To the surrounding spectators, Linde's cessation of fighting caused them to let out cries of regret, as the number of people who had died by Linde's hand had accumulated to eighty-seven, almost encompassing all the warriors sent by noble families except for House Tyrell.
In particular, all the warriors of the Tully, including Ser Dalton, the leader, died by his hand. Of the Arryn, besides two who were injured by others' attacks and withdrew, all the others were also killed by him.
Although many of those who died by Linde's hand were killed by him through sneak attacks while they were fighting others, to the people around, this was not a shameful thing.
In fact, many people in the martial arts tournament did the same thing as Linde; the only difference was the quantity. It seemed that Linde could always find targets to sneak attack when fighting others.
Now, people were waiting for the number of people who died by Linde's hand to break the one hundred mark, but Linde suddenly stopped. Cries of regret immediately spread throughout the martial arts tournament, and some even loudly encouraged other participants to attack Linde.
However, the corpses at Linde's feet were too shocking. Even those participants who had not seen how Linde slaughtered before were scared. No matter how harshly the people on the sidelines cursed, they did not dare to enter within ten meters of Linde.
At this moment, in House Tyrell's temporary camp, the House Rose dignitaries watching the battle were also awestruck by the scene before them. Although there had been instances of one fighting many in the past, whether on the battlefield or in the martial arts tournament, seeing someone like Linde slaughter nearly a hundred people like cutting grass was a first.
Duke Mace Tyrell was stunned for a long time before he turned to Garlan and asked, "I remember what he was called again?"
"Linde, Linde of White Village." Garlan nodded in response, then once again introduced Linde's identity. He believed his father this time should not forget Linde's name.
Upon hearing that Garlan had recruited Linde to House Tyrell from House Kleen, he repeatedly praised it, seemingly forgetting that Fotimo, the Highgarden trainer, was standing behind him.
However, Scholar Moras soon tugged at his clothes, reminding him. Only then did he realize he had been carried away. So, he awkwardly looked at the expressionless Fotimo and said, "I remember your niece, Menedes Kleen, has already settled in Highgarden. Her age is just about the same as my daughter Margaery's, and Margaery just happens to need a companion. Let her be Margaery's lady-in-waiting!"
"Yes, My Lord, to be Lady Margaery's lady-in-waiting. This is Meny's honor." Fotimo knew this was Duke Tyrell's compensation to his family, so he did not stand on ceremony and immediately agreed.
Duke Mace Tyrell once again focused his attention on the martial arts tournament ahead. While excited by Linde's outstanding performance, he could not help but worry, "If that Linde fights His Majesty the King, he wouldn't actually go for the kill, would he?"
Facing the Duke's concern, Garlan and Fotimo, who knew Linde well, both paused, looked at each other, and said uncertainly, "He shouldn't... right?"
In the martial arts tournament, the number of people had sharply decreased to less than a hundred. Besides Linde, all the remaining people were without exception wounded. Even King Robert had been hit in the head by someone, his helmet dented and one antler broken, but he did not feel tired. Instead, he looked excited, and the warhammer in his hand was still swung with great force.
Compared to Linde, who left no survivors after he acted, others were clearly far less effective. Most of them withdrew from the martial arts tournament due to injuries, and not many people actually died, which made Linde, with a pile of corpses at his feet, stand out particularly among them.
At this time, His Majesty the King Robert was leading his remaining Storm's End guards, as well as the remaining warriors from the Vale, Riverlands, and North, to besiege the remaining Lannister warriors, determined to completely eliminate the Lannister warriors.
House Tyrell's Duke's Guard had fallen early in the siege. Only nine people from the entire guard walked out of the martial arts tournament alive. Ser Salif, who had previously stated he would not save Linde, was struck in the head with a warhammer from behind at the beginning of the battle, his fate unknown. Although the remaining Duke's Guard cooperated as much as possible, they were ultimately scattered by attackers from all directions due to the lack of a commander, resulting in their defeat.
On the other side, six warriors from House Martell of Dorne still survived. It was clear they had all participated in similar dueling competitions before and understood how to cooperate. Even when facing a siege of over a dozen warriors from minor noble families, they handled it with ease, even counter-suppressing them. It seemed they would be the ultimate winners of this battlefield.
