CH 172

Laisuo City is one of the main subsidiary strongholds of the Iron Armor Fortress, and there are dozens of subsidiary strongholds near Laisuo City.

The defense system composed of these strongholds forms a defensive circle.

Now, this defense system has been breached. The heavy blow from the dark world has penetrated part of Thalorian's human hard shell and is about to fall on its tender flesh.

The inner defense line is the thin outer skin of the tender flesh.

And the lighthouse is a point of callus on this outer skin.

The previously inconspicuous edge stronghold immediately received unprecedented attention.

A large number of orders from the old city of Baila and the Iron Armor war zone require them to ensure that the guiding light is always on and to do their best to rescue the scattered soldiers.

"Soldiers."

The captain of the guard shouted loudly.

"The moment we have been waiting for has finally arrived. Do you want to live an ordinary life or do you want to burn your soul like a shooting star, shining even for just a second?"

The soldiers shouted in unison, "Burn! Burn! Burn!"

"Very well."

The captain of the guard shouted.

"Now, bring out all the remaining fire and ignite our lights to the limit."

Under his command, the soldiers quickly took out a large amount of ash residue.

Occasionally, flames would flicker in these pure black ash residues. This was the power of fire separated from the guardian fire.

Burning these ash residues could create a small area of rekindled fire.

The fire basin on the lighthouse is the vessel that carries the fire, and the specially made reflector can project the firelight to a far distance, guiding the lost soldiers and dispelling monsters in the boundless darkness.

This is the role of the lighthouse, which cannot be replaced by the astrolabe.

Soon.

The fire basin on the lighthouse began to burn fiercely, and a powerful light spread out, dispelling the nearby black mist.

The lighthouse isolated on the top of the mountain is like a shining star in the long night, illuminating the way home for the soldiers.

Then, the guards began to operate the reflectors, and the huge white light pierced through the darkness like a spear, projecting tens of miles away.

As the three reflectors started to work one after another, three white light columns began to rotate along predetermined angles, directions, and frequencies, representing three safe paths home.

Due to the proximity to the true dark world, the middle layer of the defense circle is very dangerous, and the terrain near the giant stone lighthouse is even more complex, with hills, swamps, lowlands, and decayed mud pits, as well as many hidden "dangerous areas."

After careful consideration, the royal city did not spend a lot of manpower to completely clear this area, but opened up these three safe routes and established the lighthouse as a guide.

Protected by the old city of Baila in the front and the nearby Laisuo City on the side, nothing major has ever happened here.

But now that Laisuo City has been destroyed, the giant stone lighthouse has become the front line.

Rode was nervous, excited, and somewhat incredulous. Didn't the dean lead his magic guard to support them? How did it collapse so quickly?

Theodore is also a legendary strong man, the holder of the first "magic talent." His name is well-known, but the whistle given to him by the dean, although unreliable, has helped him many times. How could he be so useless?

But thinking alone is useless. Rode doesn't know what the situation is in Laisuo City. The only thing he can do now is to do his best to rescue the fleeing personnel. It is said that there are more than 100,000 people in Laisuo City, and the vast majority of them are ordinary logistics or production personnel.

From the map, the giant stone lighthouse is one of the three main evacuation directions of Laisuo City, and it should receive many survivors.

At the same time, they will definitely encounter many powerful monsters.

This is his opportunity.

Unlike when he was at Jianguan, where the monsters that arrived had already passed through several layers and were mostly low-level monsters, here, in the middle layer of the defense circle, he will encounter powerful monsters from the depths of darkness.

According to Teacher Lilyve, he is very likely to encounter special monsters with [Source] here.

Rode has made up his mind to try to kill them no matter how dangerous it is.

Soon, the lighthouse encountered the first group of refugees.

The moment they saw the light, they rushed towards the lighthouse.

A white light descended and shone on them, instantly evaporating several black shadows.

The refugees ran even faster, even throwing away the lanterns in their hands.

The operator carefully moved the reflectors.

At such a distance, even a slight tremor could cause the reflectors to deviate by hundreds of yards.

When they ran within three miles of the lighthouse, the captain decisively ordered the soldiers to go out and bring them in.

"The Three-Mile Agreement" is the standard tactical rule of Thalorian. Under the state of war, unless there are special circumstances, the farthest distance for support from small and medium-sized fixed strongholds is three miles.

This is the experience and lessons learned from countless blood and tears.

The refugees were obviously aware of this. They ran desperately, just to get within three miles of the lighthouse.

