Knight Ed Kinsville was the manager of the Edie Chamber of Commerce. He often traveled upon this road and was used to such a scene. However, this was the first time his youngest son Finney was accompanying him on a trip; he had never seen such a view before. He secretly looked at the legendary group of witches while hiding behind his father, also tugging at his father's sleeve as he did so.
"Father, which branch are these witches from?"
Finney's voice was extremely soft, but it still shocked Ed tremendously. The man quickly turned back and scolded.
"Silence! Put your head down low and look at the earth at your feet. Do not stare at the carriages directly."
Just then, black-armored guards by each side of the witch carriages walked past the father and son while looking straight forward.
Ed hurriedly used his hands to cover his son's mouth. He then turned and frantically bowed before the black-armored guards.
However, the guards completely ignored Knight Ed. They continued to advance while guarding the black carriages.
At this moment, one of the carriages hit a rock on the road before Ed and his son. The tightly covered curtains flew upward, revealing the horrifying monsters packed within.
They looked like humans who had been skinned and soaked in a filthy gutter for several days. Their bodies had a sickly pale color to them that resembled victims of drowning. Their skin was also slimy, wet, and let out a pungent smell.
They had no eyelids either. Only milky-white eyeballs could be seen in their deeply sunken eye sockets. They were so white that not a spot of black could be seen.
They were like a group of dead creatures, unmoving even as they were packed within the small and narrow carriage. However, they immediately sensed the trace of a living human when little Finney's gaze fell upon them. Their slimy bodies trembled and started writhing about, wildly sniffing for the scent in the air. They became restless.
The commotion in this carriage caused a chain reaction.
Soon, all the nearby carriages also trembled intensely. One could even occasionally hear the 'howls' of these terrifying monsters.
"What happened? Who alerted these ghouls?"
Two young witches appeared in the sky on flying brooms. They silently hovered above the carriages.
The restless carriages once again fell silent as they sang a strange and drawn-out song. The monsters within calmed down once more.
It was the Death Witches!
The knowledgeable Knight Ed immediately recognized the identities of the witches by the styles of their witch robes and the emblems they wore. He immediately fell onto the damp dirt in surprise. Little Finney, who had crossed eyes with the ghouls, had already fainted.
"Hmph! Useless fellow. If you had alerted the big guys in the other carriages, they would not have stopped until they devoured you. You– go and tell the people in front to have all unwanted personnel retreat thirty meters away from the road." The witch in charge of guarding the carriages cursed unamusedly. She then whistled and took to the skies on her strange broom again.
The black-armored guard that the witch had pointed at immediately bowed in acknowledgment. He dismounted from his horse and rushed toward the front of the formation.
Chapter 612
The portal to Faen was in an underground hall behind the Witch Council. It was under the joint protection of the Sidonthiria Clan and the Pale Witches.
The witches of the various branches had all sent their representatives to Werning as the date of the plane's opening approached. What surprised people the most was the fact that the Witches of Fate had also sent people to participate in this planar invasion.
It was the first time this had happened since the witch branches had shared their private lesser planes with the others.
Thus, the arrival of the Witches of Fate drew a lot of attention!
While the other witches were driving their heavy chariots on the uneven roads toward Werning City, a massive shadow flew past their heads.
The witches in the rear of the formation lifted their heads in surprise. They were shocked to find an incomparably large flying ship storming toward Werning City with unstoppable momentum, shredding the clouds in their way as if it was a metal fortress floating in the skies.
Several dozen witches rose from Werning at the same moment. They stood off against the flying ship from a distance.
"Who is it that has arrived? Do you not know that this is the Northern Witches'..." Of the many Sidonthirian witches, the leader was a terrifying Third Grade.
The massive flying ship suddenly stopped when she appeared in front of it in the air.
A familiar shape appeared at the bow of the ship before she could finish her sentence.
"Lady Iola, it is me!"
The voice was deep yet gentle. It wasn't loud, but there was a strange charm to the sound. Even Third Grade Iola couldn't help but open her eyes wide in disbelief as she gasped, "Alice, it's you?"
The several dozen apprentice witches surrounding the Third Grade witch opened their mouths wide in shock. They silently stared at the pretty figure that had emerged from the ship and was smiling at them.
There was that familiar robe of stars, those pretty eyes, that head of silky smooth 'white' hair, and that gentle yet determined look in her eyes.
It was Alice. It was truly Alice, leader of the Witches of Fate!
"Lady Alice, this is…" Witch Iola couldn't help but ask questions.
Alice's presence on the ship meant that they weren't dealing with an enemy. Still, a massive metal battleship like this didn't seem to have ever appeared in any of the witch branches. In fact, the design and style of the ship somewhat resembled those fellows from the Silver Union.
While the witch responsible for the security of Werning City was caught up in the confusion, a hint of a smile appeared on Alice's pale face.
"Iola, this ship is our ride. We are here to participate in the plane opening day of the Pale Witches."
