After explaining the battle plan set by Neverwinter, Agatha, Ironaxe, and Edith took the train to the front.

In order to meet the dual needs of fire strikes and material delivery, the two-track rails were turned into four forks to advance together, with the same configuration and station area. Although the increase in the amount of work has slowed down the progress a lot, everyone in Command understands that Tower 10, which is the terminus of the Torch Project, will most likely not appear in the decisive battle.

If the fortress-like station is built, no matter what the devil does, he will not be able to change the defeat, which should be very clear to the commander of the opposing side - the black river made of steel is extremely difficult to destroy, and even if the transportation is interrupted for two or three days, the human can survive through the site supply until the line is repaired, which makes the usual tactics of breaking off the back useless in the past. And attacking a well-defended site against the line of fire is undoubtedly a death. The devil's only chance was to stop the advance of the First Army before Station 10 was lowered.

In other words, there won't be a definite timing for the decisive battle – it could break out at any moment.

Therefore, the bunkers, trenches, and bunkers on both sides of the railway were all arranged according to the scene of the battle.

In addition, Agatha noticed that the track facing the Holy City had been deflected at a slight angle, causing the side of the train to be parallel to Tachira, which was, in His Majesty's words, the most suitable "battle line" for the power of the vehicle-mounted artillery.

Standing at the end of the tracks were two armored trains of the Black River.

They act as mobile fortresses, with four rotatable machine gun towers ready to fire at the devils trying to approach their positions, and a mobile version of their mounted 152 mm fortress guns pointing straight into the sky, always aiming in the direction of the city of Tachira.

Step by step, ascending to the watchtower in the center of the camp, the ruins covered by lush greenery of various plants gradually appeared in the Ice Witch's field of vision.

Although she had known this outcome for a long time, she still felt an indescribable shock and sorrow when she saw her home with only a ruined wall.

Even after more than 400 years, she could still find the shadow of the former holy city in the dilapidated outline.

"Were you born in that place?" asked Edith.

Agatha nodded, memories of the past flooding back into her mind.

"Congratulations, from today onwards, you will be a member of the Federation. 」

"As the youngest high-level Awakened ever to be, you are welcome to join the Quest. 」

"Sister, you're amazing!"

......

"Do you know what you're doing! they're all fighters who gave everything for the Federation, and they're just unconscious, and you're going to turn them into test materials?"

"You don't know how low the chances of recovering from a severe head injury are, and they must be hoping to make a greater contribution to the experiment than dying like this. 」

"I can't take it. 」

"This is an order signed by Lord Akaris, and if you can't accept it, then you can withdraw. 」

......

"Master, the walls have been breached, and the coalition forces may not last long!

"But my sister hasn't come back yet. 」

"She's a soldier of the Garrison Guard, it's impossible for her to break away from the defense line without permission, and if you die here, won't you disappoint her!"

......

"Take advantage of this opportunity, run away!"

"But...... My lord, where can we go without Tachira?"

"Don't give up, we still have hope! Over the mountains, over the rivers, to that wild land...... Go and reforge the order!"

......

"Why do you hold out until the end? If you run away now, you might be able to survive. 」

"I don't have magical powers, but I know a lot of things—it's my duty to protect you. 」

......

"Your Majesty, she's awake. 」

The pictures flashed one by one, like a reincarnation.

In the eyes of most Federation witches, she is an outlier, despite her reputation as a genius, she is controversial for her attitude towards mortals, and is later ostracized by the Secret Society because of the Divine Punishment Army's plans, and has no choice but to continue her research in a private test tower in the Hidden Forest.

But even so, Agatha still has an indelible affection for Tachira.

Once regarded as the last bastion of mankind, the city was the birthplace of countless heroic deeds, with thousands of witches and hundreds of thousands of ordinary people falling on the battlefield against the devil. Her sister was one of them, and it is still unknown where she is buried under the collapsed city wall.

Escaping did not bring a sense of relief, but rather became a heavy responsibility.

As soon as you close your eyes, you will hear the cries for help of countless compatriots who died in battle.

She's not an escape—every time she has nightmares, Agatha tells herself repeatedly that she lives to be able to get revenge, to be able to one day reclaim this land that belongs to humanity.

She believed that it was with this belief that those witches had persisted to this day.

Their lives are no longer just their own.

In the ruins on the horizon, two towering giant skeletons loom over, the Devil's new weapons of war and the source of nightmares.

She looked at the Iron Axe, "I have a request. ”

"Speak. Mojin nodded.

"If the First Army can successfully advance the front to within ten kilometers, and the first round of shells fired at the city of Tachira, I hope that I and the Witches of Divine Punishment will send them out. ”

Only thunder and fire will put an end to this nightmare—the roar of artillery will inevitably raze the ruins of the Holy City, and the few remaining ruins of the city will be reduced to ashes along with the bones of their fallen compatriots, and become part of the fertile plains.

But Tachira will be reborn in the midst of destruction.

......

Three days later, in the evening, when the engineering team worked overtime to lay the railroad tracks about 12 kilometers from Tachira, Sylvie was the first to notice something strange on the devil's side.

A large number of madmen crawled out of the red-mist-corrupted earth at the foot of the giant skeleton and poured into the trenches. Then two large "black shadows" appeared in front of the ruined city wall, and slowly advanced in the direction of the position.

She immediately realized that they were two Divine Punishment Stones of astonishing size—like the Divine Punishment Stone Pillars found during the Battle of the North Slope Mountains, probably the size of some small primary ore bodies in the mine. The shadow covered an area of nearly one hundred and fifty meters, and more importantly, it completely obscured the vision of the Magic Eye, making the scene behind it completely disappear into darkness.

There are two blind spots in the perfect detective circle.

No matter what the other party wants to do with the Divine Stone, but dispatching thousands of mad demons at a time is already a desperate fight for the Taqira Devil, who is now fading in popularity.

This is undoubtedly a sign that a great war is about to begin.

Sylvie immediately picked up the phone that led to the underground command post.

After a few breaths, a shrill siren rang out throughout the camp!