Chapter 1312: Countermeasure

As a grand demon lord, the Sky Lord’s strength was genuinely terrifying. The magical ability to tear a passage through space allowed for instantaneous movement and could double as shield or weapon. But careful analysis revealed that it was not without flaws.

“We can first establish that this high-level demon can only open one passage at a time, and the entrance of that passage must remain within arm’s reach,” Edith said. “Secondly, while the portal’s range is difficult to pin down precisely, it must extend at least two kilometers.”

“Sounds like the advanced version of Orbit’s ability.”

After spending so much time with Roland, Edith had absorbed several of his favorite turns of phrase—“advanced version,” “special advanced version,” “enhanced advanced version,” and their various combinations.

“The range does suggest as much.” The Pearl of the Northern Region nodded. “However, the number of passages Orbit creates is constrained only by her available magic. The Sky Lord, by contrast, can only open a new passage once the previous one has been closed. He was in a desperate situation during the battle, which makes it unlikely he was holding anything back. This is vital intelligence—it defines the essence of any countermeasure against him. If Hackzord could maintain multiple passages simultaneously, our problem would be a hundred times more complicated.”

She let the other two absorb that before continuing. “Another important point: although he can expand and shrink the passage’s entrance and exit at will, Hackzord must remain close to the door to maintain it. According to Miss Sylvie’s observations, he spent several seconds closing the large Distortion Door after the explosion on Archduke Island before flying to the south side.”

“That means… the larger the door he opens, the longer it takes to close?” Iron Axe said thoughtfully.

“Almost certainly.” Edith spread her hands. “And the final point is his real vulnerability. Hackzord is not a Magic Slayer. He cannot suppress the movements of witches and poses no genuine threat to anyone wearing a God’s Stone of Retaliation. His body may be as strong as an Extraordinary’s, but he will be just as helpless as any demon in an anti-magic field during close combat. I don’t imagine he is eager to trade his life for two or three ordinary soldiers.”

She paused. “To summarize: the Sky Lord’s primary ability is a two-way passage centered on himself, reaching several kilometers, and limited to one active at a time. Whether at the entrance or the exit, a God’s Stone on either side of the door will shatter it.”

“So if he appears again, our countermeasure would be…”

“If he stays at the periphery of the battlefield and the door’s exit is not aimed at our lines, Miss Sylvie bombards him with artillery directly,” Edith said, methodical as a staff officer reading a prepared brief. “If the exit opens inside our formation, or if he uses the door to charge directly into the First Army, our soldiers do nothing and leave it to the professionals.”

“Do nothing?” Iron Axe blinked, then understanding crossed his face. ”…Oh. I see.”

“Exactly.” A thin smile. “In practice, the Sky Lord’s most effective attack method is turning our own weapons against us. If our soldiers hold their fire, his threat to our formation has an actual ceiling—just as I said: strategically, his ability is irreplaceable for moving troops, but as an offensive weapon it falls short.”

With the First Army’s frontline ignoring him entirely, the grand lord could hardly descend into the trenches for hand-to-hand combat. And if he did, the arrival of the God’s Punishment Witches—the professionals—would make his death a certainty.

“What if he counterattacks between artillery salvos?” Agatha asked after a moment’s thought. “For example: he opens a passage to the outside, making us think he is bringing reinforcements, waits for our artillery to fire, then opens a new large door and positions the exit inside our formation—turning our own shells against us.”

That she could formulate such a scenario was evidence enough that the Ice Witch had invested considerable effort in understanding Graycastle’s new weapons.

“It is theoretically workable,” Edith granted. “But I don’t believe the Sky Lord would attempt it. Opening a door large enough for one person can be done in an instant; expanding it wide enough to actually shield himself requires time. The margin between those two moments is razor-thin, and if the timing fails, the shells that have already passed through will be waiting for him on the other side. For a grand lord, that is far too risky a gamble.”

“So the bottom line is that the Sky Lord is not as great a threat to the frontline as we feared?” Iron Axe rubbed his chin.

“That is the conclusion the General Staff has reached, yes.” Edith’s reply was definitive. “Of course, this only applies if Hackzord takes the field alone. If he is accompanied by other grand lords, the threat multiplies instantly and dramatically.”

—Like bringing Ursrook and charging directly into the heart of their formation.

Iron Axe and Agatha both exhaled slowly. Ursrook, at least, was already dead in the Fertile Plains.

