Witch Troupe and the Undead

Almost immediately after the rebellion in the south, many quick-thinking and astute forces and organizations began developing countermeasures. Compared to the pirates and the free city-states of the archipelago, the Empire was much slower to react.

After all, the pirates were really going to have a close-quarters battle with the wealthy merchants at sea, at a distance of 25 to 50 meters, using magic cannons and magic crossbows. Any merchant who didn't update their weapons in time was robbed, while the pirates who didn't update their weapons in time were killed in return.

After being fitted with expensive ruby ​​catalysts, the magic crossbows were very effective at bombarding the sails and killing the crew. As a result, pirates and mercenaries at sea quickly developed countermeasures, such as this enchanted great shield.

The shield is rectangular with a slight curve. In the middle of the shield are two crescent-shaped recesses, which are just right to hold a magic crossbow, or to hold a spear or short sword for melee attacks.

The shield has a folding metal support at the bottom with steel nails at the end. By simply lowering the support, a row of shield walls can be created on the ship's side, with the bottom firmly nailed to the deck.

The fireballs kept sending tiny sparks flying off the armor. The flames inside the carriage were kept under control by the witch, who managed to keep them from spreading. However, things outside the carriage were out of control.

The mercenaries, braving Leslie's hail of bullets, steadily advanced towards the carriage, while the knights spurred their horses to avoid the front, preparing to pursue the mercenaries when they engaged them or when the people inside escaped through the other door.

In their view, the people inside either had to wait to be attacked and their carriages breached, where they had no chance of winning given the numerical disparity of several times or even ten times, or they could only escape through the other side of the carriage. At that point, the knights and squires, also equipped with cavalry-type magic crossbows, could then pursue them.

While on the run, the powerful sorcerer witch found it difficult to unleash any powerful spells, and the fact that no new magic had been activated for so long suggests that the spell-destroying bullets likely caused considerable backlash and interference to this "witch."

Well, actually, Livia was stunned with fear. In her panic, it was difficult for her to concentrate on casting spells, and the spell-extinguishing bullet did indeed cause her considerable aftereffects. She still felt a buzzing in her ears. However, Roach and the others were not so panicked because there was still a big shot at the back of the carriage who hadn't made a move yet.

Old Ma had been slacking off because if he intervened, things would get complicated. Livia and the others' only option was to escape from the imperial territory to the forbidden frontiers as soon as possible. Otherwise, the statement that they were being universally condemned—summoning a great demon in the heart of the empire—would blow up completely.

Livia's spellcasting ability was suppressed, but that doesn't mean everyone's spellcasting ability was suppressed. Well, actually, everyone's was suppressed. For example, witchcraft would also become chaotic due to the interference of the spell-destroying bullet. But... for Natalia, her spells were always unreliable. She didn't even know what kind of spell she was casting. No matter how much you interfered, it would be the same. And the little witch wouldn't dare to do that.

Because if her magic went out of control in this situation, it would really blow herself and her companions to smithereens. She clearly understood how terrifying it would be if her abilities were out of control and unstable. This was also one of the "taboos" set for her by her mentor.

"Miss Natalia, what are you doing?" Sylvie watched as the flaxen-haired girl rummaged through the pile of luggage, eventually pulling out several packets of dried salted fish, some decorative crystals, and a few pieces of metal. She also obtained some potions and powders from the thief who had temporarily become her teammate.

"Give it a try~" Natalia clasped her hands together, bent her index fingers, and bent her thumbs downwards to form a heart shape with her index fingers. The remaining three fingers were placed together to form a strange gesture, a "concentration method" in witchcraft, which concentrates mental energy to trigger multiple witchcraft mediums one by one to form a spell, without having to manually throw them out.

From this perspective, Natalia's sorcery skills are quite solid, but... she learned the basics wrongly. The more solid the remaining parts are, the more disastrous the consequences will be, especially when activating spells in batches under such circumstances.

"Boom!" A bolt of lightning struck crookedly, and Lulua stopped in her tracks for a moment. Looking at the small crater that was almost right under her nose, she showed a look of lingering fear. Then, swarms of furry balls were summoned from the void and crashed into the mercenaries. Each fur ball had the impact force of a tennis ball hit by a tennis machine.

