Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 786 Bloody Tug-of-War

The battle to storm Steelrock City has been going on for almost a week now.

With the complete sealing of the underground waterways in Rhinoceros Horn City, the offensive on the central front was gradually coming to an end... The subsequent mopping-up operations against the remaining enemy forces were handed over to the local Revenge Resistance Army, under the direction of Warband Leader Wayne.

Having received supplies from the regular army, the local steppe people began to officially take over the subsequent combat missions from the Northern Army. They operated in small, dispersed guerrilla units in the Rhinoceros Horn City and the surrounding area, repairing the long defensive line that had been riddled with holes.

Meanwhile, the main human forces on the front lines immediately moved to Steel Rock City, a hundred miles away, and launched a difficult siege against this important city that had been completely occupied by the alien race.

Five days ago, as soon as the siege began, hundreds of magic-powered cannons roared in unison, unleashing nearly ten thousand shells into the city without hesitation. Through gradual firepower coverage, the demon lizardmen entrenched in the city suffered heavy losses.

Meanwhile, the two city gates, blasted open by cannon fire, became bloody death zones. Enemies pouring out of the city were rapidly reaping the lives of the demon lizard soldiers like a meat grinder under the alternating fire of magic machine guns and automatic rifles. The alien corpses piled up high in the area of ​​combat, making it look like a hellish place even in daylight.

Benny's battalion was part of the second batch of reinforcements that had arrived just three days prior. They were stationed at an artillery position a few miles from Steel Rock City, tasked with the arduous task of defending against enemy attacks.

Since midnight yesterday, the Lizardmen have been frequently sending out large numbers of Winged Ones to break through the city gate defenses and advance to the vicinity of the artillery positions set up outside the city, attempting to destroy the heavy artillery clusters that pose the greatest threat to them.

The air mages piloting the airships took to the skies to engage the enemy, but were immediately targeted by the jet worms. A massive barrage of black crystal spikes, blotting out the sky, rained down on the airship formation, leaving them no time to launch a full-scale interception of the winged beings. This allowed many enemies to successfully break through to the rear of the battlefield.

Ordinary demon lizardmen soldiers in the city also avoided artillery fire by digging tunnels and trenches, and rushed towards the artillery positions like a tidal wave.

This put immense pressure on the defending troops in front of the artillery positions.

To ensure that the artillery could continuously suppress the city, Benny's combat unit had to hold the line, operating beam weapons to deal with aerial attacks while repeatedly defeating enemies pouring out of the tunnels.

Almost every soldier guarding the trenches was under tremendous pressure, and the breathing time for the various combat units to take turns defending began to become very tight, gradually reducing from the original day and night shifts to a shift every six hours.

Most soldiers coming down from the front lines couldn't even get five hours of rest in between. They could only hastily stuff a few mouthfuls of military rations into their mouths, replenish some weapons and ammunition, and then go back up.

The third batch of reinforcements, which was supposed to come from the rear, has yet to arrive... The communications department has made several unsuccessful attempts to establish contact with them and can only conclude that they were probably ambushed near the No. 15 transport station and will not be able to reach the vicinity of Steel Rock City in a short time.

The battle group commander Wayne made a decisive move, consolidating the combat battalions that were originally scattered outside the city and gradually moving them to the two southwest city gates, forming a pincer formation that combined offense and defense. On one hand, they continued to launch a fierce attack on the city, and on the other hand, they brought the artillery positions that were flanking them into the defensive range of the two flanks.

In this way, the original tactic of destroying the enemy with long-range firepower was completely transformed into close-quarters combat between human armies and alien races.

……

"Ayo!"

A soldier rolled from his firing position in the trench to the side, clutching his left shoulder where a crystal spike had pierced him and groaning in pain.

Benny quickly emptied the magazine of his rifle, then yanked the wounded soldier into the trench. Two field medics rushed over, hunched over, and deftly began treating the soldier's wounds. Wounds of this severity did not require transport to the rear for treatment. The forces defending the artillery position were already stretched thin, and as long as the soldier was not completely incapacitated, he only needed simple first aid and bandaging before returning to the fighting area.

Two more streaks of red lightning descended from the sky, slamming heavily into a section of the defensive line on the left. The explosion sent grass and dirt flying everywhere. Before the winged beings who had gathered together and were hovering in the low air could continue their attack, they were immediately locked onto by beam weapons from the ground.

The enemy, who died instantly, crashed heavily to the ground, his flesh and blood flying everywhere. Benny cautiously peeked out, raising his gun to finish him off, only to find that within dozens of meters in front of the trench, there were mangled alien corpses lying everywhere, with red and black pus flowing all over the ground, a scene as terrifying as purgatory.

The horizontal trenches dug by the Northern Army intersected with the vertical trenches and tunnels excavated by the Lizardmen, forcing many human soldiers to encounter the enemy directly in the trenches and fortifications. Many sections of the defensive line even saw close-quarters combat requiring bayonets, and medical teams did not even have time to collect the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

The defensive fortifications, built high with sandbags, were densely covered with black crystalline spikes. Some of these overwhelming needle rains came from the Black Lizardmen, while the rest came from the jet worms they dragged to the front lines.

Each time thousands of jet worms release their crystal spikes, it's a life-or-death gamble for the Northern Army soldiers on the front lines. Unlike military bases, the makeshift trenches don't have permanent defensive cover. Soldiers can only curl up as much as possible to minimize the area hit when the spikes come, protecting their heads, faces, chests, and abdomens, hoping for repeated strokes of luck.

With a cracking sound, a crystal spike, about the thickness of a finger, landed on the iron ammunition box next to Benny, denting the heavy and sturdy box before shattering into several flying crystal fragments.

Benny instinctively ducked, only to feel his helmet being swiftly struck by something, followed by a sharp pain on his forehead... Warm liquid immediately gushed out, making him realize that he had been cut by a shard of crystal spikes.

A cold sweat immediately broke out on his back... If this shard had been any lower, it probably wouldn't have cut his forehead, but his neck, which is a hundred times more vulnerable.

"Captain? Someone come quick! The captain is injured!"

Benny's face and head were covered in blood, which terrified the soldiers around him. In their panic, they had no idea where he was injured, but they felt that with so much blood flowing from such a vital area as his head, he was probably in grave danger.

"It's nothing... I'm fine, stop yelling!" Benny skillfully pulled a roll of gauze from his waist pouch, wrapped it haphazardly around his forehead a few times, and then straightened his slightly crooked helmet. He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Always yelling, do you wish I were dead?"

Just as he was about to pick up the weapon that had fallen at his feet and return to his firing position to continue firing...

The machine gun crew behind them suddenly fell silent.

"What happened? Is anyone injured?" Benny turned around and yelled without thinking, "What are you all standing there for? Send someone up to take over! Maintain suppressive fire, don't stop!"

The machine gun crew scrambled over, their backs bent, and grabbed Benny's trouser leg. "Captain, we're out of machine gun ammo!"

Benny was taken aback. "Where are the logistics support team?"

"We haven't seen any logistics support teams coming over to this section of our defense line since this morning!"

(End of this chapter)