The Glory of the Seven Gods of Ice and Fire

Chapter 178: Stone Forest Raid

In order to reach Mill as quickly as possible, the army marched day and night. Even breakfast and lunch were distributed and eaten on the march. Only dinner could be eaten while sitting down. Then they were awakened by the horn early the next morning and continued their march.

Maintaining this speed, the Andes army arrived at the traditional border between Pentos and Myr - the Stone Forest. The name comes from the towering stone pillars that stand above the Gobi Desert. These stone pillars are arranged like a forest, forming a unique natural scene. Tourists will come from afar to visit this natural wonder - provided that they are adequately protected.

Because this land is desolate and difficult to survive in, even the long and narrow lake has little output - the surplus cannot be transported out, so this place has always been sparsely populated, making it a place that neither of the two free city-states want to be in, and a natural land obstacle that either side must face if they want to launch a land attack - the local population is so small that it is impossible to support large-scale military activities or even passage.

Due to the lawless nature of the Stone Forest, it has become a kingdom for lawless people and those who escape from the rulers. The nomadic tribes of the Andals roam among the Stone Forests, the robbers are looking for any unlucky people to plunder, and the bankrupts live their little lives in deserted places. The small fortress of the rulers - now the Golden Group - stands here, but it can only symbolically represent their rule.

Although it is chaotic and desolate, the people here still have a set of rules that have been formed over the years, and the local situation is still under control. However, the invasion of the Dothraki has changed the ecology of the Stone Forest.

During the great invasion led by Khal Balboa, the centaurs flooded into the area west of the River Rhoyne like a swarm of fish. After Balboa was defeated, some centaurs went too deep into the New Seven Kingdoms and did not leave, becoming a security problem for the area.

However, as a large number of Westeros people who failed to earn gold and silver in Robert's expedition joined the encirclement and suppression of the Centaurs, these Dothraki were driven out of various wealthy places and forced to hide in desolate places far away from human habitation.

And Shilin is just such an area.

As the centaur tribes entered the stone forest one after another, the Dothraki, as usual, began to loot and massacre the locals. The few small villages of the fugitives were burned by the Dothraki, and the nomadic Andal tribes were expelled to the Knutros Peninsula. The bandits were either wiped out or incorporated.

In this way, the Dothraki became the masters of the Stone Forest, a thorny issue for merchants traveling back and forth, and caused the Stone Forest's trade routes to come to a halt - although the Stone Forest was chaotic in the past, there were still some unspoken rules to protect passing merchants, but the Dothraki didn't care about that.

The surrounding lords and Westeros warbands eager for spoils have also attacked the Stone Forest, but they either returned empty-handed or suffered heavy losses or even annihilation. The natural environment of the Stone Forest protects these centaurs.

In this way, the Stone Forest became a major threat to the surrounding territories. The centaurs would rush out to plunder from time to time, and then escape back to the Stone Forest before the army could react. Several small fortresses of the Golden Corps in the Stone Forest were abandoned due to the continuous harassment of the Dothraki.

However, the Dothraki in the Stone Forest are not a threat to Andas's army. They are just a few thousand centaur bandits. If they dare to show up, they can be wiped out.

With this mentality, Hu Ge's army entered the stone forest.

Looking at the majestic stone pillars of various shapes in front of him, Hugo observed with great interest. He finally found something that could free himself from guessing the enemy.

There are many majestic stone pillars in the stone forest, and more importantly, there are so many of them that it looks like gods have inserted these stone pillars with different characteristics into the ground, thus forming this stone forest.

Maybe this place is really related to those gods? Hugo subconsciously looked at the marks on his hand. It was a pity that since meeting the Seven Gods in Myr, Hugo had never seen that powerful being again.

Then, Hugo couldn't help but think of Euron, the crazy pirate. He still remembered what happened in Myr, so he never relaxed his surveillance on the Greyjoy pirates. Unfortunately, Euron did nothing except letting his scum plunder the Easterners. It was difficult to find his whereabouts. Hugo sometimes heard that he was plundering in the Jade Sea, and sometimes heard that he went to Sothoryos. Now, for the new expedition of His Majesty Robert, Euron gathered all the captains under his command and set off to the east long before the Westeros army assembled. According to his message, this time he will "let every port and fishing village in the east fall into blood and wailing." I guess at this moment, the eastern coast has set off an endless bloody storm.

