I can evolve everything

The majestic city walls beneath my feet, this northern fortress that has stood for hundreds of years, began to tremble without warning.

No, it wasn't just the city walls that were trembling. Looking at the monsters below the city walls, Renn realized that the entire ground was shaking violently!

"boom--"

The sound didn't seem to come from the wind and snow, nor from the monsters attacking the city, but rather from the depths of the earth.

Then, the tremors became more and more intense.

Although the tremor was not so violent as to make one lose their balance, at this critical juncture, any slight change was enough to make one uneasy.

Snow fell softly from the battlements, causing several heavy ballistae to shift slightly. Even the longsword at Renn's waist trembled in its scabbard, as if a pair of giant hands were frantically shaking the entire earth.

"Stay calm! Don't run around!"

Valen grabbed the stone crest next to him and pulled Ryan along with him.

As a native of the North, what he feared most was not monsters, but natural disasters.

But this tremor comes and goes quickly.

Just five or six seconds later, the tremor from the ground stopped abruptly.

The world has returned to deathly silence.

Beneath the city wall, the demons were now motionless, clearly dead.

"call……"

Valen let out a long breath, which condensed into a cloud of mist inside his visor. He awkwardly released his grip on the crenellations.

"That scared me to death."

Valen removed his helmet, wiped his forehead, and slowly relaxed. He smiled, trying to ease the tension among the surrounding soldiers.

"It looks like an earthquake. This isn't uncommon in the North. The foundations of the Northern fortresses are quite sturdy; they probably won't collapse even if they shake a lot more."

He patted Renn on the shoulder, his tone teasing: "How's it going, newbie? First time dealing with something like this, huh? Don't keep a straight face, look down there, those monsters are all terrified by what just happened."

Raine didn't say anything.

His feet were rooted to the stone bricks, and the tremor he had just experienced was nothing to him, who had been practicing breathing techniques for several months. He didn't even need to consciously adjust his center of gravity.

But he didn't look at the scattered horde of monsters below.

His gaze passed over Valen's shoulders, over the fluttering flags on the city walls, and landed on the city walls that were extremely far away, at the very edge of his vision.

There it was a chaotic gray-white expanse, the deepest part of the fiercest blizzard.

"Valen".

Raine's voice was very soft, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing:

"You just said that the [Eternal Furnace] magic circle connects to all the beacon towers on the defensive line, right?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Valen answered casually as he put his helmet back on. "That's a device that receives energy from the [Eternal Furnace] magic circle, like blood vessels in a person..."

"If something goes wrong here."

Raine slowly raised his hand, pointing to the gray void. "So, what will the Beacon Tower's reaction be?"

Valen paused for a moment, then looked in the direction Rein was pointing.

In that distant place where the horizon is almost invisible, behind that curtain of snow that swallows up all light.

A beam of light. A blinding beam of light tore through the sky.

It pierced straight into the thick clouds. Even from a distance of tens of kilometers, the light was still astonishingly bright.

That must be the light from the activation of the magic beacon.

"A beacon..." Valen's smile froze instantly. "That's the direction of the Cliff Outpost? How is that possible? There are only ten people stationed there. Unless there's an unforeseen circumstance, they would never allow it..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

The second beam of light illuminated.

About ten kilometers to the west of the first beam of light, the third beam of light appeared in succession.

Immediately afterwards, the fourth and fifth beams of light pierced the sky in succession. In that instant, along the seemingly endless northern defense line, pillars of light shot into the heavens one after another.

The light gradually stopped only when the thirtieth beam appeared in the far distance at the edge of the sky.

They pierced through the clouds, weaving a net of light across the sky.

The once dimly lit northern wasteland was now illuminated as if it were daytime by these pillars of light.

Each beam of light represents a beacon tower issuing the highest level of warning signal.

"My God..."

The helmet in Valen's hand fell to the ground and rolled several times on the stone bricks, but he didn't bother to pick it up.

The lips of this battle-hardened deputy captain of the Griffin squadron were trembling slightly at this moment.

"Full line...full line activated?!"

This had never happened before in the history of the Knights of the North. Even during the most devastating year of the Orcish Plague in the last hundred years, only seven beacon towers were lit at the same time.

