Disclaimer:

I don't guarantee a 100% perfect translation. Feel free to correct me in the comments.

Gotta run, im almost already late for meeting a client (well, im freelancing, since i currently dont have a stable job), then i have a party for a friend who just came back from France (i think it was France, it was Europe, of that im sure).

Hopefully i get to eat pizza tonight!

Anyway, im seriously thinking of quit playing WoW, or at least stepping down from raid leading since lately my life’s been in chaos, and i’d like to have more spare time (to translate or even just read).

Enjoy the chapter and as always…

Agatha was surprised. She did not expect this group to actually be in possession of a flying magic stone, moreover, be aware of how to use it. She hesitated for a moment, but then continued, "We did understand the relation between magic and magic stones, but we personally were unable to manufacture them."

"Unable to make them? What do you mean?" Tilly was surprised.

"These magic stones… they are made by the Devils." She sighed, "If we had gotten a stable supply of magic stones, we would have used them to a.s.sist the combat witches instead of going for the G.o.d Punishment Army plan."

"The Devils made them?" All the witches were surprised, but Roland was the only one feeling dejected.

"How much do you know about the manufacturing process?" He asked, "How were these magic stones made?"

Agatha did not want to answer to such a blunt question, but considering the Devils were the ultimate enemy of the witches, sooner or later she had to say it, regardless of the rude tone and impoliteness of this prince. She slowly replied, "Among the Devil race there is a particular individual, we call them Chaos Beasts, with the shape of a gigantic bud. It's almost as high as 34 people standing on top of each other, and it has tentacles below, used to slowly crawl. After devouring G.o.d Punishment Stones, it can produce a variety of magic stones. Depending on the type of magic stone, the transformation speed varies."

"These… Have you personally seen them?"

"We managed to capture one alive," she said with great dissatisfaction towards the questioning of the prince. "The Holy Army once took a detour from the battlefield to raid a Devil's camp where Chaos Beasts were producing illumination stones. The witches took it back to Taqila and made it work for the city. The Devil's IQ was extremely low, so as long as we fed it Punishment stones, it would transform them itself. It was a pity we never found a way to make it produce higher type of magic stones, neither did we know how to properly keep it. Six months later, like a plant without roots, its whole body turned yellow, withering and dying."

"Later, the Exploration Society sent several witches to various Devil camps in order to investigate, their results confirmed it. The Chaos Beasts were the only way to obtain magic stones, and the more powerful the stone type, the slower the conversion speed. Most of the Devils would use the magic stones for combat, like the wild Devils, activating the stones embedded in their arms in order to use heavy long-range attacks. All the magic stones we acquired were from the defeated enemies or the raided camps."

"So, this flying magic stone belonged to a Devil?" Tilly was curious.

"As far as I know, only the powerful Devil leaders would have such a magic stone," Agatha sighed, "it probably was part of the spoils of war of some Transcendent."

"What about the types of magic stone?" Roland frowned, "Did they have various types of magic stones right from the beginning?"

"Of course not, if that thing happened, humanity would no longer exist," she rolled her eyes at that question. "In the time of the first war, the majority of the Devils did not use magic stones, they just relied on the vast strength of their bodies, and with only heavy armor and iron spears, they attacked the human cities. This was written in detail in the history books. In the following hundreds of years after the war started, the territory of humanity was swallowed little by little, until they were completely relegated to the Fertile Plains." At this point she sighed, "At that time when we were closest to victory, if only there were a witch at the lead, and trained combat witches, the Devils would not have crossed the Wild Lands boundary."

"Then, when did they start using more types of magic stones?"

"Presumably by the second War of Divine Will, their strategies also became more diverse." Agatha's expression sank. "The last war only lasted for 35 years and we were completely defeated. Although the elites of the Holy army could contend with the Lords of h.e.l.l, the number of enemies was far greater than ours. I heard from the Federation seniors that in the first ten years the witches held the advantage in the war. A Transcendent could sometimes thoroughly wipe a Devils army, but with the loss of more and more personnel, the war turned and we were forced to stubbornly stick to defending the cities."

While she spoke, the prince had been completely silent and seemed to be thinking about some serious issue.

It appears that he finally realized the Devils' terrible threat, Agatha thought, not only their numbers are huge, but also their progress moves further. While waiting for this next attack, she did not know what kind of army would show.

"The wild Devils, Dreadheart Devils, Lords of h.e.l.l, how did you divide them in these categories?" While Roland pondered, Tilly went ahead and asked.

"Yeah, these names were spread from the second War of Divine Will, they don't have much difference from each other apart from their body shapes and the magic stones they use."

"Then, how do they multiply?"

"Uh… this," Agatha was startled, "I am not sure, the books had not records of that. We also couldn't learn from the captured prisoners, since with no red mist, they died soon after. We lacked enough time to comprehend their language. And those who did not need the red mist were basically just wild animals, there was no way to communicate."

"Wild animals?"

"Yes, the Devil race has a great variety of individuals, but they can be divided into two types," she explained. "One type has magic power, but the other does not. The latter also does not need the red mist to survive, but both the shape and intelligence are comparable to those of wild animals. For example, there is this eight-legged reptile used as transportation, with its long wings, the Devils use it to move through the sky."

"Wait, by how you describe it, do they have this appearance?" The prince took out a picture from the drawer and spread it out in front of Agatha.

"This is indeed a Dread Beast." The picture of the winged devil was wonderful, without doubt it was made by a witch. "Did you see this demon?"

"Not far from here," Roland drank a sip of tea, "I thought it was a demonic beast tamed by the Devils… are they different?"

"Of course, the inferior demonic beasts are only food to the Devils, the mighty monster beasts are also their enemies. When the Months of Demons came, the Devils' attacks decreased, and was usually a time for us to catch our breath." Agatha paused, s.h.i.+fting the topic to the nearby enemy. "A place with Dread Beasts is a without a doubt a Devil's camp, where is it?"

"West of the Concealing Forest, behind the giant snowy mountains." Roland began to tell the rough story, "…which should be covered by red mist by now."

"No, not yet!" Agatha excitedly said, "These low towers are used as a red mist storage facility, they will constantly evaporate the stored liquid, so they need to be replenished regularly. Therefore, the Devils will hide in the underground to minimize the consumption. We can try to capture this camp."

"Take the initiative to attack the Devils?" The surprised witches gasped.

"If there is a Demon Eye for surveillance, it means there are ten or more Chaos Beasts in the camp. Otherwise, such far away position would not have that rare number of high Devils." She bit her lip, "The Chaos Beasts will always retain their previous type of magic stone production, even if not a higher type. I can also use it to continue the research to discover the principle of the transformation of the G.o.d Punishment Stones!"

…sorry for the cliff, again.

Some small changes to the Devils

Devils – Remain the same

Demonic beasts are changed: