The Wolf's Tail Woods were filled with Weirwoods, though most of them were young, except for a few old trees carved with faces.
Weirwoods are deciduous trees that are found all over the Westeros Continent. Their branches and trunks are bone-white, and their leaves are deep red, like blood-stained hands.
Most Weirwoods have faces carved into their trunks, some of which were carved by the Children of the Forest before the First Men crossed the Narrow Sea.
The wildlings beyond the Wall and the descendants of the First Men in the North also continued to carve the Weirwoods. Because the sap of the Weirwood is red, the faces on the trees sometimes looked like they were weeping blood.
On the Westeros Continent, only Weirwoods carved with faces are called Heart Trees. Heart Trees are very sacred to the old gods' believers in the North.
They pray, swear oaths, and make marriage contracts in front of the trees, believing that they can receive the witness of the old gods. At the same time, people believe that no one can lie in front of a Heart Tree.
Moreover, Weirwoods have the property of not decaying, so their wood has always been an excellent raw material for making various items. The Umbers' timber business is also very famous in the North.
They divided the Wolf's Tail Woods into several areas and planted Weirwoods in different years. The Umbers' Weirwood longbows and spears are very famous throughout the North.
It seemed that the further north one went on the Westeros Continent, the more lush and healthy the Weirwoods became.
Little Jon was full of pride as he said this, and he also mentioned that he would get Marco a Weirwood longbow.
Roar!
A beast's roar instantly made everyone tense up. Henk and the others immediately moved to protect Marco, who recognized the roar as a warning to "get away."
In the distance, a huge Shadowcat was running towards them from the forest, with several figures hot on its heels.
The Shadowcat looked unsteady, as if it were seriously injured. Seeing Marco and the others, it didn't flee, but instead charged directly towards them.
It seemed to want to use them to escape its pursuers. Suddenly, a dark figure darted out from the shadows and crashed into the Shadowcat.
The Shadowcat stumbled, instantly losing its balance and collapsing to the ground. Only then did everyone see that it was carrying a humanoid creature on its back.
That humanoid creature was also thrown out, crashing heavily to the ground. This creature had dark skin and was about the size of a 13-year-old human child.
She was filthy all over, wearing a garment made of leaves and vines, which was now somewhat tattered, with streaks of fresh blood seeping out.
Marco suddenly turned to Maester Balon, who was staring in astonishment, and said:
"Hahaha! Excellent! You didn't deceive me, Maester, there really are Children of the Forest here! Look at this appearance and clothing, exactly as you described. So, giants and White Walkers must also exist, right?"
Little Jon was about to open his mouth to scold Balon when he saw more than ten figures appear not far away out of the corner of his eye, and he shouted urgently.
"Be on guard!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he drew the two-handed greatsword from his waist, assuming a defensive posture.
When he saw the appearance of those more than ten "people," his pupils shrank involuntarily, because he saw twelve corpses. Some of them had already decayed, and some had their intestines hanging out.
"What the hell is that thing? Wait, blue eyes! Is that a legendary Wight? Maester Balon! Maester! Lord Marco! Hurry! Ha!"
Seeing that Maester Balon didn't respond, Little Jon turned his head towards Marco, but was stunned by what he saw.
Marco had already run to the Children of the Forest and seemed to want to touch the legendary being.
Behind him, Maester Balon was completely dazed, muttering to himself and completely ignoring the situation around him.
Seeing the completely unreliable pair, Little Jon felt his heart ache, but he couldn't worry about that now, because a Wight had already charged towards him.
Marco was crouched on the ground, examining the Children of the Forest's injuries, while the Shadowcat, which had fallen to the ground, was hissing at Marco.
It had originally wanted to charge over, but its hind legs were injured, so it could only whimper, its voice full of warnings.
Marco calmly said to it, "Don't be afraid! I will help you and your master! She's badly injured, I'll save her first!"
Because of the "Know Everything" skill, Marco's words to the Shadowcat became a low-frequency sound, which was why the people around didn't realize he was speaking.
