Crash!
Caraxes's slender dragon neck, carrying some stones and rubble, crashed into the banquet hall.
Garcia's swordsmanship was extremely high, but he was ultimately just flesh and blood.
He could only watch as Caraxes used his tongue to roll Daemon, who was already at the end of his rope, into his mouth.
And Daemon, whether because the poison had worsened or because he felt relieved upon seeing Caraxes.
As soon as he entered Caraxes's dragon mouth, he fainted.
Clang, clang, clang!
The Zaneos Palace guards who had rushed over upon hearing the noise attacked Caraxes with bows and arrows, but besides making noise, they caused no damage.
Toss, who was surrounded by the guards, did have some means to harm this adult dragon.
But he couldn't openly use blood magic now, so he just watched quietly.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Caraxes, having succeeded, did not hesitate and immediately flapped his wings, flying towards King's Landing in Westeros.
It grew up in the Dragonpit in King's Landing, so when it encountered danger, it instinctively flew towards the area it considered safe.
"Daemon Targaryen is a despicable traitor, and the death of the previous Sea King may also be related to him.
Send someone to tell the Governors of Pentos to hand over the Uncrowned Queen to us.
Otherwise, don't blame us for being impolite.
Also, invite the heads of all the temples in Braavos; I want to have a good talk with them!"
Toss looked up at the Zaneos Palace, which had a large hole in it, and ordered Garcia.
"As you command, Your Majesty Sea King!"
...
While a series of changes were happening in Braavos and the crisis in Winterfell in Westeros was resolved by Jacaerys.
Duke Forrest was systematically proceeding with the occupation of the Disputed Lands.
This land was previously fought over and occupied by the four city-states of Tyrosh, Myr, Lys, and Volantis.
Naturally, one could know its richness and vastness.
Having suffered repeated defeats in previous battles and with even the Hand of Holy Fire, on which high hopes were placed, being completely annihilated.
The joint forces of Lys and Volantis abandoned a series of small towns, consolidated all their ground forces, and defended their last major city.
Grus, located in the southeastern corner of the Disputed Lands, was originally a city under the rule of Lys.
As a fortress city that once defended the Three Daughters Kingdom against invasion from Volantis, Grus was armed to the teeth.
But unexpectedly, fate played a trick, and now Lys and Volantis are allied and stationed in this city, resisting the great enemy approaching from the direction of Myr.
Woo woo woo!
As the sky just began to lighten, the urgent sound of siege horns rang out, directly breaking the tranquility of this fortress city.
This was already the fourth siege of Grus.
The previous times were minor skirmishes, but this time could be considered a true all-out assault.
Originally, Grus had a moat around it, but now the western moat facing Myr has been basically completely filled.
This can actually be said to have been filled with the lives of the commoners of the Disputed Lands.
Because he was not in Westeros, Duke Forrest had no scruples whatsoever.
Having suffered a loss from the moat during the first siege, he specifically sent out search parties during this time, extensively capturing the common people of the Disputed Lands.
He then ordered the archer units to use arrows flashing with cold light as a threat, commanding these commoners to carry baskets of earth to fill the trenches.
The joint forces of Lys and Volantis would not be soft-hearted, and the archers on the city walls directly launched an attack.
Facing the all-encompassing rain of arrows, these defenseless commoners fell in swathes, like leeks being harvested.
However, after a group of commoners died, Duke Forrest captured another group of commoners.
Even the bodies of the commoners who had died before became materials for filling the moat.
So it is said that in troubled times, human lives are not even worth as much as dogs'!
Getting back to the main topic!
Rumble, rumble!
As the horns sounded, a battering ram with wooden wheels was pushed by dozens of Frey Family soldiers, rushing towards the western gate of Grus.
This wheeled battering ram was started being made from the beginning of the siege of Grus, and after so much rushed work, only one was made.
Its overall shape was like a wooden turtle, and the turtle shell was protected by wooden shields covered with raw animal hides on the outside.
It had wooden rollers underneath for movement, and the head of the turtle was the heavy battering ram.
The Frey Family soldiers pushing this wheeled battering ram were hidden under its turtle shell and were well protected.
