Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 703 Devouring Demons
The Ice Sea Base sounds an alarm every so often, from the early morning warning whistle to the afternoon combat readiness reminder, and now to the enemy attack warning as night falls.

The atmosphere throughout the entire frontline base was like a bowstring being gradually tightened, with everyone following the battlefield emergency procedures step by step as they entered their assigned defensive zones.

The engineering troops, who were originally expanding the trenches and ice fortresses on the periphery, were the first non-combat units to be evacuated. These engineers, wearing leather helmets and thick cotton-padded clothes, were guided by the soldiers running back and forth, and retreated in an orderly manner along the longitudinal trench leading into the base.

In light of the emergence of jet worms with long-range strike capabilities among the enemy, many more refuge fortifications were urgently added to the Ice Sea Base, partially buried under the ice. These were mainly used to accommodate a large number of engineering troops, as well as a field medical center located there.

The old mage Carson from Golden City was facing this scene for the first time. Somewhat bewildered, he stood at the entrance of the refuge fortifications, watching blankly as squads of engineers poured into the fortress in an orderly fashion.

The Son of Flame sped through the air, glancing down only once before spotting his old colleagues from the former Federation standing bewildered at the entrance.

"Old Carson! What are you standing there for? Hurry up and come inside with the rest of the group!"

Old Carson came from a little-known wizarding family in Darth, ostensibly affiliated with the Holden family behind the Son of Flame. Leveraging the Holden family's illustrious reputation and status, he also managed to secure a sinecure at the Golden City branch of the Old Union.

However, his talent and strength are truly worrisome. After more than thirty years of wandering, he is still stuck on the death line of a beginner spellcaster and unable to advance. If it weren't for his younger sister marrying into the Holden family and becoming the distant aunt of the Son of Flame, this high-ranking person, who has always been proud and aloof, probably wouldn't even give him a second glance.

His ability to come from Golden Radiance City to the capital and successfully join the Northern Army's logistics unit was entirely due to his skillful use of fire magic, despite his frail physique. The Son of Flame simply mentioned it to a logistics officer in the military, and the officer easily secured him a relatively easy position, making him a "magical welder" in charge of dozens of people in the engineering corps.

Old Carson was startled by the sudden reprimand. Looking up, he suddenly saw the fire mage descending from the sky and immediately shrank back, not daring to easily offend this nominally favored "nephew." He stammered, "I... I was counting heads. This morning, one of the construction teams in my engineering squad went to the outer front. They should have returned by the time they heard the second alarm, but we haven't seen them..."

The Son of Flame frowned imperceptibly and said in a deep voice, "Never mind that, you go in first... There's still about a quarter of an hour before the official battle. I'll go to the outer front line to check for you. Maybe there's been a sudden delay due to some engineering accident."

Commander-in-Chief Vaughn kept the airship combat division at the base, forbidding them from engaging the enemy first. This was partly to prevent them from risking being shot down by the jet worms, and partly to wait for the artillery positions to fire the first shot in a defensive counterattack.

High-ranking beings like the Flame Child, who are inherently capable of flight, naturally do not need to be constantly on standby at the take-off and landing sites. Instead, they mostly voluntarily roam around various parts of the base, assisting other combat departments in handling emergency matters.

When he successfully flew to the outer front line following old Carson's instructions... he indeed saw a group of soldiers whose uniforms were different from those of the regular army, who were bent over in a trench, struggling to help the soldiers of that section of the defensive line carry something.

It was a beam weapon that had been set up here in advance... Because it was made entirely of high-quality steel and was extremely heavy, it became loose due to overload and high temperature during the preheating process. This caused the solid ice underneath to melt and the weapon to fall into the trench at an angle.

"Make way, everyone! I'll straighten it again for you!"

The fire mage landed directly in front of the soldiers, waved his hand to push the group of sweaty young men aside, took a deep breath and his magic surged, his arm muscles bulged so much that his general's uniform was stretched to its limit, and with his own strength, he pushed the huge machine weighing more than 300 kilograms back to its designated position.

Such an unbelievable operation would be commonplace for those brave and strong bloodline warriors... but when it was a high-level spellcaster, it was somewhat terrifying, leaving the young soldiers dumbfounded.

"What are you all standing there for? Get back to your posts! And you guys... hurry back to your rear shelters, your commanders are waiting anxiously!"

The engineers reacted immediately, grabbed their tools, and ran away.

After the area was completely cleared, the entire frontline trench was once again placed under strict control, with every soldier remaining steadfast in their assigned combat zone, completely unaffected by this minor incident.

Having received no new combat orders, the Son of Flame simply didn't bother returning to the rear command post. Instead, he found an ice fortress on the spot, crawled inside, and squeezed in with several low-ranking officers.

"Sir! When the battle begins, will you fight alongside us on the front lines?" The sudden arrival of a high-level spellcaster excited these young officers from commoner backgrounds, who surrounded him and cheered him on.

The Child of Flame pursed his lips, and before he could ask them to remain silent, the alchemical communicator beside him suddenly rang.

"Calling the front lines! Buzz—buzz—Can you hear me? Damn it! Why is the Magic Network signal suddenly...so bad!"

"Buzz—Buzz—Calling..."

The fire mage frowned as he took the communicator. He tried to speak for a long time but received no response. However, despite being less than a mile apart, the front line seemed to have suddenly lost contact with the command post.

Before he could figure out the reason, several clear whooshing sounds came from above, and then someone landed directly in the trench of the outer defense line... It was Stormwalker Matthews Willie.

"what happened?"

"There's something amiss in the enemy ranks. The mages' reconnaissance abilities seem to have been suddenly blocked, leaving them with no vision... Commander, order all high-ranking mages to move closer to the front lines and figure out what they're up to!"

The Child of Flame nodded, emerged from the ice fortress, and rose back into the sky to gaze into the distance.

The pale sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and the entire ice field was instantly shrouded in the gray night. As he channeled the surging magic power within him into his mutated left eye, unleashing the True Sight—a power far more potent than any detection spell—

A strange, rolling thunder suddenly echoed in the sky above where the enemy was located... It seemed to be the violent sonic boom released by some being flying through the air at an unimaginable speed after its body broke through its limits.

The Child of Flame immediately sensed the anomaly and used his True Sight to pursue and lock onto the target that had caused the strange phenomenon.

It was a twisted humanoid figure hovering above the giant conch beast, its entire body seemingly covered by a layer of deep red, crystal-like substance, with only a swollen, pupilless single eye visible on its chest and abdomen.

It simply hovered there quietly, yet it immediately attracted all of the fire mage's attention. Although the two were nearly ten miles apart, the giant pupil, twisted and embedded in its chest and abdomen, locked onto the fire child who was spying from afar the moment their eyes met.

It was only a fleeting glance, but the fire mage felt as if he were being watched by some terrifying natural enemy. A chill ran down his spine and back, and cold sweat poured down his back.

What the hell is this!

Despite the alarm bells ringing in his mind, his vision and body froze uncontrollably... This was a situation he had never encountered since advancing to a higher level, as if his thoughts and mental strength were being suppressed from a distance by the other party.

The next second, a barely perceptible red light flashed from the single eye on the monster's chest, and the Son of Flame's brain felt as if it had been struck hard by a sharp chisel, with excruciating pain from the depths of his soul spreading throughout his body.

The magic power within his body surged uncontrollably and ran rampant, dissipating completely in an instant!

Just before he lost consciousness and fell from the sky, all he could see in his blurred vision was the figure of Stormwalker rushing towards him.

(End of this chapter)