“But that doesn’t rule out a new Magic Slayer appearing in the future,” Edith continued, and something in her tone sharpened. “So if the opportunity arises, it would be best to remove this problem permanently.” The murderous intent in her voice was quiet but unmistakable. “He is only truly no threat to us when he is gone completely.”

Hearing that, Agatha found herself quietly impressed. A mortal, not only unafraid of a demon grand lord, but already plotting his death—and doing so as though it were the obvious, logical thing to do. What would have sounded like delusion only a few years ago now sounded like sound military planning.

Over four hundred years, humans had changed a great deal. Whether in their people or in the things they built.

Perhaps the Union’s silence hadn’t been entirely a loss. At the very least, they had not passed their own fear of the strong down through the generations.

Now that she thought of it, the Union’s era had likely produced many people with Edith Kant’s potential. But the pessimism that pervaded that age—the genuine conviction that humans could not win—had shackled their thoughts and their will, and the deliberate estrangement cultivated by the upper classes had done the rest. It was a bleak era, taken as a whole.

This time was different. Before humans had a chance to truly taste despair, Roland Wimbledon had cut off its roots.

The memory surfaced unbidden: waking from deep sleep in the Frozen Coffin, and meeting Roland for the first time.

Mortals can also defeat demons. Everything had started from those words.

“Hackzord won’t fall for the same trap twice,” Iron Axe said, pulling her back. “Do you already have a plan?”

“As long as the First Army remains flexible enough in its movements, we have a chance to eliminate him even without a formal trap—for example, arming Fire of Heaven with a large-caliber weapon capable of firing God’s Stones.”

“True,” the commander mused. “But that would require a substantial supply of God’s Stones. Don’t tell me you’ve already worked out how to process them into that shape.”

“Of course not.”

“What?”

Edith shrugged. “I am the Chief of the General Staff, not a deity. Making suggestions is within my authority. Figuring out how to realize them is obviously His Highness Roland’s problem.” She paused. “I’ve written everything into the battle report. For the frontline to achieve victory, he should be doing his part as well.”

The other two couldn’t quite suppress their expressions.

It appeared His Highness’s white hairs were going to increase again.

