Magic Industrial Age.

Chapter 544, Part 542: Breaking a Taboo (Happy Dragon Boat Festival!)

Luo Yi's voice echoed in the huge command center, but the group of Imperial Guard generals looked at each other, none of them willing to speak first.

Luo Yi focused on one person and said, "Alfonso, you go first!"

Alfonso Zeke was originally dispatched by Loy to the Verdun battlefield to monitor and direct the use of the leased magic tanks and to be responsible for battlefield maintenance.

However, in the subsequent war, the leased tanks were damaged one after another, and the Empire developed the 'Tiger' tank, so he returned with his troops.

The original plan was for him to take Luo Yi's place in Flower Territory and maintain its stability.

However, when the powerful warriors of the Heavenly Calamity were in short supply, Luo Yi transferred him to join the battle, and then he was running between the two places.

This time, it was quite by chance that I also attended the operational meeting.

Called out by Roy, Alfonso stepped forward, looked at the sand table, organized his thoughts, and then said, "My opinion is that if we can avoid fighting, we should!"

"Tell me the reason?"

Alfonso pointed at the sand table, tracing the straight asphalt road, but at a certain point he veered to the right, pointing to a bright red city.

"Crimson City is named for its construction entirely of red rocks. From a distance, it appears as if it were drenched in blood."

This place is home to the most elite members of the Toridor clan, who are considered among the nobles of the vampire world, thus qualifying them to be the rulers and administrators of this place.
Humans here will be collared and enslaved!
Their lives, eating, working, and reproducing are all controlled by the vampires. Under long-term enslavement education, they have even forgotten writing, inheritance, and the spirit of resistance.

They have no warriors or magical heritage, and their average lifespan is no more than thirty years, because after that age, their flesh becomes unpalatable.

They were also indoctrinated with the idea that they themselves were food, and that they should take pride in becoming their master's food.

"Of course, excessive suppression can also lead to turmoil."

Therefore, vampires have opened up a path for them to rise in rank: by serving and pleasing their master, they have the opportunity to receive the Embrace.

"According to preliminary statistics over the past few days, there are approximately 300,000 human residents in Crimson City. As for the dark race, that remains an unknown number."

He paused for a moment before saying, "My opposition to capturing this city is based on two main considerations."

Firstly, the city itself is a large maze. We are not familiar with the terrain. It is not difficult to break through the city walls, but we will inevitably have to fight in the streets.

Even with firepower advantages, casualties will be inevitable.

I'm not just talking about the unnecessary casualties of the Royal Guards, but also the humans who will die in the war.

Secondly, these 300,000 humans are a huge threat in themselves. I remember that the Embrace of vampires can be granted on a large scale, and they can even transform into vampire zombies.

"You mean the blood plague?"

"Yes! If 300,000 people were infected with the blood plague, that would be a huge mess!"

As he said this, he even offered his assessment: "I have reason to suspect that this Crimson City is a huge trap."

"Grand Duke Toledo intends to use him to lure us in, limit the soldiers' abilities and the power of their magical weapons, and then crush us in one fell swoop."

"Therefore, my opinion is to proceed directly to Blood Moon Castle according to the established plan. As long as we remain unmoved, it is those dark races who will get anxious."

Once Grand Duke Toledo is dealt with and this demiplane is occupied, Crimson City will naturally fall without a fight.

It must be said that his words were mature and prudent, and also the best advice given from a military perspective.

But before the words had even finished, a hoarse, loud voice rang out: "I disagree!"

Then, Tanya, the female tyrant, stepped forward, her body stronger than a man's, pressing forward, her eyes even reddening: "Afonso, I used to respect you, no doubt about it."

But this time, you've disappointed me greatly.

"You've considered everything, but have you considered people's hearts?"

"Keeping humans and livestock? That's keeping humans and livestock! They're raising my human race like animals! How dare they?"

"The Toridor have committed a grave offense against our human race. If we hadn't known, we would have let it go, but now that we do, we must fight them to the death!"

Taking a deep breath, she tried to suppress her emotions and said, "You can go out and ask what the Imperial Guards outside think."
If we just leave like this, I'm afraid I'll look down on myself from now on!

“There are some things that they must pay the price for doing; and since we have seen them, we cannot turn a blind eye.”

As she said this, she even turned around, knelt down on one knee facing Luo Yi, and smashed her knee into the ground with a 'bang'.

She shouted, "I am willing to be the vanguard for the king, the first to storm into this city and break the necks of those vampires!"

I only hope that Your Excellency will grant me this opportunity.

Tanya the Tyrannosaurus was very excited; in fact, at a glance, almost all the generals seemed very excited.

They weren't unaware that Alfonso was right, but some things were simply intolerable!

Their anger and agitation, including this argument, have objective reasons.

Tracing back through Herka's history, it's not hard to see that humans were never born powerful, nor were they the main characters on this continent.

