Chapter 248: The Fire Dies Down

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. The massive fire outside the city had burned for three full days, filling the entire Iron Bar Town with a foul smell of smoke. Although it was a sunny day, the sky was covered with a gray haze of smoke—remnants of the fire.

The people inside the city wore simple masks; otherwise, it would have been impossible to survive there. Just the smell of smoke was enough to make life unbearable.

During those three days, Rod wasn’t idle, nor were the people in his camp. Under his leadership and with everyone’s cooperation, their camp became a striking sight among Camp 13.

A group of strong men, with nothing to do after eating, instead of relaxing or taking time off, gathered in the open space outside the camp or in the now-abandoned training ground, shouting and practicing swordsmanship.

This behavior even caught the attention of all the reinforcements from Area C, and it might have reached the Black Tooth Legion as well. At first, everyone felt embarrassed and shy about it, but after a day, they seemed to get used to the mockery, ridicule, and being watched, and devoted themselves fully to it.

It had to be admitted that these guys from all over were hard to control. They were used to living alone, and teaching them how to work together gave Rod a huge headache and consumed a lot of his energy. But hard work pays off—although they weren’t fully coordinated yet, it was much better than before.

Scora, on the other hand, was a talent. With his cooperation over these days, Rod’s workload had decreased significantly; otherwise, they wouldn’t have achieved what they had today.

“Hey, aren’t those the guys from Camp 13? What are they doing here? Go gather at the defense wall quickly! The fire has subsided, and the Black Tooth Legion is moving in to stop those damned monsters from attacking!”

At that moment, Rod and his group, who were training, saw a group of people running from Camp 14 and Camp 15. As they passed by, those people shouted at them in a mocking tone.

“Damn you, brats! What I do doesn’t concern you! If you want to die, just say it! If you’ve got the guts, come and fight me one-on-one!” Naturally, Rod’s group was upset by their tone, and some of the more aggressive ones started to retaliate.

“Alright, get ready! We’re heading to the defense wall! It’s time to test yourselves!” Rod hurriedly stopped these aggressive guys—he didn’t want any trouble. After these days, he knew exactly who they were. If left unchecked, it would end in a fight, and it would happen quickly. Thanks to Rod’s timely intervention, the situation was temporarily stabilized. Looking in the direction of the defense wall, the flames were no longer visible; thick black smoke indicated that the fire had been extinguished. Rod quickly led the group back to the camp, made some quick preparations, and then rushed toward the defense wall. He wore armor that wasn’t his own—their own armor was clearly unusable now. Wearing that armor would be tantamount to revealing his identity and seeking death. This armor was provided by Curly Hair; Rod had no interest in knowing how it was obtained. Mixed in with the main force of reinforcements, the group arrived at the defense wall in a hurry. There was already a huge crowd there—soldiers from the Black Tooth Legion, numerous mercenaries, and reinforcements—all gathered there. News spread fast. At first glance, most of those gathered below the city walls were reinforcements. Over the past few days, three more groups had arrived, bringing the total to nearly five thousand. The number of reinforcements was growing rapidly and they were becoming increasingly powerful! “Leader, we…” Seeing so many people, Curly Hair frowned and looked at Rod for his opinion. It seemed unnecessary to come to help—at least not right away. It would be better to use this time to practice. Over the past few days, everyone had seen the results of their training and realized they could fight at this level. Having tasted success, they enjoyed it greatly. “Wait, let me take a look!” With a furrowed brow, Rod watched the soldiers from the Black Tooth Legion deploying defenses on the city walls. He didn’t plan to leave right away; it would only be beneficial for them to observe the situation. His main goal was to figure out what tricks these Black Tooth Legion guys were up to—preventing reinforcements from entering the city while their own men set up defenses. That was strange. Logically, reinforcements and mercenaries should be deployed in proportion, given their combat capabilities, which were obvious.

A disturbance in the crowd caught Rod’s attention. Turning to look, he saw the crowd parting automatically to form a small path, as if someone important had arrived—someone whose presence could at least produce such an effect, according to Rod’s own judgment.

