The Golden Gravekeeper 110 Chapter 110: Super-heavy

The cannons in the fortified walls of Alveron opened up. King Hedol had marhsalled his forces in the inner wall of Alveron and was launching a devastating strike on the cluster of troops who had massed just outside the hive city.

Explosions threw up dirt, soil and bodies, the broken corpses of soldiers raining down on their stunned comrades.

"Great job!" Hedol hollered. "Now that's a great shot! They're pinned!"

"They are indeed, your majesty," a Terminator bodyguard spoke up beside him. "We'll soften them up for a while, and once their lines are broken and they're strewn in panic, we'll charge in and turn their retreat into a rout."

"Excellent!" Hedol folded his arms, satisfied. "The humans will learn a bitter lesson today. If they dare attack Moria, they will be annihilated!"

His smug triumph was obliterated seconds later, along with the inner wall of his fortress. Something massive slammed into the rockcrete walls and blew them apart, sending several dwarves tumbling helplessly into the ground.

"Shells!? Where the…?!"

Hedol looked around, stunned. Firepower of that magnitude could only come from two things. Either an Evelyn's Chosen with god-granted magic, or…artillery.

As if to answer his question, the rumbling treads of a tank drowned out the groans of buried dwarves. The menacing form of an armored tank rolled into the valley, its turret pointed straight at the gap it had just blown in the dwarves' defenses.

"That's a tank! The humans have a tank too?! Did they loot one of ours?!"

"No, your majesty. The structure…the shape…the design…it's not a Malthas tank. It's a tank built by the humans themselves?"

Realizing the threat, the king turned to his men who were manning the cannons.

"All cannons, aim at that tank! Fire at will!"

The cannons barked in unison, hurling mass-reactive explosive shells at the tank. However, none of them left a scratch on its armor.

"We need anti-tank weaponry…" Hedol realized in horror. "Lascannons! Plasma cannons! To the fore! Take down that tank!"

His Terminator bodyguards stepped forward, wielding lascannons and plasma cannons. They fired a concentrated volley, which seared through the thick armor of the tank. The armored vehicle careened, and then exploded, unable to endure the intense heat and exotic energies.

"Good! We took it out!"

However, Hedol's relief turned out to be short-lived.

"My king!"

Another shell whistled over, taking down another section of the fortress. As Hedol went down, the power field of his tactical dreadnaught armor protecting him from debris, he caught sight of a terrifying sight.

An entire battalion of tanks were rolling forward, their turrets aimed at the fortress.

*

"Hmph."

The Genevean general was chortling as he watched through his binoculars. At first, the battle had been in the dwarves' favor. Clad in power armor and possessing incredible strength, they had mowed down his soldiers like nothing. Wielding boltguns, they turned human bodies into bloody pulps by firing mass-reactive shells that all but blew up the targets. Whatever muskets or blade or arrow his men wielded, none of them penetrated the power armor.

And that was just the basic dwarf infantry. The elites were clad in even more formidable armor, which crackled with protective fields. The dwarves in power armor could still be taken out by concentrated firepower from coordinated volleys of muskets or magic spells. Even the vaunted ceramite armor was no match for spells and witchcraft.

But the Terminator armor was on a whole different level.

Fortunately, that all changed with the Mauler-pattern tanks. Commanding an entire battalion of tanks, the Genevean general had launched an assault with their battle cannons. Whole squads of power armored dwarves vanished in bloody mists and shattered shards of ceramite and metal, limbs and heads flying into the air. Even those elite bodyguards in Terminator armor were unable to withstand the sheer might of the Mauler tanks, blown apart by the massive shells or imploding inside the indomitable armor that was supposed to protect them.

All this while, the two heroes merely hung back and watched, not lifting a finger.

The general smirked, already entertaining thoughts of victory and promotion.

Just wait…your majesty, Emperor Kobayashi. I'll prove to you that we normal humans can still win a war even without these vaunted heroes. The standard infantry and soldiers are not rendered obsolete just yet.

His chest swelling with pride, he stepped up and yelled another order to his Mauler tanks, who were lowering their turrets for a better angle.

Another bombardment, and another section of the wall went down.

*

It was a massacre.

A one-sided massacre.

"…huff…"

Inside the cockpit of Matsukaze, I glanced at the visual auspexes. The sophisticated array of sensors picked nothing up. No life-signs, nothing.

