“You all should know that our city is under attack!” Isabella clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention. “But the enemies are not just the Evil Beasts. Behind these mutated animals is an enemy no less formidable than the devils. According to reliable intelligence, their attacks will only become more fierce, and the scale will continue to expand until they completely crush us!”
“Neverwinter City and the First Army will certainly not allow them to erode this last piece of human territory at will. However, it is easier to deal with visible enemies, while invisible ones are truly dangerous. This is not a metaphor or exaggeration, but a description of the facts—” Here, she snapped her fingers, and several soldiers responded by lifting a huge piece of burlap.
“Hiss——————”
A gasp of surprise rippled through the crowd.
Boshan was no exception.
She had been drawn to the steel behemoths after entering the factory, completely unaware of the large gray cloth on the opposite side.
And the cloth revealed a monster.
It stood half-upright, nearly two meters tall, with a pair of scythe-like claws suspended in the air, as if ready to pounce on them at any moment.
However, a closer look revealed that it was covered in scars, with a thumb-wide gash that stretched almost from its chest to its abdomen, making it a rare feat that it hadn't fallen apart.
Boshan realized that this thing was dead.
“This monster before you is what I call the 'invisible enemy'.” Isabella said loudly, “When it moves, its whole body blends into the background, making it look as if it has disappeared. To kill it, the First Army paid the price of more than thirty lives, and this happened in broad daylight with a clear field of vision. If there were more of them, if the battle took place at night, the consequences would be unimaginable!”
“We currently call it a Blade Beast, and there have been five confirmed Blade Beast attack records since the attack on the frontier, with almost every record accompanied by heavy casualties. This is just a specimen pieced back together by soldiers after it was torn apart, according to Asha's Memory Search—undoubtedly, it will be a key target for our defense in the future.”
“What can we do?” Amy asked, raising her hand.
“Good question.” Isabella nodded. “Although Blade Beasts are not devils or hybrids, they still possess certain similarities, namely magic power. To ordinary people, they may be difficult to track, but for witches, with some training, they can be made to have nowhere to hide. And the only thing you need to learn to use is this—” She took out two silver shimmering metal plates, “Magic Stone Sigils.”
After listening to her detailed explanation, Boshan finally understood the purpose of forming this special unit.
The two sigils are called "Screamer" and "Resonator." The former was originally used to defend against devils, while the latter was mostly used to discover relics. However, after being improved, they became key to dealing with Blade Beasts.
The Screamer Sigil has a range of about two to three kilometers and will sound an alarm when it detects a magical creature entering. The witch who receive the reminder needs to distinguish whether the sound is caused by Blade Beasts. Once the target is confirmed, the Resonator Sigil is used to lock onto the attacker. At this time, a "guidance line" will appear between the target and the sigil, marking out the latter's outline. Simply fire along the guidance line to effectively curb the opponent's actions.
Although the principle sounds very simple, their actual application is much more complicated.
First, the adjusted Listening Sigil also reacts to hybrids, and witches can only rely on their own experience to distinguish the differences between sounds. When encountering large Evil Beast swarms, the alarm will be filled with a lot of noise, so a single listening point is difficult to ensure foolproof.
Secondly, its perception will be weakened by all sorts of things, including but not limited to hillsides, rocks, trees, and so on, especially metal. A sheet of iron can reduce its range to hundreds of meters, so it must be placed in the most forward open position.
The Resonator Sigil's guidance line will not be blocked by any obstacles. Its biggest problem is that only witches can see this thin line made of magic power. In addition, when the target is not within the visual area, they have no other way to confirm the target they are locking onto. In other words, if they mistakenly take a hybrid as the direction of guidance, the Resonator Sigil will not show any abnormalities.
“I can teach you how to manipulate the sigils, but I can't teach you how to protect yourselves.” Isabella said methodically. “Therefore, His Majesty has arranged a suitable position for you, which is Tank Commander!”
“This steel chariot called the tank is a newly developed weapon by the Industrial Department. It combines attack and defense, and it is not difficult to retreat even when besieged by hybrids. The short-barreled field gun mounted on it can destroy all enemies. As the commander of a tank, you don't have to personally operate this complex machine, you only need to guide the driver and gunner.”
“Of course, when necessary, you can override the gunner's control and actively aim—His Majesty calls this system Hunter-Killer Fire Control, and you are the core of this system!”
Commanding and driving this behemoth...
At the thought of this thing rolling back and forth on the bodies of Evil Beasts, Boshan couldn't help but feel a sense of eagerness.
“In the next few days, you will train with the First Army tankers to understand its basic performance. But most importantly, you must master the use of the sigils and the method of distinguishing enemies.” Isabella concluded. “Time is short, and I hope everyone can do their best. Those who pass the selection will become members of Graycastle's first armored corps!”
……
Northern Region of Dawn.
When everyone saw Roland emerge from Freya, they finally breathed a sigh of relief, especially the members of the General Staff, each with a look of relief on their faces. Although the plan was proposed by His Majesty, the specific details and implementation steps came from the joint planning of the General Staff. If His Majesty encountered an accident, they would certainly not escape the blame.
The only exception was Northern Pearl.
She was the only one in the General Staff who could communicate with Roland with a normal expression.
“I wonder how the results of this meeting will be?”
“More smoothly than expected.” Roland said frankly. He had made the decision the day after talking to Vakiris. However, considering that the conventional agreed method of entering the dream realm was extremely risky and full of uncertainty for both parties, he intended to complete the meeting in the most straightforward way—that is, pulling the other party directly into the dream realm without informing them.
Facts have proved that the thick strata will not have the slightest impact on the light pillar, and when both parties are "blindfolded," the Guard Eye Demon will not play any warning role. There were also several God's Punishment Witches guarding him at the time, and even if Hackzord discovered his whereabouts, he could not pose a threat to him.
However, the same method cannot be used too much. It is estimated that they will soon realize that they are not far from the hillside. If they are prepared in advance, even deep underground cannot be said to be absolutely safe.
“If there is any new progress, the devils should contact us by letter.” Roland turned to Iron Axe and instructed, “Leave a team stationed in this area. If there is any movement from the other party, report to me immediately. In addition, they are still enemies, especially the Mutated Beasts—the troops must not have the slightest hesitation if they cross the warning line.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The commander-in-chief nodded.
It is estimated that there will be a long time before he deals with the devil lord again, Roland thought. In the dream realm, he could vaguely see that Vakiris and the Great Lord named Seluolaxi had an unusual relationship. At first, he was a little regretful that the devil who came to pick up the letter was not Hackzord, but now it seems that the effect may be better than expected.
After all, what this kind of thing needs most is trust.
However, only two hours later, before Roland had time to return to Glow City from the Northern Region, he received two shocking news.
The God of Creation suddenly showed abnormal movement. According to Lightning's report, it was climbing vertically upward at a slow speed, and the bottom was more than three hundred meters above the ground—this seemed to violate the General Staff's speculation that the height of the floating land was closely related to the consumption of magic power.
The second was that the Fishball Team observed the figure of a devil lord on the hillside again—but this time there were two.