As for where Euron is now, whether he has received the news of Robert's death and the chaos within the Iron Throne, Hugo really has no way of knowing - probably only those damned deep divers know the situation. As for this madman, Hugo can only be thankful that he went to execute Robert's orders early. The journey from Westeros to the Far East is so long that even if he gets the news in real time, it will take him a year or two to come back, so Hugo has enough time to stabilize the East.

A cry of surprise interrupted Hugo's thoughts. Many soldiers who came to Stone Forest for the first time had a similar mentality as Hugo. After all, this was a place that could attract tourists from afar. If it had no characteristics, it would surely be unknown.

However, this place is too desolate. Hugo thought that if he hadn't brought enough food and fodder, just crossing the stone forest would have been a huge hassle for the army.

Before entering the Stone Forest, Hugo sent people to visit the Golden Group and obtained enough information from them to determine the current status of the Stone Forest. Therefore, he urgently mobilized a large amount of food to cross the Stone Forest. As long as they successfully crossed the Stone Forest and entered the wealthy Mir region, food supply would not be a problem.

Hugo looked at the stone pillar in the distance, and suddenly, he felt something flash. This flash made Hugo alert, and he subconsciously raised his shield. At this moment, an arrow with a sharp momentum pierced it, and Hugo's entire arm holding the shield felt a great impact.

Before the cry of "Enemy attack" was uttered, Hugo heard a chorus of exclamations behind him and the sound of something collapsing. Then he saw a scene that made him subconsciously stunned - a huge stone pillar was falling down.

The soldiers who didn't know what was happening quickly dispersed, but even so, some of them didn't react in time and were crushed under the stone pillars. The blood that seeped out silently explained their fate. As the stone pillars fell, there was also smoke and dust all over the sky, choking the nearby soldiers and making them cough.

However, this was not the most frightening thing. A heavy rain of arrows suddenly fell from the sky, and the soldiers who were caught off guard fell one after another. The young knights of the Order of the Seven Gods were the most panicked group. Even though the arrows kept bouncing off their armor, they still looked like they were about to die. When arrows fell on their horses, the horses stood up subconsciously in pain, and the knights on them fell off their horses in panic.

The neighing of people and the shouting of horses filled Hu Ge's eardrums. People in panic could be seen everywhere. The situation became extremely complicated for a moment, and those who were fighting for the first time could not help but panic.

But Hugo was not one of them. When all this happened, he held the shield against his head and felt the weight of the arrows falling on it. As for his guards, these warriors who had followed Hugo for many years faithfully protected him in the center and let the arrows bounce off their armor.

"Get ready! The enemy will be here soon!" The superior life over the years did not make Hugo dull at all. "Form a line! Form a line! Get ready!" As soon as he finished speaking, Dothraki people holding scimitars rushed out in the smoke and dust of collapsed stone pillars. They appeared in groups as if by magic and besieged Hugo.

"Hold the line!" Hugo ordered loudly, took a spear from the guard, and stabbed the centaur in the face in front, knocking him down directly.

The guards set up a shield wall, and the archers equipped with crossbows fired arrows. The centaurs fell to the crossbows, but they continued to fight. The guards had been through many battles, and they calmly watched the centaurs howling and rushing forward, crashing into the shield wall without thinking, and were immediately killed by the swords and spears.

"That's it, keep it that way!" Pulling the spear out of the dead man's eye socket, Hugo continued to shout, "Hold the position! Maintain the line!"

It was like a slap in Hugo's face. As soon as he finished speaking, several knights rushed over from the shield wall. Looking at their exaggerated cloaks and emblems, Hugo recognized their identity - the Knights of the Seven Stars.

Apart from the elite members around the leader Theodore, the essence of the Seven Star Knights is a proton group that accommodates the children of the powerful families in Andas. Hugo brought them around more to demonstrate his authority, to cultivate the unity of the next generation, and to establish his own authority among young people.

Especially in the past few years, the Seven Star Knights have undergone a lot of member changes. Many members who had experienced battles under his command have retired, and a new group of newcomers have filled various positions in the Knights.

