Robert Baratheon's appearance fully armored at the side of his team's melee undoubtedly caused quite a stir. No one expected Robert, as King, to personally enter the fight, especially in this team melee using bladed weapons.
Many thought Robert was insane, because only a year had passed since the Usurper's War, and there were still many remnants of the Targaryen House secretly planning to overthrow House Baratheon. Robert's current actions undoubtedly exposed himself completely to danger. If anything happened to Robert, the newly formed House Baratheon would likely be on the verge of collapse again.
At this moment, all the nobles present looked at Hand of the King Jon Arryn, who was following Robert with a gloomy expression.
These nobles clearly understood how stubborn King Robert's personality was. In the entire King's Landing, only Jon Arryn could persuade him. Such an extremely foolish act, by all accounts, should have been dissuaded by Jon Arryn. But looking at the situation now, Jon Arryn seemed not to have played his role as King's Hand.
Not only did Jon Arryn not dissuade King Robert, but Queen Cersei also failed to persuade him. From the slight bruising around her eyes, it was not difficult to see that she had probably received special treatment.
What made everyone even more incredulous was that King Robert seemed to have no intention of leading his Kingsguard to participate, but instead selected twenty men from House Baratheon's Storm's End guard to accompany him.
Although this action was incredibly foolish, it also made Robert Baratheon appear very heroic and just, subtly inspiring admiration in the surrounding knights and warriors.
After Robert arrived at the arena, he said nothing more, but impatiently uttered, "Begin!" and then led his men into the center of the arena.
Seeing this, everyone looked at each other and also entered the arena. However, at this moment, no one had any intention of acting, and for a time, the entire venue fell into an eerie silence.
"Get moving, you fools!" Obviously, this eerie silence infuriated Robert Baratheon. He shouted at the crowd, then directly charged at a Lannister warrior closest to him, striking him directly in the chest with a hammer, sending him flying out of the arena. From his caved-in chest, it was clear he was likely beyond help.
Robert's action was like a spark that instantly ignited the fighting spirit of the participants in the entire arena. A moment ago, they might have still been somewhat hesitant due to Robert's identity, but now, facing life and death, they cast all their concerns aside, prioritizing taking down the enemy beside them.
Thus, everyone raised their weapons towards the nearest enemy. Regardless of how they had planned to coordinate their combat beforehand, in this situation, they couldn't remember anything. Each attacked their enemies according to their own habits, showing no signs of trained coordinated combat.
As a lone individual, Linde was naturally regarded as the easiest enemy to deal with by those around him. Several warriors from House Arryn, House Martell, and House Tully almost simultaneously rushed towards Linde.
Facing the encirclement, Linde was not afraid in the slightest. He had been training almost every day to fight against multiple opponents, so when these people made their move, he already had ten counter-plans in his mind, and quickly found the appropriate solution based on the different positions of the attacking individuals.
He executed a smooth slide, easily dodging the longsword thrust by a House Arryn warrior, while simultaneously finding an opening under the opponent's armpit and striking with his own longsword.
The weapon Velas prepared for his younger brother was indeed extraordinary. The longsword cut through the opponent's leather armor like a hot knife through butter. The sharp blade sliced his body from the right armpit diagonally upwards to the shoulder, disemboweling the man, with internal organs and blood spilling onto the ground.
Although he easily dealt with one enemy, Linde's steps did not stop. He continued to move quickly, his body rotating and leaping with his steps. While just barely dodging the incoming attacks, the longswords in his hands, aided by the rotational force, directly cleaved open the attacker's neck.
Although the House Martell warrior defended in time, the power generated by Linde's entire body rotating and driving his arms was not something a normal defense could withstand. The House Martell warrior's weapon was knocked away by the immense force, and the head on his neck only remained there for one or two seconds longer than the other few attackers.
In the blink of an eye, four people had died by Linde's longsword. He was already highly noticed because he stood alone in the arena, and now, with his incredibly efficient killing, he attracted even more attention.
