The sky was a dusky yellow, rapidly transitioning to leaden gray.
On the western horizon, the last sliver of orange sunset struggled on the verge of dipping below the horizon, bringing no warmth; instead, it made the dark core area appear even more unfathomable.
It was like a giant, cold maw, about to swallow the entire city.
The surrounding clamor—the shouts of soldiers, the shattering sounds of Skeletons, the crackling of flames—all seemed to blur at this moment.
Shen Mu's perception was firmly drawn by an invisible yet heavy "gaze."
It was by no means the chaotic malice of low-level undead, but rather a… higher-level, cold will that had accumulated over countless ages.
It was hidden within the profound core that even sunlight could not penetrate, and at this moment, it was piercing through the thick ruins and the gradually spreading thin night mist, landing precisely on him.
Cold, vast, like the abyss itself.
He could clearly "perceive" its existence, and the complex emotions contained within it—not merely a simple desire for slaughter—but a mixture of ancient hatred, the irritation of being disturbed, and… a pre-hunt assessment?
His hair stood on end, not from fear, but from his body's instinctive warning of extreme threat.
The holy runes embedded within the Holy Tree Knight's heavy armor seemed to sense something as well, heating up slightly, and the faint glow of mithril flowing over the armor plates appeared to brighten, silently resisting the invisible pressure that permeated through.
"My Lord?" the Holy Tree Knight Captain beside him asked in a low voice; he had been vigilantly guarding him, and at this moment, he keenly noticed the change in Shen Mu's aura.
Shen Mu did not reply immediately, only slowly drawing a breath.
The air was filled with gunpowder, blood, and a burnt smell, but deeper within, that faint, almost imperceptible scent of sulfur and extreme cold seemed even clearer than before.
This scent was identical to the evil impact described by the Wood Elf Captain in Elf Forest, which followed the terrifying roar from deep within the city.
He raised his hand, his palm pointing towards the swirling dark core, his voice low, like ice striking, clearly cutting through the rising clamor:
"Retreat."
The order was concise and decisive.
The Knight Captain did not hesitate for a moment, as if he too had caught that soul-disturbing tremor at the same instant.
He immediately turned around, his roar exploding from his chest like muffled thunder, instantly overpowering the noise of the entire building:
"All troops retreat from the Cosmic Center! Now! Quickly!"
The messengers immediately darted off like arrows from a bow to relay the orders everywhere.
The soldiers who were clearing each floor were surprised by this sudden retreat order, as there was still sporadic resistance inside the building and the clearing was not yet complete, but Deherim's military orders were absolute, and no one questioned them.
A soldier who was about to ignite the last hiding spot immediately extinguished the lamp oil he had just lit; a Rodok Sergeant who was kicking open a door instantly pulled back his shield and retreated; archers on the roof responsible for vigilance quickly lowered their bows; everyone, like precise gears, instantly reversed, beginning to efficiently and orderly withdraw from this massive steel cage along pre-planned routes.
The Swadian Knights were already spurring their warhorses in the outer streets, preparing to rendezvous and ensure the retreat route was clear.
The Holy Tree Knights once again clustered around Shen Mu, their mithril heavy armor gleaming with a restrained, murderous light in the twilight; they formed a solid and swift core, guiding the retreating torrent.
Escorted by the Knights, Shen Mu cast one last glance at the deep darkness. There, it was as if countless pairs of cold eyes suddenly lit up, or was it just an illusion brought by the twilight?
It was impossible to distinguish.
But the tremor in his heart was indeed real.
Deep in the darkness, a certain existence… had awakened.
It was no longer merely lurking, but had fully awakened.
It had detected this sharp blade piercing its heart and had cast its gaze upon it. The advantage of daylight was fading with the setting sun, and Long City's true curtain of darkness was about to fall.
"Let's go!" Shen Mu no longer hesitated, decisively turning his horse.
The mithril hooves clattered heavily and urgently on the street, which was covered in gravel and bone fragments.
Behind them, the massive shadow of the Cosmic Center quickly merged into the larger dark background in the twilight, with only a few scattered campfires lit by retreating soldiers, like the last faint sparks, flickering unsteadily in the howling, damp night wind, as if they could be extinguished at any moment by the sweeping cold.
Darkness, like a tide, surged from the city's center, bringing a silent roar and bone-chilling cold, closely pursuing the rapidly retreating stream of silver armor.
The setting sun completely sank below the horizon, not taking away light, but bringing a presence more viscous and heavier than night itself—darkness.
A tangible darkness, reeking of decay and sulfur.
That initial gray mist, like a living curtain, silently spread from deep within the city's core, its speed far exceeding natural night fog.
But it was not gray-white; it was as deep as ink!
Wherever it passed, the uncleared building remnants were quickly swallowed, and familiar street scenes instantly twisted and blurred.
