Release that Witch

Two days later.

Joe was escorted out of his room and onto the deck.

”That’s the territory of Earl Lorenzo?” Sean asked.

A greyish white shadow sihouletted against the golden horizon in dawn light.

Joe grabbed on the railing nervously and leaned foward, fearing that he would miss something important.

”That’s right. That’s the Archduke Island!”

He finally brought the rescue team here.

” Farrina , please hang in there just a little bit longer!”

”There are two ports on the island, one in the east and one west,” Joe took a deep breath and said in a rush. ”Lorenzo put sentries around the dock area after he became a noble, but he did so mainly to defend against the nobles in the Kingdom of Wolfheart. He doesn’t really check merchants’ ships. The problem lies in the Castle District. It’s heavily guarded, and nobody can sneak in without permission.”

He had been longing to tell them the information over the past few days.

Too occupied with answering various questions put by Kajen Fels, Joe had not got a chance to discuss the rescue plan in detail. None of Kajen’s questions, obviously, was relevant to this operation or the church’s secret.

Kajen asked him in great detail about how he had humiliated Farrina and how they had later worked together to escape from the church. When words failed him, Kajen would ask his student Roentgen to play Farrina’s part to refresh his memories.

Sean only showed up during the dinner time.

He did not seem to care about this operation at all.

That was the reason Joe quickly disclosed what he knew. Whether they listened to him or not, the more information they had, the bigger chance they would have to successfully save Farrina.

”You don’t need to worry about that. We have our own way,” Sean interrupted him. ”I want you to meet someone to let you guys get familiar with each other.”

”Who?” Joe asked.

”Our guide.”

Sean then blew a whistle and soon, two sailors brought a middle-aged man.

Joe immediately recognized him.

”Hagrid, you traitor — ”

As the assistant to Bishop Lorenzo, Hagrid had been Joe’s superior back in the church.

Hagrid said scornfully, ”Like you really care about the church. If Farrina knows that you’ve given yourself up to Graycastle, who will be the traitor then?”

”I...” For a moment, Joe was speechless.

”No need to argue here,” Sean said as he walked steadily toward them and stood in between. ”Mr. Hagrid, you know your task, right?”

Hagrid’s voice instantly dropped when he saw the king’s guard. He muttered, ”Yes, sir. I’m going to take the two soldiers into the castle.”

”This is your only chance to get things right. It’s all up to you.”

”No problem, sir, but are you sure two is enough?”

Joe was surprised that Hagrid was worried about Graycastle.

Then he realized that no matter how many people Hagrid brought into the castle, it would be a solid betrayal anyway. If Graycastle failed, he would face severe punishment; so, he’d better give his full support to Graycastle.

”Rest assured. You’ll soon find out...” Sean broke off, his face splitting into a sneer as they slowly approached the Archduke Island, ”what a complete version of God’s Punishment Warriors was.”

...

The rescue team did not leave the dock for the castle until midnight.

Zooey, Betty and two soldiers from the First Army set off for the castle.

The two soldiers were responsible for keeping an eye on Joe and Hagrid.

Since Hagrid was the earl’s henchman, nobody was suspicious. Hagrid soon dismissed the patrol team who came to question them.

The guards at the entrance of the castle did not stop them either.

Even though the other five men following Hagrid were all hooded, the guards did not bother raising a single question.

It appeared that Lorenzo did trust Hagrid very much.

The lord’s castle was right across the yard.

Hagrid disclosed that all the capable God’s Punishment Warriors were now guarding in Earl Lorenzo’s bedroom, who was apparently too frightened to sleep alone at the moment, and that there were no more than six of the God’s Punishment Warriors in total.

Apart from that, Lorenzo had also replaced his bedroom door with a solid copper door that could not be easily broken by common people but the God’s Punishment Warriors.

”I can get Lorenzo out of his room. I’ll just say that I know the secret of the treasure,” Hagrid said as he headed to the castle. ”But then he’ll take his God’s Punishment Warriors with him, and his sudden appearance will alarm his other guards, so I have to find a way to stop him from doing that —”

”That’s fine. You just need to tell us where his bedroom is,” Zooey said with a shrug. ”Then you’ll take Joe to the dungeon and get that girl out of there. You don’t have to worry about us.”

