Winterfell, main keep banquet hall.
duke kregen was sitting around a long banquet table with a group of Northern Alliance, discussing something intensely.
tap tap tap!
a sound of footsteps came from the main entrance, and everyone looked up.
they saw the heroic and valiant queen Baela walking towards them while adjusting her dragon-riding gloves.
"your majesty, queen!"
seeing this, duke kregen and the others immediately stood up and bowed in salute.
"you don't need to be so polite, my lords.
duke kregen, i have already helped you solve the trouble at Kalin Bay.
a small number of Ironmen escaped towards the northeast of Kalin Bay in the chaos."
Baela first waved her hand at the people who were saluting, then gracefully took a wine cup filled with wine from a servant.
while drinking the wine, she recounted the results of her trip.
"some Ironmen escaped to the northeast of Kalin Bay?
isn't that White Harbor?
queen Baela, did you see roughly how many Ironmen there were?"
before duke kregen could even speak, a Northern Alliance with gray hair and a big belly suddenly spoke up excitedly.
it's no wonder he was excited; this Northern Alliance was Desmond Earl of White Harbor.
the manderly family had received great kindness from the Stark Family centuries ago, so he had almost brought all his troops to Winterfell to answer the call this time.
if this group of fleeing Ironmen really went to attack White Harbor, something could indeed happen if they were caught off guard.
"Desmond Earl, you don't need to worry.
i just received a letter from the locke family in oldtown today, and they haven't prepared to depart yet due to miscellaneous matters in their territory.
they will pass by White Harbor on their way north from oldtown, so i sent a message today asking them to go to White Harbor to station and defend until you return to White Harbor from Winterfell.
"duke, is what you said true?
if that's the case, that would be for the best."
a single sentence from Cregan calmed Desmond Earl down.
then he turned to Baela and continued, "your majesty, queen, you have worked hard.
now please rest well with your dragon, as there will be a difficult battle ahead."
"hmm? are those dead people coming?"
hearing this, Baela immediately understood the hidden meaning in duke kregen's words.
"yes, after Last Hearth, Caho Town, and Dreadfort, Harroway's Town may have also fallen.
the surviving female members of the harroway family are currently resting in the main keep.
considering they are traveling by carriage, perhaps there are still four or five days... no, at most three days.
the White Walker Army will appear near Winterfell."
"understood, i sent someone by ship to deliver a letter to your majesty, king, when i was in King's Landing.
calculating the time, he should have received the letter by now.
don't worry, even if he is far away in Essos, your majesty, king, will only need one or two days to reach Winterfell."
"yes!"
seeing duke kregen nod in response, Baela returned to the main keep to rest.
and duke kregen looked at her back, his eyes filled with anxiety.
communication between Westeros and Essos is basically conveyed by people traveling by ship across the Narrow Sea.
with this method of communication, delays can easily occur due to ocean currents, not to mention the possibility of never arriving due to storms.
therefore, placing Winterfell's hope on Jacaerys, who is far away on another continent, is not in line with duke kregen's character.
fortunately, the White Walkers, after taking Last Hearth, went in the direction of Caho Town instead of directly heading south along the King's Road to attack Winterfell.
after successively capturing three cities, the White Walkers has indeed greatly increased in number.
but Winterfell has gained more preparation time, and all the lords, soldiers, and commoners from the surrounding small towns have gathered here.
with so many people, Winterfell's defense system has been strengthened several times, and defenses have even been built at the Winter Market.
however, the fall of Harroway's Town is indeed a bit regrettable, because earl harroway was originally planning to depart for Winterfell yesterday.
the cities in the north that have now fallen to the White Walker Army, Last Hearth and Caho Town, were completely overwhelmed before they could react.
Dreadfort, on the other hand, was because the bolton family and the Stark Family had some underlying friction, so they deliberately ignored duke kregen's summons.
getting back to the point!
with the great battle imminent, the atmosphere within Winterfell visibly became tense.
thousands of male commoners were undergoing temporary training, preparing to go to the battlefield if necessary.
female commoners were handling logistical supplies, and even children were doing what they could.
after all, this was a battle of life and death, and everyone should contribute their share of strength.
as for the Northern Coalition Army soldiers, in addition to preparing for battle, they would also go to the wolfswood west of Winterfell to cut down wood.
before the development of Dragonstone's obsidian, fire was the best means for humans to deal with the White Walkers.
just as duke kregen had predicted earlier, around noon on the third day after Baela returned to Winterfell.
cavalry scouts scattered around Winterfell successively sent back the bad news of discovering the White Walkers.
therefore, duke kregen immediately ordered non-combat personnel to return to Winterfell city to hide.
and the soldiers of the Northern Coalition Army prepared for battle at their pre-arranged defense lines.