"Black mist!" a Rodok Sergeant on alert at the rear of the formation cried out, his voice filled with an uncontrollable chill: "It's like the one outside the city walls… No, it's denser!"
The soldiers' hearts trembled.
They had all heard Bandak describe the ink-thick, lead-heavy black mist outside New Uxhall's city walls, and the terrifying monsters that appeared within it.
What was swirling towards them now was precisely that, and seemingly even more concentrated!
Shen Mu's pupils suddenly constricted. The moment the black mist touched the formation, his perception captured the cold death intent and extreme distorted energy contained within it.
This was absolutely not a natural phenomenon!
This was definitely related to the core anomaly sensed by the Wood Elves and the awakening of that massive will in the Cosmic Center!
"Accelerate! Don't stop!" Shen Mu's voice cut through the mist, cold as a blade: "Shield formation contract! Spearmen on the outside! Ranged Crossbowmen, conserve arrows, cover the retreat route! Do not engage unnecessarily!"
The orders were executed efficiently within the orderly troops.
The speed of the retreating torrent sharply increased.
The outermost Swadian Knights and Rodok Sergeants immediately tightened their formation, their large tower shields and leather-covered iron shields drawing close to form a constantly moving corridor of steel.
Spears pointed outwards like a forest towards the black mist, chillingly menacing.
Crossbowmen and archers climbed onto wagons in the center of the formation, onto broken barricades, or onto their comrades' shoulders, drawing their bowstrings taut, their eyes sharply searching the edges of the swirling dense mist.
The mist grew thicker and thicker, visibility rapidly shrinking to just over ten meters.
The light of the torches seemed to be devoured by an unseen monster, barely illuminating a small area; the orange glow appeared so pale and powerless within the deep, inky blackness, like a candle about to be extinguished in a storm.
The oppressive silence did not last long.
"Hoo hoo…"
"Screech—"
"Clatter… clatter clatter…"
Tooth-grinding sounds of bone friction, the sticky sound of slippery objects dragging, and low, hollow roars, like a symphony from hell, began to rise from all directions within the impenetrable black mist, growing closer and clearer.
Finally, dark figures surged forth!
They were no longer limited to Skeletons and zombies!
The black mist, like a monster's womb, gave birth to even more twisted and terrifying existences.
Bone-Spike Abominations were larger than any seen before; their distorted bodies were no longer merely stitched-together corpses, but had grown numerous sharp, elongated, pallid bone-spikes, like giant sea urchins.
It roared, directly crushing towards the flank of the formation with its bone-spiked body!
Blackbone Predators, on all fours, their bones like cast iron, their forms a mixture of hellhound and lizard. Their speed was astonishing, their limb joints extremely twisted, allowing them to pounce and bite from unexpected angles, their sharp bone teeth gleaming with a ghostly light.
Skeleton Bone Throwers, holding heavy "flying bones" polished from the ribs of unknown giant creatures, hurled them from the mist, striking the shield formation with a dull, whistling sound.
The force was astonishing!
"Enemy attack! Front left! Bone-spike monster!" a Vigia Archer on high alert roared, an arrow already loosed from his bow!
"Right side in the mist! Shadow form!" a Rodok Crossbowman aimed at the elusive misty shadow.
"Watch the ground! Those black-boned beasts are coming!" a Swadian Knight swung his sword at the pouncing predator!
Battle erupted instantly!
At this moment, the elites demonstrated their value, forged through a hundred trials!
Facing the overwhelming assault of Bone-Spike Abominations, the shield wall formed by the Rodok Sergeants stood like a reef; though violently shaken by the impact, and their shields scraped with ear-splitting noise and sparks by the bone-spikes, they did not retreat!
The spearmen in the back roared, thrusting their extended halberds fiercely through the shield gaps, plunging them into the Abominations' relatively softer stitched parts, and twisting!
The Vigia Archers' armor-piercing arrows concentrated fire on its only weakness—
The head!
In a few breaths, the massive Bone-Spike Abomination howled and crashed to the ground!
Against the elusive Shadow Wraiths, the Wood Elf Rangers displayed terrifying precision.
Their arrows were equipped with subtle anti-magic enchantments; though far inferior to the Holy Tree Knights' mithril, under the Elves' extraordinary perception and archery, the keen arrows always pierced through the thick mist, striking the weak points of their energy cores, scattering them into swirling black mist.
The Rodok Crossbowmen's precise point-blank shots also coordinated perfectly.
Blackbone Predators were fast and highly defensive, but they struggled to get close to tightly defended, experienced heavy infantry squads.
The Swadian Infantry's broadswords and the Rodok Sergeants' warhammers swung with formidable force, and under their heavy blows, even hard bone armor shattered piece by piece!