Among these observers was Jaime Lannister the Kingslayer. In fact, when Jaime followed Robert Baratheon to the side of the arena and first saw Linde standing alone, he recognized him as the House Tyrell guard warrior from that day.
Because Linde had left too deep an impression on him that day, not only because of the Shadow Lynx Glory, but more so because Linde was the only person in the past year who hadn't looked at him, the Kingslayer, with a strange gaze. One must know that even his sister, the Queen, with whom he had a very close relationship, subtly showed a hint of unusual emotion when discussing the kingslaying incident, which made him curious about Linde.
Although he wanted to talk to Linde afterwards to understand why he didn't look at him strangely, he had to stay in the Red Keep during this time and couldn't spare any time, so the thought was temporarily shelved.
However, what he never expected was to see Linde in this team melee, and Linde even displayed extraordinary and exquisite swordsmanship, which intensified his curiosity about Linde.
After Linde slew four people, the area around him immediately cleared. Nearby participants knew Linde was not someone to be trifled with, so they instinctively avoided him and chose other opponents.
Linde also did not continue to attack others, but stood in place, observing the surroundings.
There were hundreds of people participating in the team melee, and the arena was incredibly chaotic. Everyone was randomly attacking those around them, and some even accidentally injured their teammates. In such a situation, rashly entering the melee would only hinder Linde's advantage in movement and lead to being attacked from all sides.
Moreover, this team melee would last for a long time, and the later it got, the more difficult it would be. Conserving energy with a plan now would allow Linde to go further in this melee.
However, Linde's passive approach of conserving energy caused dissatisfaction among those around him. They loudly cursed Linde as a weak coward and shouted for others to attack Linde.
Facing such insults, Linde paid no mind, still standing in the middle of the chaotic group, doing as he pleased.
However, because of the House Tyrell rose emblem on Linde, the insults gradually shifted to House Rose's camp at the side of the arena. Mace Tyrell, unable to bear the insults, wanted to order Linde to attack, but was stopped by Garlan and Fotimo. Scholar Moras, who had a good impression of Linde, also advised Duke Tyrell not to give orders arbitrarily, stating that allowing the people in the arena to perform freely was the correct approach, which prevented Duke Tyrell's foolishness.
Although Duke Tyrell's order was stopped, the orders of other nobles were still carried out. Two warriors from the North, under the command of their respective masters, simultaneously abandoned their current targets and turned to attack Linde, who had his back to them.
Because it happened suddenly, Linde seemed not to have noticed the sneak attack from behind him and had no defensive movements whatsoever. He was still looking forward when the attackers' axe and longsword descended towards his head.
Seeing such a dangerous scene, many people from House Tyrell watching the battle cried out, wanting to warn Linde.
However, before these warnings could pass through the noisy battlefield and reach Linde's ears, Linde suddenly and strangely vanished from the two attackers' sight. Immediately after, both felt a pain in their chests, followed by a powerful impact that struck them, sending them flying, landing on the ground, and not getting up again. A large amount of blood poured from a sword-pierced wound in their chests, quickly staining the ground red.
Compared to the two deceased attackers who died without knowing how they died, the spectators around the arena saw Linde's attack clearly.
They saw a burly man nearly two meters tall instantly shrink by almost half his height as if by magic, easily dodging the attack from behind. Then, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he identified the attackers' positions. Next, he sprang out like a flea, colliding with the attackers behind him, while his two hand-and-a-half swords passed under his armpits, piercing into the attackers' chests with the impact, cleanly dispatching the two attackers.
Such a brilliant and ingenious method of killing had never been seen by many people present. For a time, the audience who had previously been disgusted by Linde standing still and doing nothing, cheered for him.
In House Tyrell's camp, the guard soldiers who had sparred with Linde even more excitedly shouted the name of Bear Hunter.
Linde, having killed the two sneak attackers, did not relax, because at this moment, five or six warriors from different houses also obeyed their lords' commands and launched a joint attack on Linde, showing no hesitation or fear despite Linde's easy killing of two people just now.
