The King's Wood is a vast forest south of King's Landing spanning the Blackwater Bay, a private hunting ground belonging to the Targaryen royal family.
Three-quarters of the King's Road from Storm's End to King's Landing runs through the dense King's Wood.
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
A regular army, like a long dragon, was marching along the King's Road in the King's Wood towards King's Landing.
Creak, creak!
"The wheel is stuck again! Quickly, go ahead and call a hundred-man squad to pull the cart!"
In the middle of the formation, a soldier driving a transport wagon saw that the cart couldn't move and immediately shouted to the other soldiers around him.
The reason a hundred-man squad was needed to pull the cart was that the transport wagon he was driving was just one part of a giant custom-made wagon.
This giant custom-made wagon, pulled by twenty draft horses, was assembled by horizontally joining five transport wagons.
And on the rack of the giant custom-made wagon, a gold-scaled Dragon with a broken wing was sleeping soundly, its head tucked into its left wing.
"Pull hard!"
Clang, clang!
As the hundred-man squad repeatedly dragged the giant wagon with thick ropes, the violent shaking directly woke the gold-scaled Dragon.
Its remaining left Dragon wing spread open, and the golden Dragon head stretched straight towards the hundred-man squad in front.
Gasp! Ah!
The hundred-man squad pulling the wagon, stared at closely by the gold-scaled Dragon's emotionless golden Dragon eyes, immediately let out gasps of alarm.
Roar~~
As their backs were completely soaked with cold sweat, a loud Dragon roar came from the sky.
Through the gaps in the branches of the dense King's Wood, a Vermithrax, twice the size of the gold-scaled Dragon, could be seen soaring across the sky.
Hearing the Dragon roar, the gold-scaled Dragon seemed to receive an order and curled back up onto the rack of the giant wagon.
The hundred-man squad, their faces full of fear, exchanged glances for a moment, and then continued to pull the cart.
Only this time, they used more strength in their hands, while their movements were much smaller.
Jacaerys in the sky could only communicate with Womax through their mental connection, but Womax could issue commands to the Dragons subservient to him through Dragon roars.
In other words, Jacaerys could indirectly control Sunfyre.
He tilted his head and looked down, his eyes met with a lush green sea of trees.
This King's Wood greatly restricted visibility, weakening the reconnaissance capabilities of the Dragons.
If he were to switch positions with the Green Party, Jacaerys would definitely set up an ambush in the King's Wood.
Therefore, he placed the nearly two thousand soldiers conscripted from Stormlands castles like Bronze Gate and Haystack Hall along the way, and the seventeen hundred members of the vanguard, as bait at the very front.
Following behind were the logistics troops transporting Sunfyre and supplies, the The Unsullied Legion, the Crossbow Legion, and the Baratheon soldiers.
No matter which direction the Green Party attacked from, Jacaerys's core forces would be in a safe position to strike.
In the past few days since departing Storm's End, Jacaerys had been in contact with Stone and others every day.
They had now sailed near Massey's Hook and were not far from Dragonstone.
They continued to advance through the King's Wood like this for three days.
On the morning of the fourth day, Jacaerys saw a wide river crossing the King's Wood from high in the air.
This wide river, capable of allowing two or three large warships to sail simultaneously, was called the Wendewater; its surface was broad, its current gentle, and it flowed directly into the Blackwater Bay.
There was a bluestone bridge over the river called the Wendewater Bridge, where the King's Road continued.
In the history of China in his previous life, many famous battles occurred when attacking while crossing a river or bridge, catching the enemy halfway across.
Therefore, Jacaerys immediately ordered Korman to send out the only two hundred scout cavalry.
After a thorough search by the scout cavalry, it was confirmed that there were no ambushes near the north and south sides of the Wendewater Bridge.
After hearing the cavalry's report, Jacaerys, riding Womax, repeatedly confirmed the area near the Wendewater Bridge before ordering his army to begin crossing the river.
At the same time, the large fleet led by Stone and others had just entered the Gullet sea area.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Suddenly, a blood-red Dragon figure shot down from the northern sky at extreme speed.
