Release That Witch

Chapter 292: The Precise Guided Bomb

he pistol shooting training venue was arranged in the parvise of the castle.

Including Sylvie, all the witches who were selected to the recon force had obtained a revolver.

After two days of familiarizing and mastering the posture of holding guns, the training became serious and they entered the live-firing exercise. It included a 10-meter aimed shot and a five-meter rapid shot so that the trainees would be able to cope with an approaching attack and an ambush.

The live-firing practice gave the witches away, who had seemed quite decent in the previous holding guns practice.

Especially when a deafening bang broke out, most of them started to cover their ears instead of shooting, which made Nightingale quirk an eyebrow.

All of them except Anna.

She kept her posture of holding the gun, pulling the trigger continuously, completely disregarding the sound of gunfire and the smoke of gunpowder. If Roland ignored the accuracy, her action seemed neat and clean.

“Is Anna also talented in other aspects besides learning?” Roland was astonished inwardly. “The recoil of a revolver remains strong even if it’s filled with a black-powder bullet. How could she manage to keep her arms absolutely still while continuously shooting?”

Curiously, he walked towards her back and saw two balls of Blackfire clinging to the handle of the gun, fixing it firmly in the air, while Anna just stood there pretending to shoot without even touching the gun. He patted her shoulder and she pulled out the Blackfire that plugged her ears, her face craving for praise. “What do you think? I hit all the targets without a miss!”

Roland, who did not know whether to laugh or cry, just declared loudly, “Magic power is forbidden in practicing.”

“Oh, why?”

“You’ll be greatly flustered when encountering the enemy who wears a God’s Stone of Retaliation.” Roland sighed and reached out to cover Anna’s ears. “Now you shouldn’t be afraid anymore.”

“Yeah,” she said, her bright eyes were filled with laughter. She reloaded the gun and took aim.

“Maggie, come and help me to cover my ears,” Lightning shouted jealously.

“Coo?” Maggie pointed at her own gun in her hand.

“Anyway, you can’t use a gun after shapeshifting into a bird.” The little girl made a wink. “You cover my ears first, and later I’ll do the same for you.”

“Coo!”

The incessant gunfire had attracted other witches in the castle to gather in the parvise, most of whom were eager to have a try. At last, almost everyone came forward and experienced how to use the thermal weapon.

Roland’s heart was flooding with complex feelings, seeing a group of sprightly and colorful women happily playing with the weapons in their hands.

He could still remember what they looked like the first time he met them.

Anna had been weak and skinny like a bamboo pole, her eyes full of deadness and her face numbed with the same expression.

Nightingale, who always had a hint of a dark cloud lingering between her brows, wore a smiling face that had nothing to do with her feelings, or perhaps she took on a joking face as a disguise to hide her true feelings.

Wendy, who could not hide the tiredness behind her soft whisper; the resigned and bewildered Leaf, who took a gamble on her future life; and Lily, who was as cautious and alert as a cat,

As well as Lightning, Mystery Moon, Hummingbird, Scroll, and so on…

For them, after being oppressed, framed, and hunted, staying alive was lucky enough, they simply did not have the time to cogitate the future path they would take. But now, they had completely changed.

Their bodies overflowing with unique charms, and their eyes sparkling with smart light, they would never be perplexed about the future. Apart from surviving, they were able to pursue other things, things that were as wonderful as life.

Roland’s mind was brimming with strength every time he saw the gratitude and trust in the witches’ eyes.

…

After lunch, it came time for the part of the aloft hurling practice, which Roland had specially designed for the “Autumn Offensive”. Only three witches, Anna, Wendy, and Lightning, were left to continue the training while the others took early leave.

Three were the least number they need to accomplish the air attack.

After careful consideration, Roland set the attack time for the beginning of the second month of autumn on purpose. If he made it too early, it would be too rushed to make comprehensive preparations, while if it was made too late, the attack would lose the function of deterring Timothy from dispatching troops—the air attack would not be able to achieve the desired effect if Timothy decided to feed the compulsory civilians on pills and launch a large-scale attack on the Western Region.

That was why he had to start the Autumn Offensive before Timothy was able to complete the recruitment.

To keep his “promise”, Roland planned to drop a 250 kg bomb right above the palace of Graycastle. The bomb, weighing fivefold Nightingale, would be dropped from 2,000 meters in the air, hit through the dome, and detonated within the palace.

Slowly, the huge basket carrying the solid simulated bomb was flying up into the sky. Since Roland came with them this time, the solid bomb was made a little smaller with a weight of fourfold Nightingale, and yet the shape was exactly the same as the real aircraft bomb that would be put into use in the future. The bomb was equipped with a stable tail and a parachute to make sure it kept vertical throughout falling and maintained the maximum falling speed.

The basket was specially modified to accommodate the bomb dropping. The iron mounting bracket set at the center of the basket was to hold the bomb still vertically, and half of the bomb body was left poking out of the bottom of the basket. Pulling up on the valve would trigger the talon to loosen the clench and release the bomb that would drop right down.

As they ascended, Border Town shrank to the size of a nail for a short time while Redwater River turned into lace glittering with silverlight.

“This is the first time I’m standing in such a high place,” Wendy looked out through the window and said, “I feel like the whole Western Region is narrowing.”

“That’s because the Western Region is indeed very small,” said Roland, with a light laugh, “Look at Barbarian Land in the north. That’s where we should go in the future.”

“Would you like to keep ascending? I’m almost losing the target,” Lightning shouted loudly outside of the basket.

“That’ll do.” He nodded to Anna and then gestured to the little girl to keep ready.

Roland could not estimate the accurate height, yet he was sure it was over 1,000 meters—a height that would not only be absolutely safe to launch an attack but also prevent the enemy from spotting the hot air balloon.

However, he must depend on luck to hit the target when dropping the bomb from over 1,000 meters, unless the bomb was equipped with a guidance system to control a precise strike.

The little girl, Lightning, would be responsible for aiming.

“Release,” Roland ordered.

As Wendy pulled the valve to release the bomb, a strong current gushed into the basket, and Anna immediately sealed the hole with the prepared cover and tightened the mounting brackets. Their coordination became smooth and tacit after the repeated practice on the ground.

“Did she hit the target?” Wendy asked, lying by the window.

“We’ll know when we land.” Roland shrugged.

