Roland was sitting in his office, listening to the intelligence coming back from the front lines.
“Silver... hsss... Light City has lowered the drawbridge... hsss... We are... entering the church... hsss...”
“Understood, be careful,” Nightingale replied.
“It seems this is the limit distance,” Roland unfolded the map and circled the location of Silver Light City, “If we want to directly contact the Eastern and Northern territories, we must set up a relay station here.”
Since possessing the Listening Talisman, he had become addicted to the feeling of knowing everything that was happening in the distance. The high-speed exchange of information made him feel like he was back in his previous era. At this moment, he was sitting in the command hall, monitoring every step of the entire battle situation.
Unfortunately, the Listening Talisman could not be spread infinitely. Just like the Tracking Talisman, its pointing ability would be greatly weakened beyond a certain range. If the two magic stones were too far apart, it would be difficult to ensure that the sound was clear and stable. Now it seemed that at least one relay was needed to issue orders from Neverwinter City to the entire country.
“And the number of talismans is not enough,” Nightingale picked up a piece of dried fish, “You only made four pairs in total, and the extraction operation used up half of them. It won't be easy to catch another demon.”
This problem also existed. The talisman could only transmit sound in one direction. If you wanted to achieve real-time communication, the witches needed at least two sets.
However, compared to flying messengers or manual delivery, it was already extremely efficient.
Of course, the talisman was not impossible to improve.
According to Agatha, its quality depended on the magic intensity of the Fusion Blood. For example, the Listening Talisman made by Anna had a better transmission effect. If high-level demon blood was added, perhaps one set could cover the entire Graycastle Kingdom.
“Hsss... Something is wrong... Wait...”
Sylvie's intermittent voice sounded again, and this sentence immediately cheered up the two people in front of the table.
“Another Purifier has appeared?” Nightingale swallowed the dried fish in one gulp, “Or a mobile magic black hole?”
The former was easy to handle, just locate and fire directly, while the latter had two possibilities—one was a believer wearing a God's Stone, and the other was a God's Punishment Army that was naturally not afraid of magic.
“No... hsss... I didn't see the... reaction of the God's Stone...”
“No God's Stone?” Roland frowned.
“No... there is nothing... in the church...” The voice paused for a moment, “We... went in... hsss... The basement is also empty...”
The two looked at each other. The church... had escaped?
“This situation is not impossible,” Roland said in frustration after a long while, “I was too cautious.”
No one in the kingdom could stop the First Army's advance, and the nobles were unwilling to actively run into the muzzle of the gun, but that did not mean that the fence-sitters among them would not secretly inform the church—the latter's withdrawal from the city with supplies was normal behavior when they had absolutely no way to win. Unlike the capture of Longsong Stronghold and the Dragonfall Ridge, the nobles who had not suffered a devastating disaster probably watched the entire looting operation. It was estimated that shortly after the attack on Redwater City, the churches in other cities received carrier pigeons about “the Fourth Prince is searching for God's Punishment Stones.”
If they had divided their forces from the beginning and sent three teams to attack three cities at the same time, they might have been able to wipe them all out in one fell swoop.
“You can't say that,” Nightingale handed a piece of dried fish to Roland's mouth, “After all, Sylvie is the only one who can see through enemy ambushes. If we encounter a difficult Purifier, the dispersed army may be severely damaged. Caution also has its advantages.”
Roland was slightly taken aback and bit the dried fish, “You are quite good at comforting people now.”
“Hehe,” she said mischievously, “How is it, are you feeling better? If you're still not happy, I'll massage your shoulders—Wendy taught me a technique that is said to be very comfortable.”
“Wendy knows this too?”
“She knows a lot of things,” Nightingale raised her eyebrows, “When the Co-operation Association traveled all the way and suffered all kinds of hardships, it was she who stabilized the team. Otherwise, with Hakala's weird temper, she would have driven everyone away long ago. No one does a better job of taking care of her sisters than she does.”
Roland rubbed his chin for a while. There were no political affairs to deal with at the moment, and the First Army had successfully entered Silver Light City, so he might as well relax and take a nap.
Just as he was about to agree, the magic stone in Nightingale's arms made a sound again.
This time the sound was extremely clear, as if shouting in his ear.
“This is Lightning, repeat, this is Lightning, please respond!”
The witches did not have many entertainment activities, so Roland occasionally told novel stories in natural science class. In addition to increasing their interest in learning, it could also increase their knowledge—since hearing him tell the story of pilots conquering the sky, Lightning immediately liked this unique way of communicating.
However, in Roland's ears, this dialogue was very embarrassing. After Nightingale activated another set of magic stones, he coughed twice, “Uh, you say it, I can hear you.”
“The red mist behind the snow mountain has disappeared... No, it is disappearing!”
“What?” the two asked at the same time, “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely sure, Macy is here too, you can ask her!”
“The fog has indeed faded a lot, gu!”
“No, you should say this is Macy first, and then report the content...”
“Gu gu?”
“Where are you now? Don't get too close to the demon camp, come back quickly,” Roland was afraid that the little girl's spirit of adventure would explode and she would fly directly into the camp to investigate. If she attracted another high-level demon, it would be over.
“Lightning understands!” Fortunately, she quickly gave a reply.
“Go get Agatha,” Roland said to Nightingale, “Maybe only she knows what's going on.”
Since killing the Demon Slayer, he had been paying attention to the movements behind the snow mountain—the coal transport fleets to the source of the Redwater River were divided into batches of four or five ships, and each batch of guards had an animal messenger in their hands. In addition, Lightning and Macy's practice range was also set in the line from the snow mountain to the Misty Forest, targeting the demon's sudden attacks.
As a result, not only did the demons not retaliate, but even the red mist began to dissipate?
Agatha quickly came to the office, but after carefully listening to Lightning's report, she was also a little confused, “The Union rarely has the opportunity to approach the demon's rear camp, so I have never heard of a similar situation. I have never even seen them retreat in decades of war.”
“In that case, let's continue to observe,” Roland finally decided, “Perhaps the red mist is only weakening temporarily. It's better to be cautious about this matter.”
He didn't want to lose any witches at this time.
Five days later, Lightning sent news that the red mist behind the snow mountain had completely disappeared.