Thump, thump, thump... The marching army made no unnecessary sound, only the uniform, thunderous beat of footsteps; Dragons spread their wings, flying in formation above the troops... The army on Hogwarts Floating City's side had finally begun to assemble and prepare to set out.
Unlike the last offensives against Germany and Bulgaria, this operation involved the International Confederation of Wizards' Peacekeeping Force, so this international force built by Penelope was naturally under her command. Command of the Magical Kingdom's forces had instead been handed to Albert; his steady, methodical style was indeed better suited to facing a country as vast as the United States.
The streets on both sides were packed with men, women, old, and young who had come to see them off. It seemed as if all the wizards of Hogwarts Floating City had turned out. Along the long avenue of the central square, there was no end in sight to the east and no tail in sight to the west.
The Floating Ships mobilized this time far surpassed those in the previous war in both scale and variety. Since the United States had set up many Anti-Apparition spells during this period and shut down the Floo Network, this armed force could only use Floating Ships, first teleporting to positions near their various destinations, then drifting over.
People seeing them off were everywhere along the long street. The Wolf Mom Squad, which had likewise become a command unit this time, gathered together. They would enter the battlefield ahead of Albert and Penelope as the advance force to recover Pioneer Land—since the research institute had now moved to the floating city, Four-Eyes, who was in charge of the institute, had come to see her teammates off.
Of the original squad, only Long-Eye was absent now. Skilled at dealing with