Release that Witch

At the front near Tower Station No. 9 at the Fertile Plains.

”The target is 6’ 4’’ in the northeast, at 65 kilometers. We request for artillery fire.”

Sylvie lied on her stomach on Maggie’s back, looking down at the vast land below. The ground had been excavated around two or three days ago. The air was saturated with the fresh smell of soil.

”Copy,” Shavy answered curtly over the Sigil of Listening. ”Fire in five minutes.” She then added, ”Please be careful.”

Sylvie looked in the direction of Taquila. From where she stood, she could spy the ruin of the Holy City. Although it was more than 50 kilometers away from her and was no bigger than a finger nail from this distance, she somehow felt it was within her reach. Sihouletting against the forest, the ruined city looked like a miniscule sculpture long forgotten.

While the ruin was beyond the vision of the Eye of Magic, Sylvie could still sense the glimmers of that bright red fleck. As long as the red speck remained stationary, they were safe.

”Alright, got it.”

Sylvie slid the Sigil carefully into her pocket, patted Maggie’s broad back and said, ”Climb a little bit higher.”

”Awh!”

Maggie, who had now transformed into a Devilbeast, produced a long howl, her giant wings sprouting from her shoulder blades and flapping against the wind. She was now even larger than two normal Devilbeasts put together, even larger than the mutated Devilbeast ridden by Kabradhabi. Neverthless, Maggie was overall colossal even when she was in the form of a pigeon.

After they rose around 100 meters, they heard distant roars crack through the air.

Then several earth pillars rose from the ground at the front, which immediately rippled and sent grass flying in the sky. Shockwaves rocked the ground. Such a powerful explosion was always delightful to behold.

It was not long before a second and a third rounds of explosion took place.

The Artillery Battalion was now able to direct their shells accurately to their designated spots. Since it was difficult to calculate the exact targetted area, Sylvie simply did a rough estimate. The area was around 16,400 square meters, almost as large as the Castle District in Neverwinter, which was the district she was most familiar with.

As the Artillery Battalion continued to fire, Sylvie soon saw broken limbs exhaled from the cloud of dust.

A 152-caliber grenade would create a one-meter deep hole in the ground, whereas the demons could go no deeper than 50 centimeters underground even when the earth was permeated with the Red Mist. For the land uncorrupted by the Red Mist, the demons could hide underneath the ground but just barely. If a shell landed right on their heads, they would literally be blasted into smithereens.

Further, not only the grenade itself could kill a demon but the aftermath shockwaves could do so as well. As the demons were edging closely to the surface of the ground, any shockwaves within a radius of 20 meters would be fatal to the demons.

His Majesty called this type of random attack ”sweep”.

After five rounds of fierce bombardment, around 100 demons crept out from underground and started to retreat.

”The enemy has come out. They’re all Mad Demons. Please fire at the same shooting angle,” Sylvie instructed.

”Got it.”

Suddenly, as if sensing something, Sylvie looked toward Taquila and saw the red fleck flash and streak toward their encampment.

Sylvie immediately took out another Sigil of Listening and said, ”Lightning, come back, now! The Magic Slayer is coming!”

Maggie instantly turned about and retreated.

About seven minutes later, Maggie, Lightning and Sylvie all returned to the air defense zone. In the meantime, the Magic Slayer had also slid into their views. Sylvie saw the blue-skinned, human-like demon hover above the artillery encampment while staring at the three of them, his eyes gleaming maliciously.

The Artillery Battalion below was still firing.

The Magic Slayer was apparently furious but he could not do anything to protect his kind from the rain of shells.

At last, he headed back where he was coming, leaving the fleeing Mad Demons behind.

Sylvie was instantly relieved.

”He’s gone. Let’s fly around!” Maggie exclaimed in excitement.

However, at the sight of a nervous Lightning who balled her hand into a fist, Maggie quickly changed her mind. ”Let’s call it a day. I have to save some magic power for the night patrol. I’ve inspected the area within a radius of five to six kilometers and I’m pretty sure that the construction team is safe for now.”

...

After returning to the underground headquarters, Sylvie marked the bombarded area green.

There were many green areas like that along the railway.

”Good job,” Morning Light said as he held a cup of black tea. ”It seems that Lady Edith’s banishment plan has worked.”

Sylvie took the tea and said smilingly, ”Yes, it looks like so.”

This was actually not the first time they had repulsed the demons.

The scouting had indeed become increasingly dangerous when they were 100 kilometers away from Taquila, because from that point, Sylvie had to pay more attention to the movements on the ground instead of the sky. However, the demons, with the help of their gas tanks, could suspend in midair as long as they preferred within this range.

Given such circumstances, the Generla Staff developed a ”banishment plan”, which divided the scouting area into several sections. The area within two kilometers were marked as the safety zone. In this zone, the Magic Eye could see through and keep an eye on everything, so chances of them suffering a raid were pretty slim. The air force could leave the trenches in this area and provide broader protection.

The area within ten kilometers was called the recognization zone, which was the farthest the Longsong Cannons could reach and was also where Sylvie and Maggie mainly conducted their activities. This area would be marked green and considered as safe once a ”sweep” was completed.

The area beyond 10 kilometers but within 50 kilometers was the dangerous zone monitored solely by Lightning. The purpose of setting up this zone was to warn the soldiers of the enemy hidden in clouds and earn more time for Maggie and Sylvie to retreat. Only Lightning had the capability to shake off her pursuers. Not even the Magic Slayer could possibly keep up with Lightning who flew at the speed of sound.

It appeared that the ”banishment plan” worked pretty well. They had, at the moment, totally controlled the pace of the battle, leaving the demons no opportunities to fight back. Without the support of Mad Demons from the ground, the Devilbeasts in the sky found it hard to effectively stop the armored trains.

The main purpose of this ”banishment plan” was to transform the recognization zone gradually into a safety zone by slowly removing the demons’ outposts while keeping the Magic Slayer away from the battlement, so that he could do nothing about the scouting team. If they could successfully provoke him into breaking through the defensive line, that would be even better.

Nonetheless, the Magic Slayer had still not lost himself yet.

”By the way,” Sylvie said as she surveyed the room, ”where’s Miss Pearl of the Northern Region?”

”She went back to Neverwinter by the ’Seagull’ with Iron Axe after receiving His Majesty’s order,” Ferlin replied with a smile. ”I think that’s pretty much the time.”

To discuss the strategies and tactics for the final battle!