Lightning, who was falling with the bomb at the same speed, would adjust its orbit by imposing the horizontal thrust so that it resembled a guided bomb. As soon as it was approaching the target, Lightning would pull the tail mechanism to separate the parachute. In this way, the bomb would gain sufficient kinetic energy over the last few hundred meters till it hit right through the dome of the palace.

In this case, having it fall from a sufficient height would ensure that the landing could be more precisely controlled.

After that, all they need to do was to practice the procedure constantly.

Chapter 293: The Night Before

week quickly passed and it was time for the investigation platoon to depart.

Roland decreed that Barov, Carter, and Iron Axe come to the castle where he told them of his coming departure in a couple days in advance. The affairs of Border Town were to continue to be carried out according to the daily plans and regulation.

It was not surprising that his decision was unanimously opposed by all three of them. Carter had hoped to perform the duties as the chief knight to guard the prince; Iron Axe requested that a troop of 100 soldiers escorted the prince; Barov tried to persuade him to stay based on the fact the degree issued by City Hall had to still be checked and sealed by the lord. Finally, he had to flex his power as the leader and commanded that everyone follow his orders.

“Your Highness, I don’t understand. What’s so important that you must go personally?” Barov wondered aloud.

“These matters are about the Western Region… including the fortune of the Kingdom of Graycastle,” Roland said after a moment of silence, “And, only I’m able to make the best judgment calls.”

“Can’t you… tell us the specifics?”

“Not now, but you’ll understand it someday.” He shook his head. “Another thing, this trip is confidential, so you can’t disclose this information to anyone.”

More than 200 kilometers from the Western Region there may be a battalion of demons stationed. These demons destroyed Holy City of Taquila and drove the resistance to the edge of the continent. They made Barbarian Land the scarred and forbidden territory no one dares to go to today and what happened was so horrible that it was forbidden to speak about.

He was not overly distraught by it because he had been desensitized by watching several extinction films. However, he did not know how everyone else would react. If the information leaked, there might be a panic which would lead to a drop in the population of the Western Region.

So, now was not the right time to reveal the truth.

After arranging the political affairs, Roland boarded a hot air balloon, on the castle vestibule, with the witches, and flew to the snow mountain.

“Your Highness, if over 400 years ago, and it really was the church that fought against the demons, are they good or bad here on earth?” After being told about the existence of demons, Sylvie had become concerned.

“Bad, of course.” Nightingale interrupted as Roland was about to speak. “Have you ever seen a good man who hunts down witches for no reason? We weren’t demon’s minions and we all know that we witches have nothing to do with demons, let alone a Demonic Torture.

Sylvie continued to stare at Roland, appearing to wait for his answer.

Roland thought for a moment. “First of all, there’s no proof that the church fought against the demons and it has yet to be confirmed. If they really had made that sacrifice why would they hide it by destroying records of it? Telling the public would be the best way to gain more believers. I’m afraid that there’re only a few clues as to the truth. Not to mention, it isn’t so black and white for good and evil, and it’s not that easy to distinguish it depending on which side you’re standing,” Roland answered with a smile, “What you want to know is if I’ll decide to stand with the church in order to fight the demons, right?”

“I…” Sylvie couldn’t deny it, even though she wanted to.”

“The pope and the lord have always been enemies. I wouldn’t stand on the side of the church, even without witches,” he said, “What’s more, now you’re on my side.”

“You see I was right.” Nightingale laughed. “Even if the church had fought against the demons, they were defeated, totally defeated. If that war had been led by our Prince Roland, the results would have been very different. So, why would we side with the loser?”

“… I understand now.” She nodded, seeming no longer depressed.

The snow mountain came into their view at dusk.

“What a massive mountain,” Roland thought. Even he himself had rarely seen such a towering peak. There were no surrounding peaks standing by its shoulder, as if the earth suddenly stood up, creating a road to the heavens. The gray mountain wall occupied most of their vision, and it would take a few months to travel around the mountain’s foot.

They chose a plateau that was close to the seashore to camp, making it easier to observe their surroundings. And, it was far from Misty Forest, which ensured their safety against beast attacks.

After eating their dry food, they started to set up their tent. Due to the limited carrying capacity of the hot air balloon, they were only able to carry one large tent. Roland was considerate though and slept in the basket, allowing the witches to share the tent, while Maggie slept in a tree. She could even sleep standing on her feet, after metamorphosing into a bird.

He found that he was still shy and too embarrassed to squeeze in with the witches. Wendy and Soraya suggested that they sleep in the basket while Roland slept in the tent, but Roland rejected the idea.

Sylvie was the only one who stared nervously at Roland while discussing the accommodation arrangement, and he did not know if her reaction made him want to laugh or cry.

After arranging the guard, they all went into the tent. The rugged basket made it impossible for Roland to fall asleep, so he sat on a rock that was facing the sea and looked out at the moonlight on the water, becoming lost in thought.

Suddenly, he heard soft footsteps.

The prince turned around and found it was Anna.

When he was in school, he would always look forward to something happening during group trips. Although nothing happened on most of his trips, he would not forget to look forward to the next.

But, now that it was coming true, Roland was nervous. Acting nonchalant, he frowned before saying. “What’s up? Can’t fall asleep?”

“No,” Anna replied bluntly, “I just wanted to sit with you.”

“Really?” he coughed. “Thank you.”

“It’s me that needs to say thank you.” Anna smiled. The faint silver moonlight sparkled on her face and her blue eyes looked more beautiful than the sea. “Sylvie did not thank you for what you said, but I could sense it made her feel much better.”

“Are you happy for her?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m happy I have a choice.”

Roland was suddenly surprised. “What… choice?”

Anna closed her eyes and kissed him on the cheek without saying a word. After what felt like a long time, she whispered, “Good night, Your Highness.”

Did that really just happen?

Roland stretched in content and watched her as she walked back to the tent. As he turned to go back to the basket and try to sleep he felt a pair of invisible hands touch his face. He could see nothing in front of him, but he again felt the soft caress on his cheek. “And me, Your Highness. Thank you for what you’ve done for witches.”

…

Chapter 294: The Demon Attack

n the early morning, everyone packed up their camp and departed again.

