I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 1034: And The War Begins

The night was growing comfortable, spreading its invisible tendrils and drowning the atmosphere in pitch-black darkness.

The streets of South Drywall were barren and sparse, the cold night breeze the only thing that patrolled the littered avenues. Some stray creatures played among the debris—there was one known as the Canbird, a winged beast with an elongated beak that loved to perch on cans and devour metal.

The pecking of the Canbird created a hollow, rhythmic beat of impending doom. In the silent and deserted streets of Drywall, the hollow wind made it even more ominous.

The night itself drenched everything in a cold sense of dread.

All the Citadels that resided in the city had joined the army, though no Citadel possessed the manpower to contribute as much as Tharion Citadel.

This was expected because usually, every Citadel claimed a city or nation as their base—the foundation they first allied with and which served as their backbone.

There were, of course, independent Citadels that had dominated certain regions. The Caelvyn Citadel, for example.

The city wall stood thirty-three feet tall with a wavy structure from afar, built to adapt to the uneven terrain of the opposing forest.

All along the walls, different armor and colored attire moved in formation. Among the colorful differences, many were uniformly clad in dark, silvery armor and deep green tabards, patrolling the ramparts.

Some loaded ballistas while others prepared their arrows. Five towers spanned the wall’s expanse, each equipped with massive trebuchets for hurling large metallic javelins.

Besides these, mounted ballista turrets were positioned at different sections of the wall. Since these were more expensive to install, only three existed across the entire expanse.

The atmosphere along the wall remained lively despite the impending doom. Perhaps the soldiers were confident the wall wouldn’t fall, or they trusted their leaders.

Either way, they didn’t look hopeless at all. They went about their work as if it were just another drill.

One drifter in a brown longcoat and red headband stared forward, narrowing his violet eyes before frowning.

He tapped his friend.

”Hey, Jolter, isn’t that darkness strange?”

Jolter, a buzz-cut boy with stern, deep eyes, stared forward too and frowned immediately.

”It feels like it’s... moving?”

”I knew I wasn’t seeing things!”

Jolter turned slightly.

”Should we alert the—”

Before he could finish, a loud horn blasted into the sky. Immediately, everyone readied themselves, nocking their bows and loading the ballistas.

Gazes hardened and people stopped jesting and chatting. Everyone was completely focused.

The war was about to begin.

The wall fell silent as everyone watched with cold, stern expressions.

Now that stillness had settled, it was easy to see the darkness moving across the forest surface, consuming everything.

Suddenly, something streaked out of the darkness, flying toward the wall at horrifying speed.

However, a black-haired drifter with raven eyes quickly shifted the turret he was handling and fired a shot upward.

A powerful explosion scattered in the air, causing flames and debris to rain down into the forest.

Everyone was alerted by that first strike. Following it, several more projectiles began shooting out of the darkness.

Now, it wasn’t just one person responding. All the ballista handlers and drifters whose talents could shoot projectiles raised their hands and began bombarding the things flying out of the darkness.

The bombardment intensified as more projectiles emerged from the writhing darkness. Explosions lit the night sky in bursts of orange and white, casting fleeting shadows across the determined faces on the wall.

”There are too many of them!” shouted a drifter as he frantically reloaded his crossbow.

The projectiles weren’t just random debris—they moved with purpose, weaving through the defensive fire with unnatural agility.

Captain Morven of the Virelion Citadel, distinguished by his crimson cloak and battle-scarred armor, raised his voice above the chaos.

”Hold the line! Don’t let them breach the outer perimeter!”

But as the darkness crept closer to the wall’s base, something far more disturbing began to unfold.

The consumed forest itself seemed to pulse with malevolent life. Trees that had stood for centuries now swayed without wind, their branches reaching toward the wall like grasping fingers.

Then came the first wave.

Creatures burst from the shadow storm—but these weren’t ordinary beasts. A pack of wolves emerged, their eyes glowing with an eerie violet light, moving in perfect synchronization. Behind them, a group of what had once been human soldiers marched forward, their movements too precise, too coordinated.

”By the old stars...” Jolter whispered, his bow trembling slightly. ”Those are Kalvern nation uniforms. Why is the Kalvern nation attacking us alongside monsters?”

The violet-eyed drifter beside him squinted through the darkness.

”Something’s wrong with them. Look at how they move.”

The possessed army advanced with mechanical precision.

Humans and monsters alike moved as extensions of a single, terrible will. Arrows from the wall found their marks, but the possessed barely flinched. Those who fell simply rose again, dark tendrils of shadow knitting their wounds closed.

A massive trebuchet groaned as it launched a boulder into the advancing horde. The impact created a crater, but the darkness immediately began to fill it, and more corrupted figures emerged from the depths of the shadow storm.

”Captain!” a lookout from the eastern tower called out. ”The darkness—it’s trying to reach the wall’s foundation!”

Morven’s eyes widened as he realized the true horror of their situation. The shadow storm wasn’t just bringing an army—it was trying to consume the very ground beneath them. Wherever it touched, the earth itself seemed to turn against the defenders.

”All drifters with earth talents to the base of the wall! Now!”

Several figures in brown leather leaped from the ramparts, their hands already glowing with elemental power. They pressed their palms to the stone, reinforcing it with layers of hardened earth and rock just as the first tendrils of darkness licked at the foundation.

Where shadow met stone, an ominous hissing sound filled the air, and cracks began to spiderweb across the wall’s surface.

The war had truly begun, but the defenders still believed they were fighting an army.

They had no idea they were battling the very essence of corruption itself—and that their greatest enemy wasn’t the creatures charging toward them, but the creeping darkness that sought to claim their souls.