Release That Witch

Good controlled his joystick while focused on the plane in front of him.

It’s really… dark.

Sky, clouds, ground—aside from the flickering light fixed before him, he was unable to see anything. And from prolonged staring, even the tail lights seemed to become hallucinatory.

Am I really moving?

Or more accurately speaking, have we been stationary all this time?

Good lowered his visor and rubbed his sore eyes—at this moment, he noticed that his gloves were already sticky.

I’m actually perspiring…

When was the last time this happened? Most probably while chasing after the specters…

He took two deep breaths and silently recited the King’s words.

The darkest period is precisely right before the dawn.

Before Dawn…

“Let’s talk, otherwise I think I’ll choke.”

At that instant, Good thought he was hearing his heart calling out to him. But he quickly reacted, because it was Finkin through the communications!

“Hey hey, using the transmitter to talk is breaking protocol!” Another familiar voice sounded—Hinds.

“Her Highness stated that we cannot use the transmitter to talk while in battle, because it might interfere with important information. But we aren’t even close to the battlefield yet. The Devilbeasts can’t fly at night,” Finkin replied. “Furthermore, I am using the team frequency; Her Highness won’t hear us.”

“…” There was a short silence over the receiver.

“Fine, I have to admit, hearing your voices is truly great.” Another one joined in. “Lads, what do you want to talk about?”

“Anything is fine, but can everyone make a count as to how many tail lights can all of you see? To be honest, I can’t make out which ones are the lights and which ones are the stars.”

“That’s right, anything is fine.”

“I see six large lights.”

“Four here.”

“Then you should be at the flank of the formation, be careful not to get break out of formation.”

Very quickly, the frequency became crowded; obviously the flight in the darkness to unknown territory had placed immense pressure on everyone—compared to flying in the day where they could at least tear through the clouds and see them coming for them, they were still able to find their way back alone if they got lost. However, not only was a night flight difficult to determine that they were moving, upon being separated from the formation, it was also impossible to find Eleanor Skycruiser just with their naked eyes.

Upon hearing the cacophony of his squadron mates, Good relaxed without realizing it.

“How’s it; does chatting keep all of you relaxed?”

The princess’s voice suddenly cut in. At that instant, the frequency went silent.

Without question, someone must have reported the situation to Her Highness.

“Erm, Your Highness, it was my fault—” Good toughened his skin and spoke up.

“No, what I mean to say is that if this is effective, I can chat with all of you as well.” Tilly had no intent of blaming anyone. “But don’t forget to stare at your squadron mates and give less trouble to Maggie and Lightning.”

Everyone was mildly stunned, but cheered after.

“As you command, we will not lose our targets!”

“Your Highness, rest easy. It feels like I can see much clearer now!”

“Enough, if you want to suck up, you have to do it Graycastle style; do you think you’re some owl now?”

Roars of laughter came out, and even the bombing squadron joined in.

“Your Highness, this is Kun Peng; can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah.”

“Is the explosive equipped beneath us the Glory of the Sun? Why does it look different to the Ark of Peace’s? Theirs is big and round, but ours is more like a barrel.”

Good realized that it was a question that would leave its mark in history.

“Because those that you are carrying are produced by the Ministry of Engineering and utilizes a simpler form. Although it isn’t as strong in comparison to the others, it is sufficient to break through the enemy’s first line of defense,” Tilly explained. “But come to think of it, His Majesty Roland himself was unexpectedly satisfied with the result, and even said that it was a historical coincidence…”

“Er, Your Highness… I don’t quite understand…”

“It’s fine if you don’t.” Tilly’s voice suddenly became much gentler. “He… is a really strange man.”

TIme seemed to crawl faster just like that.

And the endless darkness beyond them was no longer as unbearable.

After an unknown period of time, a surprised voice drowned out everybody’s conversation. “Everyone, look to your right!”

Good turned and immediately noticed a slight gray mixed with the darkness—the distinction so fine that the majority of people would find it hard to see a difference. But its appearance was like a dye that changed the never ending darkness. At the boundary of the horizon that was affected by the gray was a smear of purplish-blue.

