Chapter 533: An Unexpected Incident
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
The next morning, Roland took the witches and other related personnel out of the city. They went to a place located in the North of the city wall near the Misty Forest to conduct a magic power test for Breeze, Iffy and Softfeathers.
Nightingale, Wendy, Carter and Iron Axe tagged along. The First Army sealed off the grasslands nearby and Leaf guarded the forest.
Softfeathers was the first to take the test.
She looked as tall as Honey, was at most 1.4 meters in height and had long, brownish-red hair with bangs just nicely covering her eyebrows. Around the age of 16, she had already been awakened for four years, which was quite early among witches. It meant she had experienced the Demonic Torture four times. As a result, she had much more magic power than most of the young witches. The amount of her power was about half of the amount Anna possessed before her adulthood.
Softfeathers turned out to be very skillful in controlling her magic. She could turn an entire object into something very sticky or precisely make one side or a spot sticky. Softfeathers did this without consuming much of her power. Nightingale could hardly notice any changes in her power during the test.
"How long can this object stay sticky?" Roland asked.
"If I use all my power to make one stone adhere to another, it'll last for decades," she answered and then further explained, "but I've never tried that. It's my own guess based on the consumption of my magic power."
"Then what's the biggest thing that you've applied your power to?" Roland asked
Softfeathers answered, "A seawall." A little satisfaction could be seen on her expressionless face when she was talking about her accomplishment. "During a high tide, there was an arm-thick crack in a section of the wall on Sleeping Island. As Lotus was not there, I immediately turned the crack sticky and filled it up with linen and pebbles to seal the break. Otherwise, the wall couldn't have sustained the shock of the waves." She finished.
Listening to her, Roland somehow felt that she was asking for praise.
"Great job," he said while nodding.
Softfeathers quickly turned calm after she was recognized. From her words and actions, it was hard to tell that she was an underage child. Unlike other children, she was used to concealing her feelings. "It may be caused by her past. What kind of life had the witches in the Bloodfang Association lived before they went to Sleeping Island?" Roland thought and sighed.
Breeze was the next to take the test.
She gave a graceful curtsy and said, "I've regretted for a while that I couldn't stay longer in the Western Region. I'm so happy to get this chance now to come here again. If you need my help, just let me know."
"To make up for it, you must fully enjoy your stay here in the City of Neverwinter. If you need anything, you can ask Wendy for help," Roland explained with a smile.
Breeze was about 25 years old, a little older than Nightingale. She brought comfort and happiness to the people around her, like a spring breeze. No one would guess she was actually a combat witch. Her power was called "field control". She could control the bodies of anyone within five meters.
Her ability was of no use when facing long-distance attacks, such as crossbow bolts and spear throwers. However, she remained almost invincible in any close combat.
As an ability of summoning type, it would also be affected by the God's Stone of Retaliation. She could summon the "field control" over 10 times a day and each time she would only use half of her magic power. While performing it, she would not be hindered from freely moving around either. The "field control" was invisible to naked eyes, which made it extremely hard for the enemies to defend themselves from her surprise attacks. Once she got within five meters of her enemies, she would have the full control of the situation.
Obviously, it was an excellent ability to observe demons in the short distance.
The last witch to take the test was Iffy.
She seemed to be around 20 years old, lean and fit, and wearing a tight black leather outfit with knee-high boots. Her waist-length, chestnut brown hair looked shiny in the sunlight.
Iffy did not know that Tilly chose her to come to the Western Region because she possessed an indispensable skill to capture demons with her "magic cage". In a blink of an eye, she could conjure up cages formed by her magic to capture the enemies close to her and squeeze the cages to crush them. Anything in her cage was weightless as well. This meant, even if she captured an elephant, she could also easily carry it back to the City of Neverwinter.
As the "magic cage" ability was crucial to the success of his plan, Roland carefully asked all the details about her ability, "What's the biggest thing we can capture?"
"Different sizes have different demands for my magical power," she answered. "But even a whale in the sea can't escape from my grasp."
"How many can you capture a time?" Roland continued.
"Two," she said and then spread her hands. "I only have two hands, Your Majesty."
Roland continued his enquiry, "Can anything escape?"
"No, even Ashes can't get out of it unless I release her," Iffy explained.
"Uh..." When Roland paused to think about other curiosities he wanted the answer, Iffy took an initiative to make a suggestion. "Why don't you find someone to test my ability? I think Maggie is a good choice. I've heard that she's evolved and can transform into a strong monster. If you witness that even something like her can't get out of my trap, you won't worry about my ability anymore."
Roland could not help but agree with her since the monster Maggie transformed into was just like the mount of demons, which the witches would probably encounter in their quest to capture them. After thinking for a while, Roland nodded at Nightingale and said, "Tell Leaf to call Maggie here."
Maggie and Lightning would fly over the Misty Forest when they were not on patrol. Guided by Leaf, they could both have fun and eat delicious food, such as picking tasty Bird Beak Mushrooms and taking eggs from birds' nests in the forest. Because of all the treats, when Maggie was turned into a pigeon, she now was as big as a bald eagle. However, when she transformed back into her real self, she was still a little girl with very long white hair.
Soon, they appeared in the sky.
Maggie landed on the prince's head as usual and said, "Maggie is here. Coo! What can I do for you?"
Roland briefly told her about the test and said, "Please turn yourself into a giant bird demon and try to break free from Iffy's magical cage."
"I see, Coo!"
Maggie flew up. She instantly changed into a huge bird and obscured the sun. Looking at her, Roland somehow felt her monstrous bird form now seemed much bigger in size than the initial one she had during her first evolvement.
"Let's begin," he said to Iffy.
Iffy sneered, with a flicker of contempt in her eyes. She opened her right hand, spreading all the five fingers. Meanwhile, a dozen of purple light beams immediately appeared over Maggie's head and swiftly formed a sphere, trapping Maggie Inside.
The "cage bars" were not very thick, but they were so stagnant that no matter how hard Maggie tried to bite or scratch them, she could not free herself. Iffy controlled the cage with great ease and seemed to be able to capture a demon with her left hand at the same time.
When Roland was about to tell her to stop the test, Iffy suddenly squeezed her right hand into a fist.
The cage instantly contracted to tie up Maggie tightly, making her scream in pain.