"My people told me that you humans all like to do bad things to females, will you do bad things to me too? Ouch!"
Moonshadow mumbled to Maco, but before she could finish, Maco flicked her on the forehead!
Maco said to her, "Where did you learn all this nonsense? Go to sleep, quick!"
The "little girl" covered her head and ran to the bed. Moonshadow had already slept in beds before, during her time with the Amber Family, so it wasn't anything new!
The Shadow Lynx was resting close to the fireplace, completely ignoring Maco. Maco walked over to the chair beside it and leaned back to rest.
Lost in a haze, Maco drifted off to sleep. The firelight in the fireplace stretched his shadow long, overlapping with the Shadow Lynx's beastly shadow. It looked eerie and terrifying, as if foreshadowing something!
The light snowfall that began in the second half of the night gradually stopped. At this time, at the Black Castle gate's guard post, two Night's Watch warriors were on duty.
Tonight, because of the guard post, these warriors missed the evening meal, but the chef had specially prepared a special midnight snack for these unlucky guards.
A huge jug of ale! Just as the two of them were enjoying their drinks, a strange gust of wind suddenly blew towards them.
The icy wind made them shiver involuntarily, even though they had lived at The Wall for years, they had never encountered such a bizarre situation.
The snow on the ground was also swept up by this strange wind, and it swirled around as if attracted by something!
It immediately startled one of the Night's Watch warriors out of his daze!
"Pie! Did you see anything just now!"
"Knife," asked Forl, rubbing his eyes, to his companion.
"Shut up! I...I didn't see anything, just stand guard!"
The Night's Watch warrior named Pie seemed to be quite frightened too, and shouted loudly at his companion.
The loud voice, laced with fear, immediately alerted the other sentry pairs.
Pie breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his comrades from the other posts were also present; his agitated heart gradually calmed.
However, as he turned to greet those he knew, he noticed a bizarre figure standing silently in the center of the training ground.
It was a distorted humanoid creature, its black and red colors standing out sharply against the pristine snow, making it impossible to miss!
And gradually, many strange figures suddenly appeared in that area, quickly filling the entire training ground, just like a Night's Watch training session.
Many Night's Watch sentries witnessed this scene, and a few of the more timid ones even dropped their weapons in fright.
Fortunately, this eerie situation only lasted for a few seconds. The few veterans who had regained their senses were already preparing to sound the warning horn.
After a few seconds, those bizarre figures vanished instantly, a sight that left all the sentries on the scene stunned.
They looked at each other, fear and terror mirrored in their eyes. Then, another gust of cold wind blew through, making everyone jump again!
Half-asleep, Maco seemed to hear a girl singing.
"Brave Danni Flint... she... from Wolfwood! She always wanted to be a hero, endless night... justice..."
The fragmented song seemed to possess a strange magic, pulling Maco's soul into an icy world.
Everything around him in this frozen realm was hazy. A frigid wind howled, assailing Maco from all directions.
Countless eerie wails followed the wind's path, penetrating Maco's soul, seemingly trying to tear him apart with the energy of fear.
But before Maco could react, these sounds were dispersed by a soft hum. The wails transformed into terrified screams, echoing throughout this space!
In his soul form, Maco's perception was incredibly powerful. He felt like a nexus of potent magical energy, though it was currently dormant.
However, at any moment, Maco could unleash this energy, unleashing devastating power!
So, Maco stood there silently, carefully sensing his surroundings. After a period of exploration, he began to move westward.
He had discovered a Night's Watch castle nearby. He knew it was a Night's Watch castle because The Wall loomed behind it. Maco had initially missed the behemoth due to the interference of some strange energy.
This space seemed to be a product of the magical arrays within The Wall. The castle radiated strange life energy, appearing to be a node within this massive magical array.
The Wall had nineteen castles, but even at their peak, the Night's Watch never occupied more than seventeen simultaneously.
In the last three hundred years, the Night's Watch had dwindled. Most of the castles had been abandoned, some even sarcastically referred to as "ghost towns."
Maco looked at the castle. It seemed even larger than the Black Castle, but it was in a terrible state of disrepair, as if abandoned long ago.
In an unknown tower of the castle, a group of "people" of various forms were gathered, glaring at Maco as he approached.
It was a stretch to call them "people." Besides a few with complete human forms, the others were distorted, monstrous beings.
They radiated an ominous energy, the same energy that had prevented Maco from noticing his surroundings earlier.
At that moment, a half-man, half-rat monster suddenly said to a short-haired girl:
"Danni Flint, didn't you say this was a human soul overflowing with magic? Why can't I sense it? You aren't trying to trick us, are you?"
The short-haired girl was one of the few who retained a human form. She had short brown hair, making her look very heroic.
She wore black leather armor and had a single-handed knight's sword inlaid with a sapphire at her waist, looking like a valiant female knight.
Just a closer look would reveal her eyes were blood red, with a pulsating flow of crimson energy within the sockets.
Gazing into her eyes, one would see bizarre, distorted figures, as if trapped within her eyeballs.
They were unable to escape, and occasionally, screaming skulls would emerge, only to be quickly pulled back by that energy.
