Chapter 25: Arrow Tower Upgraded to Level 3
????Upgrading a Level 2 Arrow Tower to Level 3 required fifty Ghoststones.
??Chen Fan had a hundred and twenty Ghoststones remaining.
??He didn’t hesitate.
??From within his robes, he withdrew five Level 2 Ghoststones, each shimring with an eerie green light. As he placed them down, the stones shattered, dissolving into wisps of spectral green liquid that floated through the air before streaking toward the nearest Level 2 Arrow Tower.
??A System Panel materialized before his eyes.
??Arrow Tower upgraded to Level 3.
??Please select an Upgrade Path.
??1: Bolts gain a fire elent, greatly increasing their power.
??2: Unlocks the active skill "Arrow Rain Storm." When activated, the tower unleashes a high-speed barrage of arrows, saturating a designated area for several seconds. Consus 1 Ghoststone per use.
??3: Bolts gain a lightning elent, paralyzing enemies and chaining damage to up to three nearby targets.
??An active skill...
??Chen Fan’s eyes narrowed as he studied the options. This was the first ti he’d seen an active skill among the upgrade choices—and its effect looked formidable.
??If a horde of Ghostbeasts ever breached the Camp’s defenses—
??One skill could wipe them out.
??And the cost was negligible—just a single Ghoststone.
??As the Arrow Tower ascended to Level 3, it began to transform. The forr wood-and-stone structure fused into seamless stone, rging perfectly with the Wall, the transition so smooth it was as if it had always been that way.
??It stood sturdier than ever.
??The "Arrow Rain Storm" skill’s barrage would match the power of a Level 2 Arrow Tower’s bolts—no overwhelming boost to raw damage—but when facing a swarm of weak enemies during a Ghost Tide, its destructive potential was undeniable.
??Tempting as it was...
??In the end, Chen Fan chose the first Upgrade Path, further enhancing the tower’s single-target lethality.
??Outside the Camp, two Ghostbeast lieutenants and the mysterious female Ghostbeast atop her palanquin still lingered, their eyes fixed on him like wolves circling prey. What he needed most now was a way to threaten those three.
??The mont he made his choice—
??The Arrow Tower transford once again.
??The ballista at its summit gradually shifted from obsidian black to a deep, smoldering red. Flas roared along the jaws of the ballista, blazing defiantly even in the relentless downpour. The entire chanism radiated nace, commanding attention with its intimidating presence.
??It seed that with each upgrade, three Upgrade Paths appeared.
??So far, both Arrow Towers had been offered the sa choices.
??Just then—
??Crippled Monkey’s urgent voice rang out beside him. “Young Master, a Ghost Tide is heading straight for us!”
??Chen Fan turned in the direction Crippled Monkey pointed. Sure enough, just beyond the Camp—no more than thirty ters away—a mass of Ghostbeasts surged from the north, rolling toward the Camp like a living tide, heedless of anything in their path.
??His brow furrowed.
??These Ghostbeasts weren’t under the command of the three leaders. They were a separate pack, moving under the cover of Eternal Night. Smaller than usual—about the size of human toddlers—they had no limbs, only bloated, fleshy spheres, each one plastered with palm-sized human faces.
??Utterly grotesque.
??They rolled to move.
??At a glance, there were at least a hundred, with an endless wave materializing from the gray mist behind—no end in sight.
??At least they were slow, rolling along lazily as if out for a stroll.
??Stranger still, the faces on their bodies showed emotion. At first, they wore cheerful grins, but as they neared the Camp, every face contorted into a mask of agony.
??“Station Master, those are Flesh Maggot Ghosts.”
??Zhou Mo, broadsword in hand atop the Wall, spoke rapidly and with a hint of dread. “I know these Ghostbeasts. They only appear during the Rainy Season, never during ordinary Eternal Nights. They’re not dangerous in a fight—their only attack is to self-destruct.
??If they touch anything solid, they explode, turning into a viscous green fluid that’s fiercely corrosive. If a human is splashed, they’ll be lted alive in unimaginable pain.
??They can do real damage to the Wall. Plenty of towns have been wiped out during the Rainy Season because of them. Flesh Maggot Ghosts hunt in swarms—when they appear like this, it usually spells doom for the Wall!”
??...
??Chen Fan didn’t answer. Ti was too short. Even though these Flesh Maggot Ghosts were slow, they were now less than twenty ters from the Camp. So were even caught by the gale, tossed into the air before thudding back down and rolling onward.
??He glanced toward the western mist, where the palanquin lood.
??The instant the Flesh Maggot Ghosts appeared, the palanquin and its Ghostbeast entourage had already faded into the gray fog, vanishing into the depths of Eternal Night.
??“Tactful,” Chen Fan muttered under his breath. He drew in a deep breath, pulled out five more shimring green Ghoststones, and fed them into his other Level 2 Arrow Tower. As it upgraded to Level 3, this ti he selected the "Arrow Rain Storm" active skill.
??The Camp stood at a critical, life-or-death juncture.
??If both Ghostbeast packs attacked together, disaster would be inevitable. Fortunately, the female Ghostbeast and her minions had withdrawn into the Eternal Night. Not out of any sense of fairness, he suspected.
??No—it was obvious. They didn’t want to get entangled with the Flesh Maggot Ghosts either.
??A shrill, piercing scream tore through the Camp.
??The first Flesh Maggot Ghost burst from the mist, rolling into the Camp. The faces on its bloated body twisted in agony as it neared the Ghostfire, howling in pain, clearly desperate to avoid drawing any closer—
??Yet its body rolled forward, obedient as ever.
??As more and more Flesh Maggot Ghosts surged in, their shrieks overlapped, filling the Camp with a cacophony of tornt.
??In the next instant—
??The runes embedded in the Level 3 Arrow Tower atop the Wall blazed to life. Dozens of intricate symbols glowed with white light, lifting from the ballista and circling the tower in a radiant dance.
??Then—
??Click.
??A subtle chanism snapped into place.
??A torrent of luminous arrows erupted from the ballista, shooting skyward at blistering speed. They arced high above, forming a glowing cloud before crashing down like divine retribution, mingling with the rain to blanket the northern Wall.
??Sizzle!
??Dozens of Flesh Maggot Ghosts rolling across the ground were obliterated in an instant. The air filled with the hiss of red-hot tal plunged into butter; as the glowing arrows faded, all that remained was a field of green, corrosive liquid, eating hungrily into the wasteland earth.
??Ghoststones spilled from their ruptured bodies, lying temptingly amidst the sli.
??The first wave of Flesh Maggot Ghosts was almost entirely wiped out.
??The Arrow Rain’s area-of-effect wasn’t enormous, so a few managed to slip through. These fortunate few didn’t head for the Wall, however—instead, they skirted the Camp’s edge, rolling as fast as they could back into the Eternal Night, never once looking back.
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