Roland noticed that the witches’ appearance did not even change a little though they had been camping out in the wilderness, and Roland could not do the same. He knew that he looked terrible without even looking into the mirror. His hair was messy and his face was pale due to lack of sleep while the half-dried sweat on his skin felt slightly sticky. He was only relieved from the discomfort after he slightly cleaned himself up with the drinking water in the leather sack.

Roland started to miss the water system in the castle and the spacious shower.

An hour later, Cloud Gazer arrived at the scheduled place, the snow mountainside in accordance with Lightning’s instruction. They could see the scenery behind the mountain while hovering in the broad sea.

As Lightning said, the Red Mist was covering the entire snow mountain from the back with a very low pressure. The ground color was richer as it got closer. In order to see farther, Roland let the balloon continued to rise, and the vision at the end of the land was also increasingly opened.

“Any discovery?” He looked at Sylvie.

Sylvie shook her head. “No, it’s too far away and it has already exceeded the observation scope of the Eye of Truth.”

“We’ll get closer after Soraya draws the scenery down accordingly,” Roland said.

While Soraya was drawing the picture, he also used the telescope to observe the coastal line. There was no dock, shipyard or any man-made buildings by the shore other than the rocky beach. Even if there were any demon, they did not plan to build any ships to attack the Kingdom of Graycastle from the sea. The observation made him a little relieved.

Sylvie finally began to report the situation she saw when the hot air balloon was slowly approaching the land. It was about more than 5 kilometers away from the shore where she found a triangular-shaped building formed by a pile of black stones, which resembled the spires.

“It’s just like the mirage in Barbarian Land,” Wendy could not help but exclaim, “It’s indeed the demon’s territory!”

“However, the height is clearly different.” Soraya frowned. “The spires of the mirage are as high as almost 1,100 feet, it can’t be covered by the Red Mist and they should be higher than the undulating mountain.”

“Maybe what you saw was the demon’s city, and it’s the demon’s village here?” Anna guessed.

So, it meant that the demon had a complete and unique urban system which belonged to the higher evolution groups, while it was keen to expand and kill? Roland thought, “Please, don’t be true.” “What’re in those spires?”

“Uh… Most of the spires are empty and some are filled with liquid… Hold on.” Sylvie was in shock and she said in disbelief, “Leave quickly, the demons have found us!”

“Found us?” Roland lifted up the telescope and took a glance, and he could not see anything clearly as it was covered in the dark-red colored fog.

“They’re in action,” Sylvie yelled nervously, “They were buried under the ground just now, revealing only the tube on their back, there… the demon is flying!”

“Wendy, full speed retreat!” Roland ordered.

The wind blew rapidly. The sudden movement of the balloon caused the basket to tilt, and the taut rope was creaking.

However, Sylvie’s warning gave everyone a chill in their heart.

“Two demons were coming towards us, and the mounts they’re riding could fly!”

“Damn, these guys actually have flying mounts?” Roland stared “This is simply unreasonable, how big the mount would be to carry such a strong beast?”

After a while, he captured two black spots from the sight. Looking through the telescope, he saw them crouching on a mount with sharp fangs, hairless, and the mounts totally did not look like birds. If he was not mistaken… they were actually two demonic hybrids.

“Reduce the height and land as soon as possible.” Roland squeezed a few words out of her mouth.

It was going to be bad. Roland did not think that the devil had the ability to carry out air chase, and there was only Lightning who was able to fight in the sky. However, looking at her pale face, Roland knew that there was no chance of winning this battle. Once they were caught up, it would kill the witches even if the demons only attacked the balloon with collision and even if the coating could resist the demons’ collision and bites, they would probably be thrown out of the basket and hit the sea, like a stone under the violent shake.

And, falling into the sea from this height had no difference from falling onto the ground.

At this point, the demons were getting closer to the hot air balloon, and Roland could see the giant wings of the demonic hybrid and the huge burly enemy on its back without using the telescope.

“Be careful,” Sylvie screamed again, “They’re getting ready to throw a spear!”

When he heard the warning, he suddenly remembered the scene of war described by Leaf which the enemy snatched Scarlet’s life in a blink of eyes using this method.

He did not see the demon’s quickly swollen arms or the attacking spear. Anna had already stretched out her arms to control the Blackfire into a thin protective layer in front to block the attack when Sylvie warned.

And, he heard two loud banging noises.

Anna hummed twice silently and took two steps back. The Blackfire was broken into pieces like the glass and half of a burning iron spear was tumbling to fall into the sea.

She blocked the attack with a dense Blackfire curtain.

The witches were in a sigh of relief, but only Roland was worried as it would consume Anna’s magic power quickly to operate it this way. Roland had noticed that her body’s vast magic power almost would not use up if it were only heating or cutting when she was smelting the steel. However, once it was expanded to the macro level, the magic power consumption would be dramatically increased if it were used as a dense overall impact on an object. For example, the use of Blackfire as a furnace. The outer wall that hindered the molten steel from overflowing would accelerate the magic power consumption, and even Anna could only hold on for a few minutes when it came to lifting the Blackfire Furnace.

Obviously, the block had consumed a big amount of her magic power, and she would probably not able to maintain the heating if she had to do the same for twice.

The demon seemed to have been deterred by this scene as well, and they did not immediately follow-up attack, but simply passed by from both sides of the hot air balloon as if they were waiting for the next charge. Roland also witnessed the enemy’s ferocious appearance for the first time and it looked exactly the same as the pictures. They were wearing a demonic beast’s helmet with their eyes covered by the red crystal, and there was a leather pipe linked from the chin and around the neck to the back of the shell.

In the meantime, the witches had pulled out their pistols to fight back, but it was almost impossible to hit an enemy with a high-speed movement while the basket was shaking. They had reloaded twice but none shot their enemy.

This was when the demon’s arm swelled again, and they chose to fight from the back and forth this time.

The Blackfire Anna summoned could only cover one side and she did not even have time to observe the enemy behind her. Roland could clearly see the demon was throwing its right arm towards her, but he could not see the path of the flying spear. And, he subconsciously pushed Anna who had her back facing him away. He could feel a heavy hit on his shoulder like a hammer smashing on it, and he flew backward and hit the wall of the basket.

The unbearable pain almost tore him apart and followed by a strong sense of dizziness, his consciousness seemed to be leaving him.

