The nobles who were able to enter the Castle’s conference room were basically the supporters of the three families in the City of Glow, many of whom participated in the construction of the road connecting the north and the south and struck it rich from the introduction of the steam engines and production of calcined cement. A majority of them had been to Thorn Town and witnessed the Aerial Knight’s training first hand. After hearing how confident the King of Graycastle was, the worries on their faces finally lessened.

Regardless, the open and frank meeting that discussed numbers and information was a rare experience for the nobles of the Kingdom of Dawn. Compared to false and empty assurance, the precise discourse was even more convincing.

“Then… what do we need to do?” someone asked.

“Maintain the current situation.” Roland answered straightforwardly, “A stable Kingdom of Dawn will be the greatest help to the war efforts.”

“But panic has begun spreading. If we were to adopt any enforcement measures, I am afraid that it might instead backfire with regards to the refugees…”

“That is because the demons are making use of the Red Mist to infiltrate the borders, but this situation will no longer worsen.” Roland consoled, “Graycastle will do its utmost to assist all of you in stabilizing the situation.”

“King’s City will relieve the tax from territories that have received threats from the demons, and also provide assistance according to the circumstances.” Horford stepped in. “Everyone, this is a war that concerns all mankind, no one can avoid it. I, Horford Quinn, solemnly vow on my ancestors’ name, that regardless of the outcome, I will not take even a step out of the City of Glow! If the Kingdom of Dawn is destroyed by the demons, then this shall be my grave!”

…

After gaining their guarantees, the somewhat appeased nobles left the room, and the meeting quickly moved into its second phase.

Aside from the King of the Dawn, the remaining people were the higher-ups of Graycastle.

“Your Majesty, with regards to the strike force from before, I am willing to shoulder all responsibility—” Iron Axe and Edith stood up at the same time, only to look at each other in surprise.

“No one could have anticipated what offensive methods the Deity of Gods have.” Roland shook his head. “Don’t tell me that you had never considered the possibility of the reserve force suffering an attack, to the point of being destroyed when you guys formulated the plan.”

“…” The two could only remain silent.

It was a conventional tactic to send a small team to execute the investigation with the main force stationary, but to believe oneself infallible and think that any loss would only be limited to the small scouting team was a foolish mindset. He believed that the General Staff would never have made such a low level mistake.

“In other words, at the moment you chose to implement the plan, you have tacitly agreed the significance of investigation far outweighed the risks involving the two teams. Otherwise, the plan would have never been implemented. Relax, I will never use casualties to determine your successes and failures, even if it truly was the First Army’s largest loss.”

“Your Majesty…”

“But don’t forget.” At this point, Roland retracted his carefree expression and his tone of speech became serious. “All the soldiers have their own families as well; never treat their sacrifice as mere numbers on paper. I hope that the General Staff will remember this every time it comes to an agreement to execute a plan.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Iron Axe and Edith answered in unison.

“Then, let’s hear your thoughts on the matters after the battle.”

“Yes.” The Pearl of the Northern Region switched out a new map. “After our analysis, the General Staff believes that there are two possible locations for the floating island after its last turn, the border of Cage Mountain or the Hermes Plateau. The former location will ensure the capture of the Kingdom of Wolfheart and threaten the Kingdom of Dawn at the same time; the latter will ensure the spread of the Red Mist to the four kingdoms, and the Impassable Mountain Range will form a connecting path to the ridge of the continent. But with the floating island passing the Kingdom of Dawn’s borders and according to its current trajectory, Hermes Plateau is the most probable location.”

Roland nodded. “How’s the evacuation situation like over there?”

“Very smooth.” Agatha replied, “Isabella is already hailed as the leader of the Church. Them taking charge is far more effective than typical citizens. It is estimated that they will all evacuate out to the new city in two or three days.”

“That’s great.”

“Before the ‘Glory of the Sun’ is completed, we are unable to stop the advancement of the floating island.” Edith carried on. “Once it occupies Hermes Plateau, the Red Mist will most probably pervade through Silver City, and the Kingdom of Dawn will most probably be engulfed. If we lose the support of the Witches, we will definitely be placed in a passive position.”

We have reached this point after all.

Roland sighed inwardly, since the erection of the obelisk in Taquila’s Holy City would pose a large threat to the entire human kingdom, not to mention it being inserted right in their faces.

The largest difference would be that the erection of the obelisk in Taquila would bring direct harm to Neverwinter, while the erection of the obelisk on the Hermes Plateau would only cover Silver City. Once the Red Mist infiltrated their only industrial zone, the consequences would be too horrible to even consider. Graycastle’s strength was increasing at a rapid rate and was inevitably linked to the Witches. In Neverwinter, the Sleeping Spell had already integrated into the various parts of the city’s development, such as clearing away the parasites on the ships, alleviating the worker’s fatigue, assisting in precision works, and the planting of coral reefs to expand the shallow areas, etc… Although the steelmaking and other core industries did not require Witches, the substantial reduction of efficiency would become unavoidable.

Fortunately, be it the steam engines, internal combustion engines or Magic Cube Power Unit sources, they could all work in the Red Mist, which was humanity’s biggest trump card against the enemy.

“It seems like before we destroy the Deity of Gods, we will be fighting against the enemy in the Red Mist for a period of time.” His gaze swept through the entire crowd. “Aside from me being here today, I bring some good news. The ‘Glory of the Sun’ has completed its finalized design, and another round of tests will be set in motion soon. If we are successful, the floating island will not live to see the Red Mist devour the Kingdom of Dawn!”

Everyone’s face lit up.

“Really?”

That’s great!”

Roland revealed a smile as well. “So, the agenda of how the decisive strike will be accomplished can now be brought forward.”

…

After an entire afternoon of discussion, the rough plan was essentially determined.

Due to the Deity of Gods’ uniqueness, the First Army did not have too many choices. Either they buried a detonator in advance to destroy the floating island’s core from the bottom, or to have it dropped from above and destroy the obelisk in one shot. Aside from that, the other proposed methods were all limited in terms of causing actual damage to the Deity of Gods.

The former’s advantage was its simple implementation without the requirement of a bomber, but its effect could not be guaranteed— Hermes Plateau was large and broad, no one knew where the Deity of Gods would eventually stop. If the location deviated by even a slight margin, the explosion’s effects would be greatly reduced.

Furthermore, whether the Glory of the Sun could turn the Red Mist waterfall into a high-temperature fiery column was still a question. The further the floating island was to the ground, the more uncertain the results. Additionally, in consideration of the limited amounts of refined uranium Lucia had produced, this plan was ultimately overruled.

The air drop plan posed two difficulties in terms of technique and implementation. But as long as the two conditions were met, the bomb would definitely explode at a location close to the Red Mist Lake, which would ensure the maximum result.

“In that case, we will draw up a plan based on this conclusion.” Roland slammed his hand down on the table. “Aside from that, we will conduct the air drop dummy runs and the bomb test at the same time. We will get payback for what the demons did to us!”

“As you command, Your Majesty!” everyone bowed and answered in unison.