Douglas stood at a position with a better view on the inside of the wall, looking at the distance between the flames and the fog that was slowly shortening.
He could feel the temperature changes in the air. It was still warm near the fire, but the range of that warmth was getting smaller.
He turned around and waved to the guards behind him, signaling them to bring up the spare kerosene.
Several soldiers acted immediately and came forward carrying several sealed wooden barrels.
Under the command of Douglas, they carefully opened the seal, scooped out the kerosene from the barrel with long-handled spoons, poured it evenly on the darkening wood piles, and then quickly retreated.
After the kerosene came into contact with the surface of the firewood, there was a slight sizzling sound at first. After a few breaths, the flame suddenly shot upward, reaching a height that was nearly half higher than before.
The flames crossed the outer edge of the trench again, creating a brief wall of light in the direction of the black mist slowly advancing inward, forcing the tightening mist back again.
The mist burned by the flames made a sizzling sound, like something moist quickly evaporating when exposed to high temperatures.
At the same time, an unpleasant odor wafted from that contact point toward the camp. It smelled like a mixture of rotten wet wool and burned animal horn, with a slightly sticky astringency that made people hold their breath involuntarily.
Douglas stood behind the wall of light, with no obvious change in expression on his face.
He lightly rubbed his fingers on the rough mortar surface of the edge of the wall, wiping off the moisture on his fingertips.
He recalled that when Volantis was loading supplies, Redd separately listed the quota of kerosene in addition to the list of food and weapons, and clearly required that there must be sufficient quantity.
At the time, he didn't quite understand why so much kerosene was loaded into the expedition supplies, which fully occupied the side cargo space of the entire deck of the carrying space.
Now he understood. The kerosene contained in sealed wooden barrels and clay pots was becoming one of the key conditions for the camp to continue to maintain.
They are on the buffer zone that keeps a distance between the black mist and the flames, and they are being poured into the fire one by one, replacing them with streaks of fresh light.
He slowly walked along the walkway on the inside of the fence, stopping at regular intervals to check the burning status of the fire and confirm whether the next batch of kerosene had been placed in a ready-to-use position near each section of the fence.
As he walked around, he could hear occasional small sounds coming from the depths of the black mist in the distance, like some creatures accidentally breaking dead branches on the ground or trampling dry mud while moving. Those sounds were extremely weak, but they could be clearly discerned at the edge of the area not illuminated by the torch.
The length of each section of the wall is different, and the distribution density of the fires is arranged at intervals of several meters, forming a continuous ring of light that extends in his field of vision.
The central and rear areas of the camp were still dark and quiet, with only the sentry posts assigned to watch the night keeping lights on.
Behind those walls, a large number of soldiers were already nervous due to the encroaching black fog.
It was the first time for most of them to come to Valyrian Peninsula, and it was their first time to see this mist that could move slowly, fight against flames, and make a sizzling sound and emit a peculiar smell when burned.
The edge of the mist that is occasionally burned by rising flames will briefly glow with a faint bright color, like ignited moist gas, and then return to the original dark color after a few breaths, leaving only a small gray area lighter than the surrounding area in the burned position.
The unpleasant odor in the air drifted in and out, carried by the wind and accumulated in certain areas, causing the soldiers standing in those positions to unconsciously turn their heads or cover their mouths and noses with their sleeves for a moment.
Someone whispered something, but the companion next to him didn't respond, and the whisper dissipated in the air.
On the sentry tower, the archer recalculated the timing according to the previously set interval. Then he pulled out an arrow with an oilcloth-wrapped arrowhead, ignited the cloth on the arrowhead with a torch, adjusted the direction and angle of the bow, fully pulled the bowstring, and let go.
The arrow drew an upward arc that was neither steep nor slow, crossing the wall, crossing the ditch, crossing the area illuminated by the fire, and fell into the black mist beyond.
The arrow still maintained a steady burning state before landing, illuminating the trajectory it crossed and a small circular area at the end of the trajectory.
Just when the fire briefly illuminated the ground, he saw the approaching silhouettes, scattered on the edge of the illuminated area, moving towards the camp at a slow but continuously moving pace within the reach of the light.
He did not immediately recognize the specific shape of those outlines, but the shadows of those outlines were distorted and broken under the firelight, like torn canvases, densely covering the entire field of vision.
Then the fire went out.
He drew the bow again and shot the second and third arrows. This time he adjusted the angle so that the arrows would fall further.
The moment the arrow hit the ground, he saw more outlines, and those outlines were revealed under the brief illumination of the fire - their shapes were completely different from normal creatures.
Some bodies still maintain the skeleton outline of some kind of beast, but their skin and flesh are everted, and some places seem to have no skin, directly exposing a layer of dark muscle tissue that looks like it has been soaked in some kind of liquid for a long time;
Some are like fleshy stacks that grow irregularly, with the surface covered with irregular wrinkles and hyperplasia, like old wounds that have been torn and healed many times and are being stretched again;
There are also some that are larger in size, with blurry outlines, and the specific skeleton structure cannot be clearly seen, as if they have found a temporary intermediate position between maintaining some basic morphological characteristics and completely deforming.
Most of their appearances cannot be described by normal biological classification. They are damaged, ulcerated, proliferated, and swollen, as if the decayed remains were filled with some kind of energy and then re-driven.
When the firelight shines on them, the edges of the damaged skin are illuminated into a dark red texture with fine lines, like leather that has been burned by fire but not burned through.
Then the outlines moved.
They first shrank away from the point of impact, as if they were startled by the sudden appearance of the fire. After a short distance, they quickly gathered again, swarming towards the flames on the arrow, covering them with their bodies, and extinguishing the flames.
This process lasted for a very short time, so short that when viewed from a distance, it looked more like a surging wave swallowing up the weak firelight.