Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 758 Developments

Pierce led a group of officers, his face stern, into the Big Bear Lake base command post.

Upon seeing this, a group of staff officers gathered around the sand table discussing the war all straightened up and saluted him.

"Commander!"

"General!"

Pierce glanced around at everyone, then fixed his gaze on the leading staff officer, Dickinson, and asked in a deep voice, "What's the progress of the Leroux Canyon operation?"

"General, the artillery positions have destroyed their small floating islands. According to reconnaissance airships, most of the floating island wreckage has sunk into the central swamp. Ground troops have now entered the canyon and are clearing out thousands of scattered enemy troops."

In short, the main tasks have been completed, and the battle has entered the "cleaning up" phase.

Pierce frowned, paced to the regional sand table, and pondered for a moment, muttering to himself with some doubt: "They couldn't possibly be sending an evolved human to their death just to do this... Could it really be, as His Majesty suspected, a risky attempt to erode our strategic depth?"

Seeing the commander's hesitant expression, Dickinson stepped forward and said, "General, according to the General Staff's assessment, on the one hand, the enemy's invasion is indeed, as His Majesty judged, a tentative one; on the other hand... we believe it is to open up a new underwater passage."

After saying that, he had his subordinates bring over the enlarged map of the abyss sea and began to explain it in comparison with the sand table of the area in front of him.

As a unique tribe active in the deep sea of ​​the icy plains, the Lizardmen had never before reached the southern border known as the "Continental Cape." This meant that although they could detect the underground waterways that allowed floating islands to navigate in unknown ways, they still needed advance teams to explore them before they could actually reach the area.

Whether it's the Great Ridge ...

Every location where traces of the Lizardmen's floating islands appear is a probing attack by them in an attempt to launch a large-scale invasion of the southern territory.

To this day, only Eisengard has made their multi-pronged offensive effective... and without a doubt, they then used the Kingdom of the Flying Cavalry as a breakthrough point, dispatching a large number of combat units to swarm in, until the entire northeastern part of the Southern Territory was completely ravaged.

"The loss of Great Bear Lake and Leru Canyon is nothing more than the loss of a small floating island and ordinary magic lizard soldiers, which the evolved ones call expendable."

Dickinson paused, then pointed to the two locations he had mentioned. "But once the waterway is opened, it will be unobstructed... while we can only set up permanent fortifications on the ground and be on guard against their return at all times."

Pierce was startled and immediately realized the central idea the staff officer was trying to convey.

The Northern Army is currently playing a game of whack-a-mole, consistently striking the Lizardmen's stealth forces wherever they appear.

However, the Northern Wasteland is simply too vast. Even when playing whack-a-mole, facing dozens or even hundreds of mole burrows would be enough to overwhelm and exhaust humans.

Not to mention that Eisengard has now become a de facto breakthrough point, and it is not something that can be accomplished overnight to drive the hundreds of thousands of alien enemies that have poured into its territory back north of the Divine Ridge Mountains.

Thinking this through, Pierce's brows furrowed deeply. "We can't let this situation continue!"

He raised his hand and pointed at Dickinson. "Leave the others to oversee the post-war work. You will come with me immediately back to the capital. We need to report our assessment of the situation to His Majesty for a decision."

……

Yanshan, a temporary military camp.

Santas was helped back to the camp assigned to the Starfire Warriors, where he was immediately surrounded by the crowd.

"Good heavens! You're out of the clinic already?"

“But… your arm injury…” Sek looked at his arm, which was wrapped up tightly, with some suspicion. Santas was leading the “Griffin” squad in close combat with the evolved beings when he was accidentally hit by a boulder that the enemy had kicked up. This caused the joint of his magic armor to twist and deform, squeezing his arm until it was fractured.

Although the injury was not fatal, the doctor in charge of triage at the field hospital said that surgery to set the bone would definitely be necessary. If the subsequent recovery was not good, Moyo would have to consider getting an alchemical prosthetic limb.

Even though the performance of the Starfire Warriors in the battle to eliminate the Demon Lizardman Evolvers was beyond doubt, the morale of the special forces team is currently soaring, and everyone's face is filled with pride and excitement.

However, the armor still contains an ordinary mortal body. Although it has undergone various alchemical potions and enhancements, its pure physical strength is still far inferior to that of a superhuman warrior who has awakened his bloodline power.

Most of the Starfire Warriors who were unfortunately wounded in battle did not suffer direct armor penetration, but rather were caught off guard in close-quarters combat when the enemy exploited their openings and deliberately struck the joints of their armor with black water or red light.

This also made them fully aware of their own weaknesses, and in subsequent battles, they consciously protected the vulnerable parts of their armor to avoid targeted attacks from the evolved beings.

Santas's tragic fate serves as a warning and reminder to them.

“Where are Gregor and Bale?” Santas asked weakly, his face pale.

"He was conscripted by the Bloodline Warriors to go to the Grand Canyon to assist the ground forces in clearing out the remaining defeated soldiers."

tsk...

Santas shook his head helplessly. If he hadn't been unlucky enough to be injured, he should have gone to reinforce the battle with the other two. Now, of course, he couldn't make it in time, and his kill count was far behind the others.

Seeing him looking around anxiously, Sai Ke couldn't help but ask again, "I asked you how your injury was. Didn't the head doctor say you needed surgery to set the bone? Why are you back again... You don't want an arm anymore, do you?"

Santas rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Who told you surgery was necessary? They gave me a new drug that promotes the regeneration of flesh and bone to heal itself... uh, it's just a small incision in the arm injury to drain the blood clots."

As he spoke, he raised his heavily bandaged arm as if to prove it, showing it off with great confidence, "See? In less than half an hour, the broken bone has healed completely, and it will not affect our subsequent combat missions at all!"

Is there really such a powerful potion? Why didn't the other wounded warriors use it...?

Sek glanced at Santas with some suspicion, which immediately made the other man feel uncomfortable.

"Alright, alright, the anesthesia hasn't worn off yet. I need a quiet tent to rest properly."

Soon, Sek dispersed the surrounding soldiers, helped Santas to a single-soldier tent, and then left.

As the footsteps outside the tent gradually faded away, Santas stood up suspiciously and looked outside a few times. Then he sat down on the cot and carefully unwrapped the bandages binding his arm.

Santas used the potion called "Rebirth Potion" as prescribed by his doctor, taking it both orally and topically... It did indeed take effect immediately after use, with an obvious effect.

Despite the assurances from Dr. Wilan and Dr. Simmons that the side effects of the drug would subside quickly, he himself had no confidence whatsoever.

The broken bone and hematoma on the arm appear to have healed as before, except that the skin that was originally covered with thick body hair... has for some reason developed a large patch of snake-scale-like growths.

Others might not notice anything amiss, but Santas recognized it at a glance.

Isn't this exactly the same as the feathery scales that grow on the chest, abdomen, and claws of a snake-scaled griffin?

(End of this chapter)