Chapter 1079: The Demons’ Intentions
The remaining three didn’t hold.
They scattered the moment the mist cleared — each Devilbeast peeling away in a different direction, wings churning for altitude and distance simultaneously. One demon turned mid-flight and launched a bone spear at the Devilbeast already spiraling down, the broken wing folding wrong, the angle terminal. The spear caught the creature in the neck. It dropped.
No hostages. No witnesses. Not even their own dead.
Andrea released the trigger and watched them go. The second standing coin never materialized — too much distance, too much zigzag, the variables multiplying beyond what the guiding lines could resolve into a single clear target. She let them go.
“They escaped?” Shavi stared at the empty sky. “What did they even come for?”
“I don’t know.” Andrea turned over onto her back and looked up at nothing in particular. “They’ve learned to dodge. Figured out there’s a range problem.” She glanced sideways at Molly, who was sitting with one hand pressed against her ear and an expression of aggrieved suffering. “Sorry about that. I didn’t expect the lines to appear so quickly. My ability may have grown.”
“You could have warned me,” Molly said.
“I genuinely couldn’t. When it comes, you act. That’s the whole thing.”
Molly took her hand away from her ear, testing the ringing. Still there. “You don’t have to apologize. Hitting the target was more important.”
“I’ll feel sorry regardless.” Andrea sat up and stretched both arms behind her. “Special compensation — Chaos Drinks. My rules: if you win, I give you a cup; if you lose, you owe me nothing.”
Molly blinked. “That seems…”
“Once in a lifetime.”
“Wait.” The arithmetic resolved itself with a slight delay. “If I can only win or break even, then — that just means I’m agreeing to play cards. That’s exactly what I said I wouldn’t do.”
“You did just agree.” Andrea’s expression was the specific shape of too late, and she was already on her feet and moving. “Stay here. I’ll be back from the command post in twenty minutes.” She jumped off the brick pile before Molly could reconstruct a protest.
Molly looked at Margie.
Margie looked back with the expression of someone who had understood this situation from the beginning and had simply lacked the leverage to say so.
The intelligence arrived on Iron Axe’s desk in under thirty minutes.
This was the system Roland had designed: each unit reported upward level by level, the General Staff collected and refined the inputs, and the result was a complete picture of the engagement assembled on paper and sand table before the dust had settled on the field. Lightning and Maggie had been the first to spot the enemy, tracking the demons from six o’clock position inside the clouds, invisible, until they reached Sylvie’s communication range and sent warnings through the Sigil. The flight path, when plotted on the map, was a straight line — not a patrol arc, not a search spiral. A direct route from the railway front to the Taquila ruins.
They had not been stumbled upon. They had come looking.
Andrea’s shot had ended one Devilbeast at maximum effective range. The remaining three had retreated immediately, varying their flight path specifically to defeat a follow-up shot. Sylvie had tracked them to the edge of her detection range. Lightning and Maggie had held position and done nothing further — correct decision, correct restraint.
Fifteen minutes after the retreat: alarm lifted.
Iron Axe set down the report and took a slow breath.
He had run the system through exercises before the expedition. Theoretical runs, simulated engagements, staff members moving counters across maps in the way that professional soldiers learn to move counters across maps. He had understood, in the abstract, that the design was sound.
He had not understood what it felt like to use it in a real engagement. The sensation was strange — not the chaos he had known in Iron Sand City, where a fight between two hundred clan warriors produced enough confusion that sorting out what had happened was itself a day’s work. This was clarity. Spatial clarity, temporal clarity, a perfect reconstruction of fifteen minutes of combat across a front spanning kilometers, assembled while the event was still warm. He felt as though he had stood above the plain on a cloud and watched the whole thing happen at once.
Which made it stranger, not easier, that the central question remained unanswered.
He walked to where Edith stood at the map.
She was the only one in the room who hadn’t opened her mouth to speculate. Every other staff officer had offered something — a theory, a probability, a guess dressed in the language of tactical analysis. Edith had positioned herself six inches from the map and not moved.