I had routed the enemy and wiped out almost every single one of them. Not by myself, of course. The coordinated bombardment from Daniel's Company T, as well as precise snipes from the snipers of Elia's Company L and suppressive fire from Benjamin's Company H, had lay waste to the majority of the enemy.

I wasn't ashamed to admit that I only accounted for a quarter of the kills. Maybe less. It didn't matter, because I was taking the heat off my battalion by having the enemy concentrate fire only on my mecha.

"Back to your positions."

After issuing the order, I had Matsukaze stride back toward the manufactorum. Hopping out of the cockpit, I proceeded toward the chamber where Belisarius and his team were hard at work, welding and installing the plasma reactor in the Hellblade.

"Heh heh heh! You're just in time, pup!"

Belisarius turned to me and lifted both his goggles and sombrero. It was good to see that he wasn't smoking on the job.

"Done?"

"Almost. Just a few tweaks here and there to get the fething thing to fit."

"Sure. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it."

"Hah!" Belisarius chuckled. "This is all down to you, lad! You're the one who revolutionized dwarven engineering! We'll have statues of you all over Moria! You're a hero! A legend! If it weren't for you, we'll be stuck in this age forever!"

I highly doubted that, but before I could offer a rebuttal, there was a commotion outside the chamber.

"Please wait, your highness! They are very busy in there…"

"I'm afraid I cannot wait!"

The familiar voice of Princess Donorea echoed outside the chamber. I exchanged a confused glance with Belisarius and we turned just in time to see Donorea barge into the chamber, flustered and panicky.

"Major Tomoyuki!"

"Yes, your highness?"

"The invaders just broke through the second wall of Alveron, where my brother…where the king is! Please! Please help!"

I felt a bead of perspiration roll down my face. This was a lot earlier than anticipated. I was hoping we would still have a couple more hours.

Donorea hastily explained the on-goings of the war to us, and I nodded in understanding.

The good news was that Emperor Regis and the Iron Knights were holding the bulk of Kobayashi's main forces back at Verunhive and Mordia. The battle there had grounded to a stalemate, with neither side giving ground. Even though the arrival of the Iron Knights at the back of the human forces had briefly turned the tide of battle to the demons' favor, Kobayashi had quickly rallied his men and provided stiff resistance. The fighting seemed as if it would continue for days, but they wouldn't be able to offer reinforcements.

But what interested me was…

"So the humans have a battalion of tanks?"

"Yes! My brother's army has been forced to defend the city beyond the second wall! If this goes on…"

The hive city would fall. She didn't have to mention it out loud for me to understand.

Still, there was something that nagged at me.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, where are your tanks?"

"Our…tanks?"

I stared at her, annoyed. "Moria produces tanks, doesn't it? This is where we get our tanks from. They're all manufactured by Moria. Hell, right now we're inside a factory that's building a super-heavy tank. Where are all of them?"

"Well…" Donorea looked a little hesitant. "Just before we learned that the humans were going to invade us, we…shipped out a hundred Malthas tanks."

"On whose orders?! General Vance Stubbs?! Don't you keep any tanks for yourself?! What is this, Dawn of War: Soulstorm?!"

"Most of the tanks are positioned at Verunhive and Mordia, and they couldn't be spared for the fighting. There's no tunnel that links those cities to Alveron, and any tank that goes across the valley become easy targets for both Evelyn's Chosen and the tank battalion in Alveron."

This time it was Jurgen who reported to me, my aide having left his tank to accompany me back into the factory.

"…oh." I was about to ask how he knew this, but I caught sight of the blue holographic datslate he was holding. It appeared that the battle situations were all being recorded and reported there. Thanks to my rank, I had clearance to the current situation, but I had delegated the task of going through the details to my aide.

"But unlike Mordia and Verunhive, Alveron has an underground tunnel connecting it to this outpost. If you use that passage…"

"Understood." In other words, we were the only tank company that could reach Alveron without being blown apart on the way there. However… "Even if we get there, we'll be outnumbered. The enemy has a battalion of tanks. We only have a company."

"But…"

"Don't worry. I'm not saying we won't help." I turned to Belisarius. "How long more do you need?"

The dwarf grunted. "You're asking for the impossible, lad…but I like it!"

