The Grayblood Lesion Emerges, Corpse-Armor Giants Attack

More than thirty days had passed since Ashen Fief's forces killed Ulgan, the Fourth Tier Wolf King.

Over that month, new scars had appeared beyond the Seven Fiefs' defensive line.

Packs of Shadowstalker Wolves had charged Grasshawk Fief's horse-relay road, and Ghoul carcasses had piled up outside White Fang Fief's caltrops.

The firepower networks of Shattered Stone Fief and Coldwater Fief had stopped assaults by Rockback Beasts and aquatic monsters, while surviving, mutated Werewolves had crawled out of the Old Valley floor in Ashen Fief more than once—

But none of those attacks had come close to breaking through the Seven Fiefs' defenses. They were little more than skirmishes.

That was because Blackpine Seven Fiefs' joint defense system was now running smoothly.

As soon as monsters entered the preset coordinates, pig iron cannons and Steam Repeating Crossbows opened fire according to plan.

Most monsters below the Fourth Tier were torn apart by cannon fire and heavy bolts before they reached the stone walls.

The Seven Fiefs had faced no deadly crisis. The Sacred Flame in each Defense Zone remained above the safety threshold, and the Echoing Platform's communication lines stayed intact.

Shien had carried them through the early Blood Moon Season to the grinding of gears and the crack of gunpowder.

Past experience suggested that if the defenses survived the initial onslaught, a slower war of attrition would follow, until the monsters grew fiercer again in the middle and late stages.

But Shien did not relax. In his view, the corpses left by those sprawling, low-tier Beast Tides were slowly fermenting in pits and underground channels that lacked the heat to burn them thoroughly.

Once Sacred Flame fuel began to run low and the soldiers grew exhausted, something truly troublesome might emerge from beneath those swamps of flesh.

What Shien