Now, almost every outpost in sight is glowing.

Apart from the northern fortress beneath their feet and the surrounding area of ​​a few miles.

This most fortified fortress is now an isolated island, surrounded by the beam of light in the distance.

Rein could feel that the floor tiles under his feet were still warm, which meant that the [Eternal Furnace] was still running. The small-scale beast tide had been wiped out, and the remaining monsters seemed to have sensed some great terror during the earthquake and quickly scattered and fled into the depths of the snowstorm.

It's safe here.

But this kind of security sends a chill down your spine.

Something's happened.

Raine withdrew his gaze, his eyes eerily calm. He recalled Baron's words: "The stench of decay from centuries ago is beginning to spread across the wasteland again."

Clearly, the crisis came faster than anyone had anticipated.

"Varen, let's go."

Raine grabbed Valen's helmet from the ground and shoved it into the still-dazed Valen's arms: "We're not needed here anymore. Go to Blackrock Tower, where the Knights are stationed."

Valen snapped out of his daze and shuddered. Turning his head, he saw that even Renn, a novice knight who had only recently arrived at the Northern Fortress, was calmer than him in the face of the situation, and he couldn't help but force himself to calm down as well.

"Yes! Let's go to Blackrock Tower! The commander must know something!"

Ignoring the soldiers on the city wall who didn't understand what was going on, the two turned and rushed towards the stone steps, practically sliding down them.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The atmosphere on the streets of the northern fortress was even more serious than when the alarm bells had rung.

Although no enemies breached the city walls, the pillars of light shooting into the sky in the distance were so conspicuous that even in the city square, one could see the dazzlingly bright sky simply by looking up.

The soldiers stopped what they were doing, gathered in twos and threes, and whispered to each other while pointing at the sky.

Raine and Valen raced through the crowd toward the Blackrock Tower in the inner city.

"Raine!"

Just as they rushed to a spot not far from Blackrock Tower, a crisp voice came from the side.

Renn stopped abruptly and turned around.

Ella was running out of the shadow of a tower.

She was wrapped in a gray cloak, her red hair somewhat disheveled, clearly having rushed over after witnessing the current situation, just like Renn and the others.

Did you see that?

Ella rushed to Ryan, not even bothering to catch her breath, and grabbed Ryan's arm.

"I saw it." Ryan helped her up and asked in a deep voice, "How's the situation on your end?"

"It's bad." Ella shook her head, looking uneasy. "I was on the watchtower just now, and I heard something."

What was that sound?

"It's not the wind, nor is it the roar of a beast." Ella bit her lip and said in a low voice, "It's... an echo. I heard a buzzing sound where those pillars of light were shining."

Valen, standing to the side, was still doubting the authenticity of these beams of light:

"Those are dozens of outposts, spanning hundreds of kilometers! What could possibly attack such a long defensive line simultaneously?"

"I don't know." Ella looked at Raine. "But I have a feeling that it smells like the scent we had in that cave in Shattered Tooth Canyon."

Renn's heart sank.

"Let's go see Karen first," he decided decisively. "There's no point in guessing here."

The three reunited and rushed towards the Black Rock Tower without stopping.

The Black Rock Tower was no longer as quiet as it used to be.

The once tightly closed gate was now wide open, with countless messengers coming and going.

The regular knights, who are rarely seen on ordinary days, have all come from all directions.

Some of them hadn't even had time to put on their full armor, but everyone wore the same solemn expression.

"Get out of the way! Everyone get out of the way!"

Valen pushed aside two guards blocking his way and led Rein and Ella into the front hall.

The hall was in chaos, filled with the sounds of arguing.

"That's the Eagle's Beak beacon on the east side! What happened over there?!"

"Why have all magical communications been cut off?! Can anyone tell me what happened there?"

"We must attack! Whatever it is, we can't just watch our soldiers sit there and wait to die!"

"Hey! Garrick!"

Valen's eyes suddenly lit up as he spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

He was a burly, bald knight with a black scorpion tattooed on his left cheek. He was a squad leader in the Night's Watch, and usually the most well-informed.

Valen squeezed through the crowd and grabbed the bald knight by the shoulder.

"Garik! What's going on? Those pillars of light..."

