Lightning and Maggie slowly landed on the roof of the Witch Building.
After closing the door of the corridor, the howling cold wind subsided a lot, leaving only a few whispers that slipped in through the cracks.
"Phew, my hair is all wet, coo." The pigeon shook off the snowflakes on her body and turned back into a human. Her wings swelled to both sides and eventually turned into her white hair that reached her ankles. Although it looked and felt very soft, the girl's hair was not blown into a mess by the strong wind. Instead, it wrapped around her like a cotton ball.
However, due to being soaked by the snow, her hair appeared to be a little dull and had lost its initial fluffiness.
"Well, you should take a bath first, in case you catch a cold." Lightning took off her wind-proof eye mask and glanced outside the door. The weather during the Months of the Demons was always so unpredictable. Just now, there were only scattered snowflakes, but now it was windy and snowy. The world was full of palm-sized snowflakes, so she had to temporarily stop her recovery training.
"Aren't you going to take a bath with me?" Maggie asked in surprise.
"Didn't His Majesty say that the wound should be kept dry and not in contact with water?" Lightning shrugged and said, "So I'll just use hot water to rub it. Anyway, this coat won't let the snow water seep in."
"I see!" She pushed away the bangs stuck in front of her face and grinned, showing her white teeth. "Then I'll help you after I take a bath. In the past, Ashes often praised me for rubbing your back. It was very comfortable and I didn't need a towel, coo!"
"Uh... how do you rub it?"
"Like this, coo." She grabbed two bunches of hair and made a circle gesture.
"I refuse." Lightning rolled her eyes. "If it's a towel, I'll consider it. Anyway, hurry up."
"Oh!"
After Maggie ran to the castle with the bathtub, Lightning went back to her bedroom alone.
She closed the door, leaned against the door, and stretched out her right hand.
Even now, her fingertips were still trembling uncontrollably, as if they were out of her control.
She couldn't help but smile bitterly.
As long as she closed her eyes, the image of the devil would always appear in her mind. After these days of recovery, the fear did not leave her, but took root in her heart — this was the first time that Lightning had encountered such a situation.
Whether it was in front of His Majesty or her companions in the Exploration Group, she tried her best to look relaxed, as if the injury was not a big deal. Even Nightingale did not notice anything wrong with her. But in fact, only she knew how bad her situation was.
He had asked Maggie to take a bath alone because he was afraid that Maggie would be able to see through this — to see how fragile this self-proclaimed adventurer was!
Lightning slowly slid to the ground and buried her head between her knees.
Although Phyllis comforted her by telling her that the enemy might have the ability to inflict fear by looking at her, she knew that it was not an excuse. Witches had a high resistance to mental influence, not to mention that it had been a long time. At that time, Maggie was also affected by the devil, but Maggie's performance was much better than hers.
If it was just fear, it would not be a big deal.
It was not the first time that she had felt fear.
Fear came from the unknown. Unless one could be omniscient, there was no way to avoid fear.
The key was after the fear.
In the past, this kind of emotion would not bother her for too long. Instead, it would arouse her resistance — she had always believed that nothing could really scare her.
However, this time, Lightning found that there was only emptiness left in her heart.
Not to mention resistance, she did not even want to think about the scene at that time.
Today, during the recovery training, she lingered in the east of Neverwinter and did not go beyond the city wall. It was not because of her ability or body, but because she was afraid of the bottomless snowfield — the ground under her feet seemed to become a steep cliff, and the edge of the sky seemed to be a crack that swallowed everything. Just looking into the distance, she could feel the trembling from the bottom of her heart.
She was not defeated by the devil's magic power, but frightened by the devil's evil and power, as if she had encountered a predator's prey. This kind of fear was even more serious than the influence of the devil's magic power, and even hindered her flight.
Lightning hugged her knees tightly.
What leader of the Exploration Group? She was just a coward!
If Thunder was still by her side, what would he do? For someone who had crossed countless dangerous seas, he must have a way to deal with this kind of situation, right?
"Father..."
She could not help but murmur.
"What should I do?"
*****
South of the Misty Forest, Forest Station No. 0.
This was also the starting station of the Barbarian Railway Line.
With the success of the steam train, the development of the forest in Neverwinter would be greatly improved — from wood to food, and even the coal mines near the snow mountains, everything was included in the new railway line plan. In the coming year, this vast forest, which was originally uninhabited and full of wild beasts, would become a real treasure house.
But now, the railway was still built for only one purpose.
That was war.
The area around the station had been blocked by the First Army, waiting for His Majesty to test the new weapon.
Iron Axe was naturally one of them.
He still remembered the scene four years ago when he followed His Majesty to participate in the test of gunpowder explosion. At that time, he was just an insignificant hunter who regarded gunpowder as the Fire of Divine Punishment. The earth-shaking roar seemed to have opened a door for him that he had never seen before. From that day on, his fate had changed dramatically.
Now, as the commander of the First Army in Graycastle, Iron Axe naturally would not passively participate in the test like before. He had long known what he was going to face today — in fact, it could not really be regarded as a "new" weapon. Its two main parts, the cannon and the train, had already been shown in front of everyone, so it was certainly not fresh. Because of this, he thought that he could finally put away his surprise and get through the test in a relatively calm mood.
It should be like this.
After all, he was an important minister of His Majesty, so he should be calm at all times. Even if his back was facing the thunder and fire, he should still smile, just like His Majesty himself...
However, as the whistle blew and the new weapon slowly drove out of the garage, Iron Axe found that he was wrong.
The train was no longer what it looked like when they first saw it. It was completely covered with black steel plates, and only half of the wheels were exposed. The outline of the train was square and angular, and it gave off a strong sense of oppression when seen from the front. It formed a sharp contrast with the surrounding snowy landscape.
It was definitely not a good thing.
With just a glance, one would understand this logic.
His Majesty often said that machines were wonderful things. Iron Axe did not quite understand it, but when he saw the white mist spurting out from the roof and between the wheels and brushing over the neatly riveted surface of the armor, Iron Axe suddenly understood what His Majesty meant.
The giant steel ship was also shocking, but it was less attractive than the train in front of him.
Because it was not just a machine.
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