The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The advantage of infantry swordsmen and shield bearers retreating in a square formation is that they can defend against dense volleys of arrows. Once they are out of arrow range, of course, the fastest way to escape is to drop their shields and helmets and run.

Commander Big Head and Lieutenant-General Tolbert took the lead in dropping their shields and fleeing, which boosted the morale of the soldiers. When it came to competing to see who could escape faster and more bravely, every Clegane swordsman and shield bearer was a true warrior.

Swish!

The soldiers ran like the wind.

The naval warriors were no exception. Although they might be a little worse at land combat, when it came to discarding their armor and fleeing for their lives, they were warriors among warriors, heroes among heroes, and daredevils among daredevils. A shield was indeed a burden when fleeing, so they threw it away; a helmet obstructed their vision and breathing when fleeing, so they threw it away; plate armor was heavy, making their escape speed not light and agile enough, so they threw it away; a longsword attached to the waist was inconvenient for running away, so they threw it away…

Clang, clang! Behind the fleeing soldiers, a mess was left on the ground: shields, armor, helmets, and even short knives and longswords were scattered everywhere.

To run ahead of others, the wisest choice was to throw away the extra ironware on their bodies.

The warriors were all smart people!

The Ironborn and pirates chased after them desperately, their speed slowed down by the money—swords and weapons—abandoned on the road. But even if they were of excellent character and did not pick up lost items, refusing to grab spoils of war, their speed would not be fast. The abandoned shields, plate armor, and helmets seriously hindered the fairness of the running competition. In the end, the Ironborn and pirates could only watch as the runners in front ran further and further away, until their vision was blocked by the corner, until the last soldier disappeared, rolling and crawling…

The Ironborn and pirates erupted in deafening cheers of victory!

The streets, littered with weapons, helmets, and armor, were covered with the flags of the Clegane Legion, the flags of the King, the flags of Lannisport, and the flags of House Lannister.

The famous Clegane Legion, the arrogant Lannister Navy Legion, were vulnerable! The pirates and Ironborn raised their swords and cheered. Some warriors with traditional bandit qualities kicked open the doors of the shops on the street and looted the property inside.

The warriors behind continued to surge forward, splitting at the crossroads and advancing forward, shouting. Euron Crow's Eye also arrived, dividing his forces into several routes, advancing along the city streets, heading straight for the lord's main castle.

Since last night, only some men and strong men remained in the four cities in the east, west, north, and south. The old, weak, women, and children had evacuated to Clegane Village in the east a few days ago. Behind Clegane Village were the Silverhill Mountains. Once the battle in front was lost, the people would climb up the mountains in advance. The high mountains and dense forests stretched for hundreds of miles, and the Ironborn and pirates would not have the patience to hunt them down.

The pirates and Ironborn in front continued to pursue and kill the fleeing Clegane infantry and naval warriors. After chasing through two streets, a spearman square silently blocked the main street and several alleys, their spears like a forest. They let go of Big Head and other defeated soldiers, quietly waiting for the Ironborn and pirates to catch up.

The Ironborn and pirates were in high spirits. They had been chasing for a long time without landing a single blow on an enemy. Now that there were soldiers to engage in close combat, these pirates and Ironborn were overjoyed, waving their long axes and short-handled axes as they pounced forward.

A short axe spun out, accurately hitting a spearman in the face. The spearman screamed and fell down, and a spearman in the second row immediately filled his position. However, countless black shadows spun out, all short-handled throwing axes. The spinning short-handled throwing axes were all accurate, and screams rose and fell. Almost every spearman in the first row was hit in the face, head, hands, shoulders, arms, chest…

On the Iron Islands, there is a game to test the courage of the Ironborn: Finger Dance!

With bare hands, facing a short-handled axe spinning and chopping at high speed, one must reach out and grab it. If the judgment is wrong, the fingers will be cut off by the razor-sharp axe blade.

Euron Crow's Eye had a younger brother who had five fingers cut off by the axe blade when playing Finger Dance with another younger brother, Aeron. Later, because of infection and suppuration, this younger brother was killed by the doctor. In this world, as long as the wound suppurates, and the person has a persistent high fever, there is only one way to die.

This caused Aeron a lifetime of inner guilt. Aeron was the youngest of the Greyjoy brothers. Now he has grown into the spiritual leader of the Ironborn—the High Priest of the Drowned God. When Victarion, the commander of the Iron Fleet, succumbed to Euron Crow's Eye, the spiritual leader Aeron could not accept this. He left on his own and his whereabouts are still unknown.

