Chapter 1432: Hunter-Killer Fire Control

"All of you should be aware that our city is being under siege!" Isabella clapped her hands to gather everyone's attention. "But the enemy isn't comprised of mere demonic beasts for behind these mutated animals lies an enemy not inferior to the demons. According to reliable sources, their assault on us will only grow fiercer and fiercer, at an ever-increasing scale, until they completely annihilate us!"

"Of course, Neverwinter and the First Army will never allow them to recklessly intrude on the last bastion of human territory. But I have to stress that taking down visible enemies is easy, but the invisible ones are truly dangerous ones. This isn't some exaggeration, but the truth—" At this point, she indicated to a few soldiers that lifted apart a large sackcloth.

"Awh——"

Everyone instantly inhaled in surprise.

Balshan was not an exception.

She was captivated by the metal monstrosity the instant she entered the factory, and completely missed the large, gray sackcloth in front of her.

Underneath the cloth was a strange monster!

Its body was partially erect, its height already close to two meters tall. It had a pair of scythe-like blades that remained suspended in air, as though they were about to pounce at them at any moment.

But after a careful examination, they discovered many wounds on its body, with a cut the width of a thumb that extended from its chest to its abdomen, a marvel that it had not fallen apart.

Balshan realized that the monster was already dead.

"The monster before you is what I call the 'invisible enemy,'" Isabella introduced. "While in motion, its entire body would blend into its surrounding, and will look as though it has disappeared. To kill it, the First Army had to sacrifice over 30 lives, and this happened in broad daylight. If the enemy sends out more of these and if the battle occurs in the night, the consequences will be unthinkable!"

"At present, we are calling them blade beasts and have made confirmed sightings of five blade beasts on the developing grounds, with a large number of casualties recorded after every sighting. This one right here was a blade beast that was killed by splitting it into many pieces, and is a specimen reassembled by Summer. It is without a doubt the most important target we have to be wary about."

"Then what can we do?" Amy raised her hand and asked.

"Good question." Isabella nodded. "Although the blade beast isn't a demon or a hybrid, it still possesses similarities—magic power. These monsters might be difficult to trace with the ordinary human eye, but to a witch that has gone through some training, they won't be able to hide. So the only thing you need to take away from here is how to use this—" She retrieved two dazzling metal plates. "Magic Stone sigils."

After listening to the detailed explanation, Balshan understood the goal of building this unique team.

Between the two sigils, one was termed as 'Sigil of Screaming' and the other as 'Sigil of Resonance.' The former was used as a defensive measure against the demons, while the latter was mostly used for finding remains. But after being improved, they were the crux to defeating the blade beasts.

The Sigil of Screaming had an effect that extended out two to three kilometers, mainly to let out an alarm upon detection of beings with magic power. Upon hearing the alarm, the Witches had to distinguish if it a result of blade beasts. Upon confirmation, they would use the Sigil of Resonance to lock onto the target. At this time, a 'line' would form between the target and the sigil which outlined the enemy. The humans would then direct their firepower according to the line and effectively suppress the enemy's movements.

Although the principle sounded simple, the practical usage of the sigils was much more complicated.

Firstly, the adjusted Sigil of Listening reacted to hybrids as well, leaving the Witches no choice but to rely on experience to distinguish between the sounds. Upon encountering a large demonic beast horde, the alarm would produce plenty of noise; therefore, the difficulty of detecting a single sound out of the mess was a feat itself.

Next, the Sigil of Listening's senses would be impaired by various factors, including and not limited to hills, rocks, trees etc. Metals limited the Sigil greatly, with a single iron panel reducing its extent by a hundred meters. Therefore, the Sigil of Listening had to be placed in a spacious and empty position in the frontlines.

Although the line produced by the Sigil of Resonance would not be obstructed by any objects, its biggest problem laid in the fact that only Witches could see the thread formed by magic power. Apart from that, if the target was not within their vision, they had no other methods of verifying the locked target. In other words, if they made the mistake and treated the hybrids as the main target, the Sigil of Resonance would not appear abnormal at all.

"I can provide guidance in the manipulation of the sigils, but am unable to teach you on how to protect yourselves," Isabella stated. "So His Majesty has arranged for an appropriate position for all of you, and that is to be tank captain!

"This metal war machine hailed as a tank is the latest invention of the Ministry of Industry. It boasts offensive and defensive capabilities, with the ability to retreat with relative ease if faced against the combined siege of hybrids, and the cannon on top is capable of destroying a group of enemies. As the Captain of the tank, you do not need to personally control this complicated machine and only need to direct the driver and the gunner.

"Of course, if necessary, you can assume control of the cannon and manage the firing. His Majesty has named this system the term of Hunter-killer Fire Control, with all of you being core to the system!"

We are to direct and commandeer this behemoth...

Upon imagining the scene of how the machine would roll over the demonic beasts, an eagerness built up within Balshan's heart.

"In the following days, all of you will engage in training with the tankers of the First Army and understand the basic functions of the tank. But the most important task is to grasp the usage of Sigils and the method to differentiating enemies," Isabella concluded. "Time is of the essence and I hope that everyone of you will put in your greatest effort, eventually pass the selections, and become a member of Graycastle's First Armor unit!"

...

In the northern region of the Kingdom of Dawn.

When Roland stepped out of Fran's body, everyone heaved a sigh of relief, especially the General Staff members. The expressions they had looked as though they were relieved of a heavy burden. Although the plan was proposed by the King himself, the specific details and implementation were drawn up by the General Staff. If anything happened to the King, it was impossible to escape the blame.

The only exception was the Pearl of the Northern Region.

Despite being part of the General Staff, she was the only one capable of interacting with Roland while maintaining her calm expression.

"How did the discussions go?"

"Smoother than anticipated," Roland replied calmly. He had made the decision after discussing with Valkries that very day. However, there was the consideration of the high risks involved in entering the Dream World using conventional means, and the high uncertainty involved for both parties. Thus, he chose the most direct method to establish the meeting—to pull the other party into the Dream World without informing them.

The matter revealed that the thick stratum did not influence the pillar of light, and when both parties 'closed their eyes,' the Eye Demons were not engaged in the slightest. At that time, there were even a few God's Punishment Witches alongside him, so even in the off chance that Hackzord discovered his whereabouts, there would be no threat posed to him.

But this method could not be used frequently, since once the demons returned, they would quickly realize that they were near the same hillside. If they made any preparations beforehand, the probability of getting caught would increase no matter how deep underground they were.

"If there are any new developments, the demons will contact us through letters." Roland turned and informed Iron Axe. "Leave a permanent team here and immediately report to me if there are any movements from them. Aside from that, they are still our enemies, especially the Monstrous Beast. Once they overstep the line, do not show mercy."

"Yes, Your Majesty." The commander-in-chief nodded.

It will take a long time before my next communication with the senior demon lord, Roland thought to himself. In the Dream World, he vaguely sensed that the relation between Valkries and the one named Serakkas was not ordinary. In the beginning, he felt rather regretful that the demon that retrieved the letter was not Hackzord. But now, from the looks of it, things had turned out better than expected.

After all, the most crucial factor in this entire operation was trust.

However, before Roland even managed to move from the northern region back to the City of Glow, he received two startling news in a mere two hours.

Abnormalities were spotted on the Deity of Gods. According to the report, it was gradually ascending in altitude, and had already exceeded 300 meters of height. This appeared to go against the theory proposed by the General Staff with regards to the relation between the Deity of Gods's height and magic power consumption.

The second being the spotting of senior demon lords again along the slope by Fishball's team. But this time, there were two.