Roland clenched his teeth and turned around to look at his shoulder. He noticed that there was a huge opening on his shoulder and the ventilation gap behind the basket was enough to explain the striking force.

And, half of his arm that was completely torn by the attack fell in a corner of the basket, and the gushing blood soon dyed his clothes red.

“No!” The miserable cry of Nightingale was the final voice he heard before he lost his consciousness.

Chapter 295: Spread Your Wings

ightingale felt her heart unexpectedly flinch when Roland got hit.

The surrounding noise suddenly faded out and she desperately wanted to help him up, but her body was cold and stiff, leaving both of her hands trembling slightly. Other than her internal exclamation, she was not even able to take a step towards him.

She was afraid that Roland would freeze in her arms.

She was also afraid that he would never wake up again.

Simply thinking about it made it hard for Nightingale to breathe.

She had not been this overwhelmed since she recovered her memory.

Anna was still the first to react, rushing over she squatted and covered his entire wound with a mass of Blackfire. It started to smoke under the lightless fire, which was emitting a buzzing sound. Roland’s broken arm was charred once the Blackfire dissipated.

The trickling blood had stopped.

“Oh yeah, this was the emergency measures he was talking about during the first aid class. What to do next? Wrap up the wound, and quickly send him to the hospital for Nana…” Nightingale swallowed her saliva and looked around the basket. “No, they can’t, Nana isn’t in the hot air balloon but back in Border Town.”

We’ll have to go back.

We must go back as soon as possible!

She slowly turned her head to the southeast, in the direction of the town.

Suddenly, the ferocious image of the demon’s bared fangs and claws flashed through Nightingale’s mind, bringing her thoughts back to the basket.

All at once her hearing returned and Nightingale could hear a cacophony of shouts from the panicking witches, the sound of gunshots, and the roar of the enemy. Once the cold had subsided she was able to arrange her thoughts into a sentence.

There’s no way to return to Border Town in time, without first defeating the demons.

“Lightning!” Anna anxiously shouted, “Protect the hot air balloon so it can land!”

Although the little girl looked pale from seeing Roland unconscious, she nodded and clenched her teeth as she floated up from the basket.

“No,” Nightingale thought, “Look at her appearance, she won’t be able to take on a demon, like most of the witches, she’s never experienced combat with a real enemy before.”

The only person here, who could defeat the demons, was Nightingale herself.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed all thoughts of the injured Roland from her mind. The two demons were still attacked them from the front and rear, fortunately, their spear-throwing arms were dry and thin like fire kindling, which indicated that it would take them a while to recover. The demons were about 50 meters away from the hot air balloon. This distance was not enough for her since she could easily fall while spreading her Mist in the air. The further her distance was from the ground, the fewer flashing “lines” there were, and if she stayed on the same line for a long time, she could easily be torn into pieces during the change of direction and the up-and-down.

The enemies realized that the battle would become harder for them once the hot air balloon touched down on the ground. One demon was shouting something while waving its left hand that had only three fingers. And, then it pulled up on its mount, flying straight towards the hot air balloon.

While the other demon kept pouncing towards Lightning. The demonic beast, with the gigantic flapping wings, was stalking her just like that an eagle hunts a squab, wearing her out by forcing her to constantly dodge. As Nightingale expected, Lightning could avoid taking damage due to her flexibility, but she was unable to aim and fire. Even the other witches were afraid of hurting the little girl and had ceased their fire.

The demon that was flying towards the hot air balloon commanded its mounts to bite and scratch the airbag. Luckily, Soraya’s special coating was tough enough to withstand the claws and teeth of the demonic hybrid, and it could not get a grip. Realizing that it was having no effect, it roared and flew further from the balloon, which appeared as if it were going to knock the balloon off kilter.

Nightingale saw her opportunity.

She spread her Mist and stepped forward without hesitation as a slightly glowing thread appeared above her head. She stood directly on the airbag as the silhouette of the hot air balloon started to change. Although her body was parallel to the ground, she felt like she was walking upright and quickly climbed to the top of the balloon.

At this moment, the demon was rushing back.

In the black and white world, Nightingale was surprised to find that there was a mass of magic, a magic cyclone, that was slowly rotating within the demon’s body, and a sparkling stone that was embedded in its thin arm.

Even they have magic power?

However, now was not the time to worry about this, and it was time for her over 10-meter sprint. Nightingale jumped out from the Mist and appeared behind the demon, just as it was about to hit the hot air balloon.

The body of the demonic beast with the gigantic wings began to sink due to a sudden increase in the weight it was carrying. Realizing something was wrong, the demon quickly turned back, but it was greeted by the roaring 12-millimeter pistol.

“Go to hell.”

The bullets rushed out of the barrel, flames and the smoke surrounding it, before instantly penetrating the demon’s headpiece, blowing a bowl sized hole out of the back of its head. There was a thick spray of blood, followed by a pungent smell that permeated the air.

The enemy fell down, still twitching, and the demonic beast rolled across the hot air balloon. Unfortunately, while Nightingale was trying to return to the top of the airbag, the falling body pulled the reigns to the side and the mount flipped pulling her with it.

She did not have time to react and was not able to return to a safe distance on her own.

Although the balloon had been descending, it was still over 100 meters away from the sea. Entering her Mist during a fall would be akin to committing suicide, she would be cut in half if she hit any thread during the uncontrolled fall.

“Nightingale!”

She heard her sisters screaming in horror, but there was no helping the situation. Lightning was fighting with the remaining demon and Maggie would not have enough strength to pull her up, even if she transformed into a sea eagle. Nightingale was sure of her impending death.

The speed of her fall was increasing, Nightingale looked down, seeing that the original blur of the ocean had revealed its true appearance, and she could clearly see the rolling water and waves. It was almost as if she was not the one falling, but it was the sea that was rushing towards her.

Her mind became clearer the closer she was to the sea.

Nightingale closed her eyes and remembered when she had met Roland, replaying the memory fragments behind her closed eyes. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, playing with the dagger in her hands, waiting for the gray-haired Prince Roland to come in. The swaying fire, the door, and the bedroom were gradually fading, and finally, she was only left with Roland’s smiling face.

Her only regret was that she would not be able to accompany him to the end of his days.

“Coo, coo, coo, coo!”

Suddenly, she heard a continuous loud tweet. Nightingale opened her eyes and saw a white figure heading straight downwards, rushing towards her chest.

