"Technical advisor Richard, due to the urgent situation on the battlefield, you have been urgently summoned by the command center. The coordinates for your position have been sent to your crystal ball; please be in place within three days. Specific details will be handed over to you at the position."
The cold voice of a woman echoed from the crystal ball, and Richard glanced at it before standing up and stretching his limbs.
"Half a year has passed; is the counterattack finally beginning?"
Six months ago, Richard received news from Bob that the Fire Lizard was about to launch a counterattack. The Black Wizard had suffered heavy losses in the rear of the Fire Lizard, and the frequent movements of the Fire Lizard army, along with the terrifying aura occasionally emanating from the capital of the Fire Lizard Empire, made it clear to both sides that a great war was about to commence.
"Well, it's just right; I can finally test the effectiveness of this thing."
Richard looked at the experimental platform, where a strange long knife, entirely black with serrated edges, lay quietly.
With Bob's connections, Richard had exchanged knowledge about Alchemy Machines with three first-tier Alchemist Wizards using a modified sacrificial fungus. He then spent ten years of his spare time learning this knowledge and another five years designing and refining the Chainsaw Sword before him, aiming to simplify its components as much as possible to prevent malfunctions during intense battles.
Now, it was finally time to test the results.
After preparing his Magic Equipment, Richard stepped out of the laboratory.
In the Floating City fortress, streams of light flashed across the sky; these lights were Wizards, and the onset of war had made even the logistics Wizards, who had been leisurely for over a decade, busy again.
Richard took out a map and cross-referenced it with the coordinates given by the command center.
"Strange, why are these coordinates so close to the Floating City fortress? The situation in the war can't have deteriorated to this extent, can it?"
The coordinates given to Richard were only thirty kilometers away from the Floating City. If the Fire Lizard had advanced to this position, they should be engaged in a defense battle for the Floating City by now.
With doubts in mind, Richard quickly arrived at his designated position.
Upon arrival, Richard immediately understood the situation.
In front of him, over four hundred Magic Support Vehicles were neatly parked in a vast parking lot.
"Master Richard, long time no see."
A Wizard stepped down from one of the vehicles and greeted Richard familiarly.
Richard took a closer look; the visitor was none other than Damir, who had executed a rescue mission with him back in the day.
"Damir, long time no see," Richard replied.
"And me too, Master Richard."
A Wizard jumped down from the vehicle next to Damir, and Richard recognized him as the squad leader, Iyad.
So, they had turned the squad into a full-time team for this mission? "Captain Iyad, what's going on? Has your White Wizard squad transformed into a dedicated battlefield firefighting team?" Richard asked, somewhat astonished.
Iyad chuckled, "Pretty much. The squad suffered too many losses and couldn't replenish its numbers. We didn't want to join a new squad, so we applied to the command center to join the support convoy."
Mentioning the past, Iyad's expression darkened noticeably. A volley of arrows from the Fire Lizard had wiped out half of the squad, and the subsequent pursuit had led to the complete annihilation of the team, with only three members returning through soul jars.
Seeing his expression, Richard sighed slightly.
"Forget about the past," Iyad waved his hand, changing the subject. "You must have received an urgent summons from the command center. Let me introduce you to our tasks, as well as your own, Master."
Iyad led Richard to an empty Magic Support Vehicle. "Master, our task is just as you said; we are the battlefield firefighting team. If there's a problem, we go to provide support. Once the support is complete, we can retreat to a safe location to maintain the Magic Support Vehicles and wait for new orders from the command center.
Your task, Master, is to accompany us on missions and be responsible for repairs if any Magic Support Vehicles are damaged.
We have only this many vehicles; losing one means one less. Right now, the teleportation portal hasn't opened yet, and supplies from the Wizard world can't be transported here. We need to cherish these war machines."
After listening, Richard nodded, "Sounds pretty easy."
"Easy, indeed," Iyad smiled. "But our easy days depend entirely on how the frontline battles unfold. As a consultant for the Wizard Guild, you should know how many spellcasting components the legion has procured.
Spellcasting components are not as easily recoverable as magic components. Once we run out of spellcasting components, we will have to go to the frontlines and fight those Fire Lizards."
The transactions between Richard, the Jorod Guild, and the White Wizard Legion would not cease with the onset of war. Before the war began, Richard had moved all the materials for making Magic Support Vehicles into the Secret Realm. In the first ten years of the war, Richard had completed the delivery of the remaining Magic Support Vehicles.
After Richard's return from his disappearance, the legion had purchased three thousand spellcasting components from him. These components were priced at five Magic Essences each, but once they were used up, the Wizard Guild had to recover them at a price of two Magic Essences, making the procurement price three Magic Essences.
