The cold wind howled like the cry of a young child, and along the entire Grand Canyon, except for the sound of cold air, there were only one or two words of conversation from time to time from the soldiers who were also on duty on the defense road not far away, and the crackling of firewood in front of the tent behind them.

It's been quiet for the first time in a long time.

Weeks of nighttime harassment by ghouls had ceased the day before yesterday - not because it had been ineffective, but because as the deforestation progressed (the Fish Beams were destroyed by the ghouls, while the rest of the trees were burned by the defenders in wildfires), the concealment of the trees themselves had become weaker: the entire Grand Canyon, the northern slope, and the southern slope of the Fish Beams near the valley floor had been cleared by the roots, and the banks of the Ruhe River were now bare, leaving only the sparse Fish Beams that clinged to the mountain paths along the Night's Watch had survived.

This last batch of fish beams and woods has been so weak that the blocking effect of the power of the cold god is almost nothing, but the position is close to the point that it is on the chin of the defenders, and no matter how thick the night is, it will not be able to shelter it, if you want to uproot the destruction first, you will have to fill in hundreds or thousands of ghouls.

Manipulating the dead is simple, but it requires magic, not to mention that the means of resurrecting corpses are terrifying in the eyes of the living, but they have insurmountable shortcomings: no matter how clever necromancy is, it can't give birth to soldiers out of thin air...... The strange spirits lead the army of the dead, and if they do not win a great victory, the soldiers will fight less and less, and they will not be able to live like the living creatures: by reproduction and the living forces that come to their aid.

For this last bit of fish beam wood, sending ghouls to rush under the noses of the human defenders who are waiting for them to cut down wood is not only cost-effective, but also a waste of troops.

＊＊＊

The breath turned into bursts of white mist in the air, condensed into a thin frost on the eyebrows and beard, and fell down with a pinch of his hand. Slim wrapped the blanket around him again, and moved all nineteen fingers of his legs, arms, hands and feet.

The allowance of the defenders along the canyon is 1.5 times that of the defenders of the fortress, and the food supply is even more full.

With the continuous improvement of the logistics supply of the defenders of the Great Wall, the warm equipment of today's soldiers has generally been complete...... However, the weather was too cold, and the defenders on the front line of the Grand Canyon had no walls to block the wind, and as soon as the air flow moved, the temperature was so low that people could hardly feel the presence of the body, as if only by moving from time to time could they avoid repeating the mistake of freezing off their toes.

Hold on a little longer! Slim thought to himself—in less than an hour, his shift would be over, and he could return to the sheltered tent he had dug into the hollow of the rock, take off his armor and retreat into the bed, and sleep soundly.

Just as he was looking forward to the good of sleep, another soldier a few meters away exclaimed in a low voice, and Slim turned his head to observe, only to find that the western sky had lit up slightly—for a moment, he almost thought that day and night were reversed, and the sun was rising in opposite directions, and only after two seconds did he react: no, it was the beacon fire of Icefjord, and the westernmost port fortress of the defense line had been attacked!

Icefjord Harbor is located on the coast southwest of the mouth of the Ruhe River, and the cold ice bay is not frozen, could it be that the dead army swam around the defense line and attacked there? Slim was puzzled, but what was more troubled was: The beacon fire in Icefjord Harbor was lit, did he see what needed to be done?

The defense plan of the Grand Canyon has long been orally conveyed to the ears of every soldier by the most junior officers, and after several exercises, it has been deeply rooted in the hearts of everyone, and everyone knows that no matter which place along the Grand Canyon is attacked, the night guards must light a beacon fire after confirming that it is not a feint...... If the Icefjord, Canyon Lookout, and Shadow Tower commanders deem it necessary, they will send reserves from the two forts to support the attacked.

However, the plan does not say how the defenders along the Grand Canyon should react when the beacon fire is lit in Icegap Harbor!

The slight commotion spread like a wave from west to east throughout the entire canyon defense line, waking up many soldiers who had been replaced and should have rested, but the defenders everywhere finally strictly implemented the established plan and did not leave their posts without permission to respond in violation of regulations...... On the other hand, if even more than 1,000 defenders cannot settle the problem, no matter how much support is drawn from the gorge, it is impossible to "transfer troops and still ensure the sufficient strength of the defensive line."

The herald's order reassured Slim, and he turned his head back to the dark canyon floor instead of looking at the beacon fire to the west. After a cold wind that suddenly became a little stronger, a wet, icy little thing fell on his nose, and he looked up at the sky, not surprised to find that it was snowing again.

