"Move out — Masryu Rasetsugou, deploy!"
Diera's voice rang out in a triumphant declaration.
She pulled back inside and sent the modified tank rolling forward.
It closed in on the Magitech Army at terrifying speed.
"We're heading out too!"
A short distance away, Henry raised his bow and gave the order.
He intended to capitalize on Diera's charge.
She crashed onto the battlefield like this regularly, and Henry was well accustomed to handling it.
At the signal, the Demon Lord's Army surged forward in unison.
The tank unit took the vanguard while the firearms unit followed with movements honed to eliminate every wasted motion. They moved like they were running drills.
Even amid the swirling heat of the battlefield, they maintained perfect formation — functioning as a single instrument of slaughter.
Henry, the commander on this side, had positioned himself atop one of the tanks. He knelt and drew his bow.
His stability was extraordinary, unshaken by the vehicle's rocking.
Henry loosed the shot.
The Magitech Army immediately erected defensive magic in response to the piercing arrow.
But Henry's arrow punched straight through every barrier and detonated in the heart of their ranks.
The destruction was so immense it could only be mistaken for large-scale magic.
Blood sprayed into the air. Soldiers were reduced to chunks of meat.
Shattered corpses littered the ground along the arrow's trajectory.
The Magitech Army's soldiers were terrified by what a single arrow had wrought.
Morale plummeted openly.
They had every reason to be shaken. An arrow of that power had been fired from a distance so great that even magic couldn't reach — and they had been unable to defend against it or dodge it.
Any enemy would have been justified in cursing their luck.
Then Henry sent another shot screaming in.
This one targeted the Steel Knight.
He had been told not to kill the prisoner for interrogation purposes, but perhaps he had forgotten.
(It would be a problem if he died here, though…)
My concern proved unnecessary.
The Steel Knight flicked his halberd in a single blinding arc.
The deflected arrow sailed past him, barely missing his side, and struck the ground far behind him where no one stood, gouging a deep crater.
The Steel Knight showed not a single scratch.
(As expected of a modern-era hero.)
I was genuinely impressed.
Deflecting Henry's shots with personal strength alone was beyond anything a normal person could do. That halberd was an excellent magical weapon, but that last defense was down to sheer skill. Relying on the weapon alone would have seen him shot dead in an instant.
"Nice! Not bad at all!"
Henry was overjoyed.
Rather than frustration, he was thrilled at the appearance of a worthy rival. That was entirely like him.
"I shall claim my moment to shine as well!"
Before long, Diera's modified tank opened fire. Shells and beams alternated as they rained down on the Magitech Army.
Defensive magic went up, but the projectiles punched through all the same.
Consecutive massive explosions bloomed one after another.
The Magitech Army's position vanished behind a curtain of black smoke.
According to detection magic, lives were being snuffed out one after another.
Before such overwhelming firepower, the scene had devolved into abject screams and carnage.
Even "devastating losses" would have been an understatement.
Surviving soldiers fired their firearms at the modified tank, which sat within range.
The rounds struck the armor, but sparks flew as every one ricocheted off.
The armor — a composite of scales and chitin — had been generated by Diera's ability. It was her go-to when she fought in earnest, and it was anything but fragile.
Its defensive performance left ordinary tanks in the dust.
"Ku-hah-hah-hah! How laughably fragile! Is there no one here who can entertain me?!"
Diera fired round after round.
Each one inflicted more damage on the Magitech Army.
The battle was completely one-sided — a rout.
The Demon Lord's Army had halted its advance at a safe distance and begun launching ranged attacks with firearms and magic.
They had decided to use Diera as bait and strike from a position of safety.
It was a sound, conservative strategy.
(This may not be a scene where I need to step in.)
I watched quietly from the sidelines.
I had wanted to test this golem's performance, but there would be other opportunities. Stepping in carelessly and stealing the spotlight from my subordinates would be poor form. Diera and Henry would certainly have complaints if I did.
At that moment, a horse burst through the black smoke.
Its rider was the Steel Knight.
He galloped toward the modified tank with several cavalrymen in tow.
(He was alive after all.)
The modified tank aimed and fired.
The Steel Knight's horse dodged in sync with his shifts in center of gravity.
A shell struck one of the trailing cavalrymen, obliterating him in a cloud of splinters.
The Steel Knights continued their charge without so much as slowing down.
"A reckless gambit, but not a bad one! I shall commend you for it!"
With Diera's delighted voice ringing out, the modified tank unleashed a rapid volley of beams.
One by one, the cavalrymen were killed.
Those who failed to dodge were vaporized from the waist up.
Through it all, only the Steel Knight survived.
He deftly maneuvered his horse to evade, and at times parried with his halberd. He was even using his subordinates' sacrifices as fuel to press forward.
It was a terrifying display of skill and iron will.
He understood this was the best play and had the resolve to execute it.
At last, the Steel Knight reached the modified tank.
The tank activated its mounted firearms — close-range omnidirectional fire.
There was no dodging left or right.
In response, the Steel Knight launched himself from the saddle.
Ignoring his dying horse, he dove at the tank from above.
He landed on the upper surface and charged forward while swinging his halberd.
The scale-and-chitin armor was carved apart and destroyed with ease, exposing the metal plate beneath.
On top of that, the flow of magical energy had been disrupted. That last blow must have damaged the internal mechanisms. Sparks were spraying from several spots.
The Steel Knight dropped off the modified tank and drove his halberd into its side. Using the halberd as a lever, he hoisted the entire tank off the ground and hurled it away with centrifugal force.
"W-w-what on earth?!"
Diera's voice, a mixture of shock and bewilderment.
The modified tank crashed into the ground, spinning as it went, before finally exploding from within. Intermittent blasts rang out as it began to burn.
The Steel Knight took a hand to his halberd.
The blade was slightly warped toward the tip — bent when he'd thrown the tank.
He gripped the bent section and forced it back into shape with raw strength.
After a few test swings to confirm there was no remaining imbalance, he turned and strode toward the Demon Lord's Army with an unshakable gait.