Hugo never expected these young men to fight, but these young men didn't think so at all, so the God-favored Ones subconsciously understood what these young men were thinking - after they recovered from the chaos of the surprise attack, they thought this was an opportunity to make achievements and show off in front of them.

Hugo was wondering whether to save these reckless young people, but there was someone who was faster than him, that was Theodore, the leader of the Seven Star Knights, with little Gleicher beside him. They rushed into the centaurs with the most elite part of the Seven Gods Knights. Seeing this, Hugo made up his mind that he could not be inferior to his subordinates.

"Forward! Push the shield forward!"

The shield wall started to move, and the Dothraki who could only charge forward were pushed back. The scimitars chopped desperately on the shields, but nothing happened except scratches. A Dothraki wanted to jump into the shield wall and use his body to open a path forward, but he was greeted by several solid spears that ruthlessly pierced the centaurs' bodies.

The actions of Hugo's guards made the young knights even more excited, and they charged forward even harder. But at this moment, one of the knights was suddenly hooked off his horse by a halberd, and a dagger was inserted into his eye in horror.

New forces joined in. Hugo saw Darry's flag suddenly appear, and then a group of soldiers in farmers' smocks emerged from behind the centaurs. They skillfully dragged the knights off their horses and killed them without hesitation.

Darry, how could he be surprised and not surprised at the same time? Looking at the soldiers under the farmer's banner, Hugo thought, Darry was a Targaryen loyalist, he knew it very well, Aenys had not left Pentos for a long time in large part to keep an eye on Darry, but he did not expect Darry to come to the Stone Forest to ambush and raise the banner of rebellion at this time.

A round of arrow rain fell at this moment. "Keep going, defeat them, and give me the flag!"

Hugo didn't plan to retreat. Since Darry was here, it meant they were ready. So he would defeat them himself and end this damn melee.

Hugo took the flag and threw out his spear. He jumped out of the shield wall and drew the sword from his waist. "I am Hugo Tollet! The brave and the pious follow me!" Hugo jumped into the centaurs and chopped several of them in succession. "We will surely win! Forward!"

After saying that, Hugo came in front of those Darry knights. Facing the gorgeous armor of the God-favored Ones, the Darry knights who were rushing in the front were obviously hesitant, but Hugo did not hesitate at all. With a swing of the sword, a knight was knocked to the ground. Only then did the other enemies react, but then Hugo danced the sword like an airtight protective shield.

One knight, relying on his thick armor, attempted to kill Hugo, but Hugo held a Valyrian steel sword in his hand, not some kind of sword that would become blunt after chopping down a few men. Hugo immediately attacked the weak spot in the man's armor, and Valyria's masterpiece immediately tore apart the steel there, as well as the flesh underneath.

Just as Hugo was about to continue his attack, a group of Andasi warriors rushed past him and suppressed the attacker.

The words of the God-favored One inspired everyone on the battlefield. They rushed towards the attackers. Hugo was originally at the front of the formation, but was soon squeezed back by the soldiers who swarmed in. No one could stop this morale-boosting army. The centaurs and Darry were all beaten back.

Especially Darry and his men. When Hugo held high the seven-pointed star flag and shouted inspiring words on the battlefield, many soldiers under the farmers' banner hesitated or even became afraid. They were the ones favored by the Seven Gods. Although those who attacked Hugo Tollet were all Darry's elite, they were also terrified and felt guilty about this matter.

Moreover, everyone saw how Hugo had rendered Darry's knights helpless, which further magnified their fear and guilt.

Hugo saw his guards knock down several Darrys, saw the Darrys throw away their weapons and armor, and saw his subordinates chasing them. Seeing this, he frowned instead.

"Lord Hugo, are you okay?" The burly head farmer Snow came with a large number of Andes soldiers. When the strong man saw Hugo, he quickly looked up and down at the God's Favored One to make sure he was okay.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, Snow, go stop them and don't let them chase too far." Hugo frowned and added, "There's no need to chase them too far. These people are just some death squads. Even if we catch them, I'm afraid we won't get much information. What I need more now is to get in touch with the outside world and keep the people in the academy busy."

Since Darry had raised the flag and openly attacked him, what was the situation in Pentos now? He urgently needed to know the situation there.

(End of this chapter)