Winterfell, before facing the White Walkers head-on, had gathered what could be considered the strongest combat force available to respond.
rustle rustle!
a series of sounds came from the east of Winterfell, and the first to see the White Walkers were the Northern Coalition Army located at the easternmost part of the Winter Market.
they saw the White Walkers, stretching as far as the eye could see, like an endless sea, appearing in their field of vision.
the sheer number, densely packed and swarming with heads, made the faces of many experienced veterans so grim that they seemed to drip water.
not to mention the battlefield novices who had never been on the battlefield or were temporarily conscripted, their faces were pale, and they couldn't help but tremble all over.
woo woo! woo woo!
suddenly, a series of horn calls sounded from the East City Gate wall of Winterfell.
the East City Gate of Winterfell, which had been closed tightly, then opened, and groups of cavalry with different family crests inscribed on their armor charged out on horseback.
this group of northern cavalry, numbering at least three thousand, began to accelerate and charge towards the White Walkers directly in front of them after leaving the Winter Market.
rumble rumble rumble!
the sound of hooves, like muffled thunder, rose as tens of thousands of Northern Coalition Army soldiers watched these brave individuals from the Winterfell city walls and the Winter Market defense line.
after all, they were facing an endless White Walkers, and they even dared to abandon the sturdy castle and go out of the city to engage in a field battle with them.
wasn't this equivalent to a death charge?
actually, it wasn't like that; duke kregen had faced the White Walkers head-on at Last Hearth.
so he knew what ordinary people would look like the first time they saw the White Walkers.
and the more fear there was, the weaker one's combat power would be.
an important function of these northern cavalry leaving the city was to tell everyone that the White Walkers was not as terrifying as it seemed.
they could be easily destroyed by people and turn back into fragmented corpses.
the White Walkers also seemed unable to tolerate such a rampant northern cavalry regiment coming out of the city.
accompanied by the rapidly approaching thick clouds in the sky, they also changed from walking slowly to running at full speed.
before the northern cavalry regiment approached the White Walkers, they took out fist-sized pottery jars from their saddles.
after lighting the cloth strips at the mouth of the pottery jars with a fire starter, the northern cavalry in the front row immediately threw them with all their might towards the charging others.
crack, whoosh!
with the sound of crisp breaking, the fuel in the pottery jars immediately splattered, then ignited ghoul after ghoul.
after doing this, the first row of northern cavalry immediately controlled their warhorses to turn to the left, leaving the position for the next row of northern cavalry.
whoosh, whoosh!
these northern cavalry did not intend to clash head-on with the ghoul, so they did not even carry weapons, only this kind of homemade fuel pottery jars on their saddles.
in just this round, at least four or five thousand ghoul were ignited into torches.
but for a White Walkers like the sea, this loss was completely negligible.
moreover, a small number of ghoul happened to charge out from the weak points of the flames, heading straight for the northern cavalry.
bang bang bang!
but the northern cavalry didn't need to pay attention to these scattered ghoul at all; with their riding speed, any ghoul that dared to block their path would be sent flying.
after throwing three or four rounds, without the fuel pottery jars and with their warhorses becoming tired from continuous running, the northern cavalry directly retreated and returned.
it was just like zhao zilong in his previous life, taking a stroll in front of the enemy formation and then leaving easily.
but for both sides, this battle was just an appetizer.
however, the northern cavalry did indeed play a role in boosting morale.
after the Northern Coalition Army soldiers saw the ghoul easily burned to death by fire and directly shattered by warhorses.
a mindset of 'ghoul! is that all? is that all?' immediately arose in their hearts.
when that thick cloud layer, from which snowflakes were constantly falling, drifted to the Winter Market, the original small snowflakes gradually began to grow larger.
the White Walkers also began to approach the first defense line in the true sense of Winterfell, the Winter Market.
a wooden city wall, three meters high, had recently been built on the east side of the Winter Market.
the wall was covered with round holes just large enough for spears to be thrust out, and the bottom layer of the wooden city wall had flat gaps over two meters wide, the purpose of which was completely unknown.
