From far away, at the edge of the forest where the trees thinned into open ground, came the majestic pounding of drums.
Boom, boom, boom—!
At the same time, the roars of orcs shook the earth.
“Zagros! Zagros! Zagros!”
Was it the name of an individual orc? Or the name of a tribe? I wasn’t particularly curious. Either way, we had to trample them down and move on quickly.
[Chik— Enemy infantry, approaching within visual confirmation range. Contact imminent. …Should we first create distance and request artillery support?]
Frederica offered the textbook suggestion. But I shook my head.
“No. We don’t need support.”
I even brought out binoculars to observe them.
‘Status Analysis.’ ‘Status Analysis.’ ‘Status Analysis.’
After spamming the skill like mad, one of them stood out in particular.
[Name: Zagros Blackdust]
[Race: Orc]
[Rank: Great Chieftain]
[Status: Rage, ambition, lust for power]
“Hooh.”
So that bastard was the root of the problem.
“All forces halt. Eyes forward.”
The tanks came to a stop with a shriek of metal. Beyond the clearing, orcs were pouring out.
Woooooo—!
Moving to the frantic beat of drums and the blare of horns, it wasn’t long before thousands of them formed up in orderly ranks.
At their center stood a massive orc draped in wolf pelts, raising a huge double-bladed axe. Great Chieftain Zagros.
“Kwaaaaaaar—! The feeble humans have come again! Today, this forest shall become your grave!”
His roar shook the entire forest.
[……Gulp.]
Over the radio came the sound of someone swallowing dryly.
No matter how elite the armored officers were, seeing that many orcs must have overwhelmed them.
And then, a moment later.
“Lieutenant Colonel, they’re… they’re doing something.”
Hanna narrowed her eyes as she spoke. She pointed across the vast clearing, toward the place where the orcs were clustered.
I raised the binoculars again and observed them. Several orcs had gathered around Zagros.
‘Status Analysis.’
[Name: Zagros Blackdust]
[Status: In discussion, pondering tactics.]
‘Discussion…?’
Zagros patted the shoulder of a scrawny shaman standing beside him. The shaman was pointing at our tanks with trembling hands.
‘Status Analysis.’
[Name: Ak’tor]
[Rank: Shaman]
[Status: Thinks the humans’ “iron horses” are only flashy on the outside.]
“Great Chieftain! There is no need to fear those iron horses! There are only cowardly humans hiding inside!”
“Is that so? But those black lumps are surely made of iron!”
[Name: Zagros Blackdust]
[Status: Still worried about the sturdy-looking shells.]
“Hoho, after examining them with mana… those are not steel! They are tricks made by human magic!”
[Name: Ak’tor]
[Status: Convinced those “iron horses” are actually made of cardboard.]
“What?!”
[Name: Zagros Blackdust]
[Status: Doubt, confusion]
Bewilderment surfaced in Zagros’s eyes. The orc shaman, Ak’tor, did not miss that sign and shouted at last.
“They appear to be made of cardboard!”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, Great Chieftain! I swear upon my ancestor spirits, one swing of our brave tribal warriors’ axes will tear them apart like sheets of paper!”
‘……What?’
[Name: Zagros Blackdust]
[Status: Persuaded by the claim that the iron horses are made of cardboard.]
I doubted my own eyes. Cardboard…?
“Kahahaha! As expected, humans are cowards! To think they would try to frighten us with trickery!”
Zagros raised his enormous double-bladed axe. In his eyes, our tanks no longer seemed to be terrifying weapons, but rather oversized tin cans that would crumple if struck.
“Warriors! Listen! Those iron boxes are fakes, and the insides are full of meat! Go, peel off their shells and enjoy the feast!”
“Uooooooo—!!!”
Thousands of orcs roared.
And then it began. A full-speed infantry charge that looked like something out of a film set in ancient or medieval times, filling the horizon. With shields forward and axes raised, they came running, making the earth rumble beneath them.
“A headlong charge, then.”
The radio sounded once more.
[Chik— Th-this is Steel Rose! Lieutenant Colonel! They’re… they’re just running straight at us! In a dense formation, without even spreading out!]
Frederica spoke in a flustered voice. To an elite like her, it must have been an act of tactics that defied all common sense.
“Major, is this your first time facing orcs?”
[…It is, but?]
“Then now you’ll learn.”
[…Learn what, sir?]
“Just how primitive they are.”
[…Pardon?]
For a moment, Frederica let out a dazed sound.
“Major, they believe those tanks are made of cardboard.”
[…….]
A long silence continued over the radio.
[……Are you joking right now, sir?]
“No, I’m serious. So we’ll have to educate them a little.”
I lifted the radio indifferently.
