Inside the Kalin Bay Gate Tower, Lord Reed listened to the fierce shouts of killing from below, his brow furrowing slightly.
Through the reports of his officers, he already knew that this group of sudden enemies were Ironborn, and their numbers far surpassed his own.
Without much hesitation, at the beginning of the battle, he had his soldiers release the special Ravens they carried with them to request aid from Winterfell.
In the legends of the North, the relationship between the crannogmen of the Neck and the Children of the Forest was once as close as that between the Targaryen and Dragons.
It is said that they were blessed by the Old Gods, and a very small number of people were born with some special abilities like communicating with animals, just like the Children of the Forest.
More than a hundred years later, Jojen Reed even possessed the ability of green sight, guiding Brandon Stark all the way Beyond the Wall to find the Three-Eyed Crow.
Therefore, they did not need Scholars; they could also train this kind of special Raven that did not require a rookery.
Given the distance from Kalin Bay to Winterfell, as long as they held out for four or five days, they could wait for the support of the Stark Family cavalry.
At least in Lord Reed's view, with his side occupying three towers, and possessing sufficient troops and food, holding out for four or five days would definitely be easy.
But how could he, safely staying in the tower, know how brutal the battle downstairs was?
Since most of the Ironborn had already rushed to the base of the towers, the archers at the top of the towers completely lacked the angle for plunging fire.
They could only lean out halfway from the edge of the towers to shoot downwards, but the Ironborn also had archers.
From time to time, a Greywater Watch soldier would be hit by an arrow, scream miserably, and fall from the top of the tower, crashing heavily onto the ground.
And the battle at the base of the three towers was even more brutal, especially the Gate Tower, where Dalton was directing the attack.
With the suppression from their own archers, the attack frequency of the Greywater Watch spearmen in the towers significantly decreased.
Dalton, hiding against the wall in a safe spot without any holes, had already had his messenger convey his orders at this time.
Seeing that the time was almost right, his eyes darted, and he immediately raised his arms and shouted: "Brothers, they can't hold on anymore.
The main gate of this tower is already rotten and dilapidated, hack it to pieces for me!"
One by one, Ironborn holding longswords believed his nonsense and swarmed forward, attempting to break down the gate with their longswords.
But they seemed to have forgotten that the Greywater Watch soldiers inside could also hear Dalton's shouts through the holes.
Puchi, puchi!
As soon as the Ironborn approached the tower gate, dozens of spears, like a forest, thrust out from inside.
This group of Ironborn, more brave than wise, were instantly pierced by the spears, leaving them covered in bloody holes.
"Now!!!"
Dalton, who had prepared in advance, roared upon seeing this, the veins on his hands holding nightfall bulging, followed by a swift downward cleave.
The sharp Valyrian steel longsword directly cleaved off the shaft of a spear that had pierced an Ironborn's body, breaking it from about a third of the way up.
That Ironborn corpse, still bearing the iron spearhead, immediately fell to the ground.
Moreover, Dalton wasn't the only one seizing the opportunity to attack; the axe-wielding Ironborn on the left and right sides of the tower, who had received the messenger's orders in advance, also attacked.
They all shouted strangely and vigorously swung the sharp axes in their hands, hacking at the sharp spears that couldn't be retracted for a moment.
Kacha, kacha!
Accompanied by the sound of wooden shafts shattering, basically all of the dozens of spears that had thrust out from the tower gate were cut off.
Dalton was also a ruthless person, exchanging the lives of a group of Ironborn for the opportunity to break through the enemy.
"Damn, are there any more spears? Quickly replace the weapons for the soldiers at the gate."
"My Lord, these are all the weapons we have; the convoy transporting reserve weapons is stopped near the Children of the Forest Tower."
"Damn it, abandon the holes on the left and right sides.
Focus all efforts on defending the main entrance."
Because of Dalton's actions, the Gate Tower was already in chaos.
Duo duo duo!
Outside the tower, a group of Ironborn were seizing this opportunity to raise the sharp axes in their hands high and heavily hack at the tower's rotten wooden gate.
Just as Dalton had said before, these rotten wooden gates simply could not withstand this level of hacking.
Splinters from the tower's wooden gate were seen flying everywhere, and deep, long gashes appeared on the surface of the rotten wooden gate.
Basically, the Greywater Watch soldiers inside could already be seen through these gashes.
Puchi, puchi!
As the tower's wooden gate was about to be breached, the Greywater Watch soldiers inside, who had re-equipped with spears, thrust out their spears again.
With the visibility, except for a few Ironborn who were too slow to dodge for various reasons and had bloody holes opened in their bodies by the thrusting spears,
the vast majority of the other Ironborn hacking at the tower's wooden gate had dodged in advance.
Hongcha!!!
After this last wave of spear attacks, the axe-wielding Ironborn surged forward again.
