“Hell… what are those things?”

Lightning, who was constantly observing the Deity of Gods and circling nearby, immediately noticed the bizarre changes.

“Coo… did they dig up those stone pillars that were buried in the ground?” Maggie stared at the steles for a long time before answering.

From above, the darkish colored steles resembled erected pillars, but to be erected halfway was too strange. Furthermore, the way they spiraled around the floating island in an orderly encirclement evidently served a purpose.

A strong sense of unease surfaced in Lightning’s heart.

She immediately activated two Sigils. “This is the Exploration Group! We have captured strange sightings occurring on the floating island! Repeat, something strange is happening on the target!”

“Phoenix, copy that over.” Tilly’s reply came quickly. “I have also noticed clouds of dust on the surface. Please continue observation, I will inform the Aerial Knights to maintain a high level of alert.”

“This is Seagull.” Andrea spoke up. “Can you describe the situation in detail?”

“Uhm…” Lightning organized her thoughts and deliberated over her words. “Some of these big and black pillars rise out from the edge of the island. They look almost similar to the towers in Demon City. I can’t gauge their actual sizes, but they are definitely huge—”

At that moment, she was suddenly stunned.

One of the steles flickered with a blinding blue light which looked like it was emitted from within, illuminating the crystal outer walls brightly in the process. Following that, something shot out of the steles at lightning speed and headed straight for the skies!

“Those pillars are hollow inside, coo!” Maggie exclaimed.

“Huh? What’s hollow?” Andrea still failed to understand.

Lightning yelled out at the top of her lungs, “Fleet, scatter!”

The thing shot past the two at rapid speeds, drawing a long parabola before entering the battlefield. This time, she saw it clearly. The thing that had been ejected was also a stone pillar which looked identical to the “needles” produced by Spider Monstrous Beasts, but were multiple times larger! At the same time, the stone pillars were covered by an obvious layer of magic power, glistening at high speeds.

Faced with the sudden attack, both parties panicked momentarily. They turned and dove down in succession in hopes of avoiding the incoming projectiles in the shortest time possible.

Up in the vast sky, both the ‘Fire of Heaven’s and the Devilbeasts were just insignificant dots. The long distance of over ten kilometers took the stone pillar time to cover. From the beginning to the end, the stone pillar only managed to collide into an injured and slow Devilbeast and sending its shattered remains plummeting to the ground.

Just like that? Lightning was startled.

They are shooting those enormous projectiles at such a distance, but they neither explode nor split into a rain of stone needles. Are they truly hoping that such an attack can bring down all the ‘Fire of Heaven’s? Isn’t this akin to using a wooden stick to kill mosquitoes?

But before she could sigh in relief, Maggie used her claws to turn her head towards the direction at where the pillar had landed.

“Look there, coo!”

When Lightning’s gaze landed on the the fake formation of cannons, she immediately understood the situation.

The Demons’ target had been the artillery formation right from the beginning!

The stone pillar smashed right into the formation and erupted into a dazzling blue light. The mere strike on the mountain top evoked a tall mist that reached several meters tall. The heavy sound produced was in no way inferior to the firing of an artillery gun. Due to the immense size, the stone pillar did not stop abruptly, but rolled for almost a hundred meters, destroying everything that stood in its path.

In an instant, the formation was reduced to ruins.

Lightning gasped.

If it had been the real assault formation, wouldn’t it had been a disaster?

“Lightning, please reply, what is going on down there?” Andrea asked anxiously, “Is Tilly in danger?”

“No, the planes are all safe, but you best not disturb her now.” Lightning turned her eyes back to the aerial battle. After the passing of the stone pillar, both sides once again took up battle formation, their battle obviously unresolved. Her expression became serious when she turned back to the fake formation on the ground. “But the ground units… I’m afraid they are in big trouble!”

It was clearly not an ordinary stone pillar.

Amid the diffusing snow mist, the blue light dimmed down before disappearing completely. Right then, the surface of the stone pillar peeled off and revealed its interior flesh-like composition.

She faintly caught sight of things crawling out of the stone pillars.

“Did you see that?” Lightning smacked her own forehead.

Maggie raised her head and stared for a long while. “Yes… they are Spider Demons, coo! Small Spider Demons, coo!”

…

Cat’s Claw and Kop witnessed the entire scene of how the fake position was destroyed. Although their viewpoint was limited and they were unsure what the thing that fell was, the snow that rose up and the reverberating echo on the other mountain was extremely clear. The calculated eighteen kilometers distance away from the mobile fortress which was assumed to be safe was no longer so. The Demons were capable of luring their enemies in, and at the same time, striking them down.

“Captain, the enemies have entered our firing range!” Concealed at another location, the observer’s reminder came out, “We did not catch any deviation in the floating island’s movements, the three cannons can open fire now!”

Cat’s claw bit his lips and looked at Jop.

The choice to fire at that moment was undoubtedly a huge risk, but if they chose to retreat, the entire plan created by the Headquarters and the Aerial Knight’s valiant battles would have been useless.

“There are times when we do not have to consider if our actions are effective or not.” Jop nodded and spoke slowly.

There’s nothing wrong about being scared.

It was the same with failing.

The most important thing was to fulfil the duties as a soldier.

And their duty was to unleash the cannons.

Cat’s Claw took a deep breath, got out from the cave lookout to the sentry post, and blew on the operation whistle!

“Everyone get into positions immediately, we will complete our bombardment before the enemies can even respond! Move, move, move! Everyone get moving, let the Aerial Knight see who is the real trump card!”

The empty position that did not have a soul in sight was instantly swarmed by a large number of personnel. The snow white camouflage sheet was pulled open, revealing the cold and gleaming cannons beneath. Unlike the wooden replicas, these steel-cast weapons of war had an overbearing oppression regardless of where and when they appeared.

Without the need for Cat’s Claw’s urging, everyone completed the loading of the charges and the ropes in preparation for the firing. The entire process went naturally and smoothly, completely unlike the time when they fought against the Longsong Calvary.

That’s right, Cat’s Claw was not the only person that had grown.

The troops had become a force capable of influencing the fate of humankind.

“Report, No. 1, 2, and 3 cannons are ready!”

Cat’s Claw looked at the domineering floating island and spat out a mouthful of saliva.

“Open fire!”

Deafening booms sounded out immediately as they ignited above the mountain top.

The mouth of the barrels spewed flames that became dazzling stars amongst the mountains!