Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 744 Night Meeting
Legendary Chief Salas was awakened from his deep meditation by Dawson.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he found Arturo, the dean of the Academy of Magic Sciences, standing beside him. The soul fire in the eyes of the alchemical body flickered, clearly indicating that he was in the activated mode of rational thinking.

"What happened? Why are you here so late at night?"

During their time in Starfire City, the two chiefs mostly stayed in seclusion in the new Federation building, minimizing their public appearances unless there were special circumstances. This was partly to avoid any appearance of impropriety on a political level, and partly because the research projects they were in charge of were proving extremely difficult to tackle.

However, they still keep a close eye on the situation on the front lines, and if any major emergency occurs, the Ministry of State will send staff to inform them immediately.

But there's only one reason for Arturo's late-night visit like tonight... it's because His Majesty the Emperor summoned him personally.

"His Majesty is currently at the Ministry of Defense. Please, both chiefs, go there immediately to attend the meeting..."

Salas nodded, straightened his mage robes, and followed Arturo outside without further delay. Although the capital did not strictly enforce a curfew at night, rashly using flight magic could easily attract the attention of the guard patrol airships. In order to avoid making a blunder, the three decided to travel by alchemical wheel.

"What exactly happened? His Majesty rarely summons us late at night, and he seldom consults us on military matters..."

Dawson couldn't help but mutter to himself, a hint of doubt clearly on his face.

Arturo shook his head. If it were just a matter of magical research, there would be no need to summon them at this time, so it must be something very important.

……

The three quickly arrived at the Ministry of Defense. As soon as they stepped into the conference hall, they saw Emperor Harvey sitting at the head of the table, along with a large number of high-ranking military officers in the room.

"Your Majesty, Dean Arturo and the two chiefs have arrived. We can officially begin the meeting..." Chief of the Bodyguard Tommy whispered to Harvey.

Harvey put down the documents in his hand, clapped his hands, and said, "Gentlemen, I apologize for summoning you here so late at night. There is an important piece of intelligence that I must inform you of immediately."

After saying that, he raised his hand and had his personal guard take out a recording magic stone, which played back the conversation between the emperor and the new recruit, Seke, in the room.

As the words of the Starfire Warrior echoed in their ears, the atmosphere in the conference hall instantly shifted from quiet to bustling. The high-ranking officials, summoned late at night, were no longer sleepy and began to whisper among themselves with serious expressions.

Salas and Dawson exchanged a glance and immediately understood why the emperor had summoned them. They stood up and said, "Your Majesty... are you worried that this floating island that suddenly appeared in the interior of the wasteland might harbor high-level enemy evolved beings?"

Harvey nodded and said frankly, "Ordinary soldiers are almost powerless against such a being on the battlefield, so I need to consult the spellcaster..."

He paused, stood up, and slowly walked to the map on the wall. He pointed to the location of the Leru Grand Canyon. "The Lizardmen fought a great battle with the Orcs here not long ago, and now they've suddenly come back... There must be some special reason. We need to find out what forced them to choose to sail the floating islands here again."

He then gestured to Asdaren, who immediately understood and stood up to add, "Gentlemen, the previous actions of these alien monsters could be seen as an attempt to establish a foothold and expand their power in the Great Bear Lake area, which is why they wiped out the orc tribes in this region... But now that the floating islands occupied by the Great Bear Lake have been sunk by us, the demon lizardmen shouldn't choose to repeat the same mistake." "Unless they're trying to send more high-level evolved beings here..."

More high-level evolved beings?
Fran McCauley, sitting below the chief, couldn't help but tremble slightly... He hadn't personally witnessed the great battle on the Ice Sea front, but from the transmitted magic stone images, he clearly saw the horrific scene of the high-level spellcasters fighting the enemy. Although they suffered because they hadn't prepared in advance, the alien evolved beings' formidable strength, comparable to legends, was truly astonishing.

Salas suddenly realized and asked, "Does Your Majesty intend to have the spellcasters test whether there is one or more evolved beings on this floating island?"

Harvey nodded and said in a deep voice, "We need to discuss a reasonable battle plan. First, we need to determine whether there are evolved beings on the target floating island. Second, we need to find a way to lure the evolved beings away... to another place for encirclement and killing. Only in this way can the garrison at Big Bear Lake be completely unrestrained and quickly destroy Floating Island No. 5 in Leru Grand Canyon."

The emperor's demands were clear in their objectives, but the spellcasters present all knew that while luring the alien evolved beings away from their mountain stronghold was not difficult, encircling and annihilating them was not as easy as it sounded.

The battle on the Ice Sea front, in which a single alien evolved being launched a surprise attack resulted in the deaths of two high-ranking warriors and more than ten mid- to low-ranking battle mages, still dealt a heavy blow to the kingdom's leadership and the New Alliance.

Seeing that the emperor himself was also frowning and deep in thought, Chief Dawson stood up and said solemnly, "If the battle plan requires spellcasters to undertake this task, then we have no choice but to do so... Your Majesty need not worry about the outcome; the battle mages will fight to the death to achieve their goal."

"You want to use the lives of battle mages to pay the price?" Harvey raised an eyebrow sharply, then said angrily, "I won't allow it... The United Kingdom doesn't need to exchange spellcasters' pointless sacrifices for a miserable victory. I can only accept taking certain risks, but I will try to maximize my advantage."

He paused, then emphasized, "If things don't work out, the encirclement mission can be turned into a forced expulsion. The enemy is not a mindless savage beast; if they realize the threat, they will also protect themselves."

Chapter Commander Andrei Weiss rushed to his feet and said, “Your Majesty, letting the tiger return to the mountain is not a good idea! Battle mages are fearless, and everyone will fight with the determination to die. We should do our utmost to annihilate the alien evolved beings!”

Harvey looked up at the sky in despair at such a reckless statement.

Salas quickly tried to smooth things over, "Your Majesty need not worry too much about casualties. I have a very simple solution that allows us to try our best to eliminate the target while ensuring that the battle mages are not sacrificed needlessly."

"What method?" Harvey pressed before he could finish speaking.

Chief Salas, formerly of the Old Union, never got involved in the decision-making process for the protracted war between spellcasters and demons. Rumor had it that he didn't have much talent for military command, and after arriving in Starfire City, he would only come when summoned and never participated in the kingdom's high-level military meetings.

Once the emperor and the high-ranking military officers had all perked up their ears, the legendary chieftain finally spoke quietly—

“There’s nothing extraordinary about it. Just bring Gallagher from Blackrock City to be with me and Dawson… The three of us, along with a dozen or so high-level battle mages, should be able to handle a few potential alien evolved beings without any problem.”

He shrugged and said casually, "If we can't beat them one-on-one, we can always gang up on them..."

(End of this chapter)