In the evening of the same day, the marching team finally braved the blizzard to reach their last resting place, the watchtower that had been completely destroyed in the raid.

In the cold winter wind, the thick snow covers the watchtower underneath, but you can still see what happened in the last trace of it.

There was no wailing of crows, no smell of decay, the blood had dried up coldly, the frozen bones were covered in snow - in the far north, everything that had lost its life would be buried in the wind and snow and reduced to nothingness, leaving only cold shells and wreckage.

And the eternal silence of death.

Loren, who was riding on horseback, looked silently at the only remaining broken wall in front of him, and Brandon on the side gradually lost the smile on his face, raised his eyebrows and was silent, looking at the purgatory on earth in front of him, or... Ruins littered with corpses.

From the crumbling watchtowers, to the postures and "shapes" of the dead soldiers, to the bones of the monsters that were entangled with them and could no longer be separated...... Just looking at it is chilling.

"We can rest here for the night, and then continue north tomorrow morning, Your Highness the Prince. Nazé, the knight of the Church, took the reins and stopped at Brandon's side:

"Right here, the last watchtower of the Broken Mountain Fortress is also the Empire's closest stronghold to the north, where countless devout believers and warriors once visited, but a sudden attack and derelict desertion have turned it and hundreds of heroes into a buried ground!"

As he spoke, Naze didn't forget to glare coldly at Lusan beside the black-haired wizard, and his words were full of disdain and hatred.

Lu Sien's face changed slightly, his face was expressionless, but he silently lowered his gaze and tightened the reins in his hand.

"Let the soldiers clean up the rubble around a little bit, and try not to alarm the bones of these fallen warriors. Brandon sighed softly and directly ignored the second half of Naze's words:

"If that doesn't work, we'll just find an open space outside the watchtower and set up camp, or try to keep it as it is—wait until the winter is over, and then let the people from the fortress come and bring their bodies back to the south. ”

"Encamped in the clearing?" Naze frowned, "With all due respect, Your Highness. You may have forgotten that we are now in the north of the Broken Mountains, where monsters are rampant, and if we are attacked, we ......"

"Before the monsters could rush before I could be attacked, Miracis would fall from the sky and turn them into roasted game, without worrying about anything. ”

"But if it'......"

Brandon waved his hand, a slight languid smile on his lips, "If there are so many monsters that even dragons can't do anything, I don't think a sentry tower in ruins will be able to undo much - what do you think, Chief Knight Naze?"

“...... Yes, Your Highness. ”

The Church Knight, who had been interrupted twice in succession, snorted coldly with a dull face, bowed his head and left the place, leading two teams of soldiers to arrange the camp.

It wasn't until he was "driven away" that the smile on Brandon's face relaxed slightly and then breathed a sigh of relief, and he didn't forget to roll his eyes at the back of the church knight, so that Loren couldn't help but tug at the corners of his mouth.

Watching Brandon turn over and dismount and hand over the reins to the guards on the side, Loren also took the opportunity to walk towards the inside of the ruins of the watchtower, looking around at the ruins of the surrounding walls.

Isaac seemed more interested in the scenery around him, admiring the distant sunset that was about to fall into the horizon, while Luceen, who sensed something, quietly followed behind the black-haired wizard.

From the entrance of the watchtower, to the promenade, the fence and the horse-repellent piles on both sides, the open space in the center...... Frozen corpses littered the ground, entangled with each other.

The legionnaire, who had fallen on the stake of the horse and was pierced through his chest, still clutched the broken halberd tightly in his hand;

The young man with the bow was bitten off by the werewolf, and the arrow in his hand pierced his eyes;

The trumpeter, who stood tall and was half frozen on the lookout, reaching out to touch the horn he could never touch again;

The two legionnaires, entangled and slaughtered, together with the bones of their enemies, blocked the gates of the inner fort of the watchtower;

............ The black-haired wizard's eyes narrowed slightly, and the sight in front of him seemed to recreate the events of that night in front of him, and the howl of the cold wind in his ears turned into a terrible roar and the sound of fighting.

"Loren... Your Excellency?" the gray-eyed boy standing behind him didn't know whether to interrupt or not, and tentatively stretched out his head to look at the black-haired wizard's expression:

"Are you... What did you find?"

Loren nodded instinctively and turned to look outside.

The first battle took place at the gate.

As can be seen from the arrows left in the snow, the defenders of the watchtower did not notice their existence until the monsters approached, and were unprepared for them.

The improvised crossbowmen hurriedly fired arrows at the enemy, but to no avail, and they had no idea how many there were—as the towers had not sent a single Ranger for help so far.

The monsters attacked so violently that they breached the gate before the defenders in the watchtower could react, leaving the legionnaires and elite Rangers to rely on the door and the surrounding fence to fend off their horses.

Then they had to retreat to the central clearing, where they resisted one after another, while more monsters climbed the wooden walls and slaughtered the crossbowmen one-sidedly. ”

Muttering to himself, Loren involuntarily walked towards the central clearing, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding guardrails one by one—Lusn next to him looked at him with a somewhat stunned expression.

The expression of the black-haired wizard in front of him was almost as if he was in the midst of the raid at this moment.

Loren ignored him, lowered his head and continued to explore the remnants of his surroundings, which had not yet been completely buried by the ice and snow.

I don't know why, the watchtower, which had many opportunities to call for help, never sent a ranger to report to the rear, and almost all the bones that fell around were towards the gate, and none of them were killed in the escape.

It's very weird, it's like ......

It's like they know they can't escape, so they try their best to stall for time. The black-haired wizard whispered.

"You mean... It's not that they don't have it, but they find that they can't escape?" asked Lusen, who was very hesitant, in disbelief:

"Why... It's impossible!"

"I don't know why, but it's definitely one of the most likely conclusions. Loren shook his head: "I've had a similar situation before, and my experience has taught me that until I find evidence, no matter how incredible the truth is, it's the last and only answer." ”

Glancing at the gray-eyed boy with a surprised expression, Loren stretched out his hand and pointed to the top of the watchtower: "And that trumpeter... It's the best proof of that!"

"Trumpeter?" Lusen looked at where he was pointing, and the half-frozen, frozen corpse on the lookout was still reaching out to touch the horn that would never be touched.

"If not into the last despair, to the point of the utmost irretrievability, they all have time to send out the rangers, light the wolf smoke or do whatever they have the opportunity to do, to inform the rear of the last news. ”

Loren looked at the trumpeter silently, with a little respect in his eyes: "But he desperately wants to climb the tower to blow the horn, and pin all his hopes on being heard by the reinforcements who are coming...... I think that says a lot about that. ”

Because this is the only remaining possibility... Is it?

Lusen guessed.

"In short, there must have been a lot of accidents in this raid, but it certainly had nothing to do with poor detection. Loren, who came back to his senses, shook his head: "And this is the last place where those monsters appeared, and if you continue to search, you will definitely find more clues......"

Halfway through his words, Loren stopped suddenly, and Lusen looked back with some curiosity to see him half-crouching on the ground, fiddling with a campfire in a corner.

"One small problem. Loren, who had his back to Luthen, whispered, "Recently... Could it be that any Rangers have ever been here?"

"Probably not, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. An expressionless Loren replied, his right hand still out of the campfire.

This campfire... It's actually new.