PSA: Exams are over *crab rave*
Steel and Sorcerers - Chapter 20
It was a mild summer's day in central Honshu. Amidst the backdrop of Mt Fuji and rolling green plains, a ladybug settled atop a strange white cut-out object sticking out from the ground. It made its way across the surface of the thin mass, coming to a section painted with red concentric circles. Just as it spread its wings to fly, the target was blown apart by an explosion, throwing a cloud of dirt into the air and leaving a smoking crater behind.
US and Japanese forces were currently performing a joint live-fire exercise in the Mt Fuji region amid growing international tensions with Japan across the globe. The Type 99 155mm self-propelled howitzer that had just destroyed the cut-out began readjusting to fire a second shot, as infantrymen knelt down in the grass to lay down fire on closer targets.
One of these Japanese infantrymen brought his rifle up to his shoulder and fired off a burst at his assigned target, waiting for a moment to give time for the bullets to travel through the air so he could confirm his hits. However, much to his disbelief, there were a series of plumes of dirt kicked up around the base of the cut-out, but no direct hits. He fired again, this time only tap-shooting, but again, it seemed as if his rounds were being repelled by the target.
"Hmmm, just as I expected. Bullets are counted as unenchanted projectiles."
Ainz let out a small sigh of relief. Guns did exist in Yggdrasil, such as those equipped by CZ and attached to powered suits, but those were often enchanted with additional effects, which allowed them to bypass certain resistances. He was worried how the game system would interpret bullets fired from ordinary guns now that it was all in real life, but it seemed there had been no need for concern. As the soldier fired, the bullets would simply ricochet off him and plunge into the dirt.
'Ah, that reminds me.'
Ainz quickly stepped aside from out in front of the target. Although he was using the [Perfect Unknowable] spell, the soldier would grow suspicious if he kept on missing the target. Using his enhanced eyesight he could see the Japanese rifleman frustratedly hand his gun to the soldier next to him, who then proceeded to hit the target with no issue, much to his dismay.
Next on Ainz's list was testing his resistance to tank rounds, so he began casually pacing over to a set of targets further in the distance. He had to admit he was a little nervous this time. A tank shell was basically just a large bullet, so should be considered as an unenchanted projectile. However, if it wasn't, he could be in for a world of pain.
As he arrived at the cut-out target, he looked back across the plains to a dirt clearing where the heavy vehicles were taking their shots from, and found himself staring down the barrel of an M1A2 Abrams. Ainz felt a little uncomfortable placing himself in the firing line like this, but getting this data could be imperative to the future survival of Nazarick. In addition, he didn't know when another opportunity like this would come up again.
He then spotted a flash and a plume of smoke. 'Oh, it looks like they're firing now.'
The American crew of the Abrams loaded a DM53 APFSDS round into the tank's 120mm smoothbore cannon. Normally they would be using a variant of the M829 round, but since that had a penetrator made from depleted uranium the Japanese weren't too keen on using it on their home soil. Thus, they were using the DM53, which used tungsten instead. Waiting for the signal from the Japanese organisers, they fired. With a loud boom, as the projectile exited the barrel of the cannon, the sabot surrounding it detached and flew off in a number of fragments, leaving behind the core of the round, a 745mm long tungsten dart flying through the air at over 1500 metres per second, capable of penetrating through over half a metre of steel armour.
Ainz tracked the projectile as it arced through the air towards him, holding his breath until it bounced harmlessly off his chest into the ground behind him, causing a plume of earth to erupt into the air in its wake. Despite this, he didn't step away from the target yet. There was a chance that it had just been a fluke, and that they had simply missed, so he steeled himself once again. A few seconds later, another spray of dirt was thrown up into the air, this time to his right. He breathed a sigh of relief, gaining greater confidence in his abilities.
However, there was still one more test he had to do.
Ainz had to admit that it was a peculiar feeling, standing in the middle of a large x painted on the side of a hill, far away from anyone else. If anything, it was a bit like the feeling of acting as the bait, and luring other players into a trap. He was glad that he had the foresight to not bring Narberal along for this. There's no way that she would be able to bear seeing him put himself in harm's way like this.
Ainz heard the distance whine of jet engines approaching. 'Ah, here they come.'
This was the main highlight of the military exercise by far. In 2020, Japan had retired their fleet of F-4EJ Kai aircraft. However, upon the discovery of the gate these aircraft were being hurriedly restored and brought back into service. Only around 5 had been restored so far, three having already been sent into the special region. Since it had only been retired recently, most of the pilots still remembered how to fly it. Although it couldn't compete against modern fighters, those wouldn't be an issue in the special region, where it would perform strike and reconnaissance missions.