"fire!"
when the northern archers on the defense line wall could clearly see the ghoul covered in blood and wounds, they heard the Commander's order.
whoosh whoosh whoosh!
when the attack order was given, thousands of flaming arrows were shot into the sky simultaneously, drawing a perfect parabola before falling like rain among the White Walkers.
this kind of saturation attack, reaching a certain number, was indeed effective.
a large swathe of the tidal White Walkers immediately fell, which was very noticeable.
however, in the blink of an eye, the ghoul behind them re-covered this area.
after three rounds of arrow rain attacks, the White Walkers was already about to approach the bottom of the Winter Market wooden city wall.
stab!
as the Commander observing the approaching ghoul through the round holes under the city wall gave the order,
flaming spears with spearheads wrapped in cloth and ignited were fiercely thrust out from these holes.
the wooden city wall instantly turned into a fiery hedgehog covered in sharp points, making it impossible for the enemy to approach.
clatter clatter!
innumerable ghoul approaching the defense line wall were pierced into rag sacks by the forest of flaming spears, and then immediately ignited.
as the flaming spears were all retracted, these ghoul that again approached the defense line wall were then ignited again by the flaming spears thrust out once more.
facing the seemingly endless White Walkers, the Northern Soldiers behind the wooden city wall began to repeat this process over and over again.
in fact, the Northern Soldiers behind the city wall could also choose not to retract the flaming spears, and it is believed that countless ghoul would automatically crash into the flaming spears.
however, these White Walkers possess some memories from their previous lives and can use weapons.
if left exposed, it is highly likely that the flaming spears would be destroyed by them before long.
in a short while, over a thousand burning corpses piled up beneath the wooden city wall.
the flames from those corpses began to scorch the wooden city wall, and if the wood piled for the wall hadn't been thick enough and wet enough, it might have been ignited directly long ago.
but as the skeletons piled higher and higher, they were almost level with the three-meter-high wooden city wall.
thump thump thump!
and just at this moment, a heavy sound of footsteps came from a distance.
three giant ghoul bears, like heavy war chariots, charged towards the wooden city wall, stepping on the slope formed by the piled skeletons.
if they were allowed to charge into the Winter Market along the bone staircase, it would definitely be a disaster.
woo!
the sound of a horn rang out, and steel scythe blades extended from the flat gaps over two meters long beneath the wooden city wall.
hiss hiss hiss!
driven by the strenuous pushing of countless soldiers behind the city wall, the steel scythe blades began to rotate like electric fans.
and these high-speed rotating scythe blades continuously cut through the not-so-sturdy corpse skeletons piled beneath the city wall.
clang, clang!
the slope formed by the skeletons immediately collapsed, and the three giant ghoul bears running on the bone staircase also fell among the skeletons.
sizzle!
after completing their task, the steel scythe blades retracted, and wrist-thick bamboo tubes extended from the gaps, spraying a large amount of fuel onto the piled skeletons.
whoosh whoosh whoosh!
a flaming spear was thrust out from within the wooden city wall, directly igniting the corpse skeletons outside that had been doused with fuel.
using the corpses piled beneath the city wall as fuel, it is believed that these flames can burn long enough to block these ghoul.
however, under this close-range continuous burning, the wooden city wall began to turn yellowish and emit green smoke.
it is clear that this wooden city wall is about to be ignited by the high temperature outside.
but that is also its purpose!
when this wooden city wall becomes a wall of flames, it can block the ghoul outside, allowing the Northern Coalition Army in the Winter Market to retreat towards Winterfell.
but the soldiers of the Northern Coalition Army were not paying attention to this at the moment, only focusing on fighting bravely and killing the enemy.
after all, killing one more now means facing one less ghoul when defending Winterfell later.
in a short while, the wooden city wall began to burn fiercely, and the Commanders of the Northern Coalition Army also began to have their soldiers retreat into Winterfell in order.
with this battle, the soldiers of the Northern Coalition Army were no longer afraid of the terrifying-looking ghoul.
and it was clearly visible that a large portion of the tide-like White Walkers was gone.
duke kregen stood on the Winterfell city wall, unlike the surrounding Northern Alliance who were cheering and celebrating.
he had a grim expression, because the real battle was about to begin!