"Grandma Rhaenys!"
Lucerys, riding on Arrax's back, looked at the familiar Dragon flying towards him and excitedly waved and shouted.
'The Red Queen' Meleys quickly hovered beside Arrax, and Rhaenys shouted with a serious face, "Lucerys, do you know Jacaerys's current location?
The royal fleet led by Tylos Lannister has disappeared from the waters near Dragonstone.
I suspect they returned to the Blackwater Bay last night and went to the King's Wood via the Wendewater."
While the royal fleet was monitoring Driftmark, Rhaenys also had informants in Spice Town keeping an eye on them.
Early this morning, someone reported to her that the royal fleet had disappeared at some point.
Rhaenys immediately rode Meleys to Dragonstone to investigate.
But it wasn't just the royal fleet; even the Green Party troops stationed at Stone Drum Tower and Dragonclaw Village had vanished without a trace.
Realizing something was wrong, she immediately followed the route Rien had previously reported to Driftmark to find them.
"Hmm, I remember Stone said this morning that my brother seemed to be arriving at the Wendewater yesterday.
The royal fleet went after him?
Oh no, Grandma Rhaenys, let's quickly fly together to help my brother!"
Hearing this, Lucerys immediately shared the information he knew, then anxiously urged Rhaenys to go with him to help his brother who was being pursued.
"Child, trust me, this is not the worst of it!"
Rhaenys shook her head at his words and replied, then said no more.
She did not reveal the information she had gathered today at Dragonclaw Village about the Green Party secretly conscripting Dragon seeds during this period.
Saying these things now would only dampen their morale.
After Lucerys flew Arrax to the Conqueror to quickly communicate with Stone, he flew towards the Wendewater in the King's Wood with Rhaenys.
...
At the Wendewater Bridge, Jacaerys's bait army had all crossed the river.
Currently crossing the bridge were the logistics troops transporting Sunfyre and supplies.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Jacaerys, circling above the Wendewater Bridge, suddenly heard the sound of Dragon wings slicing through the air that did not belong to Womax.
Always maintaining high vigilance, he could be sure that he hadn't seen any Dragons within his field of vision.
Then there was only one direction...
"Dracarys!"
With a loud shout from the quick-reacting Jacaerys,
Womax fiercely flapped his wings to change his flight posture, then breathed a large stream of black-gray Dragonflame towards the thick clouds above.
Grroooarr~~
Accompanied by a very unfamiliar, deep Dragon roar,
a Dragon over a hundred meters long, covered in bronze scales, with a pair of huge brown wings, broke through the thick clouds.
Using its huge bronze Dragon claws stained with black-gray Dragonflame, it clawed towards Womax's head.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Knowing that an enemy was attacking from above, Jacaerys naturally couldn't stay put.
After breathing the black-gray Dragonflame, Womax immediately changed direction with a flap of his wings, dodging to the side.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Almost simultaneously, two Dragons of significantly different sizes broke through the clouds from the left and right sides of the bronze Dragon, sandwiching Womax between them.
To the left was Womax's nemesis, Vhagar, whose head was bald in one spot.
To the right was a silver-gray Dragon similar in size to Glutton, with a pair of noticeably bright silver Dragon wings.
As soon as they broke through the clouds and saw Womax, they seemed to have planned it, simultaneously opening their massive mouths to prepare their Dragon breath.
Three Dragons, several times larger than Womax, were attempting to launch a surprise pincer attack in this manner.
It was clear how much the Green Party valued it.
But it was still not enough!
Womax's Dragon eyes suddenly widened, and an invisible Dragon might immediately spread outwards from him.
These three Dragons naturally wouldn't become subservient to Womax because of this, but they still experienced an extremely brief moment of stunned daze.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Womax seized the opportunity to rush out of the three Dragons' pincer attack range.
It's happening again, what exactly is this palpitation with a sudden increase in heart rate?
Why didn't Vhagar breathe Dragon fire?
Aemond looked at Womax, who was rapidly escaping the attack range, with a face full of doubt, struggling to understand the Dragon might he felt for the second time.
"Hugh, you ride Vermithor and continue the pursuit with me.