*

At the inner wall of Alveron, the massed hordes of human infantry clashed against the superhuman power armored figures of dwarves. The dwarves were holding their own against the ranks of humans, but several of them were falling to concentrated, coordinated fire of muskets. However, for every dwarf who succumbed to such overwhelming numbers, another ten soldiers lost their lives, blown apart by the mass reactive shells of boltguns, incinerated by heavy flamers and plasma cannons or crushed underneath crackling Thunder Hammers and power fists.

Unfortunately, for every human soldier who fell, there were at least three more to take their place. To make matters worse, the tanks were lumbering forward, bloowing huge holes in the dwarves' ranks and reducing the fortress to rubble.

"Hold your ground!" Hedol thundered as he obliterated another two soldiers who tried to impale him with bayonets. Laughable, but brave. "If we falter here, they will have access to the city! We cannot allow them to reach the civilians!"

"Give no quarter!" Captain Cyrus, the commander of the Morian 1st Company, the Deathhammer, shouted. "Today is the day we bathe ourselves in the blood of our foes! Glory for Moria! Long live King Hedol! Morten forever!"

"Glory for Moria!"

The elite Terminators echoed his cry. However, the two Terminators beside Cyrus vanished in a spray of blood, and five more were hurled into the air by a tremendous impact.
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The tanks had arrived.

"My king!" Cyrus shouted a warning. "The tanks are…"

"Ngh!"

More dwarves were thrown across the fortress, their armor cracked or shattered.

"Uwaaaaah!"

With a roar, Hedol bounded forward and swung his hammer. The power fields of his Thunder Hammer amplified his strength by two times and allowed him to smash a hole in the thick armor. The tank shuddered, and encouraged by his success, Hedol swung his hammer again. It took three strikes, but he managed to tear a hole through the hull. Grabbing the stunned gunner, he hauled him out and crushed his throat.

Then, with a victorious howl, he smashed the driver into a bloody pulp with his hammer, wrecking the console and controls.

"Do you not think we dwarves, who manufacture such tanks, would not know its weaknesses?!" he bellowed.

The neighboring Mauler tank answered by blasting him at almost pointblank range. The shell slammed into Hedol's body and detonated, sending him hurtling across the carnage and bowling into the wall so hard the reinforced structure crumbled from the impact.

"Your majesty!"

Cyrus rushed over, and was relieved to see that Hedol was still alive. His Terminator armor was dented and half-crumpled, but Hedol was miraculously still in one piece. He coughed out blood, and tried to stagger, only to collapse.

"Stupid thing…broke…a few of…my ribs…" he choked out, blood dribbling from his lips as he raised a hand weakly and placed it on his chest.

"If only we had a brigade of tanks…"

"Don't be an idiot. They'll never make it from Verunhive and Mordia. The tanks here will shoot them apart when they try to traverse the valley! It'll be suicide! Besides, we have anti-tank weapons! Lascannons! Missile launchers! Use them!"

One of the tanks rumbled forward, its turret lowering to point at the hapless Hedol. Cyrus stepped forward to put himself between the rumbling tank and his liege.

"Lascannon team! Take that tank out!"

Above, a couple of Terminators wielding lascannons stepped forward, aiming their anti-tank weapons at the offending tank. Before they could fire, a battle cannon shell roared forward and struck them, obliterating them.

The battalion of tanks were covering each other. There were other anti-tank teams scattered across the fortress, but before they could bring their lascannons, plasma cannons or missile launchers to bear, they were swamped by zealous infantry who were ordered to guard the tanks with their lives. Ruby beams of destruction seared wide, often colliding with human bodies instead of their intended armored targets.

Cyrus closed his eyes as the closest tank leveled its turret at them, ready for death. Knowing that his faithful servant wouldn't be able to completely shield him from the blast, Hedol braced himself for an ignoble death.

BOOM!

"?!"

Cyrus and Hedol looked up, stunned, as the tank before them blossomed into flames. A massive rumbling drowned out the cries and gunfire in the battlefield and the earth itself shook as something titanic roared out of a tunnel.

"What?!"

It was the Baneblade…I mean Hellblade.

A tank five to six times the size of a Malthas tank or a Mauler tank, with several times its firepower. Like a titanic behemoth, it bellowed as it ground the ground underneat to dust under its tremendous weight. Its massive turret leveled at another tank and barked, reducing the smaller Mauler tank into a flaming wreck.

