Seeing the tragic state of the dock area, the Knight Guards realized that what Linde had said earlier was true; a large number of Ironborn had indeed attacked Oldtown, but it was too late to follow Linde's orders now.
With a hint of unease, the Knight Guards gathered before Linde, their heads slightly bowed, like children who had made a mistake.
One of them mustered the courage to ask, "My Lord, what should we do now?"
Linde looked at these Knight Guards. Although Linde wore a helmet and his face was unseen, the Knight Guards could still feel Linde's sharp gaze upon them, causing them to lower their heads even further and feel ashamed.
Just as the Knight Guards were filled with intense shame, Linde's calm voice emerged from his helmet, saying, "Our duty is to protect Lord Velas. Lord Velas is currently inside the Starry Sept, so what do you think we should do?"
The Knight Guards understood the implication of Linde's words and immediately divided themselves into two groups. Following the guard plan Linde had arranged during the day, they led some ordinary guards to the two street entrances leading to the Starry Sept plaza, finding relatively narrow positions to guard.
Linde watched these Knight Guards, saying nothing. He neither told them that this method of guarding was wrong nor informed them that the most important thing to do now was to open the Starry Sept's gates and take Velas away, or to go to the military camp outside the city, or to the Hightower, all of which would be much safer than staying here.
Linde needed to use the Ironborn attack on Oldtown to establish his prestige within this Dornish expeditionary force, especially among these Knight Guards trained by House Tyrell.
On the journey before, these Knights of House Tyrell had indeed obeyed Linde's orders, appearing to acknowledge Linde's position as Captain of the Guards. However, in reality, they were merely putting on a show for Velas. In their hearts, they more or less believed that Linde was not qualified to be Captain of the Guards.
Because, in their view, the Captain of the Guards' ability was secondary; loyalty was paramount, and no one in this world could be more loyal than these direct line Knights of House Tyrell.
Linde did not care about this. As long as these Knight Guards could execute his orders without reservation, it was fine. Although the Knight Guards' actions of disobeying his orders earlier were understandable, disobeying orders was still a fact.
If it were peacetime, he would certainly punish these Knight Guards to make them remember the consequences of disobeying his orders. But now, he didn't need to do anything; the Ironborn would naturally punish these Knight Guards for him. Those who managed to survive this Ironborn invasion should firmly remember the importance of obeying his orders.
Linde remained standing in front of the main entrance of the Starry Sept, appearing completely unconcerned about the situation within Oldtown. However, in reality, Linde had already sent Glory to climb onto a nearby building, and through shared vision, he had a clear view of the situation inside Oldtown.
It was evident that the person leading this group of Ironborn was not a simple individual; he had thoroughly investigated the situation in Oldtown beforehand and made some arrangements.
Although Linde was unsure why the Hightower lookouts had not given the alarm, it was certainly related to the person leading the Ironborn.
After landing, the Ironborn appeared to be indiscriminately burning, killing, and looting, but in reality, it was clear that their targets were carefully planned.
For example, after storming the docks, the Ironborn directly attacked the Oldtown City Watch's resting point in the dock area, easily eliminating all the Watch's defensive forces at the docks, and freely plundering the warehouses in the dock area, which were filled with various goods.
Afterward, the Ironborn split into four groups. One group ran directly to the arch bridge connecting Oldtown city to the Hightower, pushing down and igniting various timbers prepared nearby onto the bridge, creating a barrier of fire to prevent the Hightower's defensive forces from rescuing the city.
Another two groups separately attacked two important strongholds of the City Watch in the city district where the Town Hall was located. This was not to completely wipe out the Watch but to tie them down, preventing them from reinforcing the docks.
The last group quickly headed towards the Oldtown city gates, seemingly intending to seize the gates and completely block House Tyrell's army outside the city before they could enter.
As for the vast majority of the other Ironborn, apart from a portion remaining in the dock area to transport various goods, the rest rushed towards Oldtown's commercial and rich districts, looting without any restraint.
Although through various schemes, the Ironborn now seemed to have seized the initiative, and the entire Oldtown was theirs for the taking, in reality, Oldtown was not without resistance.
While the two main forces of the Oldtown City Watch were tied down by the Ironborn, they also tied down the most elite part of the Ironborn, significantly reducing the pressure on other areas.
