Release that Witch

”To have a God’s Punishment Witch sit on the plane?”

”Exactly. The anti-magic area works the same way as a God’s Stone. A dozen God’s Punishment Witches should be able to kill the Magic Slayer. Even if they couldn’t, our sniper team will give him one last blow,” the Pearl of the Northern Region stated flatly. ”Of course, this isn’t going to be easy. Our plan really depends on how the other party will react. Nevertheless, we do have some ways to tackle him. Personally, I think this plan will work. Our enemy has seen bullets and guns but not the ’Seagull’. They won’t believe a man can actually fly in the sky.”

Roland instantly undertood the General Staff’s intention.

They could never rely on the sniper team entirely. If the Magic Slayer noticed that the patrolling Devilbeasts mysteriously disappeared and thereby found out this long-range weapon, he would naturally develop corresponding countermeasures. The Magic Slayer would probably swerve in the air or hurtle really low above the ground. In that case, even Andrea could not anything about him.

Andrea’s ability was to find out the enemy. However, the enemy might not necessarily show up on the battlefield.

Under such circumstances, someone else must entice the enemy out of hiding.

The one who provoked the Magic Slayer must be equally fast and powerful, but there was no such person among the witches.

Therefore, the General Staff thought of combining the glider and the God’s Punishment Witches, which Roland had to admit was a really clever strategy.

The ”Seagull” could bid her time in clouds before diving to the ground. After she accumulated a certain amount of kinetic energies, the ’Seagull” could travel over 500 miles an hour and catch up with the Magic Slayer sprinting on the ground.

Yet...

”This is the best plan we can think of at the moment, but I don’t think Ashes will agree. This is too dangerous. You may run directly into the Magic Slayer,” Roland broke off and stared at Tilly. ”So...”

”I’ll let her recede,” Tilly said resolutely after a moment of silence. ”I want to do this.”

”Your Highness!” Wendy yelled exasperatedly.

Roland dimly knew what the superintendent of the Witch Union was thinking. The very two figures that tied all the witches together are Anna and Tilly. The former was the queen and the latter the legal royal heir to the throne. Wendy did not want to see either of them put themselves in a dangerous position.

”This mission isn’t any different from the transporation of witches that we normally do. By the time the Magic Slayer notices the ’Seagull’, the other Taquila witches would have rounded on him. Therefore, everything will be under control,” Tilly said with a smile. ”Don’t worry, Ashes and I know what we’re doing. We won’t do anything beyond our capabilities.”

Knowing that Tilly was determined, Roland did not want to further discuss the matter. He turned to Edith and said, ”Go on.”

”Yes, Your Majesty,” Edith replied as she walked to the map. ”The last step of this plan is to launch an ambush. The Senior Demons could not hold up for very long without the Red Mist, so they would have to retreat to recharge. This means that the best location for an ambush is somewhere close to their Red Mist supply line.”

”Regarding that, I have a suggestion,” Alethea cut in suddenly. ”I’m not sure if you still remember the infiltration mission carried out by that Extraordinary the other day.”

”Oh... that silly girl,” Tilly said as she mopped her forehead. ”She wasted one precious Five-Colored Stone because of that operation.”

”But now, we’ll have an excellent view at that location at the rear of the Taquila ruin,” Alethea said, her main tentacle high up in the air. ”Once we turn on the phantom instrument, we’ll be able to see everything about their Red Mist supply line!”

Roland remembered that after the wolf girl, Lorgar, had discovered the demons in the vicinity of the ruin, the Witch Union had gone to scout around that area at once. As they had deviated from their original course, the mission had failed. If they had broken the Five-Colored Stone right in front of Taquila, they would have known every single movement of the demons and thus avoided the subsequent raid at Tower Station No. 1.

However, this failure could now, quite contrarily, help them.

Somehow he thought of one old saying.

”You never know whether this is a premoniton or a bless in disguise.”

”Well, in that case, Iron Axe and Edith will stay at the Third Border City to draft a detailed ambush operation plan,” Roland said. ”As for the God’s Stone bullet, Agatha, please work with the Ministry of Engineering.”

”As you wish, Your Majesty!” everyone replied together.

When the meeting was over, Alethea suddenly whispered to Roland.

”Celine hopes that you could come to the underground lab. We’ve got a breakthrough in the research on the Magic Ceremony Cube.”

...

Half an hour later, Roland showed up in the underground lab.

Celine turned on the Magic Cube and instantly, a familiar red light appeared in front of him.

”The breakthrough you talked about...”

”Please look at this,” Celine said as she handed two small stones the size of a thumb nail with her auxiliary tentacles. ”They’re both the cube parts and are pretty old.”

”They do look old,” Roland said as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. There were noticeable signs of abrasion at one end closer to the outer surface of the cube. ”Have you successfully disassembled the Magic Cube already? No, hold on, you have the parts. Then how come it can still illuminate? Is it because...”

”Yes, Your Majesty,” Celine said smilingly. ”I installed my replicates on the Magic Cube. The cube works perfectly fine, which indicate that those replicates work as well. What do you think of it?”

”Ingenious...” Roland remarked as he held Celine’s tentacles excitedly as if he was appreciating some delicate instruments. ”It only took you three months. I thought that would take you at least a year!”

”Slimwrist from the Sleeping Spell helped me a lot, and the structure of the Magic Cube is much simpler than that of the magic core,” Celine answered, a little embarrassed under Roland’s feverish gaze, and disengaged herself. ”I withdraw my words that we need thousands of stones. I believe we only need 500 to make a cube replicate.”

”The garrison at the Festive Harbor is now taking actions under my order. I believe we’ll soon hear something from them,” Roland said cheerfully. If the replicates works, this new device might, like the steam engine, bring about drastic changes to Neverwinter.

”Well, if that’s the case, can I ask you for something in return?” Celine suddenly changed the subject hopefully. ”Of course, this is all for our future research.”

”What do you want then?” Roland asked curiously.

”An assistant, an assistant who could help me better understand the knowledge in the Dream World,” Celine answered as she swayed her main tentacle. ”My fellow witches would be most suitable for this position. However, they feel it hard to learn on their own. They told me there are institutions where an instructor can help students and answer their questions. I think that would be much easier for them. So, Your Majesty, could you send them to school?”