Facing the Red Viper's challenge to a fight, Lynd didn't hesitate and immediately agreed. After all, since acquiring the Banished Knights's Swordsmanship, he hadn't truly fought anyone to understand the extent of his current strength. The Red Viper, as the foremost spearman in the Seven Kingdoms, and even the entire Ice and Fire World, was the perfect opponent for him to test his strength.
Lynd casually tied his horse to a wooden post, then told Honor to move away, and approached the Red Viper, drawing the two Greatswords from his waist.
The moment Lynd drew his Greatswords, the relaxed expression on the Red Viper's face instantly vanished, his eyes became extremely sharp, and his body lowered slightly. The long spear in his hand constantly changed its grip, and his footsteps moved rapidly, as if searching for an opening.
At the same time, Nymeria, who had just left the tavern, did not return to her Lord's Tower. Instead, with a premonition, she came to the edge of the village and happened to see Lynd and the Red Viper confronting each other in an open space outside the village.
Although Nymeria had heard the Bear Hunter Song and thought Lynd was a powerful warrior, she didn't believe Lynd could defeat the Red Viper.
Just a few days ago, she had clashed with the Red Viper, and she, who had once defeated dozens of ill-intentioned suitors, was completely helpless against him. The Red Viper dealt with her every attack as easily as if toying with a child who had just learned to wield a weapon, until she was completely exhausted.
That day, she realized how vast the gap was between her and the Red Viper, and she also knew that the legends about the Red Viper were not just stories. The stories in the Bear Hunter Song, compared to the Red Viper's stories, were clearly far less impressive and numerous.
As Nymeria recalled her encounter with the Red Viper, the standoff outside the village remained unbroken.
The Red Viper continuously changed his grip on the spear, moved his position, and sought Lynd's weakness.
However, he found that Lynd simply stood there with his swords, appearing full of openings, yet these openings made him feel full of killing intent. He felt that no matter how he attacked through those openings, he would face a storm of attacks.
But he knew that if the standoff continued, his fighting spirit would be completely suppressed, and by then, his attacks would likely pose no danger to Lynd.
Thus, he chose the safest method: he charged directly at Lynd, thrusting his spear straight, using the length of the long spear to gain the initiative, and also as a test.
However, almost as soon as he made his move, Lynd's body also began to move. As if he had known his attack method beforehand, he took a quick, diagonal step, perfectly dodging the spear attack. At the same time, the Greatsword in his right hand made a movement similar to a spear thrust, aiming for the Red Viper's chest.
The length of the Greatsword itself, plus the length of his arm, was not much less than the length of the long spear. The Red Viper had not expected anyone to be able to wield a Greatsword, which normally required two hands to barely swing, so easily with one hand.
To avoid the thrusting Greatsword, the Red Viper had to quickly dodge and roll, barely avoiding the tip of the sword.
This dodge seemed somewhat clumsy, but in reality, as he rolled, he also retracted his long spear, followed by a lunge and thrust, and once again aimed for Lynd's thigh.
However, Lynd's movements were even more agile; he directly leaped up, performing a half-roll in the air in a manner that defied common sense. At the same time, the two Greatswords in his hands swept towards the Red Viper.
The falling Greatsword had an extremely wide attack range, and combined with Lynd's incredibly fast movements, the Red Viper had no time to dodge. He had no choice but to raise his long spear with both hands, attempting to block the Greatsword's powerful chop.
Although the steel shaft of the long spear was not severed by the Greatsword, the immense force of the downward chop still bent and deformed the spear shaft. The enormous power transferred through the Red Viper's arms to his body, forcing him to kneel on the ground. His numb arms could no longer make any defensive movements, and he could only watch as the two Greatswords crossed and rested on his neck.
Lynd did not keep his twin swords at the Red Viper's neck for too long. He quickly moved the long swords away, retreated while sheathing them, and then stood there quietly, waiting for the Red Viper to recover.
Although he had already confirmed his loss, the Red Viper's face was still filled with disbelief. Before fighting Lynd, he had never imagined that he would lose, let alone lose so completely and so quickly.