When the soldiers brought them back, this group of people was already exhausted. None of them could stand, and they were all carried into the lighthouse.

There were a total of thirty-one people, seven men and twenty-four women. They were logistics personnel from Laisuo City, and almost everyone was injured. A few of them were severely infected, with a large amount of rotting flesh appearing on their faces and chests. The black flesh spread rapidly on their bodies, and the presence of fire caused even greater pain. They rolled and howled in the lighthouse.

The captain said in a deep voice, "Put them into the fire."

A man knelt on the ground and cried, "Captain, please, save them!"

The captain shook his head, "The infection is deep, there is no hope."

"But, but my wife, my daughter, they have been working in Laisuo City for twelve years. They just want to see the royal city, to see the dazzling fire in the upper city district. They dream of it..."

"Sorry."

The captain gave a signal, and the soldiers carried them to the top of the tower and put them into the burning fire basin one by one.

The flames quickly engulfed their bodies, turning them into ashes.

The captain whispered, "May the fire protect your souls. Forget the pain and sorrow, rest in the paradise of fire forever."The man didn't say a word, only silently wiping away his tears on the side.

But when the captain turned around, he heard a few exclamations from the soldiers beside him.

When he turned back, the man had already jumped into the fire pit, and the flames instantly engulfed him.

But he had a smile on his face.

"...Sorry, I'm late."

A soldier wanted to pull him out, but was stopped by the captain.

"He has already touched the source of fire. His soul will go to the world of fire and become a power of fire, illuminating us."

Although it was a sad event, it was irreversible.

In the blink of an eye, three lives disappeared before their eyes, leaving no trace.

For some reason, Rode felt that the light of the fire seemed to be brighter.

Was it an illusion?

Rode wondered.

Or does a person's soul also have the effect of kindling and firewood?

He didn't dwell on this question. The remaining fire, like a star without a soul's kindling, would quickly lose its power. The stronger it was, the faster it would lose. In order to keep the lighthouse the brightest, the captain constantly added kindling to it.

Only in this way could the light of the lighthouse shine so far.

They had to save as many people as possible when the light was the brightest.

Afterwards, from the survivors' accounts, Rode and the others learned that the city of Suo was destroyed by a black giant monster.

Its body was larger than the entire city, hidden in black mist, only partially illuminated by the firelight. Its body was covered in scales and held a giant sword made of twisted flesh and blood.

With one swing of the sword, it destroyed one-fifth of the city and extinguished the protective fire in the center of the city.

The black death beasts outside the city swarmed in, and a blue giant shining with thunder and fire flew into the air to fight the black giant monster. Dozens of blue giants and a large number of soldiers blocked the gap and fought the monsters to the death, giving them space to evacuate.

But there were too many monsters, and the evacuees still suffered heavy losses.

They were lucky to have made it here alive.

"Captain." One of the refugees said, "We should evacuate as soon as possible. We can't hold on here."

The captain shook his head. "We can't leave. Take some time to rest and then set off. I will give you lanterns and star maps. Follow the predetermined route to reach the Sword Fortress in the rear, and you will be safe there."

After the first group of refugees settled down, they quickly encountered the second, third, and fourth groups of evacuees.

The number of people in the lighthouse quickly increased. Fortunately, the giant stone lighthouse, as its name suggested, had a very large interior space. When it was built, it was constructed as a standard fortress defense structure and could accommodate several thousand people at most.

The figures of the monsters also appeared near the lighthouse, and the captain immediately dispatched soldiers to eliminate them.

Now was a relatively safe period, and eliminating threats as much as possible was the best way.

Rode was the most active among them, and he participated in every hunting operation. His extremely high spiritual vision and efficient killing methods played a great role. The soldiers liked to be with him.

When the clock's hands passed midnight.

The number of refugees skyrocketed, and many teams appeared in the area within tens of miles of the lighthouse.

Many teams did not approach the lighthouse, but ran towards the Sword Fortress in the rear along three routes.

The lighthouse did its best to indicate the direction for them, to prevent them from entering nearby "dangerous areas" by mistake.

A larger black monster also appeared in their line of sight. They were about the size of a house, with their heads unfolding like flesh-colored petals, and a circular hole filled with sharp teeth in the middle.

When attacking, the flesh petals would wrap around people and swallow them in the circular hole.

After studying hard for a while, Rode quickly determined that they were high-level monsters. This level of monsters was the most threatening on the battlefield, not because they were the most powerful, but because there were the most of them and they could cause effective damage to high-level combatants.

