Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 623 The Art of Air Combat

On the morning of the second day, the airship independent regiment, composed of air combat mages, finally received the order to set off.

Following the tradition of the Blackrock City Battlegrounds, the Son of Flame summoned all the assembled battle mages and reiterated the main mission objectives of this operation.

"Each bomber airship is equipped with only three high-explosive bombs. You must wait until you reach the designated bombing location before pulling the lever to drop the bombs..."

The map of the Holy City obtained from the church had already been memorized by all the mages. Deep within the Saints' Gap of the Divine Grace Cathedral was the underground passage from which the Lizardmen continuously emerged. According to the plan... all that was needed was to completely destroy the magnificent and imposing cathedral of Grace. The resulting chain reaction would be enough to completely destroy the underlying structure.

A large amount of rubble and building debris can completely block the entrance to the secret passage.

"Commander Holden, all personnel are in position, and the final checks before takeoff have been completed... We can depart now!" Michelle, a former necromancer, is now the second-in-command of the Son of Flame. The speedboat they pilot is also responsible for covering the bomber crew's mission in this operation.

The independent airship regiment, composed of three hundred air combat mages, was dispersed into fifty independent groups. Each group consisted of two fast airships acting as wingmen, providing cover for a bombing airship to carry out its mission. More than ten high-level spellcasters were mixed in among them, responsible for rescuing their damaged comrades who had to make an emergency landing when necessary. Although the new airships had a standard load limit of two people in order to increase cruising altitude and speed, they could still carry at least three people to return at high speed after completing the bombing and clearing of the cargo hold.

Thousands of new recruits and engineers gathered near the airship landing pad, which was temporarily built behind the fortress command post. Many of them, though aware of the spellcasters' identities, still boldly took off their soft hats and waved enthusiastically.

This was a bizarre situation that the Son of Flame had never encountered in his more than ten years of combat career—ordinary people without any supernatural powers not only fought alongside them, but also treated them as comrades-in-arms... They offered him their unreserved blessings and encouragement, hoping that he would complete his mission and return safely.

The battle mages present were also infected by the enthusiastic atmosphere, and they awkwardly returned the greetings to the crowd. For a while, some waved, some bowed in the ancient wizard's salute, and a few responded with military salutes using non-standard movements.

"Ground troops are ready to fire. We are to move out immediately!"

Michelle rolled over and crawled into the airship cabin, taking the lead in the driver's seat, her hands gripping the control sticks tightly in front of her... The magic power core, which had already been activated and preheated, immediately started running at full speed, the deep hum growing stronger, causing the entire cabin to tremble slightly.

Before long, this fast airship, equipped only with beam anti-aircraft weapons, took off into the sky in full view of everyone and hovered under the dazzling spring sun.

A crackling sound came from the alchemy communicator—"Airspace ahead is clear, please take off immediately!"

One hundred and fifty airships quickly took off, rapidly assembled according to plan, and after briefly checking their coordinates, adjusted their angles and sped towards the holy city of Goris.

……

The airship squadron cruised at high speed, traversing the small mountain kingdom of Arid with unexpected smoothness throughout... In less than three hours, they successfully crossed the Papal States' border and could see the outline of the holy city of Goris in the distance. Without the need for binoculars, the battle mages high in the sky could easily pinpoint their primary target—the City of Grace. It looked as if it had been cleaved in two by an invisible giant axe. To the north, smoke and black mist billowed everywhere, clearly indicating that the demon lizardmen who had invaded the city were indiscriminately spraying black water and burning buildings. To the south, things were relatively calm... Only a few iconic church buildings were emitting smoke, indicating that they were under concentrated enemy fire.

The number of lizardmen gathered around the city wall was countless, and the giant conch beasts mixed in were conspicuous even when viewed from above. The tens of thousands of troops looked like a writhing black tide from afar, rushing into the city through the huge gap that had inexplicably cracked in the north wall of the holy city.

The Son of Flame has always deeply abhorred the Church's actions. In the past, even if he accidentally bumped into them, he couldn't help but take action and mercilessly kill them without revealing his identity. Seeing their current predicament, he felt a great sense of satisfaction, believing that this outcome was entirely retribution for the Church's past evil deeds.

But he also knew very well that in this church city where faith gathered, besides the despicable charlatans, there were many ordinary innocent people—poor laborers conscripted from all over the country to perform forced labor, orphans and children secretly kidnapped and offered by nobles, spellcasters and "traitors" who had been imprisoned in the court for a long time.

When the church's leadership fled the holy city in droves, these people would never be swept away with them. They would be regarded as worthless and ruthlessly abandoned in the city on the verge of destruction.

A crackling sound came through the communicator; it was an action request from ground troops at the rear...

The Son of Flame took a deep breath, raised his hand and patted his co-pilot Michelle, who was focused on controlling the airship. Michelle immediately understood... and pulled the control stick to the highest position. The front of the airship immediately lowered slightly, and using its own weight, it began to dive straight forward!
The bomber airships following closely behind were like shadows, and the dark, dense air force, like a flock of birds, received orders to imitate the leading "flagship's" charge.

The rapid gliding descent brought a distinct feeling of weightlessness, which was unbearable for the mid-level mages who had never flown in their physical bodies. Michelle pulled out one hand to put the windproof goggles hanging around her neck on her face, but a strange sense of pleasure rose in her heart.

Even though he hasn't reached the advanced level... he can now enjoy the feeling of flying freely and at lightning speed!
As the flight formation drew closer to the Holy City, the city's buildings became increasingly clear in the mages' vision... Some low-flying winged beings were the first to notice the "flock of birds" descending from the sky above, and they all flapped their fleshy wings and turned to look, gathering black water spears and red light in their hands to prepare for a counterattack.

Without hesitation, the Son of Flame pulled the weapon joystick beside him, and the beam weapon mounted at the front of the airship was immediately activated and fired. Dense beams of light suddenly erupted from mid-air and spread out, like a fine net of light crashing down on the enemy.

Several of the closest enemies had no way to avoid being enveloped in the net of light. Their bodies were instantly cut into several pieces, and they fell to the ground covered in blood and flesh.

Then the speedboat at the forefront of the assault formation suddenly tilted its head up, instantly changing its angle from a dive to a pull-up... less than 300 meters above the ground, it smoothly traced an arc and rushed back into the clouds.

The bombing crew, who had been hiding behind their wingman the whole time, finally revealed their invisible fangs at this moment.

bomb!

(End of this chapter)