The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Historically, the most deaths in a single team melee occurred hundreds of years ago, with a total of twenty-one fatalities.

However, that was an exception.

Because two teams used the team melee as a pretext for a duel.

That team duel was seven against seven.

Ancient duels always followed the seven-on-seven rule.

Seven represents the Faith of the Seven!

When a person wants to duel another to the death, if they cannot find seven friends willing to fight for them, then that person's life is a failure, and they are disliked by the Seven.

Because of the Faith of the Seven, ancient duels always involved inviting seven people to fight for you; even if you fought yourself, you still needed six friends willing to risk their lives for you.

Such duels were extremely brutal.

In theory, the losing side would have seven deaths.

In reality, even the winning side would lose several people.

Those who survived the duel were usually crippled.

These ancient duels were very damaging to the nobles and the entire country.

When a royal house or a major noble family had a conflict to be resolved by duel, the strongest warrior of that royal house or the most skilled knight of that noble family would face death or crippling injuries.

This was a huge loss of talent for a country.

It was precisely because of the duel between two great noble families during that team melee that fourteen of the country's greatest and most valiant warriors and generals were dragged into a life-or-death battle.

And to the sorrow of the entire nation, all fourteen of these absolute heroes and generals were killed in that great melee, including two twin brothers and a pair of sworn brothers.

They had accepted invitations from opposing sides and had to fight for their honor and promises. When one side was completely wiped out, only two remained on the winning side. These two could not bear the immense pressure of having killed their comrades and brothers, and they chose to commit suicide.

After that team melee, the generation's universally acknowledged great warriors and outstanding generals in Westeros all died in the team melee arena.

The entire kingdom mourned, countless people who loved them were heartbroken, and the pursuers and followers of these warriors and generals, as well as some of their lovers, committed suicide.

This immense tragedy led the king to order the abolition of the ancient seven-on-seven duel rule; henceforth, duels would only allow the involved parties to fight one-on-one.

This is the origin of the current dueling rules in Westeros: one-on-one combat.

In one-on-one duels, only one person usually dies. The surviving victor is rarely seriously injured because no one ambushes him from behind.

After that team melee between the great nobles, no team melees took place in Westeros for a century.

From that day on, killing people in team melees was explicitly forbidden by the king, and this eventually became a commonly accepted rule from the official level down to the common people.

History may be heavy, but time can make people forget their sorrows and smooth over those tragic traces.

A century later, the spirit of melee revived, and team melees were once again held in full swing.

In team melees, people were killed almost every time for various reasons.

All historical records are meant to be broken!

Including the historical record for the number of deaths in a team melee.

This new record was created by the Mountain and his team, who killed more people this time than in the deadliest melee in ancient history: twenty-one.

Many years later, the tragedy and bloodshed of this team melee tournament still echo in the historical training grounds, painting a tragic red stroke across the sky of history.

*

The Mountain's black iron spiked hammer swung in an arc, from low to high, scraping the ground. At the same time, several spears flashed out from the gaps in the shield wall, stabbing towards the Mountain like lightning.

Beside the Mountain, two round shields were thrust forward, one by Sweetmouth Ralph on the left and the other by Dunsen on the right.

The round shields pushed forward desperately, slamming hard into the spears.

Clang, clang, clang!

A trail of sparks and alarming scratches appeared.

At the same time—the iron hammer swept across, a black shadow like the Grim Reaper!

Boom!

A deafening roar.

A huge oak shield shattered, and a person screamed as they flew into the air like a puppet.

The shield wall collapsed with a crash, and more than a dozen people behind the shields fell to the ground.

The ranks of spearmen interspersed among the shields were thrown into chaos.

The black iron hammer swept across the ground horizontally, thud, thud, thud, the spikes piercing bodies, a series of sounds like needles puncturing balloons. Several people on the ground were swept away by the unstoppable iron hammer, the spikes piercing their chests and bellies, the sound of air escaping from broken cavities making teeth ache and stomachs churn.

Boom!

The body of the shield bearer who had been smashed away fell down, already outside the circle, head down and feet up, the sound of a bone snapping making hearts leap. His neck was broken, his head pressed against his back, his eyes wide, his face full of horror.

Sansa covered her eyes, while Septa Mordane, noblewomen, and ladies-in-waiting screamed.

That person stared at them, eyes wide in death, his appearance frightening and bizarre.

Smack! Bang! Boom!

The horror of that death had not yet passed when several more bodies fell from the air, some with their armor shattered like mud, others with their armor almost split in half by the spikes of the black iron hammer, and still others with their helmets falling off, their heads reduced to bloody skulls.

The Mountain swept his long-handled giant hammer horizontally once in each direction, knocking most of the dozen or so people on the ground away. Everyone was like a kite with its string cut, or a cardboard人形 doll, easily shattered by the hammer's blow, flying far away covered in blood.

The supervising officials, King Robert, Prime Minister Eddard, Duke Renly, the Knight of Flowers, Barristan, and Jaime all changed color, their eyes full of shock.

