Arrow Towers upgraded to Level 3

Upgrading a Level 2 Arrow Tower to a Level 3 Arrow Tower required fifty eerie stones.

He currently had 120 eerie stones left.

He wasted no time.

He pulled five green Level 2 Eerie Stones from inside his clothes. The stones shattered, turning into a wisp of dark green liquid that floated in the air before flying toward the nearest Level 2 Arrow Tower.

A panel soon appeared before him.

-

"Arrow Tower upgraded to Level 3."

"Please select an upgrade path."

"1: Bolts gain the fire element, increasing their power."

"2: Grants the active skill 'Arrow Rain Storm.' Upon activation, the Crossbow Mechanism atop the tower fires upward at high speed, showering a designated area with dense volleys of arrows for several seconds. Costs one eerie stone."

"3: Bolts gain the lightning element, effectively paralyzing enemies and dealing a certain amount of chain damage to up to three creatures near the target struck."

-

"An active skill."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied the upgrade paths before him. This was the first time an active skill had appeared among his choices, and its effects looked quite impressive.

If he encountered Strange Entities charging into the Camp in swarms,

one skill could take care of them.

The cost was low, too—just one eerie stone.

After reaching Level 3, the Arrow Tower had already begun to change gradually. First, its original wood-and-stone framework became solid stone, blending seamlessly with the City Wall.

It became sturdier.

The bolts fired by this active skill, Arrow Rain Storm, were as powerful as those of a Level 2 Arrow Tower. Their power had not increased much, but the skill would be extremely useful against a strange tide with vast numbers of weak enemies.

Though it was very tempting,

he ultimately chose the first upgrade path, further increasing this Arrow Tower's single-target damage.

The two lesser leaders of the Strange Entities outside the Camp, along with the Female Wraith of unknown strength in the sedan chair, were still watching him hungrily. What he needed most right now was a way to threaten those three.

The instant he made his choice,

the Arrow Tower changed again.

The Crossbow Mechanism at its top slowly shifted from black to dark red. Fierce flames blazed around the catch at its front, swaying defiantly in the Torrential Rain. The entire Crossbow Mechanism became more intimidating, more awe-inspiring.

So far,

it seemed that every time a building gained a level, three upgrade paths appeared for him to choose from.

And those three paths seemed to be fixed.

At least, the upgrade paths for his two Arrow Towers had been identical.

Just then—

Crippled Monkey's urgent voice suddenly reached his ears. "Young Master, a strange tide is charging toward us!"

Chen Fan looked in the direction Crippled Monkey indicated. Several dozen meters outside the Camp, a mass of Strange Entities was surging straight toward it from the north like a tide, showing no intention of going around.

His brow furrowed slightly.

These Strange Entities were not subordinates of those three leaders. They were a group traveling through the eternal night. They were small, about the size of human children, with no limbs. Each was a plump ball of flesh covered in human faces roughly the size of a palm.

They were utterly bizarre.

They traveled by rolling.

There were many of them—at a glance, over a hundred—and more balls of flesh kept emerging from the Gray Fog behind them, with no end in sight.

They were not particularly fast, however, ambling along as though out for a stroll.

He could even make out emotions on the human faces covering the balls of flesh. Originally, they had all worn cheerful smiles, but as they approached the Camp, every face twisted into an ugly expression of considerable pain.

"Station Master, those are Meatworm Wraiths."

Standing on the City Wall with the Great Knife in hand, Zhou Mo spoke rapidly and urgently. "I know these Strange Entities. They only appear during the rainy season, never during an ordinary eternal night. They have no means of attack except self-detonation."

"They explode on contact with anything relatively hard, turning their entire bodies into a thick green liquid. It's highly corrosive. Any human who gets it on them will melt in excruciating pain."

"They can do considerable damage to the City Wall."

"These Meatworm Wraiths are the culprits behind the destruction of many cities during the rainy season. They live in groups and keep surging forward like a tide. Once they appear in swarms, it usually means the walls will be breached!"

"..."

Chen Fan did not reply. Time was running short. Despite their slow pace, the Meatworm Wraiths were already only a dozen or so meters from the Camp. Some were even briefly lifted into the air by the fierce wind before falling back to the ground and continuing to roll forward.

He turned his head toward the sedan chair in the Gray Fog west of the Camp.

The moment these Meatworm Wraiths appeared, the sedan chair and the Strange Entities around it had withdrawn into the mist at some point, vanishing into the eternal night.

"How considerate!"

He could not help drawing a deep breath. He pulled another five green eerie stones from inside his clothes and hurled them into the nearby Level 2 Arrow Tower, upgrading it to Level 3 while choosing the upgrade path that granted the active skill Arrow Rain Storm!

The Camp had reached a moment of life or death.

If both groups of Strange Entities attacked the Camp together, things would become extremely difficult. Fortunately, the Female Wraith had withdrawn into the eternal night with her subordinates. Naturally, he did not believe she was genuinely unwilling to gang up on him.

Clearly, she feared the Meatworm Wraiths too and did not want to get caught in the crossfire.

"Aaaah!!!"

An unbearably piercing scream rang through the Camp. The first Meatworm Wraith had broken through the Gray Fog and entered. Upon sensing the Eerie Fire, the human faces on its fleshy body let out uncontrollable, agonized shrieks, their expressions contorted with pain.

Clearly, it was extremely unwilling to approach the Eerie Fire.

Yet its body obediently kept rolling straight toward the Camp.

As more and more Meatworm Wraiths entered, their piercing screams rose and fell, mingling throughout the Camp.

The next instant—

The runes embedded in the Crossbow Mechanism atop one of the Level-3 Arrow Towers on the City Wall suddenly blazed. Dozens of intricate, mysterious runes radiated White Light as they rose from the Crossbow Mechanism and hovered around the Arrow Tower.

Then,

"Click."

An almost imperceptible click came from the mechanism.

Countless arrows of light shot from the Crossbow Mechanism in rapid succession, rushing skyward like a waterfall flowing in reverse. They formed a cloud of luminous arrows several dozen meters overhead, then fell like divine punishment, crossing through the Torrential Rain to blanket an area north of the City Wall.

"Hiss..."

The dozens of Meatworm Wraiths rolling across the ground were almost completely wiped out by the attack. A chorus of sizzling sounds rose, like red-hot iron rods plunging into butter. The arrows of light slowly dissipated, leaving the ground strewn with Meatworm Wraiths that dissolved into one pool of green liquid after another, corroding the wasteland.

Eerie stones dropped from their bodies and lay quietly amid the liquid, looking extremely tempting.

The Meatworm Wraiths' first wave had been almost completely annihilated.

The Rain of arrows did not cover that large an area, and a few had slipped through.

Though those few stragglers entered the Camp, they did not head toward the City Wall. Instead, they rolled quickly past its edge, crossed the Camp, and continued into the eternal night, showing no intention of looking back or lingering.