Steel and Sorcerers - Chapter 41
Ainz and Sebas, in their adventuring team Darkness guises pushed open the doors to the E-Rantel adventurer's guild, making a beeline for the noticeboard. Heads turned in awe to watch, and other adventurers made way as the two adamantite-ranked individuals studied the noticeboard.
'Hmm, it should be here somewhere' thought Ainz as he looked at the different requests.
After staring blankly for a little while, out of the corner of his eye he spotted one of the receptionists waving at him.
He initially wondered if he should wave back. Many people were keen to say hi to Momon the adventurer after all. But then, he saw the people standing at the counter beside them. Dressed in khaki-camouflage military fatigues, it didn't seem they were even trying to conceal their identity anymore.
Ainz and Sebas made their way over to the group. They all looked extremely anxious.
"Thank god you're here Momon-dono and Sebas-dono, we've been looking for you for ages!" said one of them.
Ainz thought he recognised their face. "Ah, Itami-san, was it? What seems to be the problem?"
"Ah, um. We would like to make an urgent request, if you are available."
"I see, then shall we discuss this further elsewhere?" Looking over to the receptionist Ainz asked. "Is there a room available for us to use?"
"Certainly! Please, come this way."
The receptionist directed them to a well-furnished private room, and inquired if they would like refreshments served. Ainz and Sebas politely declined, as did the USJF members. Once the guild employee had left, Itami began to speak once more.
"Firstly, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude for coming to listen to our request."
Ainz waved a hand magnanimously. "It is no problem, I happen to be between jobs at the moment anyway, and having worked closely together in the past I should at least hear what you have to say."
"Thank you once again! I will now explain the situation."
Itami, with assistance from his squad members told Ainz about how they had suddenly lost contact with their main base of operations, with scouts later reporting it had been reduced to a smoking crater infested with demons. He then hesitantly explained how in that base there was a portal that led to their home country, and it was possible that the demons, likely controlled by Jaldabaoth were using it to attack them.
"I see, so Jaldabaoth has returned once again. Will Ainz Ooal Gown be assisting as well?"
"Well… it's a little complicated. Ainz-dono said he would help, but only on certain conditions, which we couldn't approve without contacting our superiors. He might have tried to go through the portal to contact them himself, but we're not sure."
"Hopefully we might gain clues to his whereabouts once we reach the other side of the portal then. So, do you have a plan of attack?"
"Yes. We were going to advance in a column with some of our remaining forces through the forest, spearheaded by yourself, and with Sebas guarding the rear. Then, once we were through, Sebas or yourself could guard the gate, trapping Jaldabaoth on the other side while we assess the situation."
"I see. Such a plan would mean Sebas and I would bear the brunt of the fighting."
"I'm terribly sorry, we'll change the plan at once!"
"No, no, it's alright. I'm sure your resources are strained at the moment, and since Sebas and I are individually the strongest fighters it makes sense for us to take on the most dangerous roles. Your weaponry doesn't seem as well suited for fighting in more close-quarters areas such as forests after all."
"Thank you for understanding Momon-dono. Now, for your reward, we will of course-"
Ainz held up a hand to stop him. "Please, don't worry about such things now. What matters right now is stopping Jaldabaoth."
"Ah! Thank you so much Momon-dono, I'm not sure how to express our gratitude."
"It is ok Itami-san, your sentiment has reached me. Now then, when are we heading out?"
Just a few days later in a similar room in the Adventurer's guild, the team that had gone to investigate the disturbance in the Great Forest of Tob was explaining what had transpired in their journey to the guild master, Pluton Ainzach.
"I see, a large ruin inhabited by undead, including at least one Elder Lich. It is quite strange that such a ruin has not been documented before somewhere. We'll put together a much stronger team to clear and study the site. Thank you for your help."
Soon after, a large team of adventurers, including several orichalcum ranked individuals was assembled and put forth to investigate the tomb further.
Ainz marched at the head of a column of USJF troops through the forest. A low level demon would occasionally appear, but they were always shot by the soldiers before they could get close enough for him to have to do anything. They eventually reached the clearing where the main compound had been.
It was a large open area where trees had been cleared, with a huge crater at its centre, a mound of dirt creating a path up to where the gate stood. The only signs left of previous human habitation were the remainder of the airstrip, and a few scattered ruined buildings.
"It's all gone… who could do such a terrible thing!" gasped one of the soldiers. "Jaldabaoth will pay for this."
