Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 802 The Emperor's "Worries"

Starfire City in the northern wilderness.

Harvey stood by the window for a while, admiring the first snow falling on the wasteland, before returning to his desk and frowning as he began to read the front-line battle reports.

As the human armies of the United Kingdom of Saint Valen officially launched a full-scale war against the Lizardmen in Eisengard, the various battle reports sent back from the front lines every day, after being screened and copied by the secretariat, piled up like snowflakes on the emperor's desk.

Combining these battle reports, from any perspective... humanity currently holds the advantage in the war. Since the end of summer, the three main forces along the entire eastern front have maintained a firm grip on the initiative in their respective local battle zones, steadily pushing the long defensive line that stretches across the grasslands northward. If this trend continues, humanity might be able to fight its way back north and deploy its troops beneath Ironhill, the "old" capital of Eisengard, as early as next spring.

Beneath Ironhill City lies the largest known alien floating island fortress... It holds approximately 80,000 troops and is guarded by at least three high-level evolved beings.

What worries and suspects Harvey the most is that... the main consciousness that the Lizardman captives claimed to have created, incubated, and controlled the entire race is very likely located in that gigantic floating island main castle!
This is why, despite the current smooth progress of the counterattack, Harvey still feels a heavy weight of anxiety weighing on his mind.

Humans and Lizardmen are two completely different and independent intelligent races. They have been sworn enemies since the ancient war between all races. The Lizardmen, relying on their inherited core, defeated humans with an overwhelming advantage and drove them to flee to the southern border called the "Continental Corner".

Even now, the natural geographical barrier of the Shenji Mountains cannot effectively prevent them from launching another extinction-inducing war against humanity.

As long as the path of the underground river is unobstructed enough, theoretically the floating island fortresses of the Lizardmen can easily cross the natural barrier and extend their military reach to any part of the Southern Continent.

Harvey got up and walked to the huge map hanging on the wall, holding the summary battle report that Vaughn had sent back in his hand, his eyes constantly scanning the map.

Harvey had already examined the Abyss Sea Map, which he had collected and pieced together from the sea creatures, countless times. The distribution of the underground rivers marked on it was firmly engraved in his mind, and he could use it at any time to compare it with the existing map of the entire Southern Territory.

"Is Your Majesty worried that... the main fortress on the floating island beneath Ironhill City won't remain steadfastly in place forever?"

Asdaren, who had been standing silently by the wall, suddenly had his eyes glow red and asked in a calm tone.

Harvey gave a low hum, but his attitude was not dejected. He said calmly, "After establishing a garrison base in Wind-Eroded Ridge, we launched a strong attack and recaptured Steel Rock City. These two strategic locations in the central grasslands have fallen one after another. Logically speaking, the alien races in Iron Hill City should not sit idly by... They have amassed such a huge number of troops there, and they are fully capable of launching a counterattack before we have even gained a foothold."

Unless it has other plans... strategic plans that could cause even greater losses to humanity by surprise.

Harvey racked his brains but couldn't find even the slightest clue to verify his concerns and ideas.

Asdaren, who was almost always by the emperor's side, was well aware of the emperor's unfounded worries. He sighed and said, "Your Majesty is perhaps overthinking things... In any case, the ground is still the battlefield where our human army has the advantage. With the grasslands about to enter the harsh winter and most waterways freezing over, it is probably normal for the alien races to temporarily cease their attacks."

After all, in the icy, frozen wastelands of the far north, they relied on natural sluices formed in the frozen sea to launch landing operations against the Northern Expeditionary Force. Harvey shook his head and closed the battle report in his hand again. "The situation in Eisengard cannot be compared with the icy, frozen wastelands. The climate of the southern grasslands is far less cold than that of the far north wastelands. At least the underground rivers will never freeze completely in winter."

This means that humans exposed on the surface are constantly vulnerable to harassment from small scout units of alien races, whether it's deploying troops or transporting supplies, while the military operations of the Lizardmen hidden underground can be carried out completely safely and secretly.

From both a tactical and strategic perspective, this is a huge disadvantage that humanity cannot reverse in this total war, and it may even affect the balance of the war in the future, ultimately leading to an unbearable defeat.

Harvey pointed to the Shatlan River, which Eisengard called its Mother River—a mighty, surging river with enough water to nourish the fertile land for miles around. Originating at the foot of the Divine Ridge Mountains, it flows southwards, eventually splitting into dozens of streams in the southeastern part of the grasslands, crossing the border and spreading relentlessly through several human-inhabited kingdoms, finally merging into the sea at the foot of the hills inhabited by the burrowing dwarves.

“What I’m really worried about now is that after the Demon Lizardmen are blocked in the central grasslands, they will abandon the costly battles against humans and instead move south through underground rivers… The number of troops we can deploy along the nearly 1,000-mile defensive line is limited, and there will always be gaps that they can exploit. Once they find a breakthrough… the southeastern part of the southern border will probably become their cruel slaughterhouse.”

Compared to the demons, who preferred to plunder resources and capture people to be used as slaves, the purpose of the lizardmen who came as a whole was a hundred times more cruel. Their goal from beginning to end was only killing and extermination.

As for the Duchy of Raton, the independent city-state of Northia, and the County of Jaeglites, which are sandwiched between Eisengard and the Cave Dwarf Kingdom...

Without the advance deployment of the Saint-Valen army, there would have been no force that could be considered an effective resistance.

The Cave Dwarf Kingdom, located in the Breath of the Hills... even though they had learned of the alien invasion from the United Kingdom in advance, they didn't have many means to defend themselves.

No matter how powerful the Magic Emperor who reigns supreme in the North and his tens of thousands of troops are, they cannot deploy their forces across the entire Southern Continent as quickly as playing whack-a-mole, waiting for the alien races to emerge from the ground before delivering a fatal blow with precision and ruthlessness.

This seemingly unsolvable problem plunged Asdaren into a brief silence.

Thinking of this, a ridiculous idea that had been forgotten for a long time suddenly flashed through Harvey's mind: "I almost forgot about my submersible and the Mongolian navy!"

Saint Valen, an inland kingdom relying on only a few rivers, was unable to truly cultivate and build a fully-equipped naval fleet with rich combat experience. Therefore, as soon as he made contact with the Southern Sea Clan, Harvey impulsively threw his "Mongolian Navy" into the South China Sea. Under the pretext of ocean exploration and maritime peacekeeping, he not only leased islands from the Sea Clan to build seaports, but also deployed many shipyards and deep-water docks along the coast under the actual control of the Sea Clan.

Although Harvey initially went there with the aim of hegemony and colonization, and later secretly searched for possible fragments of the inheritance core by taking advantage of the convenience opened by the sea creatures, the Northern Navy did indeed develop very well in the "overseas enclave" far away from the kingdom. Not only did it send a large amount of supplies and wealth back to the country, but its own number of ships also increased by nearly double in less than a year.

It's time to get these navies, which have been lying dormant in the southern seas for a long time, into the fierce battle against the alien races... Wasn't the alchemical submersible that was invented and developed back then just right for the purpose of diving into the underground river for patrol and reconnaissance?
"Contact my Navy Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant Commander Guterres, immediately. I want to speak with him personally!"

(End of this chapter)