The Gate Tower's ground floor gate, unable to bear the load, shattered with a crash, and the Greywater Watch soldiers instantly lost their best geographical advantage.
Charge!
Dalton, who was burly and a formidable fighter, led the charge, and the red-eyed Ironborn immediately followed their leader, rushing into the tower.
Everything has pros and cons; after losing the tower gate, the Greywater Watch archers inside the Gate Tower suddenly had a firing angle.
Xiuxiu Xiu!
They immediately drew their bows and shot, a volley of powerful, level arrow fire shooting directly at the Ironborn charging at the front.
Puchi, puchi!
When Dalton spotted the enemy archers in the tower, he immediately grabbed an Ironborn beside him with his free left hand and used him as a shield in front of himself.
The arrows shot at him were all blocked by this unfortunate Ironborn.
After the arrow rain ended, Dalton directly threw the Ironborn corpse in his hand towards the Greywater Watch soldiers holding spears directly in front.
Then, holding nightfall himself, he charged straight ahead.
A spearman directly in front lowered his head to dodge the Ironborn corpse, then immediately thrust his spear with a swift straight stab towards Dalton, who had charged up to him.
Pa!
Dalton's thick left hand narrowly avoided the sharp spear tip, grabbed the spear shaft, and then pulled it forcefully towards himself.
This Greywater Watch spearman had already been stimulated multiple times today, so his strength was simply no match for Dalton.
He was thus forcibly dragged out of the formation by Dalton.
Kacha!
Dalton, who had raised nightfall level beforehand, brutally stabbed it into the left eye of this spearman.
The spearman's panicked expression instantly froze on his face, and bright red blood flowed down his cheek.
"Archers provide cover, everyone else retreat to the second floor of the tower!"
The Commander in the Gate Tower was quite decisive, instantly judging that this group of Ironborn was invincible and began to retreat to preserve their forces.
Seeing the enemy retreating towards the tower staircase area, Dalton, who was both intelligent and brave, no longer charged forward blindly.
Instead, he very bloodily used nightfall to gouge out the spearman's eye, pointed at the retreating Greywater Watch soldiers,
and shouted loudly: "Haha, these bitches from the green lands are scared.
Brothers, charge for me!
The first person to reach the top floor will have their Golden Dragons, thralls, and salt wives all doubled!"
Ooh woo!!!
Motivated by Dalton's generous reward, these Ironborn once again became like pumped-up chickens, shouting strangely as they rushed towards the tower staircase.
The Greywater Watch archers inside the tower had already re-strung their bows and were preparing to continue suppressing with arrow rain.
But by this time, quite a few Ironborn archers had also rushed near the tower entrance, and then raised their bows and started shooting at each other.
Xiuxiu Xiu!
Ah!!!
In this era of cold weapons, those who could become archers generally had some skill.
The Ironborn and Greywater Watch archers were seen being hit by arrows almost simultaneously, and in an instant, nearly half of the archers fell to the ground, screaming in pain.
Both sides' archers suffered heavy casualties, which was good news for the Ironborn.
They were seen rushing to the first-floor staircase within a few breaths' time.
Seeing this, the Greywater Watch spearmen who had not yet managed to retreat resolutely gave up the chance to escape upstairs, turned around, and vigorously stabbed the charging Ironborn with the spears in their hands.
Wa ya ya!
An Ironborn holding a one-handed axe stepped over the fallen wooden gate and numerous corpses on the ground and leaped high into the air.
Then, just like in a boarding action at sea, he directly lunged towards the spearmen by boarding.
Although this Ironborn's posture was indeed imposing, the Greywater Watch spearmen directly in front of him simply raised their spears towards him,
and this Ironborn instantly became like a candied hawthorn, hanging on the spears with bloody holes all over his body.
However, the Ironborn's morale was indeed boosted to the peak by this brother's boarding method.
One by one, Ironborn began boarding the spearmen at the first-floor staircase from all directions.
This method of killing eight hundred enemies at the cost of a thousand of one's own immediately caused heavy casualties on both sides.
But the Greywater Watch spearmen did not have many men to begin with; they were directly overwhelmed by the Ironborn, and some spearmen in the rear had already seized the opportunity to escape upstairs.
And with this escape, the Greywater Watch spearmen's defense line immediately collapsed.
The remaining Greywater Watch spearmen were instantly and desperately hacked to death by the Ironborn with their swords.
Having cleared the obstacle, the Ironborn, whose minds were full of vying to be the first to ascend, had no hesitation whatsoever and rushed directly up the stairs to the second floor of the tower.
"Uh, motherfucker..."
The first Ironborn who rushed up to the second floor had just managed to see the situation around him when he only had time to curse once.
Xiuxiu Xiu!
It turned out that the archers at the top of the tower had already been waiting there, shooting at such close range inside the tower.
Arrow after arrow directly shot the dozen or so charging Ironborn into hedgehogs, sending them flying back into the first-floor staircase in mid-air.