Looking closer at the gate, one could see several demons guarding it. A few scale demons and a war devil.
"Alright, as per the plan, we'll stay here in the trees and cover you and Sebas as you engage those demons" said Itami. "Feel free to attack when you're ready."
Ainz and Sebas purposefully strode out into the clearing, the heads of the demons immediately turning to watch them. Just as they were walking down into the crater, a swarm of gazer devils rose from the trees and dived down onto them, as the larger demons guarding the gate moved in, raising their weapons to attack.
Fully automatic gunfire rang out from the USJF soldiers as their bullets ripped into the descending swarm.
Ainz had already drawn his swords previously, so he met the first war devil blade to blade. He deflected the overhand strike from its sword wreathed in hellfire with one blade, while striking with the other. However, his attack was nullified by the full-plate armour it wore.
Meanwhile, a flying scale demon swung at Sebas, but he dodged, causing it to hit the ground with its maul. He then jumped up onto the weapon and clambered up its arm to its head, where he snapped its neck, causing it to fall to the ground and disintegrate.
As Ainz duelled with the war devil, a gazer devil dropped down onto his head, throwing him off balance. However, a spray of bullets from the USJF quickly neutralised it, some of the bullets ricocheting off his armour. This was something they had discussed earlier, as Ainz was confident their rifles wouldn't penetrate his magically summoned armour, if Clementine's strikes could barely leave a dent. Speaking of whom, he thought he saw a soldier among the USJF who reminded him of her, although it was probably a coincidence.
He was knocked from his thoughts by the next attack from the war devil, who he was having some trouble dealing with. It turned out fully armoured opponents were hard to fight against all you had were swords. In addition, the hellfire on its sword meant he had to be careful not to let his swords be touched by it too long lest it spread to them. The war devil would also perform special aerial manoeuvres sometimes using its wings, which were hard to anticipate.
Still, he had two swords, and it only had one. Plus, if he took too much longer here it might make the USJF lose faith in his abilities.
Ainz rushed forwards, and instead of blocking the next strike, he tanked it, letting his armour deflect the strike. The war devil tried to fly backwards to make distance, but Ainz leapt forwards, slicing off one of its wings. As it fell to the ground, off-balance, Ainz used his pure brute level 100 strength to chop into its armour with a double overhand strike, breaking through and cutting deep into its shoulders. Not yet defeated, the war devil stumbled back to its feet and charged in one last valiant attempt, but Ainz easily knocked the strike aside and decapitated it in a finishing blow.
Looking around, he saw there was only one scale demon left, which flew up into the air to retreat with the remaining gazer devils. Taking aim, Ainz tossed a sword at it, impaling it through the back and causing it to fall and disintegrate. With that, the battle was over.
As the group of cheering USJF soldiers emerged from the forest to walk down and join them in the crater, Ainz put in a mental reminder to thank Demiurge for the training provided by fighting the war devil.
After some brief celebrations, they made their way through the gate. There was only a dark void initially, but after walking for a short distance they suddenly had vision of the rest of the tunnel. Chain-link fences had been torn apart and pushed over, and the ruins of security checkpoint buildings, gun emplacements and wrecked vehicles littered the path. After walking for a couple hundred metres, they could see a white light at the end of the tunnel. Walking through into this light, weapons at the ready, they emerged into a wasteland.
Just like on the other side, a crater, although smaller in size this time, surrounded the gate. Piles of rubble and burnt-out vehicles lined the streets, and where there used to be high rise buildings and large shopping complexes, only mounds of broken concrete remained. Although it was mid-morning, pillars of smoke obscured the sun, making it seem darker.
"My god… it's worse than I thought," said Kurata.
"To see a sight like this. In Afghanistan, sure, but Japan?" sighed Akira.
"Itami-san, I think Sebas should stay with us for now, so what direction should we head in?" asked Ainz.
"Ah, Sasuga Momon-dono. You're able to remain calm even upon seeing a scene like this for the first time. Well, we should head to the north-east. That's where the diet building is, which will probably be heavily defended."
As they walked down the ruined streets, the echo of gunfire and explosions could be heard in the distance. Demons would occasionally appear, but not in any large numbers that couldn't be quickly dealt with.
"Where's the damn air force!?" exclaimed Kuribayashi. "I haven't seen a single plane. Shouldn't they be bombing the demons or something?"