"What? Participate in the plane opening day?"
For a moment, Iola couldn't believe her ears.
In the past seven decades since Witch of Fate Alice had handed over the plane coordinates of that large-sized plane, the witches of the other branches had also started to publicly open the portals one or two of their private mid-sized planes. They encouraged witches of other branches to form groups to explore and excavate these planes.
These mid-sized planes might have been excavated and developed by them for several hundreds of years now, but there were still some potent and terrifying local native forces existing within. These clan witches were only barely able to survive as a foreign faction within the planar world.
The territory they had excavated was often isolated beyond the main continent or situated in some perilous and hazardous place.
They had only managed to avoid the persecution and expulsion by the native forces and hold on to their strongholds through such methods.
They still hadn't managed to fully excavate these private planes even after a thousand years. Instead, they had slowly assimilated with the plane, becoming a 'local' force that was half native and half hostile!
Most of the witch branches took this opportunity to offer up these planes that they couldn't do much with. They would provide the portal and the temporary foothold for all adventuring witches. The witches of the other branches could keep all spoils they found on their adventures.
This way, they could indirectly draw upon the strength of the other witch branches to help their own clan develop and expand their lands. The time of the plane opening usually only lasted for six months to a year. All witches of other branches that failed to leave within that timeframe would no longer receive reinforcements via the portal. Naturally, they would also no longer be able to get any supplies from the witches' stronghold.
Lone witch parties like these would eventually be exterminated by the fierce persecution of the local native forces. Thus, no witch party would ever dare to go against this rule!
> It was precisely the cruelty and bloodiness of interplanar warfare that made the affair a suicidal one for weaker witches. That was why the Witches of the Fate were the only ones out of the eight current branches that had yet to send anyone to participate in these plane opening days. After all, it had not even been a hundred years since Alice brought the Fate branch back to life.
Consequently, Iola, who very well knew what the situation was like, was shocked upon hearing Alice's words!
"Since Lady Alice is here to participate in the Pale Witches' plane opening day, then please stop your ride at Fifteenth Street Square!"
Alice was clearly intimately acquainted with this Werning City. She turned back to give a give a simple order, and the flying ship immediately turned like a giant whale. It slowly flew toward somewhere one and a half kilometers away under the accompaniment of many Sidonthirian apprentice adepts.
…………
The citizens and merchants of Werning were all terrified when they saw the hundred and twenty-meter-long and forty-meter-wide massive flying ship slowly descend from the skies. They hid at a distance and silently judged this fearsome metal beast.
A thick, muffled boom rang out.
The gigantic hull of the flying ship successfully landed on the flat and stable Fifteenth Street Square, crushing the tough stone slabs beneath into dust.
Several Sidonthirian apprentice adepts rode upon flying brooms and floated in the skies around the flying ship. They all held glowing elementium wands in their hands.
Strangely enough, the first to appear on the full metal deck of the flying ship was not a human. Instead, it was a group of short and stout green-skinned goblins wearing leather suits with goggles upon their heads. They started to shout and wave excitedly at the witches in the air once they appeared upon the deck. No one could figure out what it was that they were saying.
The cabin door opened once again while the apprentice adepts were mired deep in confusion. This time, it was the actual Northern Witches.
Seven Witches of Fate followed closely behind their leader, Alice. They walked onto the deck in an orderly fashion and arrived at the bow of the ship.
The goblins no longer dared to make a commotion when they saw the witches come out. They hurriedly ran to each side of the platform and started giving orders while waving strange glowsticks in their hands.
The next second, a hatch opened at the side of the hull. Squads of ferocious and towering metal golems of strange design walked out from within the ship with heavy footsteps. The entire square tremored slightly with their march.
It was a group of exceptionally fierce-looking metal monsters!
The armor on their bodies was at least a dozen centimeter thick and glowed with a ghostly blue sheen. That was an appearance unique to magical metals. They came in various shapes and appearances. With a quick glance, one could approximately split the machines into three categories with.
The first ones were defensive magical machines with incredibly thick and heavy armor. They held a large metal tower shield in one hand and a thick, massive flail in the other. As they walked in neat rows, the dust and debris on the stone slabs of the square were sent flying into the air. Even the stone buildings around the square started to tremble slightly.
The second type of machines was comparatively slender and agile. However, their bodies were covered with all sorts of strange gun barrels of various sizes. For some reason, the apprentice witches could vaguely feel a suffocating killing intent when they looked at these black gun barrels.
The first two types of magical machines took up ninety percent of the army. Three even stranger and even more fearsome magical machines slowly walked out of the ship behind them. These three machines were all enveloped by a forcefield of semi-translucent energy.
The machine in the lead was the first proper magical machine warrior that Greem had created after exhausting a great deal of energy and effort– the Mechanical Pioneer, Second Grade.
