Seeing the burning ghost of "Black Heren," Roman felt an indescribable heat surge from within his body in an instant.
"Blood and fire are of one origin."
Roman subconsciously thought of this phrase.
"Ha, I've grown too used to peaceful days; I almost forgot that I am also a dragon."
At this moment, the sun had just dipped below the horizon; aside from the sea of clouds in the sky reflecting the sunlight and appearing orange-red, everything around was in darkness.
Looking at this group of notorious ghosts, Roman felt no affection for them at all. He had long since seen Heren's cruelty in his memories.
Driven by his loathing for Heren and the boost in his own strength, Roman's fighting spirit gradually climbed. He drew his warhammer and said to the figures:
"Aegon the Conqueror could roast you to death, and I can hammer you wretches into nothingness."
Heren's spirit looked at Roman and suddenly let out a roar.
"Dragon! Aegon! I will peel the skin from your bones!!"
Roman frowned, wondering if this guy had been burned senseless by the dragonflame of Balerion, the "Black Dread."
However, he couldn't be bothered to care, so he grabbed his warhammer and charged forward.
Several ghosts beside Heren moved first; judging by their posture, they were likely the sons who had been burned to death with Heren.
Roman dragged his warhammer behind him, and the moment he approached the ghosts, he swung it in a semicircle.
The goose-egg-sized hammerhead cast a blur as it swung, then smashed heavily into one of the ghosts.
That burning figure was sent flying backward like a ball.
A ghost nearby tried to take the opportunity to tackle Roman, but ended up being kicked away by him.
Although this blow repelled the opponent, flames stuck to Roman's boot, and no matter how he tried to pat them out, they wouldn't extinguish.
"dragonflame?"
Roman realized it in an instant.
"Tsk! Looks like I need to be careful."
Seeing that Roman could not be subdued, the other ghosts charged together.
Heren's ghost even drew a twisted longsword; that longsword, condensed from black shadows, looked like the semi-melted steel plates Roman had seen before.
"Ha, Heren, I imagine you must hate Aegon, but why are you still holding the weapon he forged for you?"
These words were effective; Heren came running over, screaming, and even knocked over one of the ghosts on his way.
Roman casually hammered the ghost in front of him and charged toward Heren.
Their weapons collided instantly, but Heren clearly lacked Roman's strength; after a brief clash, he was sent flying by a single blow from Roman's hammer.
However, an unexpected turn occurred; the ghost that had just been knocked down climbed back up and lunged from the side.
Fortunately, Roman caught a glimpse of those figures out of the corner of his eye. He dodged slightly, avoiding the ghost's claws, and then swung his hammer upward into the ghost's jaw.
This strike shattered half of the ghost's skull.
But the dragonflame on its body did not diminish, and Roman estimated that this guy wasn't truly dead yet.
Roman had initially managed to reduce their numbers instantly, but now Heren was fighting dirty, and the repeated resurrections caught Roman off Guard.
Roman understood that this was no time to show off, so he immediately ran toward a ruin.
Sure enough, Heren and his sons chased after him. Roman wanted to lure them into a narrow passage and deal with them one by one.
In the ruins of Harrenhal, Heren chased Roman while cursing.
Meanwhile, Roman would occasionally turn back while running to hammer a ghost.
They dragged out the struggle until they reached a stone staircase, which was the stage Roman had carefully selected.
He grinned and suddenly turned to counterattack.
This took the ghosts by surprise; the one in the lead was smashed directly onto the ground by Roman and then swept away like trash.
In a short time, Roman hammered all the other ghosts away, leaving only Black Heren to confront him alone.
At this moment, Roman did not forget to taunt him: "Look at you, oppressing and abusing the people of the Riverlands, wanting to build the largest fortress in the Seven Kingdoms, only to be roasted to death by Aegon as soon as the fortress was finished."
"Stone may not burn, but you and your children are clearly not as tough as stone."
This completely enraged Heren; his face, made of black mist, became hideous, and he picked up his molten steel sword to strike.
But Roman was faster than him; a swing of his hammer knocked him against the wall. Heren's ghost was knocked off balance, and the sword was shattered into black mist.
