Chapter 707: The Road of the Starfall Queen

It certainly sounds like it, Roland thought. Ashes once said that the difference between the God's Punishment Army and the Transcendent ones lay not in strength and reaction, but in wisdom. If a God's Punishment Warrior possessed the mind of a witch and had uninterrupted life, the combat experience accumulated over centuries would be terrifyingly rich. Such a warrior might even be stronger than a Transcendent.

If he had fought a complete version of the God's Punishment Army at Coldwind Ridge, the outcome would most likely have been reversed. If the Church divided its army into many small teams, infiltrating the hinterlands of Graycastle to harass and fight, he would definitely be caught off guard.

In this light, the long adaptation time was no longer the main point. As long as the soul could be continuously transferred, choosing to retain strong veterans became a necessity.

The only question was, how many God's Punishment Warriors could Arkalis accumulate before the Red Moon? Bodies with great power also had higher endurance than ordinary people. The age of decline was probably around a hundred years old. If one participated in the transformation ritual at the age of twenty, they could use it for about seventy years. Even without calculating the transformation and soul transfer failure rates, a witch could only create two bodies, which directly limited the upper limit of the army's numbers. If one wanted to build a God's Punishment Army of thousands, the number of witches consumed in the four hundred years of inheritance would be extremely terrifying.

When he asked this question, Phyllis bit her lip and replied, "All of them."

Roland paused, momentarily doubting he had heard correctly, "What?"

"Except for the Transcendent above, she plans to transform all witches into the God's Punishment Army to resist the final apocalypse," she repeated.

"Wait, how can that be done? To surpass high-level devils in ability, one must be a well-trained God's Punishment Warrior. But to get such a warrior, wouldn't you need to reserve enough bodies to transfer the soul?"

"That's right, but there is another way to preserve the soul, which is to transfer it to other containers first."

"Other... containers?"

"We call it hibernation," Phyllis's words made Roland shudder, "During this period, the hibernator needs no consumption and loses all perception until it is awakened again – otherwise, how do you think we got through the most difficult initial period? After breaking with Starfall City, we didn't have a single usable God's Punishment Army body. We survived entirely by hibernation. Of course, some witches are exceptions... such as Pasha."

"What's wrong with her?"

"You'll understand when you see her." Phyllis didn't elaborate, "In short, Arkalis intends to train God's Punishment Warriors with complete skills in a century cycle, and then let the soul hibernate to save on body consumption. In this way, Starfall City will be able to continuously transform the God's Punishment Army. When the Red Moon descends, it will awaken all the souls at once, greatly exceeding the limit that the witch group can bear."

This meant that every witch alive before the final battle would become a transformation material.

Wendy, Sylvie, and Leaf all showed expressions of intolerance. Although Nightingale's expression could not be seen, Roland knew that her face must be very gloomy at this moment.

"Arkalis herself... does she also plan to participate in soul transfer?"

"No," Phyllis sighed, "I heard this from Pasha later. The Starfall Queen and her followers never intended to prolong their lives from the beginning. They planned to devote the rest of their lives to the remolding of the new order to ensure that the God's Punishment Army plan does not deviate from its intended course. Only when she is above the Transcendent does she have the strength and prestige to lead the Union... and only that flame-like red hair symbolizes that the will of Starfall City will never be extinguished."

Speaking of this, a very complex light shone in her eyes, with fear, sighing, and respect.

Roland could vaguely understand what she was thinking – even though their wills were different, she was still shocked by the other party's spirit. In order to defeat the devils and allow the witch group to continue, even if the price was high, the Starfall Queen could still move forward without hesitation. Such a person, even if they were an opponent, was still worthy of respect.

Incomplete historical records

It was finally filled in. Perhaps it was because the complete version of the God's Punishment Army was too cruel. When something was discovered in the ruins, and the God's Punishment Army plan was no longer the only feasible solution to fight the devils, the split became inevitable. Afterwards, the fractured Union was greatly weakened, and the witches of Starfall City evolved into the Church and gradually deviated from the Queen's original intention after Arkalis's death.

"Are the containers, soul transfer, and Chosen all related to what was discovered in the ruins?" he asked.

Phyllis adjusted her emotions and replied, "You could say that."

"So you can't reveal anything now?"

"Only Pasha can make that decision."

"How can the Chosen defeat the devils?" Roland raised his eyebrows, "I can't agree with you without knowing anything."

"I don't know either. Celine is in charge of researching... the instrument," she said slowly, "We can find the Chosen first, and then talk about the next thing. Just confirming the candidate will not cause any harm to the witches of Neverwinter. And Taqila will never fight the devils by harming her own kind, otherwise everyone would not have followed Nataya to the end."

"What needs to be done?"

"It's very simple. Just let each member of the alliance cast their ability once," Phyllis raised the ring in her hand, "Through it, I can see the witches who possess the Chosen talent."

Nightingale had briefly described the matter of the magic stone reflecting strange light pillars to him. Roland thought for a while, "After finding the Chosen, can Pasha come to Neverwinter immediately as you said?"

"Pasha cannot leave the Underground Maze, but she will communicate directly with you through... some magical means," Phyllis replied, "When this five-colored magic stone is broken, she can instantly sense my location. So I must call her after finding the Chosen."

"I understand," Roland finally nodded, "In the courtyard of the castle this afternoon, you will see all the witches of Neverwinter."

Perhaps because she had gained his approval, Phyllis's expression obviously eased a lot. She put her hand on her chest again and bowed her head, "Thank you for your promise. After defeating the devils, your name will be praised along with Taqila."

However, Roland didn't care at all how long his name could be spread. The reason for agreeing to the other party's proposal was not only because he had a strong curiosity about the Chosen and what was discovered in the ruins, but also because of Agatha's trust in him – since she wanted to help these survivors, he didn't mind lending a hand.