The impact on the shield was useless except for a painful "squeak." Then a green curtain descended, healing all the wounded on the ground, whether they were thieves, mercenaries, or unfortunate injured knights. However, the healing effect was very weak.

Then another gust of wind swept through, causing the vehicle to shake violently, almost causing the two scarred men, who were trying to restart the magic core inside the engine room, to tumble headfirst into the furnace.

"..." Livia looked towards the rear of the car, her mouth slightly agape. The good news was that the interference effect of the spell-destroying bullets was ineffective in this situation. The bad news was that the consequences of the chaotic spell cast by the unknown spellcaster at the rear of the car were more serious than she had imagined.

Countless commands, composed of words that Livia could not understand, were intertwined, as if a normal conversation had been randomly cut, copied, and mixed, and then played through a loudspeaker.

This caused Livia, who had originally planned to take advantage of the spell-extinguishing bullet's failure to make an exception and use the "Otherworldly Source" spell to summon something powerful, to loosen her grip. In this situation, she couldn't issue any commands and therefore couldn't command things to form a ritual field on their own. Setting up a ritual spell in the normal way would take too long.

The chaotic spells left the attackers scratching their heads for a while, forcing them to stop again. The enemies inside the train were still putting up a stubborn resistance and showed no intention of escaping, seemingly preparing to use the train as some kind of fortress.

"Hook the carriages down!" One after another, grappling hooks were thrown onto the carriages and hooked onto the windows. In this other world where everyone's arm strength is superhuman, it is entirely feasible to pull the entire carriage off the track. No one intends to struggle with the narrow windows and doors. They just pull the entire carriage down, rush up, block the windows and doors, and fire inside.

Their orders were to leave no survivors; there was no need for a hard-fought battle, just get close enough to the grappling hook.

At that moment, inside the engine room, Scarface and his group finally reactivated the magic core. The previous magic-destroying bullets were also effective against the alchemical magic core. However, the train was now reignited.

"Hiss!" Steam billowed from the shoulders of the two-headed unicorn, and its six mechanical legs began to move again, accelerating the train. The grappling hooks fixed to the carriages taut instantly, causing some of the unprepared mercenaries to lose their grip, while others were pulled to the ground.

"Whoosh~" The purplish-black demonic fire spread along the shadows under the train and flowed into the magic core, causing the train to accelerate once again.

"Chase!" The knights didn't have time to call out to the mercenaries, so they could only spur their warhorses to give chase. Meanwhile, Natalia and the others in the back carriages successfully made their way through the carriages to the first-class cabin and reunited with Roach and the others.

"Hey!" As the train passed by, Lulua grabbed the metal bar near the door and darted into the carriage like a nimble cat.

“Don’t relax. Those knights’ horses aren’t ordinary packhorses. They’ll catch up soon.” Black Raven leaned out to look at the pursuers, then looked at Rhine, who nodded slightly. “Now I’ll take command. We’re in this together. Only by cooperating can we survive.”

1. Boiler Room Annual Safety Drill Record

The foreman, waving a copy of "The Parliamentary Efficiency Guide," announced: "Now, simulate a steam pipe burst! The third group, engage the noble overseer in a debate on the pension bill; the second group, bang on the condenser with shovels to create a fake vote countdown—remember! Only when screams erupt from the octagon can you stop dumping inferior fuel into the boiler!"

The new apprentice in the corner raised his hand tremblingly: "Report, what is the first group's task?"

The foreman grinned, revealing his rusty teeth: "The first group was rated as the 'best production wear parts' last year."

Chapter 197 Wild West Wind

“We now have a total of…” Black Crow scanned the people on the scene. Little Witch and Roach needed to be excluded from the combat personnel. Even though her combat power was roughly equal to the upper limit of the entire team when she was in a stable state without interference, she was still a VIP core that needed protection. Therefore, it was best not to let her take action if possible.

Moreover, the way that unfortunate thief died before still haunted Black Crow. In this line of work, it's something to be expected that someone will die for various reasons, but this kind of death was too terrifying. He keenly sensed that his subordinates were not very willing to come into contact with the Little Witch. Not only that, the surviving Thunderbird Knight and Sir Rhine from the Military Intelligence Bureau also showed the same resistance.

