Chapter 887: Bomber Action
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
At this time, in a big tent located at the center of the Northern Region Garrison's camping ground, everyone was busy preparing for the upcoming battle.
Eagle Face was astonished by Edith's plan. "Leave the entire front to the witches? I trust their abilities, but there are at least 10,000 people in the army of the Kingdom of Dawn and many of them wear God's Stones of Retaliation. If the witches fell into a bitter fight there, it'll be hard for us to save them."
"Those were my initial thoughts of this plan." Edith smiled. "In fact, it's not the Adviser Department's plan but His Majesty's idea."
"Do you have a formal record of this?" asked the deputy battalion commander.
"Here you are." The Pearl of the Northern Region gave him a confidential letter marked with a red seal. "By the way, you can see that in the last part of the letter, the king has temporarily given me the power of commander."
In accordance with the rules of the First Army, any pre-war combat strategy must have a paper record which should be audited and signed by officers at a corresponding level, and a plan signed by His Majesty himself must be unconditionally executed.
After confirming the validity of the signature, Eagle Face promptly stood straight and made a military salute. "The Northern Region garrison promises to fulfil the mission!"
"Good." Edith smiled. "But remember, your purpose is to give the enemy a destructive blow when they retreat in disorder. Please note the prerequisite. If they're not fleeing hurriedly, you should consider it a sign of failure and backtrack to Cloud Ladder. No unauthorized military action is allowed. You must clearly explain this order to every solider."
"Backtrack? Do you mean... retreat?" Eagle Face was stunned. "Isn't His Majesty sure about whether this plan is feasible?"
"We've never tried this before, so who knows? If it doesn't work, we must consider other strategies... That's why His Majesty sent me here." The Pearl of the Northern Region said sraightforwardly.
"What about the witches?"
"They won't be in any danger even if they fail."
"Got it. I'll go prepare for this task. Our troops will set out tomorrow morning." Eagle Face saluted again.
"This operation is named Bomber Action and once your troops are in place, the battle will begin." Edith made a military salute to him. "Well, go."
"Yes!"
Although Eagle Face did not really know what "bomber" meant, he had faith in this thing. He was firmly convinced that all the kings' new inventions were extraordinary, just like the steam engine.
***************
After two days of waiting in the camp, Lightning finally received the order to take action.
Sylvie's voice came through a Sigil of Listening in her hand. "Margie has transported all the people into place. You can set off now. The Kingdom of Dawn's soldiers have taken down their tents and packed. They are beginning to form up for battle. Hope you can catch up with them."
"Don't worry. We'll be there soon." With these words, the little girl turned back and waved to Maggie and Hummingbird. "Come on. It's time to go!"
In the past two days, she had flown in the sky to check the map of Cloud Ladder and survey the situation of all the surrounding areas. His Majesty's plan was not complicated. The six witches were divided into two teams. One was in charge of transportation and logistics and thus mainly relied on Margie's Magic Ark to complete their task. Sylvie and Lily were also in this group. The former was able to detect distant enemies to ensure that they could seize the initiative on the battlefield. The latter could prevent the church's demonic plague in case the church got desperate and spread it to kill the Kingdom of Dawn's soldiers who broke into the old Holy City.
The other team was the heart of this military operation.
"Oh!"
"Coo!"
Hummingbird sat in the bomb carrier and held the connecting rods on both sides of her seat. She made her magic power constantly circulate throughout this iron structure which Roland named "The East Wind". Soon, the weight of this bomb carrier and the eight bombs it carried was reduced by 99% and was just within Maggie's carrying capacity.
The white-haired girl transformed herself into a big beast and leaned over the bomb carrier. Lightning went to tie the cloth straps and ropes, binding Maggie and "the East Wind" together.
As Hummingbird's ability could not effect on the living things, Maggie was actually carrying a witch and "the East Wind" which was now as light as the witch. As long as Hummingbird could maintain the weight-reducing effect, Maggie would be able to perform precision strike missions for a long time.
Roland had used the hydrogen balloon to bomb the king's city and had achieved remarkable success. Based on the post-war reports of that attack, he had made a few improvements.
Maggie's role in this mission was to replace the balloon since she flew faster and moved much more flexibly. More importantly, she could swoop before dropping bombs, which would save Lightning the trouble of revising the direction and allowed her to focus on detection and navigation.
Limited by her magic power, Hummingbird was unable to sustain the weight-reducing effect for "The East Wind" throughout the day. Though her power had increased a lot since she had started to practice carrying cannons, she could only manage to lift these bulky, heavy bombs for half a day at most. After all, most of the time, the bomb shells, warheads, and ammunition were transported separately.
Fortunately, the Kingdom of Dawn's army was not far away. Half a day was enough.
"The road is clear. You can take off. Repeat, you can take off!" Lightning put on her goggles and leaped up into the air.
"Ah... it's coming again." Hummingbird sighed.
"Ow ow ow!"
Maggie, now in the form of a giant flying beast, flapped her broad wings and took off, casting a huge shadow on the ground. The tents in the camp had begun to shake due to the airflow caused by her wings, which was as strong as a howling gale. She adjusted her direction and headed for the Hermes mountain.
An hour later, the three witches were in the sky above the old Holy City and easily spotted their target, an army of over 10,000 people. As seen from above, this army resembled a stream outside the city but inside it, the soldiers dispersed. They seemed like colorful ants creeping around slowly and nibbling the old Holy City's territory away.
Lightning did not like the church at all and felt no pity seeing it suffer from this plundering. However, she also knew that countless people inside the city were innocent, especially those orphans who had been taken to the monastery by the church.
She thought they should not be buried here together with the old Holy City.
The little girl inhaled deeply and kept ascending until she felt some breathing difficulty. She opened her arms and dived along the middle of the stream of people, moving in the opposite direction to the army of the Kingdom of Dawn.
This sharp descent made her feel as if all her internal organs were moving backwards. It was not a pleasant feeling but she was still thrilled by the high speed.
She did not look back for she was sure that Maggie must have been closely following her. After spending these years together, they could cooperate flawlessly.
The people and things on the ground rapidly became clearer and some knights apparently also noticed the shadow falling from the sky. She could even see the scared looks on their faces.
When the girl and the beast flew down to the middle part of the stream of people, the girl suddenly flew up while shouting. "Now, drop the bombs!"
Hummingbird, who was sitting in the bomb carrier, immediately pulled the switch.