Real Mount and Blade Game

But this power appeared incredibly "weak" and "broken" at this moment, as it was brutally torn, compressed, and refined by the pure and violent abyssal demonic energy.

It did not disappear; instead, it was like a mold that had been forcibly purified and injected into the abyss, becoming a more targeted and efficient fuel for the rapid expansion of the abyss's power.

The abyss plunders death! In an unparalleled and ruthless way!

The creation born from that core was not a product of fusion at all.

It is a pure abyssal predator, greedily and recklessly devouring the essence accumulated by the undead of Longcheng over thousands of years.

The pure necromantic power is being violently transformed by abyssal magic, becoming nourishment for the essence of the abyss and giving rise to terrifying minions.

This is why the infighting broke out—a life-or-death battle for survival and control ensued between the puppets corrupted by the abyss and the original life-and-death spirits that had not yet been completely devoured and transformed!
The Abyss desires "food" and "control," while the undead will, not yet completely extinguished, instinctively resists its fate of being "digested"!

The mystery of the shrinking black fog in the core area and the depletion of the gray fog in the periphery is thus solved.

It wasn't that the creatures of the abyss were deterred and retreated, but rather that its rate of devouring reached an unprecedented peak!
It was like a bottomless black hole, frantically drawing in all the death energy scattered in the ruins of Longcheng to support its own existence, expansion, and transformation of its minions.

It shrinks back because it is concentrating all its energy on the final digestion and absorption, completing the crucial step from hatching to maturity!
That deathly silence is the extreme focus before gluttony. That apparent weakness, a surrender of outer defenses, is precisely a sign that it is replenishing itself with all its might, preparing for a final sprint!

Is the fortress temporarily safe?
That was a fatal illusion.

Like the brief calm before a storm, beneath which lies a devastating torrent.

When the abyss creation completes its final "digestion" and "transformation," the power it has accumulated will be unleashed in a terrifying manner far exceeding the previous projection self-destruction.

Having devoured so much necromantic essence, it is bound to give birth to a monster that possesses an extremely strong control over the power of death, and can even use the rules of death to amplify its own abyssal power!

"The gluttony of the abyss... the prison of the undead..." Shen Mu slowly opened his eyes, his cold breath forming white mist beneath his mask.

With a wave of his hand, the vine container was instantly sealed and frozen by an invisible force, completely isolating the chaotic aura inside.

"Send the order!"

His voice suddenly rose, carrying an unprecedented urgency and determination:

"First, order all reconnaissance posts to retreat to within ten kilometers of the fortress! Maintain close vigilance regarding energy fluctuations in the core black mist area. No one is permitted to approach more than five kilometers from the core's edge!"

"Second, notify Bandak! Distribute all stockpiled supplies! Prepare the ballistae at Senmu Fortress!!"

"Third, all Holy Tree Knights, Rhodok Sniper Crossbowmen, and Vaegir Marksmen, maintain the highest alert level!!"

"Fourth, the highest defensive core of the Rooted Barrier is beginning to charge! Connecting to all faith altar nodes!"

"Fifth, activate the second reserve fortress construction chain! I want to build another 'ring of thorns' behind the fortress! Execute immediately!"

A barrage of orders rained down like hailstones, causing the officers around to change their expressions drastically, especially when they heard terms like "the crucible of war" and "the ring of thorns."

This means that the threat level assessed by the lord has been raised to the highest level, "nation-annihilation level" risk!
The abyss is no longer a lurking enemy, but a terrifying predator that is frantically devouring the death of the entire city.

When it emerges from its cocoon, the Elf Forest, this fortress, will face its most severe and terrifying test since its inception.

Shen Mu's response was to give it his all and prepare for a decisive battle where neither side had any way out!

The storm is approaching!
Four or five days passed quietly beneath an absolutely calm surface.

The sky was a leaden gray diluted by the haze, and sunlight struggled to penetrate, casting faint shadows.

Without the invasion of black mist, without the tide of the dead, and even the scattered wandering skeletons had all disappeared, the core area of ​​Longcheng seemed to have fallen into a deadly abyss.

However, not a trace of negligence could be found inside the Elf Forest Fortress.

Shen Mu's cold command was like a brand etched into the hearts of every soldier. The defense not only did not falter, but instead tightened to the extreme in this unusual silence.