“All tanks, range eight hundred. Open fire with high-explosive rounds and machine guns. Teach them.”
The age of romance was already over.
[…Roger! All platoons, open fire!]
Kwaaaaaang—!!!
The main guns of the lead tanks belched fire all at once.
The distance was eight hundred meters. It was close enough that even firing roughly without a sight would still hit, and on top of that, the bastards were packed tightly together.
The moment the high-explosive rounds slammed into the middle of the orc ranks, the laws of physics acted with cruel honesty.
“Kuaaaak!”
“M-my leg!”
Dozens of orcs around the point of impact became unrecognizable chunks of meat and scattered in every direction. The shockwave toppled their formation like dominoes, while shrapnel pierced armor and leather and tore through flesh.
[Rank: Orc Centurion]
[Status: Deceased]
[Rank: Orc Warrior]
[Status: Panic, hearing loss, ruptured organs]
[Name: Ak’tor]
[Status: Denial of reality, cognitive dissonance]
“Uh, uhhh…?”
The eyes of Ak’tor, the shaman commanding at the front, bulged as if they might pop out.
The humans’ tanks, which should have been nothing more than lumps of cardboard, were grinding down his kin with thunderous roars.
“W-what is this…! It’s an illusion! This is the humans’ vile illusion magic!”
Ak’tor desperately shouted, waving his staff.
“Do not be afraid! That is fake! The pain is fake too! Charge! Charge and peel off their shells!”
Thankfully, because of that, their madness did not stop. Trampling over the corpses of their comrades ahead, drenched in blood, they continued to run. Firmly believing that the moment they broke through the cardboard, the humans would surrender in terror.
“All tanks, fire at will as soon as you’re loaded. Don’t spare the coaxial machine guns either. This isn’t a battle. It’s cleanup.”
[…Roger!]
Dudududududu! Kwaang! Bang!
The machine guns mounted on the fronts of the tanks spat fire. Bullets numbering close to a thousand rounds per minute traced red lines as they pierced the orcs’ chests.
“Krgh!”
“I-impossible! What is this firepower?!”
When the orcs in the front row collapsed like bundles of straw, the orcs behind tripped over their bodies, and then shells fell on top of them again.
Puh-ung!
[Name: Zagros Blackdust]
[Status: Extreme confusion, murderous intent]
Only after things had reached this point did Zagros become flustered. He must have thought his warriors’ axes would tear the tanks apart like paper, but reality was that his subordinates were melting away like fallen leaves in an autumn gale before their axes could even reach them.
He stood blankly for a moment, then seized the neck of Ak’tor, the shaman who had been spouting nonsense beside him.
“You!! You called this cardboard?! My warriors are dying, and you call it an illusion?!”
“Ghk! G-Great Chieftain! Th-that is surely… Kgh!”
Crack.
Zagros snapped the shaman’s neck without even listening to his excuse. Shell fragments pattered down over the shaman’s corpse, which had been discarded like trash.
“Kuaaaa! Vile humans!”
Zagros roared, glaring at us with blood-red eyes.
“Warriors! Do not retreat! Once their magic runs out, we win! Close in! Get close and smash them apart!”
Whether thanks to the great chieftain’s spirit, or because there was nowhere to retreat, the surviving orcs fell into a frenzy and began charging again.
A charge that did not fear death. Romantic, if you wanted to call it that.
“Major.”
[…Yes, Lieutenant Colonel.]
I gave a brief order.
“Tanks forward. Run them over.”
[…All tanks! Maintain fire on the move! Advance at full speed!]
Kurururung—!
The wall of steel that had stood still began to move.
Dozens of tons of weight kicked off from the ground. The roar of engines swallowed the orcs’ shouts.
“U-uaaaak!”
An orc at the front slammed into a tank’s frontal armor.
Puhk—!
Like a water deer hit by a speeding truck, the orc was flung away without even managing to scream.
The ones following behind were mercilessly sucked beneath the rotating steel tracks.
Crunch, kkwajik!
The sounds of bones breaking and skulls being crushed were buried beneath the noise of the tanks’ engines. Where the tanks passed, the things that had once been orcs were flattened into red mush on the ground.
At this point, even firing was no longer necessary.
Merely driving forward killed the enemy. Before overwhelming mass and mobility, courage and fighting spirit were meaningless.
[Rank: Orc Warrior]
[Status: Fear]
[Rank: Orc Axeman]
[Status: Panic]
“R-run! This thing is a monster!”
“The blades won’t go in! The axes are bouncing off!”
The orcs struck the tanks’ side armor with their axes, but all that came was a clear clang and a shower of sparks. It was, quite literally, a one-sided massacre.
And yet, in the middle of that hellscape.
There was one orc who did not retreat.
“You bastaaaaard!”
It was Zagros.