The girl, known as Danni Flint, turned her gaze towards the half-man, half-rat creature, and a powerful energy surged from her.
The red energy violently erupted, causing the surrounding "people" to contort, with some smaller ones vanishing into thin air.
However, despite its potency, this force caused no harm to the half-man, half-rat creature, only transforming a few weaker figures into pure life energy!
Danni Flint snorted, saying, "Rat Chef, Henrit, I'm talking about this human. We spent so much magic to drag his soul here.
Don't you see? Hmph! If you don't believe me, you can leave. I'm sure many would love you to do so!"
"You! Humph!"
Rat Chef Henrit snorted coldly. He didn't argue further, but instead cursed under his breath and retreated into the crowd, reluctantly shutting his mouth!
At this moment, an old man wearing a crown spoke, "Danni! Is this the powerful human you mentioned? I can sense a difference between him and the others!"
"That's right! If we can devour the magic contained within his soul, we can become powerful enough to break free from our shackles directly!
Have you noticed? Ever since he arrived, this ancient magic array has suddenly become active. This must be because of the powerful magic within him!
This guy is definitely hundreds of times stronger than that Blood Raven Duke. We don't have to absorb him secretly like before. Now, as long as we gather the power of everyone, we can definitely devour his soul!"
Danni Flint seemed to respect the old man greatly. After the old man asked his question, she immediately answered!
At this time, another old man spoke to Danni Flint:
"Child, everyone here, except for you and a few others, are sinners. The gods have trapped us here to atone!..."
At that moment, the half-man, half-rat creature suddenly became agitated, shouting loudly:
"What gods! What atonement! We're all just poor souls trapped by this damned The Wall! Now, with that human's magic, we can finally leave this godforsaken place!
Gods, my ass! There are no gods! It's all just the fantasies of those Children of the Forest. They want our blood and souls! They're just as bad as the White Walkers! And you too! Cort Leswell!"
Cort Leswell angrily retorted to the "Rat Chef" Henrit: "The most unforgivable sinner among all these criminals is you, Henrit, the one who tramples on the rights of guests. Every time I see you, I feel like my soul is being polluted!"
"Enough! Shut up, both of you! We're here to escape, and while we can't do anything about the Children of the Forest, we can still manage to deal with this human if we work together!
Count Cort Leswell! I assure you, our goal here is only for his magic, and we will not harm him!"
The old man wearing a crown roared, cutting off the argument between the two. Then, he assured Cort Leswell.
But Cort Leswell didn't give the old man any face, shouting just as loudly:
"Sherrit Tampton! You're the same! You also trampled on guest rights! You don't deserve to be called a king! If you hate the Andals so much, why did you host them at a banquet?
The great King of the North finally forged a peace treaty, but because of you and that dead rat, the North and South are at war again! How many people died in that war!"
"You! Hmph! They slaughtered my kingdom and humiliated my people! Why shouldn't I seek revenge? The gods be damned! My hatred for them will remain until the world ends!"
King Sherrit Tampton, wearing the crown, suddenly burst into black flames after saying this. The flames burned fiercely around his body, looking terrifying!
"Everyone! Is the person you're talking about, the one whose soul is filled with magic, me?"
Just then, a voice suddenly came from the side of the staircase.
It turned out that Maco had come to this eerie attic at some point, and these guys instantly turned their gazes towards him.
Maco, being stared at by these twisted monsters, was surprisingly calm. After seeing this abandoned castle, Maco had already vaguely guessed some things!
The largest, oldest, and most eerie place within The Wall was the Nightfort. Although Maco didn't know why he'd been brought here, he felt a strange energy emanating from the castle's towers as soon as he entered its vicinity.
In his soul state, Maco was extremely sensitive to magical and unnatural energies. He could feel that the strange energy that had pulled him into this space originated from this location.
This time, unlike his state within the realm of consciousness, Maco could clearly feel his power suddenly becoming incredibly strong!
It was as if he had suddenly leveled up many times. Moreover, his necromancer skills and knight skills seemed to have become even more powerful.
Therefore, he boldly walked up the tower, intending to meet the ones who had brought him here!
When he came up, he only had to think about it, and he suddenly arrived at the bottom floor of the tower, and a phantom was even left in the snow!
Just as Maco thought he'd suddenly learned the "Illusionary Legion" spell, a surge of intense energy caught his attention!
With a thought, he instantly appeared at the top of the stairs. Just when Maco thought he'd been discovered, he realized the "people" around him couldn't see him!
After Maco opened his system panel, he saw he was in the "Ethereal Rune" state of "Rune Magic," and was also in a non-corporeal, spirit form!
After listening to the surroundings and the characters' conversations, Maco realized he'd been brought here by the ghosts of Nightfort.
Among these ghosts were many of the protagonists from the midnight stories of the North. The most famous of these were the "Rat Chef," and his master, King Sherrit Tampton.
Sherrit Tampton was the last First Men king of the Fingers. He had initially planned to use the Andals to help him eliminate the other kings, but he never expected that his own kingdom would be the first to fall.
After that, he repeatedly allied with other First Men kings to reclaim his lost territory, but all attempts ended in failure. In the end, he was forced to flee north seeking refuge.