...
The Blood Sacrifice Formation.
The Eerie King.
All at once, it drew the attention of numerous forces and disrupted many plans.
"Blood Sacrifice Formation?"
In Rivernorth City, within the Chen Mansion, upon catching sight of what marred the sky outside, Chen Quan's mother went pale instantly. She had considered everything, except this. It meant Rivernorth would be faced with the Eerie King's slaughter tonight.
Even she would not survive.
Death was certain.
Although the Chen Clan had Level 3 walls, even they could not hold out against an Eerie King for long.
...
Rivernorth wilderness, Nameless Mountain.
"They're here."
Chen Fan stood calmly on the city wall, speaking softly. He sensed it—the unmanned outposts and the old camp were being destroyed in rapid succession; the enemy was rapidly approaching the canyon.
The old camp had finally fallen.
But it no longer mattered. The rainy season was over, and he had no immediate use for that upgrade direction.
Within a few dozen moments.
He saw them.
He saw Eerie Creatures resembling armored troops, holding bone umbrellas, emerging from the pitch-black canyon and stepping into the Eerie Fire zone of the abyss pit camp.
One, two, three.
There were more and more of them.
These Eerie Creatures, each holding a bone umbrella, filed out of the canyon's darkness.
The Eerie King had arrived.
Without any warning.
He had not seen the Eerie King. There was no exchange of trash talk.
The moment the Eerie Creatures entered the camp range.
The Level 5 Cannon Towers on the city wall lit up simultaneously. Beams of blazing white light pierced the rain, melting one Eerie Creature after another. Chain-damage lightning surged outward, slaughtering with great efficiency the intruders.
The Level 3 wall at the cave entrance rose to full height, entering into a "Turtle Shell" defense mode.
Chen Fan and the others retreated from the battlement.
They did not ascend the Meat Grinder Passage to observe the battle from the cliff. Instead, Chen Fan focused on the Perpetual Night Lord Panel in the depths of his mind. Over the days, he had constructed many Level 3 Wooden Houses and chosen the upgrade direction "Shadow Recording Formation."
He had extracted the Formation Disks and hidden them in the floor and cliffs of the abyss pit for surveillance.
The canyon was shrouded in darkness, obscuring the scene within, but he could see Eerie Creatures increasing in the abyss pit. The eight Level 5 Cannon Towers on the city wall were going to be overwhelmed.
More and more Eerie Creatures swarmed up to savage the wall of Cave No. 1.
"The Eerie King hasn't appeared yet."
Chen Fan narrowed his eyes. As he had guessed, Qian Fu had sent back word about the camp's layout before dying. The Eerie King must have learned of the Cannon Towers hidden in the abyss pit cliffs.
Out of caution, it had not yet entered the abyss pit.
Then, reveal a little something first.
"Meat Grinder Phase One, activate."
The next moment—
As the walls at the abyss pit cliff openings retracted, those thirty-eight Level 5 Cannon Towers came back to life simultaneously. The city wall instantly rose at the junction of the abyss pit and the canyon, sealing off the place.
The Eerie Creatures in the abyss pit had been cut off from their reinforcements.
In an instant.
Searing beams of light poured down like a storm from various angles and heights.
The number of dead Eerie Creatures was mounting.
But then!
"Boom!!"
A hint of crimson erupted in the canyon. The Level 2 wall where the abyss pit met the canyon lasted only a few moments before collapsing into rubble.
Eerie Creatures continued to flood from the canyon into the abyss pit like a tide.
And amidst the Eerie Tide.
The Eerie King, draped in a black cloak, ambled into the abyss pit. He glanced at the Level 3 wall of Cave No. 1, then surveyed the Cannon Towers high in the abyss pit cliffs. The scarlet triangles in his pupils slowly rotated as he spoke, his voice tinged with a bone-chilling mockery.
"Is this what gives you confidence?"
"A little mouse cowering behind a wall."
The next moment!
As the triangles began swirling frenziedly, from his eyes shot beams of light, doing away with most of these thirty-eight Level 5 Cannon Towers.
Eerie Creatures surged past him on both sides, maniacally charging toward the city wall.
The Eerie King turned his gaze back to the cave wall.
His eyes discharged continuous pillars of light, each striking a crater, nearly a meter deep, into the Level 3 wall, but the wall was restored in no time.
"Interesting."
The Eerie King laughed. "Sturdier than ordinary Level 3 walls, and with regenerative capabilities. But I wonder, how long can you hold off my Eerie Tide?"
More and more Eerie Creatures poured from the canyon, crashing against the wall.
...
"That's about enough."
In the cave, Chen Fan glanced at the three Altars placed in a corner. For fear that one altar might fail to keep up with his battle with the Eerie King, he had built two extra Altars.
Now, that decision proved wise.
Otherwise, he might not have held.
But the Eerie stones were drying up fast. He could not hold on for long.
He got to do something.
Feeling the tremors from outside the cave, he took a deep breath and lifted his gaze at the city wall, as if his gaze could pierce through to meet the Eerie King's eyes, murmuring,
"Meat Grinder Phase Two, activate."
The moment the words left his lips.
Cold white Eerie Fire rushed through the copper pipes.
The twenty Eerie Fires buried underground in the canyon ignited almost simultaneously. The Eerie King seemed to sense something, instinctively looking back. The kilometer-long canyon, once shrouded in darkness, had been illuminated.
The Eerie Fire glow bathed the whole canyon, revealing the packed Eerie Creatures within.