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Crack, crack, craaack!
Bloodwind was gnawing on a bone when he felt the call deep within his mind. Instantly, he stopped chewing, his jaws still slick with blood, and raised his massive, fur-covered head.
After identifying Robb's approximate direction, he leapt nimbly over severed limbs and grotesque corpses, sprinting toward the Gate of the Gods.
By the time Bloodwind had all but wiped out all the crossbowmen on the roof, the almost eighty Lannister soldiers hidden around the small inn finally reacted to the screams from the back and rushed forward to surround him.
But those expecting to face nothing more than a direwolf instead found themselves confronted by a monstrous beast clad in full wolf-forged armor.
After a completely one-sided massacre, with more than half their number dead or wounded, the few remaining Lannister soldiers, barely more than ten, lost all courage. They threw down their weapons and fled in panic, stumbling over one another.
Even so, one Lannister soldier, remembering his duty, managed to ignite the pre-arranged smoke signal before fleeing. A thick column of black smoke rose into the blue sky.
Covered in blood and bearing the marks of countless blows on his armor, yet without a single injury, Bloodwind did not pursue the fleeing men.
Instead, he paused to satisfy the fierce hunger gnawing at him after so long without proper food.
It is worth mentioning that, perhaps because he was too far from Robb, the Lannister soldiers slain by Bloodwind did not release even a trace of red mist.
The innkeeper and his servants, seeing the horrific scene through the rear window, covered their mouths and hid, trembling behind cabinets, terrified that the wolf might notice them.
As for the lucky Torrhen and the two knights of Winterfell, with the Lannister soldiers either dead or fled, no one remained to guard them.
Seizing the opportunity, Torrhen loosened the ropes with his teeth and freed himself.
After releasing the other two, the three of them, seeing Bloodwind in the midst of carnage and Robb nowhere in sight, did not dare approach.
Only after the direwolf left the inn's courtyard did they retrieve weapons, mount the horses in front of the inn, and ride after him toward the Gate of the Gods.
"Ah!"
"It's a monster! Run!"
"So that was the beast that howled just now? It's far too big!"
"Could it have dragon blood?!"
Bloodwind charged down the Kingsroad. Everyone who saw him threw themselves aside, screaming and fleeing in panic.
After he passed like a blur, the braver ones began whispering among themselves, staring at his retreating form.
Within four or five minutes, he was already nearing the Gate of the Gods of King's Landing. The guards spotted his silhouette from afar.
Before the gate, dozens of Gold Cloaks stood in the front line, armed with kite shields and iron-tipped spears, while those in the rear held service swords, trying to form a defensive line in a hurry, their faces tense.
"Quick, quick, close ranks!
Don't be afraid, it's nothing more than an oversized direwolf.
When it hits the line, use your spears on the parts the armor doesn't cover. And with your swords, cut at its legs from below!"
Behind them, a captain shouted orders, trying to steady his men and instruct them how to fight.
But the moment he finished speaking and saw the armored wolf drawing ever closer, he swallowed hard and quietly slipped behind the heavy gate.
With nearly eight hundred kilograms of body mass, combined with almost two hundred kilograms of armor, charging at a speed of sixty to seventy kilometers per hour, Bloodwind slammed into the formation of Gold Cloaks.
In the blink of an eye, he struck them like a runaway cart.
Crack! Crack!
Boom! Boom!
The two Gold Cloaks in the front line, standing side by side with their shields raised, were hit at the same instant.
The mass of Bloodwind's armored body crashed into the shields, and the force of the impact crushed the chests of the men behind them. Their ribcages caved in grotesquely.
At the same time, the impact hurled them backward into the air. Even as they flew, blood poured from their mouths. There was no chance of survival.
Clang! Clang!
A few Gold Cloaks found their courage and thrust their spears into his massive body.
But the spearheads only left scratches on the thick armor before being deflected, and the men themselves were thrown aside by the brutal collision.
After building up speed with all that heavy armor, Bloodwind was no longer something that could be stopped by human strength.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Though the bodies of the Gold Cloaks slowed him slightly, he still had more than enough momentum.
He tore through the formation like a plow of flesh and blood, leaving a crimson trail behind him.
After completely breaking through the line, Bloodwind, now splattered with fresh blood, charged straight toward the Red Keep.
On both sides of the shattered formation, the surviving Gold Cloaks, those who had been better positioned, stared at his retreating form in pure terror. The captain, hiding behind the gate, shouted for them to pursue the creature, but none dared take a single step.
From the Gate of the Gods in the northwest corner to the Red Keep in the southeast, King's Landing was lined with wide stone streets, allowing the massive wolf to run without needing to wind through narrow alleys.
But once inside the city, because of slopes, stairways, stalls, and all manner of urban obstacles, his speed gradually decreased.
In addition, the city was crowded. Even as people screamed and fled at the sight of him, the sheer mass of bodies still slowed his advance.
Before, Bloodwind could have leapt onto rooftops and crossed King's Landing by bounding from house to house, avoiding obstacles below.
But now, with his current weight, many rooftops of common buildings would not support him, just as the fragile roof of the small inn had failed earlier.
Of course, this was not an issue for the city walls, the Dragonpit, the Red Keep, or the solid mansions near Aegon's Hill.
After all, those structures had once borne the weight of dragons.
The Cobbler's Square, recently cleared of burned remains, lay directly along the path he needed to cross to reach the Red Keep.
When Jaime saw the column of smoke rising from the direction of the Gate of the Gods, he had already led his men to the square.
The smoke was the signal that the trap he had set had failed.
Although he still did not know whether the trouble at the inn had truly been caused by the direwolf, Jaime turned his gaze toward the Red Keep.
And he understood.
Robb's true objective could only be one. To rescue Edd from the black cells.
And so, under his command, the soldiers formed ranks in the Cobbler's Square, waiting for their arrival.
...
Clack, clack.
In the black cells beneath the Red Keep, near the exit of the secret passage hidden within an empty cell, Robb emerged from the tunnel, pulling Sansa by the hand.
He carefully opened the cell door and observed the corridor of the black cells.
No one was there.
The main door of the black cells stood wide open. Near the entrance, a ring of keys had fallen to the ground, and a torch burned on the wall.
Time was short. Robb did not waste a moment.
Turning back, he pulled Ice from the scabbard Sansa carried, walked to the entrance, shut the main door of the black cells, and picked up the keys from the ground.
He did not know exactly what had happened there, but the two monstrous prisoners who had made noise earlier were now eerily silent.
And as he passed Jaqen's cell, he caught a strong scent of blood.
Even so, there was no time to investigate.
Taking Sansa with him, he went straight to Eddard's cell and unlocked the door with the keys.
Following close behind, Sansa held the scabbard in one hand and the torch she had taken from the wall in the other.
Filled with anxiety and hope, the two siblings stepped into the cell together to free their father.
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