"The...the White Walkers are coming!"
A soldier cried out in surprise, followed by a flurry of footsteps.
The city walls were filled with people, who looked at the endless army of the undead, their hearts filled with despair: Could we still win?
"Everyone, hurry back and prepare for defense! Quickly, quickly, quickly!"
After being shouted "Hurry up!" three times, the soldiers finally snapped out of their daze, grabbed their weapons with a restless air, and stood in their designated positions.
With morale so low, Jon had no solution, because he, too, had no hope of victory.
Rumble!
Behind the city, a human army was rapidly approaching Winterfell.
"Reinforcements! Look, reinforcements!"
The soldiers guarding the city walls cheered as they saw the approaching human army.
Upon hearing the cheers, Jon hurriedly ran towards the other side of the city wall.
"Haha, we're here to help you!"
The wildlings who came to the rescue were the same ones who had crossed the Wall earlier. After settling their tribe, they heard the news of the undead army's attack and Jon Snow's desperate defense of Winterfell, and spontaneously gathered an army to come and support Winterfell.
"It's you!"
Jon Snow cried out in surprise from the city wall. He never expected that the reinforcements would be wildlings.
"Aren't we welcome?"
A smile appeared on Jon's lips. He waved for the soldiers to open the city gates, and then went down to greet them.
"Tormond, I really didn't expect you to come here."
The two embraced, and the red-haired savage laughed heartily.
"You saved us, and now we've come to save you!"
Jon Snow gave a wry smile in response to the wildling's straightforwardness.
"Tormond, you shouldn't have come. The White Walker army has arrived, not far from the city. I..."
"Where is she! Take me there quickly!"
The red-haired savage brandished his large axe, looking eager to try.
"Don't rush, they haven't attacked the city yet, it seems they're waiting for something."
With the arrival of the wildlings, Jon finally saw a glimmer of hope for victory, but it was only a glimmer.
The savages who came to their aid numbered five thousand, and together with the six thousand soldiers in the city, they numbered only eleven thousand. They were facing an army of a million undead, and no matter how you looked at it, the hope of victory was extremely slim.
After settling the savages and replacing their dragonglass weapons, Jon finally had time to properly observe the undead army.
"Can you tell how many people are on the other side?"
The red-haired savage was dizzy from counting the number of people, so he asked Jon a question.
"I don't know, there are too many, I can't even count them all, at least 500,000."
Jon's tone was bitter. If someone had come to their aid and held off the undead army outside the Wall, their numbers wouldn't have increased so much.
Keep in mind that the undead army previously numbered only a few hundred thousand, but now it's estimated to have exceeded a million.
"so much!"
The red-haired savage exclaimed in surprise, looked at the axe in his hand, and doubted whether he could defeat his opponent.
"Something's wrong! Everyone on high alert!"
Jon lay on the city wall and shouted at the resting soldiers.
The undead army, which had been motionless just moments before, suddenly advanced. In the center of them, the Night King, riding a ghoul horse, was slowly moving forward with the army.
As the two drew closer, Jon's palms began to sweat.
"Archers, prepare!"
Fear gripped the soldiers, who, upon receiving their orders, all raised their bows and arrows and aimed them at the undead army below.
"put!"
Arrows rained down on the undead army, and every undead hit by the arrows turned to dust and vanished.
Seeing that the attack was effective, the soldiers' courage increased, and the accuracy of their arrows also improved.
The fences surrounding the city also came in handy at this time, since the dragon crystals on them were not just for show.
The red-haired savage gripped a large axe forged from dragon crystal in both hands, eager to join the battle.
The Night King, in the center of the undead army, realized the situation was not right and immediately ordered his troops to retreat.
The soldiers on the city wall couldn't help but cheer when they saw the undead army retreating.
"We won! We defeated the undead army!"
Cheers filled Winterfell, but Jon Snow alone had a furrowed brow.
The battle had only lasted a dozen minutes, and the arrows were already mostly used up. At this rate, the dragon crystals in the warehouse wouldn't last until the end of the war.
Arrows made of dragon crystal are all consumables; they are scrapped after one use and cannot be recycled at all.
Dragon crystal is too brittle; if it's polished into an arrowhead shape, it will shatter upon a single impact.
Jon sighed and stood on the city wall, gazing into the distance. The undead army had not retreated far, only about a hundred meters.
"Everyone must remain vigilant and take turns resting to prevent an enemy attack."
After making some quick arrangements, Jon began inspecting the city walls to check for any gaps in the defenses.
Time flew by, night fell, and the cold wind howled on the city walls, making the soldiers on night watch shiver with cold.
"Damn it! How long are we supposed to keep guarding this place?"
One soldier couldn't help but complain because the nights in the North were just too cold.
"Come on, have some strong liquor to warm yourself up."
Another soldier took out a wine flask from his pocket and handed it to the soldier next to him.
"Why didn't you bring out this good stuff sooner!"
The soldier took the wine jug and tilted his head back to drink a large gulp.
"The night is still long, don't drink it all, you'll need it for the rest of the night."
The soldier snatched the wine jug, tucked it into his arms, and stood by the fire to warm his hands.
Jon Snow, who was patrolling the city walls, did not stop the soldiers from drinking, because it was too cold in the North, and they would freeze to death on night watch if they didn't drink some alcohol.
Looking in the direction of the undead army, all you could see was pitch black; nothing else was visible.
Just as Jon was about to leave, he suddenly noticed something moving in the darkness.
"Light the torches, quick!"
Jon grabbed the soldier beside him and made him light the bonfires below the city.
boom!
The fire burned, illuminating the area below the city wall.
"Send the signal quickly to assemble the soldiers!"
Jon's expression changed; countless undead armies were stacked on top of each other beneath the city walls.
Chapter 173 Instant Kill
The barriers that had blocked the undead army during the day have now been breached.
A portion of the undead split off and lay down in front of the fence as human cushions, allowing the undead behind to step over their bodies and leap over the fence, rushing straight towards the city wall.
If Jon hadn't discovered it in time, some undead might have already secretly climbed the city walls.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The piercing screams woke the drowsy soldiers.
The soldiers on night watch turned pale with fright when they saw the undead less than a meter away from them at the foot of the city wall.
"Archers, all of you, get to the city walls! Those with spears, keep stabbing down!"
The soldiers who frantically climbed the city wall didn't have time to think. If they didn't act soon, the dead would be face to face with them.
"Throw kerosene!"
Bottles of kerosene were thrown at the dead, setting them ablaze.
If it were a normal person, they would have been screaming in agony by now, but Jon and the others were facing corpses, corpses that felt no pain and were unafraid of death.
Even if you pour kerosene on them, they will still desperately climb the city wall unless their legs and hands are burned off.
If kerosene doesn't work, let's try something else.
"Throw Maki!"
A log as thick as a thigh was thrown off the city wall. The log was covered with dragon crystals. With a roll, a section of the city wall was cleared away in an instant.
Jon, wielding a longsword, roared loudly.
"Get moving, everyone! Don't let them get up here!"
The bows and arrows polished from dragon crystal were all used up, and the archers began to use spears to defend themselves.
Soon the first undead rushed onto the city wall, followed by the second, the third...
Even with their best efforts, the soldiers responsible for the defense could not drive the spirits of the dead off the city walls.
The city walls began to fall in large areas, and a large number of undead poured into the city.
Jon Snow, who was wielding his longsword to slay the undead, felt his heart sink to the bottom. It was over. Everything was over.
The battle cries gradually subsided as soldiers were overwhelmed by the undead, and those who fell never had a chance to rise again.