Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 670 Night Battle
Why would the Lizardmen launch a sudden attack at night?

They... they're not always in the daytime...

Benny felt a ringing in his ears. After the first round of crystal spikes was over, he cautiously peeked out from the ice trench and found that the area around him was filled with tiny crystal spike fragments, and even the ice bunker had several damaged sections.

Many soldiers who were patrolling back and forth on the front line when the attack occurred were hit by shrapnel and fell into the ditch. They were then quickly dragged into the bunker by their comrades by their collars.

The medical team from the rear will take some time to arrive. For now, they can only receive the most basic first aid. As long as no vital organs or internal organs are injured, stopping the bleeding will definitely save them.

Benny sprinted to the machine gun squad and had just given the order to prepare for engagement when they were met with a second volley of crystal spikes from the enemy. This time, the soldiers were prepared... They retreated into cover or raised their heavy steel armor plates to shield themselves. After enduring this barrage, they did not hesitate to retaliate against the enemy attacking from afar.

For a time, the entire battlefield was filled with the dense sounds of machine guns and rifles, interspersed with the occasional whistling of portable artillery streaking across the sky.

Several airships hovered overhead and launched several tracer bombs made of luminous magic stones at the enemy's hiding place in the distant ice trench. The exploding flares immediately illuminated the entire battlefield, allowing the soldiers hiding in the trenches to see the enemy's movements clearly.

The number of enemies attacking tonight was several times greater than the probing attacks that had occurred frequently in the past few days. In the flickering firelight, they could even vaguely see the huge figure of the Conch Beast in the far distance, slowly advancing towards the position by stepping across the dug ice trench.

"Quickly! Contact the artillery units and request fire support!"

"What's the situation on the left and right flanks now? Have they also been hit by the crystal spikes?"

"Have you detected any movement from the winged beings? Why haven't we seen any beam weapons firing?"

Benny rushed into the ice fortress, took the communicator from a soldier, and immediately heard the roar of Battalion Commander Chiron on the right flank: "Maintain firepower suppression at all costs, and launch an artillery barrage in five minutes!"

"What about the airship force?"

"We'll arrive in ten minutes!"

Benny put down his communicator and bumped into a soldier rushing in. "Captain, something's wrong... those bugs, the crystal spikes they're shooting at, don't seem to be attacking the defensive line indiscriminately like before. They're... targeting the machine gun squads and portable artillery!"

what?
It is true that the Lizardmen possess night vision, but even so, without the guidance and instruction of the Winged Ones, they could not accurately pinpoint the Northern Army's main firepower attack points from within their nearly kilometer-long, interwoven defensive line in the pitch black night.

Unless those black crystal spikes have eyes of their own and can fly straight towards the location of the machine guns and artillery...

Another volley of crystal spikes rained down, and the soldiers once again ducked into cover. The two machine gun squads closest to Benny suddenly fell silent. The soldiers responsible for firing were unharmed, but the magic-powered machine guns they had set up were directly hit by the crystal spikes; the heavy barrels and bases separated, rolling askew from the firing port.
Seeing the situation before him, a thought immediately flashed through Benny's mind—

The repeated probing attacks over the past two weeks were not the Lizardmen's futile efforts to deplete their forces... They were using each opportunity to gradually figure out the main, unchanging firepower points along the entire Northern Army front.

Once these firing positions are completely pinpointed, we'll use the worms to spray crystal spikes and wipe them all out in one night raid. "Quickly notify the mobile artillery units, tell them not to stay in one place... they must operate on the move, machine gun squads too! Remove the fixed gun mounts and move their firing positions every so often."

The combat units on both flanks also noticed the change almost simultaneously and changed their fire suppression tactics, allowing machine gun squads and portable artillery teams to move flexibly along the entire horizontal front.

A slight tremor suddenly came from the ice beneath his feet. Benny didn't even need to look up to know that those giant conch beasts, as big as small mountains, were approaching... These things could only be dealt with by heavy artillery; the soldiers' guns and portable cannons alone wouldn't be effective.

But why is there still no movement from the artillery positions?
……

The soldiers who were fighting the enemy on the front lines were completely unaware that chaos had broken out in their rear.

The moment the night raid alarm sounded, enemy figures suddenly appeared in the camp... They actually dug a deep tunnel from the ground, bypassed the heavy guards at the front line, and made their way directly to the vicinity of the command post. Seemingly aware of the thick steel plates blocking the way from above, they finally chose an undefended outer warehouse, used a cluster of red lights to blast open the ice, and surged out like a tide.

Fortunately, Chief Dawson was the first to notice the underground anomaly and issued an early warning, allowing for preparedness. A large squad of Bloodline Warriors rushed to the gap in the defenses and engaged the Lizardmen in battle near the logistics warehouse, which was very close to the artillery position.

Gunfire erupted from within the camp, and chaos ensued... The soldiers knew perfectly well that the front lines had not been breached, but the underground attack still made them uneasy.

Many people couldn't help but steal a glance at their feet as they ran toward the designated combat area, fearing that the ice layers not covered by steel plates might suddenly crack open into a deep hole, revealing a large number of well-prepared enemies.

Vaughn refused his adjutant's request to return to the Ice Sea base immediately. Chief Dawson grabbed him by the shoulder and flew him directly to the vicinity of the warehouse, where he personally commanded the Bloodline Warriors to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

The special operations team members, wielding knives in one hand and explosive guns in the other, surrounded the ice pit from which the enemy was emerging, under the cover of fire from ordinary soldiers, and engaged in close combat with nearly a thousand demon lizardmen pouring out from within.

The flashes of the grenades pistols occasionally illuminated the night, while the beams of several searchlights on the watchtower converged, providing the soldiers with ample lighting and a clear view for firing.

Although the attack from underground was effectively blocked, Vaughn was still seething with hatred. "The ice layer under our feet, frozen for tens of thousands of years, is harder than cast iron. The engineering team had to rely on the cutting and blasting of scorching rays to dig the bunker. How did they manage to dig such a long tunnel to get here?"

Dawson stood beside him, observing the battle as the opponent gradually gained the upper hand, and guessed, "They must have used a cluster of red light, a kind of magic-like attack. It shouldn't be too difficult to break through the deep ice layer."

Fortunately, they only managed to dig this one tunnel despite their best efforts, and the number of troops they could deploy was very limited. With the Northern Army having anticipated this, it was only a matter of time before they were completely wiped out.

After we defeat them... we'll need to send alchemical beasts down to blast the tunnel apart again to be safe.

Just then, a messenger arrived at high speed in a magic cart, reporting anxiously to Vaughn: "Commander, something bad has happened! The artillery positions in the rear... the artillery positions have also been attacked by enemies!"

(End of this chapter)