Upgrading a Level 2 Archery Tower to Level 3 required 50 Eerie Stones.
He now had 120 Eerie Stones left.
Without further delay, he took out 5 Level 2 Eerie Stones, glowing green all over, from his chest. Immediately, the stones shattered, turning into wisps of dark green liquid that floated in the air and flew toward the nearest Level 2 Archery Tower.
A panel soon popped up in front of him.
Archery Tower upgraded to Level 3.*
Please select the upgrade direction.
1: Arrows will be imbued with the fire element, increasing their power.
2: The active skill 'Arrow Storm' becomes available. Upon activation, the crossbow atop the tower will let fly a dense, continuous rain of arrows over a designated area for several seconds. Consumes 1 Eerie Stone.
3: Arrows will be imbued with the thunder element, paralyzing enemies and causing chain damage to up to three nearby creatures upon hitting a target.
"Active skill."
Chen Fan landed a narrowed gaze on the upgrade direction description before him. This was the first time he had encountered an active skill among upgrade choices, and it sounded impressive.
If a horde of Eerie Creatures charged into the camp, unleashing the skill could handle the situation.
Moreover, the cost was minimal—only 1 Eerie Stone.
After the Archery Tower was upgraded to Level 3, it began to change gradually. First, the original frame of wood and stone was transformed into a pure stone structure, seamlessly integrating with the city walls.
It became sturdier.
The arrows from this active skill, "Arrow Storm," hardly surpassed in power that of a Level 2 Archery Tower. There wasn't a significant increase in terms of force, but it was extremely effective against large numbers of weaker Eerie Creatures.
Although it was very appealing, he ultimately chose the first upgrade direction, once again enhancing the tower's single-target damage capability.
The two underbosses of the Eerie Creatures outside the camp, along with the unknown female Eerie Creature in the sedan chair, were still staring at him menacingly. What he needed most at the moment was a way to threaten these three entities.
The moment he made his choice, the Archery Tower changed once more.
The crossbow mechanism at the top, originally pitch black, slowly turned dark red. The front of the crossbow burst into intense flames, swaying arrogantly in the heavy rain. The entire crossbow mechanism became more imposing and intimidating.
By now, it seemed that each time a building was upgraded by one level, three upgrade options would appear for selection.
And these three upgrade directions seemed to be fixed.
At least, the upgrade options for his two Archery Towers were consistent.
At that moment—
Crippled Monkey's urgent voice suddenly rang in his ears, "Master, an Eerie Tide is charging toward us!"
Chen Fan looked in the direction Crippled Monkey indicated. Dozens of meters outside the camp, a large number of Eerie Creatures surged like a tide from the north, heading straight for the camp, betraying no intent of going around.
He knitted his brows.
This group of Eerie Creatures wasn't under the command of the three leaders. They were a horde of Eerie Creatures traveling through the Perpetual Night. Their bodies were small, about the size of a human child, with no limbs. Their entire form was a chubby sphere of flesh, covered with human faces roughly the size of a palm.
Extremely bizarre.
Their mode of travel was rolling.
There were many of them—at a glance, there were nearly a hundred, and more kept entering the gray mist from behind, with no end in sight.
Their speed, however, wasn't fast; they rolled leisurely as if strolling.
The several human faces on each fleshy sphere even showed emotions. Initially, the faces all wore cheerful smiles, but as they approached the camp, every face on the spheres contorted in pain, displaying an expression of considerable pain.
"Station Master, these are 'Flesh Worm Ghosts.'"
Zhou Mo, holding a large blade and standing on the city wall, spoke rapidly and urgently, "I know about these Eerie Creatures. They only appear during the rainy season and never show up on ordinary days. Their only means of attack is self-destruction."
"They blow up upon contact with any relatively hard object, splattering a sticky green liquid with extremely high corrosiveness. If a human touches this liquid, they will melt in extreme agony."
"They can cause significant damage to city walls."
"Many cities that perished during the rainy season were brought down by these Flesh Worm Ghosts. They are horde Eerie Creatures, surging in like tides. Once they appear in groups, it often means the city walls are about to fall!"
"..."
Chen Fan did not reply. Time was of the essence. Even though these Flesh Worm Ghosts weren't fast, they were already only a dozen meters away from the camp. Many of them were even briefly blown into the air by the strong wind before falling back to the ground and continuing to roll forward.
He turned his head to look at the sedan chair in the gray mist to the west of the camp.
The moment these Flesh Worm Ghosts appeared, the sedan chair and the surrounding Eerie Creatures had already withdrawn from the gray mist and vanished into the Perpetual Night, unnoticed.
"How considerate!"
He couldn't help but take a deep breath. He took out another 5 glowing green Eerie Stones from his chest and threw them at the nearby Level 2 Archery Tower. While upgrading it to Level 3, he chose the upgrade direction for the active skill "Arrow Storm"!
The camp was now at a critical moment of life and death.
If these two groups of Eerie Creatures attacked the camp together, it would be quite troublesome. Fortunately, the female Eerie Creature had withdrawn with her subordinates into the Perpetual Night. Yet he didn't truly believe she was unwilling to gang up on him.
Clearly, she also feared the Flesh Worm Ghosts and didn't want to get swept up.
"Ahhh!!!"
An ear-splitting scream echoed through the camp. The first Flesh Worm Ghost had already broken through the gray mist and charged into the camp. The several human faces on the fleshy sphere, upon sensing the presence of the Eerie Fire, uncontrollably let out shrill screams, their expressions twisted in extreme pain.
They were clearly reluctant to approach the Eerie Fire.
But their bodies kept rolling straight toward the camp.
As more and more Flesh Worm Ghosts charged into the camp, the piercing screams rose and fell, getting mixed up and filling the camp.
The next moment—
The runes inlaid on the crossbow mechanism atop a Level 3 Archery Tower on the city wall suddenly shone brightly. These white-glowing dozens of mysterious, complex runes floated up from the crossbow, hovering around the Archery Tower.
Immediately after.
"Click."
Only the faint, nearly inaudible sound of a mechanism was heard.
Countless light arrows shot out from the crossbow mechanism at lightning speed, rushing into the sky like an inverted waterfall, forming a cloud of light arrows dozens of meters high in midair. Then, like divine punishment, they fell, crisscrossing with the heavy rain and covering the entire northern area outside the city walls.
"Sizzle..."
Suffering this calamity, nearly all these dozens of rolling Flesh Worm Ghosts had been wiped out. The sound of sizzling, like a red-hot iron rod piercing butter, rang out. The light arrows slowly dissipated, leaving only the Flesh Worm Ghosts on the ground. One after another, they dissolved into patches of green liquid that corroded the wasteland.
Eerie Stones dropped from their bodies, lying quietly amid the liquid, looking greatly tempting.
The first wave of Flesh Worm Ghosts that charged the camp was almost all annihilated.
The arrow storm's coverage wasn't that extensive; there were some that slipped through the net.
A few of them, though having broken into the camp, didn't head toward the city walls. Instead, they skirted the edges of the walls, quickly bypassed the camp, and rolled on into the Perpetual Night, showing no intention of turning back or lingering.