“15 men, 2 wounded, and a spellcaster.” Black Raven nodded. Of the 15 men, Rhine and Jasmine had some fighting ability, but it was best not to let the dwarf girl go into battle. Since Jasmine knew a little about alchemy, the best solution was for her to go to the front of the wagon and take care of the core of the wagon together with Scarface.

“Subtracting the three people at the front of the carriage, there are still 12 people left: six thieves and six guards. It’s really…” Black Crow shook his head. He hadn’t expected that there would be another group of people left at the back of the carriage.

Including himself, the Shadow Raven Thieves only had 6 men left. Fortunately, none of them were seriously injured. Among the guards, Sylvie and Conger were in good condition, but the Carpenter Knight had cut his thigh with the Shark Tooth Blade and was bleeding profusely. Even with the healing potion provided by Livia, it would be difficult for him to recover in a short time.

Therefore, the available personnel in the guard group are: Lulua, Rhine, Alessina, Vilandella, Conger, and Sylvie. The Shadow Raven group consists of Black Raven, Severed Finger, Bone Whistle, Squirrel, Wild Tit, and Firefly.

The five people other than Black Crow took off their masks. After all, they were forced to cooperate, and it would be difficult to gain people's trust if they didn't show some sincerity.

The man with severed fingers has the face of a dockworker, with a square face, a wide mouth, and a full beard. His left little finger and ring finger have been severed. The man with bone whistles is a young man of about twenty years old. He is plain-looking and easily overlooked in a crowd. He wears a bird-head shaped bone whistle and serves as a "sentinel" and "observer" in the team. In short, he is a professional lookout.

Squib is about forty years old, rather thin, and has many small bags hanging from his body. It is said that he once studied magic and mysticism. Although he didn't learn much, he can operate magical props and set up ritual sites and magical traps without much problem. He is the team's locksmith.

After all, encountering locks with magical defenses is a common occurrence for thieves. Wild Sparrow and Firefly are two young girls who exude a wild and untamed aura. They are the "flying thieves" of the group, skilled in climbing and jumping. Their combat strength isn't actually that strong, but they are much better than Bone Whistle and Squirrel.

“Bone Whistle, go to the back of the carriage and observe; Tit, you and Miss Lulua go up to the roof. Those knights shouldn’t have that kind of agility, but I’m not sure if they have any backup plans.”

"Severed Finger, Conger, you two go guard the rear carriages. Firefly, you go guard the front connection. When you hear my order, throw out all the remaining bombs." In Black Crow's arrangement, apart from the lookout Bone Whistle, all the groups were mixed. Although there would definitely be problems with coordination, at least everyone could trust this combination.

"As for Miss Natalia, you should stay with Miss Livia..."

"No!!" the little witch said softly, her attitude very firm. She didn't want to be with such a human-shaped walking noise generator; it was practically a loudspeaker for square dancing.

“Alright, Miss Natalia, you and Squib guard the livestock wagons together. Miss Vilandella, you come too. Squib, don’t hide those magical materials and catalysts you’ve collected; take them out and use them. Those knights are well-prepared and quite strong.” Before, they hadn’t launched a full-scale attack simply because they were also tasked with eliminating the mercenaries, but now that might not be the case.

"The rest of you will stay here. Master Roach, do you have any alchemical tools and equipment that would be useful in this environment? Also, Miss Livia, I need your help to reinforce the carriage's defenses, those damned magic crossbows..."

Black Raven wasn't curious about the weapon in Leslie's hand, because since the Battle of the Southern Harbor, similar improved versions of the magic crossbow could be seen not only all over the world, but also in at least a considerable part of the archipelago and the Empire.

Some are useful, some are not, and some are completely out of the ordinary. So, the sudden appearance of a modified magic crossbow with a similar design is nothing special.

“Enhancement…hmm~~~” Livia began to ponder. She knew many enhancement spells, but she was unsure of the level of enhancement required. However, considering the urgency of the situation, the little witch opened a spellbook, raised her wand, and the magic crystals inside the magic lamp quickly switched positions. Soon, a layer of dark blue hexagonal grid-like light patterns spread across the armor plate.

