Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 446 Deterrent Offensive
The continuous bombardment that lasted for half an hour made the Northern Army, which was deployed outside the city and ready to attack at any time, very angry.

"How long will these artillerymen keep bombarding?" Dave couldn't help but stamp his foot and curse under his breath as Commander Pierce walked away. "They've already blown the city walls to shreds, and you're still not satisfied?"

Even the usually steady Vaughn couldn't help but frown and said, "If the bombardment continues, I'm afraid the entire wall will collapse. Are we going to have to climb over the collapsed rubble to get into the city?"

Wayne glanced around and whispered to his two close comrades, "Before the battle, I heard the city lord and the commander order us to launch a [deterrence offensive] first... I guess that's why those guys in the artillery battalion were wasting ammunition so recklessly."

Duff glared and said, "How can bombarding the city walls be considered a deterrent? At most, the explosion would kill a few hundred city defenders."

The ironclad ships fired solid shells, which had significant destructive effects on fixed defensive facilities such as city walls and gates, but were far less lethal to the enemy than shrapnel shells.

But Harvey's goal was not to immediately kill a large number of royal soldiers guarding the city walls from a distance at the beginning of the war... His goal was only to destroy the defense forces deployed on the city walls and open up a safe navigation channel for the subsequent real [deterrent offensive].

The three airships took off from Fengyuan City three days later than the fleet, but were able to arrive in the royal capital almost at the same time as them. This was also an attempt by Harvey to put the flying vehicles into actual combat to observe the effect.

For a moment, almost everyone, regardless of friend or foe, witnessed the huge monsters slowly emerging from the thick clouds - three aircraft, each equipped with eight sets of separate airbags, pods equipped with magic machine guns that can flexibly turn and fire, and mounting devices that can launch magic explosive bombs at any time.

This is the latest upgraded version of the floating airship developed by Spark City - the combat airship type 1.

In Harvey's vision, the unimpeded floating airship should be the absolute trump card in large-scale wars of this era. Even if it is blocked by the enemy's high-level priests or spellcasters with flying ability, the machine guns installed in the pod and several snipers with accurate shots can use their weapons to fight back against the enemy. The magic gun has no casting interval... The soldiers do not need to consume a lot of magic power and divine power to maintain the spell-casting flight like spellcasters and priests.

Having air superiority... is equivalent to having the key to victory.

The ironclad ships at the dock and the Northern Army outside the city erupted in loud cheers at the same time. Everyone knew the magic of the airships. The royal capital had no ability to stop the attacks from the sky. The balance of victory in the war had completely tilted towards them.

……

After a while, the airship slowly passed over the towering city walls, drifted through the outer city filled with low and dilapidated buildings, and arrived directly above the royal court. However, they did not underestimate the enemy and always maintained a high altitude. The entire huge Jinhui City was in sight, and the glorious royal court built high up in the inner city in the past was only the size of a palm.

Tommy stood in the cabin of an airship, took out the crystal windproof goggles from his arms and put them in front of his eyes, took out the long-range sniper rifle hanging on his back, and aimed at the three figures flying out from the royal court below with a grin.

That was a court magician of noble birth...

Empowered by the high-level bloodline's "Weakness Insight" ability, the high-caliber magic bullets shot out, instantly piercing the defensive shield of a high-level court mage, tearing off a fist-sized chunk of flesh from his waist. The high-level mage, without even a groan, plummeted from the sky. Another spellcaster quickly turned back to attempt a rescue, but was immediately attacked by the same long-range attack. Fortunately, he seemed to be wearing some powerful defensive magical device, and several layers of crystal-like transparent shields instantly illuminated around his body, barely blocking the attack from the airship.

But the opponent seemed to have no time to spare when casting spells. After missing one attack, he paused for less than a few seconds before launching the same attack again. What shocked the court mage was that the opponent was so far away, but the two attacks hit almost the same position of the shield with the same accuracy.

With a snap, the armband on the wizard's arm shattered in an instant. While the magic weapon was broken, it finally blocked the second attack. However, the strange attack also damaged the court wizard's magic veins, causing the flow of magic in his body to stagnate briefly, and he almost fell to the ground.

The last spellcaster who escaped the attack quickly grabbed his companion, looked up at the airship in the distance with a panic expression, and then looked at his fellow mage who was lying on the ground with a complicated look.

"The enemy possesses such a strange and powerful long-range attack method... There's no need for us to fight them to the death. Don't forget that we are spellcasters just like them!"

The injured mage naturally noticed the massive emblems of the Union and the Northern Lord painted on the airship. He gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, "Indeed, there's no need for spellcasters to fight to the death unless it's a battle over the Path of Truth. Besides, I don't want to work for the damned Church anyway. Let's go!"

After saying that, the two of them flew out of the city in the opposite direction without hesitation.

Tommy smiled as he put away his sniper rifle. He raised his hand to stop his sharpshooter from shooting him from behind. He sneered, "They really knew how to assess the situation and didn't rush in to fight us. Otherwise, we wouldn't have the upper hand in a close-range fight."

However, this brief exchange of fire made Tommy sigh... It turned out that not every spellcaster was as wise and compassionate as his lord, nor did they have the same demeanor of treating people equally and the courage to explore the unknown as Duncan, the Eye of Illusion and the Astrologer... They were not even as good as those gloomy-faced necromancers in the Academy of Sciences. When they fought side by side with ordinary soldiers of mortal origin, they contributed their manpower and strength without reservation.

The three airships continued to hover in the sky and waited for a moment. They were shocked to find that in such a huge Jinhui City, the only noble spellcasters who dared to stand up and confront them head-on and guard the royal city were the three who had just died and one injured. They couldn't help but laugh.

Tommy immediately took out the magic brain instrument and reported the situation to Harvey. After receiving the reply instructions, he turned around and made a gesture to the soldier in charge.

The latter nodded in understanding, and the airship immediately lowered its altitude. The bombardier skillfully stuffed the magic explosive bomb into the bombing port, and then immediately pulled the mechanism.

A huge bomb broke away from the bracket at the bottom of the pod with a click and fell rapidly to the ground.

The first task they had to complete on this trip was an important part of the [Deterrence Offensive]—

Bomb the royal court of Jinhui City!
(End of this chapter)