Chapter 720. Match Results, Entrance Ceremony
Just as Agatha had predicted, by the afternoon, the joyful roars of Maisie were rarely heard.
Witches are often in a state of high tension during combat, which is a dual drain on both magic power and physical strength. Therefore, in the Union's combat training, how to seize the time to relax and recover strength is the most crucial content. After all, when facing swarming demons, only by relying on reasonable rotation and team cooperation can one survive on the battlefield.
Therefore, when Phyllis drove and lured the demonic beasts, Agatha would sit aside and take the opportunity to rest, until several demonic beasts gathered into a ball... She also used Bai Xue (White Snow) with dry food to cope with lunch, hardly stopping for a moment. After freezing three or four at a time, Agatha would solidify the accumulated snow into a smooth, solid ice, and quickly deliver the prey to the Western Region wall by sliding.
As the gray sky gradually darkened, Leaf issued a notice to them that the competition was over.
Returning to the starting point, the two were surprised to find that there were as many as a hundred demonic beasts locked in the wooden cages, with about thirty mixed species among them. The largest wolf-bear hybrid was almost as tall as the city wall, with limbs as thick as stone pillars. Even the Divine Punishment Army and the Dire Beast would probably have difficulty carrying it.
Which group caught this?
Although Phyllis showed no change on the surface, a hint of loss welled up in her heart. After all, the two had done their best—the result of twenty-two small demonic beasts was originally thought to be outstanding enough, but now it seemed likely to be the lowest-scoring group.
The question was, how did the other two groups catch so many demonic beasts?
"You've worked hard," Wendy walked up to the crowd, relieved to see that everyone was safe and sound. She took out a notebook from her arms and began to announce the results.
"Neverwinter team, seven points, performed well."
Wait... seven points? Phyllis couldn't help but be stunned. The first place wasn't the Neverwinter team? Could it be that the two from Sleeping Island captured the remaining dozen or so demonic beasts?
"It's all Maisie's fault," Lightning said, covering her forehead. "If she hadn't gone to dig out a winter eagle's nest halfway and spent an hour baking bird eggs, we should have been able to catch a few more."
"It was clearly you who asked me to go, goo..." The pigeon squatting on the little girl's head made a grievance-filled murmur, "And you ate the most after baking, and you even went to pick a handful of bird-kiss mushrooms, saying that bird eggs with mushrooms taste better, goo..."
"Anyway, it's good to be back safely... um, next is the Sleeping Island team, fifteen points, as expected of Ashes," Wendy continued.
"She's just a errand runner," Andrea sighed. "I knocked down all the demonic beasts, but unfortunately, there were too few monsters encountered, and she didn't run fast enough."
Ashes glared at the other party unhappily, "Try carrying a wild boar species and running back and forth fifteen times in the snow?"
"Only muscle brutes are suitable for this kind of thing."
"That's also better than someone who is weak and frail."
"You—"
"Ahem," Wendy quickly interrupted the two's quarrel, "Finally, the Taqila team, a total of twenty-two points! Congratulations, a month's worth of Chaos Drink reward is yours!"
"Ah, so enviable!" Andrea said unwillingly.
"I want to drink too, goo..." Maisie stared at Agatha eagerly.
Phyllis was surprised, "But there are clearly a hundred demonic beasts in the cage..."
"Ah, those were all caught by Leaf in passing," Wendy waved her hand with a smile.
With this sentence from the Union leader, all the contestants unanimously turned their eyes to the green-haired witch on the side.
Leaf touched the back of her head embarrassedly, "Because I was worried that there would be too many demonic beasts entering the hunting area, I set up a trap zone of about one kilometer on the periphery, only allowing them to pass through a few fixed passages. Later, thinking that the demonic beasts that fell into the vine traps couldn't be let go casually anyway, I simply dragged them all to the edge of the forest, so that Roland His Majesty could add a little more targets."
The scene was silent.
Relying on one
person's strength, the demonic beasts caught surpassed all the gains of the competition group, and it was also completed in the process of monitoring the competition. Is there still such a terrible combat witch hidden among the Union's high-level promoters!
Even a transcendent being couldn't catch so many demonic beasts in one day.
What is this inexplicable frustration and feeling of being hit...
Phyllis suddenly felt that the first place in the competition was not so important anymore.
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The next day, Neverwinter finally completed all the preparations for the artillery drill.
When Roland came to the western city wall, the two sides of the wall were already crowded with residents who came to watch the exercise—two thousand tickets were swept away, and according to Edith's statistics, most of the ticket buyers were original Border Town residents. Obviously, for the local people, spending two silver wolves to participate in an event attended by His Majesty the King was no longer an unbearable burden.
The sky over the Western Region seemed to be cooperating with the exercise, and the heavy snow that fell all night stopped in the early morning, and the whistling north wind also eased a little. The vast wilderness west of the city wall was like a silver-white carpet, and the ruts and footprints left by the previous transport of demonic beasts were all covered by snow, making it look flat and clean.
The demonic beasts used as targets undoubtedly became the focus of the audience—more than a hundred trophies were divided into three rows at distances of 300 meters, 500 meters, and 1,000 meters. The more ferocious and burly the mixed species, the closer they were to the city wall. Obviously, witnessing these powerful monsters turn into bloody and blurred pieces under the bombardment of artillery fire could bring unparalleled enjoyment to the residents of Neverwinter, who had suffered from the Evil Moon.
As for the smaller batch, they were all used as embellishments for the pre-buried gunpowder, anyway, the distance was far away, so there was no need to see so clearly, but the quantity was more important. In the last row, the cages imprisoning the demonic beasts were arranged in a rectangle nearly one hundred meters long and wide, just waiting to usher in the most brilliant brilliance.
"Your Majesty, the First Army Artillery Battalion is ready," Iron Axe ascended the city wall and reported loudly.
Roland exhaled a white breath and turned to look at Echo beside him, "Play the march for the parade."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
As magic power unfolded from Echo's fingertips, the loud and familiar music instantly resounded throughout the entire city wall—clearly, this march had long been tiresome to listen to during school sports meets, but now, when it resounded again in the sky over Neverwinter, Roland still felt an involuntary throbbing in his heart. It was as if the melody contained surging power, causing him to involuntarily hold his head high and chest out to welcome the arrival of the soldiers.
All the chattering residents quieted down and turned their eyes to the end of the longest street closest to the city wall. A team of soldiers wearing uniforms of the same color appeared at the street corner, and orderly walked towards the designated position.
He remembered that when he first encountered the Evil Moon two years ago, this city was only the size of a palm. People who had only trained for less than two months held spears and short guns and resisted the demonic beasts on the cement wall made of rubble. Even an ordinary mixed species could make the militia team flustered. But now, they can calmly face higher-level challenges, and the seemingly powerful demonic beasts have become targets for Neverwinter to show its strength. This contrast made Roland feel excited.
When the soldiers climbed the city wall from the gentle slope, the crowd burst into enthusiastic applause, wave after wave, seemingly never stopping. He knew that any speech was no longer necessary at this moment. All that the audience expected was the sweet roar of artillery fire.
"I announce, the artillery drill now begins!" Roland loudly issued the order.