Seventh Hundred and Fourteenth Chapter: Living with Worms

On the last day of the Winter Solstice, the joint expedition team, composed of residents of Neverwinter and the remnants of Taquila, finally set off for the west of the Western Region.

Roland stood on the dock, watching the cement ship carrying everyone slowly leave the pier.

This expedition could be described as the most complex operation in history. The First Army, the Witch Union, and the Taquila witches would cooperate with each other to thoroughly search the Great Snow Mountain. If all went well, they would arrive at the source of the Redwater River in three days, and then choose a leeward port to set up camp.

At that time, the vanguard would use Maggie's magic ark to find the location of the ruins, and then Fran, who controls the Devouring Worm, would carve a passage in the mountain wall for the main force to enter.

This plan was like grave robbers tunneling into the tombs left by their ancestors. Roland's heart itched at the thought of the possible ruins in the Great Snow Mountain. Unfortunately, after being pierced through the chest by a demon's javelin, Wendy and Scroll refused to let him go with them.

Of course, this did not mean that the expedition team would lower its level of alert. Considering that invisible demonic beasts, which had appeared in the Misty Forest, might appear near the Snow Mountain, Roland also sent Nightingale out. After all, once the team was stretched out, Sylvie couldn't watch over the entire team alone, especially when they needed to split up. The Taquila side also took out the last three colorful magic stones for detecting any units with magic power.

According to Pasha, as long as a unit had magic power, a beam of light would appear above their head. Demons and hybrid demonic beasts were no exception, except that their light beams were particularly small.

Fifty God's Punishment Witches, five hundred First Army soldiers, plus a large number of high-level awakeners—this force was absolutely invincible on the continent. If everyone could return safely from this mission, it would undoubtedly lay the foundation for future mixed operations between ordinary people, extraordinary warriors, and various witches.

"Let's go back," Roland said to Anna, touching the snowflakes on his nose.

"Okay," the latter looked up and smiled brightly.

During Nightingale's absence, the task of protecting the king fell to Anna. However, for the two who were already very familiar with each other, being close at all times was not uncomfortable at all, but had become quite natural.

Roland took her hand and walked towards the castle.

...

When he entered the hall, he unexpectedly saw Phyllis's figure.

"You didn't go with them to the Great Snow Mountain?" Roland raised his eyebrows and asked, "I thought you would be more interested in exploring the underground ruins."

"You're right, but Pasha wanted me to stay." Phyllis shrugged. "I'm most familiar with the castle's layout, and your men have a basic impression of me. Since I'm going to be doing protection work, I'm indeed the most suitable person."

Leaving a God's Punishment Witch stationed in the castle was a request made by the Taquila side. Although Anna's abilities were powerful, she was completely ineffective against the God's Punishment Stone. At the same time, her combat talent was far inferior to her learning ability. Once she lost her ability, both of them could be in danger. Considering this, Pasha insisted on arranging a God's Punishment Witch to serve as a frontline protector.

They could control the magic-forbidden area at will, making them the nemesis of almost any witch. Their bodies, unburdened by pain, could fight in extremely harsh conditions. Even if the enemy was an extraordinary warrior, the God's Punishment Witch would not be at a disadvantage.

"Then thank you for your trouble," Roland habitually replied.

"It's my duty." She nodded. "Under normal circumstances, I'll be in the hall. If an accident occurs, I'll get to your side as quickly as possible."

He knew that she was doing this out of consideration to avoid suspicion. There was ample buffer space from the first floor to the office, creating a delicate balance between the protector and the protected. If the Taquila side insisted on arranging the guardian in the office, even if its purpose was truly for his safety, it would only cause discomfort.

Pasha's final choice to leave Phyllis, who had been with the witches longer, should also have taken this into account.

Of course, although the God's Punishment Witch was the most powerful insurance,

Roland would not entrust his safety entirely to his allies. At the stairwells on each floor of the castle and at the bedroom door, guards and First Army soldiers were stationed, rotating every hour to ensure foolproof defense.

Back in the office, Scroll was standing by the French window waiting for him.

"Your Majesty," she saluted meticulously and handed him a report. "Lily's branch ability has been confirmed."

"Oh?" Roland's eyes lit up, and he took the report to examine it carefully.

The Month of Demons was coming to an end. Although the Evil Moon was not over yet, most of the witches had safely passed their Awakening Day. The most special of them was Lily, who had ushered in the "adulthood" of her magic power a week ago.

Like Lucia, Roland personally accompanied her to receive the Adult Day baptism. In addition to a substantial improvement in her magic level, what was even more gratifying was that she felt that her abilities had gained something more.

Lily was undoubtedly a lucky one. On her Adult Day, she awakened her own branch ability.

However, she had not been able to quickly grasp the use of the branch ability afterward. Unlike the main ability, the branch ability was more difficult to detect, and its induction with the witch was far less intense than the former. For example, Scroll gradually mastered the use of magic power in combat two years after her adulthood.

But this was not a big problem. According to Agatha's experience, in this situation, one only needed to use the main ability repeatedly and then slowly explore it.

Few witches awakened branch abilities that had nothing to do with their main abilities. In other words, if the main ability was the root, the branch ability was the branches and leaves, which could supplement and strengthen the main ability to a certain extent. For example, Sylvie's magic identification and Soraya's paintbrush were all like this.

After Roland read the report, he was surprised and said, "She can now take the Primordial into her body, allowing it to exist forever?"

"And not just one," Scroll nodded. "This was accidentally discovered by Lily in an experiment. After assimilation, the Primordial burrowed into her body through physical contact and lay dormant. She thought that summoning the Primordial again would make the former disappear, but in fact... it can still drill out of her body again under Lily's consciousness and continue to assimilate other small creatures."

Roland quickly realized what this meant. After the secondary evolution, the little girl could turn the Primordial into specific microorganisms, but only if she could see them. The branch ability simplified this process, turning "seeing it on the spot" into "having seen it before." In other words, she can now collect the transformed Primordial in advance, and then release the corresponding swarm of insects when needed, greatly improving its convenience.

It could be imagined that as the precision of microscopes continued to improve, the types of Primordial carried by Lily would become richer and richer, making her a mobile "biochemical zhàdàn library."

A naturally harmless auxiliary witch was cultivated into a potentially lethal combat witch in Neverwinter, which made Roland feel a little dumbfounded. Fortunately, she belonged to the Witch Union. He couldn't help but wonder if demons could also be infected by diseases.