At first, Edgar thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Perhaps the darkness of the Eternal Night was distorting his perception.

But after staring for several seconds, his expression gradually changed.

The trees that were far away were really rushing towards his fortress.

Silhouettes of dozens of pine trees shifted through the darkness.

Their trunks slid across the ground while their branches twisted unnaturally.

"What the hell..."

He immediately crouched behind the battlements and focused his vision.

The light from the Unbroken Fire stretched outward and illuminated a portion of the forest.

Edgar grimly looked at the dull and uncanny faces on the main trunks of the trees.

Roots protruded from their lower bodies like countless legs, allowing them to crawl across the ground.

Taking in a deep breath, Edgar turned around and found the old man.

"Uncle, come up."

Oswald quickly rushed up the staircase and looked at the trees illuminated by the light.

His face quickly turned serious and he whispered,

"Rootwalkers."

"What are they?" Edgar asked, staring at them.

"A Nightmare capable of mimicking dead trees." the old man replied, but soon his voice turned doubtful. "...They slowly move towards their prey and hunt by ambush."

Edgar gave him a peculiar look.

"But they are not..."

The old man tried to make sense of the Rootwalkers’ behavior, but he couldn’t understand why they would reveal themselves so soon. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Rootwalkers were patient predators. They could remain motionless for weeks if necessary.

Yet these creatures were openly marching toward the fortress... almost as though they didn’t care about being seen.

Edgar’s expression turned grim as a thought settled in his mind.

’Are they being controlled?’

Without wasting time, Edgar turned the ballista on his second ⟨Watch Tower⟩ and pointed it at the incoming Nightmares.

A massive bolt of red light tore through the darkness.

The projectile crossed hundreds of meters in an instant and slammed directly into the center of the Rootwalker formation.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The resulting explosion lit up the Eternal Night.

Several Rootwalkers exploded into fragments of bark and black sap.

Edgar waited for a while to see their reaction, but as if the Nightmares didn’t have wills of their own, they kept charging.

As if the deaths of their companions meant absolutely nothing.

"....."

Edgar pointed the ballista and the beam of light and started bombarding them.

BOOOOOOM!!!

BOOOOOOM!!!

The battlefield lit up again and again beneath the relentless bombardment, yet Edgar’s expression only became darker.

The surviving Rootwalkers simply crawled over the remains of their fallen brethren and continued forward.

Even if he destroyed one wave, more took their place.

’I can’t keep attacking them like this.’

He was spending Nightmare Stones much faster than the monsters were dying.

As soon as the monsters were under the Unbroken Fire’s light, they stopped moving.

And then, like broken kites, they all began to fall over the Fortress Wall.

BOOOM!!

The Nightmares positioned themselves as if they were slanted pillars supporting the wall.

"Young master!!"

Old man Oswald yelled, pointing at the darkness.

"They are here!"

Edgar looked into the darkness and felt his heart drop.

Black-scaled lizards began pouring out of the darkness and towards the fortress wall.

"Remove them!!" Edgar screamed from the top of his lungs.

"Those lizards are trying to use the Rootwalkers as a bridge to get inside!!"

Edgar’s shout echoed across the fortress.

"REMOVE THEM!!"

The moment the words left his mouth, both ⟨Watch Towers⟩ shifted their targets.

But because the trees were hidden behind the fortress wall, they couldn’t do anything about them.

Edgar gritted his teeth and looked at the patrol path.

With a bleeding heart, he decided to take the risk.

Taking out two Green Nightmare Stones and five White ones, he placed them on the patrol path.

Then he willed a ⟨Watch Tower⟩ into existence on the path.

A Green Nightmare Stone quickly flew into the sky and cracked.

Green Milky light leaked out and began to create a new Watch Tower.

During this time, Andrew had come up and anxiously looked at the approaching monsters.

"Young master!!"

"I know!?"

As soon as the ⟨Level 1 Watch Tower⟩ was completed, Edgar decided to upgrade it.

A prompt quickly appeared in front of him.

---

Choose the Upgrade Path:

1⟩ Increase the range of the condensed beam.

2⟩ Increase the power output of the light.

3⟩ Add a flamethrower with fifteen meters of range. (Fortress Wall Special).

---

Edgar’s eyes lit up and he didn’t hesitate to choose the third option.

The remaining White and Green Nightmare Stones shattered apart.

Milky liquid poured into the newly constructed ⟨Watch Tower⟩.

Its stone frame expanded outward, increasing in size and height.

The transformation happened so quickly that Andrew couldn’t even react.

Within seconds, a strange metal tube emerged from the side of the tower.

It extended over the battlements and pointed directly toward the Rootwalkers leaning against the wall.

"Perfect."

Below the wall, the first wave of black-scaled lizards had already reached the Rootwalker bridges.

Dozens of them scrambled upward using roots and branches.

Some were only moments away from reaching the battlements.

"Young Master!" Andrew gripped his spear tightly. "They’re climbing!"

"I can see that."

Edgar put one of the Green Nightmare Stones into the new tower and stepped back.

The metal tube moved up and--

FWOOOOOOOOSH!!!

A torrent of red fire erupted from the wall.

The flames stretched across the battlefield like a dragon’s breath.

The nearest Rootwalker was engulfed instantly.

A horrifying screech echoed throughout the Eternal Night.

The living tree began thrashing violently.

The fire rapidly spread through the dry wood covering its body.

Within moments, the entire bridge became a pillar of flames.

The lizards climbing across it immediately burst into flames as well.

Hundreds of shrieks echoed through the darkness.

The burning Rootwalker collapsed sideways.

Crushing countless Nightmares beneath it.

The mental toll they had put on Edgar was enormous.

He let out a soft laugh before roaring,

"Again!"

The flamethrower unleashed another wave of fire.

FWOOOOOOOOSH!!!

The battlefield transformed into an inferno, and the fire reflected in Edgar’s golden eyes.

---

A few hundred meters away from the burning fortress stood a lizard-like Nightmare.

Despite the distance, the Nightmare could clearly see what was happening there.

Raising its head, the Nightmare opened its mouth but closed it the next instant.

Slowly, it turned around and walked away without doing anything.