Mechanical Alchemist-Chapter 643 - 642

Su Lun and their plan to ambush the demigod of the Divine Plane was top-secret, known only to Catherine, the Empress of the allied empire.

As the battle near the Taganweier Trench began, the entire city of Lingdun in the imperial capital had mobilized, preparing for a decisive battle with the invaders.

However, there was tranquility within Frederic Royal Palace.

Sunlight streamed through the window, and Catherine, wearing a gemstone crown, was browsing through a poetry collection.

Her eyes clear, she sat quietly alone on the sofa in the study.

The spring sunlight was warm, and a mild breeze carried a faint floral fragrance from the royal garden. The golden sunlight shone on her face, making her fair skin glow.

Catherine was well aware that this was a battle upon which the fate of civilization hinged.

If they failed to kill or capture Octavia J. Fielding, the Divine Plane's million-mage army would surely reach the heartlands of Luying, leading to a large-scale battle.

Although the Allied Empire had prepared numerous contingencies and had a fair chance of defeating the enemy's million-strong army,

should a battle commence on home soil, even a victory would come with devastating losses, potentially leading the alchemical civilization toward decline.

Unbeknownst to her, Catherine had been staring at the same page of poetry for a long time without turning it.

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Her mind was fraught with thoughts, and touching the rose gold necklace inlaid with a sapphire at her chest, her expression became slightly dazed.

It was as if the scene was paused right there.

However, suddenly, the black ring on her finger began to tremble.

This was the "Dagus Goblin Communicator" from the Dawn Organization.

Her gaze shifted momentarily, as if she had received some information, and then her expression could hardly hide her delight, "Has it really succeeded?!"

Catherine abruptly stood up.

The slight hesitation that had crossed her brow just moments ago had now completely dissipated, replaced with a fierce resolve.

She walked towards the door, her steps brisk, and quickly commanded, "Send orders down, mechanical airship squadron, special service squadron, joint naval fleets eight, nine, and eleven... execute plan S001, all forces strike!"

As soon as her words fell, someone at the door immediately responded, "Yes!"

...

As the Divine Plane's million-strong army crossed the Imperial Strait toward the Luying mainland, the imperial military had continuously monitored the enemy's movements.

To intercept this million-strong enemy, millions of troops and countless ships had already been amassed at several defense lines along the strait.

Yet, the tactical march of the Divine Plane's force was simply too unbeatable, with a hundred thousand-unit groups unleashing legion magic and pushing through everything.

In this half-month period, the forces at the initial defense lines of the empire had been retreating step by step, helpless as they watched the enemy approach the Luying mainland.

But today, commanders at various defense lines suddenly received an urgent battle order.

"All forces strike? But... those mage airships are difficult to break through by the fleet. And with the enemy having ninth-tier and demigod combatants, they might target our leaders..."

"What! A number one order personally issued by Her Majesty?"

"Yes, guarantee to complete the mission!"

"..."

The professional soldiers at the front lines were almost in disbelief upon receiving the order to strike.

They were well aware that although the united empire had strong military power, in the face of the invincible mage army of a million mages, their forces still fell short.

If they tightened the defense perimeter and concentrated their forces, perhaps there was still a chance for a last large-scale battle.

But they never expected that the order from above was to take the offensive?

Wasn't this suicidal?

The empire's soldiers were not afraid of death, but with nearly half of the alchemical plane's military power concentrated on the sea defense line, if all were lost, there would be nothing stopping the enemy's invasion of Luying mainland, and they could even march straight into the imperial capital of Lingdun.

This was what the generals were worried about.

However, the moment the order was delivered to the frontline, the commanders of the various fleets executed the command without hesitation.

If the order had been given by someone else, there might have been doubts.

But it was an order personally given by Empress Ekaterina.

Even if it meant that they had to undertake some sacrificial missions, no one would back down at the moment.

Time had proven everything. The first emperor of the United Empire was the most talented monarch of the Alchemical realm for countless years. In every decision concerning the survival of the Alchemical realm, she had made the most accurate judgments and the wisest decisions, which brought today's brilliance to the Alchemical realm.

Empress Ekaterina now possessed absolute prestige within the empire, and the loyalty of millions of soldiers that could not be shaken.

For a time, thousands upon thousands of legions from various steel armored fleets and steam airship fleets assembled toward the target sea area.

However, before long, the fleets indeed received good news.

"Marshal, we have just received the latest intelligence from the frontline. The million magic legion has stopped marching west and turned south!"

"The magic legion has split up. A part of the elite has quickly detached from the fleet and headed south!"

"..."