He carefully recalled the swordsmanship Lynd had displayed; it wasn't some particularly mysterious art, just simple straight sword thrusts and twin sword chops. And he, the Red Viper, the foremost spearman of the Seven Kingdoms, had actually lost to such simple moves.
However, the Red Viper was, after all, the Red Viper; he quickly analyzed the reason.
Although the swordsmanship Lynd displayed was simple, Lynd's speed and strength far exceeded those of a normal person. Especially, he could wield two Greatswords while rolling in the air and perform swordsmanship; he had never seen such an attack method before.
Furthermore, he was certain that even if he now knew the opponent's attack methods and fought again, he would likely lose quickly. After all, in terms of speed, strength, and moves, the opponent was too much stronger than him, completely on a different level. Unless he used poison, defeating the opponent was almost impossible.
"Who taught you your swordsmanship?" The Red Viper stood up from the ground, tossed his damaged long spear aside, and then asked Lynd.
"The Warrior."
Lynd made a gesture of prayer to the Seven..
The Red Viper raised an eyebrow, an expression of speechlessness on his face, and without asking further, he turned and left.
Watching the Red Viper leave, Lynd's face showed a satisfied smile. With the Red Viper as a testing standard, he now knew that with his strength, he no longer needed to fear any opponent on the battlefield. The only thing he needed to worry about was other methods, such as poison.
Lynd turned, mounted his horse, and pulled the reins, preparing to leave. At this moment, he saw Nymeria on the small hill in the village, looking down. He then bowed slightly to Nymeria, then squeezed his horse's flanks, urging it to gallop towards the distant dense forest.
At this moment, LadyNymeria, standing on the hillside, was still immersed in shock. She had never expected the Red Viper to lose, and to lose so completely, which gave her the illusion that she might have seen a mirage. This feeling of shock did not subside for a long time as she stood on the hillside.
"My Lady, there's news again from over there." At this point, an old man without a chain around his neck, but dressed as a Maester, walked up to Nymeria and said with a serious expression, "It seems they're getting impatient. They've already resorted to threats. I'm already starting to suspect that even before those so-called bandits arrive, they'll disguise themselves as bandits and plunder us."
"No, Maester Yves, the bandits will come; they are very close to us now." Nymeria said with a serious expression, "Distribute the weapons! At least they can put up some resistance when danger strikes."
"Yes, My Lady." The Maester sighed and turned to leave.
"Wait, Maester." Nymeria called out to the Maester again and said, "Draft a document authorizing House Tyrell's Bear Hunter Lynd to use the Old Castle as a bandit suppression stronghold for four years."
"House Tyrell?" The Maester was stunned for a moment, then bowed to Nymeria and left.
The next day, as Lynd received the document from Nymeria authorizing the use of the Old Castle as a stronghold, the scouts Lynd had sent out discovered the current location of the bandit alliance and some other information.
The bandit alliance was currently located about fifty li northeast of Tumbleton. They were moving very slowly and made no attempt to conceal their tracks, estimated to arrive here in about a day.
At the same time Lynd's scouts discovered these bandits, others also found out about their movements, such as Tumbleton, and those hidden in the valley.
In addition, the scout team also discovered another force trailing behind the several hundred bandits, numbering about three hundred people. They were equipped with long spears and shields, wore leather armor, and were well-equipped. Their marching style was also that of an army, but they had no badges or markings on them, making it impossible to tell where they came from.
However, for Lynd, this was not particularly difficult to guess. After all, there were only a handful of great lords in the surrounding area capable of training such a well-equipped secret army. Coupled with their interest in Tumbleton, the identity of that great lord was already apparent.
"Scarface, you lead the Second Cavalry and the logistics team to the Old Tumbleton ruins now to build a camp." Lynd handed the permit to Scarface, then turned to the logistics team's master craftsman and asked, "How are the arrows coming along?"
The master craftsman replied, "My Lord, there are enough for everyone to have four quivers of arrows, but only three quivers have iron arrowheads; the remaining one has stone arrowheads."
"What about shortbows?" Lynd asked again.
"Everyone can be equipped with two."
"Bring them all." Lynd ordered, then turned to look at Bryn, Raul, and others, saying, "Go tell them, we're going hunting."
