Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Upon entering the hinterlands of the Fertile Plains, the time on Eleanor Skycruiser slowed to a crawl; the majority of the people on board knew that they were moving, but were unaware of where they were heading.
Only officials and higher-ups at the command center knew this. They were slowly inching towards the target—the map had clearly been marked out with a curved flight path and the floating island would revise its direction to the east every twelve hours. According to the Exploration Group’s report, Eleanor Skycruiser’s flight path would converge towards the new Deity of Gods in, at the maximum, eighteen days.
But the peace would not last till that day.
On the fourteenth day of journey, the peaceful days were interrupted.
An old Fire of Heaven was the first to discover enemy movements—it belonged to the Aerial Knights’ detection squadron and was one of the few dual seat models still kept in service. The back seat was no longer designed for machine gunners, and was instead equipped with spark-gap transmitter and a wireless transmitter unit. These equipment were installed and modified, giving the Fire of Heaven reconnaissance abilities.
“A Devilbeast is approaching a hundred and fifty kilometers away!”
According to the rules of engagement, they would first use the spark-gap transmitter to relay the information and proceed to use the wireless transmitter unit to repeat the same message; the former to inform the island while the latter was to warn companions nearby.
Due to the extremely good electromagnetic environment, receivers were able to receive and interpret the information quickly.
When the staff room received the slip of paper with the information on it, the atmosphere immediately turned serious before it boiled over.
“Quickly confirm the identity and location of the flight crew!”
“Sound the early warning system and recall the engineers!”
“Hey, this is the General Staff; immediately prepare for battle!”
“Ground service reporting, Aerial platforms 5 and 11 are malfunctioning. Currently engaging in urgent repairs.”
“At this time? Get them to hurry!”
Upon being notified, Roland immediately rushed to the command center. “How’s the situation now?”
“The enemy is still two hours away from us,” Edith held onto a report file and reported. “Direction northeast; more than 30 Devilbeasts sighted, the reconnaissance plane has broken away from the enemy’s pursuit, but they do not seem to be changing their original paths.”
“You mean to say the demons have discovered the existence of the island?” Iron Axe questioned.
“That shouldn’t be the case; otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent such a small force. But the demons must have definitely sensed something and are en route for confirmation.”
“That isn’t strange.” Roland spoke calmly; no matter how small the floating island was, it was still a floating mountain. It was impossible for a target of this size to completely conceal itself, just like how Lightning and Maggie discovered the Deity of Gods. So long as the distance between the two continued to decrease, the enemy would soon discover the other. “Sylvie’s Magic Eye is more focused on observing the sky, so it is normal for any small demon team on the ground to chance onto us.”
The Pearl of the Northern Region nodded. “Verifying the situation is very likely their main goal. As for the number of Devilbeasts, the Aerial Knights are capable of annihilating them.”
“Be it destroying them or letting a few run, it will not influence the outcome.” Roland was already clear on this—it was impossible for the Eleanor Skycruiser to avoid the Devilbeasts at the rate at which it was flying. In a sense, it was inevitable for the floating island to be exposed. “The crux is how do we keep the cost of that happening to the minimum.”
The size force of the Aerial Knights had grown steadily from the beginning. Since the assault at the Impassable Mountain Range, the first generation Fire of Heaven and second generation Fury of Heaven now summed up to more than 200 units, constituting two wings. The problem lay in the fact that the enemy was at full force, and they no longer suffered any restrictions in both military strength and logistics. The air force was bound to suffer from great losses even if they reached parity of scale.
Roland did not count on achieving air dominance in the battle, and only hoped for the protection of the bomber to accomplish its mission—this would undoubtedly require the entire air force, but if the Aerial Knights suffered too large a loss during the early phase, it would implicate the later plans as well.
“You mean to say we should employ ‘Plan B’ when facing the enemy?” Tilly asked as she pricked up her brows.
“That’s right, at the same time, we will be able to examine the witches’ gains.” Roland no longer hesitated. “Get your people into the underground warehouse.”
…
Two hours later, the enemy discovered trails of the floating island.
As what Edith had mentioned, they were purely sent to investigate. But unexpectedly, the Devilbeasts stopped forty to fifty kilometers away. The leader used something similar to a binoculars apparatus and observed for a moment before turning to retreat without any thoughts of probing.
“Seems like the demons have learned a lot from Mask.” The Pearl of the Northern Region smiled. “Seems like they have learned how to respect their enemies.”
“They will definitely not surrender.” Iron Axe gazed into the sky. “I believe that our coming days will no longer be smooth sailing.”
“Of course.” Edith’s voice contained a coldness comparable to the Northern Region. “And this will be our best opportunity to weaken them!”
…
On the afternoon of the same day, the demons appeared on the horizon.
They looked as though they were unwilling to wait even a day.
But the troops were prepared for battle more than an hour earlier. All sluice gate channels that led outside were sealed, the biplanes employed as scouts had returned and parked in the hangars. The entire surface of the floating island was devoid of life, where even the North Slope Mountain’s revamped bridge was sealed. At the moment, the Eleanor Skycruiser appeared impervious like a huge mountain of stone.
The higher ups had convened in the command center. Using the magic power core to project a visualization of the outside, they were able to observe everything
The first wave of Devilbeasts appeared to contain 200 of them. As they formed a line and charged towards the floating island, it caused the sky to darken a few shades.
“Tsk, so many of them…” Tilly frowned and commented.
Roland nodded. “I’m guessing this is just the vanguard meant to spearhead the attack.” After all, the troops following behind the demon’s King City is the entire force from the Blackstone region. The number of Mad Demons is estimated to be over a million, so the number of Devilbeasts they have would not be any fewer as well.
It was most probably their last day of serenity.
“They may have the numbers, but what can they do to a mountain?” A voice suddenly sounded out within everyone’s mind; the mellow and languid voice was memorable.
It was Eleanor.
Roland laughed.
This was their battle strategy’s most unassailable point—indeed, the humans could do little to a Deity of Gods in response, but at the same time, the demons were unable to do so as well.
“I’ll leave the rest to you.”
“Relax, this is my revenge that have spanned for over four centuries,” Eleanor replied.
In her vision, an invisible net slowly spread out. Any movements made by the Devilbeasts within the net were turned into strings of numbers.
Mathematics is truly interesting…
She imbued magic power into her tentacles before directing it the entire floating island, activating more than a hundred miniature cores that blossomed with blue lights, at the same time activating the machine gun turrets which were connected to them by various machinery.
The machine gun turrets distributed at the edge of the island all turned towards the enemies. The gun barrels extended out of their shooting holes into the sky.
At the instant the Devilbeasts entered her effective shooting range, countless streams of light surged out, while the invisible net transformed into a visible and dazzling screen of light!