In addition, some surviving noble warriors, not knowing their fate, came towards Linde. They seemed unaware that all the corpses on the ground were created by Linde. As a result, they also became part of the corpses on the ground, and the number of people who died by Linde's hand increased to ninety-four.
After more than ten minutes, the two battlefields in the martial arts tournament quickly decided their winners. Although the Lannister warriors possessed excellent equipment and were seasoned veterans themselves, they still could not withstand the siege led by His Majesty the King Robert and withdrew from the martial arts tournament.
As they withdrew, they also took most of the people around His Majesty the King Robert with them. Now, only three people remained around His Majesty the King Robert. Looking at the emblems on the three, one should be from the Karstark family of the North, and the other two were warriors from the Tampaton family of Nine Stars City in the Vale. And from the equipment they wore, they should all be of noble birth.
On the other side, the warriors of House Martell of Dorne had also dealt with all their opponents. Two of them also died in the martial arts tournament, and the remaining four were all covered in scars. They looked at each other, did not attack Linde, who was alone, but instead rushed towards His Majesty the King Robert.
The three warriors standing beside His Majesty the King Robert naturally would not allow the Dornish warriors to approach His Majesty the King Robert. They also rushed forward to block them.
However, these three noble warriors clearly underestimated the Dornish warriors' fighting spirit. Three of the four Dornish warriors, like suicidal fighters, exchanged their lives for lives with the noble warriors, and the remaining one rushed towards His Majesty the King Robert, apparently intending to perish with His Majesty the King Robert using the same method.
The people around obviously also saw the Dornish warrior's intention and could not help but exclaim. The Kingsguard also rushed into the martial arts tournament, preparing to stop him.
However, His Majesty the King Robert completely disregarded the Dornish warrior's intention. Like a war chariot, he charged towards the Dornish warrior, using the armored right arm holding the warhammer to block the Dornish warrior's scimitar. At the same time, he grabbed the Dornish warrior's throat with his left hand, and with a forceful twist, he broke his neck.
"What are you doing? The martial arts tournament isn't over yet! Who let you in? Get out!" At this moment, His Majesty the King Robert saw the Kingsguard and Gold Cloaks rushing into the martial arts tournament and immediately shouted loudly at them.
Everyone stopped. Seeing His Majesty the King Robert throw the Dornish warrior's body to the ground, they breathed a slight sigh of relief and all walked out of the martial arts tournament.
At this moment, only Linde and His Majesty the King Robert remained inside the martial arts tournament, and the entire martial arts tournament fell silent.
Robert Baratheon stared at Linde, his final opponent, his gaze sweeping over the corpses on the ground, his expression becoming much more serious.
Although he had been focused on the battle just now, he could still hear the cheers of the surrounding spectators and knew that an incredibly strong warrior had appeared in the martial arts tournament, with nearly a hundred people having died by his hand.
At the time, he thought it was just an illusion of the bystanders, but now seeing Linde and the corpses at his feet, he began to believe the content of those cheers.
At the same time, Linde was also observing Robert Baratheon, quickly thinking of a strategy to deal with him.
Undoubtedly, the current Robert Baratheon was absolutely incomparable to how he would be more than ten years later. At this very moment, he was in peak condition, his strength far surpassing that of an average knight.
Furthermore, he wore heavy armor, and inside the armor was another layer of inner armor made of special woven material. In the various attacks he encountered just now, except for the attack to his head which caused him some injury, the attacks to his body simply could not break through his heavy armor. Even some attacks that hit the gaps in the armor were still blocked by the inner armor.
Although Linde's hand-and-a-half sword was forged from special materials, whether it could penetrate the opponent's heavy armor and inner armor defense was still an unknown. Once an attack failed to take effect, given the opponent's combat experience, he would definitely seize the opportunity to counterattack, and Linde would then fall into a passive state.
More importantly, the opponent was the King. If he truly inflicted a fatal injury on him, then he would certainly be doomed afterward. No one would spare him because of the martial arts tournament rules, so his attacks would inevitably be hesitant.