It was Maggie.

As she was about to say something, the pigeon produced a blinding white light and instantly expanded in stature, producing gigantic wings from her back as the previous feathers fell off. The birds head was ferocious and it looked just like the demonic beasts!

“Owh…!”

Maggie was roaring loudly as she caught Nightingale with her claws and threw her forcefully upwards. Nightingale flipped up and then fell straight onto the giant bird’s spacious back.

“What’s going on?” Nightingale was completely shocked.

“Owh! Owh!” Maggie turned around and roared again as if she was trying to tell her something.

This time she understood Maggie’s words without needing translation. Although, she was not clear as to how Maggie transformed into this beast, defeating the demon was a more important matter to address.

“Let’s go!” she exclaimed.

Chapter 296: The Demons

he situation instantly reversed when Maggie was carrying Nightingale back to join the battle.

The demons angrily roared and it was forced to give up the pursuit of Lightning. It rolled over and dived down straight toward Maggie. The arm that had not yet fully recovered once again raised the spear and quickly swelled up, the skin cracking and blood spraying out.

The strike was still strong, however, the spear that was thrown out was not as powerful as before, at least Nightingale could catch the path of the flying spear a little.

“Maggie!” She patted the giant beast, spread the Mist, and stepped forward.

“Owh… coo!” Maggie’s body quickly shrunk into a pigeon once again.

The gigantic target suddenly disappeared, and the spear flew by both of them, making a whistling sound and fell into the sea.

And the next moment, Nightingale appeared from the mist and returned to Maggie’s back who was in her demonic beast form. The entire dodging process went smoothly.

The demon was crying in pain, and its arms were shrinking inward, finally even collapsing inch by inch, like a dry bark. However, its left hand was still clenching the reins and manipulating the mount to collide into both of them as if the demon wanted to kill the witches along with itself.

Maggie obviously would not do as it wished. She suddenly descended and flew across the enemy when they were about to collide. When she restored her balance, Nightingale on her back had disappeared.

The latter appeared behind the demon like a ghost.

The enemy was scrambling to untie the rope that fixed its body, and Nightingale would definitely not give it the chance.

She angrily pulled the trigger and shots rang out continuously.

The shooting this time not only broke the shell on the demon’s back but also through its chest. The enemy loudly roared, and soon fell into the blood fog.

Finally, the demonic beast which lost its master was killed by Lightning. It fell into the sea and soon disappeared.

Cloud Gazer slowly landed by the shore.

“What should we do next?” Nightingale looked anxiously at Anna who probably was the only one to stay calm at this time.

“It has been delaying for so long. The hot air balloon would only arrive Border Town at midnight even if we’re flying in the night,” Anna slowly said, “Prince Roland must be carried by Lightning and Maggie and depart first.”

“No problem, owh!” the beast opened its gigantic mouth and said.

“I have… no problem. Just leave it to us.” The little girl looked a little down. She probably felt bad that as an explorer, she was afraid of fighting with the enemy leading everyone into trouble.

Nightingale patted her head and said, “No one is born to do this. This isn’t your fault.”

The witches tied the unconscious prince on the back of Maggie, and the broken arm would be carried by Lightning. Both of them quickly flew into the sky towards the town along Redwater River.

“What about us?” Wendy asked, “My magic power is running out.”

“Continue to fly, and we have to fly as far as we can. The enemy may send a second team to search for us, and it’s too close from the snow mountain here. We have to leave as soon as possible,” Anna said, “We’ll find a hidden place to camp after we reached a safe place.”

Her decision was unanimously agreed by the other witches.

Cloud Gazer rose up again, and there were only five people left in the basket.

“How did the demon find us?” Soraya said with puzzlement, “The hot air balloons and baskets are painted with sky-like camouflage, and it’s hard to discern at a height of more than 2,000 meters even with a telescope.”

“A huge demon.” Sylvie frowned. “It crouched on the top of a black spire with a head bigger than the body and it was covered with countless eyes. I just took a glance at it… All its eyes looked at me, and then hundreds of demons came out from the ground as if the whole area was boiling.”

“There’s still such a monster?” Soraya gasped.

“Not only that, both of the flying mounts are also very strange,” Anna said while thinking, “The blood that gushed out from their body after getting shot wasn’t black like the ink but dark-blue colored, and it was completely different from the demonic hybrid we encountered in the Months of Demons.”

“It’s similar to the demon instead,” Soraya added, “I saw that the first demon Nightingale shot had blue blood.”

“Are they not demonic beasts?” Sylvie asked.

“I don’t know… However, it’s good that Maggie can transform into them,” Wendy emotionally said. “If it’s not for her to save Nightingale, we’re probably going to be in danger.”

“She’s able to evolve,” Nightingale who was quiet suddenly said, “I could see the magic power in her body is no longer a mass of rotating cyclone but has turned into a fixed appearance. It looked like a pair of white wings when I was in the Mist. ”

Lightning was hugging His Highness’ arm, feeling extremely guilty.

The demons simply looked ferocious, but they were not undefeatable in the air. His Royal Highness would not be so seriously injured if Lightning left the basket to stop the enemy from the beginning.

To come forward to protect the companion was an obligatory responsibility of the explorers. Thunder would be the first to lead the soldiers to break through all the dangerous during the Fjords sea adventure. He would never step back whether it was against the pirates or the deep sea monsters.

For the first time, Lightning realized that the distance for her to be an outstanding explorer was still very far.

However, she remembered her father also mentioned that fear could be resolved through the understanding and familiarity, while the skills could be mastered through the repeated training.

She determined to beg His Highness to give her a special pistol when he recovered, and she would ask Nightingale to train her on the shooting and fighting skills.

“How’s His Highness doing, owh?” Maggie muttered. Her voice was hoarse and muddy as compared to when she was a pigeon. It felt like the wind that blew out of the stone cave. “I could feel his body getting colder, owh.”

The little girl tightened her fists, turned around, and flew to Maggie’s back.

Roland looked totally lifeless with his eyes closed, pale lips, and messy gray hair. The blood on his clothes was solidified, and the burnt black wounds looked extremely horrible. She gently put her hand on his neck, a weak beat proving that the prince was still alive but his fingertips were scarily cold.

“How much magic power do you left with?” Lightning estimated the journey and said, “We have to move forward at full speed.”

