Release that Witch

“The key to ending the Battle of Divine Will has been found…” Victor muttered to himself. “His Majesty is determined to take the initiative and attack our enemies to end the flames of war outside the Fertile Plains?”

Even after experiencing so many inconceivable matters in the past, the headlines was still as shocking as before. Every line was worth being elaborated. Back in the past, such news would have never left the confines of royalty, much less an ordinary businessman like him of zero noble status.

The report had an extremely grand drawing: the commotion caused by the descent on the floating island into the sea did not announce the end of the demons’ attack. Thousand of kilometers away, a new Blackstone stronghold was rushing towards Neverwinter through day and night. Beneath it held millions of demons—enough to drown the entire human kingdom! To prevent this from occurring, the king had decided to take action and prevent the flames of war from affecting the ordinary citizens.

Upon defeating the approaching enemies, the King would send out an expeditionary force to the other side of the world where the boundary between both continents existed, to remove the threat of the Battle of Divine Will. Upon obtaining success, a long and peaceful era would emerge, and be it demons or demonic beasts, nothing would ever threaten the safety of mankind.

Victor was familiar with expeditions, since he had personally witnessed a miracle more than a year ago. Relying on the heavy machinery called a train, the First Army had transported troops to the deserted Fertile Plains almost five hundred kilometers away and defeated the demons that occupied the northern ruins. At that time, Graycastle Weekly had a detailed written record of the entire process, with a realistic drawing termed as a ‘photograph.’ Victor could still recall the sensation of overlooking the black train’s rushing headlong into the Fertile Plains.

But this time, King Roland seemed to have taken one step further, one that was even more thorough.

He’s actually planning on moving a mountain into the sky to become an expedition stronghold!

Can it truly be accomplished by human hands?

Victor eagerly flipped to the second page. He saw the plan being divided into three phases, the first being the lift off stage—the entire North Slope Mountain and a kilometer of soil beneath would be escape the restraints of the Impassable Mountain Range and become a single entity.

The second phase was flight test stage. North Slope Mountain would be integrated into the army and be conferred with the name “Eleanor Skycruiser” officially. In this phase, the floating island would patrol Neverwinter’s surroundings multiple times for training as well as await the perfect opportunity to attack.

The last phase was the official set off, to fight the enemy a thousand kilometers away.

The Administrative Office termed the battle as the war to decide the fate of mankind. Aside from soldiers, the support provided by various professions was equally as important; thus, the remuneration given were rather handsome, two to three times that of a peer working in a similar job in Neverwinter. Aside from that, volunteers would have their name added onto a monument that would stand tall perpetually inside King’s City.

Additionally, Lord Barov divulged at the end that only those who volunteered to go aboard the floating island would have the opportunity to witness mankind’s strongest weapon in history.

At this point, Victor realized that the Administrative Office would be crammed to the point where not a single drop of water could flow through. The difference between Neverwinter’s citizens and migrants from other cities was how they viewed the floating island. When he interacted with the locals, he often got the misconception that the land not only belonged to King Roland, but that they also had a share in it. Furthermore, once an individual settled into the city and received his identity card, they would have the similar acknowledgment and sentiments towards the land, because he had experienced it for himself before.

He would even hear migrants from the Kingdom of Dawn discussing about Neverwinter’s various miracles with pride, something that was unheard of before.

If not for his business, Victor had the urge to ascend the floating island and experience and witness everything.

“Connect me to the Administrative Office, tell them that Rainbow Stones is willing to contribute a thousand sets of clothes.”

“Yes, my lord.” Tinkle nodded.

“Right, have you asked about North Slope Mountain’s exact flight date?”

“It should be within the next two or three days; the mountaintop already looks completely different from before.”

“In two or three days… I’m afraid that the good seats have already been snatched clean.” Victor folded the newspaper and walked to the window. Although the Miracle Building was tall, it was too far from the Impassable Mountain Range. Victor felt it appropriate to witness the marvel at close proximity. He turned and took out a key. “Tinkle, you should know what to do, right?”

Fortunately, anything that could be solved with money was not considered a big matter to him.

“Leave it to me, my lord.” Tinkle smiled and accepted the key.

…

Three days later, the First Army removed the cordon tape at the foot of the mountain, indicating to the public that the moment they had been waiting for was about to arrive.

The current North Slope Mountain was completed different from before. From a distance, one could see dense scaffolding all around, the irregular mountain walls had been artificially remodeled—not only were the walls smoothened, there were various places that had been patched up. All of the patches that were either made out of metal or lubricating oil fabric were distinctly out of place with the stone walls, but made the natural structure look more like a weapon.

What shocked Victor the most were the several hundred strips of flags that hung down from a high elevation.

They were just like a skirt for the mountain that undulated like waves along with the wind.

The tower and rifle emblem symbolized Graycastle Kingdom.

The red, black, and white colors made it even more dignified.

The visual impact was one that would live eternally in everyone’s mind.

The crowds on the street grew and by noon, all the main streets had become impenetrable. If not for the black-clothed policemen and army personnel directing the crowd towards the Misty Forest, half the city would be in deadlock.

Following the deep and resounding alarm that resonated through the entire city, Victor, positioned at an exceptionally good spot on the roof of a building in West Street, felt tremors from the soles of his feet.

Very quickly, the tremors turned into loud rumblings!

In that instant, it felt as though the entire Neverwinter had boiled over—

It was the sound of the mountain being ripped apart.

Despite being expectant of the proceedings, witnessing the scene first hand caused Victor to gape in shock.

Tinkle grabbed onto his arm tightly.

North Slope Mountain slowly ascended in an indomitable fashion, releasing dust from the severed connections with the Impassable Mountain Range. The scaffolding situated on the surface collapsed, seemingly powerless at restraining so gigantic. The fallen trees, gravel, and scaffolding were left behind, but were later lifted up by the even wider bottom.

The entire scene resembled a radish being pulled out of the soil, except that the soil spanned over a kilometer of land. The floating island was in a distinct triangular shape with the lowest point situated at the center of the island. With the rise of North Slope Mountain, a gigantic pit was left in the ground’s surface, and faced with the sudden disappearance of the ‘roof’, countless underground creatures scurried away, becoming one of the vivid footnotes in this historical event.

This should have been an impossible task unachievable with human strength.

But the flags swaying on the mountain announced that there was no mistake—it declared that it belonged to Graycastle Kingdom, to mankind.

After waking up from their shock, the crowd erupted into deafening cheers. Once the first cries of “long live His Majesty” sounded, it was destined that the chanting would not stop until a long while after.

It took a long time for the feverish atmosphere to abate. Victor licked his dry lips and was about to bring Tinkle back to the hotel when he caught sight of an elderly figure on another roof from the corner of his eye. The figure looked so familiar that he slowed down in his tracks.

Victor tried to take a better look, only to discover that the figure was gone.

“My lord, what is it?” Tinkle sensed his strange behavior.

“No, it’s nothing… I might have been seeing things.” Victor hesitated, because no matter how he saw it, the old man somewhat resembled his father.

But how can Father appear here? He shook his head, and quickly threw the thought to the back of his mind.