Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 592 Summary after the war
Harvey gathered everyone in the castle, but before he could come up with a plan to urgently reinforce Great Bear Lake, he received news of victory on the front line.

Even he himself did not expect that the "backup plan" hidden in the shallow water heavy artillery ship would play a role at the most critical moment of the battle.

Those miniature spiders that were completely transformed from energy-absorbing beetles were originally an experimental private project. The materials used to make them were nothing more than the scraps left over from the mass production of alchemical beasts in alchemical laboratories and military factories.

However, the finger-sized alchemical beasts can still retain their original characteristics even after undergoing a large number of soul transfers, and can complete some delicate operations under Harvey's control.

Because of this, Harvey didn't actually have high expectations for the role they could play on the battlefield... This was a completely unexpected surprise.

"We only dispatched nearly 2,000 troops, supported by two shallow-water heavy gunboats and nearly a hundred aerial mages, and were able to directly sink a floating island fortress of the Lizardmen." Reiner's tone was filled with indescribable joy. "Once this news reaches the country, it will undoubtedly excite the people and boost their confidence."

Harvey shook his head and said slowly, "The battle also exposed our lack of firepower."

Two shallow-water heavy gunboats, eight large-caliber magic naval guns, dozens of portable artillery pieces, and a large number of anti-aircraft beam weapons... They were still somewhat stretched when dealing with enemies who had no idea what fear and death were and who kept charging forward.

The Northern Army is currently cleaning up the battlefield meticulously. The depth of the Great Bear Lake is unfathomable, and the wreckage of the floating island that has completely sunk into the lake must still contain a small number of enemy remnants, but the exact number cannot be verified.

According to current statistics, only more than 3,000 demon lizardmen who landed died under the soldiers' artillery and guns, including nearly a thousand winged creatures.

In fact, more enemies died from the long-range bombardment of naval guns. Before they could emerge from the floating island, they were shocked to death in the internal corridors by the continuous firepower coverage.

This also resulted in most of the thousands of corpses floating on the lake being intact, without being missing limbs or broken like their counterparts in the landing operations, or being hollowed out by the alchemical spiders.

"Unfortunately, the bodies and creations of these alien races are so bizarre that we haven't been able to research their applications yet." Chief Dawson sighed and said with some regret, "Aside from destroying their remaining manpower, we've gained nothing."

After officially moving into the new Federation building, he and Salas immediately set about establishing a research team composed of Federation members and local spellcasters. They worked intensively on the project of cracking the various creations of the Lizardmen, but to this day there has been no significant progress.

Whether it was floating island fragments like deep-sea corals and reef structures, or the anti-magic skin of the lizardmen, or even the flesh and blood extracted from their soft bodies... apart from once again verifying the demonic nature of the black water, there was no other gain.

They are obviously just some ordinary substances with no special features, but in the hands of these strange aliens, they can possess such powerful combat power.

"Unless we can directly capture... or occupy an entire floating island fortress, it will be difficult for us to crack the mystery of this alien race." Salas was silent for a long time, and finally couldn't help but speak.

"Sir, this is really asking too much." Harvey couldn't help but smile bitterly, shrugging his shoulders and spreading his hands. "If we really had the ability, we would have driven them out and wiped them out long ago."

The next topic was somewhat awkward... The meeting, originally intended to discuss emergency reinforcements, suddenly turned into a post-battle debriefing, which necessitated mention of the Federation's mage regiment's awkward role in the battle. As "aerial bait," they were clearly competent, but facing an enemy several times their size, these battle mages, accustomed to small-scale combat, had very limited ability to stop and kill the Winged Ones.

One hundred battle mages, working with the airships, shot down less than five hundred enemies... Most of these troublesome Winged Creatures were eliminated after they approached the defense line and took the initiative to land on the ground, encountering fierce resistance from soldiers and bloodline warriors.

The alien race's anti-magic shell had an undeniable restraining effect on spellcasters. When the battle reached its most intense point, the mages even took out their issued magic revolvers and engaged in close combat with the enemy, no longer having the time to cast their proud high-level attack magic.

Seeing that the two chiefs remained silent, Fadun could only stand up awkwardly and take charge of "saving face".

He coughed lightly and said slowly, "We indeed underestimated the number of Winged Beings. The mages controlled the airships and fought ten of them alone. We were lucky not to suffer any serious casualties."

Fortunately, this battle also made them fully understand that it is unrealistic to rely solely on the power of spellcasters to fight the enemy... Whether in terms of attack methods or number of troops, it is far from enough.

In the near future, the protagonist position on the battlefield will probably be given to those disciplined and numerous mortal soldiers.

After quickly passing over the embarrassing topic for the allies, everyone immediately started discussing the casualties.

Regarding this part, Harvey actually knew the specific data as soon as he received the report from the front line... There is no doubt that the issue that His Majesty the Emperor is most concerned about is the casualties of the soldiers.

Three fully staffed battalions totaling 1,500 people, a special forces team of 100 people composed of bloodline warriors, and nearly 100 Federation battle mages... 90 people were killed and more than 280 were injured.

Putting aside the logistics personnel who were almost never on the front lines, even the artillery hiding behind the front line of the firefight suffered considerable damage.

The vast majority of casualties were caused by the Winged Creatures who approached the defensive line. The black crystal spears thrown from overhead made it impossible for the soldiers to avoid them, and the Winged Creatures' cluster attacks were even more difficult to withstand. The wounded sent to the rear medical stations all had penetrating wounds and burns. Even with the rapid hemostasis of rubber fruit coagulant, many people still died despite the rapid sutures of several medical alchemy beasts.

Harvey did not intend to hold the air combat mage responsible for letting the enemy get close to the front line, and naturally he could not hold the medics responsible either - these young men, who had only received a few months of simple training in the medical institute, were also warriors who risked their lives and carried stretchers on the front lines of the firefight.

As the scale of battles continues to expand, more casualties will inevitably occur. There is no other way but to maximize the army's medical rescue capabilities and train more military doctors with battlefield first aid skills.

"Notify the front lines to gather the bodies of the Lizardmen and burn them. As for the fallen soldiers... take a clear count of their numbers and names, and bring them back for a proper burial."

Harvey's tone was somewhat heavy as he looked around at everyone and slowly said, "This is our first true victory against the alien race. I plan to hold a celebration and commemoration to commend the soldiers who fought bravely and to remember the heroes who fell in battle."

(End of this chapter)