Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 55 The Militia's First Battle
Harvey took Asdalen to the guard post at the edge of the territory wall.

Pierce had been waiting here for a long time with two teams of patrolling militiamen. When they saw the lord appear, they all bowed and saluted.

"What's going on? Did the Alchemy Beast's alarm go off by mistake, or are there really some evil beastmen wandering around?"

"Sir, I'm afraid it's an evil orc," Pierce replied calmly. "Judging from the route of the tracks and the footprints, they're not those lone individuals who broke away from the main group."

He asked his team members to carry a wolf spider beast with broken limbs and show it to Harvey.

"Look, they used their spears to precisely destroy the wolf spider beast's insect limbs. This shows that they are very experienced in combat and can quickly discover the enemy's weaknesses."

Harvey nodded, "Increase the security and deploy all the guard alchemy beasts to the periphery."

The Alchemy Beast was transformed from the soul of a bird creature and had no attack capability at all. It could only emit sharp explosions when encountering an enemy and transmit the information to the receiver in the main fort in a chain reaction.

Harvey also asked Pierce how Jackdaw Town had resisted the invasion of evil orcs in the past, and learned that there was no effective method at all.

The evil orcs are extremely good at running and moving through the mountains, and ordinary human soldiers are simply unable to effectively pursue them. The unlucky patrol members will be sent to the outposts at the foot of the mountain as cannon fodder, responsible for monitoring the movements of the evil orcs crossing the mountains, but they often don't have time to pass on the message and will be directly targeted by spears.

It is even more impossible for the Federation's spellcasters to go into the mountains and forests to fight them at close range. They can only wait for the enemy to invade villages and towns in large numbers before organizing an effective counterattack.

Harvey then realized that he had paid too much attention to the fixed defense measures in the core area of the territory and had overlooked an important issue.

That is which direction the evil orcs will attack from.

The so-called core area of the territory now consists of the lord's castle, the residential area along the river, the market area, and the militia barracks near the wall.

The newly reclaimed farmland is close to the gentle slope at the foot of the mountain, making it less likely for the evil orcs to bypass the core area and attack.

Therefore, the best way to defend is to find a way to actively lure the enemy, guide the evil orcs from the designated direction, enter the designated battlefield, and fight with the militia.

……

There is a natural open plain in the dense woods, and dozens of tall figures are busy carrying goods on this open space.

A large bonfire was lit in the center of the camp. Perhaps because too much wet firewood covered in morning dew was added, the campfire did not burn vigorously. Instead, smoke billowed straight into the sky, making the entire camp smoky.

The people moving the goods didn't seem to mind the thick smoke and worked in silence the whole time, making the entire camp seem eerily quiet.

An evil orc wearing an animal bone head and half-bone armor hid in the bushes and peeked for a while, then retreated quietly.

About half an hour later, there was a sudden burst of dense footsteps in the woods, mixed with low roars and shouts.

A large group of evil orcs suddenly rushed out of the forest, shouting loudly and waving bone spears and short axes to attack the people in the camp.

An evil orc who was rushing in the front took cover from the thick smoke in the camp, drew out the short axe from his waist and threw it out fiercely, instantly chopping off the head of a man who was standing still with his back to him, and the man rolled to his feet with a thud.

But it was shocked to find that it was the head of an evil orc that looked exactly like itself!

Before they could react, more evil orcs rushed into the camp and started killing people wantonly, but some of them noticed something unusual and stood there in a daze, at a loss as to what to do.

Why are all the people in the entire camp of the same race as me?
The evil orc, wearing an iron helmet and bone armor, who was obviously the leader, kicked a stunned man to the ground, dragged him closer for a closer inspection, and found that this man was indeed one of his own kind, and his face had been rotted beyond recognition, emitting a strong stench of corruption.

All those who carry goods back and forth in this camp are dead!
A sharp whistle suddenly rang out from the woods flanking the camp. The leader turned sharply in its direction, only to be jolted to the ground with a thud, unable to move. Another orc beside him quickly turned him over and discovered that his iron helmet visor had been completely shattered. A finger-sized hole had appeared in the center, from which blood flowed.

The evil orc near the woods immediately drew out the bone spear from his waist and was about to throw it at the shaking bushes, but suddenly a burst of blood burst out from his waist, mixed with a lot of internal organ fragments, and sprayed all over the ground.

The sharp-eyed evil beastmen had already seen strange long sticks sticking out of the woods, and then one after another of their fellow tribesmen around them suddenly fell to the ground with howls, or their hands and feet were directly shattered, or their bodies had large pieces of flesh and blood torn out by the claws of wild beasts.

Fear gripped its heart in an instant. It dropped its hatchet, howled, and turned around to run in the opposite direction. After running a few steps, it felt a sharp pain in its left leg, causing it to fall sideways to the ground, howling in pain.

In the smoke-filled camp, there was no one left standing.

The evil orc who was still lying on the ground struggling to death discovered that a group of people wearing clothes woven from leaves and grass came out of the bushes one after another, and were putting something on the tip of the strange long stick.

Those people gradually walked into the camp, raised the tips of their long sticks, and repeatedly stabbed the chests of every evil orc lying on the ground without missing a single one.

……

"How is it? Was the trap to capture the evil orcs successful?" Harvey asked anxiously as he looked at Pierce who rushed back to report the battle situation.

"Sir, we completely wiped out a fifty-man outpost squad, with no casualties on our side. Um... two militiamen accidentally stabbed themselves with their bayonets out of nervousness..."

Harvey breathed a sigh of relief, laughed heartily, and patted Pierce on the shoulder. "Now my militia can be considered soldiers who have truly seen blood!"

Asdalen also laughed out loud. "The evil orcs are so stupid that they can't even tell that the zombies used as bait in the camp are their own kind."

Pierce calmly analyzed, "It's mainly because the smoke and fire in the camp affected their keen sense of smell and perception. They won't be able to repeat this trick next time."

Harvey quickly reminded, "Remember to drag back all those dead evil beastmen. I don't have many zombies left."

Pierce bowed and said, "It's on its way, sir."

He raised his head again, his eyes filled with an inexplicable fanaticism. "Sir, we only sent out fifty militiamen, equipped with thirty magic guns, and we were able to strangle an outpost squad without any harm. Even I did not expect such a result."

In order to prevent heavy casualties among the militia, Pierce had already dispatched twenty wolf spider beasts to ambush around the camp, but they were completely useless.

"This magical weapon is simply too powerful. They are completely unable to resist it. They don't even know what killed them until they die..."

He murmured excitedly, "If Your Excellency could equip all the militia members with magic guns, I think I could lead them directly towards the river valley and drive them back to the other side of the river..."

Harvey reached out and straightened Pierce's slightly askew uniform collar, patiently explaining, "Don't get too confident. This is an ambush, and direct combat won't be easy. You need to seize the opportunity and give every militia member a chance to master their shooting skills and accuracy."

"As for the magic gun, the lab is already working overtime to make it. I haven't had a good rest in many days..."

Pierce felt a little ashamed, his face flushed and he apologized to Harvey repeatedly.

Asdaren, who was standing beside him, asked quietly, "What about you, Pierce? What is your record today?"

Pierce puffed out his chest and bowed slightly to his mentor. "Five energy beams, five evil orcs, all hit the head, no misses, Mr. Asdalen."

(End of this chapter)