The good news is that the snow adds brightness to the environment makes it easier to scout and sentry, but the bad news is that the snow piled up on the defensive trails has to be cleared at dawn, and there is no separate department in the Night's Watch that is responsible for this work, and it is all handled by the defenders themselves.

Alas, tomorrow will be busy again.

Slim sighed, and the hot breath from his mouth turned into a white mist several times larger than the one coming out of his nose, and then the horn sounded abruptly.

Woowoowoooo

The sound of the trumpet reflected back and forth in the canyon, spreading all over the line, gradually becoming faint and distant, but it was undoubtedly not an illusion. The Night's Watch had abandoned the distinction of one, two, and three horns, especially along the canyon: the defenders would never go down to the bottom of the canyon to patrol, which meant that there was only one possibility, as long as the horn sounded.

Enemy attack!

He quickly looked in the east and west directions to make sure that it was not the adjacent section of defense that lit up the beacon fire: the Shadow Tower, as the supreme headquarters of the Western Front, had already divided the canyon defense line into nearly a hundred sections according to length and terrain, each section was under the responsibility of a group of defenders ranging from twenty to fifty men, and the temporary fortress "Canyon Lookout" at the middle point was slightly more. According to the plan, if the attack is on the adjacent defensive section, the adjacent defensive section is obliged to help the defenders of the attacked section to hold out until the reserve arrives, while ensuring that its own defense zone is safe.

Although it was a panicked glance, the target was found at a glance: very good, the place where the beacon fire was lit was several miles away, and it could not be an adjacent defensive section!

......

There was the sound of hurried footsteps behind him, and several soldiers of the same team who reacted the fastest had already put on clothes to ensure that they would not freeze to death, rushed out of the tent, and rushed towards the edge of the cliff under the leadership of the captain.

"What's the situation?"

"At least three miles to the east, not our neighbours!" said Slim loudly.

"I'm asking 'what's going on', not 'what's the attack'! What is the answer when you tell me it's not an adjacent section?" the squad commander scolded, "The first thing you have to do when you hear the horn is to make sure that our own defensive section is not under attack, and then to determine if it needs support elsewhere, understand?"

"Yes...... Sir!" obviously honestly watched the night, and didn't even doze off, but he was beaten with a head and face, and Slim was suddenly a little aggrieved, but the military law was like a mountain and did not dare to contradict his superiors, so he had to agree in a proper manner, according to the training he received on weekdays - he took a torch that was burning vigorously from the brazier rack next to him, and threw it into the canyon with a force.

The captain scolded the young man on duty, partly because he was angry that he didn't respond to the horn as required by his training, but more often because he was annoyed by the schadenfreude contained in the young man's phrase "not our neighborhood", and wanted to reprimand him.

However, as the torches cut through the darkness and fell into the deep canyon, the faint light slightly illuminated a radius of more than ten meters under the reflection of the snow, and even he, the commander, did not expect a scene in their eyes: on the ice of the Ruhe River at the bottom of the canyon, a black shadow like a torrent was rushing across the dividing line between north and south, surging towards the southern slope of the defensive line...... The mournful sound of the trumpets that echoed in the canyon temporarily drowned out their sounds, so that none of the soldiers on duty at night noticed it in the first place.

The torch fell into the Kuroshio and disappeared as if it were sinking into the water...... Rao is the squad leader who claims to be a veteran, and he was almost scared to pee.

The "Lord of Light is on the ......" team commander was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted: "Slim, go and light the beacon fire immediately! Nahat, take your brother to unpack and move the wildfire out!" Gwen, go and call all the people who are still grinding in the tent, and then bring all the dragon crystal weapons. Boys, this time it's no joke!"

The entire section of soldiers was called, and the boxes full of combat preparations were also opened and moved to the edge of the cliff with moisture-proof and explosion-proof packaging...... The momentum of the enemy attack is terrifying, but at least the defenders don't have to worry about it this time: their readiness will be wasted like the last false alarm.

The beacon fire was quickly ignited, but it soon became clear to them that no one could expect the soldiers from the adjacent section to come to their aid.

One beacon after another was lit, and more than eighty of the more than ninety defensive sections along the canyon were attacked by ghouls at the same time. The worst scenario in the plan has arisen: the enemy is not attacking at any point, but on all fronts!

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