Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 224: Complete Loss
The great bells of Castres Cathedral were rung.

People walked out of the residential area in confusion, and were soon informed of the current situation. Then they ran quickly to various places.

Canister after canister of physical pollution was thrown into the central furnace, and the noise of the noisy crowd made the church buzz.

The Guardian Inscription is fully activated.

The machine gun position on top of the cathedral is now equipped with a heavy machine gun, and boxes of ammunition have been transported up. The islanders are somewhat puzzled and frightened. They don’t know why bullets are being transported here - weren’t all the previous battles fought on the coast?
This is the central area of Castel.

Although the enemy has not been seen yet, the fact that the last line of defense has been activated is disturbing in itself.

The Crusaders had already set off, and the people who used to patrol and guard the church were nowhere to be seen. As for the banshees that could be seen occasionally, no one knew where they had gone.

Crowds of people gradually flocked to various factories, the fires of steam engines burned brighter and brighter, and Castel's war machine gradually increased its power to the highest level.

Xius paced quickly in the room with a gloomy expression.

Since that day, the war situation in Castel has completely changed. The intensity of the war was originally pitifully low, and the Crusaders went to the battlefield to kill monsters as if they were going on an outing.

But since he was forced to return, the sea seemed to be boiling, and monsters kept emerging from the deep sea every second. The fishmen moved slowly and were nothing more than living targets for rifles that could accurately aim, but now they emerged at a speed like a rising tide.

No matter how the Crusaders fired, they would not retreat. The monsters, which were originally afraid of death, suddenly became fearless.

As for those arm monsters, they will now gather together to launch an attack. When rows of arm monsters two or three stories high appear on the battlefield, only the roaring heavy machine guns can pose a threat to them. Even the banshees have to temporarily avoid the attack.

"How's the battle going?"

"The entire line has been lost."

Ash's voice was low and mixed with heavy breathing. She was currently standing at the entrance of the webway, a high ground where she could see far away.

And wherever she looked, she saw all kinds of hideous monsters.

"There are simply too many monsters. The defenses we built along the coast were quickly surrounded. The bunkers held out for a while, but the monsters outnumbered the bullets the Skitarii brought. I've forced them to evacuate the Webway and sealed its gates."

Xius took a deep breath and spread out the map on the table. He needed to know the current specific battle situation.

He began to question the garrisoned banshees at each location.

"Each group reports their position and status, starting with the first group."

"Yes! The first group was originally located at the northern docks, but has now lost the dock area, the residential area, and the soap workshop area. We are currently exchanging fire with the enemy in the former nitroglycerin factory area!"

"How is the battle going? How long can we hold out?"

"The battle situation isn't optimistic. After retreating to the third position, the monsters are coming much slower, but their numbers are still enormous. My Skitarii are smaller in number, and we're already setting up explosives and preparing to evacuate."

Hughes' finger traced the northern coastline to a point not far from the central core area. He couldn't help but swallow. The speed of the defeat was too rapid. The fishmen were indeed a mediocre enemy, but with their numbers, his soldiers couldn't hold their ground against the enemy from all sides. Fortunately, after shrinking the battle line, there was much less area to defend, and the soldiers no longer had to worry about being attacked from both sides.

"Where's the second group? I remember you were in the eastern cave?"

"Yes, my lord, all the caves have been lost. We transported the stored physical contamination back before the fall. We are currently building a defense line at the eastern test site to block the enemy."

Physical pollution, currently Castell's main fuel.

Zeus was not too worried about the fuel problem. Whether it was the fishmen or the arm monsters, their corpses after death would eventually turn into physical pollution. With the attack of the monsters, even though the power of the central furnace and the noisiers were turned to the maximum, the fuel was still increasing.

As long as some corpses were dragged back from the battlefield, the pollution would continue. Hughes even used the surplus steel production capacity to build several huge fuel tanks to store the pollution.

Yes, although there was a war and steel was being consumed in large quantities everywhere, the steel production capacity was still sufficient and there was even some surplus.

Although Castel has shrunk across the board, it has basically not lost any important factories. Under the premise of general mobilization, the increase in production capacity can only be described as terrifying.

This is the biggest characteristic of industrial countries. As long as the rear is stable, the production capacity of weapons, steel, and large machinery will increase.

As long as the technology is mature, the speed of production in the factory will be faster than the speed of consumption.

The amount of ammunition consumed by the soldiers was astronomical, but the amount of gunpowder produced in the military factories was an order of magnitude more. In addition to supporting the soldiers' shooting consumption, it also provided a steady supply of various explosives.

"What's going on at the Eastern Test Site?"

"The defenses here are quite solid. This is an old industrial area, and it already had a wall. After reinforcement, it's become a massive war fortress. It's also close to factories, so we have plenty of supplies. We also have quite a few Fire Moth members here."

Those people from the Fire Moth Chaser? Zeus had heard about them. After the technology lock was lifted, under Chloe's leadership, they conducted experiments day and night at the test site, filling the warehouse with all kinds of useful and useless inventions. But this group of cultists was also interested in war.

They did some research in the testing grounds, and when they got tired they went to the fortifications to kill monsters with guns to relax. After they had their fun, they rushed back to the testing grounds. The Crusaders thought they were crazy.

It seems that with them around, the Eastern Test Field is still relatively stable. Although the important factories have been moved to the Castel Cathedral, the production capacity provided by the factories there is still very valuable.

"What about the South? I remember it was the fifth group?"

"Yes, the fifth group is guarding the southern front. Uh, now they have retreated to the church."

Nini's voice came through the mind link.

Since the third ironworks was built, Nini no longer needs to use fossils as mud to make steam engines. Her magic is very powerful, but she only has six hands at most. If she adds a few more production lines in the factory, she can increase the production capacity of her hands.

"What about the mining area? Can we still defend it?"

"We can't hold it. There aren't many fortifications in the mining area to begin with, and we've lost all our mines."

(End of this chapter)