Chapter 384: Defend the Frostgrave Fortress (4)

A Nightbloom Spawner.

It was one of the most dangerous Reaper-Rank Voidspawns, a species believed to have been exterminated during the Age of Paragons. Among its kind, it was considered especially vexatious due to one particular trait: its ability to continuously spawn powerful plant-type Voidspawns throughout the night.

But that was not what made the creature truly heinous.

The Nightbloom Spawner could also release spores capable of weakening the human mind. Anyone exposed for too long would gradually lose their resolve, sinking into despondency, apathy, and despair until even the will to resist began to fade.

A particularly insidious mental attack.

Worse still, during the night, the creature could absorb vast amounts of nocturnal energy, accelerating its growth and allowing it to produce even more of its brood.

However, what concerned Ruvian most was something else.

These Nightbloom Spawners looked different.

Their bodies appeared distorted and far more vicious than the species he remembered — as though they had been augmented, or perhaps even mutated, by Dark Mana.

’How troublesome.’

After Ruvian explained the Nightbloom Spawner’s traits in a grave, matter-of-fact tone, both Lord Evrard and Commander Fajarn immediately grasped the severity of the situation.

There was no longer any room for hesitation: orders spread throughout Frostgrave Fortress at once.

Soldiers were recalled to their posts; defensive formations were reinforced; every available unit began preparing for the assault that would come after nightfall.

*****

After the warning spread through Frostgrave, the fortress wasted no time. Less than half an hour later, an emergency war council was called inside Frostgrave’s main strategy chamber.

Since Ruvian was the one who had identified the Nightbloom Spawner and warned them of the coming stampede, Lord Evrard allowed him into the council despite his status as an outsider.

Calyra was permitted to remain as well, partly because Evrard clearly understood that ordering her away again would accomplish very little.

Stepping into the strategy chamber, Ruvian immediately noticed the enormous stone table occupying its center.

A detailed relief map of Frostgrave and the northern frontier had been carved across its surface, with small metal markers showing watchtowers, gates, artillery platforms, supply routes, and fallback positions.

Several glowing runes marked the fortress’s layered defensive lines, each one connected through thin channels of blue mana.

Nine people had gathered around the table.

Lord Evrard stood at its head, still wearing the heavy dark cloak he had arrived in, while Commander Fajarn Ludger remained beside him with both hands planted against the stone.

Calyra stood near Ruvian in silence, her cold blue eyes moving across the map as the remaining officers argued around them. Even before the meeting properly began, the room already sounded like a marketplace preparing for war.

Captain Zarrick Droys, a broad man in his early forties with a shaved head and a crooked nose, leaned over the table with a hard frown.

"Heh... you’re all speaking as if this stampede is already certain. Are we truly going to mobilize the entire fortress because an outsider said so?"

He glanced at Ruvian. "A teenager, no less."

Scoutmaster Givard Best — the lean, sharp-faced man wore a gray field cloak over light armor, and a thin scar ran beneath his left eye — answered almost instantly.

"I thought the same at first. But after looking over the bodies again, those voidspawns match several details the boy gave us."

Zarrick turned toward him. "Huh? That does not prove everything he said is true."

Across from them, Magister Emfiya Caunt gave a slow nod.

The fortress’s chief ward engineer was a narrow woman nearing sixty, with silver hair tied tightly behind her head.

"Whether his claim proves true or not, it would be foolish to dismiss the possibility. Better to prepare for the worst than be caught unprepared."

Healer-Major Sendrik Corz gave a weary grunt beside her.

He was a heavy-set man with deep bags beneath his eyes, his white healer’s coat already stained from treating soldiers throughout the day.

"And if it’s true, then that explains it," he muttered, rubbing his brow. "No wonder the treatments barely did a damn thing, haha. The real damage was being done to their minds!"

At the far side of the table, Artillery Captain Yselle crossed her arms. The tall woman had short auburn hair and an old burn scar crawling along the side of her neck.

"Anyway, if these things are plant-like, then... do they burn easily? If so, would that solve everything?"

That question only dragged more voices into the argument.

For several seconds, the chamber descended into overlapping debate, each officer pushing their own concern across the stone table.

Ruvian remained quiet beside Calyra, listening closely and perhaps, silently judging them as suspicion, frustration, and urgency bled into every exchange.

After the argument dragged on for several more heated moments, Commander Fajarn finally slammed his palm against the stone table.

Bang!

"All of you. Enough."

The chamber fell silent almost immediately.

Commander Fajarn swept his scarred gaze across every officer, making sure no one dared continue, before stepping back beside Lord Evrard.

Lord Evrard had remained silent throughout the entire dispute. Then, his eyes moved slowly across the map.

"Listen. We have roughly seven hours before nightfall. According to his warning, that is when the Nightbloom will begin releasing its miasma in full. Before that happens, every unit we can spare will be deployed beyond the walls to locate and destroy as many of those creatures as possible. We cannot afford to let their numbers gather unchecked."

"At the same time, dispatch messengers to the Royal Army in the capital and send urgent requests to the nearest northern garrisons under our allied houses. We are already short on able men, with too many soldiers compromised by the creatures’ mental hex. If night falls before we have culled enough of them, then Frostgrave will be forced to hold its walls with a severely diminished fighting force."

His order settled over the chamber with a grim finality, leaving the officers silent as they weighed what the coming hours might demand.

It was then, Ruvian slowly raised one hand. He had been waiting for this opportunity from the very beginning.

"My Lord, if I may speak, there is one matter I would like to add."

Lord Evrard’s gaze shifted toward him, lingering for a moment with clear hesitation. A faint reluctance tightened his expression, but he eventually gave a curt nod.

"Very well. Speak."

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[Chapter 384: Defend the Frostgrave Fortress (4)