In the desolate wilderness shrouded in darkness and thin mist, an abandoned, nameless ancient city lay silently dormant upon the land. Bleak, ancient stones and corroded metal wreckage stood mute in the cold wind, as though guarding certain secrets left behind after the disappearance of civilization.
At the center of the ruins, the long-extinguished Hearth Device pointed straight toward the heavens, its black tower body devoid of even a trace of heat. Near the Hearth Device, thousands of monsters corrupted by chaos had gathered without a sound. These savage creatures, which usually only moved about blindly or fought one another violently, were now as quiet as pilgrims at prayer. They stood motionless in the darkness, keeping watch over the Tower of Hearthfire, strange and eerie.
Even the old knight Morris had never heard of such a sight. It was not mentioned anywhere, not even in the ancient royal archives.
Veronica and her knights were hiding behind a low wall. Every one of them was fully equipped with armor and weapons, silently awaiting the moment to act. The distance had been determined as safe after several discussions between the old knight and her. Corrupted Monsters had very peculiar senses. They were affected by the power of chaos but had not fully transformed, so they could not be compared with ordinary Chaos Minions. Beyond a certain range, they were deaf, blind, and incredibly stupid. Within a certain range—which some scholars called the Corrupted Monsters' "control zone"—their senses were nearly a hundred times sharper than those of ordinary humans, and they possessed the ability to directly "smell" Life Aura, just like Chaos Minions.
Therefore, distance was extremely important when ambushing Corrupted Monsters.
The knights carefully lowered their bodies. Though every one of them was a veteran of countless battles, they were still quite