Two days later, a uniquely shaped cement boat slowly departed from the Winterfell docks.

Its flat deck was highly arched, completely covered by burlap, resembling a moving hill. On both sides of the ship's rail stood not only soldiers with guns, but also a dozen God's Punishment Witches serving as escorts.

This ship was the Victory, responsible for delivering the Soul Instruments to the Great Snow Mountain, where the Taquila witches would complete the transformation ritual and possess the worm carriers.

Due to the need for secrecy, there were no ceremonies before departure, no sounding of whistles, and even the loading work was completed quietly at night.

Roland stood beside the wet brick dock, watching the ship leave. Once the transformation was complete, Winterfell would have three worm carriers, providing ample power for municipal construction and the construction of the Barricade Line. This was supposed to be a good thing, but he wasn't as happy as he had imagined.

The two witches who volunteered for the transformation were named Molly and Lyla. After regaining their true selves in the Dream World, both were just girls in their early twenties, looking about the same age as Tilly, and quite lively.

Roland, intending to let them enjoy themselves, took the volunteers and Phyllis to the amusement park in the suburbs. They rode the Ferris wheel, the roller coaster, the haunted house (Molly accidentally broke a ghost head that fell from the sky), and the pendulum ride, all without limit. If he hadn't robbed a few Fallen Evils recently, he really wouldn't have been able to afford such expenses.

During the two days, Molly and Lyla were full of surprise and disbelief, but they never asked a single question, going wherever they were told. They screamed like the others on the roller coaster, and smiled like girls next door when eating strawberry sundaes, looking no different from ordinary people.

If one didn't know the answer in advance, no one would believe that the two had already made the decision to abandon their human bodies and dedicate their lives to fighting against the devils. It was as if they were facing the Magic Core in the depths of the ruins four hundred years ago, making the same choice.

In the end, when they woke up from the dream, their expressions were calmer than Roland had expected.

He wanted to comfort them, but he couldn't say a word. Should he ask them to reconsider whether to transform into Devouring Worms? This was neither in his interest nor in the interest of the united front. Besides that, the rest of the words seemed meaningless, more like hypocritical good intentions that had nothing to do with him.

In the end, he was the one being comforted.

Roland still clearly remembered their words and expressions at that time.

"Thank you," Molly said with a smile, "and..."

"We don't regret it," Lyla added.

At that moment, he seemed to hear their sonorous heartbeats.

It's not that they didn't like all of this.

But they didn't regret it.

"Your Majesty?" Phyllis, who had come to see them off, looked at him, "Are you... not going back to the castle?"

Roland came back to his senses, the Victory had disappeared from view, leaving only a wisp of smoke.

He suppressed his thoughts and took a deep breath, "Is there really no way to sever consciousness after being possessed by a carrier?"

Phyllis seemed to understand what he wanted to say, and lowered her voice slightly, "God's Punishment Witches are different from carriers. Even without Soul Transfer, the former has a certain basic consciousness. Witches are more like controllers than fusion. But carriers are different. They are dedicated containers, once entered, they are closely linked. Although they can be put into hibernation when not in use for a long time, no one has ever completely escaped—at least Pasha and the others can't do it."

"But there is a pillar of light above the carrier's head, right?"

"That's right," Phyllis nodded, "Without the support of magic power, such a huge body simply cannot move."

"So maybe one day, we can find a way to return their souls to the Dream World," Roland looked up at the deep blue sky and said slowly.

Phyllis was silent for a moment, then looked in the same direction as him, "Well... maybe they will wait for that day."

...

The Western Region jungle covered in snow was a brand-new visual experience for Rogge.

She had heard travel merchants talk about what snow looked like more than once, and she had equated it with cold white sand in her mind, but when she saw it with her own eyes, she realized that snow was much finer and whiter than sand. Even the purest river sand in Silverstream was not as flawless as the ubiquitous snow.

The whole world seemed to have changed color.

Although the Evil Moon had ended, Ashes told her that she would have to wait at least half a month before the snow would really melt.

That's good, she thought, so she could see a pure white snow city.

There was almost nothing to do during the voyage. Rogge had toured the steel ship inside and out, but still couldn't figure out why it could move automatically without wind. Even asking Andrea about this question didn't get a definite answer. She only knew that there was a machine constantly boiling water to tow the ship. As for how exactly it was towed, she was told that only His Majesty Roland and Anna xiaojie knew.

The former was not mentioned, and the latter was also a member of the "Winterfell Combat Power List" in Ashes' mouth.

With strong abilities and profound knowledge, the Mad Flame Third Princess's impression of the name Anna deepened.

However, when she talked about this with Andrea, she was met with the latter's disdainful ridicule.

"Combat ability ranking?" She rolled her eyes, "Humans and wolves are different. No matter how strong one person is, it is only the power of the group. Isn't discussing the strength of individuals the same as the knowledge of low-level beasts?"

"Wolves also act in groups," Rogge corrected.

"Okay, then change it to other animals, such as tigers, snow leopards, etc..." Andrea coughed twice, "In short, Anna is the root of all power in Winterfell. The reason why the First Army can crush the Watchdogs and the Iron Whip clan is largely due to Anna's abilities. And I bet she must not have told you that she almost lost to an ordinary person."

Looking at the surprised wolf girl, she showed a look of "I knew it," "And that ordinary person was holding the weapon made by Anna—it is meaningless to talk about combat ability without stripping these away. If you want to become stronger, I suggest you apply to His Majesty for a dedicated weapon," Saying this, Andrea patted the long gun behind her, "If you can install those big tubes on your back after you transform, I guarantee that any combat skills will be effective."

Although Rogge didn't quite agree with this statement, she still silently remembered the suggestion in her heart.

After all, her father often said that listening and seeing more is the right thing to do, but don't easily forget your original intention.

Due to sailing against the current and the river's surge, the speed of the iron ship had obviously slowed down. On the fifth day of entering the Western Region, the wolf girl saw a beautiful and strong pigeon.

It circled in the air several times before flying straight towards Ashes at the bow of the ship.

Just when she thought she could have extra food for lunch, she found the latter smiling and taking out a handful of cooked dry food, breaking it up and feeding it to the pigeon. The pigeon rubbed Ashes' cheek affectionately, like an old friend who hadn't seen each other for a long time. It wasn't until it started talking that Rogge realized that it was a witch.

"Coo, coo!"

"Got it, tell Princess Tilly, I'll be there soon."

"Me too!" Andrea didn't want to be left behind.

"Coo!"

The pigeon nodded, then spread its wings and soared into the air, quickly disappearing in the northwest direction.

"She is..." Rogge asked.

"Maisie, like you, is a witch who can change her entire form," Ashes turned around.

So that's how it is—wait, eh? Didn't they say that Maisie's transformed appearance was a fierce, ugly, but wild and powerful beast! Why is it a pigeon!?

Before the Third Princess could recover, Ashes patted her on the shoulder and said, "Get ready to pack your luggage, we'll be arriving at Winterfell soon."