"Jon, do you think that man is the Night King?" Jon had just killed a wight when Ygritte, who was assisting him in shooting, suddenly asked.
Jon looked in the direction of Ygritte's finger and saw the Night King and several of his White Walker men standing outside the range of the arrows. They took a huge, curved object like a horn from a White Walker.
Jon chopped a wight into pieces and frowned as he looked at the horn in the Night King's hand. He suddenly remembered a legend that Maester Aemon had once told him and Sam.
Outside the Great Wall there is a horn made by an unknown person, called the Horn of Winter. When it is blown, the Great Wall of Despair will collapse.
He had always thought that it was just an unreliable legend, but he didn't expect to see the huge horn that the Night King got from somewhere.
Woo!
A dull and heavy horn sound came, and Jon even felt a wave of air coming towards him.
While he was killing the wights climbing up the city wall, he was observing the wall with wide eyes. If he saw anything amiss, he would order the night watchmen to go down the wall.
A minute passed and there was no sign of the Wall of Despair collapsing, but the number of zombies climbing up the wall suddenly increased a lot.
Jon turned his head and looked elsewhere. Not only here, but also in other defensive areas, the number of White Walkers had increased a lot.
"Jon, the blue light on the wall has disappeared!"
Ygritte was responsible for shooting the wights that had just climbed up the city wall, and she noticed the change in the number of wights earlier than Jon.
Jon took a look down while killing monsters, and found that the originally ice-blue city wall was now only a white ice crystal color.
The number of zombies covering the city walls was a whole layer thicker than before.
"Magic...the magic is gone!" Seeing the changes in the city wall, Jon immediately knew the reason for the sudden increase in the number of wights.
The Horn of Winter did not blow down the Wall, but it eliminated the powerful magic that was originally engraved into the foundation of the Wall.
Without the use of magic to consume the zombies, even if the Great Wall is two hundred meters high, it cannot withstand the large number of zombies that are difficult to kill and are not afraid of being injured.
Less than ten minutes after the Horn of Winter was blown, the number of zombies climbing up the Great Wall increased three or four times.
Jon could only barely deal with the surroundings with the help of Longclaw, and there were already heavy casualties in other places.
"His Majesty!"
Someone shouted more than 30 meters away from Jon. Jon turned around and saw Stannis sitting on the ground with his hand covering his left abdomen with a dagger in his hand.
In addition to a few guards, there were also a large number of wights gathered around him. Jon hurriedly chopped down the wights blocking his way to support Stannis.
"The Wall of Despair can no longer be defended. Order them to retreat!"
Seeing Jon coming, Stannis said to him, covering the wound that was bleeding.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"
Jon was about to answer when the red-robed woman Melisandre suddenly ran up to Stannis and asked anxiously.
She had just been in Castle Black, and when she heard the horn and felt the magic on the city walls being weakened, she immediately rushed over, just in time to see the injured Stannis.
Looking at Melisandre, a hint of nostalgia and question flashed in Stannis's eyes.
Just now, he and his guards were caught in a panic by the sudden increase in the number of zombies. In the panic, he was stabbed in the left abdomen by a zombie that was not completely killed.
Feeling his vitality slipping away and thinking about the many setbacks that have happened since he became king, Stannis began to doubt his authenticity as the chosen son of God and the Lord of Light that Melisandre served.
He watched as Stannis, the chosen son of God whom he had assisted, was carried weakly by the guards and walked down the city wall.
Melisandre is convinced that Stannis's injuries are not serious and that he will survive.
She did not follow Stannis down the wall, but came to a soldier, took the long sword from his hand while the wight was being killed, put her hand on the blade, and said a prayer and a prayer...
Whoosh!
As soon as Melisandre finished her prayer, the sword in her hand immediately caught fire, and at the same time, the non-dragonglass weapons in the hands of other soldiers and Night's Watch also caught fire.
With the help of fire, the defenders, who were at an absolute disadvantage, were able to turn the situation around a little and, under Jon's command, they fought and retreated from the Wall.
Melisandre's enchantment could only increase the lethality to the wights. Without the burning of magic on the Wall, the more than 30,000 defenders on the Wall could not withstand the attack of the wights.
"Release all ravens and inform all major forces that the Wall has been lost. Request for support!"
Jon gave orders to the messenger beside him, and then followed the soldiers to retreat to the foot of the Wall.
When they retreated to Castle Black, the castle was already in chaos. Jon searched around before he found Bran, Rickon and the others.
After discovering that the Night King was determined to attack regardless of the damage done to the wights by magic, and after two strange days of silence, Stannis and Jon made preparations for retreat in case they were defeated.
Meera and Bran rode together, Osha the wildling rode with Rickon, and Jon and Ygritte each rode one.
After Bran settled down, Leaf and other children of the forest went to the forest. They didn't like staying with humans.
Galloping across the vast land of the North, Jon imagined what it would be like after the Night King's army of the dead passed through here. He felt extremely sorry, but he could do nothing about it.
Now he could only try his best to notify the residents along the way to evacuate their homes before the Death Army arrived.
He has already agreed with Stannis to meet at Last Hearth. As for the next location to block the Army of the Dead, it is tentatively set at Winterfell.
This is the plan assuming the Night King is willing to come. Winterfell is located in the middle of the North, and the Night King's army can bypass Winterfell and continue south.
The reason why it was temporarily decided there was Bran's suggestion.
After the Night King first arrived at the Wall, Bran felt that he had become the Night King's target. He thought about why the Night King came to find him.
He has inherited the Green Prophet's legacy, knows the origin of the Night King, and can use the alien's abilities to observe the Night King's whereabouts, which is a huge threat to the Night King.
Although the ambush point had been set, they had no confidence in stopping the Night King after the Battle of the Wall.
Even the 200-meter-high Great Wall and magic couldn't stop the Army of the Dead, so how could Winterfell resist?
The only thing they could think of to stop the army of the dead was Queen Daenerys' three dragons. Apart from them and larger armies, it seemed that nothing could stop the Night King from marching south.
As for Ramsay the Flayed who occupied Winterfell, in front of the Night King's army, Jon believed that he had no reason to refuse the Night's Watch and Stannis' soldiers from entering Winterfell.
Eight hours later, Jon arrived at Last Hearth before Stannis.
Last Hearth is the castle of House Umber, vassal of House Stark, and the northernmost castle in Westeros except for the Night's Watch.
The head of the Umber family and most of the soldiers followed Robb south and never returned, leaving the acting lord Hother in charge of guarding the castle.
After learning Jon's identity, Hother immediately ordered people to open the castle gate. Without much greeting, Jon told Hother the news that the Death Army was heading south.
Let him quickly lead his men to escape, and at the same time let him send someone to notify the wild tribes that had been settled around the castle, asking them to evacuate with him.