Finger Dance is a brave game popular on the Iron Islands. When an axe is thrown at high speed, people who dodge or are afraid to reach out will be ridiculed and will never be able to hold their heads up. This cruel game has cut off the fingers of many people, but it has also trained the Ironborn in a unique new combat skill: the short-handled throwing axe.

Once the Ironborn warriors are close enough, these Finger Dance masters will throw their throwing axes. Warriors who do not know Finger Dance cannot reach out to catch the spinning axe, they can only block it with a shield. If they don't have a shield, they can only use their body parts to block it, such as a wide face.

The Ironborn who can catch flying axes are also masters of throwing flying axes. Their flying axe combat skills are superb and accurate.

Euron Crow's Eye is the absolute top master of Finger Dance. He can throw a flying axe from a long distance and hit the target, and he is also excellent at catching flying axes. During his days as a pirate leader, under his influence, the fiercest of his pirate warriors all became Finger Dance masters. Also for this reason, the majority of Euron's pirate warriors' weapons are axes.

Long-handled heavy axes, double-edged axes, and several short axes—throwing axes—hanging from everyone's waists. After the pirates and Ironborn landed, once they entered street and alley battles, archers were the worst combat force. These Ironborn and pirates switched to axemen, and the archers stayed on the warships. The axemen landed to kill the enemy. Their flying axes were incredibly powerful.

Big Head and the naval warriors fled towards the east gate, and the spearmen stayed behind to cover their retreat. As soon as they engaged in battle, the Ironborn and pirates threw their flying axes while charging. The spearmen held their spears with both hands and had no shields to block, so they were hit in the face, arms, and wrists by the extremely sharp short-handled flying axes. They screamed and fell down or staggered back due to their injuries.

The spear team centurion saw that the situation was not good and shouted to hold on. So the spearmen in the back row quickly filled their positions. However, the pirate warriors trained by Crow's Eye, who had won hundreds of battles, were not a mob, but an elite force. They rushed to the front of the spearmen, but did not enter the range of the spear thrusts. Instead, they suddenly separated to both sides and switched positions with their brothers behind them. So the pirates and Ironborn behind them appeared in the front and another round of flying axes was thrown.

The highly accurate flying axes came, defeating the front row of spearmen again, either cutting them down or injuring their arms and wrists, making it impossible for them to hold their spears again.

The Ironborn and pirates who had thrown their flying axes retreated again, and the warriors behind them switched to the front again. This was like a smooth cycle. The short flying axes were in hand, black shadows flew, the axe blades whistled, and screams rose and fell again.

Because the spears of the spearmen were long, it was inconvenient to turn around. In the streets and alleys, there was no need to worry about being flanked by cavalry. Facing the enemy head-on, an inch longer was an inch stronger, and they should have had an absolute advantage. But no one had ever encountered flying axe combat. This was the first time. Finger Dance, flying axe skills, unique to the Iron Islands.

During the seventeen years of peace, the first short-range battle in Lannisport saw the spearmen from the various families of the Westerlands become targets for a constant stream of flying axes.

The spearmen could not predict when the enemy's flying axes would be thrown, and their team's advance speed was also slow and hesitant. They could not move as smoothly as the Ironborn and pirates. Amidst the constant screams of the spearmen, the centurion ordered a retreat.

The spearmen raised their spears, with the spear tips pointing to the sky. Those behind turned around and fled. Because the spears were too long, the spear tips could only point to the sky to facilitate running, whether escaping or marching. This was the only correct posture. Three hundred-man teams of spearmen stayed behind to cover the retreat, using the convenience of the streets to block the enemy. No matter how fiercely the Ironborn and pirates charged, they could not cross their dense forest of spear thrusts.

Anyone who dared to rush in for melee combat was instantly pierced by at least three spears, becoming a bloody hole. Although the Westerlands spearmen came from various families, they were all guards of the nobles of each family. In order to cover the safe retreat of most people, everyone fought to the death.

When all three hundred-man teams, along with the centurion, were killed in battle, nearly two thousand spearmen had already escaped far away. Target: East Gate!

*

Euron Crow's Eye waved his spiked club and charged all the way, encountering an interception by a longsword army at a crossroads. Euron laughed and did not attack immediately. The two sides were about three spears apart, each raising their weapons and staring at the enemy.

Euron laughed: "Are you the Clegane army of the Mountain?"

This team had no flags.

"Are you Crow's Eye?" a young knight shouted sharply.

