Under the cover of night, its fur was as black as ink.
It was a lion! A lion completely black!
And it was even standing upright!
Lions were already rare on the continent of Westeros, let alone Black Lions, which only existed in stories.
The most crucial thing was that it was standing!
"Monster!" Both sides of the battle stopped their fighting and screamed.
Even Arthur was stunned; his expression, which had remained unperturbed under immense pressure, vanished.
Are there such creatures in Westeros? The books didn't mention it!
Even skinchangers don't have this ability, do they? Can they turn into lion-men...?
The wildlings had never seen such a creature, but among the Free Folk tribes, terrifying legends of skinchangers had always circulated.
A fear stemming from deep within their blood instantly seized their hearts.
The Black Lion suddenly moved, pouncing on a wildling closest to it, who was wielding a battle-axe.
The entire process was as swift as lightning, nothing was seen clearly!
The wildling only managed to let out a short scream before a fountain of blood erupted from his neck.
The battlefield fell into an eerie silence, with only the crackling of burning flames.
"Kill!!!" More than twenty Arthur soldiers charged out from behind the Black Lion. "Kill!!!"
They rushed straight towards the High Mountain Clan wildlings!
"It's Lord Arthur! The Black Lion is here to help Lord Arthur!!!" They shouted in unison as they charged towards the wildlings: "Kill the wildlings!!!"
"Lord Arthur summoned a Black Lion!" A Plainsmen soldier on the original battlefield suddenly said with a trembling voice, his face filled with fanaticism and awe.
It was exactly like the legends!! The wolves of the Stark family in the North! The Black Lion of Lord Arthur in the Riverlands!!
This idea spread rapidly among the Plainsmen soldiers like wildfire.
"The Black Lion helps Lord Arthur!!!"
"The Lannister lion! No! More mysterious than the Lannister lion!!!"
"Black Lion!!!" "Black Lion!!!"
"It's Lord Arthur who turned into a Black Lion!!!"
The shouts became increasingly exaggerated, rapidly evolving from "The Black Lion helps Lord Arthur" to "Lord Arthur turned into a Black Lion."
Some even began to pray to the Seven Gods in whispers.
Arthur, who was currently directing the battle from a high slope and seemed to have been actively erased from the soldiers' perception: "......."
"Black Lion Arthur! Our Lord!!!" Lucien was the first to react, raising his arms and shouting, his voice hoarse with excitement, "Black Lion Arthur! Our Lord!!!"
"Arthur! The Black Lion of the Riverlands!!" Hakon also roared angrily!
"Black Lion!! Black Lion!! Black Lion!!" The soldiers roared in unison as if injected with adrenaline, their eyes bursting with an unprecedented fanaticism, "Arthur!! The Black Lion of the Riverlands!!!!"
When had they ever witnessed such a scene?
The blazing fire from the stockpiled property was cast aside, and worry and fatigue vanished without a trace.
They shouted "Black Lion" and "Arthur," launching another fierce offensive.
The originally somewhat scattered military formation, under such an eerie scenario, actually re-coalesced, erupting with even greater combat power than before.
The wildling side, however, was completely the opposite.
The appearance of the Black Lion, the killing of their own warriors, and the fanatical shouts of the Plainsmen soldiers completely shattered their psychological defense.
In the eyes of these raw-meat-eating wildlings, this was undoubtedly the sixteen-year-old Plainsmen commander displaying some terrifying witchcraft or divine power.
The Free Folk tribes all had legends about beasts!
That Black Lion was a servant he had summoned!
Their minds instantly became clear, realizing why they had lost battle after battle.
Why had the five hundred tribesmen who pursued them disappeared without a trace?
Why were they so utterly defeated by three hundred men?
And the sixteen-year-old war chief!!
The answer was obvious.
Their opponent, Arthur, was not human at all!!!
"Arthur the Black Lion!!"
"Witchcraft!!"
"Black Lion!!"
"Devil!!"
"Run!!!"
Some wildlings' weapons clanged to the ground, and they turned and fled backward.
Towards the right flank defense they had just broken through, into the depths of darkness, they ran for their lives.
The wildling army began to collapse.
Ti Meis son Ti Mei was both shocked and enraged; he completely failed to comprehend what was happening before his eyes.
The appearance of that upright Black Lion was too bizarre, too shocking.
He tried to restrain his subordinates, but apart from his own Burning Men Tribe, it had little effect.
"Don't go! Get back here!!!" he roared, but found his voice so weak amidst the fanatical shouts of Arthur's soldiers.
The wildlings began to scatter.
No formation, there was no formation anymore.
The military formation of Arthur's soldiers was like a red-hot branding iron, searing fiercely into the wildling ranks.
Ti Meis son Ti Mei knew the tide had turned; fortunately, the right flank of the Plainsmen army had already been broken through.
He could only abandon the tribesmen who couldn't escape, taking the wildlings on the periphery and fleeing into the depths of the forest.
Arthur was greatly alarmed at this moment but did not lose his composure, maintaining his calm on the surface, even deliberately straightening his back.
What's going on! What's going on!
It wasn't until Toman, passing through the military formation still slaughtering the surrounded wildlings, came to Arthur's side.
"Lord Arthur! That's Lord Bronn!!!" Toman covered his mouth with his hand, whispered softly, and then said no more.
Arthur looked at Toman in shock.
What, Bronn is a skinchanger, and there's this setting?
As time passed, the sounds of slaughtering the wildlings gradually subsided.
The remaining wildlings, screaming, were completely submerged beneath the blades of the Plainsmen army.
The soldiers began to deliver the final blow to any wildlings who still made sounds.
Everyone looked at the Black Lion with awe.
And that completely black, upright walking Black Lion now looked at Arthur.
Arthur didn't know Bronn's intention.
He could only look at it with an expression as calm as water, which was in fact rigid.
"Lord Arthur, there's one last act." Toman gently tugged at his sleeve. "Lord Bronn said, whether you perform or not, it will cost money!"
Arthur: "......."
The Black Lion finally moved; it slowly walked towards Arthur, its gait elegant and full of power.
With bloodstains still wet on its body, it walked unhurriedly towards Arthur's direction.
As if a hound walking towards its master.
It was just still very eerie.
The surrounding soldiers instinctively retreated far to both sides, clearing a path for it.
Only Lucien tightly gripped the longsword in his hand, wanting to step forward and stop it, but was held back by the soldiers who had rushed out of the forest earlier, who whispered softly to him.
The Black Lion's blood-stained crimson eyes appeared even more terrifying in the night and firelight.
It did not look at anyone else, but slowly walked towards Arthur.
It stopped three paces away from Arthur, then ceased standing, prostrating itself, as if kneeling in worship!
Immediately after, soldier after soldier knelt on one knee before Arthur, bowing their heads deeply!
The entire field was silent, with no sound whatsoever.
"It's over, Black Lion." Arthur's voice was very soft, as if he were truly just giving orders to his servant. "You did very well!"
The Black Lion's blood-stained pupils flickered slightly, as if it understood its master's command.
Finally, just like a four-legged beast, it leapt into the jungle, raising a cloud of dust.
It instantly vanished into the shadows of the jungle, as if it had never appeared.
Leaving behind an eerie silence, with only the crackling of burning flames.
And all of Arthur's soldiers, kneeling on one knee before him, bowing their heads deeply and not daring to look up.