The knight named Garrick turned around.

Garrick's eyes were bloodshot, his lips were chapped, and his gaze was somewhat vacant.

"have no idea."

Garrick looked at Valen and shook his head.

"Nobody knows. Magical communications have been cut off, and the scouts haven't returned."

"What about the commander? Surely the commander knows?!" Valen asked anxiously.

Garrick remained silent.

He glanced at Valen, then at Ryan and Ella standing behind Valen.

He didn't speak, but slowly shook his head, then closed his mouth and turned to walk towards the corner.

"This..." Valen stood there, stunned, his hand still frozen in mid-air.

This silence is more terrifying than anything else.

"Walk."

Ryan patted Valen on the back, snapping him out of his daze. "Go straight to Sir Karen and the Captain. If anyone can tell us the truth, it'll be him."

The three of them did not linger, but walked through the hall and went up the stone steps.

The higher you go, the fewer people there are, and the more oppressive the air becomes.

When they arrived at the room on the top floor, it was unusually quiet. Only two fully armed soldiers were guarding the door.

"stop."

A black-clad guard brandished his halberd, blocking their path. "The commander has ordered that no one is permitted to..."

"Let them in."

Karen's voice came from inside the door.

Black Guard put away his halberd and made way for them.

Renn pushed open the door and entered.

Commander Roderick was not in the office; only Karen was there.

The old knight stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, his back to the door, gazing at the eerie sky outside illuminated by countless beams of light.

The fire in the fireplace had gone out, but he seemed oblivious.

"Sir Karen," Ryan called softly.

Karen slowly turned around.

"They're here."

Karen's gaze swept over the three of them, finally settling on Ryan.

"We saw a pillar of light," Valen couldn't help but speak first, his tone urgent. "Sir Karen, which side was attacked? Did the main force of the beast tide bypass the fortress? Where do we need reinforcements?"

Karen looked at Valen, remained silent for a long time, and then slowly spoke.

"No support."

Karen exhaled a puff of smoke, her voice eerily calm, "Valen, Ryan, Ella. Listen carefully."

"There is no support."

"What?" Valen's eyes widened as he stared at his mentor in disbelief. "But... those are dozens of beacon towers! Our brothers are there! If we don't send reinforcements..."

"Because we don't know where the enemy is."

Karen interrupted him.

"Those beams of light weren't triggered by the enemy. They were triggered by the [Eternal Forge] itself."

Hearing this, Ryan and his companions were even more confused.

Was it triggered by the magic circle itself?

"That 'earthquake' just now," Karen pointed to her feet, "wasn't an earthquake. It was just a momentary overload of the core of the [Eternal Furnace]."

"At that very moment, in order to protect the core from collapsing, the magic circle's defense mechanism automatically activated, releasing all the excess energy to the beacon tower at the end."

Karen's voice lowered.

"Therefore, those beams of light are not distress signals, but beams of light emitted autonomously by the beacon tower due to overload."

The room became quiet for a moment.

It took Valen a while to slowly come to his senses.

If that's the case... if that's the case...

"So nothing happened? Nothing happened at all at those beacon tower outposts?" Warren couldn't help but ask.

Karen nodded first, then shook her head, but in the end remained silent.

Renn's mind was racing. His rational logic told him that a magic array of this level, which had been operating for hundreds of years without incident, could suddenly overload without warning.

"The [Eternal Flame] magic circle doesn't overload on its own for no reason," Renn suddenly spoke up. "Did someone tamper with the magic circle?"

Karen opened her eyes and stared silently at Ryan.

He remained silent for a long time before finally nodding slowly.

"The commander is in the underground core area. That place has indeed been invaded."

"However, the intruders left no trace, as if they appeared out of thin air and disappeared just as suddenly."

Karen walked up to Ryan and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Right now, the entire Knights are awaiting the Grand Master's investigation results. Until the truth is revealed, any speculation is not conducive to the current situation."

"Let's go back."

Karen looked at the three young people, her tone softening.

"No matter what happens outside, don't go out tonight."

"Tomorrow morning, when the morning bell tolls, all the knights will gather in the square."

"At that time..." Karen looked out the window at the desolate wilderness.

"Whatever we face, we will face it together."