"Why is it so early this year?" said Kiplin, tapping the eagle head badge on his chest, letting the tremors subside. Then, he frowned, closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had changed his momentum.

He was no longer the old man Fitch remembered as always curled up in a chaise longue or napping on his desk, but like a warrior in the prime of life full of strength. Old man Kiplin straightened his back, his head held high, and his eyes looked out into the wind and snow. The power of the divine spell surged through his veins, supporting and feeding his body, and the Eagle School of Meditation gave him extraordinary perceptual power.

"Sure enough, the geyers have appeared, I'll count them," the old man frowned, and after a while, he came up with the number: "There are already twelve groups ......of geyers appearing on the ridgeline, and now it's only the first day!"

Feige also used meditation to look far away and saw the same scene. Twelve reddish or bluish clouds, resembling human hands and feet, walk slowly on snowy hillsides. Like a confused traveler, they made their way along the rugged and steep rocks towards the Ice Peaks. The nearest one had already entered the courtyard of the fortress, slowly but surely, getting closer and closer to the tower.

His theory of "soul-spirit-soul-prayer" was confirmed, and there was little difference in the color between the soul of the spirit and the soul of a living creature in meditation, and it should be different forms of the same thing at different stages.

When intelligent beings are alive, the soul is a flame that gathers together, tight, bright, and lively, and moves throughout the body. Staring at the flames of the soul, one can vaguely observe the true appearance of the creature to which the soul belongs. When the body dies, the soul's flames become larger, scattered and dim, and there is no complete creature in the core, as if it had been burned as fuel, leaving at most some solid fragments. It could be faith, obsession, resentment, or both.

Those who pray are special. When the time of death is too strong for the belief to burn at all, it will in turn envelop the flame of the soul and become a new, energetic state of the body. The new state generally shows the structural characteristics of the body before death, such as the number of hands and feet, height and weight, but lacks physiognomy. Since most sapient beings are humanoid, most of the invokers are also humanoid.

The geist is somewhere between the soul of the prayer and the soul, and is closer to the prayer. It has a cloud-like appearance, hazy and humanoid, but more like a walking cloud of smoke. They move very slowly, and do not seem to be able to pass through entities, so they have to climb down hills, over moats, and over walls to gain access to the fortress. But these guys can walk on any plane, so obstacles on land only extend the distance of movement for them, and are not insurmountable.

"It looks like this year is going to be a troubled winter. Old man Kiplin walked to the edge of the balcony and tugged hard at the hemp rope on the wall. This rope connects to a pendulum clock below the tower. Suddenly, a dull bell rang, and Kellie ran quickly into the courtyard. He looked around, then raised his fist and shook it at the old man in the heights, indicating that he was aware of the situation.

This is a tacit understanding that belongs to the Ice Peak Fortress. The tacit understanding that these people have formed over the years of fighting together is in many cases even more trustworthy than discipline.

Old man Kipling and Kellie were talking to each other about whether to light a beacon fire and get Giles from Collingwood Town back. Normally, Giles' role would be to take care of the town's cadets and take advantage of the winter months to clear the town of the surrounding beasts. Many of the beasts hibernate and hide in their own burrows, making their capture a separate battle, rather than a complex, difficult and dangerous ecological network.

Collingwood is the closest town to Icecrest Fortress, and is the gateway for all the fort's supplies. Therefore, the safety of the town is the safety of the fortress, and the relationship with the town is to protect the fortress, so the time to clean up the beasts in winter is very important. Giles is the best hunter at Icepeak Fortress, and a few cadets can also help a little, so he doesn't have to deal with geists in the winter.

Kyle wants Giles back to share the task on the fortress's side, but Old Kiplin doesn't think he's old enough to break the rules, and this year there's an extra Feige who can use meditation. Kylie didn't think Feige could help, and his best performance was nothing more than "don't make a mess." The two of them have disagreements, but they both think that this year's geists are a little abnormal in terms of number and arrival time.

"The geist is coming. Feige picked up Midnight and said to it very solemnly, "Remember to follow me, and never leave, understand?"

The black cat licked Feige's hand obediently, then struggled to jump onto Feige's shoulder, hugging his neck tightly.

"Don't fight, listen to me, don't light a beacon. There's a lot going on in town this year, too, and those four guys are busy enough. And, what about the other three when you call Giles back? They are all young and impulsive young men, and no one cares, won't they take the task themselves? How dangerous it is, you don't know it. ”

When Cael heard the old man's words, he finally gave up the idea of lighting a beacon fire. He glanced at the geymers crawling slowly in the courtyard, pointed to himself, "I'll do the first shift as before," and walked to the tower.

