Black Fortress

Black Fortress is a true fortress.

The exterior is almost entirely made of dark black Stone. Lu Ban couldn't quite tell how many years ago these Stone were carved. The mottled marks were not something humans could create; only monsters could leave such twisted wounds.

The entire fortress was like a giant hemisphere covering the ground, with no sunlight inside and only a few small windows for weapons to fire from.

Above the hemisphere, watchtowers, high walls, catapults, and other structures are scattered throughout.

Outside the fortress, the remains of some buildings can still be vaguely seen. According to Jonah, this place was originally the capital of a country. The spread of the Black Forest destroyed that country, and it was not until later that the Black Tower reclaimed the fortress from the monsters.

Surrounding Black Fortress are five layers of defensive fortifications: wooden spikes, stone walls, trenches, spikes—every means imaginable by humans to impede the movement of monsters has been employed here. Due to the different types of monsters in the Demon Tide, these fortifications can at least block some of the monsters with physical forms.

The spell detection covering the entire fortress can detect and restrict those intangible monsters in the first instance. Lu Ban saw that there were significantly more mages inside the Black Fortress, indicating that the defenses here, as the main defensive point, were much more stringent.

"The Demon Tide will spread from the west, and the entire region will be shrouded in endless darkness. What we need to do is to attract as many of the monsters from the Demon Tide as possible, and ideally, make them all gather near this fortress, so that they have no time to go outside the Black Forest."

Before the meal, Jonah explained the details of the operation to Lu Ban and the other Rangers.

"We must resist for at least three days until the Demon Tide recedes. Survival is victory."

"Wait a minute, if the eternal night brings darkness, and it only fears sunlight, then aren't we just waiting to die here?"

Lu Ban blurted it out.

The other young Rangers looked at each other, somewhat panicked.

"This is the meaning of our existence in Blacksburg."

Jonah pointed to the ground.

"The Black Castle's architecture has been modified to allow it to unleash a powerful spell, Eternal Blazing Sun, with the support of a certain number of mages. This spell can simulate the sun to some extent and can affect an area of about ten miles around. By attracting the arrival of Eternal Night and then casting this spell, we can eliminate most of the Kin of the Eternal Night to the greatest extent possible."

"I see."

Lu Ban clapped.

Seeing Lu Ban's actions, the other Rangers hesitantly joined in the applause.

"Put down your hands, cough cough. This is only the best-case scenario. If the fortress is breached early, we will have to use magic in advance. Those Kin of the Eternal Night will bypass this fortress and attack areas outside the Black Forest. Once those areas have fallen, it will only be a matter of time before our place is gradually devoured."

Jonah cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly.

"Don't worry, with the support of the magical light source, it will be difficult for the Eternal Darkness's kin to breach the fortress. All we need to do is carefully stall for time."

He offered a final word of comfort.

At dinner time, Lu Ban wolfed down his food at the table.

The food here consisted of meat soup, meat sauce, mashed potatoes, bread, vegetables, etc. The taste was just edible, but the weather was too cold, and Lu Ban had a very good appetite. He ate two large bowls and still felt it wasn't enough.

"Think about it, if you were eaten by the Kin of the Eternal Night tonight, wouldn't you regret not eating more tonight?"

Lu Ban explained to the dumbfounded Birmingham.

"That makes sense. I'll have another bowl!"

The young man also took an extra bowl.

Lu Ban was very satisfied that there was enough food for everyone at the front.

After dinner, it was Lu Ban and Birmingham's turn to keep watch, and the two went up to the high walls of the fortress.

From here, one can see a vast forest bathed in moonlight. In the biting wind, the trees undulate like ocean waves. The snow falls to the ground, startling some animals and making the night watchmen even more vigilant.

There were still many people on watch on the high walls. Through the lights of the watchtowers, you could see that they were all huddled around the fireplace. The weather was so cold that if it weren't for the report from the Observation Hub, everyone might have really thought that the coming Demon Tide was frost.

Lu Ban gazed into the distance. The [True Sight] gave him excellent vision. Lu Ban could see that on the Other Shore of the horizon, there seemed to be a forest completely covered by darkness, which even the moonlight could not illuminate.

That might be the eternal night that is gradually approaching.

"The Demon Tide will arrive by tomorrow night at the latest."

Jonah's voice came from behind the two of them.

Are you nervous?

He asked Birmingham a question because Lu Ban was clearly not nervous at all.

"I will do my best to complete the mission."

Birmingham straightened up.

"Don't be so reserved, we are comrades now."

Jonah patted the boy on the shoulder.

"When I experienced the Demon Tide, I was also very scared. I was afraid that I would be killed by the monsters, and that my teammates would die because of my hesitation. I still don't want to recall those days."

"But don't worry, this fortress has never fallen since it was recaptured. It has always been a bridgehead against the Demon Tide, and there will be no problem this time either."

When Lu Ban heard Jonah's words, he was about to complain about not making promises he shouldn't keep, but then he noticed that the people on the watchtower next door seemed to be behaving strangely.

The man's companion stood in front of the watchtower, gazing ahead, while he himself sat by the fireplace and suddenly drew a short knife from his waist.

Instead of attacking his teammates, the man trembled as he pointed the blade at his own throat.

Lu Ban immediately materialized his [Last Words]. Just as the disruptive Speech Bullet was fired, the man's blade pierced through his throat.

Lu Ban saw a peaceful smile on the other person's face, and at the same time, the other person pulled him.

A large amount of blood gushed out and instantly turned cold. The man's companion cried for help, but everyone knew it was too late.

Lu Ban and the others arrived at the watchtower and looked at the corpses being carried down.

The corpse had a Pleasure, peaceful smile on its face, like that of someone fast asleep.

"He resisted just now, as if his body was being controlled."

Lu Ban said, looking at Jonah. Only mages could clearly understand such extraordinary and bizarre phenomena.

"Is he really like that?"

Jonah's expression was slightly strange.

Before he could explain, he saw the man's companion suddenly draw his own knife.

"No, no!"

His blade moved toward his throat, and he seemed to be resisting some kind of force with all his might.

Birmingham tried to help, but Jonah immediately stopped him.

"Don't go there, you'll get infected."

He raised his hand and looked at the terrified Rangers.

"It might hurt a bit, but at least it will save your life."

Before the Rangers could react, Jonah clenched his right fist and swung it around.

Pfft

The Rangers's hands fell as if sliced by a sharp blade, and his dagger, having lost its support, also fell to the ground.

"Don't touch him, it's a plague."

Jonah, his expression grave, added another sentence.

"The ruler of the twelfth wave of Demon Tide, the plague."

*

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