Euron chuckled, resting the spiked club on his shoulder, relaxed: "Yes, I am the King of the Iron Islands, kid, get out of the way, I am only killing the Clegane army at the request of Lord Regent Kevan. Where is the Mountain?!"

"We are all the Clegane army, and also the Westerlands army," a middle-aged knight said coldly. He was Norris, a deathsworn from the Mountain's guard, once a member of the refugee spearmen. His wife, Anna, is now the Mountain's food taster, armor restorer, and sword sharpener. His little daughter is also one of the Mountain's many adopted sons and daughters.

Norris's family are all deathsworn of the Mountain, from Norris to Anna to the little girl.

"You are all a bunch of fools, where is Earl Odes? Tell him to get out here, I have something to say to him." Euron pulled up his black eye patch, revealing a dark red black eye. This strange and terrifying eye caused a slight commotion among the longsword warriors on the opposite side.

"Earl Odes is not here. If you want to negotiate, withdraw from Lannisport first," Norris shouted sharply.

"Who the hell are you?" Euron's left eye began to turn blood red, and a cruel smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"I am Norris, a guard of Lord Mountain." Norris was not afraid at all. He had long put life and death out of his mind. There were many Clegane swordsmen in this longsword team, and everyone was ordered to be defeated, not to win. Although the Westerlands nobles could not form an independent army, they joined together and pulled together a Westerlands army that was not small in strength. This Westerlands army and the Clegane army were mixed together. There were Clegane people in every army, and other noble knights in every Clegane army.

"The Mountain? Hehe, I'm here specifically to kill the Mountain." Euron slowly pulled up his eye patch, covering that terrifying left eye. He retreated, but pointed his spiked club forward: "Kill them!"

The deathsworn around Euron waved their axes and slammed into them. Norris and others shouted loudly and also rushed over.

Red cloaks and black cloaks collided, axes and longswords slashed at each other desperately. Soon, people crowded together, long-handled battle axes could not be lifted, and short knives and daggers came in handy. Euron stood leisurely in the surging crowd, carrying his spiked club.

He didn't care which side fell.

What he cared about was that what Kevan had promised him had changed. Earl Odes did not bring troops to meet him and then go to slaughter Clegane Village together. These people had become one with the Clegane people to deal with him together.

Euron was not afraid. He knew that the Westerlands army had suffered heavy casualties in the three years of war and had few troops. The generals who could fight and the great knights had basically died out. Otherwise, he would not have divided his troops and let Victarion, the most capable fighter, lead the Iron Fleet to simultaneously attack the Shield Islands in the Reach. He knew that even if he entered the palace, the most important thing for maintaining such a large naval fleet was not gems, but food.

The Reach had no shortage of food. Starting from the Shield Islands, the entire wealthy Reach was within Victarion's attack range. The Reach plains had no defenses and could be attacked anywhere. And in the great rivers and seas, three hundred warships were enough to crush any disobedience from House Tyrell.

Soon, the Ironborn and pirates gained the upper hand in the stalemate of bloody melee combat. The black iron tide pushed the red river backwards.

On the roof of a distant street, someone blew a sharp iron whistle, which was the military order to retreat.

The red cloaks retreated while fighting, and the pirates and Ironborn became more and more courageous. The fallen Westerlands warriors were all chopped into bloody pieces.

咻!

An arrow suddenly shot out, hitting an Ironborn in the throat.

The Ironborn fell over, and the axe in his hand flew into the air.

While the axe was still spinning, with two whooshing sounds, two more arrows accurately hit the vital points of two Ironborn, one in the face and one in the top of the head. The two men's actions of chasing and hacking at the enemy immediately froze, standing still.

咻咻咻!

Three more pirates were hit in vital points by arrows shot from high above, one in the eye, one in the face, and one in the throat.

"There are archers up high!" an Ironborn shouted.

Euron also saw that on the high tower not far away, there were two archers standing, with full quivers beside them. The two archers, one male and one female, were not flustered, constantly drawing and releasing arrows, all of which hit the mark.

In just a short while, more than a dozen of the Ironborn and pirates in front fell down, and the enemy took the opportunity to get rid of the pursuit and fled in panic. And as long as the Ironborn and pirates stopped, the other side did not shoot, but as long as anyone dared to take a step forward, they would be shot to death, either in the face or in the throat. Even if they made a dodging action, it would be of no avail. The other side were divine archers, never missing a shot.

These two divine archers are Julie Clegane and Anguy Clegane!