“Sure, owh!”

When both of them arrived in Border Town, the little girl was already feeling dizzy. The extremely high speed not only quickly depleted her magic power but also was a great burden to her body. She clenched her teeth and used her final effort to fall directly into the parvis of the castle, and shouted at the guards who were rushing into the parvis after hearing the noise. “Quickly summon for Miss Nana. Prince Roland, His Highness is wounded!”

Chapter 297: The Blazing Heart

oland opened his eyes and found himself lying on a big soft bed. There was a familiar ceiling above his head and even every crack coincided with his memory.

This is my… bedroom?

He turned his head to look at both of his shoulders. Both his left and right arms looked completely intact. He even tried to move both of his arms and they were working fine.

Everything was like a dream.

However, he knew that it was not a dream and that the investigation of the demon and the attack were facts, things that had certainly happened! That he was safely lying in his bedroom showed that they had escaped the pursuit of the demon and successfully returned to the castle.

However, did all of the witches return safely?

Thinking about it, Roland’s heart sank. He attempted to prop himself up, but his arms felt feeble. Just when he was about to call for someone, he saw a row of witches leaning against the wall opposite the end of his bed. Anna, Nightingale, Lightning, Maggie, and Nana, they were all leaning against each other and breathing smoothly with their eyes slightly closed. They looked like they were sound asleep.

Roland quietly lifted up one corner of the curtains and he found that the sun was rising from Redwater River, it looked like a dazzling gold was sprinkled upon the earth.

“You… are awake?”

He turned around, and Anna already opened her eyes. She was slowly walking towards Roland while kneading her sleepy eyes.

“Yeah, I’m awake. The other witches…”

“They all returned to the town safely. In fact, you’re the only one who was injured.”

“Is it?” Roland was relieved and said, “That’s really good…”

“You’re an Idiot.”

Before he could refute her statement, Anna firmly hugged him. The arms that were buckling behind him were powerful that they were almost embedded in his flesh.

Anna’s actions awoke the other witches.

“Your Highness!”

They stood up in surprise and came around. The second to hug Roland was Lightning, followed by Nana and then Maggie. Nightingale hesitated for a while and then held everyone in her arms from behind. For a long time, everyone hugged in a group like they did not want to let go. The moment seemed to freeze time.

…

After breakfast, Roland figured out what had happened after listening to the detailed story.

The witches defeated the demon pursuers together and let Lightning and Maggie bring him back first.

His broken arm quickly recovered after he was brought back to the castle to accept Nana’s treatment. However, he lost consciousness for an entire day due to the severe blood loss. It was now the fourth day since the departure date.

The action this time was a little careless. Roland did not expect the demon to actually discover the hot air balloon that was coated with the sky-like camouflage from over 5 kilometers away. According to Sylvie, the giant multi-eyed Demon did not appear to notice them until she had fixed her eyes upon it, and it was at that moment that it instantly aimed at her with its eyeballs.

He had never heard of this investigation method before. Other than Sylvie’s Eye of Truth, even looking through a telescope, everything would be a blur at such a distance. It was even more difficult to see what the demon was doing over such a distance as the Red Mist was covering the top of the spire. But still the demon discovered them?

Having said that, the harvest of the intelligence was incredibly good despite the fact that they had incurred major risks.

The demon was no longer a mysterious and unknowable hell messenger. They owned urban and organizational systems. They belonged to a higher evolution of civilization, just like humans.

Also the demons were not strong in the air, at least those in the area behind the snow mountain were not. Hundreds of demons drilled out from the ground and they had ended up with only two of them pursuing them on mounts, which meant that flying was still a rare ability for them. For now, it was still unknown whether the mounts were rare, or the riders were rare. However, in general, this was good news for Border Town. At least he did not have to worry about a group of demons coming around from the south side of the mountain and going straight into the Western Region to burn and loot.

Besides, it was also an important discovery that the demons possessed magic power.

According to Nightingale’s report, although the magic power of the demons running after them was scarce, it formed a cyclone which was very eye-catching under the Mist. However, the way they activated the magic power seemed to be completely different from the witches. They did not activate it by themselves, but they used some kind of mechanism, such as a glowing stone to release the power. It was not as flexible as the abilities of the witches, but it was a more standardized weapon which they could mass produce.

Of course, that was just speculation. Unfortunately, the demons’ bodies had all fallen into the sea and so Roland could not verify it further.

The last point was the building.

Those small and slender black stone spires were not the demons’ residences and the material was also quite strange. The surface did not have any traces of Red Mist corrosion. Some of the stone spires were empty inside while others were filled with red liquid inside, similar to a storage tank.

Perhaps the Red Mist in the sky was formed by the liquid after its gasification?

Perhaps the demons did not further expand their territory to Barbarian Land nor the four kingdoms due to the gas coverage limitation?

Anyway, they would, at least temporarily, not pose any threat to the security of Border Town, according to the comprehensive information.

However, Roland also knew that since humans had been driven away from Barbarian Land by the demons over 400 years ago, perhaps they would come back again someday, so he had to be prepared for that day.

…

Night has fallen, and due to the blood loss, Roland quickly retired to bed after casually dealing with a few decrees.

He was preparing to blow out the candle and go to bed after reading half of the history book on his bed when someone knocked.

He was slightly stunned and climbed out of the bed to open the door. It was Anna.

This time she did not have a thick book in her hands about “Secondary Physics” or “Natural Science Theoretical Foundation” as she had done previously. With nothing in her hands, she was walking into the room dressed in a white sleeping robe. She did not even wear shoes and her delicate feet touched the floor without making any noises.

Roland swallowed his saliva.

Anna shut the door behind her and locked it. Then, she held Roland’s hand and walked to the bed.

Her flowing hair had just been washed and it was flashing with the golden light of the candle. It smelled fragrant when he was close to her and the enchanting fragrance was not from rose scented soap, but from her own body.

Her long eyelashes were slightly trembling and her cheeks were blushing. Her blue eyes looked like autumn water. Although she looked a little nervous, there was no trace of anxiousness, and she stared at Roland determined.

He understood Anna’s meaning despite the fact that he had never experienced anything like it.

“Ahem, this…”

“I don’t want to wait anymore,” Anna whispered, “especially after experiencing such a terrifying encounter.” She paused and continued to say, “I don’t want any regrets.”