The Holy Tree Knights occasionally galloped along the edge of the formation, their mithril knight swords like the scythes of death; with flashes of holy light, any elite undead daring to approach were instantly purified and vaporized!
Shen Mu did not intervene much; his mind, like an invisible net, spread out, coldly scanning the entire team.
When a squad of Skeleton Bone Throwers attempted to gather, he instantly locked onto them: "Front rank, raise shields! Snipers, twelve o'clock direction, forty paces out in the mist!"
Dispel Crossbow bolts struck in response, precisely exploding the bone throwers who had raised their arms in the dense mist to pieces!
Occasionally, a few stragglers would rush into the core of the formation, only to be easily dispatched by the Holy Tree Knights in the center, like swatting flies.
The mithril heavy armor gleamed with a steady, faint light in the black mist, like a stabilizing needle, dispelling the fear that arose in the soldiers' hearts due to the darkness and the monsters.
The battle was fierce and brief.
The black mist provided cover, but it also limited the tide-like charge of the undead.
Deherim's elites, relying on their formidable individual martial prowess, excellent equipment, and battle-hardened coordination, nullified every attack.
The soldiers were splattered with foul black and dark red blood and mud, their shields and armor covered with new scratches and dents, but their eyes, illuminated by the firelight, grew sharper, and their movements in the life-and-death struggle became more ruthless and precise.
They were like a moving, indestructible steel fortress, cutting through the waves in the dense black mist of death, moving towards the Elf Forest with difficulty but exceptional stability.
After an unknown duration of fierce fighting, the density of the black mist ahead seemed to loosen slightly.
A faint but vital green energy fluctuation pierced through the icy silence, like a drowning person seeing a bonfire on the shore!
"I see it!" the foremost scout shouted excitedly, his voice hoarse but full of hope: "Rooted Bulwark! I see the firelight on the wall!"
Shen Mu's spirits lifted; his iron-gray eyes pierced through the heavy mist, and indeed, about two miles ahead, a giant, twisted, moss- and thorn-covered wooden "city wall" was faintly visible in the dense mist—that was the outline of the Elf Forest's Rooted Bulwark!
At the top of the wall, scattered orange-red torchlights, like lighthouses in a dark sea, guided their direction!
"Maintain formation! Full speed ahead!" Shen Mu waved his hand to give the order, and his warhorse suddenly accelerated, the faint glow on his mithril armor trailing a brief streak of light in the black mist.
The Elf Forest guards had clearly already discovered this army, struggling and fighting its way through the dense mist.
"The Lord is back! Quick! Open the inner gate! Crossbows alert all around! Wood Elf Rangers, advance to meet them!" Legolas's clear and urgent Elvish command came from the city wall.
The massive wooden inner gate rapidly lifted with the heavy "creak" of the winch.
At the same time, the wooden city wall "came alive"—countless firing slits were pushed open, revealing taut longbows and cocked crossbows gleaming coldly; on the tall treetop platforms, the massive muzzles of several forest crossbows slowly adjusted their direction, locking onto the depths of the swirling black mist pursuing the rear of the formation!
Squads of agile Wood Elf Twilight Rangers leaped out like specters from hidden passages beneath the wall, longbows in hand, quickly dispersing into the flanking forest, vigilantly guarding both sides and the rear of the formation, ready at any moment to ambush pursuers.
The last few hundred meters, under the silent deterrent cover of the Wood Elf arrow rain and the crossbows from the rear, the formation, enduring increasingly frantic roars and scattered bone spears and arrows from behind, finally rushed to the open inner gate!
"Get in!"
"Keep up! Quick!"
The soldiers poured in like a receding tide.
Warhorses neighed, armor clanged, weary but with the exhilaration of having survived a great calamity.
Shen Mu, guarded by ten Holy Tree Knights, was the last to enter.
The moment he stepped into the protection of the Rooted Bulwark, the holy glow covering his armor, which had been warding off the black mist's intrusion, seemed to brighten for an instant.
The heavy inner gate slammed shut behind him with a dull thud!
The massive wooden bolts were pushed into place by the Rodok soldiers with great effort.
That thick door completely closed, sealing the swirling, man-eating black mist of death outside, along with countless terrifying shadows trapped outside, emitting unwilling howls!
Inside the Elf Forest fortress, lights blazed, and soldiers gasped heavily, checking each other's wounds and tidying their equipment.
Safety had temporarily returned, but atop the city wall, Legolas and all the defenders, including Shen Mu who had just retreated, cast grave gazes towards the terrifying darkness outside the wall, separated by the wooden palisade and giant ancient tree roots, swirling like an inky sea.
The Rooted Bulwark blocked sight, but it could not block the vast will emanating from Long City's core, growing clearer through the heavy black mist, carrying pure death and malice.
It had awakened, and it was watching here.
This brief calm seemed to be the most dangerous silence before the next storm. (End of Chapter)