Hagrid was momentarily stunned and then said, ”Well... OK.”

He straightened his bow tie, climbed up a flight of steps and knocked on a side door gently.

An old guard poked out his head and said, ”Ah, Sir Hagrid. I didn’t know it was you...”

”Shut up. I have important matters to report to his lordship. Get out of my way!”

”Y-yes, sir...” the old man stammered and shuffled over. ”But what about these people...”

”My spies at the Cage Mountain. Why? Are you prying into his lordship’s personal business?”

”No, no, sir!” the old man said gingerly while bowing his head.

The group of people went inside, passed two walls and entered the inner castle.

The guards at the hall were all armored.

Noticing that someone was coming, two guards rested their hands on the hilts of their swords and approached them.

”Lorenzo’s bedroom is on the fourth floor... I can’t take you up there...” Hagrid said in a hushed voice.

”Hey, isn’t it Sir Hagrid? The earl has been talking about you lately. Are these your guests?” The guards saluted to him and turned to Zooey. ”Please wait outside the hall, unless you have the earl’s permission — Hang on, ma’am — ”

Zooey pulled off her hoodie and slowly walked to the guard. Before the guard could finish, a hand had closed in around his neck.

”Sir Hagrid, what — ” No sooner had the other guard drawn out his sword than Betty’s hand had reached his throat too.

CRUNCH.

The guard’s head bent at a weird angle.

Hagrid and Joe sucked in their breath.

”Can a normal person snap one’s neck single-handed?”

But Betty and Zooey did not just stop there.

The two witches lifted the two guards off the ground and held their bodies like shields. For a moment, the rest of the guards were all goggling at them, flabbergasted. ”Oi, what do you think you’re doing?” someone yelled.

”No... something’s wrong here. Look, their feet are off the ground!”

”What?”

The guards could not see clearly in the dim light. When they realized what had happened, it was too late.

Zooey and Betty lunged at the confused guards like shadows and reached for their exposed necks.

It was easy to slack off during a long night vigil. Very unfortunately, their attackers happened to be the most powerful human combatants — Extraordinaries.

Joe clapped his hand over his mouth.

Within a few seconds, the other four guards fell to the floor, their necks all broken.

”They have the power and speed of the God’s Punishment Army!”

However, the God’s Punishment Warriors were unconscious monsters who did not have such brains!

Hagrid was shocked as well.

”They’re real God’s Punishment Warriors.”

Joe remembered Sean’s words.

”Is this... also Roland Wimbledon’s work?” Joe wondered.

Now, Joe was not sure whether the Supreme Pontiff understood the true nature of the God’s Punishment Army.

”Now, do what we told you,” Zooey said as she glanced at Joe. ”No matter she’s alive or not, you mustn’t linger. Do you understand?”

”Yes... I do.”

Without a word, the two witches went off upstairs.

The stairs were not guarded. Zooey and Betty climbed up to the fourth landing and turned around on a narrow corridor lined with doors, behind which were maids’ and servants’ room. At the end of the corridor was a giant dark red metal door that glinted in the guttered candlelight.

”So it’s really a copper door,” Zooey commented, her brows raised.

”What are you going to do?” Betty asked while twitching her lips. ”If he locked it, we can’t break in.”

”We’ll find another way if this way is blocked, of course.”

”That’s what I thought.”

Betty kicked open a door beside the lord’s bedroom and strode in.

”Aah — ” There was a piercing scream. A barely-clothed maid sat bolt upright, drawing her blanket up to her neck. She gaped at them and asked, ”Who, who are you?”

”Too bad I’m not interested in girls,” Betty said as she untied her robe and revealed a giant firearm on her back. ”If this was a pretty boy...”

”You are scaring her,” Zooey said on a sigh as she reached for her grapeshot gun. ”One, two...”

”Three!”

The two aimed their guns at the wall and pulled the triggers.

With an earsplitting roar, the inner brick wall soon collapsed under fire, spilling crumbs everywhere, leaving a crooked line of bullet holes in it.

Zooey strode over to the wall and into the master bedroom.