.

Chapter 298: The Dream

quot;I understand,” said Roland, lifting her up by her waist and gently putting her on the bed. However, such simple action had made him breathless. He uncovered the thin blanket and turned into the bed while Anna moved closer to him from the side and rested her head on his arm.

Should the next step be… foreplay?

He noticed that himself was getting nervous as well. “It can’t go on like this. As someone “experienced”, I can’t possibly make a fool of myself in front of the lady. It may be necessary to ease the atmosphere with some simple chit-chatting before taking action, such as… telling a dirty joke?”

When he was contemplating hard, Anna softly said, “Had you thought that you may be killed when you pushed me away on the hot air balloon?”

Roland startled as he did not expect Anna to ask this question. “I just subconsciously did it.”

“You’re the ruler of the Kingdom of Graycastle and the witches’ hope,” she whispered, “I’m not worth it.”

“It’s not about your worthiness,” Roland said with a light chuckle, “I couldn’t simply sit there and watch you being attacked. In fact, I thought it over again after I woke up. Even if I had time to think about it before I did it, I’ll still do the same if things did not happen so suddenly.”

“I can’t stop you, can I?”

“Well, no.” Roland pinched her nose with his other hand.

Anna’s eyelashes drooped down and she was quiet for a moment before saying. “Can you tell me about your past… I want to know more about you.”

“Well, the past?” Roland exhaled. He searched the memory of Prince Roland but he stopped when he was about to tell a few funny stories in the palace. His past did not belong here but another completely different world. “I used to live in a big city and it was really, really big.”

“Yeah, the Kingdom of Graycastle is many times bigger than Border Town.”

“I was not different from the common people, witty but not very smart. I was always praised by the teacher because I was studying really hard, however, he didn’t know that the stubborn doodles on the wall were painted by me.”

“Of course, he didn’t dare to blame you,” Anna softly whispered.

“Haha, not really, he didn’t need to do anything to me as long as he told my parents.” Roland shook his head with a smile. “They showed no mercy when they were punishing me back then.”

“After that, my teacher kept changing as I grew older from elementary teacher to mentor, and I finally completed all my studies with neither good nor bad grades. Of course, after all, I was always a bit worse than the other kids…”

He was slowly telling his experience after slight rendering it with his eyes half-closed as it had been a long time since he experienced such an open and unbridled communication. He had been playing Prince Roland’s role since he came here, and he felt that he had returned to the past at this moment as if he was lying in a classical hotel with the girl he liked, sharing about their daily life and he felt gradually relaxed.

Maybe it’s time for the next step?

Roland slightly turned his head but he found that Anna had closed her eyes while her chest that was rested on his side body was undulating like a cat that fell asleep.

He was surprised and then he could not help softly chuckling.

“I see… She was tired.”

Thinking about it, the witches were curling up to hide in a small cave in the mountains and they had to always beware of the wild beasts and demons attack that they almost did not sleep for an entire night. Furthermore, they had to continue rising Cloud Glazer up at the dawn to return to Border Town. Anna had spent an entire night looking after him in his bedroom after they returned. Of course, she was tired now as all the exhaustion easily erupted under such restless circumstances since she had not taken rest for two days and two nights.

Perhaps her decision was also made in an anxious waiting.

Although he felt a little unfortunate, Roland did not really care about that as they still had a long way to go.

He leaned forward to kiss Anna’s long eyelashes and softly said, “Goodnight.”

When the morning light shone through the crack of the curtain into the room, Sylvie got up from the big bed and yawned a few times.

The experience these few days was like an unbelievable dream since they were being discovered by the demon to the air battle and finally escaped and returned to Border Town. She felt that it would not be as nervous and exhausted even if they were chased by the Judgement Army from the church.”

“Good morning.” Wendy had already changed and she was about to wash up with a bowl of water in her hands.

“Good morning.” Sylvie nodded. “You wake up really early.”

“I’m old,” Wendy smiled. “The sleeping time is getting shorter as well.”

“Ah… it’s already dawn?” Nightingale rubbed her eyes. “It seemed I’ll need to make up with an afternoon nap.”

“You didn’t sleep well last night?”

“Well, I dreamt a lot.”

Sylvie disapprovingly curled her lips as she clearly saw Nightingale went invisible and headed to the third floor of the castle, wondering in front of Roland’s room for a long time. Although Sylvie did not know what she was doing due to Nightingale’s special ability, she came back very late at night anyway. “Last night, didn’t you…”

Nightingale suddenly turned around and stared at Sylvie who was just about to speak. Her squinting eyes were self-evident and Sylvie quickly stopped. The strength of the number one combat witch in the Witch Cooperation Association was obvious, and the scene of her killing the demon in the air like a fleeting ghost was still vivid in Sylvie’s mind. Lady Ashes would not even be her opponent if she was put in Sleeping Island. Sylvie felt she was better not be overly curious with her silent warning.

“What happened last night?” Wendy curiously asked.

“Ahem,” Sylvie said, “I heard her snoring last night, and it probably because of too much energy consumption these few days.”

“I think so too.” Nightingale shrugged and took off her sleeping gown, revealing her well-coordinated body and began to wear the bra given by His Highness.

Speaking of it, Wendy had completely accepted the bra now and she even had the tendency to recommend it to Sylvie.

His Highness Roland is really a scary man.

However, Sylvie felt warm in her heart when she thought of him this time.

There’s really a noble who’s willing to be wounded for a witch.

She was touched when she saw Roland pushed Anna away regardless of his personal safety. The witches in the Witch Cooperation Association was not controlled by him, but his important following, even… companions. His reflected action could not deceive that he was indeed truthfully standing on the witches’ side, just like Tilly Wimbledon.

Roland and Tilly might be able to set up a new kingdom without any distinction between the witches and normal people if they could stand together hand in hand and gather both forces.

She decided to write a letter to Lady Tilly.

It’s wonderful that Your Highness Roland is your brother.

Chapter 299: The Intelligence and The Messenger

arden Mansion of Inner City in the Kingdom of Graycastle.

Today was the scheduled information exchange day. Theo was sitting on a couch in the living room waiting for the arrival of the members of the “Dove and Hat” acrobatic troupe. The inner city’s door closed early in the evening after autumn so that the secret party had to be changed to the afternoon.

