Roland and the witches were having a meeting in the castle's conference hall in Neverwinter.
Everyone looked worried, especially Agatha and Phyllis. They could not feel good after hearing so many subversive ideas about the demons and the world itself from Kabradhabi.
In this war that had lasted for hundreds of years, thousands of people had been killed. Human beings had already lost the vast majority of their territory and shrunk into a corner of the Land of Dawn. Now, the witches had discovered that mankind was not demons' rival. On the other side of the continent, there was a place called Sky-sea Realm, and the monsters from that place were as strong as demons. They entangled the main forces of demons and thus gave human beings an opportunity to survive.
It was a terrible blow to the faith of the Taquila witches.
Seeing the grim-faced ancient witches, the members of the Witch Union and Sleeping Spell also felt oppressed by worry.
In the previous battle, they had taken the initiative to attack the demons' outpost and had achieved a remarkable victory with little cost. It was the most splendid record in this war for human beings. Nevertheless, lots of serendipitous stuff had come into play in this battle. The demons had not had a clear idea of their opponent, and the First Army had happened to see through their trap. Thus, they took this chance to defeat the demons using the combat mode that they were best at. That meant this success could not be copied. If casualties increased significantly during the war, human beings who had already lost lots of land and population would have a slim hope of winning the Battle of Divine Will.
"Perhaps Kabradhabi just made up a story to deceive us," said Wendy, who felt that she needed to say something to boost everyone's morale. "After all, no one has ever been to the other side of the continent. Who knows if it's true or not? I think we'd better not think too much before we can confirm it. How about you?"
No one answered.
Agatha cast a thankful gaze at Wendy. "Although Kabradhabi might have exaggerated the facts purposely, I don't think it was lying, especially when it just woke up after the Soul Transfer. At that time, it could hardly control its body, let alone weigh every word before saying them out. Zooey should be able to feel it as well. The things it mentioned at the beginning turned out to be consistent with the story it told us later. To act so naturally in front of us, it had to prepare the story in advance and train itself for a long time. Could it possibly do that there?"
"So, you mean it told us the truth about the legacy shard?" Scroll asked, with a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Yes. If I understand Kabradhabi correctly, it told us that any species could upgrade themselves with the legacy shard, namely the relics of gods." Agatha explained slowly. "If demons are able to defeat us once and for all, why didn't they try their best to destroy us and seize our relic? There's only one explanation. They really can't."
Many people agreed with Agatha on this point. During the first Battle of Divine Will, when demons had been uncivilized barbarians, the human kingdoms failed to unite together to fight the enemy. The battle had lasted for decades and during that period of time, the underground civilization had tried to make contact with mankind. During the second Battle of Divine Will, when the Bloody Moon had come to the world for the second time, demons had become much stronger and had successfully driven the Union out of the Fertile Plains.
If the "upgrade" could bring significant advantage to demons, they should've done their best to eliminate human beings and seize their relic as soon as possible.
"We really underestimated demons," said Phyllis, who was overwhelmed with remorse. "For the past 400 years, the Union just focused on our familiar places in the Land of Dawn without paying any attention to the world outside. Now, we know little about the other side of the continent, let alone the Sky-sea Realm."
"Oh? What does the other side of this continent look like?" Roland asked curiously.
"I've only read about it in some ancient books. It's said to be an extremely barren land of numerous mountains and cliffs. Its average altitude is much higher than the Land of Dawn," Phyllis recalled. "Tens of kilometers across the sea, there's another continent, but actually these two continents are connected by a lofty mountain range which is surrounded by the sea. Only when the tides are low, can one see the mountain. Most of the time, the tides are high and half of the mountain is submerged in the sea. According to the legend, demons came to the Land of Dawn through this mountain."
"Wait, it sounds familiar. I think I've heard it from..." Roland touched his chin and wondered. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed across his mind!
The ancient witch's description reminded Roland of Thunder's findings in the Shadow Waters, which included a seaside plateau, a vast cliff and a huge stone gate embedded in the cliff, though Phyllis did not mention a gate like that. "Did Thunder's exploration team somehow see the continent opposite to the Land of Dawn?" Roland thought.
That's interesting. More than half of the Land of Dawn lies to the northwest of Neverwinter, but the Shadow Sea is located in the east. How could the exploration team see the undiscovered continent opposite to the Land of Dawn through a telescope? As long as this planet is a sphere, they could at most see the sky above that continent no matter how advanced the telescope is. How come they could directly observe such a faraway land? Something must be wrong here.
He noticed that Tilly, a member of Thunder's exploration team, was looking at him contemplatively. Obviously, she also thought of the wonders she had seen in the underwater stone tower in the Shadow Islands ruins.
Roland wondered. The building on the Shadow Islands isn't constructed by the Union, but it's apparently a watchtower overseeing the continent which is deemed to be the homeland of demons. Who's the owner of the building?
For my country and my people, I have to figure it out and thoroughly investigate the Shadow Islands ruins. I must give this mission to Thunder before he goes to the sea. Instead of having a quick glance at the place, he needs to carefully look into this problem this time.
"Your Majesty?"
Roland had been deeply absorbed in thoughts for a long time. When he heard someone calling him, he stopped wondering and found that Agatha was looking at him sympathetically. "Are you alright?"
"Ah... I was just thinking about something." He waved his hand.
"Please don't worry too much. I know this news causes stress for you, but we still have hope," The Ice Witch said in a soft voice. "When I just woke up from the Frozen Coffin, you told me human beings were going to defeat demons... Now, I still firmly believe it, even if it requires hard work of several generations."
"Yes," Phyllis echoed this sentiment. "We are so close to the Taquila ruins now. Once we destroy the demons' base there, they won't get the opportunity to build obelisks and will have to wait at least another 400 years to eliminate us. Even if human beings lose the war in the end, it's not your fault. Actually, you've done much better than the Three Chiefs."
Roland blinked his eyes in astonishment.
He realized that he must have been frowning when he had been thinking about the Shadow Islands ruins and his facial expression had made the witches believe that he was terrified by Kabradhabi's story.
He found the witches were just trying to comfort and encourage him.
He could not help shaking his head and chuckled. "It's the worst situation: curling up in a corner all my life and leaving the problem to our later generations. That's not my plan. After all... I probably can't live that long. I'm more interested in defeating all the competitors and solving the mystery by myself. It's such great fun, isn't it?"
"Your Majesty..." Most of the witches seemed confused except Anna, who looked at Roland smilingly.
"Since you guys still remember I said that human beings were going to defeat demons." Roland looked at Phyllis. "Do you still remember another thing I mentioned?"
"A real strong power won't bring darkness to the world. Instead, it'll dispel the myth and be willing to burn itself to light up and warm the world... I wasn't joking with Kabradhabi." Roland did not give the witches any time to respond and continued. "Faced with a mighty power like the sun, everything, including demons, will be burnt to cinders. You'll be able to witness such a power together with me."