It was the prelude to daybreak.

“Focus up!” Tilly bellowed. “We are arriving soon.”

…

At the same time, inside the Seagull.

Sylvie looked through the darkness and caught sight of the Deity of Gods’s approximate position.

To avoid being sighted by the thousands of Eye Demons, she had restricted her ability only to the sky, just to ensure that the formation’s path had not deviated. It was only when daybreak was approaching did she carefully cast her eyes to the ground.

Reality proved that be it the early stages of planning and calculations or the later stages of implementation, everyone performed outstandingly to complete their tasks. In less than ten minutes, she sensed the astonishing magic power blossoming out from the Deity of Gods.

As they pulled closer to the Deity of Gods, she finally saw the gigantic stronghold surrounded by Blackstone walls.

At this moment, the gigantic protruding structure remained static in midair—most probably to conserve magic power. It was only tens of meters away from the ground surface. Behind it were dense troops that spanned across several kilometers.

It was a god-given opportunity.

She realized that in order for the ground troops to keep up, the Deity of Gods would stop upon nightfall. With such a large target staying completely still, it was impossible for the bombs to miss. More importantly, as dawn had not arrived, there were no patrolling Devilbeasts around, allowing them to seize the initiative!

Sylvie picked up the handset while informing the bombing squadron of the data regarding the target while observing the enemy ranks. In her spherical field of view, the entire battlefield gradually exposed itself to her: situated high above at 7,000 meters were the two bombers. It was an altitude which would demand the Devilbeasts to take an extremely long amount of time to ascend and reach. Situated in the middle of around 2,500 to 3,000 meters in altitude were the biplanes in formation, forming a tight net to intercept anything that attempted to ascend. The Deity of Gods was less than 10 kilometers away from them, and in a few more minutes, the Kun Peng would be able to conduct the drop.

But right at this time, a strange senior demon entered her vision—despite the distance, both their gazes found each other. The demon suddenly stopped moving and raised his head.

“He’s an Eye Demon; he spotted us!” Sylvie’s heart jumped. Although they knew that the demons’ migration would employ a great number of Eye Demons and they would ultimately be discovered, the actual occurrence still caused her heart to skip a beat.

“It is already too late for them.” Andrea activated the Sigil of Listening and reported to Tilly, “Bombers are about to go into positions, take heed to avoid them.”

“Roger that.”

“Right, the demons have noticed our fleet.” She feigned a casual tone.

“Is that so, I’ve been waiting for this.” After completing her sentence, Tilly immediately turned on the frequency that broadcast to everyone. “Everyone, pay attention, take a ten degree turn to the right and engage in a roundabout. Prepare for the blast.”

The large biplane formation turned immediately with the gradually brightening sky. The hue of the entire dome remained dark, but it was no longer a pitch black that prevented them from seeing their own hands, but more of a dark blue that neared blackness. The stars turned dimmer as the lights on the planes became more obvious.

The only one that remained in its original path was the Kun Peng, it had to maintain perfect stability before casting the bomb.

Unlike the Fury of Heavens that were capable of dropping bombs while diving, the Kun Peng and Ark of Peace were specially designed planes meant for unloading the unique bombs, with all sorts of aiming equipment on the ready. The planes also had pressurized capabilities, allowing them to fly much longer than the ordinary biplanes.

Although night vision was extremely limited, there were thin clouds beneath them. But sight was not needed with Sylvie supplying the accurate data. The crew in charge of releasing the bomb only performed simple calculations and gestured to the pilot that they were ready.

“Open hold, release!”

A low rumble sounded from the belly of the plane when the control stick was being pulled upwards—it was the sound of the heavy bomb being separated from its frame. Once the large object that weighed about four tons was released, the bomber was instantly lifted, swaying for a moment before regaining stability.

This bomb that transformed into an unremarkable black dot increased its speed due to gravity, heading straight towards the Deity of Gods.