"Ulf, your Silverwing flies faster than us, circle around from the side and block it!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
These two dragonriders were the result of Aemond's secret recruitment and taming of dragonseeds some time ago.
The burly man with a full beard was the King's Landing blacksmith, Hugh.
He had tamed Vermithor, known as the 'Bronze Fury', whose size was second only to Vhagar.
The other man, Ulf, who was thin and had pale white hair, was a drunkard from Dragonstone.
He had tamed Silverwing, named for her shining wings.
After the order was given, the Green Party's three dragons began flapping their wings, chasing Womax ahead.
And Vhagar, under Aemond's control, let out a massive dragon roar that echoed throughout the Wendewater.
Roar~~~
The Green Party's signal was sent, and the long-planned ambush finally began.
Rumble!
North of Wendewater Bridge, the three thousand seven hundred men of the bait army faintly heard a muffled thunder coming from ahead.
As the muffled thunder grew louder, the ground of the entire northern Kingswood seemed to be shaking.
"Charge!"
Putting on his White Knight armor again and wearing a pig-faced helm, Criston Cole leveled the lance in his hand and let out a battle cry.
There was indeed no Green Party ambush near the Wendewater Bridge,
That was because the cavalry legion he led, composed of lords from the Crownlands and numbering around three thousand, needed sufficient distance to charge.
And as the 'highway' of the Seven Kingdoms, the flat and wide King's Road provided them with a natural geographical advantage.
The cavalry legion, in a full charge, was extremely fast; those panicked bait soldiers had not even had time to form defensive squares before they were already upon them.
Thump!
Crack!
The lances in the hands of the front-rank cavalry carried powerful inertia, directly piercing the bellies, necks, and even faces of the bait soldiers.
After absorbing the recoil from the charging thrust, the lances immediately broke.
Criston threw down his broken lance and drew the flail from his saddle, swinging it as he charged into the bait army.
Slaughter, complete and utter slaughter!
The bait army, which hadn't even properly formed its ranks, was no match for the cavalry legion in a full charge.
The bait soldiers at the very front fell in swathes, like leeks being harvested.
Even those lucky enough to escape the lances and spears of the cavalry legion were directly knocked flying by the tight formation of the opposing group charge.
North of the Wendewater Bridge, the air was instantly filled with the shouts of the cavalry legion and the screams of the bait army.
However, since it was a bait army.
Then their purpose was to use their lives to lure the enemy onto the hook.
When three enemy dragons appeared in the sky, Korman, who was in charge of commanding the core troops, began to execute the orders Jacaerys had given in advance.
The logistics unit, located at the very front of the middle section of the army, moved first.
Groups of logistics soldiers unloaded thick, block-shaped metal plates from the supply carts.
These block-shaped metal plates were melted down from all the ironware and damaged weapons from Storm's End and Harvest Hall.
Their surfaces had no patterns, looking plain and unadorned, focusing entirely on practicality.
Clink clink clink!
Groups of logistics soldiers, like worker ants, climbed onto giant custom-made carts, attaching the block-shaped metal plates to Sunfyre's body and then joining them with thick, long rivets.
They must have practiced many times beforehand, not only were the logistics soldiers' movements crisp and efficient, but even Sunfyre showed no intention of resisting.
It didn't take much time; except for her mouth, eyes, and wings, Sunfyre's entire body was covered with thick block-shaped metal plates.
She instantly transformed from a magnificent golden-scaled dragon into a cold and merciless steel dragon.
Roar!
Relying on his relatively small size and the 50% agility bonus from the Agile trait, Womax easily led Vhagar and the other three dragons on a chase.
Seeing that Sunfyre had completed the assembly of her full body armor, Jacaerys immediately exerted indirect control through Womax.
Whoosh!
Receiving the order, Sunfyre forcefully flapped her intact left wing and her broken right wing, whose wound had long since scarred over and healed.
Although she could no longer fly high, simple jumps and glides were still possible.
Clang!
Accompanied by the sound of armor rubbing, Sunfyre, fifteen to sixteen meters long, landed heavily north of the Wendewater Bridge.
