Chapter 549 Agatha's Decision
Lightning shot straight down to the bottom of the balloon, located the explosive package fixed to the gasbag, pulled out the delayed fuse, and after seeing white smoke rising from the mouth of the package, immediately plunged towards the sea.
This was a simple self-destruct device. Once the enemy came looking for the balloon, the bait had to destroy the Long Look in order to prevent the demons from becoming interested in it, or abandoning the witches to study this novel thing, which would be rather awkward.
Lightning had just descended to the sea surface when she heard a loud bang—in an instant, the sky seemed to brighten a bit!
Looking up, she saw the gasbag expand into a huge red fireball, the center a bright orange-yellow, with dark red clouds rolling around the edges. The flames lasted for several breaths before gradually fading, like a fallen sun.
She even saw a demon that had gotten too close being overturned by the rolling flames, its whole body ablaze, falling into the sea along with its mount.
The other four shadows shot out from beneath the smoke, rushing towards her.
So far, everything was going according to plan.
Demons were nothing more than this.
Lightning curled the corners of her mouth, flying close to the sea surface towards the forest.
Next, she would lead them into the depths of the Leaf Lord's dense forest.
The hunting ground had been prepared and was quietly waiting for the prey to take the bait.
The dense branches, vines, and saw-tooth grass would surely be the enemy's nightmare.
—If they could dream.
……
Silvie unfolded her Eye of Magic, searching the ambush area. The forest controlled by Leaf emitted a green glow. From the sky, it looked like a long-necked bottle embedded in the earth, the mouth facing the Whirlpool Sea, and the body far away several miles away.
She endured the waves of dizziness, scanning the inside of each tree trunk. Massive amounts of detailed images flooded into her brain, causing a throbbing headache. As she approached the mouth of the bottle, Silvie finally found Agatha hiding in a large tree.
"What are you doing here?" As soon as Maggie landed, a crack opened in the tree trunk, and Agatha poked her head out. "Did the bait plan fail?"
"No, five demons are chasing after us," she jumped off the beast's back, picked up the pale little girl who had returned to her original form, and anxiously squeezed into the tree, "but three of them are different!"
"How are they different?"
Silvie described the strange demons she had seen in detail, and then noticed that Agatha had a shocked expression.
Her heart sank. "Are they difficult to deal with?"
It took a long time for the latter to recover, and she said with an unsightly expression, "Those demons wearing robes are Mind Eaters, extremely terrifying killers for mortals, but witches are not afraid of them, as long as they avoid eye contact—beneath the fire-scar-like mark on their faces, hides the Mind Eater's true eyes."
"So they are the Mind Eaters..." Silvie murmured. In the stories of the ancient witches, these demons could directly shock the enemy's minds, causing fear, timidity, confusion, and despair. Often three or four of them could defeat a human army of about a hundred people. Many people, in extreme terror, couldn't even muster the idea of resistance, trembling and kneeling on the ground, waiting to be slaughtered by them. While God's Stone of Retaliation could greatly weaken this effect, it could not completely eliminate it, and the enemies seemed to have an innate ability to influence minds, with no obvious magic fluctuations observed during their casting.
"Then... what about the armor demon that can fly alone? Could it be a Lord of Hell?"
"No," Agatha's voice was incredibly dry, "if you're not mistaken, I think it's highly likely to be a High-Ranked Demon... We're in trouble."
"High-Ranked... Demon?" Silvie asked in surprise.
"The Union knows very little about them, only that these demons each possess several abilities, and resemble humans, only much larger... both in strength and magic, they are extremely powerful." She swallowed. "It is said that only the Extraordinary Above can contend with them."
"Extraordinary Above? We don't even have an Extraordinary Witch right now!"
Silvie said anxiously, "Hurry up and notify Leaf to stop the operation. Let's gather together and retreat to the First Army's defense line."
Agatha bit her lip. "It can fly alone because it wears a flying magic stone. If it were just Lightning and Maggie, it would be fine, but once so many of us leave Leaf's protection, we won't be able to escape its pursuit. Although I haven't seen a real High-Ranked Demon, I've heard Lady Akalys say that when fighting these cunning and powerful demons, you must concentrate all your energy on the enemy, even a small oversight could cost you your life!"
After speaking, she vigorously slapped the tree trunk until Leaf's voice sounded overhead, "I'm listening, what's the matter?"
Agatha said resolutely, "The plan has changed. Notify all witches to switch to Plan B. Have Nightingale keep a close eye on the armored demon, and Anna seize the opportunity to strike directly, without any hesitation!"
Plan B meant abandoning the capture and using the Mark of Divine Will to annihilate the enemy.
"Are we... really going to fight a High-Ranked Demon?" Silvie couldn't help but hug Maggie tightly.
"Exposing our backs to the enemy is a dead end, going all out is our only chance," Agatha said slowly, "High-Ranked Demons rarely appear alone, they always lead a large army to sweep across, now the enemy only has two Mind Eaters as guards, even without the Extraordinary Above, we may not fail!"
"I see Lightning," Leaf's voice sounded again, "They're coming!"
"Shh—"
Silvie held her breath, hearing two whooshing sounds passing over the top of the tree, followed by the sound of heavy objects landing in front.
The demons' rapid footsteps echoed on one side of the jungle, soon fading away, leaving only the low growls of the Terror Beasts.
"What's the situation?"
"The armor demon didn't land, it's still following Lightning, the other demons left their mounts outside the forest and followed in, wait... it seems like one pursuer is missing," Silvie observed the situation for a while, "The closest to us are only three Terror Beasts."
"Good, I'll go and take care of these stupid reptiles first, so that even if the enemy wants to escape, they have nowhere to go," Agatha pried open the bark crack, "Your ability is not suitable for combat, just continue to hide here."
"But they can fly!" Silvie said anxiously, "What if the enemy wants to escape?"
"Don't worry," she looked at the little girl who was eager to try, "We still have Maggie."
……
Just as the Terror Beasts were waiting impatiently, a "kin" suddenly fell from the sky, landed behind them, and raised its wings, chasing its tail and spinning, making "ao ao" sounds.
Their attention was immediately attracted.
Silvie was surprised to find that the three Terror Beasts were also learning Maggie's appearance, opening their wings and wagging their tails, looking almost like they were dancing! And in order to compete for performance space, the three monsters were pushing and shoving each other on the grass.
Were they... trying to please her?
On the other side, Agatha had quietly walked out of the forest, and a layer of snow-white ice crystals was forming on the ground under her feet!