Fight to Sustain the Fight

The enormous Blood Moon still hung overhead.

The Blood Moon Season will last for several months, during which there is no concept of a setting moon.

But the intense crimson light that had been blindingly bright dimmed somewhat, and the crimson hue that enveloped the entire defensive line also darkened a bit.

The violent, malevolent energy that had been pressing down on everyone's hearts finally receded with this fluctuation.

This is the tide of the Blood Moon Law.

Although the Blood Moon still hangs in the sky, it is not always at the same intensity.

The fiercest first wave crashed and shattered against the ice slopes, spikes, Poisonfire, and steel arrows surrounding the Blackpine Fief Ridge.

The Magic Creature's offensive on the wasteland quickly weakened.

Having lost the most violent layer of law infusion, the surviving low-level Dark Creatures finally rekindled their biological instincts.

They dragged their mutilated bodies, stepping over the corpses of their kind, and slowly shrank back.

Before long, the retreating herd of beasts vanished like a black tide swept away by the wind, quickly disappearing back into the depths of the deathly Gray Fog.

Shien's shoulders and back had been tense for most of the night, and only now has it relaxed by a mere half inch.

But as soon as he breathed a sigh of relief, the burden that had been forcibly stretched open deep within his consciousness by [Lv.3 Macro Battlefield Command] also pressed back down, causing his temples to throb repeatedly, as if someone were chiseling into them with an awl.

The long hours spent intensely monitoring the entire defensive line, constantly analyzing the battle situation and issuing orders had already pushed his brain to its limit, but he had been forcibly suppressing it just now.

He slowly raised his right hand. "Auxiliary Soldier, go into battle and clean up the battlefield."

Not long after, the military Recorder, stepping on the half-congealed blood on the stone steps, climbed up the high platform and handed Shien a parchment ledger recording casualties and battle results.

Shien took the ledger and glanced at it with his eyes down.

Thirty-four were killed in action, and more than seventy were seriously or slightly wounded.

The eastern defensive line suffered the most; when the Fang-Splitting Formation and the Falling-Bone Beast clashed, nineteen people died in that section alone.

In the context of the Eternal Night Wall, such casualties would be nothing short of miraculous.

The wind swept past the edge of the tower, but showed no sign of stopping in the camp.

The Auxiliary Soldier, composed of Convicts, pushed wheelbarrows into the trenches.

Those stinking corpses were work points, rations, and a path to survival for them.

The boning knife flew back and forth in the snow and blood, its movements too fast to be seen.

The cores of low-level Magic Creature were pried out one by one, along with their brains and bone fragments, and poured into Pig Iron with a clatter.

Large swaths of yellowish fat were peeled off, thrown onto carts, and sent directly to the underground Workshop.

And the flesh and blood on the battlefield will soon be turned into fuel, arrows, leather armor, and protective gear.

Dismantle everything that can be dismantled, use everything that can be used, and then rebuild it layer by layer into this defensive line. This is called using war to sustain war.

Most notably, a dull, rhythmic sound of chains being dragged came from below the western Dark Bunker.

Dozens of shirtless laborers gritted their teeth, the hemp ropes digging deep into their flesh, as they dragged a huge corpse back from the mud.

It was a Third Tier Dark-Spotted Rot-Hide Bear, as big as a house.

It had intended to rely on its thick armor to break through the western defense line, but before it could even reach the edge of the trench, it was riddled with holes by the Semi-Automatic Steam Repeating Crossbow in the Dark Bunker.

The body was dragged along, leaving a long, dark trail of blood on the muddy ground.

Shien also witnessed this scene. He closed the ledger, walked directly down the tower, and came to the bear carcass.

He drew his short sword from his waist, squatted down beside the rotten corpse of the bear, and used the blade to cut open the flesh of its abdomen, which had been ripped apart by heavy arrows.

A wave of pungent, hot air surged out, and soon a richly colored Tier Three Sourceblood Crystal was peeled out, its surface still slightly warm.

Shien raised his hand and tossed it into the lead box held by the Recorder beside him. "Give it to Victor and let him handle it."

As soon as he finished speaking, he flicked his wrist, and the sword blade slid along the thick leather armor of the rotten bear once again.

This layer of skin naturally possesses considerable magic resistance, making it perfect for reinforcing city gates and Dark Bunker.

"The hide was peeled off intact, sent for tanning, and then nailed to the lining of the Inner Fortress Main Gate."

The Recorder bowed and wrote down the message: "Yes, Your Lordship."

The battlefield cleanup was more than halfway done, and the biting cold wind swept through, dispersing some of the strong, sweet smell of blood from the trenches.

The warriors who crawled out of the Magic Creature corpses huddled in twos and threes at the base of the mud wall, wrapped in coarse hemp blankets stained with black mud and blood, holding chipped wooden bowls in their hands.

The freshly boiled broth was still steaming, and this little bit of heat was the only warmth left on this Frozen Tundra.

Recruit Todd and Captain Kyle leaned against each other, their lips turning purple from the cold, making loud gurgling noises as they gulped down hot soup.

Todd swallowed a piece of overcooked meat and slowly raised his head.

His gaze swept over the icy slope studded with Refined Steel arrows, over the still-smoking Poison-Mist Trench, and finally settled firmly on the command tower at the highest point of the Inner Fortress, or perhaps he was looking for the white-haired boy again.

Not only Todd, but also the craftsmen in the Workshop, the Auxiliary Soldier transporting the corpses, and the soldiers huddled by the fire drinking soup, were all looking at that tall tower, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

As the night passed, the five thousand or so people in Blackpine Fief felt that following this lord might actually allow them to survive the Blood Moon and see the sun one more time.

That sense of awe, faith, and unwavering reliance gradually arose.

Shien returned to the platform and took a rough iron cup from the messenger. It contained hot tea with a few thin tea stalks floating on the surface.

As he sipped his tea, he rubbed his temples, feeling the numbers in the Canon of Grace and Righteousness deep within his consciousness rising.

The numbers above the heads of everyone in the entire territory are rising rapidly, with most climbing from emerald green and dark blue, and a few that were already quite high even approaching purple.

Shien kept his eyes down, showing no sign of surprise.

He had long understood that giving someone a bowl of hot soup could evoke gratitude, but the increase in gratitude was ultimately limited.

The fastest rises actually occur when the price is on the verge of collapse.

These people witnessed firsthand how they almost died in the trench.

The next moment, however, he survived by relying on this defensive line and his orders. The feeling of being pulled back from the throat was far more intense than a bowl of hot soup and a few pieces of black bread.

At times like these, fear suppresses all the distracting thoughts in a person's mind.

The rest is much simpler: whoever shields him from the Long Night will be remembered more deeply and heavily by them.

The Canon of Grace and Righteousness does not lie; the Grace Value increases fastest between life and death.

Just then, Shien noticed that Ivan, who had been standing behind him, suddenly gasped for air.

He turned his head and saw that the Resonance Realm Knight, who had remained unfazed even when facing Third-Tier Ghoul, suddenly widened his eyes and stared intently at the far distance directly in front of the defensive line.