Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 666 Mysterious Enemy Attack
At dawn a week later, when the reconnaissance airship flew towards the thirteenth sea outlet in the light of the rising sun over the ice field, the leading speedboat squadron immediately detected the enemy's unusual movements.

Under the cover of the crisscrossing trenches, a large number of ordinary demon lizardmen soldiers huddled together, like hundreds of black water streams spreading from the floating islands, slowly advancing towards the Northern Army's early warning position a hundred miles away.

Because the Ice Fortress outposts near Floating Island No. 2 had already been cleared and evacuated for safety reasons, no one noticed anything unusual about the enemy before the airship arrived at night. By the time the front-line command post received the urgent report, these alien races had already quietly crept up to the vicinity of the early warning position.

The piercing alarm sounded throughout the entire position. The well-prepared soldiers completed their pre-battle assembly in less than ten minutes. The anti-aircraft weapons and artillery in the rear were also ready. The three battalions, totaling 1,500 soldiers, entered the highest state of alert in accordance with the army's emergency regulations.

Everyone knew in their hearts that this great battle was about to break out!
Wayne and Duff were also holding their ground at the early warning line, staying in their command post half-buried a few meters below the ground, repeatedly sending communication requests to the Ice Sea base behind them.

"Have all the soldiers entered the designated combat area?"

"Keep a close eye on the movements of the winged creature forces from the air! Unless they come out to draw our fire, those ordinary soldiers hiding in the ice trenches won't show themselves!"

Have you made contact with the rear base yet?

"Reporting, sir! A reply has come from the rear base: the combat airship squadron is assembling, and the commander has ordered us to hold our ground and await reinforcements..."

The shouts of officers and soldiers in the command post rose and fell, seemingly in a state of extreme chaos and tension, but in reality, order had not been lost. Everyone was sticking to their posts in an orderly manner according to the established plan.

All the semi-buried bunkers were topped with several layers of thick ice, but the base was unusually covered with welded protective plates made of a mixture of cast iron and steel. This was an effective countermeasure to prevent the enemy from secretly digging tunnels and launching surprise attacks on the front-line camp from below.

The adjutant, fully clad in optical camouflage, rushed into the command post, saluted, and reported: "Sir, all personnel have entered the combat zone, silence control has been activated, and we are awaiting combat orders from headquarters!"

Wayne and Duff exchanged a glance, then turned to look at the several communications officers in the command post who were constantly receiving intelligence reports with their communicators. They asked in a deep voice, "What is the current situation of the enemy positions?"

"The trenches are currently teeming with enemies, and there are suspected winged beings mixed in among them, but there has been no movement yet."

As soon as the alarm sounded, several reconnaissance airships quickly rose up behind the camp and hovered a hundred meters above it under the cover of anti-aircraft weapons, closely observing the movements of the enemy approaching the position through their binoculars.

Meanwhile, the staff officers gathered around the sand table map quickly compiled the reconnaissance intelligence, providing the commander with important decision-making references in a very short time.

Duff slammed his fist on the table, gritting his teeth and saying, "Why worry about so much? The commander-in-chief has already given us the right to fire freely. Why not let the artillery give them a saturation bombardment first and cut off those dog-dig ice trenches directly!"

Staff Officer Ivan raised his hand in agreement, saying, "The artillery has requested permission to fire! Artillery Battalion Commander Lynx wants to conduct a test firing of the heavy artillery first, in order to determine the bombardment points and artillery coordinates!"

Wayne waved his hand with a grim face, "Tell them to wait... wait until those bastards squeeze a little further into the front lines..."

The enemy's advance in the ice trenches was not fast. The closest enemy to the first warning line was about five miles away. Although they were already within the range of heavy artillery, Wayne still did not intend to make the first move. He had to figure out why these alien races had arrived on the battlefield but remained inactive.

Just then, a communicator beside him suddenly beeped. Wayne answered it without hesitation... and came the alarmed cry of a scout from the airship above. "Black worms! There are a large number of giant black worms in the enemy's ice trenches, one as big as an alchemical wheel, slowly being transported from behind the trenches to the front of the position... They... they've been concealed by the snow, so we didn't notice them for a moment!"

Black worms? Giant worms the size of a cartwheel?

Before Wayne could recover and continue asking questions, a piercing, high-pitched alarm sounded overhead again... this time it was an air raid siren!

Wait! There's clearly no sign of a large-scale gathering of Winged Ones on the other side, so why is there an air raid siren?
Suddenly, Duff had an idea. He grabbed another communicator and shouted the order to fire: "Artillery battalion, prepare! Open fire on the enemy lines immediately! Fire!"

……

Compared to the bustling scene inside the command post, the first early warning position at the forefront of the defense line presents a completely different picture.

After the silence was lifted, all the soldiers remained quietly in their respective combat zones, their nerves taut as they stared intently at the enemy's location in the distance... Although no targets could be seen on the flat, boundless ice surface, everyone knew that tens of thousands of terrifying alien races were hiding beneath the slightly gathered ice and snow.

Apart from the occasional footsteps of officers and political instructors running back and forth on the entire position, there was no other sound. Battalion Commander Karon lay prone at the observation post reserved in the trench and glanced at the few new recruits beside him who had been in the army for less than half a year.

"What are you all muttering about?" He frowned, somewhat dissatisfied with these children who, strictly speaking, weren't exactly new to the battlefield. For the past six months, when they had been sweeping through the wasteland against the orcs, they seemed to be handling it with ease. Why were they so cowardly when facing the demon lizardmen?

"Battalion...Battalion Commander, weren't we supposed to keep quiet?" The new recruit looked around cautiously before speaking in a low voice.

Chiron pursed his lips and quipped in a low voice, "The silence control is mainly to prevent you from firing recklessly because of tension. As long as the instructor from the General Staff is not nearby, it's fine to speak quietly."

The battalion commander took the initiative to joke and reassure the new recruits around him, who immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Battalion commander, when the battle starts... should we fight the enemy who rushes out of the trenches, or aim at the ones in the sky?"

"Fool! When it comes to actual combat, what does it matter who's in the order... Shoot whoever you can hit, don't worry! The instructor and I will keep a good record of your kills, and we won't miss a single one!"

"I... my palms and back are sweating, Battalion Commander, my grip on the gun is even slipping..."

Chiron rolled his eyes, about to scold these brats, when he suddenly noticed that the horizon, which had just begun to glow with the first light of dawn, seemed to darken in an instant.

He immediately turned to look into the distance and discovered that countless dense black dots had suddenly appeared in the sky above the enemy's location. The gray area was so vast that it even partially obscured the daylight... In just a few seconds, the black dots gradually magnified in his field of vision. When Chiron finally saw what they were, he felt his head instantly fill with blood.

"Enemy attack! It's an enemy attack—" Several junior officers nearby realized the situation was wrong almost simultaneously, their furious shouts echoing throughout the position, "Get into cover! Take cover!"

(End of this chapter)