"Enhancement Array?" Squirrel was taken aback. Among the more difficult constant-type spells in ritual magic, the Enhancement Array adds a specific spell paradigm and configuration to all designated objects within the coverage area of ​​the ritual field, such as group fire weapons. This kind of ritual array has very high requirements for its arrangement and belongs to the category of strategic spells.

“Hmm!” Livia nodded. This was not an ordinary enhancement array, but an evolved version with slight modifications to the connection of the various ritual nodes. Compared to the ordinary enhancement array, it was more efficient, in other words, it could be maintained for a longer period of time.

Roach and Livia started taking things out. A dozen or so bottles of magic potions, several packets of alchemical materials, eight alchemical bombs, and a hand cannon that Roach used were placed on the table. "That's all we have."

"Okay, everyone come and get your equipment. Take whatever you need." Black Crow didn't take anything. His and Alessina's purpose in staying in the carriage was to become hostages in exchange for their trust. As the group collected their items and equipment, the sound of hooves grew closer, and the knights and squires caught up.

"Everyone to your positions, Scarface, report the bridge distance every 5 minutes!"

"Understood!" Once we cross the bridge, we'll be safe, or relatively safe, but Black Crow still feels uneasy. "Scarface, slow down when you're 200 meters from the bridge and keep a close eye on things!"

"Why……"

"Don't trust the people you've assigned too much, Sir Rhine. If they were reliable, we wouldn't be crammed into one carriage," Black Raven said ruthlessly to Rhine.

He certainly knew that there were many royal forces directly under his command in Silver Maple County behind the bridge. The guards in those royal wineries alone were a formidable force. But as he said before, if Rhine's plan was so perfect and the personnel he arranged were reliable, how did his Shadow Raven Thieves obtain such detailed intelligence?

The suspicion that there was a mole had been in Rhine's mind from the beginning, but he didn't know which link in the chain had leaked the information. However, he could now begin to narrow down the possibilities. "I hope that once we're in a safe place, you can tell me properly what exactly you all know!"

By identifying what information was leaked, we can trace back to the point in time and at which stage it was leaked. This means we can narrow down the number and scope of people who had access to the information, thus pinpointing exactly where the problem occurred.

If the information leaked by Livia in Tallinn City, then the problem could stem from any link in the chain, because Rhine had already sent some of the intelligence to the Imperial Capital office through Swifthawk. However, if the leak occurred in Ruby County, then there would be far fewer people in the know, because Rhine had not yet submitted this part of the report.

As for the stronghold in Fangqiu Town, it should be reliable, because Shadow Raven had been preparing for this attack for quite some time, and the Kumquat Inn in Fangqiu Town was contacted by him temporarily, so the other party should not have had enough time to send out information.

"They're going to blow up the bridge?" Roach asked. Black Crow's expression immediately changed. "No, I'm guessing they might put obstacles at the bridgehead so that the trains would crash into them, derail, or get stuck. But since you're saying that, Master Roach... then the possibility of the bridge being blown up isn't out of the question."

"So we either get off and walk, or we have to go back to the old fork, cross the Rye Valley border, and take the old route across the Greystone River."

Black Crow quickly reviewed the surrounding terrain and situation in his mind and devised an alternative plan. He had not considered the possibility of the bridge being blown up before, but now that Master Roach had said so, it was indeed something that needed to be considered.

"They even dared to blow up the bridge..."

"Sir Rhine, regarding their aim of regicide, but you tell me," Black Raven said helplessly, he doubted whether Rhine was really a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau, how could he be more naive than him, the one doing the dirty work, "that they've gone this far, what else do you think they wouldn't dare to do?"

".......Hoo~" The old dwarf exhaled a breath of stale air. It was true that he was from the Military Intelligence Bureau and was deeply trusted by the emperor, but he was actually in charge of the money, not a dedicated intelligence officer. Of course, in such intelligence agencies, the person in charge of the money must be a close confidant or core member of the royal family.

"They're here!" Bone Whistle shouted, and a sharp whistle rang out. Black Crow immediately interrupted the conversation. "Everyone, take your positions!" Lulua climbed back onto the roof of the vehicle, while Wild Tit gave her a defiant look and climbed up through another window.

“I don’t like that guy, but he’s one of the few people I know in Shadowraven, so…” Wild Sparrow made a throat-slitting gesture at Lulua, “I’ll let it go this time, but next time… you’d better keep your eyes open when you sleep at night.”