They walked in silence for a while longer until Itami announced "It's here."
"What's here?" asked Kuribayashi.
"The National Diet Building, it should be here" he said, pointing at his GPS.
"Let me see."
"Come to think of it, that pile of rubble over there does look a bit like the Diet building," said Akira.
"Fuu… Where to now then?"
"Umm, this is real bad isn't it? For the Diet to fall? Anyway, I think we should continue northeast. Yokota Airbase is over there, which is the headquarters for the US forces stationed in Japan. Hopefully it hasn't been reached by the demons yet."
As they walked, the sounds of gunfire grew louder, until they spotted an improvised barrier manned by JSDF soldiers. They could see undestroyed buildings in the distance behind them.
"Hey, who are you guys?!" they called out, their eyes fixed on Momon and Sebas.
"I'm 2nd Lieutenant Yoji Itami. We're from the special region, we broke out and need to report to HQ."
"What? The special region? No way you guys made it through unscathed, and who're those guys?"
"Their names are Momon and Sebas, they're warriors from the special region and are the reason we were able to escape."
"I see, so then maybe you really are… Ah, I wish I could ask you about what it was like there in the special region, but now's not the time, and I'm sure that's all classified information. You can borrow a GPS and an LAV if you need directions and transport, we're mostly operating out from Yokota Airbase right now, so I'd recommend heading there."
After borrowing an LAV and a couple of civilian cars, they quickly drove to Yokota Airbase. They were met by armed guards at the gates, but after some explanations and communication with higher-ups they were allowed entry. They were brought to a building where they were questioned about what had happened. Ainz, or Momon, was also subjected to intense questioning, although they were focused on the demonic incursion rather than details of the special region.
After some time, they were brought to a briefing room, where several grizzled looking operators were sitting, as well as a familiar face.
The guide who was escorting them instructed them to wait there, as one of the commanders would be speaking with them shortly, before leaving.
After sitting around awkwardly for a few minutes, there was a knock at the door, and a middle-aged man in uniform, entered the room, his armed guards waiting outside the entrance.
"Greetings, all. I am Lieutenant General Ricky Bupp" the man said with an American accent. "I'm here to discuss with you all a new proposal that was put forward. Firstly, I'll have you all introduce yourselves."
The operators each waved. "Chris, US special forces." "Mike, US special forces." "Doug, US special forces." "Charlie, US special forces." "Hernando, US special forces." "Jim, US special forces."
After that rather dry series of introductions was the familiar face. They were wearing various items one might see from a fantasy novel such as gauntlets and a crown, and an ornate bow lay across their lap. "My name is Imaga Yotiaru. I'm just a Japanese civilian, but I'll try my best."
After that, Itami's squad, Momon/Ainz and Sebas introduced themselves.
"Good. Now, you're all here today because we need a specialised team for hunting down powerful demons. Heavy firepower works fairly well against them, but it isn't mobile, and we can't be calling in airstrikes right near our own troops. That's where you guys come in. We'll airlift you to areas engaged with these stronger demons, and with Momon and Sebas here acting as the vanguard, you should be able to hopefully deal with them with minimal collateral damage. Are there any questions? Good. Now, we'd like to start you off with some easier deployments first, but as you may know, the situation is quite serious. Your first deployment will be tomorrow."
The US-led coalition fleet off Japan was in a critical state. After the huge demon attack in which a supercarrier, a helicopter carrier and several cruisers and destroyers were sunk, there was debate over whether it was even safe for ships to be operating anywhere near Japan. Also, there was the disappearance of Rear Admiral Bonnelly, presumed to be KIA.
Still, although the demons had gotten through and sunk many important ships, many demons had also been killed in the process, so ships continued to gather near the remnants of Carrier Strike Group 5, which was now missing its carrier. In the week since the attack two more carrier strike groups, each with a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier at its centre had joined up, along with multiple smaller ships from various allied nations.
The demons also weren't the only possible threat. China and North Korea, and a few other nations had issued statements which seemed to suggest that the demons were some sort of divine punishment. In addition, they had begun mobilising their militaries. They claimed this was to repel any demonic incursions in the case that the Japanese were unable to contain them, however it was suspected that they might be using this as an opportunity to seize territories while the US and their allies were distracted. In any case, it was hoped the massive fleet buildup around Japan would help dissuade any such actions.
