Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 783 Information on the Martyrs (Part 2)

In the fallen capital of Eisengard, the first rays of dawn cast their golden light upon the spire of the monastery's bell tower.

The high priest of the Stoneheart Hermitage... and also the intelligence chief of the United Kingdom of Saint Valen stationed in Ironhill, Turalyon Hughes, wearing a mottled and dark cloak, bowed as he walked out of the wine cellar located underground in the monks' quarters.

There weren't many active alien races in this area, so he didn't have to worry too much about his whereabouts being exposed and him being pursued... In addition, wearing the optical camouflage cloak of the Northern Army provided excellent concealment even when moving through the city ruins.

Led by two trusted confidants, the three quickly passed through the monastery complex and arrived at a narrow alley at the junction of the upper and lower towns. Behind two stone houses that had been burned down and collapsed, there was an abandoned barn half buried underground.

This is precisely where they store their brain-devices and send and receive intelligence messages.

In fact, Hughes and his followers brought a total of four portable magic brain devices into Ironhill City. However, since each time the devices were used to connect to the magic network, they needed to be powered by magic stones to activate them. Although the fluctuations caused by magic power were not as intense as those caused by magic weapons, they were still able to attract the attention of alien races who happened to pass by. Two of the devices... including the intelligence personnel who risked operating the devices, were unfortunately killed because of this. The devices were naturally destroyed by those demon lizardmen.

Hughes would not have personally undertaken this dangerous mission of delivering intelligence if it hadn't been of great importance.

After the three met up with a believer stationed nearby to monitor the situation, they cautiously wandered around for a while, carefully searching all the abandoned buildings to make sure they didn't accidentally miss any lone, dormant lizardmen.

After completing a series of preparations, the remaining believers dispersed and hid around to keep watch and provide warnings. Hughes, on the other hand, personally led one person into the barn cellar and carefully took out an exquisitely designed brass instrument from a hidden compartment under the floor.

Hughes then pulled out a shimmering arcane magic stone and a neatly folded, yellowed slip of paper from his pocket... which concisely recorded two important pieces of information that needed to be transmitted.

As the magic stone was inserted into the slot on the side of the device, a magical mayfly, representing a successful connection to the magic network, gradually appeared on the palm-sized crystal screen. Hughes did not hesitate at all... and immediately raised his hand to start tapping the buttons on the device.

The first thing to input is a set of fixed codes unique to Hughes' intelligence department... He had already memorized this code perfectly, and there would be no mistakes no matter what.

As the magical mayflies on the crystal screen gradually gathered and began to appear and combine into recognizable characters, Hughes continued to input the information that needed to be transmitted.

"Check the situation outside..." he said as he quickly entered the information into the device, reminding the believers accompanying him to pay attention to their surroundings.

The trusted aide, who had been crouching by the door and peering out since entering the barn, said in a calm tone, "Everything is normal... Sir, it seems we've had good luck this time; there are no patrolling alien races nearby."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a piercing owl's cry rang out from an abandoned building a hundred meters away—a warning from a pilgrim on lookout duty, indicating that a suspected target was approaching... but it was impossible to confirm whether it was an alien race.

Hughes frowned, but was not greatly disturbed. His hands continued to move without stopping, neatly striking the last character, and then he let out a long sigh of relief.

"Intelligence entry complete, awaiting transmission..."

Another cry rang out, this time sounding even more urgent.

"Sir, it's a lone black lizardman. Someone has already gone to try and lure it away."

Hughes nodded, his expression grave as he gazed at the instrument in front of him, which emitted a faint, shimmering white light, patiently waiting for the final steps to be completed.

"Sir, at five o'clock, less than three hundred meters away, there's another winged monster patrolling at low altitude... Oh no! It seems to have spotted us!"

The transfer wasn't finished yet... Hughes scooped the brass instrument into his arms, strode to the door, and said urgently, "I'll take the instrument and move it first. You guys try to distract it!"

After a pause, he continued with difficulty, "Try not to fire back unless absolutely necessary..."

...Hughes, draped in a camouflage cloak, strode quickly through the shadows of the buildings in the alleyways, without the slightest panic in his heart... He knew very well that the magical fluctuations emitted by the magical brain device were very slight, and given that he was a mortal acting alone, the probability of him being closely watched by the alien race was not high.

After traveling only a short distance into the upper city, the gradually dimming instrument in his arms indicated that the intelligence information had been successfully transmitted through the magic network.

All he needs to do now is find a suitable storage place to hide this "hot potato" again, and wait for the next mission to come back to it.

A sharp whistling sound suddenly came from above.

The noise was completely different from the sound of the winged monster flapping its wings, and Hughes instinctively looked up through the gaps in the building ruins.

As dawn broke and the sky gradually brightened, three crimson figures hovered in mid-air... but they did not have the pair of huge fleshy wings that Hughes recognized so clearly.

It's...it's a high-level evolved human of the Lizardman!
Three evolved beings!
A bone-chilling cold instantly spread from his spine to his entire body, and the crimson figure instilled even more fear in him than the ancient high-ranking demons he used to worship.

He was almost stunned on the spot, his eyes fixed on the sky, unable to move for a long time due to the intense mental shock.

What's terrifying is that even though Hughes is just a mortal, his prolonged and intense gaze was still vaguely sensed by one of the evolved beings... It slowly turned its body to the side, and the swollen single eye embedded in its chest and abdomen opened slightly. The pupil inside suddenly contracted, and in the next second it locked onto the location of the spy on the ground.

boom--

A gunshot echoed through the quiet streets, immediately diverting the evolved beings' attention. One of them, without hesitation, dove towards the source of the gunshot.

Hughes knew that his trusted aide was risking his life to buy him a chance to escape.

But the demonic brain device he still held in his arms constantly reminded him that he had to reconnect to the demonic network and transmit this terrifying enemy information!
Taking advantage of the brief moment when the evolved beings in the sky were distracted by the gunfire, he hugged the equipment tightly and rushed into an abandoned building next door. He went straight through the dilapidated hall, kicked open the flip-top door of the cellar, and jumped in without hesitation.

He lit a tinderbox, put it in his mouth, took out a crystal magic stone from his waist and inserted it into the slot. A few seconds later, the device was activated again.

After quickly entering the code to unlock the intelligence network, Hughes typed out an exceptionally concise message on the crystal screen at almost the fastest speed he had ever done.

Iron Hill Evolver 3

After entering the information transmission phase, he did not choose to stay where he was and wait to die.

He left the brain-device behind and crawled out of the cellar... stumbling and staggering out of the building's back door, heading towards the more distant lower city.

The evolved being who first noticed his spying did indeed catch up, but Crystal Crimson's figure suddenly hovered above the abandoned building, seemingly hesitating whether to continue chasing a mere mortal ant or descend to the ground to examine the slight magical fluctuations emanating from the building.

Hughes, of course, wouldn't give it enough time to consider...

With a bang, the bullet grazed the target's side, and intense magical energy surged around them.

This unusual act of using itself as bait naturally attracted the attention of the evolved being again, causing it to completely ignore the tiny fluctuation of magical energy.

Like a wild beast toying with its frightened prey, it slowly and deliberately chased after Hughes in the direction he had fled.

(End of this chapter)