Although the vast majority of people did not know exactly what had happened to make the Celestial Realm's magicians suddenly change their course, the division of the million legion was good news for the United Empire.

Before long, the imperial fleet had already arrived at the designated sea area.

The sky was densely filled with mechanical airships, and the sea was crowded with warships.

"Coordinates 3351, 9873, aim the cannons, fire!"

As the commander issued the coordinates, countless cannons fired simultaneously. Alchemical bullets poured down like raindrops towards the sky.

The imperial military sector had prepared secret weapons over the years, each making its debut.

Cannons had a very clear advantage over mages.

And that was the range.

Even legion magic, which could cover several kilometers, was considered extremely long-range.

However, for the current military-grade ship-mounted cannons of the Alchemical realm, hitting several dozens of kilometers was the norm.

And over these years, the Imperial Mechanical Research Institute also developed a large number of alchemical bullets specifically for the magic legion. Like the "Element Eradication Bullet" that could disrupt elemental convergence, the "Magic-Breaking Bullet" that could penetrate magic shields, and the "Magic Inhibition Bullet" that could cause extensive anti-magic...

After this mass firing of alchemical bullets, the area of tens of nautical miles around could turn into a region of extreme elemental chaos or rarity.

For the mages of the Celestial Realm, their combat power had already been greatly weakened before they even saw the enemy.

However, cannons and mechanical soldiers had little dependence on elements, and even if magic was prohibited, they could still fight at full firepower.

This was a crushing technological and tactical superiority.

Although magic airships were originally not slow, with thousands of them grouped together, maintaining formation meant moving very slowly.

Under the cover of tens of thousands of cannon fire, they were nothing but live targets.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"..."

In an instant, tens of thousands of cannons fired simultaneously, the sound was deafening, and the sea surface was rippled by the impacting shockwaves.

The pouring of tons of ammunition was also an astronomical amount, which, in the past state of Lu Ying, even with these advanced warships and airships, it was not possible to use so extravagantly, as the national power simply did not support such consumption.

And it was after Ekaterina's ascent to the throne in recent years that this changed.

The Empire's comprehensive high-end mechanical engineering fully covered all areas, vastly improving Ruying's resource extraction capabilities by tens of times. Additionally, various resources that had continuously been relocated from the heartland of Mafa to the coasts over recent years fortified the Empire to utilize such a fire-intensive tactic.

...

The bombardment continued unrelentingly.

Each hour, the Imperial military would unleash tens of thousands of tons of ammunition.

The sky, even dozens of nautical miles away, appeared as a brilliant palette as if someone had splashed numerous colors onto a cerulean canvas.

The thousand Mage Airships, holding steady behind their legion's magic shields, resisted the bombardment.

Although such bombardment was not enough to inflict significant losses on the million-member-strong Mage Legion, maintaining the magic shields required energy as well.

In every attack and defense, even the most sophisticated magic circle entailed a corresponding energy consumption.

The enemy's supplies were limited.

Production lines in the Empire's war factories churned out a massive amount of shells continuously, while the mages' power relied entirely on various natural Demon Cores and magic-power Crystal Stones.

Using shells to deplete magic crystals, the enemy's rate of consumption would be dozens of times more than theirs.

With such a tactic, just by maintaining fire coverage, they would eventually break down the million-strong Mage Legions of the Divine Realm.

However, the reality was not that simple.

Under normal circumstances, given the Empire's several million professional soldiers and vast array of warships, they could quite possibly stand a chance even against the Divine Realm's million-strong Mage Corps.

But the major issue was the enemy's overwhelming top-tier combatants.

For instance, the ninth-tier Sages of Law and that formidable, intractable Magic God.

A single individual among them could match the firepower of an entire fleet.

The very moment the official command for a full assault had been issued, those marshals and generals rushing to the battlefield had prepared themselves for the potential of being decapitated by the enemy in direct combat.

However, nobody expected the bombardment to last a day and a night.

For some unknown reason, the anticipated decapitation strategies of the enemy weren't observed, and the demigods mentioned in reports were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, the million-strong Mage Legion seemed somewhat "apprehensive."

Other than passive defense and sailing southward, they hardly organized any significant attacks.

And as the fire coverage persisted, the enemy's Mage Airships even began to be shot down, and casualties emerged within their Mage Corps.

This left those in the combined fleet somewhat puzzled—why had the combat effectiveness of the Divine Realm suddenly fallen short by such a margin?

The soldiers were as yet unaware that a group had restrained most of the enemy's top-tier combatants on their behalf.

....

Meanwhile, in the southern part of the Imperial Strait.

