Chapter 175

The downpour continued for a full day and night, still showing no sign of stopping.

Guangtan Fortress barely kept running under everyone's desperate defense, but the situation grew increasingly dire.

Floodwater in the inner city had submerged the fortress's lower level by nearly half a meter, forcing everyone to urgently move important supplies upstairs.

The persistent dampness and seepage made the indoor environment extremely miserable, with a bone‑chilling cold.

Thanks to the desperate defense by Jiang Xiu'e and others, the greenhouse's main structure was preserved, but some crops soaked and damaged were now inevitable.

After emergency reinforcement, the landslide risk on the rear mountain was temporarily contained, but the danger of a landslide had not vanished completely, like a sword hanging over their heads.

Most worrying of all, the mist array disk had been almost completely nullified by the relentless rain, leaving Guangtan Fortress stripped of its camouflage and exposed to the surrounding environment for the first time.

Although the rain likewise obstructed visibility, for those with intent it was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity.

Late at night, the rain eased slightly but remained a drizzle, with visibility under thirty meters.

Chen Xiulan forced herself to stay alert, holding the watchtower; her night‑vision reconnaissance and fortress‑guard abilities were greatly reduced in the rain, yet she dared not relax in the slightest.

Suddenly, a weak fluctuation came from one of the outpost points she had set up on the fortress's western perimeter—not an energy shock, but something had been cautiously triggered!

"West side! Something's up!" Chen Xiulan immediately sounded the alarm, her voice transmitted via the communication stone to everyone's ears.

Li Qingxuan and Huang Rong, who had just come off duty to rest, instantly woke, grabbed their weapons, and rushed to the western wall, with Li Jing appearing beside them at once.

Through the rain curtain, vision was blurry, but one could make out dozens of dark figures using the rain and night as cover, silently approaching the fortress!

They moved nimbly, their formation dispersed, clearly not a rabble, and they seemed experienced at avoiding ground‑level water.

"Not orcs… but humans, or humanoid beings." Huang Rong narrowed her eyes and whispered, "About thirty in number, they came prepared."

Li Qingxuan's eyes turned icy. Indeed, stripped of the mist's protection, the jackals had come sniffing.

He used the spiritual link to order the remaining Icefield Demon Wolves and Phantom Cats to lurk in the shadows beneath the wall, awaiting command.

"Halt!" Li Qingxuan gathered his breath, his voice piercing the rain like thunder, booming before the dark figures: "Take one more step and you die!"

The dark figures' movements visibly stalled; they clearly hadn't expected to be detected and warned so precisely amid such a downpour and darkness.

After a brief silence, a hoarse voice from the shadows spoke in the continental common tongue, with a strange accent: "We mean no harm! The rain has devastated us, our camp destroyed—we seek only a place to shelter from the storm! Please show us some mercy!"

A feeble excuse.

Li Qingxuan smirked inwardly; their formation and movement bore no resemblance to that of refugees.

"The fortress is full; we cannot take you in. Leave at once!" Li Qingxuan bluntly refused.

"Why must you be so unfeeling?" the hoarse voice continued, with a barely perceptible threat, "No one knows when this rain will stop; danger lurks outside. We only ask for a corner to wait out the storm, willing to pay compensation. If you force us into a dead end, it will be bad for both sides."

Before his words finished, several figures in the shadows quietly spread out, faintly forming an encirclement, their weapons glinting coldly.

"Looks like there's nothing to discuss." Huang Rong snorted coldly, her dwarf war axe already in hand.

Li Qingxuan wasted no more words, raising his hand to fire several Soul Arrows straight at the speaker and a few shadowy figures who looked like leaders!

Since they harbored ill intent, we strike first!

"Enemy attack! Move!" the hoarse voice shouted, breathless.

The battle erupted instantly!

The attackers were clearly not ordinary survivors; they were agile, well‑coordinated, and several flickered with faint magical light, indicating they were Awakened or held special vocations.

Undeterred by the arrows, they fearlessly charged the wall, while some began trying to scale the slick surface and others produced grappling hooks and claws.

"Hold the wall!" Li Qingxuan roared, drawing his longsword to meet an enemy who had just scrambled onto the battlements; a flash of blade sent the man screaming as he fell.

Huang Rong moved like a dancer in the night, slipping between the battlements; her stealth cloak worked even better in the rain, and each time she appeared, an enemy fell.

Chen Xiulan kept firing from the watchtower, her armor‑piercing arrows carving deadly arcs through the rain, precisely picking off threats below.

Li Jing became a fire‑crew member, using her Void Shuttle ability to instantly appear on any wall segment under heavy pressure, employing short‑range strikes and interference to disrupt the attackers' rhythm.

However, the enemy outnumbered them and were not weak.

They appeared to have planned the siege in advance, concentrating their force on one point.

The wall trembled slightly under the assault, and its protection value began to slowly drop again.

Worse still, the mage‑type among them began chanting, water elements in the air frenziedly coalescing, forming several towering Water Elemental Puppets at the wall's base!

These puppets ignored physical traps, bombarding the wall with heavy water fists!

"Kill the mage first!" Li Qingxuan's eyes narrowed as he locked onto the caster hiding behind the crowd.

Huang Rong understood, melting into the shadows to try to flank the front lines for an assassination.

But the enemy was clearly prepared, two shield‑wielding warriors firmly guarding the mage.

Just as the battle reached a stalemate, a change—regeneration—occurred!

Boom—!

A deep, muffled roar came from the rear mountain, accompanied by Li Xinxin's cry from the inner city: "Rear mountain! Landslide!"

Li Qingxuan's heart sank! Truly, when it rains, it pours.

A section of the mountain, long soaked by rain, finally gave way and slid.

Although reinforcements had been made earlier, a massive torrent of mud and rock still surged down, slamming hard into a stretch of the western outer wall!

Crack—! a grating sound of breaking rang out; that wall segment, already under attack, finally gave way under the combined pressure, torn open a gap several meters wide.

The mudflow poured into the outer city, simultaneously opening a passage for the enemies outside!

"The breach! Charge through the gap!" the enemy leader roared excitedly, all attackers surging like sharks smelling blood toward the opening.

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