As Lynd's order was given, everyone except the Second Cavalry equipped all the arrows they could. Each person carried two shortbows and one longbow, and besides a dagger at their waist, they also carried a specialized war hammer for breaking armor.
Originally, Lynd had planned to equip everyone with a moderately weighted scimitar or broadsword, but both scimitars and broadswords were very complicated and time-consuming to forge, requiring a large number of craftsmen. Furthermore, their use required long periods of practice to master; otherwise, it would be difficult to cause direct damage to armored enemies.
Therefore, Lynd abandoned swords and opted for war hammers, which were easier to forge and use. For ordinary people, war hammers had almost no barrier to entry; one could simply pick them up and smash people. Even if the enemy wore armor, they would still be injured if struck by a war hammer, and when riding a warhorse, using a war hammer required minimal swinging to cause immense impact damage.
After equipping themselves, Lynd led these more than a hundred cavalrymen, charging out of the temporary dense forest encampment and galloping towards the bandit alliance.
Because Lynd made no attempt to conceal their movements, both Tumbleton and the people in the valley outside Tumbleton saw Lynd's cavalry depart.
The people in that valley were startled, as they had completely failed to notice such a well-equipped cavalry unit hidden so close to them.
Tumbleton, on the other hand, was confused, not understanding why Lynd would leave after receiving permission to establish a stronghold.
However, as Scarface led his men to establish a stronghold in the ruins, Tumbleton confirmed that Lynd was not leading his entire force away.
Although they had Lynd as an external aid, Nymeria did not intend to rely entirely on him. She still mobilized the villagers, quickly forming a two-hundred-person team.
And although the equipment on these two hundred people dated back to the Fire Dragon Dance era, it still looked as good as new. It seemed that successive lords of the House Footly had maintained it, and in terms of quality alone, it was certainly no less than the standard equipment of any great lord's house.
In addition, these two hundred people were not entirely farmers. Clearly, Nymeria had consciously trained these commoners in the past, giving them a certain level of combat ability; at least, they looked the part.
Almost as soon as Nymeria mobilized her commoners, the people from the valley sent another messenger, stating that if Nymeria would accept them as commoners, they would be willing to fight for her.
However, to their disappointment, Nymeria completely ignored their message, as if they didn't exist.
By midday, a force of three hundred men was trudging along a beaten path toward Tumbleton, moving slowly beneath a small hillside several leagues away.
Within the team, except for a few individuals on horseback, everyone else was infantry. These foot soldiers seemed to have undergone rigorous training, each one marching with their heads down, no one speaking.
Within the team, Bert Falwell adjusted his somewhat sagging sword belt, then took off his heavy chainmail and threw it to his attendant, wearing only a light leather armor. He then hurried to catch up with his team.
As the second son of Ser Rhys Falwell, he was originally one of those on horseback. Unfortunately, he was too unlucky; when crossing a hill earlier, his horse suddenly lost control for unknown reasons and fell down the cliff. If he hadn't jumped off the horse in time, he might have fallen down the cliff with it.
The people in the team didn't like him much to begin with, and seeing his misfortune, they wished they could stomp on him twice, let alone share a ride with him, forcing him to walk on foot like everyone else.
Having never experienced such a march, he was exhausted after not walking for too long. He had to shed various miscellaneous items he carried, and even eventually replaced his protective plate and chain armor with a common soldier's leather armor. With attendants and soldiers helping him along, he was barely able to keep up with the team.
Fortunately, the old Knight Torren Rayford, who was leading this team, had a good relationship with the House Footly. Seeing that Bert's stamina had reached its limit and that the rest of the team also looked tired, he ordered a halt to the march for rest and food.
Bert, who was utterly exhausted, muttered a thanks to the Seven Gods and eagerly lay down on the ground. He then had his attendant fan him and his subordinates shield him from the sun.
Perhaps due to extreme fatigue, he quickly fell into a deep sleep. He didn't know how long he slept, but he suddenly heard a shout, followed by something heavy hitting him. He quickly opened his eyes, and what met his gaze was the terrified face of his attendant, with an iron arrowhead piercing through his eye.
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