“Did you find something?”
“No.” She didn’t look up. “I’m not a demon. I’ve met them once. I can’t tell you what they think.”
“You weren’t discussing anything. I assumed you had a conclusion forming.”
“Discussion without evidence is just anxiety wearing analysis as a costume. You can’t prove it, you can’t disprove it, and the only result is everyone’s nerves are worse.” She stepped back from the map. “If you need something for the report to His Majesty, give him the facts and nothing else.”
Iron Axe nodded. He agreed with her, which was the part he had to be careful about. He had been careful with Edith Kant since the beginning — careful in the specific way of a man who has betrayed a confidence and is waiting to see what the debt costs. He had told Roland about their private contact in the Southernmost Region. He had no regrets about it. He had also not been able to look at her without feeling the weight of it, and the weight was heavier than he’d expected because she had simply acted as if it hadn’t happened, which was worse than recrimination in ways he didn’t have the vocabulary to name.
She still invited him to the staff gatherings. She no longer sought him out privately.
He had not yet decided what that meant about her.
“There’s one more thing,” Edith said, as he turned to give the order.
He waited.
“I don’t think it ends here.” She was looking at the map again. “If they came for us once, they’ll come again. Soon.”
Two days later, four Mad Demons appeared on the northeastern horizon.
Same formation. Same bearing. The distance this time was greater — barely visible to the naked eye, four smears against the pale sky, deliberately out of range of everything except Sylvie’s gaze.
They watched for a while.
Then they left.
Chapter 1079: The Demons’ Intentions Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
The other three demons responded immediately. They controlled the Devilbeasts and scattered in all directions. They then zigzagged in a direction where they came from and soon disappeared into the distance.
While retreating, a demon even turned back to toss its spear toward the head of the Devilbeast which had a broken wing and was spiraling down.
Although Andrea concentrated on the target, the second standing coin never appeared.
“They escaped?” Shavi asked in surprise, “What did they come for?”
For the first time, the demons escaped before a direct confrontation. In previous cases, the brutal demons would not give up until they attacked their targets severely. It was indeed surprising that they just hovered rather than attacking or spying.
“I don’t know…” Andrea released the trigger, “They seem to have figured out how to dodge the sniper. The enemies learn very quickly, don’t they, little Molly?” She laughed, looking at Molly who was rubbing her ears.
“You should remind me earlier next time,” Molly complained. The sound of this weapon was not lower than that of a cannon. She hardly had time to cover her ears. Even so, she still felt dizzy due to the thunder-like bang.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect the ‘guiding lines’ to appear so fast. Probably my ability has improved again.” Andrea blinked her eyes, “I’ll give you a special compensation to apologize.”
“You didn’t do it on purpose. You don’t have to apologize, ” Molly scratched her head. “After all, defeating the enemy is more important.”
“But I’ll feel sorry for it.”
“Well…” She had to agree in face of the earnest stare of Andrea, “What’s the compensation?”
“Chaos Drinks,” Andrea said, covering her mouth.
“Are you… sure?” Molly asked in surprise. When they were on the Sleeping Island, she only knew that Andrea was born in a prominent family and was one of the most powerful combat witches, so she was nearly as important as Ashes. In addition, Andrea used to stay with Lady Tilly, so Molly had few opportunities to communicate with Andrea in the past. After coming to Neverwinter, the gap between combat witches and non-combat witches completely disappeared. It was then she found out that Andrea was not as cold as she imagined, but elegant and friendly.
However, she had not expected Andrea to be so generous!
“Yeah, the general rule is a cup for each round. My special compensation is that if you lose, you don’t need to give me a cup. If I lose, I’ll give it to you. How is this? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“I see. If I don’t have to lose, it’s indeed… Wait, it’s not!” Molly suddenly understood, “Doesn’t it mean that I’m going to play cards? I won’t join—”
“But you’ve promised it, just now,” Andrea revealed a “too late” expression. “Stay here and don’t leave. I’ll go to the command post and come back soon!”