Next to the wheeled battering ram was a dense mass of at least seven or eight thousand Westeros Lord allied soldiers holding shields and carrying siege ladders.
They had recently arrived, and at this time, they were all in high spirits, looking relaxed and wanting to gain great military achievements.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Attacking before the Frey Family siege infantry were dozens of catapults in the positions behind them.
The catapults, about three meters high, were suddenly released as the counterweights were dropped.
The throwing arms, five or six meters long, hurled adult torso-sized stones violently towards Grus.
Thump, thump, thump!
The stones from the catapults that hit the sturdy walls of Grus only left shallow, insignificant pits, while the stones that landed inside the city destroyed some houses and some defensive facilities.
What was most demoralizing were the few stones from the catapults that accurately hit the city walls.
At this moment, the walls of Grus were densely packed with many guards.
In addition to the defending infantry and archers, there were also many conscripted servants who were heating many covered cauldrons with fire.
Several catapult stones, under strong impact, directly smashed a row of defending soldiers standing neatly together, breaking their arms and legs, and some unlucky soldiers were directly hit and smashed into paste.
Actually, the damage was not too great, but it caused some chaos on the city walls.
Watching the chaos on the city walls, Beoro, as the highest Commander, did not frown, his eyes fixed on that wheeled battering ram.
He understood that attacks like catapults were insignificant; that wheeled battering ram charging towards the city gate was the key.
The Frey Family catapults went silent after this round of attack, entering the time-consuming and laborious reloading phase.
"Fire!"
When the Frey Family soldiers entered the attack range of their archers, Beoro fiercely waved his hand and gave his order.
Swish, swish, swish!
Thousands of sharp arrows, drawing a perfect parabola, dropped like rain from the highest point in the sky into the formation of the Frey Family siege infantry.
Thud, thud, thud!
The large wheeled battering ram was instantly pierced by countless arrows, becoming a hedgehog.
But these arrows could not penetrate the wooden shields of the wheeled battering ram, which were covered with raw animal hides.
The Frey Family infantry hiding inside pushed it forward with all their might, unharmed.
However, among the numerous Frey Family siege infantry holding shields, there were always unlucky ones whose bodies were pierced by arrows through the gaps.
But besides the soldiers hit in vital areas who died on the spot, the Frey Family soldiers hit in other areas were not significantly harmed due to the protection of their excellent armor and continued to advance.
Overall, this wave of arrows from the defending soldiers of Grus did not cause significant losses to the well-equipped Frey Family soldiers.
Beoro saw all of this; he had already witnessed this situation during the previous small-scale siege battles.
He was not worried that the rain of arrows had not caused significant casualties to the Frey Family siege soldiers, as he had other preparations and was confident.
It was just that the wheeled battering ram was not easy to deal with.
Since the moat of Grus had been filled, if the gate was breached by it, with the forces on both sides differing by at least four times, it would certainly be impossible to defend.
"Archers, second volley! Ballistas, aim at that wheeled battering ram and attack!"
As Beoro's order was given, the archers on the Grus city walls drew their bows and shot arrows.
And the soldiers operating the three large ballistas deployed on the three high platforms on the city walls, upon hearing the order, focused their gaze on the wheeled battering ram.
Due to the long-range firing of the large ballistas and their low accuracy, Beoro had not ordered them to fire at first, waiting until it entered the optimal firing distance before ordering the attack.
Boom, boom, boom!
The bowstrings of the three large ballistas on the city walls made loud sounds, and three bolts as thick as spears shot into the Frey Family formation in the blink of an eye.
Two bolts hit the left and right sides of the wheeled battering ram, piercing three Frey Family infantrymen and pinning them to the ground.
Ah!!!
A Frey Family infantryman, who didn't know whether to say he was lucky or unlucky, was slightly grazed by a stray arrow on his left leg in the second wave.
He limped and slightly widened the distance from the soldier in front of him.
This allowed him to luckily avoid the bolt attack and not be directly skewered like a candied haws, two with one arrow, like the bolt next to him.
However, the tip of this bolt just happened to pierce his right foot, pinning him firmly to the ground, and he let out a fierce scream.