When the Ice Peak Fortress is fully prepared, the magic runes here will suppress the movement speed of the geys, making them crawl like turtles, which is "blocking". The fortress will also leave a passage for them to walk normally, so that they can quickly concentrate on the super-degree room of the tower, which is "sparse". The control center of the magic rune is in the meditation room, and this sluice-like adjustment method can turn the endless and irregular attacks of the geists into a system that can regulate the flow, so as to conform to the routine of normal people.

Old man Kiprin dissolved his meditation technique, and his body immediately collapsed, pressing against the support frame that helped him walk. The color of blood faded from his face, and his gray-white skin looked old and weak again. Feige hurriedly helped him up.

"It's old. Old Man Kiprin sighed and said to Feiqi earnestly, "They can't learn magic and spells, I just hope you can learn more and use more." Magic is the best, but spells can also help a lot, so I can feel a little more at ease. ”

"Okay. Feige was about to comfort him a few more words, when suddenly the eagle head badge on his chest trembled violently. At the same time, Feige suddenly felt that his feet were stiff and numb, and a sense of crisis hit his heart.

"My lord, do you feel anything?" Feige suddenly stopped, and Old Man Kipling was also strange, and grabbed his hand tightly. His other hand touched the badge on his chest, and the old eagle's head did not move.

"I can't immediately return to meditation, tell me what you see!" the old man didn't feel unusual, but he was willing to believe Feige's alertness. "Concentrate, relax and don't panic. You've just completed the Pure Spiritual Enhancement Ritual and can't use it yet, so you could make mistakes, so don't panic. ”

Feige nodded, trying to contain the tension in his heart. Suddenly, Midnight's back arched, and the black hair exploded, and he let out a terrible and terrifying cry. Immediately, the ghost cat used all his strength to get through Feige's neck and hide under his clothes.

A black shadow appeared on the hillside outside the fortress in a hurry, and crossed the geist like a fierce general. It was a pitch-black steed, except for the orange-red flames burning with its mane, tail, and hooves, while spewing blood-red sparks from its eye sockets and nostrils.

The spirits approaching the black horse all stopped, then bowed in a slow, clumsy posture. Subsequently, the geist will become a little more solidified, meaning that the body structure is more clear, and the color of the smoke is slightly orange. In Feige's eyes, this change in the geist has made them move a little faster, and they seem to be a little smarter, at least picking a quicker route to walk.

"It's a nightmare!" Old man Kiplin clenched Feige's hand, "Quick, tell Kyle! Go to the meditation room!

The old man threw off the support frame and forcibly used the magic to try to make his body stronger and faster to walk. The sound of Kylie's footsteps came from below the tower, and in a few seconds they could converge. But at that moment, Nightmare raised its front hooves and hissed in the direction of the fortress.

Feige's heart was battered, his eardrums felt like he had been pricked with a needle, and his whole head was buzzing. The fortress's magic runes all lit up, and everything that could make a sound, whether bells, gongs, drums, horns, or pot lids, rumbled, as if in response to a confrontation.

The nightmare rushed a few steps, and a geist exploded beside him, completely dissipating and turning into nothingness. So Nightmare lifted his front hooves again, stepped down hard, and let out another chirp.

The old man fainted weakly, completely unconscious, and Kylie staggered up, bleeding from his ears and nostrils. He glanced at Feige and Kipling, said nothing, gritted his teeth and ran upward. The geist outside exploded again, and the nightmare rushed and screamed again.

The tower's runes blocked out some of the power of the chirp, so that Kailey, though more seriously injured, was able to continue climbing after stumbling a step. The Nightmare sprang down the hillside, shattering a geist in its path, and chirping again near the walls.

Kylie also fainted, and fell heavily on the steps. At this point, he was only five steps away from the door of the meditation room.

Feige wondered why he could still stand and look at Nightmare from the balcony across the fortress. At the first scream, he was so uncomfortable that his whole body felt like he had been knocked out by a rugby player with all his might, and even his soul was shaking violently. But the second time, he was less uncomfortable, and the third time it became more relaxed.

Therefore, he was still able to hold the fainted old man tightly, and he remained awake after Calie fell.

The nightmare continued to chirp, and this time Feige didn't even shake - except for the eagle head badge on his chest, which was still shaking violently. Feige looked down and began to understand a little.

He is a contract demon, a middle-level elite of the devil, a very unique existence. Nightmares are nothing more than evil otherworldly creatures that are often captured in Hell as mounts, and are about the middle and upper ranks of the lower devils, far inferior to contract demons.

Powerful and absolute hierarchical rule is the foundation of Hell, and Nightmare Cry is a psychic attack that works on Fitch for the first time, but definitely does no harm to the soul of the Contract Demon. Feige listened to the chirp a few times, and the power of the devil was revealed, and the hierarchy suppressed and became immune to the nightmare's attack.

He gradually figured it out, but the nightmare was completely confused.