Flying towards Ainz now at an altitude of just a couple of thousand metres, the two F4s that hadn't been sent through the gate initiated their bombing run. Each was carrying 2 out of a total of 4 GBU-15 2,000 lb guided bombs on their external weapon hardpoints. They locked onto the large red x on the ground with the weapons' guidance systems before dropping their payload.
Ainz watched as the jets screamed past overhead, anxiously observing the trajectory of the bombs as they arced through the air towards him. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure what the result of this test would be. He was sure he wouldn't be killed outright at the very least, but there was the possibility that he might take some heavy damage if the explosions ended up being interpreted as high-level magic. He also wasn't currently wearing most of his main equipment for disguise reasons, just in case he needed to become visible again.
Agonising seconds ticked by, as Ainz watched the bombs come closer and closer. Then, finally cam the moment of truth as Ainz braced himself for impact, resisting the urge to cast [Body of Effulgent Beryl]. The bombs hit, four of them in brief succession, each creating a massive explosion as they landed.
As the dust settled, Ainz remained standing at the bottom of a huge crater, 15 metres wide and 7 metres deep. As he dusted off his Japanese garments, which had been untouched despite the blasts, he began rapidly processing what had just happened.
He hadn't taken any damage from that attack, meaning his [High Tier Magic Immunity III] likely hadn't been breached. This was the same result as when some artillery shells that he had stood under earlier had left him untouched. This meant that those bombs could perhaps be considered equivalent to 6th tier or lower magic. Based on the spells he knew of, Ainz felt this was a fairly expectable outcome. While the bombs created a large explosion, they didn't have the same single-target damage output or special effects of other higher-tier spells.
Speaking of magic, Ainz was quite grateful yet perplexed at his ability to use his spells and skills on Earth, a place which he was pretty sure was supposed to be devoid of any real magic. Some theories he had were that magical energy was somehow leaking through the portal, or that magic was an intrinsic property of certain entities which could be used across worlds. This was all just speculation though. He would probably have to meet whoever created that portal between worlds to get a proper answer.
As for the results of his tests so far today, while Ainz had proven that he, and by extension many of the stronger NPCs should be immune to the majority of the attacks Earth could throw against them, he still didn't have any data on the amount of damage their weapons did to weaker targets, since he had resisted all the damage. 'Suffering from success', would be one way of putting it. That meant he would have to repeat all his tests, this time with resistances turned off. Needless to be said, it wasn't something he was looking forward to, but the combat exercises weren't over for the day yet, and he had a responsibility to protect Nazarick to uphold.
The strategic situation in the new world was also starting to deteriorate, as Japan rapidly grew their influence and operations. He had also heard from Albedo in one of her reports that they had established ties with the Dwarf kingdom, intending to help them defeat some monsters that had been plaguing them. From memory, the Dwarf kingdom was located to the north of Nazarick, while the JSDF's base was to the south-west. If they were successful, then after this also somehow became allies with the Baharuth Empire or Re-Estize Kingdom, that could mean Nazarick would be surrounded on almost all sides by a single power bloc.
To prevent this, Nazarick could perhaps extend a hand to help the dwarves as well, offering better terms. However, Ainz had a feeling the dwarves would prefer the humans from Earth over Nazarick, which had a large population of heteromorphs, or monsters.
The alternative could then be to help the monsters instead. From what he remembered from Albedo's report there were some dragons, as well as some sort of mole people. Dragons were one of the most powerful races in Yggdrasil, so they might make for powerful allies. Albedo did say that they were all weaklings though.
After he was done with the tests here today, he would probably return to Nazarick so that he could oversee the dwarven situation better. There was still one type of weapon he wanted to know the effects of before he left Earth, but based on his research they would be too difficult and risky to obtain and test. He had even tried using scrolls of [Locate Object] as a desperate last attempt to find ones that had gone missing. But predictably, that hadn't worked.
The commander of the JSDF's base in the special region sat at the desk in his office, poring over a new classified report that had just come in. It was the results of the firing and material tests that they had done against samples of exotic materials that they had obtained from the dwarves. Mithril, orichalcum, and adamantite. All stronger than steel, and increasing in material strength, as one went up the tree.
They increased in price exponentially as well. Just to obtain the samples used for testing they had had to pay a handsome sum. However, just as hoped, this sum was actually far less than what one would have to pay trying to obtain them from the other surrounding nations. If the dwarves managed to increase their mining output, then it might actually be viable to incorporate mithril into weapon and vehicle designs on a large scale. Orichalcum and adamantite however would probably remain too rare for anything besides specialty roles, unless mass mining operations could be conducted.
Initial work on establishing a safer route for travelling to and from the dwarf kingdom had so far been plagued with difficulties and delays. The frequent monster attacks made setting up equipment incredibly difficult and expensive, especially for helicopters which were vulnerable to aerial attack. They had brought a number of anti-aircraft guns out of reserve, but those were still yet to arrive.