Chapter 1312 - Countermeasure

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations As a grand demon lord, the Sky Lord’s strength could indeed be described as terrifying. The magical ability to open a portal through space allowed for instantaneous movement, and could simultaneously be used as a shield or a weapon. However, through careful analysis, one would discover that it was not without flaws. “We can first be certain that this high-level demon can only open one passage at a time and the entrance of the passageway must be within arm’s reach,” Edith said. “Secondly, although it’s difficult to ascertain the range of the portal, it must be at least over two kilometers.” “Sounds like the advanced version of Orbit’s ability.” After spending a lot of time with Roland, Edith learned from him several strange pet phrases that he liked to use, for example: “advanced version”, “special advanced version”, “enhanced advanced version”, etc. “Just by looking at the range that indeed seems to be the case.” The Pearl of the Northern Region nodded. “However the number of passages Orbit creates depends on the amount of magic she has. The Sky Lord, on the other hand, can only open a new passage once the previous one has been closed. He was in a very tight situation at the time so it’s unlikely that he wasn’t using his true ability. This information is vital because it determines the essence of our countermeasure against him—if the Sky Lord could use multiple passages at once, the situation would be a hundred times more complicated.” After the other two digested her words, she continued on and said, “Another important point is that even though he can easily expand and shrink the passage entrance and exit ways, Hackzord must be standing nearby the door in order to maintain them. According to Miss Sylvie’s observations, he spent several seconds closing the large Distortion Door when the explosion occurred on Archduke Island before flying to the south side of the island.” “This means… the larger the door the door he opens, the slower it is to close it?” Iron Axe said thoughtfully. “It’s very likely that this is the case.” Edith said, spreading her hands. “The final point is his Achilles heel—Hackzord isn’t a Magic Slayer; he cannot stop the movements of witches and doesn’t pose enough of a threat to people wearing God’s Stone of Retaliation. Even though his body is not weaker than that of Extraordinaries, he will be trapped in anti-magic regions if he engages in close combat. I certainly don’t think he will want to not sacrifice his own life in exchange for the lives of two or three mere humans.” Edith paused. “To summarize, the Sky Lord’s main ability is to open a two- way passageway that is centered around himself, has a radius of several kilometers and can only be opened one at a time. No matter if it is the entrance or the exit, as long as both sides of the door are affected by a God’s Stone, the passage will break apart.” “So if he appears once again, our countermeasure will be…” “If he is located at the periphery of the battlefield and the exit of the door isn’t facing the battlefield, Miss Sylvie will directly bombard him with artillery,” Edith said systematically. “If the exit of the door is inside the battlefield, or if he uses the door to directly charge into the First Army’s formation, then get the soldiers to do nothing and leave it to the professionals.” “Do nothing?” Iron Axe was a little surprised, then, as if he realized her meaning, he said, “…oh I see.” “Indeed,” Edith revealed a smile, “In reality the Sky Lord’s most effective method of attack is using our own weapons against ourselves. If our soldiers can hold their attack, there is actually a limit to the threat he poses to our lineup—just as I said before; strategically, his ability is irreplaceable for maneuvering troops, but using it to attack is not a good idea.” With the frontline of the First Army ignoring him, it was not like the grand lord could just charge into the ditch and engage in close combat with the soldiers. If he did that, then when the professionals—God’s Punishment Witches, arrived on the battlefield, his death would be inevitable. “What if he counterattacks during the intervals between artillery fire?” Agatha asked after a moment of thought. “For example, he first opens a passage to the outside, making us think that he was gathering more troops, and when our artillery fires he opens a new large door and positions the exit inside our battleground, subjecting us to our own artillery fire.” Just from being able to think of this was enough to prove that the Ice Witch had put a lot of work into Graycastle’s new weapons. “This is indeed something that could work in theory; however, I don’t believe the Sky Lord will do that,” Edith explained. “Opening a door for only one person can be done in a blink of an eye, but expanding it so wide so that it would completely protect him would need time. The time difference between the two is very limited and if it fails, the result would be being blasted into pieces by the shells that have fallen behind him. To a grand lord, such a move is too risky.” “All in all, I can take it that the Sky Lord is not as much as a threat to the frontline as we thought, right?” Iron Axe said while rubbing his chin. “So far that is the conclusion that the General Staff have reached.” Edith gave a definite reply. “Of course, this only applies if Hackzord leads troops into battle by himself. If he was accompanied by other grand lords, then the threat he poses will instantly multiply dramatically.” —Like bringing Ursrook along and directly charging into the middle of their battle formation. Iron Axe and Agatha couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. Luckily, Ursrook had already died in the Fertile Plains. “But this doesn’t rule out the possibility of a new Magic Slayer appearing; so if it’s possible, it’ll be best if we find a chance to rid ourselves of this problem.” There was a hint of murderous intent in the Pearl of the Northern Region’s tone.”He will only be no threat to us when he disappears completely.” Upon hearing this, Agatha couldn’t help but feel impressed. Not only was a ‘mortal’ seemingly showing no fear towards a demon, but she was also plotting the death of a grand demon lord. What would have definitely sounded delusional in the past didn’t sound strange at all to anyone at the current moment, as if it was the logical and obvious thing to do. Over the past four hundred years, humans had indeed changed a lot. Whether it be people or things. Perhaps the Union’s silence wasn’t all together a bad thing. At least, they didn’t pass down the fear of the strong from their era to this era. Now that she thought of it, there might as well have been many normal people possessing potential like Edith Kant in the Union’s time, but the pessimistic views and fear that pervaded the race restricted their thoughts and willpower. Together with the estrangement intentionally created by the upper classes, the era was very bleak on the whole. But this time, before humans had gotten the chance to taste real hopelessness, Roland Wimbledon curbed its spreading. As she was feeling a surge of emotions, she once more recalled the moment when she woke up from deep sleep in the Frozen Coffin, and met Roland for the first time. “Mortals can also defeat demons”. Everything started from those words… “Hackzord probably won’t fall for the same trick twice, do you have a good plan?” Iron Axe asked. “As long as the First Army’s movements are flexible enough, even if we don’t set a trap, we still have the chance to get rid of him—for example, equipping ‘Fire of Heaven’ with a large caliber weapon that can shoot God’s Stones.” “True,” the commander in chief mused. “But that would need quite a lot of God’s Stones. Don’t tell me you have already thought of a way to process God’s Stones?” “How could that be possible.” “Huh?” Edith shrugged. “I’m the chief of the General Staff, not god. I’m alright at making suggestions but as for how to realize them, that will obviously be up to His Highness, Roland, to figure out. Relax, I’ve written everything in the battle report. In order for the frontline to achieve victory, he should be doing his best as well.” The other two people couldn’t help but twitch their mouths. It appears like His Highness’s white hairs… are going to increase again.