Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 741 The Mysterious Shadow
"Quickly! Fire a signal flare immediately to summon all the soldiers who have gone down into the canyon to come back and regroup!"

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Sek sprinted toward the top of the cliff. He too needed to fire a signal flare to seek assistance from the military law department's airships that might be patrolling nearby!
Baler was the first to receive the signal and rush to Sek's side. From a distance, he saw a crimson signal smoke column rising into the air on the cliff.

"Requesting assistance from the military law department's airships here? Are you out of your mind? We've deviated from their patrol route by at least forty or fifty miles; those airships have no way of noticing anything unusual here!"

By this time, Sek had calmed down. Sending a distress signal would mean potentially revealing the special forces' location. Regardless of whether there were demonic lizardmen hiding in the canyon below, they shouldn't linger any longer...

"There's no need to stay here and gamble on whether the military law department has seen the distress call. Let's immediately return to the originally planned marching and training area and find a way to rendezvous with the Bloodline Warriors who are catching up from behind!"

Santas returned, panting, and frowned, saying, "What if it's a huge misunderstanding? Gregor only found a bunch of black water jugs stored in the cave. Who knows if the Lizardmen just threw them away on a whim?"

Barr raised an eyebrow and hesitated, "So... you mean we have to find a way to verify the authenticity of this information on our own, and whether there really is a natural waterway in the canyon that allows the floating island to emerge from the water?"

Sek gritted his teeth, fastened his mask again, and said in a deep voice, "That's right, I was too nervous just now. We do need to verify the accuracy of the intelligence. It's a matter of great importance... If we misreport the enemy situation, it will cause great shock to the nearby Big Bear Lake base. The special forces team cannot bear that responsibility."

Wait a minute! Something's not right...

Why hasn't Gregor returned to join them yet?
Sek turned to the "Demon Wolf" warrior who had just returned alone to report the news, and asked urgently, "Was your captain still near the cave with the remaining warriors?"

"Yes, the boss sent me back to inform you. He and the rest of the brothers are guarding the cave entrance, checking for any possible enemy traces, and seeing if it's possible to track them down."

Sek sensed something was wrong and quickly drew his weapon from behind him, shouting, "Lead the way! They might be in danger..."

More than thirty Starfire warriors ran at almost full speed, climbing and leaping as they followed the "Demon Wolf" leading the way to the cave. Less than a few hundred meters away, they heard the sounds of fierce fighting coming from the dense forest ahead.

Sure enough, there were enemies lingering here. Gregor must have encountered them suddenly and then fought them directly!

Sek suddenly raised his hand, stopping the team's advance, and then winked at Santas and Baler.

The two immediately understood, nodded slightly, and then each led their soldiers to quietly sneak towards the sides of the woods. The fighting didn't sound very loud, indicating that they hadn't encountered many enemies...

No winged creatures were seen flapping and darting about in the sky; they were probably just ordinary black lizard soldiers.

The best course of action right now is to secretly deploy an encirclement to prevent the target from escaping midway through the battle and reporting back to the enemy's suspected main base. Their current numbers are no match for the enemy's large force.

……

Gregor raised his hand and swung the chainsaw sword at high speed, almost circling it in a wide arc, slicing it horizontally across the waist of a black lizardman and cutting him in two. Thick, rusty, foul-smelling reddish-black bodily fluid gushed out and splattered onto the surface of his black magic armor.

Another black lizardman wielded a black water whip and attacked from behind. Before the whip sheath could even touch the "demon wolf's" armor, it was already grabbed by his backhand. The immense force granted by the overloaded magic armor pulled the wolf off balance, causing it to stumble and fall uncontrollably toward Gregor.

bang——

The rapid-fire shotgun fired almost directly onto its visor, the intense gunfire blasting a large portion of its skull open, sending fragments of its skull flying a considerable distance. Two other "Demon Wolves" beside it coordinated a coordinated attack on a Black Lizardman, their chainsaw swords flashing and shredding it to pieces.

The Starfire Warriors, who have merged with the soul of the Wasteland Wolf, are extremely good at teamwork in the wild. In addition, their usual squad battle formation means that although they only have six people, they have not revealed any weaknesses in their defense.

In the brief exchange of fire lasting only a few minutes, this group of over twenty Black Lizard soldiers quickly suffered casualties, with nearly half of them being killed or wounded.

Without the presence of Red Lizardmen and Winged Species, these low- to mid-level evolved beings, the enemy forces, facing the Starfire Warriors who were specifically designed to counter them in every way, were like a flock of weak sheep with only horns. They seemed fierce and menacing, but they couldn't bite through these steel-forged iron cans at all.

When the last black lizardman saw that things were not going well and tried to escape alone, Santas, who had been lying in ambush, suddenly thrust his sword out from behind the tree, piercing the lizard through its chest and lifting it up, before throwing it heavily in front of him.

Before it could struggle to its feet, it kicked the swollen, featureless head...

"Where did these guys come from? Why are there only ordinary black lizardmen? Where are the red lizardmen and winged creatures?"

Gregor wiped the bloodstains off his sword, pointed to a half-dried, putrid pond next to the cave, and said in a muffled voice, "Hiding in the water... It seems that the black water has run out and they couldn't return to the floating island in time. Their anti-magic skin has dehydrated, so they can only hide and hibernate temporarily."

However, a small pond where you can see right to the bottom is clearly not a suitable choice for a floating island to rise and emerge.

Sek couldn't help but frown. "They were forced to hide in the water and hibernate... which means that the floating islands available for resupply are too far away. At least for a long time after the battle with the orcs, the floating islands had not yet reached this place."

Gregor nodded. "That's right, but now they've awakened and suddenly attacked after we alerted them... This suggests that the floating islands may already be located in some underground river somewhere nearby."

But as they ventured deeper into the canyon, they found themselves surrounded by low-lying meadows that had been turned into swamps by the convergence of floodwaters during the rainy season. Wearing their armor, every step they took risked sinking into the mud and becoming unable to extricate themselves, causing the special forces team to hesitate about whether to continue their exploration.

"Before setting off, the only copy of the Abyss Sea Chart was in the hands of the military law department that was monitoring us. We are currently unable to contact them, and we have no way of knowing whether there is an underground river passage beneath our feet."

Santas stamped his foot dejectedly and muttered, "If only we had a spellcaster with us. Their magical reconnaissance abilities could even dive underwater to check the deeper parts..."

Before he could finish speaking, the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled slightly.

It was as if thousands of horses had suddenly surged out of the canyon and galloped together... Even the birds that were resting and hiding in the dense forest were startled, flapping their wings and soaring into the sky in flocks.

This movement...

A very ominous premonition welled up in Cyke's heart.

"A swamp! A meadow swamp deep in the canyon!"

"Quickly, take cover... That mud, softened by the tides, is no match for the floating islands rising from the underground river to the surface. The floating islands are probably rising now!"

(End of this chapter)