This should be the black death beasts besieging the city of Suo.

Although they adhered to the "three-mile agreement," Rode tried to attract the attention of the monsters at the edge. His shooting skills had reached the point where he could hit a hundred shots within a thousand yards, but with less power.

But real silver bullets had no killing power against high-level monsters, so it didn't matter.

Once the monsters stepped into range, they would be surrounded by soldiers, and Rode would seize the opportunity to use a "Soul Burst" to end them.

It had to be said that the training in combat skills greatly improved his use of "Soul Burst." This skill was no longer as restricted as before. Rode could sprint from a hundred yards away and accurately insert his hand into the monster's weakness, or he could use a sliding tackle to kill the monster in intense combat.

Cheers constantly rang in his ears, and Rode's presence greatly improved the efficiency of the soldiers' combat. They were all Starfire Sequences, generally igniting three to four sparks, mostly ordinary sparks like "Sharp Sensing," "Balanced Mastery," and "Strength Enhancement," and their combat methods were almost all physical combat.

Not many people used their abilities, so they could only kill the monsters one by one with their swords, which was not very efficient.

Rode's way of fighting, killing one at a time, had both the physical sense of skill and the explosive sense of abilities, which was very popular among them.

Many refugee teams were able to survive the ordeal because of this.

Rode gained a lot of humanity. He was now the true King of Humanity, and the humanity he possessed would last for ten lifetimes.

In this way, the bright lighthouse stood tall in the darkness, guiding countless refugees on their way.

After most of the refugees set off for the Sword Fortress after a simple rest, only those who were seriously injured and unable to walk stayed behind.

Even so, the lighthouse quickly filled with wounded.

And dozens of people returned to the embrace of fire.

The guard captain was somewhat relieved to hear from them that the main force of the fleeing army was heading northwest, and not many were coming towards the lighthouse.

However, there were still many people who came to Suo City, and even if only a small part of them managed to escape, the number was still considerable.

When the clock's hands passed midnight.

The lighthouse spotted a group of remnants from Suo City.

About thirty people, about eleven miles away, formed a tactical squad. Most of them were covered in wounds, and a few who were uninjured were fighting the monsters behind them.The monster was covered in long black fur, with sharp claws dragging on the ground, its movements were extremely swift.

The three beams of light from the lighthouse converged on the monster, causing it to emit smoke, but it did not catch fire. Instead, it became even more furious, and several combat personnel were injured.

They ran faster, but obviously couldn't make it into the range of the lighthouse.

The captain immediately gave the order, "The situation is special, launch a rescue mission immediately."

Ten combat personnel quickly rushed towards them, and one of them was much faster than the others. In just a quarter of an hour, he had already passed the remaining soldiers and plunged into the group of monsters.

"Be careful!" one of the burly men shouted, "This is a variant!"

Rode ignored him, raised his right hand, and killed one with a single strike, dodged a claw by sidestepping, and killed another with a backhand strike.

The monster seemed to be enraged and attacked him fiercely.

But Rode's movements were agile and light, with swift footwork and nimble dodges. He killed dozens of monsters in the blink of an eye.

[Curse of the Werewolf's Soul] X11

Rode couldn't stop smiling. He wanted more of these heavily injured monsters.

The burly man was astonished, his mouth agape, "Are you a senior knight or an advanced warrior? No, you're too young, my son is older than you... Are you a special student? A strong identifier from the hidden branch, right?"

He guessed right.

But Rode couldn't agree, Soren had told him that his strong identifier had been hidden.

"I'm just an ordinary student, hurry up and go to the lighthouse."

"No." The burly man rejected his suggestion, "We can't stay here. If you haven't received reinforcements, I suggest you quickly abandon the lighthouse and evacuate."

Rode shook his head, "Our orders are to stay here, guide the way, and do our best to rescue the scattered soldiers."

The burly man looked at him deeply and said, "You can dim the fire a bit. The city of Soso has been breached, the Iron Armor Fortress and the old city of Baira are too busy to take care of themselves. The real darkness has already encroached. It's not safe for the fire to be too bright."

Rode smiled, "If the lighthouse isn't bright, we won't have anything bright."

The burly man nodded.

"Alright, may we meet again under the sun."

---

When the clock struck dawn again, another order came from the old city of Baira.

"Danger is approaching, try to keep the light from extinguishing. If the situation is unfavorable, please evacuate quickly."