"That's…that's…the Hellblade?!"

"How…how is that possible, my liege?!"

Cyrus's jaw dropped as he stared at the lumbering behemoth. It was moving with predatory grace as it attracted the attention of the tank battalion to it. Battle cannon shells slammed into its thick armor, but the Hellblade continued plowing through them, unaffected. Its adamantium tracks ground a third tank into scrap while the sponson lascannons seared through another tank, immobilizing it. The demolisher cannon mounted on the hull finished it off.

"That Helsfortian did it," Hedol mumbled in disbelief. "He actually found a way to power the tank and move it!"

Then the hatch opened and a single, lithe figure emerged.

"Donorea?!"

The Morian king was stunned to see his sister clambering from the super-heavy tank. Wielding a power spear, she deftly leaped off and charged into the massed ranks of infantry, impaling three of them with a single strike.

"Warriors, the first princess is with you!" a dwarf commander shouted. "For Moria…dye your blades with the blood of our foes!"

With a yell, the Morians plunged into the shell-shocked infantry with renewed vigor.

"We're not going to lose to the dwarves, are we?"

This time, I was the one who shouted that. Emerging from the tunnel at the head of Company T, I stepped on the accelerator, hurtling Matsukaze forward into the fray. Swinging my titan's katana, I cleaved through a tank and trampled past its two halves, stomping the crew into oblivion. Behind me, Daniel's company of tanks unleashed a volley of bluish-white plasma. The superheated blobs of exotic energy were not exactly anti-tank weapons – they were meant for elite, heavily armored infantry (Terminators and their equivalents). That said, they packed enough of a punch to melt armor and deal significant damage, especially when several tanks converged their plasma beams on a single target. Under Daniel's coordination, the Malthas Executioner tanks left a dozen smoking wrecks in their wake, the armor melted into red-hot slag and their occupants roasted by the extreme temperatures, unable to escape.

While I cut apart tanks, I couldn't help but be amazed at how Donorea was sending human infantry flying or ripping them apart with brute force, her power spear crackling as it pierced armor and bone alike.

"Holy…how strong is she?!"

"You've let her gentle demeanor deceive you, Major!" Gio called out from behind. "She's a dwarven princess through and through!"

"…right."

I glanced back when I heard Gio's voice. Behind the armored phalanx of tanks, the convoy of Cerberus APCs were emerging from the tunnel. I slightly recalled what happened when Donorea came with her request.

"We're done!" Belisarius had yelled excitedly. I grinned broadly.

"Just in time."

"…you're going to take the Hellblade out for a test drive, boss?" Jurgen asked, sharing the grin. I nodded, and then clapped my hands as I proceeded out into the chamber and back into the outpost. My commanders, who had gathered to assess the situation, looked up.

"All right! Dan, you're coming with me. Get your tanks ready – we're going for a drive. While at it, pick a cew. We're going to need someone to drive the Hellblade."

"I'll do that," Jurgen volunteered. I nodded.

"I'll leave it to you and Gunnery. Pick whoever, you have my authorization."

"Yes, boss."

"So we'll escort the super-heavy tank?" Daniel asked. I nodded. Elia raised her hand.

"What about us? Do you want us to mount up?"

"Good point. What's the read on the enemy? How many of them are left? Any sign of other enemies in the vicinity?"

"None…for now."

I considered for a few moments, and then came to a decision.

"Ben, you and Company H stay put. Defend the outpost and the factory. Do not let any enemy get near. I'm counting on you."

"Yes, sir!"

The reason why I decided to have Benjamin and Company H stay behind was because their heavy plasma weaponry were unwieldy and literally heavy. It would be difficult for them to pack up and move about.

"Captain, pick a platoon to leave behind here, to support Ben's heavy weapon squads. The rest of them are to follow us in the APCs."

"Yes, sir!"

And that was the disposition of the forces I brought along.

"Brother!"

After cutting a swathe through the enemy forces, the dwarven princess headed toward Hedol, who stared at her, baffled.

"Donorea!"

As I cleaved through a tank, I activated the speakers on Matsukaze and spoke to King Hedol.

"Looks like we made it, your majesty."

"You!" Hedol hollered, still mired in disbelief. "How did you power the Hellblade? Is it really running on just one engine? How many mana crystals do you need to feed that tank? How did you increase the efficiency?"

