Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 624 Indiscriminate Bombing

The high-explosive bomb was originally externally suspended at the bottom of the airship's pod. With the flick of the joystick, the latch instantly released, and after breaking free of its restraints, it drew a brief parabola due to the inertia of its dive, and then, under the immense force of gravity, crashed straight down towards the ruins of the Church of Divine Grace.

The solid bomb, filled with compressed liquid magic energy and dragonfire powder, weighed over a hundred kilograms. As it fell at high speed, the metal casing violently rubbed against the air, emitting a strange, sharp whistling sound, which immediately attracted the attention of all the enemies gathering on the ground.

Compared to the shadows cast by the airships painted with optical camouflage, the round bombs became less conspicuous. Even the dozens of slow-moving conch beasts did not notice that the black water nozzles raised high on their rugged backs were aimed directly at the airships that had just finished bombing and were trying to gain altitude.

Whoosh whoosh—

Several thick streams of black liquid shot into the sky, quickly condensing into thick, sharp black spikes in mid-air. They narrowly missed the chassis of several bomber airships before crashing heavily into the distant city buildings, raising huge plumes of dust.

And the next moment!
The first few aerial bombs whistled as they crashed into the army of Lizardmen surrounding the cathedral.

Amidst the black, alien tide, several bursts of blazing red flames suddenly erupted!
The exact landing point of the bomb was almost impossible to discern. The rising flames mixed with the thick fog of the black liquid explosion obscured the view. The swarm of enemies was immediately cleared, creating several huge craters that resembled vacuums. Everything around was instantly reduced to ashes. The shockwave from the explosion spread rapidly in all directions. The demon lizardmen that crashed into it were torn apart and overturned. Severed limbs and black and red bodily fluids splattered like ink.

The shockwave from a single bomb only reached a radius of about a hundred meters. Enemies further away were fortunate enough to escape with the help of cover, but the chain reaction triggered by the explosion caused large areas of city buildings to collapse. Countless fragments of bricks and stone pillars buried the lizardmen who could not escape in time, and the already narrow streets were completely blocked.

The dense bombing lasted for less than two minutes, but the bombs dealt a fatal blow to the ground targets with almost no mercy.

The massive sinkhole that originally stretched between the city walls and the outside was gradually filled and buried by the collapsing buildings on both sides amidst the continuous tremors. The already crumbling Divine Grace Cathedral collapsed directly from the central hall inwards, with its towering spire plunging upside down into the deep pit below.

Looking down from high above the clouds, the designated bombing site, centered on the Church of Divine Grace, was almost completely shrouded in smoke and dust, with only the central area vaguely visible, having sunk tens of meters in height, completely filling the internal gaps below.

The airship pilot, Michelle, pushed up the goggles covering his head and glanced down.

"Mr. Holden, can the rift between saints be filled like this?"

The Son of Flame curled his lip, revealing a rather satisfied expression on the results below. "It should be able to... In His Majesty's words, if we can't block it in one go, we can just try again. It'll just take a little time to return and reload."

The facts have proven that, whether it is a speedboat or a bombing airship, after increasing its speed and cruising altitude, the winged beings in the enemy cannot touch them at all, and the entire bombing mission will hardly be hindered.

The attack hit its mark perfectly, and then it quickly escaped the high-speed lift, regained its speed, and circled around... Sure enough, it was able to completely avoid the enemy's pursuit.

This is what His Majesty the Emperor has been explaining to them... the art of aerial combat!

……

This devastating bombardment was indeed a fatal blow to the Lizardmen. But equally... for the remnants of the Church, who were currently retreating their defenses and gathering their forces to engage in street battles with the enemy, it was an even more nightmarish experience.

These Church Inquisition troops and believers of the Divine Punishment faction had mostly retreated to the city buildings further south, far from the bombing site of the Cathedral of Grace.

But both the swarm of airships that descended from the sky and the series of earth-shattering tremors caused by the bombing directly shattered their already desperate state of mind.

They didn't know whether the attackers were friend or foe. The effects of the bombing were like divine punishment. Looking north towards the city, the cathedral that they had once regarded as a symbol of faith collapsed in an instant. Hellish flames mixed with towering smoke forced the already large number of enemies to surge even more frantically to the south.

Black water splattered, blood and severed limbs were scattered, and the agonizing screams of the seriously injured... The continuous collapse of buildings and violent explosions shattered their last shred of unwavering will to defend the holy city.

Praying to the gods is meaningless at this moment...

This exceptionally brutal siege by the alien race and the subsequent sudden bombing were completely beyond their comprehension and common sense.

As a result, the stubborn believers and the inquisition began to flee south uncontrollably. At first, it was only a few people, but as the sentiment of giving up resistance spread among the crowd, the flow of people rushing towards the south gate gradually increased.

Before these remnants could even reach the outer edge of the city, which represented a renewed chance for life... the distant sky once again echoed with that sharp whistling sound, as if the Grim Reaper had descended!
At this moment, the ground bombardment forces of the Northern Army, which came from dozens of miles away, finally launched an artillery bombardment!
The shells rained down on the city of pilgrimage, turning the once magnificent city into a massive target spanning dozens of miles. The indiscriminate bombardment wiped out all the remaining buildings, sweeping across the city skyline like a giant scythe.

The paradise on earth of the past has finally... been completely transformed into a living hell on earth!
……

The bombardment had been going on for nearly half an hour, with hundreds of heavy magic-powered cannons gradually adjusting their firing angles and launching a progressive bombardment, following the instructions of the reconnaissance airships.

Although the new cannon had undergone dozens of test firings as early as the capital, when it was actually put into actual combat, most soldiers found that they had underestimated its terrifying range.

The initial three rounds of range adjustments yielded reconnaissance feedback indicating that the impact point was too far away... This meant that the concentrated fire at the maximum elevation angle would cause the shells to bypass the Holy City and hit the distant mountains and forests.

Fortunately, the artillery formation had a set of precisely calculated range tables. Although the bombing points were not visible to the naked eye, thanks to the timely feedback from the reconnaissance airships, they could quickly adjust their angles and resume fire strikes on the targets even when they were dozens of miles away.

This unprecedented mode of warfare left the artillerymen responsible for completing the mission completely bewildered... Without having to witness the bombing targets firsthand, or engage the enemy at close range under pressure, they could completely destroy tens of thousands of enemy troops through monotonous and repetitive actions.

The urgent pre-battle assembly... and the hastily written suicide notes before the expedition, all seemed like a joke at this moment, weighing heavily on the hearts of all the soldiers, and no one would mention them again.

Their only companions were the synchronized roar of artillery fire that echoed across the position every forty or fifty seconds, and the whistling sound of shells flying away at high speed.

(End of this chapter)