If these people were from the same house and understood how to cooperate, Linde might have had to put in some effort to deal with them, but facing these uncoordinated, chaotic attacks, he easily found the gaps in the encirclement. With agile movements and excellent footwork, he easily dodged their attacks, while his longsword also struck their weak points without hesitation, killing them with a single blow.
Thus, the people around the arena witnessed a strange sight: a warrior as burly as a bear, yet as agile as a lynx, with his longsword dancing as gracefully as if he were performing a dance. A pile of completely contradictory elements were blended together, and no one felt any sense of incongruity.
Just as the spectators were stunned by Linde's fighting style and the efficient killing it brought, all those who attacked Linde also died by his sword. It was then that everyone realized Linde had already slain over a dozen enemies in a short period, the highest kill count among everyone present, even surpassing King Robert, who was fully engaged in battle with coordinated warriors.
Immediately, cheers for Linde echoed throughout the arena.
These cheers did not affect the warriors in the arena; most of them were already bloodthirsty and completely oblivious to the outside world.
Unlike last time, this time, after dealing with his opponents, Linde did not stand still and wait for an opportunity as before. Instead, he chose to take the initiative and began to search for suitable targets.
The reason he changed his strategy was that just after he dealt with those few attackers, he noticed that the leading warriors of House Tully, House Stark, and House Arryn had already taken notice of him and considered him a threat.
Although they currently couldn't spare their hands to deal with Linde, they had already actively moved the battle around Linde, subtly encircling him. Not only did they try to trap Linde, but they also planned to attack Linde again.
Unlike the warriors from minor houses before, the direct warriors of these major houses were all seasoned veterans of many battles, with rich experience in coordinated combat. If Linde were to be surrounded by these veterans, it would definitely not be a good thing for him. That's why he changed his strategy to take the initiative and defeat them one by one.
Thus, the audience outside the arena saw a burly man, like a fish in water, freely moving through the chaotic arena, perfectly dodging attacks from all directions. And with every swing of his longsword, someone would fall, and not one was merely injured; all were killed with a single blow, as if a Stranger's blessed one had come here to reap lives.
Some even began counting the people who died by Linde's hand, and as time passed, this number quickly exceeded fifty, showing no signs of stopping, and began to approach the hundred mark.
In the arena, Linde had now fully entered the Peace Envoy's killing state. He no longer considered the gains and losses of this team melee, nor the various troubles he would face after the melee. His only thought now was to kill every enemy and be the last one standing in the arena.
And as he entered this killing state, he discovered for the first time how powerful the changes in his body and senses truly were. No matter how chaotic his surroundings, he could always sense the trajectory of every enemy attack, even entering a state similar to bullet time. Everything around him seemed to slow down, allowing him to more easily find positions to dodge and weak points to attack, thereby launching fatal counterattacks.
It is no exaggeration to say that in this state, facing these elite warriors from various houses, he was like a farmer casually harvesting a pile of weeds.
If there were no accidents, the ultimate victor of this melee would undoubtedly be him.
However, accidents often come so suddenly. Linde, completely immersed in the killing state, did not realize that his stamina was rapidly depleting. And when he did realize it, most of his stamina was already gone, beginning to affect his movements.
Noticing something was wrong, Linde immediately broke out of that killing state. And after pulling his sword from an enemy's neck, he did not continue to attack others. Instead, he stood still, calmly watching the people around him, trying to keep his breathing steady, not panting heavily due to physical fatigue, making himself appear relaxed.
And his actions undoubtedly deceived those around him. No one realized that his stamina had reached its limit. Coupled with the piles of corpses at Linde's feet, which had terrified the warriors attempting to encircle him, no one dared to attack Linde anymore.
At this moment, a strange scene appeared in the arena: everyone around was in a chaotic melee, but the twenty-meter radius around Linde was empty. Besides the corpses on the ground, only Linde stood there.