Chapter 1155: The Battle of Taqu (I)


    Trantor: Transn Editor: Transn


    As the rm went off, the soldiers at the frontier immediately entered the state of high alert ording to their contingency n.


    "Hurry up! Drop what you’re working on and go to the exit closest to you!" The soldiers responsible for evacuating the encampment yelled as they directed the construction team to the shelters. "Don’t push and don’t look around! Remember, no matter what happens outside, don’t leave the shelter!"


    "Shelter No. 6 is full!"


    "Same here in Shelter No. 7!"


    "Get going. Go to the next shelter. Don’t block the passage. All of you, move!"


    This was not the first time that they had to evacuate the railway stations. Although the air was filled with the exasperated, short-tempered hollers of the soldiers, nobody was panicking.


    Around 2,000 workers ebbed away into the underground bunkers through the exit passages. These bunkers at the rear of the encampment, all built by Lotus, were stered with steel tes. They could not only provide the soldiers amodation but could also shield them from spears and machine guns. Even if the outer ring of the defensive line was broken through, the shelters would still remain safe.


    After the tidal waves of people receded, darkness soon closed in upon the construction site which had been alive with flickers of light just a moment ago.


    "The evacuation ispleted. Lights are all off. The First Army is now filing into the encampment," Sylvie informed the other units while casting a quick nce at the surroundings. The observation room above the headquarters was currently the busiest ce of the frontier. A dozen telephones lining the table rang continuously. As there were so many messages, the staff only forwarded the most important ones to Sylvie.


    Meanwhile, the officers collected information and tranted it onto the map to provide references for the headquarters staff.


    Sylvie, as the "eye" of the army, had now be the central information hub of the observation room that facilitated the efficient operation of the First Army.


    "OK, I see. Miss Sylvie, this is Van’er from the artillery battalion. I hope you could provide us with the demons’ location and firing parameters."


    "Same request from the ’ckriver I’ and ’ckriver II’!"


    "Hold on a second," said Sylvie as she swept a nce to the front. The "shadows", which were slowly edging toward the army, had just entered the shooting range of 10 miles away from the encampment. Based on their current rate, it might be another five to six hours before they reached their final destination. Therefore, the most pressing issue at present was to learn the operation intention of the demons. What were they plotting and why did they create the blind zones with the God’s Stones of Retaliation?


    When magic power ceased to work, they had to resort to human eyes for observation.


    She picked up the Sigil of Listening and asked, "Lightning, Maggie, can you hear me? Where are you?"


    "We just took off. Maggie is above me." Soon, a voice came from the other end of the line, mingled with the shrill rm. "What happened? Did the demons attack us?"


    "It looks like it, but the demons obscured the majority of my vision. I reckon they’ve used giant God’s Stones of Retaliation again."


    "Noted. I’ll go take a look."


    "Leave it to us, coo!"


    Compared to what Sylvie saw in the observation room, Lightning viewed the battlefield as somethingpletely different.


    She saw firelights gradually shrink as the night pressed on. The distantnd was engulfed by a velvety darkness and looked both serene and unfathomable.


    The Fertile ins was still deep in its slumber, without noticing, in the slightest, the uing war.


    It was almost unbelievable that the demons had already taken actions had Sylvie not warned them.


    "Maggie, turn on night mode!"


    "Coo, coo, coo!"


    The white pigeon immediately expanded, and her body turned into a furry ball. A massive head poked out of the gigantic sphere with tworge, ssy eyes that were about to burst out from their sockets.


    "Transformationplete. I’m now in the form of an owl, coo!"


    "Then, let’s go — "


    Lightning steadied the "giant owl" perched on her head and flew toward the northeast.


    However, Sylvie’s voice came out of the Sigil of Listening in a rush as they neared Taqu. "Come back, you guys! The Magic yer ising!"


    Lightning shuddered as terror paralyzed her limbs. She managed to suppress her fear before replying with gritted teeth, "Even if he’sing for us, he won’t find us that fast. Plus... if we go back now, we won’t be able to know what the demons are hiding behind the God’s Stones, right?"


    "But..."


    "Don’t worry. He can’t get me with just a Stone of Flight. As long as I avoid the anti-magic area, I’ll be safe."


    Lightning clenched her fists. Her hands started to sweat, but she knew she could not run away from the battle anymore. Over the past half a year, she had slowlye to realize that she would never be a brave person like the God’s Punishment Witches. Even that train conductor had more guts than she did.


    Nevertheless, she was not fighting the enemy all alone. She knew Maggie, Lorgar, Joan, and many other friends had her back. They had helped her to ovee her fear and start all over again.


    Gradually, she had recovered her power. After what seemed to be a long and arduous journey, she had finally returned where she had fallen half a year ago.


    Now, she only needed to ovee two more obstacles.


    One was to fly past the Magic yer, and the other was to...


    Strike back as a retaliation!


    "Maggie, I’ll leave him to you," Lightning unbuttoned her flight suit, stuffed the owl down the front, only leaving its head poking out of the cor, and then elerated. She could definitely manage to fly at the speed of sound for ten kilometers.


    "Be... be careful, the Magic yer... s-saw you..." Sylvie’s voice came out from the sigil inartictely as the reception went in and out because of the synchronization of magic power.


    Lightning knew that she had exposed her trait. The Magic yer could definitely hear the popping and crackling sounds of her passing through the sound barrier.


    But she was faster than sound, which meant by the time the Magic yer heard her, she was already way ahead of him.


    A few secondster, Maggie spied the Magic yer.


    "That monster is at your front right, coo!"


    Before Lightning could see the Magic yer in the dismal moonlight, a haze of ck light suddenly overcast the sky!


    Without a doubt, the Magic yer could see better in the darkness than Maggie. He had not only spotted her but also tried to cut her off. Upon realizing Lightning was way faster than him, he generated the anti-magic area.


    Lightning instantly raised her speed to its maximum and started to dive.


    For a split second, Lightning felt the grimy and chilly ck haze brush past her ankles. The next moment, she had shaken the Magic yer off. As she was no longer threatened by the anti-magic area, she straightened up and zoomed across the demons’ encampment. The whole encampment then slid into her view.


    At the moonlit encampment, Lightning saw the demons were pushing tworge God’s stone cylinders forward. Like two gigantic bell towers on their sides, the pirs were at least 20 meters long and three meters tall. Behind each pir were seven or eight neatly lined Spider Demons which were hobbling slowly in the direction of the First Army.


    Right behind the Spider Demons were tons of Mad Demons, which were apparently using the pirs as some sort of mobile bunkers.