Thinking of this, he had the idea of giving up the fight and withdrawing from the martial arts tournament.
However, Robert Baratheon, standing opposite, seemed to see through his desire to retreat, so he did not give Linde a chance to speak, and directly charged at him with his warhammer, forcibly initiating the battle.
Facing the charging Robert Baratheon, Linde instantly dropped all his concerns and directly entered combat mode, gripping his hand-and-a-half sword tightly with both hands and charging towards Robert.
Robert, who had rushed in front of Linde, skillfully raised the warhammer in his hand and swung it horizontally towards Linde's waist. While swinging the warhammer, he also prepared for Linde to dodge, and as long as Linde dodged, no matter which direction he dodged, his subsequent attacks would follow one after another, giving Linde no chance to counterattack.
However, in response to Robert's attack, Linde did something that surprised everyone present: he directly let go of his hand-and-a-half sword, then, outside the range of Robert's swinging warhammer, he leaped up, his body curled in the air just avoiding the sweeping warhammer below. Then, before Robert could react, he used all his strength to kick at Robert.
Linde himself was extremely burly. Including the weight of his armor and the force of his charge, when his feet kicked Robert, although Robert was not injured due to the protection of his armor, his body was sent flying by the immense force, and he fell heavily to the ground.
Moreover, when he fell to the ground, his head also hit the ground due to the weight of his helmet. This caused the severe blow his head had previously sustained to recur, and he immediately fell into a state of temporary dizziness, unable to get up immediately.
In contrast, Linde had already prepared. When he landed, he nimbly rolled on the ground, dissipating the impact force of the landing, and also took the opportunity to stand up from the ground.
He then unhesitatingly rushed to the fallen King Robert, kicked hard at Robert's hand gripping the warhammer, and the powerful force directly broke his arm.
Then, as Robert screamed from the pain in his arm, Linde sat down on Robert, pinning his arms with his feet, and raised both hands, delivering heavy punches to Robert's head from left and right.
Although Robert wanted to block with his arms, one of his arms had just been broken by Linde, and the other arm was directly pinned under Linde's foot, making it impossible to block. He could only passively endure Linde's punches, which were delivered with iron gauntlets.
Soon, his handsome face visibly swelled, blood flowed from the broken skin, and he also fell into a semi-conscious state.
"Enough! Tyrell warrior, I think you've had enough." Just as Linde was about to completely knock out Robert Baratheon, a long sword landed on his neck from the side, and he heard Jaime Lannister's voice from behind saying.
Hearing the voice, Linde lowered his raised hand, turned to look at Jaime Lannister, and while panting, stood up from King Robert, and under the threat of the long sword on his neck, moved away from King Robert on the ground.
In fact, although Linde was hitting King Robert, he had not relaxed his vigilance towards his surroundings. When Jaime Lannister rushed over and drew his sword pointing at him, he did not aim at his vital points but rather seemed to be a threatening move, so he judged that Jaime Lannister was not dangerous and did not dodge, allowing the other party to place the sword on his neck. Now it seemed his judgment was correct.
At the same time, Ser Barristan and other Kingsguard also rushed out to check on King Robert, and some others walked up to Linde, intending to arrest him, but were stopped by Jaime Lannister.
The martial arts tournament became silent at this moment. The surrounding spectators had no idea that this team martial arts tournament would end in such a way. The King was beaten in the martial arts tournament, and the final martial arts tournament champion was threatened. Everyone was waiting for the final result, especially the people of House Tyrell, who were extremely concerned, after all, Linde was a member of their family.
"What are you waiting for? Why aren't you arresting this fellow who attacked the King?" At this moment, Queen Cersei walked over exasperatedly, loudly ordering the people around her.
This command spread throughout the surroundings of the martial arts tournament, and bursts of commotion rang out inside and outside the martial arts tournament, with some people even booing. Clearly, Queen Cersei's command, in their eyes, was completely defiling this incredibly exciting team martial arts tournament.
The surrounding Gold Cloaks immediately stepped forward to try and seize Linde upon hearing the command, and although Jaime Lannister wanted to stop them, he hesitated because the order came from Cersei.