Roman then took the opportunity to bring the hammerhead behind his back.
After building up his strength, the hammer traced a beautiful circle in the air, and after a loud bang, Heren turned into a puddle of viscous black slime.
However, Roman was not reassured; he picked up the hammer and smashed it repeatedly against the black shadow on the ground as if he were tamping earth.
The ghosts of Heren's sons had regained their ability to move, and they crowded up the stone staircase, wanting to save their father.
Looking at this bunch of clowns, Roman was ready; at worst, he would just hammer them again.
But before he could react, several arrows flew over.
Roman: "??"
He turned his head to look and saw Old Jessy had arrived there with the Guard.
"Kid, get down here, come to us!" After saying that, he continued to shoot arrows at the ghosts.
These Guard and Old Jessy were clearly wary of the ghosts, but they still bravely attacked them.
But something unexpected happened: the arrows shot by the Guard passed directly through the ghosts and hit the wall.
"What?"
The ghosts also noticed this; they looked at Roman, then at Old Jessy and the others below.
Compared to fighting Roman, that monster, the Guard were clearly easier to deal with, so they immediately turned their attention and charged toward Old Jessy.
The Guard tried shooting arrows again, but they all passed directly through the ghosts, and no one could harm them.
At this point, the Guard completely lost their composure; the cowardly ones had already started praying to the Seven, and a look of terror appeared on Old Jessy's face as well.
Just as everyone stood frozen in place, steel short spears flew out instantly, pinning several ghosts to the ground. The ghosts were unable to move and could only let out angry roars.
Old Jessy recognized these as the weapons he had given to Roman.
"Run! Remind Lady Helaena and the others, hurry and run! Do not let them touch you."
Roman was also sweating bullets. He had heard the rumors about Harrenhal; the original story mentioned that anyone caught by Heren's ghost was burned to death.
Now it seemed this was the reason. The reason Roman could inflict damage was likely because his dragon blood was taking effect.
Hearing Roman's words, Old Jessy realized what was happening and immediately shouted for the Guard to leave.
However, just as Roman was distracted, the ghost of Heren beneath him suddenly sprang up and pounced directly onto Roman.
The moment Roman's face was covered by the black mist, he felt a sense of suffocation, followed by the burning sensation of flames and the smell of sulfur.
Memories flashed through Roman's mind: Black Heren's arrogance, his disdain for Aegon's offer to surrender, his smugness in hiding in the Burning King Tower... and the pain of being roasted by Aegon with dragonflame.
dragonflame is a magical creation and cannot be compared to conventional fire at all.
Roman felt his mind and body being ignited together.
His skin and flesh were burned open, and the blood that flowed out only fueled the flames further.
In extreme pain, Roman fell off the stone staircase and slammed hard onto the floor.
But his biggest thought at this moment was not to extinguish the flames, but anger.
"Damn it, Balerion, why didn't your flames burn Heren to ash? Why leave them until now to torture me?"
Amidst the anger and visions, Roman saw himself fully dragon-transformed.
At that time, he was still in human form, but his whole body was mutated, with white flames and lightning surrounding him.
"Flame?!"
Roman suddenly understood; no wonder he had felt a restlessness the moment he saw the ghosts of Heren and his sons.
It wasn't the ghosts influencing him, but Balerion's dragonflame triggering his reaction.
Roman no longer struggled, but instead let Balerion's dragonflame flow into his veins.
When Roman's heart calmed down, he suddenly felt a sense of clarity, as if someone had opened a window for him to peer into the world.
Suddenly, pale flames erupted from Roman's body, and Balerion's dragonflame became fuel for this white conflagration.
The ghosts of Heren and the others nearby let out even more shrill wails after coming into contact with the flames, and were quickly burned to nothing, leaving not even a trace behind.
Roman opened his eyes, looked at the roaring hall in front of him, and withdrew his power according to his intuition.
The white flames stopped raging instantly, only dancing on his skin. Roman opened his right hand, and under his mental control, the white glow appeared again.
"As expected, dragonflame is a magical product and relies on magical supply."
But before Roman could think carefully, Lady Helaena's exclamation already reached him.