Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 793 Burning the City
More than a dozen plumes of gray-black smoke rose into the air from Steelrock City, standing out starkly in the pale sunlight—even the Northern Army, fighting against the alien race at the city gates, could clearly see the enormous commotion created by the airship formation.

Several areas targeted by the bombing were engulfed in flames. Under the impact of the blast wave, many already dilapidated buildings collapsed, and flames raged among the ruins. A large amount of viscous gel sprayed from the incendiary bombs adhered to the bricks and stones, and continued to burn fiercely even without any accelerant.

After the first round of bombing, the second formation quickly flew to its designated target—a water collection point in a square in the inner city of Steel Rock City, whose underground drainage channel was one of the main waterway entrances connecting to the underground river.

Several days ago, the magic-powered heavy artillery outside the city had already visited this important location multiple times. A large number of solid shells with extremely high penetrating power had thoroughly ravaged the area. The huge fountain sculpture that was originally built in the center of the square had long been reduced to dust, and the entire square had been blasted into a large, uneven crater.

After several incendiary bombs were accurately dropped, the area below immediately erupted like boiling oil. Large numbers of lizardmen hiding in the building ruins and underground passages were forced to scatter in panic by the intense heat from the incendiary bombs. Some rushed headlong into the sea of ​​fire in a desperate attempt to escape, while others instinctively tried to dive back into the underground waterways.

Unfortunately, they underestimated the sustained power of the incendiary bombs. Under the massive bombing by the airship formation, the waterways and ditches closer to the surface became like boiling pots. These monsters, which had only been in the water for a short time, began to convulse and float back to the surface. After a few more struggles, their flesh rotted and they became motionless.

Some bombs that deviated slightly from their intended landing point crashed into the surrounding buildings, causing explosions from the inside out. Blazing red flames shot out from the doors and windows, resembling towering furnaces at first glance.

With the rapid evaporation of underground water, a thin layer of rising mist filled the sky above most of the city, making it difficult for the winged beings who were trying to take off to intercept humans to lock onto the bombing airships.

The entire city seemed to be completely ablaze.

……

Meanwhile, artillery units on the ground continued to exert their strength.

Another round of intense artillery barrage followed, with a large number of shells slamming into the towering outer city walls, and a small portion flying over the walls and crashing into the city.

Under attack from both inside and outside, the dilapidated city wall, which had stood firm for several days in the flames of war, finally ended its nearly century-long mission and collapsed with a deafening roar of cannon fire, leaving a huge gap more than ten meters wide directly in front of the city gate.

beep-

The resounding bugle calls echoed across the front lines of the human army.

Amidst the billowing smoke, twenty self-propelled artillery armored vehicles slowly crossed the line of fire and drove straight toward the crack in the city wall.

Many of the demon lizardmen who were still lingering near the city gate immediately launched a counterattack upon seeing this... A large number of black crystal spikes mixed with dozens of red lightning bolts shot out and immediately hit the artillery armored vehicles leading the charge.

Unfortunately, these seemingly clumsy and slow-moving wheeled vehicles, equipped with several layers of protective steel plates inside and out, were simply too sturdy. They blocked the crystal spikes with minimal effort, and even the more powerful red lightning only left a few slash marks on the outermost layer of the armor plates.

The steering winch mounted on the roof of the vehicle whirred and turned, causing the self-propelled artillery to quickly turn and lock onto the enemy attacking them.

Boom! A scorching stream of air shot out from the cannon on the top of the armored vehicle, and the shell, moving at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow, became a blur and hurtled toward the enemy less than a hundred meters away.

Almost immediately, a column of mud and sand erupted from the impact point of the shell, instantly tearing the bodies of several nearby demon lizard soldiers to pieces. Along with them, even the hard bricks and stones of the surrounding buildings were blasted to pieces.

Even stacked layers of black crystal shields would find it difficult to withstand the close-range direct bombardment of self-propelled artillery.

Upon seeing this, two winged beings hiding in the cracks of the broken city wall flapped their wings and swooped down... Since they could not break through the armored vehicle's protection with external force, they decided to get close to the target and try to directly destroy the most threatening artillery firing device.

Unfortunately, the magic-powered machine guns mounted on the top and sides of the armored vehicle thwarted their plan immediately. The moment the dense gunfire rang out, bullets rained down and tore the winged beings apart in mid-air.

Such battles occurred almost simultaneously in the outer city gate areas of Steelrock City from all four directions.

"Zzz—Zzz—Armored formation, attention! Simply occupy the gap in the city gate, clear out all enemies in that area, zz—do not advance too far..."

Wayne put down his communicator and stood outside the command post on a high slope outside the city, gazing at the Steel Rock City engulfed in flames... The burning of the city plan, which he had personally devised, had produced an effect that even he himself had not expected.

A mere thousand solidified incendiary bombs nearly reduced the entire inner city of Steel Rock to ashes, and the raging fire showed a tendency to spread to the outer city. Not only did the demon lizardmen entrenched in the city suffer a devastating blow, but even the Northern Army, which originally planned to attack the city from the four gates, was forced to be hindered by the current situation and dared not enter the city, which had now been transformed into a giant furnace.

"The General Staff misjudged the results of the bombing operation...which actually hampered the advance efficiency of the ground forces," Staff Officer Ross said apologetically to the commander, standing behind Wayne.

Wayne shook his head and chuckled self-deprecatingly. "It doesn't matter. As His Majesty said... if the final result is roughly the same, the process in between is not important."

The underground river beneath Steel Rock City is a military blind spot that human armies cannot reach. To stop the Lizardmen from occupying the floating island fortress and continuously sending troops to the surface, the only way is to completely destroy the entire city and block all possible ground landing points for the enemy.

This same tactic was employed when dealing with the enemies beneath the holy city of Goreth.

The only difference is that the weapons carried by the air force have been changed from high-explosive bombs to solid incendiary bombs, which have higher lethality and coverage.

After successfully capturing all four city gates using armored vehicle formations, all that's needed is to quickly establish a defensive line at the gates, firmly guarding the only exit for the enemy to evacuate the city from the ground. The next thing to do is simply wait for the raging fire to burn down the entire city, completely obliterating any enemy who hasn't had time to resurface and escape.

Wayne gazed at the blazing red flames that almost illuminated half the sky and murmured, "This fire will probably burn for three days and three nights."

(End of this chapter)