Furthermore, Oldtown had a large number of sea merchants. These sea merchants, having traded abroad for many years, had encountered countless dangers and were themselves battle-hardened warriors. They also had guards, more or less, by their side. To save their lives and protect their property, these sea merchants also led their guards in resisting the Ironborn's plunder.
Additionally, the Ironborn leader perhaps did not expect that the hundreds of Knights who should have been in the military camp outside the city were actually in the taverns and brothels of the commercial district. Although most of them were drunk and could barely stand, let alone pick up weapons, there were still quite a few Knights capable of fighting.
Besides this, although the arch bridge at the Hightower was blocked, the sea below the reefs was not intercepted by the Ironborn. When Linde looked towards the Hightower, he had already seen small boats filled with soldiers sailing towards the city across the water.
However, these resistances were only sporadic and could not completely stop the Ironborn's plunder; they merely slowed down the speed of the plunder a little. The true support that would arrive soon was the House Tyrell army that had already entered the city, and it was clear that Jon must have followed his orders.
The Ironborn force sent to the north city gate inevitably encountered the House Tyrell army entering the city. With two waves of cavalry charges and the infantry advancing behind, this Ironborn unit was quickly annihilated.
Afterward, House Tyrell's cavalry advanced first towards the Starry Sept, presumably to protect Velas, while the remaining forces split into two, one heading to the City Watch headquarters in the municipal district, and the other to the dock area.
Although the burning blockade on the arch bridge at the Hightower had not yet been cleared, House Hightower's soldiers had already been transported by boat into the city and began engaging the Ironborn.
As for the people in the commercial district, they also used various facilities to hinder the Ironborn's ransacking. Except for the Ironborn in the dock area, the other Ironborn invading Oldtown were in a rather precarious situation.
However, Linde discovered that the person leading this Ironborn force did not seem to intend to retreat like this but had other ideas. So, he saw a group of Ironborn from the dock area splitting off and rushing towards the Starry Sept. It seemed they were targeting Velas, and judging by the Ironborn's speed and the distance between the two locations, they should be able to reach the Starry Sept before House Tyrell's cavalry.
Realizing that this battle was inevitable, Linde gave Glory the command to hide and ambush when the opportunity arose. Then, he exited the shared vision state, stepped onto the plaza, drew the Lost Knight's Greatsword from his waist, and waited for the Ironborn to arrive, facing the downhill road leading to the dock area.
Linde's actions naturally caught the attention of the Knight Guards. They immediately realized that Linde must have spotted the enemy. Consequently, all eight Knight Squires and twenty warriors moved to this road, drew their weapons, and stood at the intersection.
Soon, the Ironborn force appeared around a corner at the end of the street, surging towards the Starry Sept like a tide.
Looking at the dense Ironborn ranks ahead, the Knight Guards showed no fear. As the Ironborn charged down the slope ahead, they raised their weapons and led the other guards to meet them, engaging the Ironborn in battle.
Although the Knight Guards and their subordinate guards could block some of the Ironborn, many more Ironborn slipped through from the surroundings. They only sent a small portion of their forces to besiege the Knight Guards, while the vast majority rushed towards the Starry Sept.
Facing the Ironborn surging onto the plaza, Linde was somewhat distracted at this moment because he noticed a person hidden among this group of Ironborn.
This person had fair skin, handsome features, a pair of blue eyes like the sea, and a sinister smile perpetually on his lips.
Although he deliberately concealed his presence, it was not difficult to deduce from the way the other Ironborn around him looked at him that he was likely the leader of these Ironborn.
At this moment, the Ironborn who had charged onto the plaza had reached Linde and raised their weapons.
However, to the Ironborn's surprise, their target, who was right in front of them, suddenly vanished. Immediately after, they all lost control of their bodies, collapsing to the ground in a dizzying spin. Although their eyes could still see, their minds became blurred, and they soon lost consciousness.
Linde's figure was as agile as a leopard, his twin swords danced like a whirlwind, and the power contained within the blades was as mighty as a battering ram. Wherever he passed, no one could resist; they didn't even see where the attack came from before they were all split in half by the Lost Knight's Greatsword.
Linde unleashed the Lost Knight's Swordsmanship without reservation for the first time. Combined with the Lost Knight's Greatsword crafted from Valyrian steel, these leather-armored Ironborn were like blades of defenseless wild grass, harvested at will, not even requiring the use of any Dragon Rune power.