"Hehehe~" The girl scratched her head, revealing a somewhat naive and silly smile, "I don't sleep at night." The Night Clan doesn't sleep at night; they sleep during the day, just like owls.

"..." Wild Sparrow had nothing more to say. He shook his head, took a crossbow from his belt, and inserted three poisoned arrows into the grooves. Drafting the crossbow early would put a lot of strain on the mechanism, but no one wanted to write on their epitaph, "She had the best crossbow, but unfortunately, she didn't use it when she needed it most."

Whether it's weapons or medicine, no matter how precious they are, their value lies in being used up in a battle. Routine maintenance and upkeep are only meant to be destroyed at that moment.

"You're not going to tell me you don't have ranged weapons?"

“Hmm, no,” Luluya shook her head. Night Clan warriors don’t absolutely never use weapons, but using most conventional weapons would be a desecration of their creed. However, if the weapon is blessed by a goddess, then it can be used, like Roach’s glowing fragment.

However, such weapons are too few; they are all offerings displayed in temples. The only blessed weapon she has ever seen is the divine artifact in Roach's hand. Obviously, as a follower, she would not steal the exclusive equipment of the chosen ones.

"However, I have my own way~" Lulua took a deep breath, and the starlight shimmered under her skin, forming a continuous patch, as if coating the girl's skin with a layer of sparkling silver powder, "Star Entanglement!" The starlight gathered in her palm and condensed into a dim star.

"Whoosh~" Wild Sparrow whistled. This martial art is really cool. I hope its power is just as cool.

A troop of cavalry approached along the railway. The wild tits on the roof of the wagon could clearly make out the people in the dust. "Boss, things are not good. There are more people than before!" The previous knights and squires totaled only a dozen or so, but there were at least a hundred, maybe even more than two hundred, here.

"They're border patrol cavalry, our... our reinforcements?" Rhine looked pleased when he saw the cavalrymen's attire, but quickly changed his tune before Black Raven could say anything sarcastic. "Damn it, where did they get these men from? And where did they come from?"

"Clearly, His Majesty the Emperor has offended too many people, to the point that such a spectacular scene has been staged at the gates of the capital."

"Now is not the time to make sarcastic remarks. There are too many of them, so blowing up the bridge is not impossible!" Because if the border patrol can be mobilized, then the identity of the mastermind behind all this can be almost locked into a few targets, and these targets all have the ability and motivation to blow up the bridge.

“Seghwal!? No, no, they don’t have the guts or the ability. At most, they’ll hire your middlemen.” Ever since their defeat in the Imperial Unification War, the Seghwal family has been known for being opportunistic and pragmatic.

Therefore, they neither had the ability nor the courage—after all, they were truly "remnants of the previous dynasty," and any slight disturbance would indeed result in punishment—but they not only had the courage to act as intermediaries, but also a great deal of courage.

“So…” Rhine had already locked onto two targets in his mind, “the Frost family…”

He was married to the Earl of Warren and supported Henry's expansion plans, which led to a rebellion by his illegitimate son. This almost destroyed the Warren family and Cabel, one of the royal family's biggest sources of revenue.

At the same time, because of the marriage alliance, it would be easy to learn about the events that happened in the Warren family. Old Warren would not hide it from his in-laws, especially since this matter was caused by his illegitimate son. He had to give his in-laws an explanation, so he had a way to obtain information about Livia.

Catherfieldshire is Flosser family territory, and they have sufficient intelligence support locally, so they can indeed mobilize border patrols to pursue them.

Furthermore, they have a deep-seated hatred for the Seghwald family and have both the motive and the ability to exploit their status as brokers to swindle them. For example, if Black Raven had not been forced to cooperate, then once Rhine escaped, it wouldn't have taken more than a few days to target the Seghwald family.

"But..." But there was one thing he couldn't figure out: what was the other party's motive?

They have no irreconcilable fundamental conflicts of interest with the royal family, and they are staunch royalists. If the emperor's curse was only cast now, then Rhine can understand their motives—the royalists are indeed royalists, but the empress is still an empress, isn't she?

But the emperor's curse is not new. Even if the royal family were to die out, it wouldn't be their turn. Besides, the emperor still has two good sons—regardless of their worth, at least there is no shortage of heirs.

