From the moment I was chosen by the holy relic

Chapter 67 The History of the Continent

"The tower is not an inanimate object."

"The tower died in anger."

The firelight flickered gently in the campfire, like an old-time eye lying in the night.

Eileen glanced quietly at the campfire, then at Eric and Leah. She didn't speak immediately, but let the wind blow through the tent first before she slowly opened her mouth.

"In this battle, no enemy will shout slogans, nor will there be any bugle calls for the charge."

"The Deep Shadow Tower is still. Dreams are silent."

"But the quieter it is, the more deadly it becomes."

She paused, as if to hold her breath before speaking.

"This battle had no beginning. It seeped into consciousness quietly as the dream shattered, like a cold sweat slowly creeping into the bones from the back of the neck."

"The tower is underground, with not a single brick or stone exposed."

"It's like a clock tower that was buried alive, but the bells still ring out in my dreams every night."

"When the advance corps of the Allied forces arrived at the southern edge of the Rift, the Deep Shadow Tower did not respond."

"But their scout camp ahead of them, consisting of 362 men, was inexplicably asleep in the morning mist."

"It wasn't a coma, it wasn't a curse, it was entering a dream without any warning."

"Cannot be awakened, cannot be awakened, none of them can be awakened."

"The 3rd Battalion's battle log reads: 'Their eyes are open, but they look at no one.'"

That night, the Dream Abyss Wave covered the first command chain.

"The generals went missing, the sorcerers went mad, and the entire allied rear camp fell into 'Dream Paralysis' on the second night."

"That was a state that had never occurred on the battlefield before."

"We were not defeated by the enemy; the entire army dreamed that it had been defeated."

"And then, they really lost."

"After the Dream Abyss expanded, the Deep Shadow Tower summoned its main combat species, the Dreambeasts."

"That is not a physical entity, but a dream spirit creature constructed from the soul of Nakshu."

"Their skin is like cracked pages, and their bodies are constantly displaced, rearranged, and folded, mimicking the shapes you fear most in your dreams."

"Some soldiers said they saw their dead parents come to them in their dreams, dragging eight sharp claws behind them."

"They called out 'Mom,' but their entire memory was pulled out."

"The three battalions on the front line suffered a 70% loss overnight."

"Those 'deaths' weren't bloody; they were nightmares tearing consciousness to shreds."

"The tower is listening."

"The tower is also writing."

"It records you in your dreams, and then rewrites you."

"On the fourth day, before dawn, Sorel descended."

"She did not appear from the clouds."

"She suddenly appeared there."

"She didn't fly here; she dreamed that she was there."

"As soon as she appeared, the Deep Shadow Tower's 'Dream Rift Listener' immediately began to show frequency deviations."

"The Dreamweaver splits, causing hallucinations and self-devouring."

"What Sorezel released was not an illusion, but a dream-like pollution."

"She is a dragon that can split into hundreds of shadow figures, each reflecting a false reality."

"The tower can no longer hear the dreams clearly."

"Among the information it received, there were nine, seventeen, thirty-six... suspected Bloodmarked individuals."

"Its surveillance system began to self-correct, becoming increasingly chaotic."

"When Sorezel penetrated deep into the middle of the tower domain and initiated multi-frequency induction, the dream core of the tower experienced its first spontaneous twitch."

"Nakshyu's dream soul manifested, transforming into a half-spirit body, which sat cross-legged atop the tower core."

"The moment he opened his eyes, hundreds of coalition assault troops knelt down at the same time, not out of respect, but because of the pressure of a dream."

"The Lord of the Tower no longer hides in the shadows."

"He showed up in person, not to defend, but to correct Meng."

"But Sorel did not fight him."

"She only does one thing: disrupt."

"Disrupting the 'who is the enemy and who is oneself in the dream'."

"Nakshu has moved."

"He began attacking his own reconstructed consciousness."

"At that moment, the tower began to tremble."

That night, the tower core collapsed, and Nakshu was trapped in his own dream, never to wake up again.

"The dream-weaving beasts vanished overnight, like a dream dissipating."

"But before that, 16,000 people died in unconsciousness."

"They were not killed."

"They were living bodies who died on the battlefield of someone else's dream."

Eileen whispered:

"That was the most bizarre, silent, and heartbreaking of the five wars."

"After the collapse of the Deep Shadow Tower, there was no more eavesdropping in my dreams."

"The dreams of the Bloodstained Ones now belong to them alone."

The fire crackled and burned, its light illuminating Eileen's serene profile.

She stared at the flickering flames for a long time before speaking.