Thump thump thump!
As soon as she landed, Sunfyre used her asymmetrical wings as support points and her two strong hind legs for propulsion.
Carrying an unstoppable momentum, she charged straight ahead.
Bang bang bang!
Ah!!!
The bait soldiers directly ahead who had lost their will to fight and were starting to flee were directly sent flying by Sunfyre, who was like a heavy tank.
What is that???
Criston, who was on horseback freely hammering the bait soldiers, heard the sound, looked up ahead, and was instantly stunned for several seconds.
But he immediately reacted, the width of the Kingswood road was not enough for the cavalry legion to turn and avoid it.
Moreover, if a cavalry legion in a group charge lost its speed among the enemy, it would be equivalent to suicide.
So he raised his flail and shouted at Sunfyre, "Charge!" .
Rumble!
Thump thump thump!
The steel torrent of the cold weapon era clashed head-on with the steel dragon!
Bang bang bang!
Neigh~~
The moment the front-rank Green Party cavalry collided with Sunfyre, both rider and horse were directly sent flying.
The warhorse spewed out a large amount of blood in the air and let out a mournful cry, while the cavalryman had already turned into a lump of human flesh with shattered bones, limp and soft.
Not good!
Criston, who was in the relatively front ranks, immediately realized something was wrong and directly abandoned his horse, leaping towards the bushes beside the road.
Crack!
Leaping off a warhorse in a high-speed charge was absolutely impossible to do without injury.
Even though Criston knew how to roll to absorb force, his left leg hit a tree trunk beside the road the moment he landed, and it broke instantly.
But this was already the best outcome!
Bang bang bang!
Sunfyre, wrapped in thick armor, was like a huge rock, while the Green Party's cavalry legion was like eggs.
The warhorse Criston had been riding, mixed in with the cavalry legion, was directly sent flying; just by looking at it, he knew it wouldn't survive.
If he hadn't decisively abandoned his horse, he would definitely have turned into a lump of soft flesh by now.
Clang, clang!
The force was mutual; the thick block-shaped metal plates on Sunfyre's chest and belly were dented by the impact, but were not yet damaged for the time being.
However, the connecting rivets couldn't withstand it; they shattered and burst out one after another.
The block-shaped metal plates on Sunfyre's chest and belly immediately kept falling to the ground.
But it didn't matter, because beneath the metal plates, Sunfyre's own sturdy dragon scales provided protection.
After knocking hundreds or thousands of Green Party cavalry flying, Sunfyre's forward momentum finally ran out, and she was trapped within the enemy cavalry legion.
The Green Party cavalry surrounding her were immediately greatly encouraged, thinking they would become dragon-slaying heroes praised throughout the Seven Kingdoms.
The next second, scorching orange-red Dracarys spewed out from Sunfyre's wide-open mouth.
Whoosh!
Due to the block-shaped metal plates falling off her chest and belly, Sunfyre, who was not unintelligent, first dealt with the Green Party cavalry directly in front of her.
One by one, the Green Party cavalry attempting to slay the dragon were burned to charcoal, rider and horse together.
Clang clang clang!
Meanwhile, the Green Party cavalry on the other three sides continuously struck Sunfyre with various weapons such as longswords and spears.
But they couldn't break through her defense at all, only producing bursts of metallic clanging sounds.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Sunfyre, continuously spewing scorching Dracarys, turned her head and sprayed a circle around her, instantly clearing the surrounding enemies.
So it is said, a dragon with broken wings is still a dragon!
In this era of cold weapons, they are the undisputed ceiling of combat power!
Splash, splash!
As the steel Sunfyre heavily defeated the Green Party cavalry legion, a rapidly advancing large fleet appeared on the surface of the Wendewater River.
Thanks to the gods for subscribing! Also, thanks to all the big bosses who cast their monthly votes.
PS: Asking readers to provide a picture of Sunfyre as a steel dragon.
My AI really can't draw it.
Today I only updated over seven thousand characters, tomorrow I happen to have half a day off, I will strive for a ten-thousand character update, asking for some monthly votes, thank you!