The night had quieted down, but the rain had not ceased.
As the cave retreated from defense mode, the gap between the top of the wall and the mountain reappeared. Chen Fan walked from the tunnel and made his way onto the battlement, looking out at the scene beyond.
Then, he built a "Wind Tower", placing it behind the city wall.
This was a special defensive structure.
He had obtained the blueprint for it from Heyhey's cave. Unlike ordinary structures, merely constructing it required 500 Eerie Stones and one of several materials, such as Wind-Warding Pearl or Wind-Calming Pearl.
For example, the "Archery Tower" only required additional materials beyond Eerie Stones when it reached level 5.
Fortunately, he happened to possess a Wind-Warding Pearl, an essential for building a Wind Tower. This Wind-Warding Pearl had been looted from the Mourning Specter boss.
"..."
Chen Fan looked at the Wind Tower behind him. It stood nearly ten meters tall, almost reaching the cave ceiling.
It was not a bulky fort, but rather resembled a slender, elegant, and jet-black stone obelisk, like a slender sword about to be drawn from its sheath.
It resembled a watchtower but clearly looked much more exquisite.
The tower was pencil-straight, with countless spiral and streamline silver runes engraved on it, which seemed to have something living in them, as they were constantly shifting as if an unseen wind was perpetually blowing over them.
At the top of the tower perched a... bronze eagle.
He did not know how to describe this eagle. Its gaze felt sharp and domineering. The sleek wings, spread wide, were riddled with countless honeycomb-like holes. One of its eye sockets was inlaid with a greenish-white Wind-Warding Pearl.
The other eye socket was empty.
It had only one eye.
The next moment—
Chen Fan willed some copper pipes to arrive from outside the cave and connected the Eerie Fire to the Wind Tower via the copper pipes, eliminating the need to replenish Eerie Stones in the Wind Tower.
As the copper pipes activated, the runes on the tower's surface lit up.
Light flowed like water, rapidly gathering from the base to the top. The honeycomb pores on the bronze eagle's wings instantly shut tight, emitting a chilling, mournful sound like the cry of an eagle. Then, a translucent cyan wind roared out from these holes!
It swept over the wall and blew into the abyss pit.
He even saw the raindrops slant slightly as a result.
The wind was not particularly violent, but it brought a chill to Chen Fan as he stood on the parapet. The foul stench was also purged from the abyss pit through the canyon.
...
"Unbelievable."
His lip twitching, Chen Fan watched as the runes all over the Wind Tower winked rhythmically, as if light was rapidly gathering from the base to the top.
He could see two uses for the Wind Tower.
Resisting the "Flesh Worm Ghost Eerie Tide"
And clearing away foul odors.
It was an auxiliary defensive structure, but its construction conditions were demanding, and it also packed a far stronger visual impact than his other buildings. It looked nothing like a level 1 building.
Instead, it resembled something like a level 5 "Almighty-Pull Pavilion," which sounded more impressive.
Even though it was just a white-grade building, he believed that once its level increased, it would definitely gain other powerful effects.
However.
The requirement to reach level 2 was 1,000 Eerie Stones and a Wind-Warding Pearl. He had no extra Wind-Warding Pearls for now.
...
At the time, the city gate had opened.
Crippled Monkey and the others strolled out. At the sight of the countless dried-up Eerie corpses scattered across the abyss pit, they stared open-mouthed, stock-still in place.
The scene before them had little aesthetic value.
All the Eerie blood had been absorbed by the city wall bearing the "Eerie Blood Pattern", turning these corpses into dried husks.
If anything, they looked more macabre than before.
If the area lay dark without the glow of Eerie Fire and instead lay under the gray moonlight, with a few spiderwebs and an occasional rat, it would look like nothing but a mass grave.
But—
For Crippled Monkey and the others, who had learned since childhood that they would likely die at the hands of Eerie Creatures one day, this was a stunningly beautiful sight.
No matter how beautiful the sunset or natural landscape was.
They could not compare to the sight of all Eerie Creatures in the world perishing.
What they had feared since childhood, and they had fled from during the rainy season, were now dead in droves before their eyes. The impact of this scene was stronger than ever.
"Young Master..."
Crippled Monkey, leaning on the God-Slaying Spear, limped out of the cave and stood in the rain, looking at the corpses scattered everywhere. As he turned to cast a gaze at Chen Fan, standing on the parapet in his linen clothes, his eyes were reddening with each passing second. No words can do justice to his feelings at that moment.
He just felt that the Young Master indeed wielded great power now, enough to carve out his own legacy in this harsh world.
They had also witnessed the 'Meat Grinder' execute the massacre from other caves high in the cliffs.
Over the past few days, they had been mainly occupied with the "Meat Grinder."
But it had never been put through its paces, so they never got to know how it actually performed. Only when it was activated did they savor the charm of the Meat Grinder firsthand.
"What are you standing around for? Get to work!"
Zhou Mo was the first to rush into the heavy rain, pulling out his blade from his robes. The others, who remained dumbstruck, quickly snapped out of it, then took out their tools and rushed into the rain. Some dug for Eerie Stones, some collected Extraordinary Treasures, and some dissected the corpses.
The entire process had been streamlined to the utmost, with clear division of labor.
Their group had become ever better-coordinated during the rainy season.
Only the crocodile had not seen the Meat Grinder in action and had no idea what had happened outside. It had been hiding deep in the cave, trembling all over, clutching its head with its front claws in a corner.
When it saw the city wall sink into the ground, a trace of confusion appeared in its lantern-sized eyes. Slowly and gingerly, it got back down on all fours and inched out of the cave, then saw a scene that left it flabbergasted.
Outside, Eerie corpses were littered everywhere.
Not a single Eerie Creature had survived.
The crocodile watched all this in disbelief, then turned to look at Chen Fan standing on the battlement. It shifted its gaze back to the strewn corpses, then returned its attention to Chen Fan.
It repeated this over and over.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Chen Fan had taken in all the crocodile's little movements and couldn't help but laugh. "You look so excited, like you're about to start talking."
This was the first time he had captured such human-like emotions in the crocodile's eyes.
He had never expected to see such complex emotions as shock and disbelief in the crocodile's gaze.
And then...
This shocked expression gradually turned into admiration and... reverence toward a strong being.
"Alright, go rest over there. I'll grill some seafood for you later."
Chen Fan, who had just stepped down from the city wall and was about to inspect the octopus corpse for himself, saw the crocodile crawl to his side and repeatedly rub its flat, rough head against his pants, its eyes full of excitement and flattery.