"To hold the emperor hostage to command the feudal lords?" Luo Qi asked tentatively. It must be said that in China's thousands of years of history, there have been countless coups and conspiracies. After understanding the general situation, this was his first reaction.

Don't say that the family is not as glorious as it used to be. Boss Cao is not from a high-ranking family. He can't be called from a poor family, but he is not in the same class as aristocratic families.

"What do you mean?" Roach spoke in Chinese, which Rhine didn't understand at all. He had to give him a quick and brief explanation before Rhine understood. It wasn't an instant understanding, though. With the old emperor's two sons, it would be difficult for either of them to gain popular support if they came to power!

At this juncture, the Floros family, a royalist faction that is close to the capital and has been loyal for generations, could easily be regarded as the new emperor's right-hand men. Given the intelligence and competence of those two nobles... it's only a matter of time before they are sidelined.

The reason they didn't obstruct the search for a solution to the curse from the beginning was that the two nobles were preparing to implement the Xuanwu Gate inheritance method, so naturally they didn't need to put much effort into dealing with the curse.

By the time they discovered that the two precious items had failed, it was too late to stop them. Moreover, they didn't know much about Freya and weren't sure if the princess was suitable to be empress. What if she was hiding her true abilities?

After all, the Floros family was hiding their true abilities. They would naturally suspect others of the same things they had done. If the princess was a qualified candidate for empress, then killing the old emperor would simply mean replacing him with a more capable one.

Now, ever since Freya proposed that ingenious tariff plan, they've determined that this girl is just as valuable as her two brothers, so the plan has been brought up again.

"Don't get distracted, Sir Rhine. Now is not the time to think about these schemes," Black Raven warned, as the battle at the rear of the carriage had already begun.

Natalia and the Squib exchanged a glance, then threw an alchemical bomb made by Roach out through the back door of the livestock wagon. The round, brass-colored bomb rolled a few times on the ground before exploding silently, scattering into dozens of smaller bombs.

The next second, a dense force field explosion engulfed the fastest-charging cavalrymen like a tidal wave, but the following cavalrymen nimbly maneuvered their warhorses around the blast zone and rapidly approached the rear of the vehicle from both sides.

"One more!" Squib pulled out a new bomb and prepared to throw it. "Whoosh!" A burst of blood erupted from his shoulder, and the bomb rolled to the ground. Natalia, lifting her skirt, rushed forward and kicked the bomb out of the carriage. "Boom!" Flames and shockwaves lashed against the thin walls of the livestock wagon, causing large cracks in the wooden exterior. "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing!" The Squirrel clutched the wound on his shoulder, used his dagger to cut off the shaft of the serrated crossbow bolt, and then used a dagger to dig the bolt out of his flesh.

"They're getting closer!"

“I know~” Natalia picked up a small bag from the ground, not caring what was inside, and threw it out of the carriage, her fingers overlapping to form a witchcraft trigger gesture.

"Slow!" she shouted. The lead knight nimbly maneuvered his horse to avoid the small package emitting a suspicious gray glow, but the riders behind crashed headlong into the gray mist, and then...

"Bang!" The horse's head, now shrunk to three times its original size, collided with the steel wheels. The cavalryman, covered in magical dust, rolled under the wheels and was crushed into a bloody pulp.

"...Well done, girl!" The Squirrel gave Natalia a thumbs up, shouting "Slowness" to force her to speed up and dodge. In reality, it was a "Shrink" spell, shrinking her size while increasing her speed and agility, making the enemy roll under the wheels. This magical tactic was indeed quite skillful.

"Um..." Natalia really wanted to say that she really wanted to cast the Slowing Spell, but she didn't understand the principle behind the Shrinking Spell at all. No, which syllable in her gestures and incantation overlapped with "Shrinking Spell"?

She pulled out a piece of sulfur from the Squirrel. The young witch was skeptical and wanted to see what kind of trouble the Exploding Fireball spell could cause!

"Take this fireball!" Natalia leaned out, casting the spell before retreating instantly. A row of crossbow bolts clattered against the carriage door. Behind her, the old horse, grazing leisurely, glanced at the bolts beside it, then squinted at the setting sun outside.