Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 546 Infiltration Plan
After the Northern Expeditionary Force discovered the advance team of the Lizardmen lurking in the Rift of Isengard, Wayne and Duff knew that the plan to permanently establish a military base in the Rift was on the verge of failure. Their independent force, which numbered less than 2,000, was also forced to withdraw. The order from the Spark City military had arrived two days ago. His Majesty personally ordered them to split into two groups, with a mobile force of 300 people staying in place to monitor the enemy movements in the Rift at all times.

The larger army needed to evacuate immediately and be sent to the many border tribes of the northern wilderness along with the Stoneheart Hermitage that had surrendered to the north, to undertake the mobilization work of assisting these "rootless people" to migrate to Saint Valen.

Wayne and Dave had sleepless nights for several days. Although it was their first time fighting against the Demon Lizardmen, it proved that the Northern Army, which mastered magical weapons, was not incapable of confronting these alien enemies head-on... But the enemy's forces were too large. Without reinforcements, supplies, and heavy firepower suppression, the two thousand expeditionary forces were not even qualified to fill the teeth of the enemy compared to the tens of thousands of Demon Lizardmen combat troops.

But if the Lizardmen take root at the Great Rift and use it as an outpost to gradually erode Isengard, they will have many opportunities to fight these alien monsters in the future.

Because of this, the two men have reached a point of tension as they fight for the qualification to stay behind and lead the mobile force to undertake the security mission.

"Although we're officially of equal rank in this expedition, command rests with me!" Wayne muttered grimly as he wiped his gun. "So, once the military directive comes through, I'm fully qualified to dispatch you with a large force to relocate the borderland tribes. If you continue to tangle with me and delay His Majesty's plans... well, if the military investigates, even Vaughn won't be able to save you!"

Dave gritted his teeth and said indignantly, "Since you know we are equals, you shouldn't always use your command authority to put pressure on me. Wayne, I treat you as a brother. The moment you came into contact with the demon lizardmen, you immediately ran away with your tail between your legs. You feel that you can't afford to lose this person, but can I afford to lose this? As the first officer with command authority, you shouldn't stay here and put yourself in danger!"

Wayne was stunned for a moment, then said sinisterly, "Don't think I don't know why you asked to stay! Humph, His Majesty and the military are currently struggling with a lack of intelligence. You think you can find out the specific situation of Floating Island No. 1 with just the hundreds of mobile sentries stationed there? You're simply wishful thinking!"

Duff is indeed recognized as the "number one reckless man" among the veterans of the Northern Army, but that doesn't mean he is completely brainless in battle. Most of the time, he is just more adventurous than other commanders... Within the scope allowed by His Majesty's orders, he jumps around and tries to create more advantageous gaps in the battle situation.

From a personal perspective, Wayne, who is also adventurous and good at making small investments for big wins, prefers Duff's combat command style. Compared with Vaughn's step-by-step approach and the old-fashioned style of rigidly choosing "fire coverage" and pushing forward when indecisive, Duff's flexible interspersed tactics make people feel more like swords dancing and blood boiling.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing this impulse that seriously violated his military nature, and whispered, "You want to find a way to sneak into Floating Island No. 1, right?"

Dave's face flushed red at his sudden realization, and he mumbled, "His Majesty ordered us to remain where we are and monitor the enemy's movements, but he didn't give us any specific orders... Since we're monitoring and warning, we naturally have the responsibility to understand the enemy's internal situation! If we don't find a way to infiltrate that half-submerged turtle shell, the military will always have only a partial understanding of their situation. If a real fight breaks out, we'll be caught off guard by their bizarre and strange tactics!"

Seeing that what the reckless man said was indeed reasonable, Wayne fell into a brief silence for a moment.

"What were you planning to do? You bastard! You've been sending your mobile sentries to patrol the valley entrance these past few days. You thought I was completely unaware of all these sneaky little moves?" Dave rubbed his forehead and smiled innocently. "Don't worry, we definitely didn't alert the enemy. I simply had my brothers attack a small group of demon lizardmen outposts who were also out exploring. We wiped them out and hid their bodies nearby."

Wayne was stunned and asked, "Hide the body? What are you going to do with those disgusting things?"

Back in Spark City, His Majesty had Tommy and his personal guards capture living aliens at the Ice Sea Base, but he had senior military officers observe the entire dissection experiment. Once the outer shells of these twisted and deformed monsters were broken, exposing their inner flesh and blood, their entire bodies would immediately melt and disintegrate until they turned into a pool of rotten and smelly black pus, leaving only an intact outer skin.

"Of course, it's for their tough skins!" Duff explained enthusiastically. "Plus, there's the Blackwater weapon canisters they carry on their backs. With these two things, I just need to select some tall, slender soldiers, put on their skins, and sneak in under cover of darkness... The chances of success are very high!"

Wayne suddenly realized, yes! The lizardmen had a natural ability to sense spellcasters. The reason they had accurately located and tracked the exploration team led by Mr. Duncan, and finally launched a surprise attack when the airship landed to rest, wasn't it because the entire team was composed of spellcasters?

In the eyes of these monsters, the reaction of the surge of magic power was as dazzling as a candle flame in the night. Even when they were planning to "ice fish" to lure prisoners, they had to use the magic power core carried by the airship to disguise the strong magic fluctuations to attract the targets hidden under the ice.

But ordinary soldiers and bloodline warriors cannot be sensed and tracked by them. Although Dave and others had a small-scale battle with the enemy when they arrived at the Great Rift Valley, the magic lizardman teams dispatched from Floating Island No. 1 have not directly discovered the expeditionary force's hidden base nearby until today. This is enough to show that they cannot lock their position at all.

"I agree with your infiltration plan." Wayne considered it again and again, and finally said reluctantly, "But I have a request..."

"Don't dither. As long as you support me in taking action, everything else will be easy."

"Report this impromptu infiltration plan to the military and His Majesty truthfully," Wayne said slowly. "I won't argue with you about who will lead the execution, but we must obtain permission from His Majesty and the military. We must make all necessary preparations before we launch the operation!"

(End of this chapter)