Those eyes, burning with a faint blue flame, were like two cold stars from the seven layers of hell, carrying a scrutiny that could freeze the soul.
Time and space, at this moment, completely solidified.
Jon Snow's body trembled in fear.
But the Stark blood flowing in his veins forced him to suppress the instinct to flee.
He drew his dragonglass sword.
The steel sword let out a low wail, its blade seemingly shrinking in the extreme cold.
"For the living!"
Jon let out a suppressed roar, about to charge towards that nightmarish figure.
"Don't move!"
A hand, quick as lightning, clamped tightly onto Jon's sword-wielding wrist. The strength was beyond imagination, making Jon feel as if his wrist bones were about to be crushed.
He turned back in surprise, only to see Lynn's calm profile.
"He's not here to fight."
"If he wanted to, we'd already be dead."
"I'll go take a look; you all wait for me here."
Lynn released his hand.
Then, alone, he walked towards the Night King standing on the mountaintop.
Step by step.
Each step sank deep into the snow, emitting a faint crunching sound.
The biting cold was no longer mere low temperature, but a magical power imbued with will.
It attempted to invade his bone marrow, to freeze his thoughts!
Lynn's mental strength was dozens of times stronger than others, and even then, he barely managed to keep the cold at bay.
Ygritte had completely collapsed to the ground.
She looked at Lynn's back, her mind a blank.
"Lynn..."
She murmured to herself.
The Night King showed no expression; on his ice-sculpted face, no emotion belonging to a living being could be seen.
He merely raised his hand.
With his movement, the accumulated snow on the entire mountaintop began to spin violently, forming a massive vortex.
Immediately after, from the center of that vortex, shimmering fragments slowly rose.
They were fragments of a horn, each piece exuding an ancient, desolate aura.
The horn of winter!
It was broken!
The Night King loosely cupped his right hand.
All the fragments seemed to respond to an invisible summons, gathering rapidly!
Streaks of faint blue ice crystals, like living threads, wove, spun, and stitched between the fragments!
Dazzling blue light erupted in the Night King's palm!
When the light faded, a brand new horn floated before Lynn.
It was a horn made from the horn of some giant beast, jet black in color, yet covered with a layer of ice crystals as brilliant as diamonds.
Upon the ice crystals flowed countless ancient and mysterious blue runes, seemingly containing the most primordial power of Ice Magic in the world.
The Night King extended his hand, offering this reborn horn to Lynn.
Lynn's heart skipped a beat.
What did this mean?
A trap? A test? Or some kind of alliance?
Lynn hesitated for a moment, but ultimately reached out and took the horn.
It was bone-chillingly cold to the touch, and a powerful force surged into his body along his arm, as if to freeze his blood.
"Ding! You have obtained the legendary item, the horn of winter (repaired)!"
"The horn of winter: Blow it, and The Wall will collapse. It can also summon an absolutely obedient ice giant."
This thing... was more terrifying than legend said!
Just as Lynn's mind was reeling, the Night King raised his other hand.
His pale, ice-like finger pointed distantly at Lynn's brow.
There was no contact.
Yet Lynn felt an extremely condensed, icy energy, like an invisible spike, instantly pierce his spirit!
Buzz—!
Lynn's mind went blank in an instant!
An unimaginably vast torrent of information rushed into the depths of his memory!
It was about the most fundamental knowledge of ice!
How to condense moisture in the air to forge an indestructible blade.
How to control absolute zero, to freeze an enemy's blood in a single thought.
How to draw power from the eternal Winter, to summon blizzards!
"Ding! You are receiving the inheritance of ancient Ice Magic..."
"Inheritance analysis successful! Ice Magic has gained a huge amount of experience, current: Expert"
Lynn's body involuntarily recoiled half a step.
He felt as if his brain was about to explode from the massive influx of information.
When he finally recovered, the Night King had already lowered his hand.
Those eyes, burning with a faint blue flame, looked at him one last time.
That gaze was still hollow, yet it seemed to carry a kind of expectation that Lynn could not understand?
The Night King turned and walked towards the edge of the cliff.
A warhorse made of skeletons, its eye sockets also burning with blue flames, appeared silently there.
The Night King swung onto its back, and without looking back, rode straight north, towards the land eternally covered in ice and snow.
His figure quickly disappeared into the swirling snow, as if he had never appeared.
Only after he had completely vanished did the terrifying pressure that had enveloped the mountaintop, enough to freeze the soul, quietly dissipate.
"Huff... huff..."
Everyone was gasping for breath.
Jon and the three Rangers collapsed to the ground, their faces filled with the terror of surviving a catastrophe.
"Lynn!"
Jon struggled to his feet and rushed to Lynn's side.
"What was that? He... what did he give you?!"
Ygritte also scrambled up.
She looked at the horn in Lynn's hand and asked with a trembling voice.
"You... what exactly are you?"
"Did you make a deal with that devil?"
"Why didn't he harm us?"
Lynn did not answer.
He looked down at the ominous-looking horn in his hand, then looked up in the direction the Night King had disappeared, his mind a jumbled mess.
He couldn't understand it himself.
The Night King, who should have been the ultimate villain BOSS.
Why would he give him a weapon capable of destroying The Wall?
Why would he impart his power to him?
This script wasn't quite right!
Did he want me to be his second-in-command?
To overthrow human tyranny together?
What was this supposed to be?
"He probably didn't mean any harm."
After a long pause, Lynn slowly spoke.
His voice carried a hint of doubt he hadn't even noticed himself.
"At least I gained some benefits."
Lynn put away the horn, keeping it close to him.
He had originally thought his power was sufficient, even enough to challenge the Night King.
But upon actually seeing the Night King, he was far from as weak as he appeared in the TV series.
He clearly realized that his current strength was still far from enough.
Whether facing the coming Long Night or the vipers lurking in the power vortex of King's Landing, he needed greater strength.
And as for the Night King, and the deepest secrets of this world, even the so-called King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, likely knew nothing.
He needed to find someone who knew the answers.
"Our plan needs to change."
Lynn's gaze swept over the confused faces of everyone present.
"Mance Rayder can wait for now."
"We need to find someone else."
"Who?" Jon asked instinctively.
Lynn's gaze turned northwest, towards the continuous mountain range covered in white snow, known as the Frostfang Mountains.
"A Three-Eyed Raven."
"The Greenseer is there."
Lynn's voice drifted in the cold wind, but it made everyone present feel a chill more biting than the arctic wind itself.
The Greenseer.
That was something that only existed in the oldest legends.
He was actually going to seek out a legend?
Jon looked at Lynn's determined face.
He suddenly felt as if he had never truly known this man.
And Ygritte, upon hearing the name "Three-Eyed Raven," her face turned paler than snow.
In her gray eyes, a fear originating from the depths of her bloodline emerged.
"You... you can't go there!" she cried out.
"That place is forbidden!"
"It's a place all Free Folk dare not set foot in!"
"Legend says the last Children of the Forest live there, and... and ancient gods who can see everything!"
Lynn turned his head.
Looking at her face distorted by fear, he calmly asked.
"You know about that place?"
"I... I only heard the elders in the tribe talk about it!"
Ygritte's voice was trembling.
"They said anyone who approaches the Frostfang Mountains will have their soul taken by the ancient gods and become a wight forever wandering the mountains!"
"Very good."
A smile, instead, appeared on Lynn's face.
"It seems we've found the right place."
He patted Jon's shoulder, then turned and led the way down the mountain.
"Keep up, we have no time to waste."
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