The Shadowcat was clearly taken aback when it heard Marco. It was very strange that it could understand him.
Suddenly, it heard movement behind it and quickly turned to be on guard. Two Wights had snuck up behind it.
Just as it was about to attack, two crossbow bolts instantly hit the two Wights, and the great impact forced them to take a few steps back.
However, this attack, which struck their hearts, still didn't eliminate the Wights' ability to move. They still charged forward. Seeing that the Wights were about to attack,
Ten Snow Bear Knights, who were protecting Marco, picked up the warhammers they had at hand and charged forward. They had been using crossbows to attack the Wights.
But many Wights, even with arrows all over their bodies, were still as agile as ever and were not affected at all.
Marco didn't want to expose his obsidian weapons prematurely, so he didn't bring them all out this time. Besides, he wouldn't pay any attention to a few Wights with the strength of level 2 soldiers.
Two Wights had just charged forward when they were flung back by the two knights who engaged them. The Snow Bear Knights' powerful burst of force directly smashed one Wight's head.
Marco saw that the Children of the Forest was severely injured and immediately used "Vitality Regeneration" to treat her. After a faint light of magic flashed over her, her breathing gradually stabilized.
Because of Naxius and the others' obstruction, neither "Little Jon" nor the others noticed the anomaly here, and "Little Jon" was currently engaged in fierce combat with a Wight.
Due to the small number of Wights, they didn't pose a significant threat. Fifteen Wights were eliminated in less than ten minutes.
"Little Jon" cleaved the last Wight in half with a single sword, and gently exhaled. He turned to Marco and said:
"My Lord Marco! Let's go! Something is very strange today, we must... Ugh! Argh!"
Before "Little Jon" finished speaking, he was bitten on the calf by the Wight next to him, which had been cut in half. A piece of flesh was torn away from his calf.
In agony, "Little Jon" kicked away the half-Wight, dragging his injured leg, and raised his sword to slash at the Wight. He cursed as he slashed, directly hacking the Wight into a pulp.
Hearing the heir's scream snapped Maester Balon back to reality. He hurried over and helped Little Jon to his feet.
First, he pulled a leather pouch from his belt and gave Little Jon a bit of Milk of the Poppy. Then, he prepared to cauterize Little Jon's wound with Milk of the Poppy.
The maesters on the Westeros Continent possessed a complete medical system. Especially in wound treatment, their methods greatly reduced the rate of infection.
Even if a wound began to fester, they would use maggots to consume the dead flesh, then apply special ointments to prevent infection.
The ethereal blue flames seared the wound, and Little Jon let out another agonizing scream, cursing the disgusting and terrifying wights.
Even injured, he still shouted for Marco to get away quickly, having seen what happened to Little Jon.
Sas Ting and the others became even more cautious, forming teams of three to attack the wights. They targeted the wights' limbs and heads.
After Sas Ting and his group had taken apart all the wights, Marco healed the Shadowcat. The big cat had been quite resistant at first.
After sensing Marco's miraculous magic, it gradually calmed down. The moment the magic took effect, its wound stopped bleeding.
Marco watched the injured Little Jon urging him to leave, his heart filled with emotion, but he hadn't completed his mission and couldn't leave yet.
In Marco's opinion, the White Walker behind these Wights should be the target of this mission. Besides, Little Jon was injured, so he could use that as an excuse to leave him here.
The Three-Eyed Raven had said that in ancient times, before the White Walkers went berserk, the life energy within their bodies was stable. It was the fire magic energy in the dragonglass that supported their activities.
But later, for some unknown reason, the life energy within their bodies turned into an energy filled with death and ice, and it was precisely because of this energy that the White Walkers went berserk.
For so many years, the Three-Eyed Raven had been searching for the truth of the matter. In his opinion, if he hadn't proposed creating the White Walkers back then, his people wouldn't have been decimated.
This powerful thought remained in his vast memories, no matter how many bodies he changed, the Three-Eyed Raven would remember to seek out the truth behind the White Walkers' berserk state.