The weather was clear today, and the vast blue ocean presented endless gorgeous vistas.

On a Nameless Deserted Island, the sea water murmured against the white sandy beach, and the fronds of the coconut trees swayed and rustled in the ocean breeze, while a coconut crab with large pincers hid under a tree, waiting for the fruits to fall.

On the beach, Su Lun, Mr. Jing, Sentiao, Pandora, along with Pestoya playing with a crow, lazily basked in the sun.

Unlike the intense battle happening hundreds of nautical miles away, here it was completely tranquil.

"Ah... four rescue squads have already arrived, it seems those guys won't come anymore."

"Yes. Five ninth-tier Sages of Law are dead. If more come, the million-strong Mage Corps over there might collapse. They probably won't come anymore."

"It's unknown when that Magic God named Constantine will come back, but as long as we deal with that guy, the problem should be easy to handle. However, it seems that even if he comes, he most likely won't be fighting us to the death. He should think of some way to rescue us."

"..."

The group idly chatted among themselves.

Throughout this day and night, they had already killed four waves of enemy reinforcements coming to rescue Princess Oktaavia.

In total, five Level 9 Sages of Law and a nearly thousand-strong elite team.

With this wave of top forces extinguished, the pressure on the joined imperial fleet to counterattack was greatly reduced.

Moreover, the effect of deterrence was even more apparent.

Now that the pinnacle forces of the alchemical plane were known to have the capability to capture and kill demigods, those mages from the divine plane didn't dare execute any beheading operations either.

They feared that instead of succeeding in beheading, they would fall into the opponent's trap.

Just like the "mummy" currently hanging from the coconut tree.

Su Lun and his team were also grateful that their plan was prescient.

If they had first gone to ambush the Archmage of Evil, Konstantin, once it was exposed they had this capacity, the enemy would have surely been on guard. As long as the Grand Princess hid within a million troops and did not emerge, even if Su Lun and his team could now kill a demigod, they still couldn't touch her. If the million-strong army continued to group attack the Lu Ying homeland, no one could stop them.

If the defenses at Lunding broke and the morale of the troops collapsed, the dimensional war might have ended directly.

But precisely because the Grand Princess had been captured alive, those guys from the divine plane had no choice but to change their plans, making rescuing her their top priority.

However, because of the special identity of Princess Oktaavia, this ended up delivering them wave after wave of decapitations.

"Though the 'bait' is good, the number of big fish in the pond is limited. After hooking a batch, there weren't many left."

Su Lun and his team had already waited several hours on this deserted island, with no one else coming after them.

Meanwhile, the communicator kept bringing good news, the battle situation on the side of the joint fleet was going smoothly.

Even separated by hundreds of nautical miles, Su Lun and his team could clearly hear the dense sound of cannon fire.

Watching the colorful clouds in the sky, none of them were in the slightest hurry.

The ones who were anxious now were those guys from the divine plane.

"But speaking of which, the firepower on the side of the joint fleet is very fierce, huh? This bombardment has been going on for a day and a night. With this firepower, the million-strong magic army of the divine plane surely isn't getting any advantage."

"Mr. Hei and the Dragon Tongue Squad are also there, so there should be no need for us to go over. If we keep attacking like this, crushing the million magic troops is also very likely..."

"Yes, now we just need to wait for Konstantin's movements."

"Strange...what on earth happened in the past two years I was away in the Yellow Springs? How did the empire's military strength become so strong?"

"Miss Yekaterina has been in power these few years, and the alchemical civilization has undergone tremendous changes. She truly is an emperor with imperial talents..."

"..."

Without any battles to be fought, Qian became somewhat listless.

Mr. Jing, however, remained as indifferent as ever.

Pandora constantly maintained the state of the Great Moon God, neither god nor human.

Su Lun wasn't idling either; he started preparing materials for the God Profaner breeding equipment necessary for his Level 8.

While chatting, the group started discussing Emperor Yekaterina.

In these two years, Mr. Jing had also visited the royal palace many times and had very harmonious exchanges with Yekaterina, similarly giving the empress very high praises.

They would occasionally joke about Su Lun, who was nominally "Prince Fick," now the legitimate husband of that great emperor.

However, just while they were chatting, suddenly a message from the military came through the communicator.

Mr. Jing's gaze sharpened, and he said in a stern voice, "News has come from the joint fleet: the Archmage of Evil, Konstantin, has appeared!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression grew tense.

After waiting for so long, he had finally appeared!

Su Lun didn't delay for a moment. With a pinch of the sorcerer's seal, a spatial rift appeared in front of him, and everyone entered one after another.