Let alone comparing them to dragons, giants, or behemoths, they couldn't even compare to some herbivorous beastmen or weak fairies. For a long time, humans were not accepted by the other races, nor were they recognized as intelligent life forms, but rather as livestock like chickens and ducks.

Back then, humans had another name: two-legged sheep.

Later, with the protection of the first dragon knights, and by learning meditation from the elves, magic from the monsters, physical training from the orcs, and forging from the dwarves, he gradually grew stronger.

It can be said that the process of humanity's rise to power is a vast history of wars against other races.

At that time, our ancestors were far from invincible. There were too many races stronger than them, so they could only use more sacrifices, more ruthless methods, and a more resolute attitude to fight for a piece of land to thrive and multiply.

Blood revenge, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, is the most basic law and the code of conduct for humanity.

As it evolved, in order to compete for the same status as other intelligent races, human heroes drew an insurmountable red line.

That is, people of other races are not allowed to keep humans or livestock!

To achieve this, humanity paid a tremendous price.

Any discovery, whether it be a tribe, a city, or even a nation, must be destroyed.

If I cannot do it, then I will die here, so that future generations may continue the fight, generation after generation, with countless lives lost until the very end.

You have to admit that this approach is extremely crazy, not cost-effective, and has no economic benefits. However, it was by relying on this crazy approach that the ancient sages of the human race gained the recognition of the human race's status from all other races.

Humans are humans; they are never anyone's food, much less chickens or ducks!
To this day, it has become an instinct, a trait, etched deep into the genes and bloodline of the Herka plane's human race.

The prohibition against keeping humans and livestock by other races is not just an empty phrase, but a taboo that can incite the entire human race into a state of anger and berserk behavior.

If you were to describe it as such, this is an even more extreme form of political correctness.

It doesn't matter whether it's right or wrong, true or false, good or bad, or about interests; what matters is that once something is brought up, one must take the right stance and express one's attitude.

Loy even believed that if he were to lose, he wouldn't need to do anything extra; he could simply report the matter to the Church of the Sun God and place the evidence on His Majesty's desk.
That would drive the entire Church of the Sun God mad!

Even if there are no Blood Moon fragments and no way to find the entrance or exit, it doesn't matter.

At worst, we can exhaustively search the entire plane, find the connection between the Blood Moon Forest demiplane and the Prime Material Plane, and then lock the coordinates.
At that time, His Holiness the Pope, accompanied by twelve cardinals, will break through the dimensional barrier and descend upon this place.

By then, let alone the fact that the vampires only have some connections on a certain level of the Abyss, even if the Abyss Lord descends, he will not be able to protect Grand Duke Toridor.

It's only because the Pope's methods weren't ruthless enough that the piece wasn't cut into seventeen or eighteen sections.

However, by then, this demiplane will most likely be destroyed, and his scheme will have failed.

So, should we fight or not?

The command center was quiet, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stared at Luo Yi, watching his fingers tap the chair repeatedly, making a 'thump-thump' sound, and awaiting his decision.

Even the Grand Duke of Cullen and his wife, who were collaborators in this war, stood there with grim faces, not daring to utter a single word.

To be honest, they didn't expect that the Grand Duke of Toledo would dare to go to such lengths!
Moreover, you're just playing around, yet you didn't even bother to cover it up when the Flower Leader's army was approaching.

They really don't know how to spell 'death'!

Now look what's happened! By stirring up racial conflict, it seems things won't be easy for these 'vegetarians' from now on.

Finally, Luo Yi looked up, a hazy blue light shining in his eyes as he gazed in the direction of the Crimson City.

He seemed to see, from a great distance, the city filled with human blood and corpses, and the numbness and deathly silence of countless humans.

His body was trembling, his blood surging as if it were about to turn into a raging inferno and burn the city to the ground.

However, his reason held him firmly in check!

Leaving aside others, even he himself found it difficult to control the surging anger in his blood.

Sometimes, we can't just focus on gains and losses; we also need to consider the greater good!
Finally, Luo Yi lowered her head, her expression neither joyful nor sorrowful, but her words were firm and resolute: "Crimson City shall be destroyed!"

As he spoke, he lowered his head slightly, looked at the female tyrant Tanya, and said, "Have you thought it through? Do you want to be a vanguard?"

Tanya stood up, took a heavy machine gun directly from her dimensional bag, cocked it with a click, and raised her head again to look directly into Roy's eyes.

"In this battle, there is no retreat, no invincibility, only death!"

"Alright, alright! Is there anyone else willing?"

“Me!” Alfonso straightened up.

“Me too!” Vincent Ackerman also stepped forward.

“Three division commanders, you actually want to be the vanguard? Then I will grant your request.”

"Gentlemen, prepare for battle! I will personally command this battle."

P.S.: This chapter was so hard to write!

(End of this chapter)