The Three-Eyed Raven had said that to create an existence like the Night King, an extremely powerful life energy was required.
Marco estimated that this Children of the Forest was also likely controlled by some mysterious being, and was forced into this ritual.
However, Marco knew that this White Walker's strength shouldn't be very high, otherwise the battle today would have been the final defense of Last Hearth.
We'll have to wait until she wakes up to know for sure!
Marco thought silently to himself, unconsciously turning his gaze towards the Children of the Forest at his feet.
At this moment, the Children of the Forest slowly opened her eyes, her dark golden eyes filled with confusion. But when she saw the humans around her, her eyes instantly became sharp!
With a flip, she drew an Obsidian Dagger from her waist, her body half-crouched on the ground, baring her teeth in what she thought was a fierce expression.
The Shadowcat, which had already recovered, leaped to her side, rubbing against her body. The Children of the Forest lovingly stroked its head, then flipped over and mounted it.
Seeing the Children of the Forest preparing to leave, Marco hurriedly called out:
"Hey! You're not just going to leave like that, are you? You can't handle that monster!"
The strange pronunciation of the "First Tongue" sounded like singing, and only Marco and the Children of the Forest could understand that they were communicating.
Marco's big hat hid him completely, and Maester Balon and the others didn't notice the two exchanges.
Little Jon and the others only saw Marco waving at the Children of the Forest, and they thought he wanted to keep this legendary creature around. Just when they thought the Children of the Forest was about to run away,
A scene that shocked them appeared. That Children of the Forest actually jumped off the Shadowcat and slowly walked towards Marco.
"By the gods! Why would a human use the First Tongue? Whose flesh are you, oh mysterious being? Why do you know about that monster?
My sisters will never forgive me; I haven't guarded this last piece of pure land. The claws of the foreign god are devouring the magic here. Tell me, unknown deity! Can I still atone?"
Marco looked at her sorrowful, dark face and said lightly:
"I am just a mortal, but the White Walkers are the enemy of all life. I saw everything you did in my dreams, so I came here!"
"Human! Believer of the Illusion Gods, child of the Barren Gods, warrior of the Water Gods! Can I trust you? I am the last 'Singer' here. My sisters have returned to the embrace of the Earth Mother!"
This Child of the Forest, with a strange and long name, looked at Marco timidly.
"Um! You! I'll call you Moonshadow! Can you tell me what exactly happened?"
Marco looked at this pitiful "little girl" and couldn't help but see her as a little sister who needed protection.
In the following time, "Moonshadow" briefly described the whole situation to Marco. Their tribe had chosen to hide in this forest after the War of the Dawn.
Normally, they hid in underground caves. But for some unknown reason, in the past few years, the tribespeople had been dying one after another in mysterious ways.
Out of fear, Moonshadow and another surviving tribesperson fled their hidden dwelling. They lived in the forest for a while, but that tribesperson still couldn't escape the misfortune and died in front of Moonshadow.
Speaking of this, Moonshadow's eyes were filled with sadness and heartbreak, and the surrounding Weirwood trees rustled, as if they sensed her emotions.
In the time that followed, Moonshadow, feeling low, was seduced by a mysterious voice and forcibly used a forbidden magic, wanting to call back the souls of her sisters.
She never expected that the being she awakened would be so terrifying, directly controlling her body to use "the language of the dead."
Seeing Marco's puzzled expression, Moonshadow explained, "This magic is the same one used to create the White Walkers. My people all possess the ability to converse with the dead.
Before humans appeared, we could speak with all the dead on this continent. If they had unfinished wishes, we could even let them live again in their bodies for a while.
But, your human body structure and life energy are truly strange. After our prophets used this magic, they created 'ice ghouls,' and now I've created one too.
This must be a punishment from the gods. My sisters said that the realm of the dead has been tainted, and we shouldn't touch it anymore! But I still did!"
Seeing Moonshadow's desolate expression, Marco quickly comforted her, "Don't worry! Perhaps the reason I'm here is because your gods guided me! I will help you!"