In the blink of an eye, everyone who had charged onto the plaza was slain on the spot by the Lost Knight's Greatsword, and blood instantly stained the plaza.
However, the Ironborn following behind seemed not to notice the scattered corpses on the ground, still blindly rushing onto the plaza. Then, as if coming to their own deaths, as soon as they stepped onto the plaza, their heads or bodies were split off by the sword blades flashing through the air, and the corpses on the plaza rapidly accumulated.
On the street, two Knight Guards were unable to withstand the surrounding attacks and were cut down. The other six Knights faced attacks from all directions and found it very difficult to resist. As for the twenty-odd guards, they all died in the first wave of fighting, surrounded by the Ironborn.
But with Glory's addition, the situation of the remaining Knight Guards improved slightly. Glory, following Linde's instructions, hid in the shadows, agilely seeking out isolated Ironborn. Each strike resulted in one or two Ironborn dying from its attacks.
At first, the Ironborn were unclear about what was happening until they clearly saw that it was a giant, pitch-black beast attacking them, and they all turned pale with fright.
However, even though they were all terrified by Glory, their bodies did not flee due to the fear in their hearts. Instead, they seemed to fall into a kind of berserk, bloodthirsty state, attempting to surround and attack the giant creature before them.
But Glory did not stand still and allow them to surround him. Before they could form an encirclement, it had already vanished from their sight, disappearing into the surrounding darkness. Immediately after, the people beside them were one by one dragged into the darkness on both sides of the street, and only their shrill screams could be heard emanating from the street.
Although the leader among the Ironborn was among the first to rush onto the plaza mixed in with his subordinates, his intuition was very strong. When Linde launched his attack, he sensed danger and promptly retreated, avoiding Linde's strike.
He then saw that all of his subordinates were lying on the ground, their bodies severed into several pieces, and Linde, who had caused all this, turned to look at him.
An unprecedented fear of death instantly enveloped his heart, and a vague voice he had once heard whispered in his ear. Although he did not understand what language the whisper was in, he understood its meaning: to flee quickly.
Whether it was trust in that vague voice or fear of death, he disregarded his image, scrambling and crawling under the Ironborn surging from behind, using his hands and feet to quickly crawl away from the plaza. Even when trampled by his own subordinates, he dared not stop for a moment to check the situation behind him.
However, his danger did not end with his escape from the plaza. Just as he felt temporarily safe and was getting up from the ground, a dark shadow appeared before him, along with sharp claws and teeth lunging for his neck.
He instinctively reacted by falling back to the ground, just managing to duck under the pouncing dark shadow. However, his movement was a bit slow; when he fell, his head did not completely evade the shadow's attack, and his left eyeball was grazed by the shadow's sharp claws.
A sharp pain shot through his eye. He knew his left eye was gone, but he had no mind to check the injury. The danger brought by that dark shadow had not disappeared. He had no choice but to rush back into the midst of his subordinates, being pushed by them back towards the plaza.
Linde did not leave the plaza at this moment but waited for the Ironborn to come to him. Almost everyone who charged onto the plaza died under his sword before they could even figure out what was happening.
After slaying over a hundred people, Linde also noticed something was wrong with these Ironborn. Because, by common sense, even if these Ironborn were as bloodthirsty and warlike as possible, seeing so many corpses on the plaza and seeing him kill so many people by himself, they would certainly feel fear and consequently flee.
Yet, the reality was that these Ironborn completely disregarded their lives, as if they had transformed into the most valiant warriors in the world, continuously attacking Linde.
"Something's wrong!" The Ironborn's abnormal behavior immediately made Linde realize what was happening. At the same time, he also noticed that the Ironborn leader who had just escaped from his sword had now returned to the plaza. However, compared to before, his left eye seemed to be severely injured, with some blood seeping out from the gaps in the hand covering it.
Seeing this, Linde swung his twin swords, slaying the four Ironborn who had charged forward, then turned and rushed towards the Ironborn leader.
That Ironborn leader had an astonishing intuition for danger. He once again felt the threat of death, and at the same time, the murmuring whispers reappeared in his ear. As if guided by something, he unhesitatingly stepped over the railing at the edge of the plaza and, before Linde could slay the obstructing Ironborn and attack him, he jumped off the new cliff ahead.
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