This price was quite low, and the profit was not high, focusing instead on volume and a continuous supply.
"I hope these Fire Lizards are a bit incompetent," Richard chuckled.
...
The Fire Lizard's counterattack was fierce, stretching from the Linksa Empire in the east to the Minar Empire in the west, with every line of Wizard defense being assaulted.
Like an ocean, the Fire Lizard warriors continuously attacked the fortress clusters, which had originally been Fire Lizard cities but had transformed into fortresses after being modified by the White Wizards.
Alchemy Weapons poured deadly firepower from the fortifications, but after a long battle with Wizards, the Fire Lizard had already developed countermeasures against Wizard Alchemist Wizards.
They spread their forces out, maintaining a certain distance between warriors, which happened to be the maximum effective range of the Wizard's Alchemy Magic Stone Cannons.
Under the Wizards' provocation, the Fire Lizard even managed to create something akin to a skirmish line.
Even so, the assault on the fortress clusters still resulted in heavy casualties for the Fire Lizard. The spells fired by the Alchemy Weapons were still spells; if they were dodged, they could create a concentrated spell effect. A large amount of fire element was gathered due to the spells, causing the temperature on the battlefield to rise continuously, even leading to the emergence of fire element storms.
Elemental storms were a nuisance for both sides; they caused significant casualties for the Fire Lizard and continuously wore down the enchantments of the fortress clusters, triggering magical trap arrays.
Behind the Fire Lizard, giant tortoises carrying dragon breath cannons were slowly approaching the battlefield. To avoid revealing their main attack direction, the mobilization of these strategic weapons only began on the eve of the war.
"Report to the command center; at least thirty strategic weapons have been observed at position 23."
"Yes."
With the appearance of the dragon breath cannons, the Wizard fortress clusters naturally raised numerous Magic Barriers. These Magic Barriers were meticulously designed to withstand the power of the dragon breath cannons.
"Blow—"
A melodious horn sounded from the rear position of the Fire Lizard, and the Fire Lizard responsible for operating the dragon breath cannons began their operations according to the melody of the horn.
"Three rounds of bombardment, fire at will."
It was hard to imagine that operating such a massive dragon breath cannon required only one Fire Lizard. The Fire Lizard operating the cannon touched his head to a black crystal stone on the back of the dragon tortoise's neck, and in an instant, a massive amount of information flooded into the Fire Lizard's brain through the black crystal.
At that moment, his mind was connected to the dragon tortoise, and the tortoise's sensations became his sensations. However, he did not have the tortoise's massive brain to process this information, so after the connection, he felt as if his entire brain was about to boil over.
"Focus, focus!"
The Fire Lizard, trained countless times, was not unfamiliar with this situation. He concentrated hard and then controlled the volcano on the back of the tortoise to fire.
In reality, the so-called dragon breath cannon was merely a massive innate ability of the Dragon Beast.
Golden fireballs erupted from the volcano on the tortoise's back, violently crashing into the Magic Barriers of the fortress clusters, creating ripples.
The Wizards had conquered so many worlds, and the Magic Barriers they created could withstand the dragon breath cannons.
But as the bombardment from the dragon breath cannons continued, the Wizards gradually sensed something was amiss.
The Fire Lizard's attacks seemed to be deliberately enticing the fortresses to use spell attacks, causing the concentration of fire elements on the battlefield to soar, and even some of the Wizards' elemental creature slaves felt as if they had returned home.
And in such a high concentration of fire element environment, the natural result was even more intense fire element storms.
Boom! Boom!
The fire element hurricanes relentlessly attacked the Magic Barriers, and under the bombardment of the dragon breath cannons, the fire element storms even showed signs of escalating.
At this moment, the Wizards finally understood what these Fire Lizards were up to.
In the fortress clusters, an old White Wizard watched the rippling Magic Barriers and calmly said, "To think they would use elemental storms to destroy the Magic Barriers; these Fire Lizards are quite clever."
Behind him, several formidable Wizards were sitting in a room, receiving intelligence from various positions.
A young Wizard approached the old Wizard, looking somewhat anxious.
"Master, what should we do in this situation? The magical energy consumption of the Magic Barriers is too great; if this continues, we won't last a few days before our magical reserves are exhausted."
The old Wizard glanced at his student, his tone serious. "What are you panicking about? In the worlds conquered by Wizards, there are countless races smarter than these Fire Lizards. This method is merely a small trick."
With that, he took out a crystal ball and issued several commands.
"Prepare the elemental puppets; I want to see them on the battlefield in half an hour."
The young Wizard, curious, asked, "Master, what are elemental puppets? I haven't heard of them before."
"Nothing much," the old Wizard replied nonchalantly. "Just a little trick to deal with elemental storms."