Soon, several figures appeared down the path created by the crowd. The one at the front was the guy he recognized from before—wasn’t it the officer he had met that day? He vaguely remembered his name being something like Domio.

Seeing him, Rod became a bit clearer about the situation. He knew a little about this guy; from his demeanor that day, it was obvious his status must be high, and today that was confirmed.

Seemingly noticing Rod as well, the guy named Emio smoothly changed direction and made his way to where Rod was. Everyone stepped aside without any obstruction as he passed.

“You’re here too? Heh, want to go up and take a look?” Emio asked with a smile as he looked at Rod.

“Can I?” Rod was slightly stunned but quickly realized Emio was speaking to him. With so many reinforcements here, it seemed only the soldiers of the Black Tooth Legion were allowed to go up to set up defenses; others couldn’t get in at all. Could he really go up?

“Come with me!” Emio said with a faint smile, patting Rod’s shoulder before turning and walking toward the city walls.

With some confusion and bewilderment, and under the curious and surprised gazes of those around him, Rod foolishly followed this guy up to the city walls, not knowing why he was being taken there or what he intended to do. Nor did he know who this guy really was. Yet, he reached the top of the walls without any hindrance.

But for him, this was only beneficial, not harmful. At least now he could learn more things up there. As for Emio’s identity, if he wanted to reveal it, Rod was sure he would find out—there was no doubt in his mind.

Turning back, Rod saw that everyone in Skora was staring at him with strange expressions, seemingly disbelieving, especially Skora and his group, whose faces showed confusion and complexity. Whispers could be heard in the crowd. It was too far to hear clearly, but he could sense that they were talking about him.

“Hehe, Brado, not bad. You’ve had a busy few days, huh? I heard you’re near Camp 13 in Area C. How’s the training going?” With his back to Rod, gazing into the distance, Emio asked in a slightly amused tone.

“It’s just so-so! You already know that!” Rod replied in a lower voice, his expression darkening slightly as he looked at the man.

“Hehe, don’t worry. I guess not many people don’t know about this. As for your identity, it was just a quick investigation after what happened that day! No ill intent! Alright, let’s not talk about this. Look, the fire has been extinguished, but thearmy army is eyeing us. After the big fire, the entire city army army is eyeing us. After the big fire, the entire city wall is extremely weak, and its defensive capabilities have been greatly reduced. If not handled properly, it might collapse outright. You should be aware of this! Is there any way to save it?” Sensing Rod’s change in attitude and knowing he didn’t like the topic, the man took a deep breath and quickly shifted to the most important matter.

“Be careful of attacks from water-type magic beasts! The city walls are still at high temperatures from the fire, and after several days of scorching, they’ve become very brittle. If they’re hit by cold water, they could be destroyed instantly! The only thing we can do is let them cool down on their own to save the walls!

Right now, both the ground and the city walls are very hot. As long as we can prevent them from being flooded, those beasts won’t be able to launch a major attack. At least for today, we’re safe and can prepare properly for defense!” Rod replied briefly to Emio’s question.

“What feasible plans do you have?” The man wasn’t surprised at all, as if he had already thought of this. He smiled knowingly and continued to ask.

“Mages—have the mages cast defensive magic to prevent water-type magic from invading. There’s no need to worry about rain; it hasn’t rained in these days! What you need to worry about now are attacks from flying beasts. These are the only ones that can threaten us right now!”

There are three giant dragons, along with thunder eagles and others. The number and strength of the flying beasts in thearmy army is eyeing us. After the big fire, the entire city army army are considerable.

“Over the past few days, some beasts have come to scout, but we’ve killed them all on the spot. They don’t dare to attack recklessly. This wave of beasts seems to be driven by an unseen force; they’re too afraid to take risks! Those flying beasts are strong, but not yet a threat to us. You’re right—the key here is how well the mages can defend. Can they hold out for a day?”

I’ve already gathered a group of reinforcements and our own mages from the Black Tooth Legion last night; we’ll launch the defense plan soon! You’re quite skilled—if you’re interested, you can join our Black Tooth Legion; we won’t let you down!” With a sigh, the man looked at Rod and spoke to him in an inviting tone.