Mystery: Mr. Witch and Ms. Hunter

Chapter 363 Prelude to the Final Battle
At the same time in the southern continent, Adele was sitting in the secret room of the combat command center. Next to her sat Gegran. The two of them sat together on the side of a two-meter-long table.

Tracy was politely asked to leave the room. After all, the next thing to discuss was the cooperation between the Source Sect, the Kingdom and the Church. As the daughter of Katarina, it was already very merciful for her not to be dealt with. As for attending the meeting, she dared not even think about it.

Sitting opposite them were Emlyn White, who was dressed in military uniform and sitting upright, and an old man who looked so old that he was about to be put into a coffin, but had an inexplicable sense of majesty.

He wore a thick formal dress, covered with medals and ribbons, and on his head was a tall triple crown with the gems on the crown forming a symbol of the "Sword of Judgment" of the Augustan family.

He was not tall, but looked very strong and well-built, not as old and weak as his appearance would suggest.

Of course, the most important thing was the elusive aura of a superior that emanated from him. Even Adele, Tracy, and even Emlyn White, who had already broken through to the demigod level, did not dare to act rashly in front of this old man. Most of them could only stare at the table carefully and dared not even communicate with their eyes.

His dress, appearance, and aura all indicate the identity of this old man:
He is the "Protector" of Loen. After the Night Emperor fell in the War of the Four Emperors, he gained the support of the Seven Gods and acquired the characteristics of the Night Emperor. He successfully became the "Hand of Order" of Sequence 1, destroyed the Trunsost Family, and established the Kingdom of Loen.

He is the de facto supreme commander of the garrison on the southern continent of the kingdom, and the secret weapon used to fight against the "evil god" Sua who believes in the Mother Tree of Desire, the "Founder of the Nation" William Augustus!
His existence was originally just to fight against Su'a, but since Su'a began to indiscriminately attack the army of the southern continent, he had to start participating in the actual operation of the army, so that he could rush to the place where Su'a might appear as soon as possible.

As for logistics, He was not originally responsible for their management. He specially rushed to the rear this time because Emlyn White indicated that there was a friendly angel willing to help, so He secretly set out to return.

"I didn't expect it to be a witch." William Augustus snorted.

"But I'm not surprised to see you here." Gagran's voice sounded quite pleasant, not affected by William Augustus at all.

"Your last cooperation with us was not very pleasant. What is your intention this time?"

William Augustus had a serious expression, and he was intimidating without even getting angry. Adele was almost completely suppressed by his aura. This had nothing to do with his status, but was simply a kind of aura that came with being at a high level for a long time.

"You can't say that. Strictly speaking, we have never cooperated with you."

Gagran took out the pipe he was carrying and began to fill it with herbs in front of William Augustus, while answering absentmindedly:
"It's similar to the Rose School's hedonistic and temperate factions. One believes in the Mother Tree of Desire, and the other believes in the Bound God. We believe in the City of Disaster, and those who worked with you before believed in the Original Witch."

"It's the City of Disaster, not the Eternal Scourge?"

William Augustus immediately grasped the message revealed in Gagran's words, "In other words, you don't believe in a real god?"

Since Emlyn and Adele were present, He did not directly ask them whether they believed in the activated source substance itself rather than the corresponding ancient gods.

"If this is all you can understand, then it won't affect our continued conversation." Gagran nodded, and regardless of William Augustus' tough attitude, he lightly passed over the topic.

"That's true, but you have left a very bad impression on this country. If you want to seek cooperation, you have to show more bargaining chips."

William Augustus had sharp eyes, and lightning seemed to be dancing in his eyes. As a judge, even if he was the one asking for help, he would spare no effort to fight for his interests. Therefore, he directly used part of his abilities to try to put pressure on Gagran.

"I can't believe that you, a Hand of Order, would haggle like a peddler. Is this the reason why you designed a currency that goes against common sense?"

Gagran was not affected at all. The two flashes of lightning in William Augustus' eyes seemed to have never appeared. They just flashed for a moment and then disappeared.

"There aren't many members in the Source Faction right now, so I'm afraid I can't be your cannon fodder. So I'm the only thug I can send out. If you insist, this kid can barely count."

He used black fire to light the spiritual herbs in the pipe, and blew out a smoke ring under William Augustus's obviously unhappy expression. Gegran said indifferently, "So, if you want to ask for a high price, it's up to you. Anyway, we don't have more."

After saying that, seeing that William Augustus was unmoved, Gegran smiled again, winked at William Augustus and said, "Of course, if you were a few hundred years younger, I might be able to give you some other rewards."

Adele was sweating profusely as she listened to this. She could not believe that Gagran would dare to tease an angel who had lived for hundreds or thousands of years. It turned out that charm and provocation had something in common to some extent.

However, for William Augustus, who had also lived for hundreds or thousands of years, this provocation was just as ineffective as the mental pressure he had previously tried to release. He just frowned and said, "That's fine, but she must join the battle and act with my soldiers."

In fact, William Augustus had never thought of getting any big advantage from Gegran. He was just asking for an exorbitant price. After all, there were not many opportunities to blackmail an angel. His ultimate goal was to tie Adele and Gegran together and kill them on the chariot of the Kingdom of Loen.

If Adele had been asked to join the war before, Gagran might not have agreed easily; but now, Gagran had just rejected Augustus, so it stands to reason that He would not easily reject this proposal...

"But when dealing with witches, there is no such thing as 'reasonably'."

As if she had seen through William Augustus's thoughts, Gagran suddenly changed her normal behavior. Her previous cynical look disappeared all of a sudden. She stared straight into the other person's eyes, confronting the Sequence One angel on earth, and spoke word by word:

"I refuse to accept that unless she is free to decide whether and where, when and how to fight, you will gain nothing."

