387 Chapter 387: Tyrion's Despair

Karhold's walls were tall and formidable, easy to defend but hard to attack.

Indeed, the army of the dead faced setbacks in their assault on Karhold. The commanders and soldiers of the allied forces, now with ample experience against the wights, seemed to handle the situation more adeptly.

Whoosh——

Barrels of oil, transported continuously from the Seven Kingdoms and even the continent of Essos, were poured down as if they were free. The roaring flames burned incessantly, and wights charged forward only to be buried in the sea of fire.

Huff~

The fire lit up the entire sky, thick smoke billowing into the heavens. Even from the distant sea of the Bite, one could see the glow. The smell of burnt dust and foul odor wafted in the wind.

The allied forces of the Seven Kingdoms fought valiantly at Karhold, resisting with a united front, briefly halting the advance of the White Walkers.

But the good times didn't last.

Two days and one night of intense warfare passed. The war between the living and the dead was a heated battle every minute, with no room for respite.

"We can't retreat! We can't retreat!"

"Hold the line!"

Edmure Tully, the Riverlands' famous general, covered in blood, roared hoarsely.

He had been pulled back three times already, and in the span of two days and one night, he had only rested for two hours.

The Earl of Hornwood, clutching his sword, leaned against the base of Karhold's city wall, squinting his eyes. Now, his eyes were filled with a dense web of blood vessels, but he still stood at the front line with his soldiers.

"Quick, the third squad, retreat and rest, the fourth squad, take their place!"

Then, Edmure Tully, panting heavily, looked at the situation before him, his heart still maintaining calm, and then roared loudly.

The third squad, on the verge of collapse under the continuous onslaught of the wights, got a chance to breathe. The fourth squad, which had suffered heavy casualties when they were rotated out not long ago, still bravely took their place.

The allied forces' shaky front line was stabilized.

"Kill!"

The battlefield was still intense. After two days and one night, all the allied soldiers, despite having several squads rotating continuously and having some time to eat and drink, were already unable to hold on. After all, this was a highly tense battlefield, where one could lose their life in a moment of carelessness.

All the allied soldiers had bloodshot eyes, their eyes filled with dense blood vessels. After being rotated out from the front line, they didn't even have time to find a place to rest, they just found a spot and fell asleep.

But even in deep sleep, their weapons were still tightly gripped, with no relaxation at all.

The medics were even busier. They were also working non-stop. A large number of injured soldiers who didn't receive medical treatment were carried off the battlefield and then died.

Their bodies needed to be cremated to prevent them from suddenly rising and becoming new White Walkers.

After two days and one night of intense battle, not only the ordinary soldiers, but also the entire allied forces, including King Robert, the nobles, were all severely tormented.

The soldiers of the allied forces were living people. They needed sleep, rest, and food. On a mental level, they also needed hope, encouragement, and comfort. Now they were all supported by a single breath of spirit.

But the army of the dead didn't need any of that. They were like emotionless beasts, not needing rest, not knowing fatigue, not needing food, and continuously, madly attacking the third line of defense of the Seven Kingdoms' allied forces at Karhold.

This kind of war was a war of attrition. If they couldn't outlast the other side, the allied forces would ultimately fall.

The allied forces had already performed very well in this war. In the previous two battles, they didn't even hold on for a day and a night before their lines collapsed.

The Battle of Karhold was different from the Battle of White Harbor. This was a collision between the main forces of both sides. In the Battle of White Harbor, the allied forces held on for a long time because the army of the dead didn't deploy many troops, and they didn't directly crush the resistance of the allied forces.

However, as Duke Tywin said in the pre-war meeting, it was impossible to defeat the White Walkers by holding the line. They had to fully utilize the advantage of human intelligence and win by surprise.

The greatest advantage humans had against the White Walkers was not cavalry, but their brains.

The dead didn't have brains, and although the White Walkers were monsters with brains, their numbers were few. On the human side, there were many wise minds.

Then, the allied forces held on for another night, until the third day after the start of the battle, when the sky was just getting light, and the horizon was turning white.

The commander of the allied forces, King Robert, finally issued the order to retreat. This time it wasn't because the allied forces' line had collapsed, but because the king had actively issued the order to retreat.

The defeat was like a mountain collapsing, as if the last breath of pressure on the hearts of the allied soldiers had been released.

The method the allied forces used was still to set fire to cover their retreat. All the oil stored in Karhold was ignited all at once, the roaring flames shot into the sky, the ancient castle that had existed for ten thousand years swayed in the fire, until finally, it let out a mournful sound, and Karhold collapsed.

And the soldiers of the allied forces gathered on the causeway of the Neck, retreating towards the rear. Some were even pushed off the causeway, sinking into the rotten mud pit that emitted a foul smell, but no one was willing to lend a hand.

The third line of defense of the Seven Kingdoms' allied forces was the entire Neck. Karhold was easy to defend and hard to attack due to geographical reasons, but it couldn't accommodate too many soldiers. There were still a large number of allied soldiers south of the Neck.

Therefore, giving up Karhold didn't mean giving up the entire Neck and a complete defeat. The allied forces allied with the Crannogmen living in the Neck, the Reed family of Greywater Watch had a close private relationship with the Stark family, and the head of the Reed family, Howland Reed, was the leader of the Crannogmen.

He was willing to help train the allied soldiers to survive in the Neck, lead them to familiarize themselves with the complex narrow paths and waterways in the reeds, and use the natural barrier of the Neck to unite and fight against the existence of the White Walkers.

The allied forces retreated in a panic after the defeat. The kings and nobles of the Seven Kingdoms left Karhold first.

Large and small carriages, nobles dressed in armor, ran at the front.

However, Tyrion, the heir to the Westerlands, did not enjoy such treatment. He followed his father to the battlefield with great joy, even met the king and many dukes.

But he never expected that his father would abandon him on the battlefield at this time.

"No."

"I wasn't abandoned on the battlefield, my father wants me dead."

Tyrion's hands and feet were bound by chains, lying deep in the dungeon of Karhold, his small body struggling constantly, feeling the temperature above his head getting hotter and hotter, and the howling of the wights was clearly audible.

On his ugly face, his eyes showed deep despair.