It was a new magical machine warrior model that used the miniature magic energy furnace as its power source. Installed on it were the Blitz Apperception System, magic energy guns, gravity interferometers, and energy artillery cannons. Greem didn't wholly put this mighty magical machine warrior under Gazlowe's control. Instead, he decided to have the machine fight using the traditional method of the goblins– being operated by a pilot.
However, the magical machines of the past were difficult to control, yet they were still only capable of simple body movements. They could not qualify as proper magical machine warriors. However, the Mechanical Pioneer had been equipped with the Blitz Apperception System. When hidden within, First Grade Goblin Mechanic Tigule didn't need to use any levers or control panels. He could flawlessly operate this powerful machine using his mental consciousness alone.
The other two magical machine warriors were the improved Goblin Tinker and the Goblin Bomberman.
The magic energy weapons installed on them were not as powerful as those outfitted on the Mechanical Pioneer. Their core energy sources were also miniature space furnaces, rather than the miniaturized magic energy furnace. They were far inferior compared to the Mechanical Pioneer, especially with the addition of the goblin mechanic.
If one were to evaluate these two machines from various aspects, they could barely make the cut as Pseudo-Second Grades.
All who witnessed these one hundred towering metal constructs form up neatly in the square couldn't help but hold their breath and dilate their pupils.
This…this was a frightening army of steel!
Chapter 613
Bringing a bunch of metal golems to fight in another world?
The witches present were first stunned at first but quickly began to snicker secretly.
These witches had some idea of these metal golems' power, seeing how they were encased in their dozens of centimeters of armor. These one hundred golems alone could raze a sizeable human city of several hundred thousand people with no difficulty.
However; what about it?
The number of magical crystals needed to raise so many metal golems was astounding.
It was true that they were undefeated and unchallenged when pit against human armies. But what happened after that? Could the losses incurred in powering the golems be covered by the damaged armor and weapons captured from the opponent? Where was the value in conquering other planes if every battle only incurred further losses like that?
Every single adept's tower of the Northern Witches contained many different steel statues, metal golems, voodoo beasts, and construct lifeforms. However, they could only remain within the tower as part of its defense system. It was very rare for a golem or a statue to be transported and placed on a faraway battlefield.
Otherwise, just the amount of magical crystals spent on activating them would be a headache.
Organizing them into an army of steel and having them be the cannon fodder of war was an act of excessive waste and extravagance! That was why the Sidonthirian apprentice witches betrayed such an odd expression upon seeing Alice bringing such a large group of metal golems to Werning City.
Before the sneer from their faces could be wiped away, a few tall silhouettes emerged from the ship and caught their attention.
It was a group of foreign adepts and their followers. There were both men and women in the group, numbering a total of twelve individuals.
The Sidonthirian witches were surprised by the high number of Second Grade adepts in this group. It was important to note that Second Grade adepts were the backbone of most adept clans. It was very rare to catch even a glimpse of them if something big hadn't happened.
Yet, despite only having six adepts in this group, half of them were Second Grade.
All the apprentice witches were secretly terrified when they saw the ferocious bodies and intimidating auras of these adepts. They quickly flew back on their flying brooms.
"What's the matter, Alice? Why are there so many foreign adepts?"
Iola once again f
lew toward Alice and demandingly questioned with a frown.
Werning was the headquarters of the Witch Council, after all. It was the place where the witch leaders held their sacred meetings. Ordinarily, no adepts other than Northern Witches were allowed in here.
It was also currently a gathering of witches, which made it even more impermissible for unrelated adepts to come 'strolling' through Werning!
"They are peripheral adepts of the Tower of Fate. They will be following us into Faen this time." Alice pursed her lips and smiled as she casually explained.
Iola swept across with a glance. As expected, she saw the unique balance emblem of the Witches of Fate pinned to the chests of these adepts.
"This…"
Iola fell silent for a moment. She knew this wasn't appropriate, but after a moment of thought, she realized she couldn't find any flaw in Alice's words.
Almost all witch towers had some number of male adepts. Their positions were always inferior to witches of the same grade, and they were often at the fringe of any form of power or influence. That was why it was ordinary to find male adepts amid the ranks of witches!
However, in this particular party, it was apparent that these 'peripheral adepts' were the ones who held the dominant position. In comparison, the Witches of Fate appeared to be supporting characters.
That was why this scene felt peculiar and upsetting for Iola, who had always been accustomed to witches holding the superior position!
However, this much wasn't enough to say that Alice was in the wrong either.
Iola had a bizarre and complicated expression for a while. She had no choice but to lead Alice and her group of people to the teleportation hall located underground.
…………
Faen Plane.
It was an exceedingly beautiful mid-sized plane.
The landmass of the plane took up more than forty percent of its total area. Plenty of small islands and smaller continents were also scattered across the vast and boundless ocean.
Among them, the two largest continents were governed by humans and elves, respectively. A vast ocean also separated the two continents. Only large ships meant for long-distance travel could make the journey. It had been 1,100 years since the Pale Witches had invaded this plane. Sadly, they had been incapable of establishing a stable foothold on either of these two main continents.
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