Hill Fawkes was always the first to reach the mansion.

He was wearing a blue velvet open-collar jacket with a pair of light gray tights and moccasins along with a white tie around his neck, just like a noble. After paying his respect, he passed the “History of the Kingdom’s Customs” to Theo whom later took the book and glanced through with great interest. “You’ve finished reading?”

“Yes,” Hill nodded and said with hesitation, “Will you teach me some sword fighting… or assassination skills?”

“What for?”

“You mentioned that you would train me into a qualified intelligence officer during the outbreak of evil spirits,” he scratched his head and said, “but so far you’ve only given me some strange and eccentric books to read.”

“You mean ‘The Customs History’?” Theo poured himself a glass of wine and put two ice cubes into it. “This isn’t some strange and eccentric books. It records the nobility origin, tradition, kamon, and the famous specialty of each area of the kingdom. As an informant, first of all, you need to be knowledgeable to tell the value of the news from each area. As for sword fighting and assassination?” he smiled and said, “I don’t intend to get you to sneak into an organization or probe into the enemy’s internal information as it’s dangerous and time-consuming. In that case, I might as well directly spend more gold royals to bribe the insiders.”

“But not everyone can be bribed.” Hill insisted.

“And it’s equally difficult to send a mole into a strictly-controlled organization, and it’s not possible to sneak in without more than 10 to 20 years of effort.” Theo shook the glass and took a gulp of the wine. “Qualified intelligence officers only need to be good in two things, which are identifying the news and hiding. The books I’ve been giving you are the basis for identifying the news. As for the second point… As a member of the acrobatic troupe, you should be more experienced than I am. For example, you dressed well today.”

“…” Clown and the others were also rushing to this secluded house as Hill Fawkes lowered his head and contemplated about Theo’s words.

“Your Excellency, they all have arrived.”

“If so, let’s get started.” Theo set down his glass and opened up the notebook. “Who’ll be the first?”

“I’ll speak first, Your Excellency.” Rockhill who had a strong-built was the first to speak. “A batch of newcomers has moved into the camps on the king’s city’s eastern suburbs.”

The news slightly surprised the guards as they did not expect the first information to be bad. The barracks set up in the suburbs had become the militia’s headquarter since the king’s city’s knightage had lost most of the men. All the Rats, fugitives, and criminals who were recruited by Timothy would be sent into the eastern camp before the expedition. And now there was new manpower supplement in just a month after a group of over 1,000 militiamen had been sent to the Western Region.

“How many of them?”

“There are only 200 to 300 people and most of them seem to come from the Northern Region… There’re also a few Rats from the Blood Sail, but there’re fewer Rats willing to go as compared to the first two times.”

“Closely keep track of them and report to me as long as there were over 200 men increased each time,” Theo ordered.

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

These people had only one use which was being the consumable after taking the pills. Now the Queen of Clearwater was moving towards the north and the Southern Territory was powerless to resist. Timothy would undoubtedly continue to attack His Highness Roland’s territory, so he must send the news back to Border Town as soon as possible.

“Next, Clown will present to you the secret information, or perhaps, a gossip,” Clown said in an exaggerated tone, “I can’t verify the truth of the news, however, those merchants make it sound very real so I’ll take it as a truth. They mentioned that Garcia Wimbledon’s Blacksail Fleet appeared in the Kingdom of Everwinter and attacked the church causing the siege of Wolfheart City to crumble. They’re preparing to take the advantage to sell goods which are in shortage there before the winter.”

“The Queen of Clearwater actually went to the Kingdom of Everwinter?” Theo felt slightly surprised but it was not important if the news was true because when she chose to leave the Kingdom of Graycastle she had given up the right to compete for the throne. “That’s all?”

“Well, I know it’s a bit far from the Kingdom of Graycastle,” he said while sticking his tongue out, “but I’ll find out more useful news next time.”

“Ahem.” Hill coughed twice. “Your Excellency, I’ve some new clues for the task you entrusted me with. Timothy has built a new workshop in Inner City and recruited many mud craftsmen. They purchased a huge amount of saltpeter and shipped them to there. However, my people couldn’t learn more about the use of saltpeter as the workshop was heavily-guarded.”

“Oh?” Theo was surprised. “They’ve really moved the saltpeter into the workshop?”

“Indeed.” Hill nodded. “I’ve also personally stalked a carriage of goods.”

This was an extremely valuable piece of information. He had served His Highness Roland for a long time, so he knew that the invincible gunpowder was an alchemical item mainly composed of saltpeter. He noticed that and arranged Hill Fawkes to probe the whereabouts and uses of the goods since the saltpeter from the niter plant around the king’s city was largely acquired.

The intention of the other party to transfer the saltpeter from the alchemist workshop to the production workshop meant that they had mastered the gunpowder formula. The priority of this information was higher than that of the increasing soldiers in the eastern outskirt camp.

“Good job.” Theo praised.

…

The crowd left the mansion in batches after the confidential conversation.

Hill suddenly asked before he left, “Your Excellency, can we really dethrone Timothy with what we’re doing?”

“Of course,” the guard said with a smile, “Didn’t you see the letter His Highness Roland send through his routed troops? His throne is crumbling.”

Theo saw an unexpected acquaintance, Sean, when he returned to the Covert Trumpeter tavern in the evening.

He was also a guard around His Highness Prince Roland, just like himself.

They walked into the guest room on the second floor and both of them greeted each other before Theo pulled the curtains closed and whispered, “How did you know that I’m here?”

“His Highness sent me to pass a keepsake to Lady Margaret, and she knows where you’re.” Sean pulled out a glittering red gemstone and shook it.

“Does he have a new mission for me?”

“It’s not a mission but a gift.” Sean walked to the window with a smile. He opened the curtain a crack and whistled. There were three tawny birds flew into the room and stopped on the table while cooing at him until each of the bird was fed with some grain.

It was the first time Theo ever saw such a gifted bird. “This is…”

“A carrier pigeon trained by the witch,” Sean patted the pigeon on its neck and explained, “Different from the normal carrier pigeon, they could fly freely to and from both the places by itself without anyone letting them out or putting it back to their nests. All you need to do is to give the pigeon a specific command and they’ll send the news to His Highness. If everything goes smoothly, you would receive His Highness’ reply within a day.”