At dawn, Captain Legolas appeared silently, like a ghost, at the edge of the fortress near the northwest corner.

He lightly touched the intertwined, vibrant thorns with his toes, his emerald eyes sharp as an eagle's, scanning the newly dug trench and the barricades covered with spikes below.

Several Rhodok sergeants were carefully inspecting the fixing rings at the connection of the tower shield, the low metallic clanging sound particularly clear in the stagnant air.

"Who was in charge of night watch on this section last night?" Legolas's voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of the resting soldiers.

A veteran, his face weary but his eyes still sharp, immediately stood up, saluted with his hand on his chest, and said, "Reporting to the captain, it's the sixth sentry post, Otto is in charge of the second half of the night."

"Is there anything unusual?"

"It was very quiet... unusually quiet, Captain." Veteran Otto frowned, seemingly trying to recall the suffocating darkness. "Around dawn, during the darkest part of the night, the gray fog seemed to... freeze for a moment. Not the kind of stillness where the wind stops, but the whole thing felt... solidified. And we heard a... very faint 'scratching' sound coming from the earthen wall at the bottom of the western trench. It sounded like... a very thin bone claw, just a scratch, and then nothing more. We increased our vigilance, but saw nothing. After daybreak, we went down to check the trench wall and found no obvious holes or claw marks."

Legolas's gaze immediately fell on the trench, his expression becoming more serious.

He knew that the veteran's experience would not be easily blinded by darkness.

“Well done, stay alert. Send the word to all the outposts near the northwest corner to watch for any unusual activity or changes in the earthen walls.” He paused, then added, “...and the ‘solid’ feeling of the gray fog.”

A young archer nearby couldn't help but rub his arms: "Brother Otto, don't scare people. Bone claws? Could something from the abyss really crawl out from underground?"

“Don’t underestimate those skeletal beasts!” Another Vaegir archer snorted as he polished his composite bow. “You have no idea what they’re capable of. Better safe than sorry than to lose your head in a moment of confusion. Last night at the arrow tower, I felt a chill coming from the direction of that black mist that seemed… hiss… I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it gave me goosebumps.”

“Hmm.” Legolas nodded. “Continue the investigation. Report any anomalies you sense, no matter how subtle, immediately.” With a swift movement, he ascended a thick, living vine like a nimble cat, continuing his patrol.

At this moment, the scene is even more peculiar in the area leading to a cluster of collapsed buildings behind the fortress.

Several sturdy vines and woven ropes crisscrossed like a spider web between the high and low broken walls and floorboards. They were not chaotic, but rather formed a three-dimensional transportation network.

Several wood elf sentinels, clad in dark green leather armor, hovered silently on different high points like light birds, some hidden behind broken window frames, others crouching on broken beams, their eyes scanning the gray fog-shrouded area to the west with wary eyes.

Their positions cleverly utilize the terrain, allowing them to observe the surrounding area while simultaneously using complex rope and vine netting to quickly move to the core of the fortress or provide mutual support.

One of the sentries was carefully adjusting the position of a newly laid vine to ensure it was taut and silent.

The soft sound of hooves broke the silence of the area.

A small squad of Holy Tree Knights, clad in gleaming silver mithril heavy armor and whose warhorses were even covered in light chainmail, rode slowly through the ruins of the buildings, like a mobile shrine.

The leading knight captain lifted his helmet and visor, revealing a cold and serious face. His sharp gaze swept over the elven sentinels in the shadows of the building.

A wood sprite high above made a brief gesture.

The knight captain nodded slightly, his gaze then falling on a broken wall near the edge of the gray fog, where a small charred mark remained.

“These are phosphorescent burn marks left from the struggles of the black-boned beasts we cleared out the day before yesterday,” his adjutant whispered. “Lord Bandak, who just arrived, checked them yesterday and there were no traces of abyssal putrefaction.”

"Notify the engineers again to wash the area with water after dawn." The knight captain's voice had a metallic quality. "The Abyss has too many tricks up its sleeve. Have the hunters also keep a close eye on this area and report any abnormal gathering points of black mist."

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the three-dimensional network of tangled vines and ropes, looking towards the deathly, dark core domain in the distance.

