Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 612 Collapse
The city walls were filled with the harsh sound of metal clashing, occasionally mixed with hoarse roars.

Felipe hurried along a narrow wall passage and vaguely heard screams and cries of pain coming from the front.

A team of Inquisition knights who had just arrived to provide support were attacked head-on from the air... A red beam of light, as thick as a human waist, fell from the sky without any warning and slammed heavily into the mottled and old wall of the holy city.

The Bloodline Knights had no time to raise their shields and form a formation before they were directly defeated by the earth-shattering bombardment. Armor and limbs flew everywhere, and sticky blood flowed down the stairs through the cracks in the wall bricks.

Several high-ranking priests risked their lives to fly into the air, but before they could cast their magic to fight back, they were splashed with black water that rained down like raindrops. The black water turned into countless fine and sharp needles, forming a black net that enveloped them.

This level of intensive barrage made it impossible to avoid. The priest's flesh and blood was pierced like a torn linen bag. Without even the chance to utter a groan, he fell straight to the ground... On the dry mud ground below the city wall, several gorgeous flesh and blood flowers immediately bloomed.

The outer city gate had been blocked by countless huge rolling stones and battering rams. The enemy had used red light bombardments several times but failed to blow it open. They decisively turned around and chose to climb the city wall directly. The judges stationed on the wall also picked up bows and crossbows, half of their bodies leaning out of the parapet, fighting back at the enemy below with their lives in exchange for theirs.

Felipe would never have imagined that tens of thousands of "devils" would suddenly emerge from the peaceful river that meanders outside the holy city and has provided Goris with clean water for hundreds of years. These enemies that continuously crawled out of the river were now like a huge black wave with no end in sight, silently and swiftly rushing towards the holy city.

Many of the enemies even spread out their huge flesh wings folded behind their backs as soon as they stepped onto the river bank, flapped their wings and took off into the air, launching an attack on the defenders on the city wall before their counterparts on the ground could get close.

As expected, the defenders on the city wall encountered the first wave of spears fired from the air. These black spears appeared out of thin air and condensed in the hands of the enemies. Their throwing force was so amazing that they could directly pierce through the heavy iron shields and nail the Judgement Army hiding behind them to the top of the wall.

The red lightning that occasionally erupted from their palms was even more bizarre. Every time it was used, a gap would be blown open in the parapet. Even if the nearby defenders were only slightly affected, they would suffer severe burns on their bodies. If they were hit directly... they would definitely end up with their bodies blown to pieces.

"How long will it take for the Knights of Glory to arrive to reinforce us?" Felipe grabbed the adjutant who had just rushed to the top of the wall and asked with gritted teeth.

The adjutant's lips trembled twice, and he howled miserably, "Your Honorable Judge, the Radiant Knights refuse to accept your order for reinforcements! They... they are currently at the South Gate, several miles away, completing their mission of organizing the evacuation of the last group of believers and civilians!"

"What a bunch of cowards! Damn traitors!" Felipe slammed his fist on the parapet and turned to look back at the sparse troops that had just assembled inside the city gate. They were the only remaining troops of Flame Heart and the Dark Sun Knights... There were less than 500 of them. Even if they opened the city gate and launched a charge, facing the tens of thousands of aliens swarming in from outside the city, it would be a futile act like an egg hitting a rock.

"Your Honor, the outer walls are no longer tenable. It would be better to retreat to the inner city and gather the remaining forces at the cathedral to hold the fort!"

Felipe felt as if his throat was choked. After a moment's pause, he said dryly, "Have those cowards who feared fighting safely evacuated all the believers and civilians in the outer city?"

"The evacuation is almost complete. Only a few devout believers who are stubborn and unwilling to leave the monastery and chapel are rushing to the city wall to help carry battering rams and boulders to participate in the defense." The task of organizing the evacuation of believers and civilians had been secretly carried out under the operation of the moderates three days ago. The Divine Punishment Faction naturally saw it all, but did not take any action to stop or disrupt their plans... In any case, despite the differences in their positions and factions, they are still partners with the same beliefs. Each of them has beliefs that need to be upheld and practiced. There is no need to completely tear each other apart and turn swords against each other.

But now it seems that the moderates had long anticipated that they might not be able to defend the holy city, and organizing the evacuation of believers in advance was actually a wise move to preserve their manpower.

Felipe clenched his fists and ordered without further ado, "Hold on for another quarter of an hour! Ensure the city walls are not breached at all costs. Dispatch a detachment of high-ranking Inquisition knights to hold back the Winged Devils advancing into the city and buy more time for the evacuation."

The adjutant nodded solemnly and was about to turn around and pass on the order.

Suddenly, the presiding judge heard a sharp sound of breaking wind!
Felipe didn't even have time to look back, and subconsciously rolled to the ground to avoid it... A slender black crystal spear was stuck straight where he had just stood. The angle from top to bottom and the force of the spear penetrating into the stone brick made him shudder.

Just as he was about to turn over and stand up, the city wall under his feet suddenly trembled slightly, as if it was a regular vibration coming from the base of the wall or even deeper underground.

Before he could come to his senses, an even more violent tremor suddenly struck, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground again without any preparation... In the distance, on the wall section where heavy troops were gathered for defense, the crowd's terrified shouts and chaotic footsteps mixed together.

Before Felipe could stand up again, he immediately turned his head to look at the source of the chaos - a huge gap that reached the base of the eastern section of the city wall collapsed dozens of meters away. The watchtowers on the top of the city slowly tilted and collapsed like building blocks. Countless city defense equipment were thrown into the air and then heavily smashed into the city. Flying rocks and rolling logs penetrated a large number of vacant wooden houses in the back, and smoke and dust covered the sky.

How could an earthquake happen suddenly?
Before Felipe could come to his senses, a second wave of shock waves from deep underground hit again, directly widening the gap in the already cracked city wall. Hundreds of meters of wall section melted and collapsed into the bottomless crack below.

And the huge crack in the ground that suddenly appeared and ran through the inside and outside of the city wall extended and spread directly into the city like lightning. The terrifying crack like a monster swallowed up all the buildings along the way, and in the blink of an eye, it formed a deep canyon that led directly to the Cathedral of Glow.

Looking from afar on the broken city wall, the magnificent and holy Glowing Church seemed to be crumbling as if standing on the edge of the abyss. The four sturdy pillars in front of the church hall suddenly lost their support from the ground and only lasted for a few breaths before slowly toppling down like a melted candle.

Felipe watched helplessly as the rose dome, meticulously carved and constructed by generations of skilled craftsmen, lost its supporting columns and the stained glass windows housing numerous holy images began to crack and crumble like a torrential rain...

The Cathedral of Light... collapsed right before his eyes.

(End of this chapter)