After everyone was present, Roland recounted Lightning's discovery from beginning to end, "A transparent crystal coffin appearing in an ancient ruin, without any **signs in the damp basement, a magic gem constantly emitting cries for help, and a devil turned to ashes... What do you think?"
"Are you suggesting that she might be a witch?" Anna pondered, "If she's still alive, we might learn more about what happened over four hundred years ago."
"She might not be a witch, or even belong to that era," Wendy hesitated for a moment, "And..."
"And she might not be on our side," Leaf added.
This sentence gave Roland a slight pause. Indeed, if the ruin was left by the church, the other party might be a member of the church, perhaps even a high-ranking one judging from the gorgeous clothing Lightning described. Ordinary people would be fine, but if she really was a witch, it would be tricky to handle.
From Ashes's fight with Nightingale to the Faceless One's attack, it can be seen that there is no clear dividing line in the combat power between witches. A transcendent who isn't wearing a God's Punishment Stone might still be unable to withstand an ordinary witch with unique abilities, and a combat-type witch would be in a precarious situation if an auxiliary witch got the first move.
If the other party harbored malice, no one could guarantee that her abilities wouldn't pose a threat to the Witch Union... unless she was awakened within the influence range of a God's Punishment Stone.
"Are you all crazy, actually considering whether she's on our side?" Lily held her forehead helplessly, "How could someone from more than four hundred years ago still be alive today? Witches are short-lived to begin with, and even transcendents with body enhancements haven't lived for more than a hundred years. You're all thinking way too much. I say, maybe that thing will shatter, and the person inside will turn to dust like the devils."
"Short-livedness is due to the so-called Demonic Plague," Roland corrected, "Witches generally have stronger physiques than ordinary people, so their actual lifespan should be longer."
"Ordinary people only live for forty or fifty years," Lily snorted, "Did you think everyone is as long-lived as turtles?"
The average lifespan of forty to fifty years is caused by poor food supply and low medical standards. As long as the quality of life improves, it can increase by another twenty years. However, what she said wasn't entirely unreasonable, Roland thought. Even with that, there was still a considerable gap from a lifespan of four hundred years... Even a turtle probably wouldn't live that long.
"But she does seem to be alive," Lightning exclaimed, "You'll know when you see her. She's completely different from those stiff devils. Her skin is radiant, and her lips are full of color. Maggie!"
"Coo! Lightning is right!"
"Alright, stop arguing," Wendy stepped forward to interrupt, "Whether she's dead or alive, she's worth a try."
"Are you sure?" Wendy asked with a frown.
"If she really is a church witch, we can just put a God's Punishment Stone on her before she wakes up. And we still have Anna and Nightingale, so subduing her won't be a problem," Wendy said calmly, "The key is that she might know what happened four hundred years ago. That one point alone is worth us going to rescue her."
Indeed, information about the devils is very important to the town, and the news that the church is trying so hard to hide must be extremely detrimental to them. If they can grasp this in advance, they might be able to gain the initiative in future confrontations.
Anna and Nightingale also agreed with Wendy's view. In this way, even if Wendy felt it was inappropriate, she no longer objected. The Witch Union basically reached a consensus.
"What about the First Army?" Roland looked at Iron Axe.
"At most, we can only dispatch fifty people," the latter said, "Your Highness, you have already sent several teams to assist the City Hall in recruiting refugees from all over the place. Now the town only has more than five hundred soldiers left. Although Tiffy Co has suffered divine punishment, he may still launch a large-scale attack on the Western Region in a desperate attempt. The First Army must leave sufficient manpower to guard against the capital."
"I understand," he nodded. The scale of fifty people was really a bit small. Facing the long-range javelin strikes of the devils outside the field of vision, they might suffer heavy losses. To make up for this, in addition to Lightning and Maggie's aerial reconnaissance, Sylvie's
Divination ability is essential. The ideal team would be a coordinated advance of hot air balloons and ground troops, with witches taking on the tasks of guarding and close combat, and the rifle squad taking on long-range suppression.
But in this way, the witches on Sleeping Island would also know that there was a sleeper in the ruins. After much consideration, Roland decided to bring Sylvie along after all. After all, ensuring their own safety was still the most important thing on this rescue mission.
Just as he was about to arrange the rescue plan, Mystery Moon exclaimed, "Good heavens... what is that?"
Everyone followed her gaze and looked out of the window, and couldn't help but be stunned.
Roland pushed open the window in disbelief, only to see the gloomy sky was filled with white elves at some point. They were overwhelming, but silent. He reached out and caught a small handful of white dots, and a cool feeling came from his palm.
It was snowing.
This was not normal... As far as he knew, it only snowed once in winter in the Western Region, let alone now that it wasn't winter!
Would it snow in the last month of autumn? He looked at Iron Axe, who had a serious expression and slowly said, "I've only been in the town for seven years, and I haven't experienced such a situation."
Once there is heavy snow, it means the arrival of the Months of Demons, and the sun will be buried under the dark clouds until the next time it shines. During this time, the entire Western Region will face the threat of demonic beasts. Let alone dispatching the First Army, even using hot air balloons to transport witches has become dangerous – at this time, the Misty Forest is full of ferocious demonic beasts, and leaving the protection range of the city walls is definitely an extremely risky thing.
He had to suspend the rescue plan and wait for the sky to clear.
From the bottom of his heart, he felt that the heavy snow was likely an accident and would end soon. After all, the temperature was still maintained at the autumn level and had not dropped much.
Three days later, the town was covered in silver, and the distant mountains and forests were covered with a layer of white gauze. In later generations, it would definitely be a rare sight, but Roland had no intention of admiring the scenery.
Although the snow had weakened a lot, there were still scattered snowflakes falling. The First Army had also entered a state of full alert. People patrolled the newly built city walls regularly every day, and temporary camps were set up at the foot of the city walls to allow soldiers to quickly engage in combat. The temperature changed almost every day, and he changed his attire from a single layer to a cotton coat.
On the fourth day, the news from the front line completely sank Roland's heart.
The western city wall was attacked by demonic beasts.
The Months of Demons arrived more than a month early.