The sound was soft, like a layer of mist, slowly spreading along the ground:

"The fifth tower is built on the ridge of Wuchen Mountain."

"Tower name: Devouring World Fire."

"It's neither a poetic name nor a fragment of an ancient saying."

Its name comes from a real experiment.

"In that experiment, thirty-three sorcerers died in an instant."

"They were not stabbed, burned, or poisoned."

"They suddenly lost their reason for existence."

"Their spells, their bodies, their names—all of them lost their power in that instant."

"Simply because they approached the Tower of Abyss and stepped into the first layer of 'Echoing Ashes' it released."

"The tower stands on the ridge of that mountain."

"A barren, desolate mountain that never sees the sun."

"The entire fog-shrouded ridge is covered with an invisible layer of ash. At first, you might think it's just fog, but when you take your third step forward, you'll feel a part of your body no longer belong to you."

"That kind of gray is called Yu-yomi Gray."

"It is not dust, not poison, not a curse, but a real-world pollutant derived from black magic."

"Every forty-nine days, the Tower of Abyss will spew out a conceptual burning substance from its core. The ash does not burn, but it makes you feel like you are burning."

"This land is not death."

"It's subversion."

"Disordered earth veins".

"Language mismatch".

"Spiritual energy imbalance."

"The two hands on a watch started to tell two different times."

"An explorer from the Oersted School wrote the last sentence in his diary—"

"I don't remember ever having existed."

"The seventh day after the Tower of Abyss appeared."

"The seats for each ethnic group are finally all in place."

This time, no one objected.

"Because they all know that the ultimate source of darkness lies in that mountain."

"The world will never see the dawn if it is not destroyed."

"The alliance mobilized nearly 80% of the forces of all races."

"This is the all-out attack of the entire world."

"This is the sixty-second year of the Dragonfire Era. Beneath Mist-Sinking Mountain, the true endgame begins."

Eileen draped her cloak over her back and moved closer to the fire.

Her voice grew slow and low, like the unrolling of an epic scroll, the wind blowing through the night forest, the flames flickering. She looked not at anyone, but at the firelight, as if the ancient cries still echoed there.

"The sky was gray that day."

"It's not just dark clouds. The entire sky seems to have been stripped of its color by the tower on the misty mountain ridge."

"That was before dawn, long past night."

"Those were days when light could not reach."

"The Tower of Abyss Ashes appears in the center of the mountain ridge."

"But it doesn't stand upright; instead, it twists and turns, growing out of the earth's veins like a black nerve that is constantly struggling."

"It vibrates once every fifteen minutes, like a pulse."

"But with each tremor, the 'reality' on the ground also convulsed: war drums went off-beat, military tents dissolved on their own, and stones suddenly grew ears."

"This is not a battlefield."

"This is a world that has been rewritten."

"The allied forces, totaling 60,000 men, are deployed across three regions."

The western front was dominated by the Nosterian army, consisting of heavy cavalry, shield infantry, and infantry battalions, responsible for frontal assaults.

The eastern front was led by the warlocks of Ysel and the Felion Re-entry Camp, which deployed more than three hundred rune catapults;

On the southern front, Elder Elf, Astra Elite, and Allied Expeditionary Forces were assembled to form a nimble flank, assisting the Dragon Riders in their infiltration and penetration.

"On that day, all races mobilized."

"The mountain dwarves, carrying thunder-forged axes and shields, stood in the first rank of the heavy infantry formation."

"The Elf Star Archers rode atop the hill, their silver feather cloaks fluttering in the wind."

"Astra's magical artillery battalion is testing the magic array catapults in the rear. It's a new type of weapon that can penetrate the bones of corrupted beasts within a hundred paces."

"And the dragon soared in the sky."

"Five dragons, each with a separate wing, are not commanders, nor flags, but anchors of order that suppress fluctuations in reality."

Can you imagine what that scene was like?

Eileen said slowly:

"A valley two miles wide was filled with warriors adorned with different tribal insignia. Catapults were everywhere, and rocket launchers spun around. The ground was covered in blood and dust, and the air was filled with the corrupting mist released by the Black Tower."

"The battle flag rises on every mound. The main banner of the alliance, the banner of five dragons."

"This is the world's last stand."

"The enemy emerged from the fog."

"No warning, no rallying drums."

"At that moment, it felt as if the entire ridge had cracked open."

"The Blackfire Infantry surged forth from the sixteen trenches beneath the Tower of Abyss, like oil scorching dry bones. Their naked, charred skin burned them with fire, yet they felt no pain, and they uttered names that no longer belonged to them."

