Release That Witch

Compared with Lotus who was watching from afar, Sylvie could see everything more clearly.     

Through the walls of the mud hut, Sylvie could see that soldiers were busy repeating their single actions in good order. When a group of seven or eight worked together, they formed a whole body. Bags and iron balls piled up behind compartments were successively sent into a thick iron pipe and then they were ejected out like thunder.     

Looking at it carefully, Sylvie noticed that the soldiers first lit a rope attached to the end of the iron pipe and then sparks jumped into the pipe to light the bags. The ensuing brightness was so luminous that Sylvie squinted. The firelights then instantly expanded themselves to an orange fireball which filled each pore of the pipes. The firelights expanded so much that they, together with the iron balls, were tossed out as if by a giant hand.     

In a blink of an eye, the iron ball turned into a dark shadow and flew directly towards the sailing ship in the river. Its power was so strong that it made a fist-like hole on the ship's wooden side. Even though the iron ball slowed down as it went through, its power was not weak. An enemy who had been about to crawl out the cabin, was hit on his waist and instantly broke into two halves.     

It was the first time that Sylvie had seen such a scene. Without the use of sharp knives or swords, a person could be slashed in two only by some small round balls.     

Because she could see the cruel scene so clearly, Sylvie even felt that she was sprinkled with blood and guts from the wounded. Many people were and had either their limbs broken or heads smashed. The cabin was covered with flowing blood and organs.     

Sylvie suddenly felt sick and wanted to vomit.     

The scene in the cabin disappeared abruptly as Sylvie was forced to disconnect the Eye of Truth as her thoughts were so distracted that she could not support her ability any longer... She then vomited.     

"What's up?" Lotus was shocked and came forward to support her. "Are you OK?"     

His Highness also noticed her discomfort and handed her a handkerchief. "If it's too bloody, you'd better stop looking or at least not use your ability to watch closely. Take a rest first."     

"Thank you, Your Highness..." Sylvie took the handkerchief to wipe her mouth and said, "I'm Okay."     

This was perhaps the "incredible invention" Maggie and Lightning had mentioned, but at that time no one had really paid any attention to it or had taken it seriously. After all, without personally witnessing it, it was very hard to imagine such a powerful weapon.     

Looking at the battlefield again, she saw ships led by Timothy marching close to the two banks. The enemies obviously were aware that this round of intensive attacks came from behind the disguised mud hut on the bank. However, they did not know that His Highness had set up more than one fortification.     

Far away from the V-shaped defense line were hidden bunkers that were covered with wild grass and vines. The distance between them was equivalent to the tandem length of the whole ship. Unless the enemies did not hesitate to turn around to withdraw, wherever they landed, they would be attacked from the front and back.     

Soldiers in the bunkers held long gavelocks to toss sharp tailless bolts instead of round iron balls. Even though bolts were not as powerful as iron balls, armorless human bodies were their targets.     

Sylvie guessed that the enemies wanted to counterattack after they landed, but the soldiers in the bunkers would not give them this opportunity. Just as the previous attacking plan, without even showing their heads, they only needed to point at the enemies and pull the triggers, and then bolts like rains would be thrown at the enemies.     

Those weapons could be shot quickly and did not need winding up. After a while, the enemies were broken down. The enemies that had disembarked wanted to go back to their ships, while the rest standing on the ships and waiting to disembark, wanted to escape to anywhere. The hull was breached, which allowed the sea to flood in. As the ship capsized, most of the enemies that were falling into the water were killed while they were crawling on the side. What a mess!     

At this moment, Roland put his telescope down and ordered Iron Axe, "It's time for you to take your reserves to clean up the battlefield. If their leaders didn't die on the battlefield, arrest them alive if possible, for I want to ask them some questions."     

"Yes, Your Highness." Iron Axe saluted and left.     

Then Roland looked at Sylvie and said, "You follow Iron Axe to make sure that no one can escape."     

Sylvie nodded and followed Iron Axe to walk out of the observing tower. Suddenly, she understood why Prince Roland would dare to boldly protect witches in his domain... With such powerful weapons, God's Punishment Army of the church could not break down Roland easily. If Lady Tilly harbored such weapons, one day the witches would really be able to return to their home.     

***************     

Seeing the broken sailing ships on the bank, Roland was slightly relieved.     

The enemies were doomed to fail when they were about to land, turning the bow around by rod and boatman was very slow, which was maybe the reason why they chose not to withdraw under the attack of the cannons. Thinking that they would, rather than be attacked in vain, pull over and organize their soldiers to a counterattack.     

It would be very hard to sink a wooden sailing ship completely with 12-pound field artillery. Even though the hull was hit badly, the ship could also float on the water. Thus, turning around would perhaps cause a lot of damage, but one or two ships could have survived. However, once they chose to land, they would all be ruined.     

Compared with the previous Longsong Stronghold raid and the Border Town defensive battle, the enemies this time never even launched an effective attack. Perhaps this was because the pills were controlled by commanders and they would only hand the pills over to militias before battles, so once there was an abrupt attack, militias could not respond instantly.     

Cleaning up of the battlefield lasted until the nightfall.     

Iron Axe and the guards escorted two captives into their camp.     

Before Roland could speak, one of them already started shouting. "Your Highness, I'm Sznak. Please allow me to write to my family, and they'll definitely pay a handsome ransom."     

The other also said, "Your Highness, I'm Elvin Shad, the second son of Shield Family in the northern region, I'm also willing to pay a ransom."     

"So... you two led this attack?" Roland raised his eyebrows.     

"Er, no, the captain was Sir Vincent. Alas, he's already dead." Sznak wriggled his body for a while and continued to say, "Your Highness, can you untie me? I hope to be treated normally during the ransom time."     

Roland shook his head, saying, "I don't want ransoms. Tell me everything about your purpose, plans, as well as Timothy's plans for the Western Region and then I'll give you what you deserve."     

Sznak hesitated for a moment and said, "About that Your Highness, I'm afraid I can't tell you."     

The young knight of the Shield Family also refused, saying, "I've given my allegiance to His Majesty Timothy, I can't violate my oath."     

Roland said carelessly, "Well, take them away."     

After the guards left, Roland glanced at Iron Axe. "I've heard that you were appointed as a guard leader and that you were very good at interrogation in Iron Sand City? Is that right?"     

"Yes, Your Highness," Iron Axe answered confidently, "Few people can hold back intelligence from me."     

Roland turned around, saying, "Very good, no matter what methods and skills you use, interrogate the two and obtain as much intelligence as possible."     

Iron Axe was stunned and asked, "What about the ransoms?"     

"I said from the beginning, I don't want any ransoms," Roland said coldly, "Once you finish your interrogation, kill them."     

[This is the rightful punishment for anyone who dares oppress common people and attacks the Western Region,] Roland thought in his heart.