Chapter 33:
Atop the Wall, midnight.
Although it was always winter here, the cold these past few nights had reached an abnormal extreme.
The temperature had plummeted to minus forty degrees Celsius. The moisture in the air seemed to freeze instantly, and the white breath exhaled turned into ice shards before it could even disperse.
This was the magic of the Others — the Domain of Extreme Cold.
"Click… click…"
Behind the Wall's defenses, a Pompey grenadier desperately tried to work the bolt of his musket.
It was frozen.
The lubricating oil had solidified into glue, the hammer was sealed by ice, and even the gunpowder seemed to have been dampened and rendered useless.
"Can't light the fire!" Edd the Doleful shouted in terror. "The torches won't ignite! This cursed weather has frozen the fire itself to death!"
Below the Wall, the teeth-grinding scraping sound grew closer.
Rustle… rustle…
It didn't sound like human climbing. It was more like some multi-legged arthropod moving rapidly across the ice.
Jon Snow poked his head out and, under the faint starlight, saw a sight that made his scalp tingle.
On the sheer, smooth hundreds-of-meters-high ice wall, countless enormous ice spiders were crawling densely.
They were crystal-clear, as large as hunting hounds, with eight sharp ice legs that dug into the ice like chisels, moving at terrifying speed. On the back of every spider rode a roaring wight!
"It's the legendary ice spiders!" Old Mormont (though retired to the rear) cried out in horror. "They ignore terrain! The muskets are useless! Draw swords! Prepare for melee!"
The Night's Watch brothers frantically drew their swords. At this distance and in this temperature, if the firearms failed, they would be slaughtered by these agile monsters.
However, Victor Pompey, standing on the command tower, merely tightened his bearskin cloak and checked the time on the pocket watch in his hand.
"Minus forty-five degrees. Hmm, the Night King does have some skill."
Victor turned around and looked at Maester Qyburn (who had been forcibly brought along as technical director) and the group of busy craftsmen behind him.
"Is the boiler pressure sufficient?"
"It is, my lord!" Qyburn's face was flushed with excitement as he pointed at the massive steel machine that was roaring like a beast. "The pressure gauge has reached the red line! Ready to release at any moment!"
This was the [High-Pressure Steam Heat Exchange System] that Victor had built using the geothermal resources beneath the Wall, combined with system blueprints.
"Then… release the steam."
Victor pulled down the red lever.
Hiss——!!!
A sharp whistle pierced the silence atop the Wall!
Immediately after, the copper pipes buried beneath the defensive positions grew hot. Boiling high-pressure steam surged through the pipes, and the frozen bolts and gun mechanisms thawed rapidly within seconds.
More importantly, the pre-buried sprinkler pipes on the outer side of the Wall activated.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Countless columns of white steam erupted downward!
Although the steam would cool quickly in the extreme cold air, in the instant it was released, the hundreds-of-degrees heat wave was deadly poison to the ice spiders that relied on cold to survive!
"Screeeech——!!!"
The dozens of ice spiders at the very front were hit directly by the high-temperature steam. Their crystal-clear bodies instantly cracked, emitting painful shrieks as they fell from mid-air like dumplings.
"Bolts thawed! Cannons repositioned!"
The grenadier captain roared. "Load special ammunition!"
This time, they loaded the cannons not with solid iron balls.
But with ceramic jars marked with red skulls.
Inside were [System-Improved Wildfire (Napalm Variant)].
"Target: the wall face!"
"Fire!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Several small-caliber quick-firing cannons fired at the outer face of the Wall.
The ceramic jars shattered upon impact with the ice.
Immediately after, Melisandre stood at the top of the command tower and swung her staff fiercely.
"Lord of Light, ignite them!"
Whoosh——!
The wildfire, which was normally difficult to ignite in low temperatures, exploded into flames under the catalysis of magic!
At that moment, the Wall of the Far North turned into a waterfall of fire!
Orange-red flames flowed down the ice wall. The sticky oil adhered to the ice spiders and wights, impossible to shake off no matter how hard they tried.
The once-arrogant creatures of ice and snow turned into countless burning fireballs, screaming as they plummeted into the abyss.
"This… this is science?"
Jon Snow watched the spectacular scene, feeling his worldview shatter once again.
On one side was the mechanical roar of steampunk, on the other the raging waves of magical flames.
The two had perfectly fused in Victor's hands.
"No, Jon."
Victor walked to his side and handed him a cup of coffee that had just been heated on the steam pipes.
"This is called industrialized pest control."
At that moment, the elevator on the south side of the Wall made the sound of turning winches.
A massive caravan, braving the wind and snow, finally arrived at Black Castle.
The caravan flew the Stark direwolf banner.
From the lead carriage stepped a red-haired girl dressed in thick furs, her beautiful face carrying a resolute air.
Sansa Stark.
Current Acting Lady of Winterfell.
She did not look haggard from the long journey. Instead, she commanded with authority:
"Unload the coal at the boiler house! Store the grain! Carry the wounded to the rear — the maesters are ready!"
"Distribute the newly made cotton clothes — two sets per person!"
Thousands of Northern laborers, under her command, efficiently replenished the Wall's supplies.
Victor watched the scene with a flash of admiration in his eyes.
The silly girl who once only cried and dreamed of princes had finally grown into a capable Queen of the North in this chaotic world.
Sansa seemed to sense the gaze and looked up.
When she saw the black figure standing amid flames and steam, her previously stern face instantly bloomed into a gentle smile.
She lifted her skirts and quickly ran up the stairs, ignoring the surrounding soldiers' stares, and threw herself into Victor's arms.
"I brought all of the North's stockpiles."
Sansa panted in his embrace, her voice carrying a hint of coquettishness and credit-seeking. "Coal, oil, and the sulfur you wanted."
"Wasn't I amazing?"
Victor smiled and gently pinched her nose, his eyes full of affection.
"Amazing. Much better than your brother who only knows how to charge forward (Robb)."
He held Sansa and turned to face the sea of flames still burning outside the Wall, and the pair of furious blue eyes in the distant darkness (the Night King).
"Look, Sansa."
"This is the fireworks I lit for you."
"With you behind me, not even a god can cross this Wall."
…
At the same time, ten miles north of the Wall.
The Night King sat atop his dead horse, staring at the Wall that was spewing both steam and fire. For the first time, a crack appeared on his eternally unchanging frozen face.
Physical attacks (guns and cannons) were ineffective.
Magical attacks (winter) were ineffective.
Special forces (ice spiders) were completely annihilated.
This human… did not play by the rules.
The Night King slowly raised the ice crystal spear in his hand.
Since conventional methods didn't work.
Then it was time to use his trump card.
He looked toward the far north, at the altar known as the "Land of Always Winter."
There, a dead ancient frost bone dragon lay sleeping.
Although it lacked the flesh and blood of Daenerys' true dragons, it… was very large. And it was not afraid of fire.
The Night King's blue eyes glowed intensely.
Since you want to play big, let's play big.
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