"They used to be human beings."

"He is the father and son of the village, the priest and the hunter, and the one who once shook hands with the Alliance."

"Now, they have become the poisonous flames of the tower."

"The first wave was the Blackfire assault wave."

"Forty thousand people."

"They surged toward the western front like a boiling Black Sea."

"The tenth and eleventh battle groups of Nostria were the first to be hit, and their crossbow phalanxes were almost destroyed before they could even deploy."

"Fire spears were hurled into the shield array, and poisonous flames seeped into the warriors' bodies through the gaps in their armor. Before the blood even spurted out, their bodies were already ablaze."

"The Elf Cannon Formation begins its counterattack."

"The real silver meridian array they planted ten days ago has finally detonated."

"A beam of light rose from the southeast, piercing through the center of the Blackfire main tide. Within two thousand paces, a hundred Blackfire infantrymen exploded on the spot."

"But they're still rushing."

"They are not afraid of death."

"They're long dead."

"And this is just the beginning."

Eileen stared at the firelight, her gaze sharpening slightly, as if the flames still reflected the black tower burning at the edge of the world, and the faces of countless warriors burned by the flames.

That wasn't a charge.

"That was a fall."

"The first wave of Blackfire infantry burst out of the fog, running in a way that was not human, but more like being dragged forward by something."

"Their limbs seemed to be forcibly controlled by some kind of black flame; their bones were already brittle from the high heat, yet they still didn't stop."

"Some people have seen their eyes and said that what they see are not pupils, but the reflection of the tower."

"The Shield Army on the western front of Nostria is the first line of defense."

"Seven thousand heavy shield warriors lined up in five rows, heel to heel, with the dwarven armor-splitting axe-throwing battalion behind them."

"But the impact came too quickly."

"The Blackfire infantry advanced in a 'self-destruct' sprint, with the first few hundred volcanoes spontaneously combusting within three breaths of contact with the enemy."

"They turned themselves into running fireballs."

"Do you know what that scene was like?"

"An entire shield wall was smashed open by human flames."

"The scorching heat pressed in, melting through the shields, and the soldiers writhed and rolled on the spot—not falling, but melting."

"After the front line fell, the Blackfire infantry charged into the infantry formation."

"At that moment, it was no longer about troop deployment, but about a chaotic melee."

"The spear didn't lift up the enemy's helmet, but rather the helmet of one's own man."

"What the infantry battle axe cleaved was not orcs, but former comrades."

"Because the Blackfire infantry wear the old Alliance armor."

"They were warriors before they died."

"Now, it is a living fire."

"The four battalions on the western front, totaling 3,642 men, were all wiped out that day."

"Not a single body was left intact."

"The Dwarven Rune Giant Throwing Team has finally completed the activation of the three-sided Shock Pulse Array."

"They used 'thunder axle rails' to forcefully push three hundred flame catapults into the mountain ridge."

"The sound of artillery fire is not an explosion."

"It's the earth roaring."

"It's the mountain gritting its teeth."

"First wave of slingshots: Sixty talisman boulders fell into the sea of mist, tearing apart the second wave of Blackfire infantry's attack formation."

"The second round is the shock anchor eruption, a gravity stone with an embedded gold symbol that releases diffusing seismic waves after landing."

The ground cracked open.

"The dozen or so incantation seals and fire trenches beneath the tower collapsed."

"The tower itself began to wail."

"Just then, the Spirit Apostle appeared."

"They didn't come out of the tower."

"They emerged from our own positions."

"They wore Alliance armor and looked just like us, yet at one moment they uttered a voice that did not belong to this world."

"That's a spell."

"A language structure written in reverse".

"When they opened their mouths, the entire valley fell silent for a moment."

"Then, the commanders started to go crazy."

"In the rear ranks of the military command formation, the skulls of thirty-nine liaison sorcerers exploded on the spot, and the spell lines went out of control."

"The entire Eastern Front curse chain—broken."

"The Third Battalion Command Regiment mutinied on the spot and set themselves on fire."

"This is the second wave of attacks from the Tower of Abyss."

"The first wave is blood."

"The second wave is faith."

"At that moment, a pillar of crimson flame shot out from the northwest wind, reaching a height of thirty feet."

"The Fire Dragon has appeared."

"He didn't make any noise."

"It simply swooped down from the sky into the storm of incantations."

"He didn't come to save anyone."

"He came to burn the pagoda to purify the land."

"That mountain pass started to burn backwards after he rushed in."