The Holy Tree Knights continued their march, their hooves pounding the rubble-strewn ground, leaving only the barely audible scraping of their armor and the faint, holy light that rose from the ground, dispelling the shadows of death.

At the heart of the fortress, on a watchtower atop a massive, gnarled tree hundreds of meters high, Shen Mu's solitary figure seemed to merge with the cold metal.

The gray cloak remained motionless behind him, like a frozen sculpture.

His gaze swept over the reinforced tower shield defenses, the massive ballista barrels gleaming with a cold light, the soldiers busily reinforcing the trenches below, the spear formations pointing diagonally westward like a forest of halberds, the wood elf sentries appearing and disappearing in the shadows of the buildings, and the hawk-like figures vigilantly moving through the network of ropes and vines...

The wind rustled through the newly sprouted, vibrant thorns, making a whispering sound.

The soldiers below whispered about the “sense of solidification” and “scratching sound” from the previous night, while the Rhodok technician beside the ballista checked the clarity of the etched patterns inside the barrel, and the wood elves in the building silently adjusted the tension of the slings.

Everything was running smoothly, preparing to face the true devouring force that could erupt at any moment from the dead abyss.

The air was not filled with relaxation, but with an extreme sense of suffocation, like waiting for thunder under the highest alert.

Shen Mu's fingers tapped lightly on the cold edge of the lookout tower, as if counting every unknown pulse deep within the heart of the storm.

The tranquility of the Elf Forest's fortress is like a taut bowstring, beneath which turbulent undercurrents surge.

Legolas's orders were like pebbles thrown into a pond, creating ripples.

The soldiers talked about the unusual solidity and scraping sounds, their wary eyes fixed on the depths of the deathly gray fog, searching for any slight movement.

However, breath arrives before sound.

The stench of decay from the abyss, which Shen Mu had already sensed and which the soldiers were beginning to vaguely perceive, spread and intensified silently in the gray fog like a plague.

At first, there was a very slight spiciness, mixed in with the usual stench of burnt corpses, like charred sulfur.

Just one day later, the smell suddenly became sticky and pungent.

Sergeant Rhodok, who was on duty, began to feel a stinging sensation in his nasal cavity and dryness in his eyes.

The wood elf hunters, perched atop the high treetop platform, had to frequently rub their eyes, which were slightly red from the pungent smell.

Even breathing felt like it was burning, as if you were inhaling not air, but dust and smoke from the furnace.

The smell was pervasive, seeping into every crevice of the ramparts, clinging to the cold metal armor and scratched wooden bunkers, creating an unsettling background noise that reminded everyone of its presence.

The power of the abyss has not receded; it is expanding and drawing ever closer.

"Damn it! The smell wasn't this strong when we changed shifts last night! Where did this thing come from?" A young Swadian infantryman couldn't help but complain, covering his nose with his sleeve as he looked at the outline of the fog on the west side of the fortress, which was significantly denser than elsewhere.

"Silence!" the captain of the knights commanded in a low voice, but his furrowed brow and grip on the reins betrayed his inner turmoil. "Report if something seems amiss, and stop with the nonsense!"

Just as the abyssal sulfurous aura weighed heavily on their hearts, the Wood Elf scouts on the first line of reconnaissance sent back even more chilling news.

Several Twilight Ranger squads that infiltrated the front-line gray fog area encountered unprecedented scenes almost simultaneously from different directions.

It was not a large-scale clash of armies, but rather scattered small-scale or even sporadic battles.

But the bizarre sight was enough to overturn the soldiers' understanding of the undead scourge.

Beneath a broken highway bridge pier, scout captain Karen lay prone on the cold steel frame, holding his breath.

Through the sparse gray air currents, he saw four skeletons fighting fiercely!

Three of the skeletons were shrouded in a very faint yet clearly visible dark red mist, like burning ash, from which the viscous, putrid sulfurous stench originated!
Their bones are no longer pure gray or black iron color, but are covered with dark red patterns like dried blood scabs, and when the joints turn, they even bring out tiny, tooth-grinding sparks!

In their eye sockets, the eerie green soul fire was no longer the core; instead, it seemed to be stained and parasitized by drops of deep, solidified "dark red blood."

Their movements were wildly chaotic, far exceeding those of ordinary undead; their bones creaked and groaned from the violent tearing, as if constantly on the verge of shattering. (End of Chapter)