Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 602 Weird Dotted Line
Since Harvey ascended the throne, the Obsidian Castle where he had lived for a long time has undergone several rounds of expansion. Although the land area has always been strictly regulated to ensure that it will not encroach on other municipal facilities in the inner city, the overall scale of the building has at least doubled.

Even the people have long since changed their way of calling this dark complex located on the inner city's high ground "Your Majesty's Palace."

In the new conference hall of the "Imperial Palace", the military and municipal executives who were summoned by the emperor all looked unhappy - when the map of the Abyssal Sea, which had just been analyzed and deciphered by the secretariat next door, was distributed to everyone... someone with sharp eyes immediately noticed that a "dotted line" located in the central part of the southern continent, running across the Divine Ridge Mountains, was hidden in the complex pattern of the map.

"As the first person to see this nautical chart, I didn't immediately notice the existence of this dotted line..." Harvey raised his hand and tapped the enlarged map in front of him. "Everyone, please express your opinions and tell us what this line represents."

Asdaren pondered for a moment and spoke first, "I have instructed the intelligence department to immediately contact the intelligence branch still stationed in the Holy Coral City and have them inquire directly with the leaders and priests of the sea tribe who know the inside story. Perhaps they will get a response soon."

Pierce subconsciously picked up the glass filled with red liquid beside him, took a sip, and slowly said, "As Your Majesty said, the silver represents the surface water system, and the black represents the underground river flow... Could the dotted line be an underground passage without water flowing through it?"

Reiner breathed a sigh of relief and said quickly, "If it's an underground tunnel without water, then at least it means the Lizardmen can't control the floating islands to dive through the Divine Spine Mountains and reach our rear without anyone noticing."

This somewhat optimistic statement received very few responses.

Harvey stood up and pointed at the map of the entire territory hanging on the wall, comparing it with the sea chart. "If there's no problem with the deciphering, this dotted line, after crossing the Divine Spine Mountains, ends at... the Holy City of Goris."

The sea people have never believed in the God of Light. Even if they explore the underground migration routes of pilgrims, they will never be able to reach the foot of the Papal States.

Dawson touched his red nose and chuckled, "Perhaps the Sea Clan originally intended to use this natural underground tunnel to sneak into the base of the Glowing Cathedral, invade the holy city, and destroy the paganism they hated."

This was obviously a ridicule used to ease the tense atmosphere. Everyone knew that the sea people were weak in combat, let alone counterattacking the holy city... An ordinary judge could probably pick up a weapon and crush ten coral people to death.

Sarath shook his head and pointedly looked at Harvey. "If the Lizardmen can discover this route, Goris will be in imminent danger... Your Majesty, do you think we should warn the Church in advance?"

Without waiting for Harvey's response, the Son of Fire, who was sitting several seats down, muttered, "I wish the Lizardmen would just raid Goris and use concentrated red light to destroy those charlatans' Cathedral of Light... Hmm... Hmm..."

Fadun, standing nearby, quickly covered his colleague's mouth and hurriedly said, "But after all, there are still tens of thousands of mortals living in the City of Grace. Those ordinary believers who have been deceived by the church are innocent and should not be slaughtered for no reason by foreigners."

All the spellcasters who can officially participate in the high-level meeting today have clear positions and have voluntarily chosen to join Harvey's camp... They also know that after countless rounds of live damage tests on the magic lizard captives, it has been accurately verified and recorded in detail that this alien race is not only naturally immune to magic, but the strange skin on their body surface can also resist the church's divine attacks!
This means that the large number of combat priests trained by the City of Grace are almost no different from weak mortals when facing the attacks of the Demon Lizardmen. Without the blessing of magical weapons, the resistance that the Bloodline Knights can provide is minimal.

If an enemy of equal strength appeared, these devout, fearless church warriors would be mere cannon fodder for the concentrated red light and black water weapons. The sudden appearance of an additional "pitfall" in the originally anticipated "three lines of defense" plunged Harvey into anxiety, feeling like a paperhanger patching up gaps along the Divine Ridge Mountains.

He pinched his throbbing brow and turned to ask Asdalen, "What's the current situation with the Pope's secret prayer, Priest Garrett?"

"He lived alone in a room assigned to him by the Ministry of State, remaining silent and stubborn, and asking for nothing but water and coarse bread every day."

Harvey sighed silently, "After the meeting, send someone to bring him to me."

Pierce was stunned for a moment, then said in surprise, "Your Majesty, are you really planning to warn the Pope? I'm afraid the Holy City won't believe our intelligence at all. If the dotted line represents a secret passage without water flowing through it, then the Floating Island Fortress has no way of submerging itself through the Divine Spine Mountains. If the Lizardmen plan to cross underground on foot... they probably don't have many troops to make the long march to Goris, right?"

This inference was recognized by many people - between Goris and Saint Valen, there was the mountain kingdom of Yarid in the central part of the southern continent. The straight-line distance between the two places was only seven or eight hundred miles, but the road was rugged and it was extremely difficult to travel over the mountains.

The City of Grace is not far from the Divine Ridge Mountains. According to the precise calculations of the surveying department, the entire dotted line running through the north and south borders is only about 300 miles away. It is clear at a glance which is near and which is far.

Harvey turned his gaze to the senior officers under Pierce, "What do you think?"

Vaughn stood up and responded in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, I believe it would be best to capture Yarid and deploy our troops directly to the border of Goris. If the Lizardmen invade the Holy City, we can dispatch reinforcements and plug the hole right away."

Obviously, due to the warmongering faction's natural desire to expand its power, even if the Lizardmen did not show up, they intended to take this opportunity to incorporate the long-coveted Principality of Yarid into the territory of the United Kingdom. Vaughn's remarks just represented the true purpose of the military.

Harvey smiled helplessly at this and said, "Well, regardless of whether the Holy City believes our warning or not, and regardless of whether the Lizardmen will emerge from the dotted line... at least encircling Goris is the only option we have to make now."

Before the senior military officials could show any joy, the personal guard adjutant Tietou hurried into the conference hall and whispered something urgently in Harvey's ear.

"Everyone, the news from the Coral Holy City..." Harvey stood up and said seriously, "The chief priests of the Coral and Abyss tribes replied that the dotted line... represents the tide."

This dotted secret passage, hidden deep underground and running through the Divine Ridge Mountains from north to south, will dry up during the spring and winter seasons as the underground tides surge, and will be filled with water again in summer and autumn. Its width is enough for more than ten shallow-water heavy gunboats to sail side by side.

(End of this chapter)