Chapter 985: The Shadow of the Dragon
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
As more and more Mad Demons and Devilbeasts were eradicated, they gradually recovered control over the chaotic situation.
Agatha walked around the artillery battalion and found the ground littered with the broken limbs of giant monsters. She had to admit that in a close-range hand-to-hand battle, nobody could ever parallel the God's Punishment Witches. Their fighting capacity was absolutely phenomenal, and it was even greater when they were equipped with the new firearms invented by His Majesty. Had the Witch Union not received their support, they would probably have struggled to fight off these 30 Devilbeasts and certainly would not have had time to watch out for the Mad Demons flanking from behind.
Nevertheless, it appeared that the God's Punishment Witches still preferred traditional combat methods over the large-caliber grapeshot guns to enact their vengeance. On more than one occasion, Agatha had witnessed an ancient witch give her opponent a final blow with a sword or even her fist after the latter was left sprawling on the ground under the bombardment of the firearms, as though they could only find solace in being bathed in the blood of the demons.
It seemed that 400 years of waiting had changed many things.
Perhaps the demons also had a difficult time understanding why they were being flattened by a group of ordinary men, who apparently possessed far greater physical strength and speed than them. Horrified by the unexpected circumstances, the last two Mad Demons, who were caught off guard by Breeze, pretty much stopped resisting in the end. Meanwhile, Breeze also impaled another demon who came to rescue his peers.
Presently, the substitute artillery battalion joined the battle. Four more cannons that had previously been tipped over by the Devilbeasts were once again erected upright on the battlefield and were soon back to normal operation. At the same time, the first Longsong Cannon that had restored its service thundered continuously, further raising the morale of the soldiers.
"How many enemies left?" After everybody gathered around, Agatha asked Zooey.
"16 if they have no further reinforcements." Zooey cast a glance at the sky. "The flying Devilbeasts suffered a loss of about 70% of their numbers. Whatever their original intention was, they've lost. But they still refuse to leave, which signals that they must be preparing for a final attack."
"A final attack?" Agatha knitted her brows.
In order to stay away from the storm of machine gun bullets, the rest of the demons all rose somewhere higher, even beyond the range of their spears. It would definitely be trickier and more dangerous for them to approach the fortifications on the ground a second time. More importantly, the army on the ground was now fully prepared for any upcoming strike. Even if there was another round of a spearing attack, the soldiers were confident in minimizing the losses. Since a defeat was certain, the demons should have been thinking about how to retreat rather than putting up a desperate struggle.
"You used to be a member of the Quest Society and rarely participated personally in open combat, so you might not know much about their operational style and behaviors," Zooey explained heavily. "A fully grown flying Devilbeast is very precious to the demons. Only a commander-level demon is entitled to so many flying Devilbeasts at a time. For this type of demon, completing missions is their top priority. They would rather be killed in a battle than retreat upon failure."
"If so, why didn't this commander come down in the first place?" Breeze couldn't help asking.
"Because he didn't find a rival worthy of his attention." A strange smile fluttered over Zooey's face. "If there was an Extraordinary among us, he would have come down to challenge her long ago."
"Why?"
"It's probably in their nature." Zooey rested her eyes back again on the sky. "They're ferocious and barbarous creatures who enjoy slaughter. Although they've been gradually bearing an increasing physical resemblance to mankind, they're still nothing but animals... It was thanks to this violent nature that Lady Natalia and the Queen of Starfall City got so many opportunities to fight against senior Magic Slayers and finally elevated themselves to Transcendents."
In other words, the enemy was too proud to launch an attack at an opportune moment, yet had too much honor to desert his post when faced with defeat. Agatha was not sure whether Zooey's assumption was correct. However, she was certain that the latter was not any ordinary witch since she even knew details of how two of the Three Chiefs had been promoted.
Agatha asked, "Who were you... in the Union Age?"
"Miss Pasha didn't tell you?" Zooey smiled faintly. "I was one of Lady Natalia's personal guards, and I was also known as the 'Red Lotus' amongst the Blessed Army."
The Ice Witch instantly remembered the title. If Agatha had been the youngest senior witch, the most widely recognized genius researcher in Taquila, then Red Lotus could have been regarded as the most promising and powerful Extraordinary, and was the most likely to succeed Natalia.
Unfortunately, the Union had fallen apart before that time could come.
If Agatha remembered correctly, she and Red Lotus should have been of the same age.
However, Zooey was currently not in any way similar to the person she remembered.
Time had reshaped her character and turned her into a completely different person.
"They're coming." Agatha was still lost in thought when Zooey reminded her. "You go protect those fragile mortals. We'll take care of these enemies."
As if corroborating Zooey's statement, Sylvie's voice suddenly popped up from the Sigil of Listening. "Oh heavens, what's that? Agatha, watch out! There're multiple magic reactions among the enemies!"
Theoretically, each witch could only have one Magic Cyclone, whereas demons utilized embedded Magic Stones to apply their power. Therefore, demons could have more than one cyclone. The Union referred those demons with more than one cyclone as Senior Demons. They might vary a lot in terms of strength and fighting capacity, but all of them were, unequivocally, hard nuts to crack.
"Any problems there?" Breeze asked apprehensively.
"Oh, no need to worry," Zooey replied slowly. "The Queen of Starfall City might have selected the wrong path, but there was something that she was right about. The God's Punishment Witches are designed to battle Senior Demons."
Just at that moment, a shadow suddenly leaped out of the clouds and dashed toward the artillery!
Following the shadow, the other hovering Mad Demons all started to dive to the ground. Although the machine guns directly below them could not really aim at the descending demons due to the restrictions on the shooting angles, the anti-air emplacements placed around them did not have any such difficulties in shooting down the enemies. Several demons were shot down on their way, despite their attempts to dodge the projectiles by zigzagging through the bullet rain.
This time, the opponents aimed their spears at the anti-aircraft machine guns next to the Longsong Cannons.
Beyond a doubt, their intention was to clear the way for the shadow figure so that it could reach the core of the artillery battalion.
While Agatha was assisting the soldiers in defending against the pelted bone spears, she also noticed in surprise that the object that was plummeting like a meteorite was a colossal Devilbeast even bigger than Maggie. Its wings and abdomen, all armored in black, gleamed like a lusterless crystal. Even its head and horns were sharper than those of normal Devilbeasts, making it resemble the "dragons" of legends at the first glance.
When the "dragon" landed, the earth trembled. The air was saturated with ashes and dust that blinded people's eyes.
Immediately after landing, the Devilbeast opened its huge crimson mouth, producing a long, loud belch...
A burly black-armored demon crept out of the Devilbeast's wet throat and presented himself in front of everybody.