Frowning as he watched the Ironborn unable to show their heads due to the suppressing fire, Dalton's eyes darted, and he immediately ordered: "Use these wooden door fragments on the ground."
Hearing this, the Ironborn immediately bent down and picked up the various shattered wooden door fragments on the ground, then used them as shields and attacked upstairs again.
Duo duo duo!
After all, these rotten wooden doors were the tower's main gate; although they couldn't withstand the fierce hacking of sharp axes, they had no problem blocking these arrow attacks.
Arrows were seen continuously hitting the surface of the wooden door fragments, making dull thudding sounds.
Even if an occasional arrow pierced through a wooden door fragment, it would at most cause slight injuries to the Ironborn behind it.
Thus, this group of Ironborn ascended to the second floor, using these wooden door fragments as cover, and began approaching the third-floor staircase entrance, which was filled with Greywater Watch archers.
"Throw!"
The Commander from before, seeing that his archers could not stop this group of crazy Ironborn, decisively issued an order.
Those spearmen who had escaped upstairs earlier had now abandoned their spears, and each person held a clay pot the size of a gourd in their hands.
Hearing the Commander's order, they immediately threw the clay pots in their hands with maximum force towards the Ironborn who were using the wooden door fragments as cover.
Pala!
The clay pots struck the wooden door fragments, instantly shattering into pieces, and the transparent liquid inside directly splattered onto the wooden door fragments and the group of Ironborn who had reached the second floor.
Not only that, but some clay pots were even thrown into the first-floor staircase entrance.
Xiuxiu!
The transparent liquid in the shattered clay pots instantly emitted a strong scent, and Dalton subconsciously twitched his nostrils and sniffed twice.
Then his face changed dramatically, and he shouted: "Damn it! It's rum, they're going to use fire!
Run!!!"
Xiuxiu Xiu!
As soon as he finished speaking, fiery arrows were shot onto the wooden door fragments.
Huo la!
Ah!!!
The Ironborn on the second floor were instantly ignited by the fiery arrows, along with their shields, turning into human torches running around everywhere.
And their subconscious act of fleeing instantly caused the flames to spread rapidly.
"Damn it, archers!
Shoot down all those guys with fire on them for me!"
Dalton was notoriously ruthless; seeing those human torches causing the flames to spread throughout the tower,
while fleeing towards the outside of the tower, he also issued attack orders to the Ironborn archers at the tower entrance.
Xiuxiu Xiu!
The Ironborn archers received the order and immediately drew their bows and shot their comrades without hesitation.
Pilipala!
The flames on the first and second floors of the tower burned fiercely on the large amount of wooden fragments and the corpses of both sides.
Outside the tower, Dalton directed the Ironborn to throw stones and dirt into the flames, trying to make them extinguish quickly.
At the third-floor staircase entrance of the tower, the Commander directed the surviving spearmen and archers to move various miscellaneous items to block the staircase entrance.
Behind them were Lord Reed and many collateral members of the Leed Family and officers, who basically had no combat ability.
But it was also fortunate to have these Lords, otherwise where would they find so much rum to start a fire and block the enemy.
But the flames below would eventually die down, and this third-floor staircase entrance was their last line of defense.
Lord Reed had been quite confident before, believing they could hold off this group of Ironborn for at least four or five days.
As a result, from beginning to end, it hadn't even been four or five hours, and the tower was likely to be breached by the Ironborn.
Seeing that the Gate Tower fire, fueled by a large amount of rum, wouldn't extinguish for a while, Dalton didn't just foolishly wait there.
Instead, he took a portion of the Ironborn to support the other two towers.
They did not have this method of using rum to start fires, and were soon breached one after another by Dalton.
To vent his frustration from the Gate Tower, Dalton left no survivors, executing all the Greywater Watch soldiers in these two towers.
When the sunrise of the next day rose from the sea level, the flames in the Gate Tower, which had burned for half the night, finally extinguished.
But before Dalton, with a look of joy on his face, could lead his men to attack, a faint green Dragon shadow appeared on the northern horizon.
In Dreadfort, the Black Crow Green Seer, his hand on the Weirwood, suddenly opened his eyes and cursed in a low voice: "These damned humans are truly unreliable.
The future has been changed by them again."
"Great Black Crow Green Seer, what happened?"
Mint, who had been guarding by his side, immediately asked upon hearing this.
"Aemon Tully unnecessarily instructed Dalton Greyjoy.
Instead, it made him arrive at Kalin Bay earlier and fight against the North army.
And Baela, who happened to be nursing her Dragon's injuries in Winterfell, upon hearing this, rode her Dragon to Kalin Bay in advance.
But the Drowned God Priests are not ready with the sacrifice magic array at all yet.
Therefore, that green Dragon will not be dragged into the sacrifice magic array by the Drowned God's kin...
The future has already been changed by them.
We cannot delay any longer, Mint, prepare to head south immediately!"