The giant terror beast seemed to realize the danger as well. Seeing its master fall, it flapped its wings, wanting to escape the place, but it had not anticipated the difference between coming and going.
Its companions, who had been diverting the firepower, were mostly gone, and it no longer had the power of descending from the sky. Its massive body further hampered its climbing speed. If staying on the ground made the jiqiang squads worry about accidental injuries and hesitate to fire, ascending into the air completely eliminated this concern.
In an instant, most of the camp's anti-aircraft jiqiangs were aimed at this behemoth.
The dense barrage flying from all directions was like long whips, engulfing the terror beast—noticeable sparks could be seen on the armored parts, while the exposed flesh was quickly torn apart. This time, it couldn't even let out a wail before tumbling back to the ground. Foul-smelling blood flowed from the honeycomb-like bullet holes, soon gathering into a shallow pool beneath it.
Agatha couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
It seemed Zoe was right. God's Punishment Witches were indeed powerful trump cards against high-ranking devils. No wonder many high-ranking members of the Association sided with Starfall Queen.
Being able to block magic at any time, bringing enemies with different magic stones to the same level, and having strength not weaker than transcendents, not only fundamentally solved the highly unstable defect of witches' abilities, but also allowed them to gain an unprecedented advantage in numbers against the enemy. For the Association, which was retreating steadily, this was undoubtedly a glimmer of hope in despair.
According to Arkalis's original idea, as long as half of the non-combat witches participated in the transformation, it would mean that thousands of non-combat personnel would become top combat forces overnight. Combat witches would deal with the devil army, God's Punishment Witches would kill high-ranking devils, and the most troublesome enemies would be left to the transcendents. This was the empire's all-out battle.
Considering that these God's Punishment Witches were originally intended as assassins for the final battle against devils, it seemed only natural that they could quickly take down high-ranking devils—in other words, if it was difficult for more than a dozen of them to deal with a high-ranking devil, Starfall Queen would not have placed her bets on this plan.
However, everything was too late.
Agatha looked at Zoe, who had a satisfied and joyful expression on her face, and couldn't help but feel emotional.
If the Association had implemented this plan at the beginning of its establishment, perhaps the outcome of the Second Battle of Divine Will would have been rewritten—at that time, although humans had retreated from the Dawn Border, the Fertile Plains still had thousands of towns and nearly ten million people. Based on this foundation, the Association could have formed a powerful army no less powerful than the devils.
After the failure of the Battle of Divine Will, Starfall Queen was left with only a corner of land and less than a million barbarian people. Perhaps when she made this decision at the time, all she thought about was doing her best.
"Aren't you going to kill it?" Agatha walked to Zoe's side.
The high-ranking devil who suffered fatal injuries was still not dead. These terrifying enemies were even more tenacious than transcendents in terms of vitality. Even without observing with the Balance Magic Stone, Agatha knew that the little magic power left in the opponent was frantically wandering throughout its body, trying to repair this broken body.
Of course, this does not mean that the devil can be seriously injured and not die—the body's self-healing ability has a limit. Even if left alone, it will die as the magic power is consumed.
Not to mention the red mist that is used less and less.
Perhaps, instead of ending the opponent, Zoe prefers to appreciate the pain of its dying?
"I want to keep it alive for now," but the latter's answer surprised Agatha somewhat. "There are a large number of devils attacking this time, and we should be able to seize a lot of Mist Storage Tanks. Treat the wounds and replenish some red mist, and it should be able to last a few more days."
"What do you want to do?" The Ice Witch frowned.
"Don't worry, although I personally crave to put it to eternal torment, that is when it doesn't affect the overall situation." Zoe said sternly, "If I remember correctly, in another witch squad, there seems to be a mind-linking ability user?"
"You want her to link with the devil?" Agatha asked in surprise.
Zoe nodded, "I know this is definitely risky, but if it works, we will have the opportunity to face the devil directly—as a high-level commander, what's in its head is worth the risk!"
In the past, this was indeed a temptation that high-level executives could not refuse, Agatha thought. But now it is no longer the era of the Association. Neither Roland nor Tilly Wimbledon would force a witch to risk danger for a possibility.
Unless Camilla Dary volunteered to do so.
Just as she hesitated, several explosions suddenly appeared on the other side of the position!
Looking from here, a large amount of dust was raised on the northern front, as if it had been swept over by something.
And she didn't hear any intense gunshots.
Could it be that the enemy still has a terror beast team? Or... has the defense line been broken by devils?
Agatha quickly activated the Listening Rune, "Sylvie, what is the situation on the front line?"
"A kind of unprecedented monster is attacking us," Sylvie's anxious voice came from the rune, "The front line needs the support of the fortress guns!"
...
After the stone pillars exploded, the mortar shells also landed on the devil's army.
For the fiends covered in beast bones and leather, the 152mm howitzer and mortar were not much different. On the contrary, the latter, with its advantages in quantity and rate of fire, caused more damage to the running enemies.
In the battlefield where shrapnel was flying, the devils rushing forward without cover further helped the killing efficiency of the shells. It has become common for an explosion to set off a blood mist. Faced with this continuous bombardment, the enemy's momentum was abruptly contained.
But Sylvie was no longer in the mood to pay attention to observing the results of the battle.
Except for monitoring the movement in the air, her vision was only left with the four evil monsters.
Unfortunately, the mortar was not so useful for dealing with the crawling monsters made of black stone and metal.
If it wasn't a direct hit, it would be difficult for the shrapnel to penetrate its shell.
At this moment, black stone pillars grew out of the crawling monster's back again—Sylvie found that it was actually part of the monster's body. Whether it was stone or blood vessels, they were peeled off from its body bit by bit, and then reassembled into cylinders.
She knew that she had to destroy these enemies who could launch attacks from a distance as soon as possible.
The previous round of parabolic shots caused considerable damage to the First Army—due to lack of preparation, more than a hundred people were injured on the front line, and some soldiers were even shot through the shoulders and lungs in the trenches. More importantly, suddenly suffering this unheard-of attack without any countermeasures was undoubtedly a heavy blow to morale.
Fortunately, the enemy's "growth" process was much slower than the artillery's loading.
"The artillery battalion is fully restoring the construction of the fortress guns," Agatha's steady tone made her feel a lot more at ease. "I asked the battalion commander to talk to you personally."
"Y-you, hello... Sylvie xiaojie," then a slightly restrained voice came over, "I am Battalion Commander Vanna... It will take a little time to return the gun barrel to its pre-firing state. But fortunately, after inspection, one artillery piece was not affected in any way—if you can tell me the shooting parameters, I can arrange for someone to provide support now."
Sylvie couldn't help clenching her fists. She suppressed the excitement in her heart, glanced at the compass in front of her, and reported the position word by word, "North Corner 11 degrees 17 minutes, distance 2310 meters—please fire!"
"Understood, North Corner 11 degrees 17 minutes, distance 2310 meters—" Vanna repeated, "Sixth group, fire!"