Chapter 194: Unexpected Death
Beyond the Wall, True North
POV of Domeric Bolton
The White Walker charged forward, but Domeric was there to take the hit this time.
He locked his sword with its ice sword, and they stared into each other's eyes. For a moment, he was almost tempted to attempt a legilimency probe before he realized how foolish such a thing would be.
Then the White Walker started pressing him back, but that only lasted a mere second before Varko came from beside him and joined the fight.
The White Walker backed away from Varko, and Domeric took the chance and used his superior speed to flank the White Walker and surprise it.
But there was no surprise on its face. The White Walker saw him coming and backed away once more. Only to come to a sudden stop as it struck against something else.
Or someone else.
Benjen Stark stood behind the White Walker. A Dragonglass dagger was in his hands, and he had tried to stab the White Walker with it.
Just like him, the White Walker also had magical armor that the dagger had no hope of penetrating.
Before he could shout a warning, the White Walker turned around and sliced at Benjen Stark.
To his credit, Benjen managed to get the dagger up in time.
Domeric raised his Excalibur sword and, with a pulling move, cast a spell that he hoped would save Benjen: Accio.
Domeric wasn't in a position to consider whether others had seen him perform magic at the moment. Benjen Stark's life was far more important.
Unless he cast any mighty spells, suspicion could be thrown on Gryffindor, the sword Children of Forest had 'created.'
And there wasn't much chance Domeric could cast powerful magic anyway, at least not in this environment.
But the spell did not affect the White Walker at all.
And the Ice Sword, along with the White Walker's immense strength, simply cut through the Dragonglass Dagger before it went ahead and cut the magical armor and came out of the other side.
Cutting Benjen Stark in half without any apparent effort as well.
"No."
Then, Domeric's spell from earlier took effect, and the White Walker was pulled back about a meter. But the White Walker didn't even stumble, just skidded backward on his feet.
It seemed that this environment created by the White Walkers was not only dominating and weakening his magic but also delaying its effects.
The White Walker turned back to look at him. There was no pride or joy in its face. As if killing the younger brother of the Warden of the North meant nothing to him.
For all he knew, it probably did mean nothing to it. But it meant something to Domeric.
"Fuck!!!" he cursed for the second time in the duration of the battle as he charged forward, desperately hoping to kill it so it wouldn't be able to kill anyone else.
But what he hoped didn't happen. The White Walker didn't die at his blade, nor at Varko's.
They fought for what seemed like hours to him, but were probably only a mere dozen seconds in truth, before it managed to kick Varko away.
Varko fell into the snowstorm, and he felt nervous for the first time in this battle.
Before coming here, he should have performed a body-enhancement ritual on Varko and on the others as well. But he assumed this expedition was just for show and didn't prepare enough. And now he was paying the price.
Yes, the White Walkers' return was a serious matter, and the sooner the other lords knew, the better.
But did he really need to come to this damned frozen place so soon? Why hadn't he listened to his aunt and postponed this expedition until a little later?
He could have performed a body-enhancement ritual on Varko, Ygritte, Raksa, and even Walton. He could have crafted the Dragonglass grenades he'd previously considered but never had the chance to put into practice.
Then he wouldn't have been in such a dangerous situation. Apparently, Domeric had become overly complacent and arrogant after coming to this world.
His recent decisions showed this. And if they returned safe and sound, he needed to do something about it.
The Ice Monster looked at him with apathetic eyes and moved toward him with slow steps.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have had any reason to fear this monster. Yes, this White Walker appeared stronger and more experienced than the others. It was likely much older than the ones he'd encountered so far.
But if Domeric could wield his foci swords at full power, he believed he could handle this one without much difficulty, just as he had dealt with the other White Walkers.
But because of the environment the White Walkers had created, because of the dominance they had placed over his magic, he couldn't reveal his true power.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to say they weren't allowing him to reveal his true power.
Were the White Walkers aware of how he had killed the previous White Walker? Had the White Walker he had later encountered and distracted while capturing the wight told them about his powers?
Or could they all see what each other saw, as if they shared a common consciousness?
Whatever it was, Domeric didn't have much time for such thoughts.
He reached into his bottomless pouch and took out an orb filled with Wildfire and threw it at its feet.
At this point, he had to try everything he had. If he could find an opening against the White Walker, perhaps he could eliminate it quickly.
Because his fear wasn't just the White Walker, although Domeric could somehow match the White Walker, over time, the wight army increased its pressure on the others.
And if Domeric couldn't find a way to reverse this situation, he feared that, even if he returned alive, many of them wouldn't make it.
The White Walker looked at the wildfire orb, and the cold around it spiked for a moment.
The orb fell on the ground, covered in a layer of frozen snow. It never even got the chance to ignite.
"Fuck."
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.195: Anticlimactic End
Ch.196: We're Heading Back