Several rescuing spears stabbed towards the Mountain from the front and both sides.

Sweetmouth and the Executioner slid forward, using their shields again to block the Mountain on both sides.

Clang, clang, clang!

The spears left several dents in the shields, sparks flying.

Using spears to pierce the Mountain's plate armor was the best tactic. These desperadoes resolutely carried out this tactic. As long as the Mountain was hit by two spears, gushing blood would quickly drain his divine power and courage.

The Mountain roared, "You guys go help Jory!" His eyes swept over and saw Jory being chased and slashed by several knights, who, like they had done with Zerry, had identified the weak link and were determined to eliminate one first.

Chiswyck, the big head, had been knocked to the ground while trying to protect Jory. He was using his shield well, the shield rotating on the ground, already having slashed several people's calves, preventing his opponents from getting close enough to slash at him.

Jory's agility was also far superior to Zerry's, and his attacks were ten times more decisive and ruthless. Although one was lying on the ground and the other standing, he was still able to protect himself from being hit, but he was in imminent danger.

Rafford and Polliver, defending the Mountain's rear, were still holding on. The two tightly guarded the back, and the opponents dared not get too close, merely containing them to prevent them from rescuing the big head and Jory.

They only needed to delay for a little while, and the big head and Jory would be injured and fall. Four of the Mountain's eight henchmen would be gone.

Those who dared to fight the Mountain were all veterans who had truly been tested by blood and fire. Experience, skill, ambition, and ruthlessness were all present.

After the Mountain shattered the shield wall, he glanced over and saw that these people's second plan was to eliminate Jory and the big head. He immediately ordered Sweetmouth and the Executioner to withdraw and go help Jory and the big head.

Sweetmouth Ralph and the Executioner immediately pounced to the left, while the Mountain alone had to take care of the front and both his left and right sides.

The spearmen were overjoyed. With the Mountain's shield protection gone, it was the perfect time to wound him with spears.

With a whoosh, nine spearmen immediately came from the front and both sides, spears waving, nine spears stabbing at the Mountain together, like spikes from a hedgehog.

Janei, Burney, and the Hound shouted at the same time, "Be careful!"

From three directions, nine spears stabbed at the Mountain. No matter how the Mountain reacted, he was bound to be hit.

Duke Renly, the Knight of Flowers, Mallbran, Royce, Lynn, Balon, and other great nobles were overjoyed. The watching Kingsguard, the City Watch, and countless citizens all cheered!

No matter how you looked at it, the Mountain would be stabbed by several spears.

Prime Minister Eddard wanted the Mountain to die because he was Lannister's vicious dog. But Eddard's heart was uneasy.

"This is not honorable!" Eddard finally couldn't help but say to King Robert.

Robert was watching with great excitement, eager to see the Mountain stabbed by spears, then kneel on one knee, and be knocked down. He didn't hear Eddard's mutterings at all.

The Mountain roared, and the black iron hammer in his hand was thrown out like a cannonball. Everyone was shocked and horrified. The three spearmen in front retreated urgently, but they were too late. The black iron hammer knocked away three spears stabbing from the front, and with a bang, it smashed into the chest and armor of the spearman in the middle, causing them to cave in together. The person's entire back suddenly bulged outward, like a terrible hunchback. Invisibly, an unseen rope pulled him backward violently, and the body flew high.

The other two spearmen dropped their spears, their hands and wrists bleeding, their wrists in excruciating pain, their bones and muscles brittle. The force of the iron hammer colliding with the spears had severely injured their wrists and shoulder blades, causing them unbearable pain. The two turned and fled, desperately running out of the battle circle.

Boom!

The black iron hammer landed, the ground trembled, and even the wooden floor of the stands shook slightly.

The great nobles watching felt the tremor under their feet, and everyone was terrified!

After throwing the iron hammer, the Mountain injured two opponents and killed one. Without pausing, he grabbed the spears stabbing from the left and right with both hands, clamped them under his armpits, and pulled lightly. Those people were caught off guard, stumbled forward, and fell to the ground.

The Mountain laughed, gathered the six spears together, and then threw them out one by one, nailing the six spearmen who had scrambled to their feet and were running away, unable to care for anything else, to the ground one by one.

Six screams made jaws ache and teeth hurt, enough to cure a child's night crying. Some of the spears pierced through people and pinned them to the ground. The spears and the bodies were connected, supporting the bodies from falling. The dead were full of horror, blood spraying from their mouths and noses. This scene was too terrifying, and Sansa, Septa Mordane, the noblewomen and ladies-in-waiting, and the women among the commoners all closed their eyes, afraid to look anymore.

The cheers that had erupted when the nine spears attacked the Mountain just now all stopped abruptly. Everyone's mouths were wide open, unable to close, like fish dying of thirst.

In the blink of an eye, the Mountain threw the iron hammer, injuring two and killing seven, his momentum like a rainbow, unstoppable!

Thank you to [Punishment Knight Zero Thinking] for the reward, thank you, handshake!