had never seen a firearm was stunned.

They didn't know that only the Mountain could and dared to use a firearm of this power. The real size of a short-barreled firearm couldn't be so powerful unless the shooter had the Mountain's huge hands and rare wrist strength.

The Mountain glanced at young Pylos, knowing that in less than a day, the entire nobility and wealthy merchants of Qarth would know about the unparalleled combat power of the new-style bow and arrow. Young Marquis Pylos would be very excited to do this.

The power of this new-style bow and arrow immediately made the Dothraki feel that their bows and arrows were just children's toys.

With this new-style bow and arrow, not to mention the bodies of the Dothraki warriors fighting bare-chested, even a warhorse would be blown a big hole through.

The Mountain stepped back, letting the crowd rush up to see the incredible 'results'.

*

The Mountain's reception room.

"Pylos, where is your father?" the Mountain asked, picking up the wine that Arianne had poured for him.

"Your Majesty, my father passed away when I was seven years old."

"Oh, you inherited the marquisate at seven?"

"Yes."

"How old are you this year?"

"Fourteen, Your Majesty."

"You've been a marquis for seven years."

"Yes!"

"Do you have a foster father?"

The boy shook his head: "No, Your Majesty."

"Are you willing to be my adopted son?"

Hearing this, Pylos was stunned, and then an uncontrollable smile of joy bloomed on his face. He knelt down on both knees, not just one, and the boy's head also kowtowed, making a 'ping' sound on the carpet.

Quaithe floated out from behind the Mountain: "Pylos Velaryon, the night is long and full of terrors. The Red God R'hllor witnesses here, you need to swear allegiance to your father, King Gregor Clegane, in the name of your family and the Red God, never to betray him. If you violate this oath, you will die in the flames and your soul will be permanently damned."

Under Quaithe's guidance, Pylos Velaryon solemnly swore allegiance and loyalty to the Mountain.

After the oath was completed, Pylos Velaryon received a new name: Pylos Clegane!

He became one of the Mountain's close attendants.

*

Night.

Pylos Clegane stood on an open space outside the city.

Behind him were the Dothraki military camps stretching for several miles.

Behind the military camps, Duke Gendry and Master Tobho Mott were still leading hundreds and thousands of blacksmiths in forging weapons. People took turns to rest, but the fire in the furnace and the work of iron smelting would not stop.

Standing beside Pylos Clegane was a huge shadow: the Mountain.

In addition, there were Arianne Martell, Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Targaryen, and Quaithe.

The boy was very nervous, not knowing what was going to happen.

Everyone looked up at the sky, so young Pylos also looked up at the sky.

"They're back!" the Mountain said.

"Yes, I heard it too," Daenerys said.

"Yes!" Arianne said.

Jon and Quaithe didn't say anything, as if they didn't exist at all.

Pylos couldn't even hear Quaithe's breathing, and he could hardly see her figure clearly. Quaithe made Pylos a little afraid, feeling that she was a ghost.

Strange noises arose in the night sky, and several black dots appeared, growing larger in the blink of an eye.

Pylos realized that they were dragons.

No wonder he hadn't seen dragons flying in the skies of Qarth for some time.

The sound of wings flapping the air came, and Daenerys blew the Dragonhorn.

Pylos saw something hanging below the dragons.

The dragons began to circle and descend. There were four dragons. Below three of them, something black was hanging.

A tangled sound came, and in the sky, there were three other black shadows. Pylos suddenly realized that they were also three dragons, but very small.

Four large dragons returned, bringing back three small dragons?

Pylos was shocked.

How many dragons did his father actually have?

Nothing was hanging below the giant dragons, only something was suspended below the black dragon, the white dragon, and the bronze dragon.

The dragons flew down, and the suspended objects landed first. - It turned out to be something like bamboo baskets, and figures stood up inside and stepped out.

Daenerys, Arianne, and Jon stepped forward, and the three dragon riders spoke languages that Pylos couldn't understand. The dragons responded with soft moans, as if they were talking.

Three black figures came to the Mountain's side, and they turned out to be three women wearing narrow swords.

The sheep-stealing giant dragon circled and landed, and a person was riding on the dragon's back. The person jumped off the dragon's back, and it turned out to be a woman as well.

Piert heard everyone respectfully saying in unison, "Your Majesty, the Queen."

Piert realized what was happening and quickly stepped forward, kneeling on one knee. "Mother, I am Piert Clegane."

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