However, when it came to recent difficulties...
Guilliman's first thought was of the two thousand-plus elite fishemen in the Demon God's Cavern.
They had priests, ranged spear-throwers, and a mutated fisheman legion acting as meat shields.
Aside from lacking siege units and cavalry, this was already a complete monster army.
He felt that even if he brought over a dozen elite warriors, six or seven powerful Witchers, and two or three sorcerers, it would be difficult to completely annihilate them in a direct confrontation without suffering casualties.
They might even end up with both sides heavily wounded.
It would be best to still use something like alchemical bombs to deplete them beforehand, as he had done previously.
Unfortunately, this large cavern was not like the smaller caverns or tunnels he had dealt with before.
Even if he used the Nightingale Mask or controlled the three traitors with the Soul Contract, the moment he appeared, he would immediately be besieged by a large number of fishemen, and even ambushed by fisheman priests' magic, which would be quite dangerous.
Guilliman considered it for a moment, preparing to ask the sorceress in front of him for help with this problem, to see if she had a more suitable solution.
He immediately recounted his thoughts and the situation inside the Demon God's Cavern to Francesca, asking for her advice.
Hearing about his troubles, Francesca showed no impatience. Instead, she listened patiently, like a young woman in debt finally able to repay a portion of it, quietly breathing a sigh of relief.
As expected of a high-level sorceress with a thousand years of life, she tilted her head slightly, considered for a few seconds, and seemed to have a plan. She said in a gentle tone:
"According to your description, there are too many monsters in the cavern where the Demon God's altar is located, and their strength is not weak. You are concerned about losses in a frontal assault, correct?"
Guilliman nodded, listening as Francesca continued her analysis:
"As a cave environment, the area there is not actually very large, and the air is extremely humid, with a large amount of lake water accumulated on the ground."
"In this situation, even powerful alchemical bombs cannot directly destroy the cavern. If you use fire or gas-based methods, they can always dive into the water to avoid damage."
"Therefore, the most suitable method would still be a freezing type of magic, similar to your Witchers' Northern Wind bombs, capable of instantly freezing moisture, freezing monsters, and freezing the lake water on the ground along with them."
Guilliman had also thought the same. He had considered using alchemical bombs, and even cluster bombs made of multiple bombs mixed together.
However, the power of the bombs was too small; at most, they could only kill dozens to a hundred fishemen, which would not have a significant impact on the overall situation.
Northern Wind bombs probably wouldn't work either. They were too expensive, had a small attack range, and the monsters wouldn't give him that much time.
Using hundreds of Northern Wind bombs to deal with these fishemen would be more trouble than it was worth, not cost-effective.
Francesca's lips curved into a confident and elegant smile. She tilted her head slightly and said:
"Give me three days, and I should be able to create a super Northern Wind bomb with power comparable to a small-scale Tier 3 spell."
"According to your description of the Demon God's Cavern's size, even if it can't kill all the fishemen, it should be able to eliminate over eighty percent."
"By then, the remaining fishemen should no longer be a match for you."
"However, that super Northern Wind bomb is very dangerous. Its blast radius is probably around two hundred meters, so it would be safer for me to detonate it personally."
At this point, Francesca's gaze met Guilliman's, and she said softly:
"However, I made a promise to you before."
"If your battle requires my personal intervention, you must ensure that my identity is not exposed."
"You have a good relationship with Margareta and Triss. If they were present, they would definitely be able to guess my identity."
"That would not be good for either of us."
"So, you must make a choice."
"You can choose to invite only me, and then we can clear out the monsters in the Demon God's Cavern together."
"Or, you can choose to take the super Northern Wind bomb I make for you and go with your friends to deal with the monsters in the Demon God's Cavern."
"No matter which you choose, this will count as compensation for helping me stop the Scoia'tael's actions."
Guilliman listened quietly, also understanding Francesca's difficulties.
Although Margareta, Triss, and Keira were all members of the Lodge of Sorceresses, just like Francesca.
Ultimately, Triss and Keira represented the interests of Temeria, while Margareta represented the interests of Aretuza Academy, or rather, the Brotherhood of Sorcerers.
If they discovered Francesca secretly coming to Temeria, they would likely not be pleased; instead, they would be very wary of this elven sorceress.
After all, not long ago, during the Thanedd Coup, Francesca was still on the side of the Nilfgaardian Empire, an accomplice of Vilgefortz.
Many of the sorcerers who died in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers were killed by Scoia'tael members.
To say they were still enemies at this time would not be an exaggeration.
It was only because Francesca's power was too great that she had maintained a neutral stance after establishing her elven kingdom.
If not necessary, neither the North nor the South wanted to force this high-level sorceress into becoming their enemy.
However, facing such a dual choice made Guilliman somewhat hesitant.
If he used the super Northern Wind bomb alone and went with his friends to deal with the fisheman army, it would not only be difficult to explain the origin of the super bomb, but there was also a possibility of an accident, wasting such a powerful weapon.
But if he and Francesca alone went to challenge a force of over two thousand fishemen, plus that Demon God's altar of unknown purpose, wouldn't that be underestimating Dagon, the Demon God, a bit too much?
After a few seconds of consideration, the Witcher didn't want to make wild guesses, but instead directly asked Francesca:
"My beautiful Queen."
"If it's just the two of us, do you have the confidence to deal with so many fishemen in the Demon God's Cavern?"
Francesca's expression remained unchanged, still elegantly humming in affirmation, and said softly:
"As long as you, the powerful Witcher, can stay by my side and prevent those fishemen from disturbing my spellcasting, then there will be no problem."
The Witcher nodded.
Her understated confidence made Guilliman believe that even without him, Francesca could probably annihilate all the fishemen in the Demon God's Cavern by herself.
The reason she said that was probably to save his face.
Since this high-level sorceress was so confident, Guilliman had even less reason to doubt her strength.
Trading such a commission for the help of this super-powerful individual was, by any estimation, not a losing proposition.
Guilliman's lips curved into a smile, thinking of his upcoming Witcher Academy and the future development of the Velen territory.
Perhaps a limited cooperation with the current Queen of the Valley of Flowers, who was in urgent need of funds, was a good choice.
He chuckled and said:
"Ms. Francesca, I look forward to fighting alongside you."
"After this cooperation ends, we can discuss other areas of collaboration."
"I recently acquired a small sum of money. Perhaps we could sign a loan agreement with suitable interest, you never know."
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