Agatha paused, not expecting the other party to possess a flight magic stone and to have already figured out how to use it. After hesitating for a good while, she finally spoke, "We only understand the relationship between magic power and magic stones, but we can't manufacture magic stones."
"Can't manufacture?" Tilly asked in surprise, "What do you mean?"
"These magic stones are all made by devils..." she sighed, "If we could obtain a stable source of magic stones to transform support witches into combat witches, there wouldn't be a Divine Punishment Army plan."
"Made by devils?" The witches couldn't help but show surprised expressions, only Roland's face darkened.
"How much do you know about magic stone manufacturing?" he asked, "How are these stones manufactured?"
The tone of these two questions was a bit stiff, and Agatha didn't want to answer at first. However, considering that devils were the witches' ultimate enemy, and this information would have to be revealed sooner or later, she could only grumble a few words about his rudeness in her heart and slowly replied, "Among the devil clans, there is a peculiar individual that we call a Chaos Beast. Its appearance looks like a giant flower bud, standing about three or four people tall, with tentacles underneath that can crawl slowly. After it devours Divine Punishment Stones, it can produce various types of magic stones. The conversion speed varies depending on the type of stone."
"This...you've seen it with your own eyes?"
"We once captured a live one," she felt quite displeased with the prince's questioning, "The Holy Guard detoured and raided a devil camp far from the battlefield, where there happened to be a Chaos Beast producing glowing magic stones. The witches brought it back to Taqila and made it serve the Holy City—these types of devils have extremely low intelligence and will convert on their own as long as they are continuously fed stones. Unfortunately, we didn't know how to make it produce higher-level magic stones, nor did we understand how to feed it. After half a year, it withered and died, like a plant that had lost its roots, turning yellow all over."
"Later, the Exploration Society also sent several witches to investigate other devil camps, and the information they brought back confirmed this—the Chaos Beast is the only way to obtain magic stones, and the more powerful the stone, the slower the conversion speed. Most devils use magic stones in combat. For example, Fiends embed magic stones that can instantly stimulate their power into their arms, giving themselves powerful long-range attack abilities. The magic stones we obtained were all seized from enemies or camps."
"So this flight magic stone originally belonged to a devil?" Tilly asked curiously.
"As far as I know, only powerful Greater Devils can possess such a magic stone," Agatha sighed, "It should be a trophy belonging to someone beyond Extraordinary."
"What about the types of magic stones?" Roland frowned, "Do they have magic stones with various abilities from the beginning?"
"Of course not, if it were as you say, humanity would have been wiped out long ago," she rolled her eyes, "During the First Battle of Divine Will, most devils didn't wear magic stones. They relied on their immense strength, wore heavy armor, and used iron spears to attack human cities. This is recorded in detail in the history books. The war lasted for hundreds of years, and then human territory was gradually devoured until the complete retreat to the Fertile Plains." Saying this, she sighed, "That was the closest we ever came to victory. If we could have focused on cultivating combat witch units, led by witches, devils wouldn't have been able to step into the Dawn Realm."
"And then they had various magic stones?"
"Probably, by the time of the Second Battle of Divine Will, their methods became more and more diverse," Agatha said in a low voice, "This war only lasted thirty-five years, and we were completely defeated. Although the elite Holy Guard could contend with the Hell Lords, the enemy outnumbered us by far. According to the veterans of the Union, witches could still gain an advantage on the field in the first ten years. A witch beyond Extraordinary could cut through the devils' army, but later, as personnel losses increased, we could only defend the cities."
This time, the prince was silent for a long time, seemingly contemplating some serious issue.
It seems he has finally realized the terror of the devils, Agatha thought, not only numerous but also advancing at an astonishing rate. When this attack comes, who knows what kind of army will appear.
"Are those Fiends,
Mind Eaters, and Hell Lords the classifications you gave to the devils?" Just as Roland was pondering, Tilly spoke.
"That's right, these names only spread after the Second Battle of Divine Will—before they obtained magic stones, there wasn't much difference between them except for their size."
"Then how do they reproduce?"
"Uh...this," Agatha paused, "I don't know. It's not recorded in the texts, and we couldn't learn it from captives—without the red mist, they would die quickly, and we lacked enough time to understand their language. And those devils that don't need the red mist are basically low-level beasts, unable to communicate."
"Beasts?"
"Yes, the devil clans are numerous, but they can be divided into two types," she explained in detail, "One has magic power, and the other doesn't. The latter can survive without the red mist, but both their appearance and intelligence are no different from animals, such as the Crawler Bugs that transport supplies for the devils, and the Terror Beasts with wings that can carry devils from the sky."
"Wait," the prince suddenly raised his eyebrows, "Does the Terror Beast you're talking about look like this?" He took out a scroll from the drawer and unfolded it in front of Agatha.
"This is indeed a Terror Beast," the image of the winged devil on the scroll was lifelike, undoubtedly from a witch's hand, "You've seen this kind of devil?"
"Not far from here," Roland took a sip of tea, "I thought it was a demonic beast tamed by devils. So...they're not one and the same?"
"Of course not, low-level demonic beasts are just food for devils, and powerful variant demonic beasts are also enemies of devils. When the Devilish Month descends, their attacks often decrease sharply, and this is also our chance to catch our breath." Agatha paused, shifting the topic to the enemy at hand, "The presence of Terror Beasts means there's a devil camp nearby...where are they?"
"West of the Misty Forest, behind a huge snow mountain," Roland gave a rough account of the exploration, "It's already covered in red mist."
"No, not yet!" Agatha said excitedly, "Those low stone towers are facilities used to maintain the red mist. They continuously evaporate the stored liquid, so they need to be replenished regularly. That's why those devils are huddled underground, minimizing consumption as much as possible. We can try to capture this camp!"
"Actively attack devils?" The witches gasped.
"The presence of Eye Demons for警戒 means that there is most likely a Chaos Beast in the camp; otherwise, a small camp in a remote location,靠山背海, wouldn't deploy the sparsely numbered higher-level devils." She bit her lip, "The Chaos Beast will always retain the production capacity of the previous magic stone type. Even if it's not a high-level magic stone, I can use it to continue the Exploration Society's research, and perhaps I can uncover the conversion principle of the Divine Punishment Stone!"
.(。)