Suddenly the landline phone at his desk burst to life. The commander grabbed it and raised it to his ear.
"Ah, the Quagoa are attacking? Good. Make sure to take detailed notes and report back immediately."
The Great Rift was a huge chasm that ran along the western side of the Dwarven Capital, Feo Jera. It was a massive crevasse. Over 40 miles long, 130 yards across at its narrowest point, and its depth unknown. On the side of the rift closest to the Feo Jera was a fortress, which protected a suspension bridge that ran across to the other side. This created a chokepoint from which it was easy hold off any potential invaders.
The Quagoa were aware of this, so under the leadership of Pe Riyuro, the Lord of the Clans, they would only conduct reconnaissance missions and limited offensives in order to reduce potential casualties.
The attack today was a small group of around 50 Quagoa, who would attempt to cross the bridge in order to probe the Dwarves' defences. These offensives tended to suffer a high casualty rate, but the Quagoas' desire to distinguish themselves in battle overrode their fears.
As the group emerged from the caves and made their way onto the ledge on their side overlooking the Great Rift, they noticed something different. Accompanying the usual dwarven defenders were what appeared to be humans, dressed in dark patterned clothes and wearing helmets with strange devices mounted on them covering their eyes. They carried some kind of elongated objects, which they were currently pointing at them as if taking aim with a crossbow. In addition, there was some kind of large machine waiting on the ledge near the other end of the bridge.
The commander of the attack formation, a Quagoa with bluish coloured fur, ordered one of his clansmen to return and report what they had seen so far. The rest of them would continue their attack, and he would report the results of that engagement personally. He let out a mighty war cry, signalling his troops to advance.
Colonel Frank Matterson who was overseeing the JSDF-US forces stationed at the Great Rift had just got off the radio, informing the main base's commander about the situation. One advantage of working in the special region was that there was no need for any translators, greatly increasing the effectiveness of cross-lingual cooperation. They had also recently finished installing a series of radio-transceivers throughout the dwarf kingdom, enabling them to easily contact the main base.
Through their night-vision goggles they could see the Quagoa beginning their charge across the bridge. Since the distance was only a couple of hundred yards to the other side, his soldiers could've opened fire long ago. However, he had ordered his men to hold fire for now. He was curious to see the dwarves' tactics before testing out the effectiveness of his own weaponry.
Once the Quagoa were almost halfway across the suspension bridge, the dwarven commander gave the order for his crossbowmen to fire. A hail of lightning-enchanted bolts came raining down on the Quagoa from the fortress wall, causing many to fall to the ground, convulsing in agony as electricity coursed through their bodies.
"Mages, Blitzkrieg!" shouted the dwarven commander. Four mages stepped out onto the ledge just in front of the bridge launching what looked like lances of lightning from their outstretched palms, which pierced through and killed a few Quagoa each.
At this point it was pretty clear that the Dwarves would easily repel the attack. After that opening volley there were only about a dozen Quagoa left, and they had only just crossed the halfway point on the bridge.
"We'll take things from here" Matterson informed the dwarven commander. "Just have your men ready in case a few make it across the bridge."
The dwarven commander nodded, a little anxiously, before complying and waving at his soldiers to cease fire.
The human commander then picked up his radio. "This is Colonel Matterson to all human fortress units. You may fire at will."
All at once the sound of deafening gunfire began resounding throughout the cavern.
The remaining Quagoa almost instantaneously crumpled under the weight of fire. A single enchanted bullet wasn't enough to fully incapacitate a Quagoa, but multiple successive hits, or hits to vital areas was enough to bring them down.
Through his night-vision goggles Matterson could see what appeared to be the Quagoa commander on the other side of the canyon. They took few steps back, and turn to run, before taking multiple 25mm Bradley cannon rounds through the chest, abruptly collapsing to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
With the 10 soldiers and single M2A1 Bradley under his command, he had wiped out the remaining 12 Quagoa within seconds. While it was true that the dwarves' opening volley had been devastating in its own right, his own troops would be able to sustain such damage output for far longer, as it took the dwarves a considerable amount of time to reload their crossbows.
In short, the test had been a resounding success. With this, Colonel Matterson was filled with confidence that they would be able to retake the lost dwarven cities. It might even be worth training some of the dwarves to use fire-arms of their own.
PSA: With Ainz and some others, I'm not sure if unenchanted projectiles shot at them would either bounce off, lose all velocity and fall to the ground, or be deflected off to the side. In the anime I remember it looked like Cocytus had a forcefield which a rock shot at him bounced off of. In the latest volume some unenchanted projectiles shot at Albedo are deflected off to the side, but I think that's due to her [Parry Missile] skill rather than her innate resistances.
Also, with the [Locate Object] spell, I'm assuming that you have to have seen the object before in-person to use the spell properly.