The ice spears shot from the distance struck Robb's breastplate, instantly bursting into an ice bloom. Several red lines of blood followed, covering Robb's body.
Yet Robb only staggered slightly. After steadying himself, he looked down at his chest. The breastplate had been blasted open, leaving a large hole, but the skin beneath, with veins protruding, remained untouched.
Ice spiders crawled onto the wights, their eight agile legs quickly moving atop their heads. Several Others rushed toward Robb, preparing for close combat.
The tremendous strength of the Others was nothing before Robb, who had consumed the potion. With a swing of his two Valyrian steel swords, Robb cleaved the Others in half, along with their ice weapons.
"Over there!"
Robb glanced at the direction and continued charging westward, tumbling through the pile of wights. He dodged the incoming attacks from the Others as best he could, only killing those who blocked his path.
Both Robb and the Others knew that his immense defense was temporary. The stronger the effect, the shorter its duration. Once the potion wore off, Robb would be doomed.
At that moment, a purple shadow leaped from the wight swarm. Jon arrived at Robb's side. "Robb, come with me! Something dangerous is coming!"
"What are you doing back here? I can get out myself. You go ahead!" Robb had anticipated being trapped deep in enemy lines and was confident in his ability to break out alone.
Two Others, wielding ice swords, thrust at Robb from behind. Several purple figures appeared around them before vanishing quickly. The two Others, seeing Jon's movements, couldn't react in time and could only watch as their wrists, arms, bodies, and legs were torn apart.
Jon tilted his sword, Red Rain, toward the ground, shaking off the ice that had stuck to it. Then, he raised his sword, pointing toward the north. "No, look over there!"
Robb turned his head and followed the direction Jon pointed. He saw a group of more than a dozen pale-faced vampires, dressed in luxurious clothing, surrounding a two-headed creature wearing golden armor. The creature wasn't riding an ice spider; instead, two vampires carried it on their shoulders.
One of the creature's heads was watching the battlefield, while the other was staring directly at Robb. When their eyes met, the creature raised a light blue longsword toward Robb, its face bearing a twisted, almost-smiling expression.
"That monster is holding the Sun's Maiden, the sword that House Lannister lost!"
Robb didn't recognize the monster, but he knew that sword. He and Jon had witnessed Wright forge it step by step in Tyrosh all those years ago.
"That monster seems to recognize us. It's coming for us!" Jon said, tightening his grip on Red Rain.
On the human side, the knights and mages were heavily armored and well-armed, but just by the creature's imposing presence, Robb and Jon knew it wouldn't be easy to deal with.
The two shared an unspoken understanding. Robb shouted, "He's still a distance away from us. Don't worry about him. Let's break through quickly! Follow me!"
In the distance, the two heads of the creature were conversing with each other.
"That big idiot is Robb Stark, my brother-in-law. He doesn't look so impressive." One head, with long, disheveled golden hair, spoke. It was Joffrey.
The other head, with neatly combed hair, said, "According to the intel, Robb is now the commander of the human alliance. That's Jon next to him, the commander of the Gold Cloak in King's Landing. They must have some trick up their sleeve to rush into the wight swarm and get surrounded."
"I don't care about his tricks. With my current strength, I could chop his head off in a minute!" Joffrey said, raising his hand to slap the side of the vampires carrying him, signaling them to speed up.
"Don't be rash! Robb drank some potion. We should wait for the effects to wear off before we go!" Lancel, trying to control his body, held back Joffrey. He didn't want to be dragged into a bad situation with him, especially now that their bodies were linked.
"I command you to give me control of the right side of your body!"
"Calm down! Calm down!"
Seeing the two heads bickering, the surrounding vampires didn't know whom to follow, so they stopped, waiting for the argument to end.
"Joffrey, listen!" A deep rumble reached them. Lancel finally found a way to steady Joffrey.
Vampires had highly developed hearing and sense of smell. They carefully listened to the sounds and sniffed the air.
"It's human cavalry, coming from the west!"
On the western side of the plains, thousands of warhorses were galloping, the sound of their hooves deafening.
Banners of all kinds fluttered, and the knights raised their spears at an angle, the warhorses speeding up, gradually forming into several triangular charge formations.
The leader of the Riverlands cavalry was Brynden Tully, while Lord Edmure's command had been sidelined, and he was now relegated to guarding the supply lines.
The West's army, with two knights in golden-red armor at the forefront, carried the golden lion banners atop their spears.
The two knights, a man and a woman, were Willem Lannister, heir to the Westerlands, and his wife, Rosamund Lannister, a female knight by his side.
"Catfish and lions, haha, do they really think this ragtag bunch can defeat us?"
Joffrey, naturally recognizing his own banner, turned to glance at Lencel with surprise.
"The Westerlands have nominally been under Jaime's rule these years, but in practice, it's been governed by Willem. He's done well in the past few years, so don't underestimate them. Let the Others handle it." Lencel, truly concerned about Joffrey's impulsiveness, tried to warn him.
Joffrey watched the two Lannisters charging ahead in silence for a moment, before suddenly breaking into a grin. "Compared to those northern pups, I'd rather kill members of the Lannister family!"
"Don't! Stay calm! Rosamund's magic counters us! You mustn't go after them, I beg you!"
As Joffrey stirred his internal magic, Lencel lost all control of his body and could only helplessly beg.
"Rosamund? Just some Lannister mongrel from who knows where!"
After saying this, Joffrey clapped the heads of the two men carrying his body and signaled them to rush toward Rosamund's direction. He was ready to kill the pair of Lannisters with his own hands.
Then, an out-of-place melody echoed through the air. It wasn't war drums or a bugle, but the music of foreign snake charmers.
Joffrey signaled to halt, and together with Lencel, they turned their gaze to the east.
Over three thousand riders wearing strange clothing and several thousand infantry soldiers wielding battle axes and wearing chest armor were charging toward the wights, a fierce and terrifying force.
The lead cavalry wore black armor and held black spears, with crimson capes billowing behind them.
In front of the infantry, a group of tall, faint golden armored warriors led the charge. One giant warrior holding a massive shield towered over the others by a head, standing out on the battlefield.
"Are those Dorne and Tyroshi?" Joffrey had never seen Dorne soldiers and wasn't sure.
Lencel replied, "Nymeria and the Tyroshi guards are here. That means Wright is probably nearby! Should we retreat?"
"Retreat?"
The mocking grin vanished from Joffrey's face, and his lips trembled. "It's too late."
A rumble of thunder sounded from the north, and from behind the wight army, a massive dragon, barely the size of a bird in the sky, was circling, sending out cataclysmic attacks toward the wight horde.
On the ground, crystal-clear ice blocks exploded one after another, blood magic staining the snow red, and lightning, fire, and crescent-shaped sword energy wreaked havoc among the wights.
It was Odahviing and Wright.
At the broken tower atop Harrenhal in the south, Bran Stark, the Three-Eyed Raven, stood with his hand on a magical circle. A giant magical eyeball slowly ascended.
A beam of red light shot from the eyeball toward the battlefield, and the wights that were hit showed no reaction. After all, they were already dead. But the humans under the beam had bloodshot eyes, charging at the wights in a frenzy, reckless as though fueled by adrenaline.