Before Molly had time to explain, Andrea had already jumped down from the brick pile and rushed to the end of the dump site.
She turned to Margie who obviously had the similar feeling and finally knew what she meant by saying “I was forced by them to come here”.
…
Frontline command post.
Within half an hour, all the information about this “accidental encounter” had been gathered and placed on Iron Axe’s desk.
Lightning and Maggie who had been wandering around the watch circle were the first ones to discover the enemy’s trail.
At that time, they were flying through the clouds one after another and happened to had been out of the sight of the enemy. After that, they followed the demons at the six o’clock direction and sent warnings to Sylvie through the Sigil of Listening.
According to Lightning’s description, the demons’ flight route was a straight line on the map which linked the railway front and the Taquila ruins. In other words, they were not patrolling but they came after the First Army from the very beginning.
The entire encounter lasted for about a quarter of an hour. Miss Andrea was the only one to achieve the victory, as the anti-Devilbeast sniper rifle was the only effective weapon which could hit the target at this distance. After one demon was shot, the rest of them immediately chose to retreat and zigzagged to avoid Andrea’s further shooting. It was proved to be effective and Andrea failed to shoot them again.
Sylvie monitored their process of leaving the watch circle.
Lightning and Maggie did not take any further action, either.
Fifteen minutes later, the alarm was lifted.
Iron Axe laid down his report and took a deep breath.
This was the integrated war intelligence system designed by His Majesty. Each unit would report their actions level by level. The General Staff department would then collect all information, sort out and refine it in order to review the whole combat process. With the assistance of a map and a sand
table, the military commanders could have the most direct understanding of the front battle.
Though having operated the system several times before the expedition, Iron Axe was still shocked by the initial practical use of the system. For the first time, he felt that the war was so clear that it felt like he was standing on a cloud that overlooked the entire combat.
In Iron Sand City, even the battle of hundreds of people between the clans could be chaotic. If he wanted to sort out the result of the battle, he could only get a rough conclusion even if he devoted a lot of time and energy to it. Yet, it was different now. Both the enemy’s action and First Army’s response were clearly presented in his mind. The feeling of being on top of it made him realize that the battles between the Mojin clans were merely street fights.
Of course, it was far from being sufficient enough to know the overall situation. The most important task was to figure out the demons’ intentions.
Iron Axe looked at Edith, who was carefully staring at the map. She was the only one not to discuss with other Staff members.
He had previously reported to King Roland his private contact with her, but Iron Axe had no regrets. He had pledged allegiance to the king. Even if he felt sorry for her, he would not make a second choice. Nevertheless, he felt guilty toward her and was prepared to be ridiculed or ignored by her. What she did was out of his expectation. She acted as if it had not happened, and still invited him to participate in the gatherings of the General Staff Department. However, she did not have any private discussions with him anymore.
He realized that he indeed did not understand this woman’s thoughts—since they were in the Southernmost Region.
“Did you find something?” Iron Axe walked behind her.
“No,” Edith shrugged. “I’m not a demon and I just met them once. How can I know what they think?”
“You didn’t discuss with them. I thought you had some idea.”
“Discussion without clues is meaningless. You can neither prove it nor deny it. It contributes nothing but anxiety.”
“In that case, I’ll take it as the final decision of the General Staff and report to His Majesty,” Iron Axe nodded. If even Pearl of the Northern Region could not figure it out, there was no need for them to continue the discussion.
“Well, go,” Edith paused, “but…”
“But what…?”
“I don’t think it’ll end so easily. If the enemy really came for us, they’d definitely take actions again in the near future.”
What happened later proved Edith’s guess.
Just two days later, the demons once again appeared in the northeast.
Four Mad Demons again.
They were farther away from the front this time. Only four black spots could be barely observed by the naked eye.