The third bolt accurately hit the front of the wheeled battering ram, and the powerful force directly pierced the wooden shield on the front of the wheeled battering ram, entering the interior of the wheeled battering ram and exploding the head of an unlucky Frey Family infantryman.
However, the power of this bolt was limited to this.
The infantry captain inside the wheeled battering ram gave an order, and two Frey Family infantrymen threw the headless body outside.
Then the wheeled battering ram, with a bolt stuck in it, continued towards the gate of Grus.
Seeing that after being directly hit by the bolt, the powerful force did not cause the wheeled battering ram to fall apart, Beoro knew that this wheeled battering ram was definitely carefully crafted by the Frey Family.
So he immediately gave his order to the messenger next to him: "Change bolts!"
The order was quickly relayed to the soldiers operating the three large ballistas, and the soldiers responsible for auxiliary work immediately took out a bolt with a thick oilcloth wrapped around the arrowhead from the wooden box beside them.
When this bolt was installed, the auxiliary soldier then carefully took out a glass bottle filled with thick green liquid from the wooden box, wildfire.
Needless to say, this wildfire was naturally collected on Lanak Island before.
The soldier operating the large ballista poured this pungent wildfire onto the oilcloth at the front of the bolt and immediately ignited it with a flint.
Emerald green flames rose at the front of the bolt, covering the entire oilcloth at a very fast speed.
Boom, boom, boom!
Three loud sounds of bowstrings rang out, and a bolt burning with emerald green flames hit a Frey Family siege infantryman and the siege ladder he was holding in his hand.
The emerald green flames quickly spread along the body and the siege ladder, these two excellent fuels.
The other Frey Family infantrymen, seeing this, immediately threw down the siege ladder stained with green fire.
And the other siege infantrymen around also stayed far away from the fiercely burning body and siege ladder, creating a blank area in the dense siege formation.
And the remaining two bolts burning with Wildfire, due to the closer distance and a round of test shots, accurately hit the wheeled battering ram directly.
Beoro saw from the city wall that this carefully crafted wheeled battering ram was still not shot apart by the bolts.
However, it stopped after being hit by the bolts and did not continue to advance.
A minute later, more than ten siege infantrymen with emerald green flames on their bodies crawled out from under the wheeled battering ram, rolling and struggling frantically on the ground.
Then, the wheeled battering ram began to emit streaks of emerald green flames, and the green fire quickly spread.
In the blink of an eye, the wheeled battering ram turned into a giant green torch.
Seeing that the biggest siege threat had been eliminated, Beoro remained calm on the surface, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
Without the drag of the wheeled battering ram, these seven or eight thousand Frey Family siege soldiers actually sped up.
They reached the foot of the Grus city wall with their shields, set up siege ladders, and began the fierce siege battle.
In the formation of the siege army, there was a temporarily built high platform.
Duke Forrest watched the fiercely burning green flames of the wheeled battering ram, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
He had no idea that wildfire, which was said to be able to burn the sea, could be used in this way.
That carefully crafted wheeled battering ram, which was not afraid of ordinary fire attacks, was burned by the Wildfire on the bolts before it even got close to the Grus gate.
Duke Forrest gazed at the battle ahead, and although his family's soldiers had just approached Grus, he already roughly knew the result.
Pursing his lips, Duke Forrest turned his head and ordered the messenger next to him: "After we lost that wheeled battering ram, Grus is impossible to breach.
Send the signal for the army led by Edmund to begin their action!"
"Okay!"
Woo woo woo!
As Kevan relayed Duke Forrest's order, the sound of horns came from near the temporary high platform.
Rumble, rumble!
Siege towers, also covered with raw animal hides, with wooden wheels at the bottom, nearly twenty meters high,
Were pushed out of the dense forest near the western city wall by Edmund's soldiers.
These siege towers were clearly not as sturdy as that wheeled battering ram, and they kept creaking as they moved forward.
At the same time, they also swayed, making the soldiers standing on the siege towers only able to tightly grip the edges of the siege towers to steady themselves.
These siege towers were originally made in large quantities, and their purpose was only to allow the large number of captured commoners to seize the opportunity to climb the city.
That's right, Duke Forrest was preparing to use the vast number of commoners from the Disputed Lands to overwhelm them with numbers!