But the guard captain and the soldiers did not choose to evacuate. Instead, they added more fuel to the fire, making the flames brighter.

"Rode."

The captain said seriously.

"You are the new star of our future, you don't have to accompany us in this adventure."

Rode smiled, "If I can't accompany you in this adventure, can I still be called a new star?"

In an instant, hot blood surged in his heart. Although they had only known each other for two days, the soldiers felt as if he was an old friend they had known for a long time.

"Haha." The captain laughed heartily, "You're right, let's light up the way home together."

Afterwards, the bright flames illuminated this large dark area, guiding countless troops back.

But as time passed, more and more monsters spread to the area of the lighthouse. Many monsters were attracted by the flames and gathered towards the lighthouse on the mountaintop.

This was a clustering effect, a small number of monsters would be dispersed by the flames, while a large number of monsters would gather because of the flames.

And as the number of Black Death Beasts increased, the monsters launched an attack on the lighthouse.

The giant stone lighthouse was a standard defensive structure. Although it didn't have a spiritual energy generator, all the building materials were reinforced with special spiritual energy, making it extremely difficult to destroy.

The only problem was that sometimes the monsters would climb to the top of the tower and attack the fire basin.

So all the soldiers gathered on the top of the tower, defending it with all their might.

Rode had already prepared his wooden puppet, but to his surprise, everyone worked together and the battle went very smoothly. Not a single Black Death Beast managed to climb up.

The captain laughed, "Hahaha, useless, we are the kings of the world."

The soldiers were also jubilant, using the light to protect the retreating troops even more carefully.

At this moment, the lighthouse played a miraculous role. The bright flames attracted a large number of Black Death Beasts, and the strong light dispersed the sporadic attacks from the monsters, maximizing the safety of the retreating personnel.

They only needed to bypass the lighthouse to reach the rear Sword Fortress.

However, this was only the light from the remaining flames, and a large number of monsters quickly depleted its power.

The flames gradually weakened, and some monsters left the range of the lighthouse. Several retreating teams were attacked, and a combatant was knocked into the group of monsters below the lighthouse.

The flesh of a Black Death Beast wrapped around him, swallowing him whole. The sound of his screams mixed with the crunching of bones echoed through the night sky, and blood and flesh fragments leaked out from the gaps in the flesh.

The screams suddenly stopped, leaving only the chilling sound of chewing.

Rode frowned. There were many monsters below, and the Black Death Beasts had thick skin and flesh, making it difficult to kill them even with full firepower.

At this moment, he saw many retreating teams rushing towards the lighthouse from a distance.

Rode glanced at his inventory, there were no remaining flames, and the ignition material was also used up.

What should he do? Should he find a way to notify them to retreat?

Just then, the flames suddenly brightened.

Rode turned his head with joy and asked, "Do you still have remaining flames..."

No one spoke. In the bright flames, two soldiers smiled at them, and one of them mouthed, "Are our souls bright?"

A few seconds later, they turned into ashes.

The bright and clear flames flickered slightly, as if nothing had happened.

But the lighthouse erupted with a strong light once again.

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More monsters gathered.

The pillar of light, like a spear of the gods, shone on the survivors who had just experienced extreme terror, helping them dispel the shadow of death.

The captain laughed, "The Flamebearer is truly different, even brighter when burning."

The soldiers also laughed, "That's right."

Rode felt his blood rushing to his head, clenched his fists, but didn't know what to say, "You..."

The captain said, "Hurry up and learn how to operate the reflector, don't waste our fire."One warrior said, "I've placed two orbs of residual light below, and I've blocked the entrance. You don't need to worry."

Another warrior said, "I've scattered blue bone marrow ash on the tower surface. The Black Death Beasts can't climb up anymore. The lighthouse's defense can hold them off for two days."

Rode opened his mouth, but in the end, he couldn't say anything.

Just like that, the warriors one by one walked into the fire, lighting it with their souls.

The captain was the last one to go in.

Before leaving, he said, "When the fire weakens, you must seize the opportunity to escape. Don't try to light the fire. Without anyone operating the reflector, it's a waste."

The captain waved his hand.

"When you become stronger in the future, kill a few more monsters. Consider it as us killing them."

Rode's throat bobbed, and he hoarsely spat out a word:

"Okay."

The captain walked into the fire, and the flames became brighter than ever before.

Rode, alone, operated the three reflectors, bidding farewell to the evacuees in the distance.

And for them.