Gegelan acted very tough, without any subconscious guilt in his heart after having just rejected the other party.

"Either you come up with a cooperation plan that I can accept, or you can just part ways and deal with Su'a on your own. Whether the southern continent will sink or not has nothing to do with me."

Adele and Emlyn sat on one side, staring at the table, not daring to intervene in the quarrel between the two.

After all, no matter which of the two people in front of them, they have the ability to turn the entire Berens Port upside down. Whether it is Mr. "Moon" of the Tarot Club who has just stepped into the level of demigod, or Miss "Queen" of the Tarot Club who has not even touched the threshold of demigod, they dare not stand up and interrupt now.

Fortunately, the two angels were in a stalemate for less than a minute before the atmosphere gradually eased. Finally, William Augustus nodded expressionlessly and said, "I understand. I can agree to your terms, but the specific combat strategy will be determined by us."

"Wouldn't it be fine if it had been like this?"

Gegelan raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a victorious smile, and the tense atmosphere suddenly relaxed.

"Lieutenant General White, please go to the General Staff to formulate the next offensive plan. Before the end of March, I want the flag of the Sword of Judgment to be planted on the top of the city wall of Vantek."

William Augustus snorted coldly, ignoring Gagran's boastful words, and directly ordered Emlyn.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Protector!"

Emlyn did not dare to neglect it and quickly responded loudly, "What combat forces can we mobilize this time?"

The Kingdom of Loen had deployed many experts in the southern continent. Among the followers of the Mother Earth alone were Father Utevsky and Sister Vespe, Witch King Emlyn, Night Watcher Leonard, "Sword of the Goddess" Creste Cecima, and "War Bishop" Avila. They were all demigod-level warriors, and at least senior deacons within the sect.

However, these people spend most of their time taking turns or being on duty in various places, and rarely appear on the scene at the same time.

“How many can be mobilized?”

William Augustus repeated Emlyn's question, seeming to wonder that he could ask it.

"Of course all of it," William Augustus said emphatically. "All of it."

……

The outpost of the Loen army at the border of the Hagati grassland.

In the shabby canvas tent, Leonard and Lieutenant General Avila, who had long flaming red hair, stood across the table from each other, discussing the situation that would follow.

"I told you, this is a good opportunity to counterattack."

Avila said impatiently with a somewhat frivolous voice, "The opponent's strength was not as good as ours to begin with. Now that they have regained a point with Suea's help, they have actually stretched their own battle line."

"We misjudged our own strength in the early stages because we fought too smoothly and were cut off by Suea," Avila said decisively. "Although we have suffered a blow now, we have closed the battle line and concentrated our strength, which is suitable for a decisive battle."

"Given the current state of the soldiers, I'm afraid that if the general offensive fails, it will turn into a major rout." Leonard tried to object, "Not everyone's deployment is as complete as yours."

When the evil god S'ea raided the Loen army, all the subordinates of the senior generals suffered a severe blow, and most of them were left with lifelong disabilities. The lucky ones could have their disabilities removed through surgery, but the unfortunate ones could only live with their deformed bodies.

However, only Avila's deployment was kept in a particularly neat manner, and the loss of personnel was even controlled below 5%. Pales Zoroaster inferred that it was probably because Avila, as the commander-in-chief, distributed his power to the deployment, forcibly improving their status and reducing the damage they suffered from directly facing the gods.

"Then ask yourself why you didn't bring your troops back intact." Avila waved his hand. "However, considering the casualty rate of your troops, if you don't want to participate, you can take your wounded and remaining soldiers to defend our camp."

"It won't be too late to give me orders after you get the general attack order."

Leonard didn't want to get entangled, so he could only say something and then opened the door and left in embarrassment.

This guy, we are both lieutenant generals, and he doesn't dare to reveal his true strength, but I am always suppressed by him invisibly!

After they walked away, Leonard kicked the wooden fence of the camp in annoyance, feeling a little annoyed.

"You forgot what I said again. Always remind yourself not to get angry when talking to him."

Pales Zoroast's voice rang out beside Leonard's ears. "When it comes to provocation, He is definitely the forefather of hunters. If you really get angry because of His words, even your life will be affected."

"...Why do I feel like you sound a little gloating?" Leonard asked hesitantly.

“You see, this is the impact.” Pales Zoroaster sneered, “Anyone who has been with Him will inevitably become irritable. Even if it is harmless in the short term, it may cause more serious impacts in the future, and even lead to some substandard judgments.”

"So, what do you think of His actions during this period?"

Leonard took a deep breath and confirmed that he had calmed down before asking Pales, "From what I see, He used to follow the main force and pursue stability, but recently He suddenly became radical and actively sought opportunities to fight."

"It's very simple. If His provocation didn't backfire on Him, then it's because He has already got what He wants, and He just needs to find a chance to digest it."

Pales Zoroaster said, "But if it is the latter, His actions are too fast."

"From what I know, it has definitely not been long since He obtained a Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic. He wants to fight a decisive battle in the southern continent so soon. How will He attack the True God later? Will He find another place to start a war? If He does that, it will be strange if He is not directly crushed to death by the Seven Gods."

Pales explained patiently.

"Personally, I prefer the former possibility..." Leonard smiled helplessly, "It's really difficult for me to contain this existence."

However, if “He” really starts mobilizing troops for the general offensive, then I should have a chance to attend the next Tarot Club without being discovered...

Leonard thought to himself, looking forward to the next Tarot Club.

(End of this chapter)