As the sun began to set, casting an orange glow upon the skies, a single figure appeared above this fleet, as if they had materialised out of thin air. Dressed in a crimson suit and tie, bat-like wings sprouted from their back to hold them aloft. Their face was obscured by a devilish blue mask, rimmed in gold.
As lookouts spotted the figure, they immediately identified them as Jaldabaoth, the leader of the demonic forces. The order was given to immediately open fire. Huge lines of tracer bullets from point-defence guns began blasting him, as short-range missiles were launched from silos and turrets, arcing through the air to explode on him. The cannons on the decks of the ships also began firing, blasting him with hundreds of shells. It wasn't even possible to see Jaldabaoth anymore through the sprays of tracer fire and explosions.
All of a sudden, a huge ring of flames appeared around the fleet, spitting tongues of crimson flame towards the sky. Numerous powerful demons began to appear around him, swooping down to wreak havoc amongst the ships.
A huge meteor suddenly appeared in the sky. Defensive systems on the ships quickly began redirecting fire to shoot it down, but it was useless. The huge chunk of flaming rock left a flaming trail through the sky as it smashed through the deck of a Nimitz-class supercarrier, breaking the ship's back before exploding in a huge fireball, flaming debris raining down as the shattered hulk quickly began to take on water and sink. Moments later another meteor appeared, doing the same to the other supercarrier. All this while Jaldabaoth himself was still engulfed in a storm of gunfire and explosions.
Jaldabaoth suddenly stopped flying stationary in mid-air, and the huge form of a fearsome demon with fangs protruding from its mouth, sharp claws, flaming wings and a snake-like tail, all covered in scales emerged to descend upon the fleet. Panic immediately broke out among the crews, as they assumed that they had unleased Jaldabaoth's true form.
The demon dived down onto an Arleigh-burke class destroyer, the impact causing the ship to rock back and forth. Their flaming aura scorched the ship, and burning up any crew unlucky enough to be out in the open. It then put a clawed hand to the deck, unleashing a reddish-black inferno that began to rapidly spread across the ship, consuming it in hellfire.
The demon then took to the skies once more, shrugging off armour-piercing shells and guided missiles to hover next to another ship. Raising a muscular scaled arm, a red light appeared, and a large tower of flame appeared on the side of its hull, burning a huge hole and causing the water below to hiss and boil, throwing up a huge cloud of steam.
As the fleet began to rapidly scatter in all directions, another meteor descended from the sky, smashing a Murasame-class destroyer clean in half. More summoned demons landed upon the decks of other ships, slaughtering anyone onboard.
Jaldabaoth flew down to land on the deck of a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, apparently reverted back to his original, smaller form, and made his way below decks, casually swatting aside anyone in the way, causing them to explode in showers of gore. Eventually, smashing down a reinforced steel door, they arrived at the combat information centre of the ship, where the captain and officers were commanding the ship. They opened fire with small arms upon seeing Jaldabaoth, but he ignored their attacks, the bullets harmlessly bouncing off his suit and tie.
[Mass Dominate Person]. The crewmembers immediately stopped firing, and assumed a neutral stance.
"I want you to fire everything you have at the ships in your fleet" commanded Demiurge.
Despite having been hostile to him just a moment earlier, they immediately replied in the affirmative and began manning their stations.
Apart from scores of surface-to-air missiles, the ship was carrying 18 SM-6 and 8 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, with 140 and 488 pound explosive warheads respectively.
Up on the deck, hatches opened in flares of fire and smoke as these missiles were propelled out of their vertical launch cells to arc up in various directions, chasing down the ships in the fleet.
Not expecting a friendly attack, the defences on many of the targeted ships were too slow to react, and 10 ships were struck by missiles, explosions causing hull breaches and fires. Many lost power and propulsion, allowing the remaining summoned demons to easily finish them off.
Satisfied with his work, Demiurge commanded the crew to sail towards Tokyo, walking throughout the ship to eliminate any other survivors before teleporting away.
The hijacked ship ended up being torpedoed by a Japanese Soryu-class submarine before it could do any more damage, the mind-controlled crew going down with the ship. However, the scale of the destruction was immense. Of the US Navy's 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, 3 had already been destroyed in this as well as the last engagement, as well as scores of other allied ships. Discussions were already underway to reconsider whether the assistance of Ainz Ooal Gown may be required, even considering the demands he had made.
PSA: I know this Jaldabaoth arc has dragged on for ages, but it should be over soon.