"By using a plasma reactor," I replied flippantly. "The technical details are with your men. They'll explain the building process to you better."

"…"

Hedol was at a loss for words. He watched as Matsukaze bound across the battlefield effortlessly to slice another tank in half.

"One of these days, you've got to teach me how to build one of those Golems."

"I already passed the schematics to Belisarius-san and his team," I informed him, unable to conceal a smirk in my voice. "In exchange for exclusive trade deals…in other words, once you finish the prototypes of the new armored Golems, you'll be selling them to my regiment cheaply. Or Helsfort. You'll still make quite the profit, though."

Considering this world didn't have patents and intellectual properties, there was no point trying to patent or monopolize the Titan designs. Not to mention I wasn't greedy – the only thing I was interested in was revenge, not wealth.

"I've to admit, with your current technology, you still won't be able to manufacture mass models of Titans. At least not yet. But we've compromised and designed more practical…Elementals. Again, Belisarius-san has all the details."

"I'll make sure to interrogate all of them later," Hedol vowed. But he looked at Matsukaze, impressed. "I never thought you would be capable of designing such amazing things! Just who in Restia are you?"

"To be honest, your majesty King Hedol," I admitted. "All I did was design them. Then I summoned them with magic. Most of the technical details and know-how are recorded in books that were passed down to me."

I was of course referring to the books in the Library of Eden. I still had no idea why Lyia's library contained books with such details and knowledge, but it was truly a blessing. Perhaps these books came from the future?

That would make the Library of Eden some sort of Akashic Record, wouldn't it? A library that contained all the records of past, present and future. If I looked harder, wouldn't I be able to find some way to return to Earth?

Before that happened, though, I needed to take revenge on Kobayashi and kill him and all the other bullies. Only then could I worry about returning home.

"Fire!"

Jurgen was shouting something. The Hellblade lumbered forward, and with another deafening bellow, launched a second volley. Another tank exploded, ripped apart as the massive plasma beam engulfed it in destruction.

The sponson lascannons fired again, slicing another Mauler tank neatly in half. The triple twin heavy bolters spat out mass reactive rounds at an incredible rate, reducing human infantry into plulp. Those that got too close were crushed by adamantium tracks.

"Again!"

The turret whirled around and the Hellblade roared once more. Another two tanks lit up, one of them having its top blown off and the other turned into a flaming husk of metal.

Behind, Company T was advancing, spewing bluish-white plasma bolts of destruction. Ruby beams lanced from their hull lascannons, piercing through armor and dealing significant damage. Even as they were picked off by the Malthas tanks, the Mauler tanks continued to concentrate their fire on the Hellblade, but the mobile fortress was impervious to their huge shells.

"Just what do we have to do to kill that thing?!"

"Retreat! Retreat!"

"Running away already?" Gunnery laughed as he pivoted the turret around. With another burst, he reduced another column of tanks into molten slag. With the combined efforts from Company T and the heavy weapon teams of Morian dwarves and Terminators, we routed and annihilated the tank battalion.

Even though we were originally outnumbered three to one.

"Yeah!"

I had Matsukaze raise his katana and let out a victorious cry. All the men around me joined in, cheering at the unexpected triumph.

"Major Tomoyuki!"

I turned around and spotted Donorea approaching me.

"The enemy tank battalion has been defeated!"

I nodded and opened up the speakers to rouse my men and the Morian dwarves into a victorious cheer, raising their morale.

"Now let's deal with the remaining infantry!"

"YEAH!"

While we cheered, the enemies were rooted in disbelief, sputtering and muttering.

"But…how?!" the Genevean general demanded, his knuckles white as he clutched his musket tightly. Perspiration poured down his body as he trembled violently, unable to believe what he had just witnessed. "We had a tank battalion…an entire tank battalion of over forty tanks! How did those demons destroy every single one of them?!"

"What do we do now, sir?"

"How would I know?! Our strategy depended completely on our armor, and now they're all destroyed!"

As the general raged, two shadowy figures stepped forward. Ignoring the disgruntled general, Umezu Shigeo focused his attention on the enemies before him. Behind him, Kido Mayumi waited patiently.

"Mayumi-san. Their precious tanks have been destroyed. It's our turn now."

"Understood, Shigeo-kun."

The two heroes had finally deigned to step into the battlefield.

Chapter end