Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely Chapter 5 - 5 5 The Small Bonfire Asking for Fire!

5: Chapter 5, The Small Bonfire [Asking for Fire!] 5: Chapter 5, The Small Bonfire [Asking for Fire!] Small fire pit: Can greatly boost the warmth within a ten-meter area, offering a scary and damaging effect on basic monsters, yet it also draws in the Cold Beast intensely.

Daily usage: Wood 2 (initial lighting is free, no usage for the first ten minutes)

Xia Hong couldn't spare a moment to thoroughly examine the camp system; instead, he hurriedly scanned through the vast info for the essentials he required.

It possesses a scary and damaging effect on basic monsters!

This was precisely what he sought.

Xia Hong glanced back at Xia Chuan, who teetered on the brink of collapse, compelling himself upright while glaring fixedly at the phony Xia Ding.

A faint spark abruptly flickered right before Xia Chuan.

The phony Xia Ding glanced downward at the blaze ahead, furrowing his brow as he detected something off.

Yet the spark appeared feeble, posing no apparent danger.

Nevertheless, the very next instant saw the spark burst forth explosively, with a towering crimson inferno over three meters shooting upward abruptly.

This blaze acted as if eager to devour everything, swiftly widening its reach and swallowing not just the phony Xia Ding near Xia Chuan but also a pair of close-by phony logging crew members who got instantly devoured by the flames.

“Ah…

What sort of blaze is this, what is this fire, ah…”

Within a mere blink, the phony Xia Ding, engulfed by the fire, unleashed a chilling, gut-wrenching cry of terror.

At the same time, those other two phony logging crew members lacked even the chance to utter a noise before morphing straight into twin wisps of dark fumes.

The phony Xia Ding's form writhed and jerked relentlessly amid the blaze, evidently desperate to flee, though the fire adhered to him tenaciously like a parasite.

His once flawless physique charred into a red-hot skeleton in no time, and shortly after, that skeleton crumbled to cinders, transforming into another wisp of dark smoke akin to the previous pair of phony logging crew members, ultimately fading away entirely.

By then, Xia Hong had already steadied Xia Chuan and pivoted to observe the persistent bonfire in position, his expression abruptly alight with optimism.

“Brother, what sort of bonfire is that?”

“I'm unsure, yet we're rescued now.”

The phony Xia Ding wouldn't perish even with his skull cleaved apart.

However, facing this small fire pit, he dissolved into dust immediately.

“All of you, cease the struggle and rush to the fire pit at once!”

Xia Hong whipped around and bellowed toward those still battling fiercely within the cavern.

A few had already spotted the phony Xia Ding's incineration, and with his call, the surviving group hastened over to him.

Before long, the over one hundred remnants from the camp pulled back from combat and clustered behind Xia Hong.

The camp endured severe losses, whereas among the deceptive monsters, aside from the trio unwittingly scorched by the small fire pit, the leftover twenty-three stood unscathed.

Yet another Xia Ding directed the surviving twenty-two phony logging crew members toward the fire pit.

Still, they halted over ten meters distant from it.

Gazing at the fire pit, dread filled the phony Xia Ding's gaze.

But apparently reluctant to release Xia Hong's band, he curled his lips into a icy grin after a pause:

“You insignificant spark, how long might your blaze endure?”

“Indefinitely long!”

Xia Hong retorted with a smirk, then addressed Xia Chuan and the rest: “Haul all the wood from the rear and amplify the flames.”

The camp's timber sat handily stacked by the cavern wall.

At his words, the group promptly shifted the wood stacked along that wall.

With the wood fed in steadily, the blaze from the small fire pit grew ceaselessly.

Furthermore, Xia Hong and his companions deliberately steered the wood in the direction of the phony Xia Ding cluster.

In short order, the fire's glow bathed the whole cavern.

As the flames advanced on the phony Xia Ding bunch, the fear in their stares deepened, prompting further withdrawal.

This tense impasse dragged on for more than an hour.

Until the flames herded them to the cavern's mouth, witnessing the group ceaselessly adding more wood, the phony Xia Ding's face twisted in bitterness; he shot Xia Hong a piercing stare before departing with the leftover phony logging crew members.

Dawn had broken by then, and Xia Hong's party hesitated to stray from the fire pit's vicinity, managing only distant views of the retreating foes.

Once they vanished from sight, assured the enemies had withdrawn far enough, Xia Hong exhaled deeply, overwhelmed by intense fatigue.

“Brother, this bonfire appears to have issues.”

“I realize that; its effect reaches only a ten-meter radius.

Fires beyond that match the ones we lit before.”

Cold perspiration drenched Xia Hong's back.

He'd grasped it once the flames stretched past ten meters.

The cavern's blaze had sprawled across fifty or sixty meters, but outside the small fire pit's core ten-meter zone, the warmth boost elsewhere equaled their earlier attempts.

Recalling the system details on the small fire pit, Xia Hong pieced it together.

The small fire pit's power confined itself to a ten-meter radius.

Expanding the fire via other methods yielded no extra benefit.

Likewise, solely the small fire pit instilled fear and harm in the deceptive monsters; the additional fires they started proved worthless against them.

His subsequent actions amounted to mere intimidation to frighten the deceptive monsters.

Luckily, they bought the ruse.

Post-survival, not a trace of elation filled the cavern.

For calamities typically bring unrelenting agony.

By now, numerous individuals comprehended that the genuine Xia Ding and his team had suffered tragedy.

Those twelve logging crew members represented twelve households.

Together with the recent slaughter in the cavern, no fewer than seventy souls had perished.

The entire cavern echoed with sobs and laments.

“Has the leader truly perished?”

“Has my spouse fallen too?”

“They murdered my boy…”

“Mother, come to, Mother!”

…

Beyond the grief swelling inside him, Xia Hong sensed an even deeper frustration.

Throughout, regarding that deceit from Redwood Ridge, he remained utterly clueless.

He lacked even knowledge of the foe's actual appearance.

At the outset, post-exposure of the duo phony Xia Dings, the one Xia Chuan ambushed led the charge, while the one Xia Hong had cleaved acted in a dazed fashion, seeming far from sharp.

Following the small fire pit's burning of the initial one, the dazed counterpart stepped up to command and converse.

This confirmed the pair of phony Xia Dings weren't the true entity.

In essence, that deceit from Redwood Ridge hadn't appeared at all, yet it wrought such devastation upon them.

Besides, the creation and manipulation of those two Xia Dings and twenty-four phony logging crew members by the foe eluded him completely.

The adversary struck effortlessly, costing them dearly in lives.

Most critically, after such sacrifice, they gleaned zero valuable intel on the enemy.

This helplessness plunged Xia Hong into profound irritation.

Certainly, beyond that loomed terror.

He pivoted, surveying the cavern where most lingered in grief; Xia Hong drew in a steadying breath, approached the entrance solo, and started collecting nearby rocks and timber to barricade it.

Given all that transpired, daylight crept in, and the chill plummeted swiftly.

Without swift sealing, folks would succumb to the freeze.

Moreover, drawing the Cold Beast unwittingly would worsen matters gravely.

Xia Hong's efforts also alerted the rest.

Xia Chuan moved first to assist, then another, then yet another.

Ultimately, irrespective of gender or age—even youngsters—everyone pitched in.

Xia Hong peeked back at his fellow camp dwellers, and despite the biting cold, a subtle warmth stirred within him.