Gandharva's First Defensive Battle (2): The Twin-Horned Lizard
The area assigned to the Golem Squad was already in the midst of battle.
“Damn this sandstorm! We missed our chance to strike first!”
“Don’t panic! They couldn’t have come from far away either! If we respond calmly, there’s no way we can’t win!”
Huge lizards with horns were charging forward. A woman who seemed to be the commander rallied the defense forces, and the soldiers fired arrows or threw stones. The mages chanted spells and immediately cast magic, but because the monsters had gotten too close to the walls, their spells lacked power.
Still, the soldiers didn’t give up and busily ran around preparing when, with the sound of flames, a Knight’s massive leg landed right in the center of the monsters, as if leaping over the wall.
—Kwaaaang!!
Blood and bodily fluids splattered against the metal armor. Its enormous body proved itself to be a weapon in its own right through the lizards’ bodies.
“Then next is this.”
Immediately channeling mana into the sword via the golem’s controls, part of the blade heated up red. Thanking the Alchemy Rioters who had finally developed the technology to thinly coat the blade with Heat Metal, he swung the sword, and the lizards began to die, burned as if on fire.
The lizards that finally sensed the danger and charged again were blocked by raising the shield, pushed back, and then their heads were kicked and burst by the leg. When they tried to attack next, gunfire from above swept the surroundings once.
And unlike this side, two Cyclops landed softly on the ground. The Cyclops ridden by Erika began firing the machine gun again, while Professor Reina, delighted that her unit was equipped with close-combat weapons, immediately drew her longsword and started cutting down monsters.
The area in front of the wall was cleared in an instant. Before more monsters could gather, he turned to speak with the person in charge. The woman who seemed to be the commander looked up at him.
“Are you Baron Eisen Arclight?!”
“I am Baron Arclight.”
He spoke through the Knight’s voice output. Then, operating the mono-eye to look into the distance, he saw the horned giant lizards charging toward them.
“The enemy type is Horn Lizard! Individually they’re ordinary, but when they form a pack…”
“They create quite the spectacle, don’t they.”
He briefly wondered if they might turn away in surprise upon seeing the giant golem appear here, but the monsters showed no sign of intimidation and charged straight toward them.
As expected, it wouldn’t be easily resolved. After a moment’s thought, he reached a conclusion.
‘Time to make use of the golem’s greatest advantage.’
The greatest advantage golems had over chimeras, one that chimeras couldn’t match.
He immediately looked at the commander.
“We came in such a hurry that we brought every available golem we could. There won’t be any more reinforcements. Let’s fight in coordination.”
Because people were piloting them, it was possible to fight in sync with people. Golems were the only ones capable of a battle where both sides utilized each other rather than one being unilaterally dragged along.
“Understood! I’ll reorganize the formation!”
The female commander immediately began reorganizing the formation. She must have already heard from Prince Rial, but her acceptance was quite flexible. He had expected the usual rebuff of “What would an outsider know?” when suggesting coordination, but this was a pleasant miscalculation.
With the numbered bracelets standing out particularly, it was also time for this side to form their formation.
“Erika, prepare to provide supporting fire from behind the wall rather than close combat. Cover the mages while they prepare their bombardment. Professor, I’d appreciate it if you could also focus on supporting fire if possible.”
“What about you?”
At Professor Reina’s question, he immediately looked at the terrain ahead. Seeing the enormous number of lizards, he immediately grasped what needed to be done.
“Block the entrance.”
To the monsters, a golem standing still was itself a massive wall. If he stood near the passage, the monsters would have to go around, inevitably bunching up and buying even a little time. Then the mages or Cyclops’ gunfire could easily clean them up.
Erika and Professor Reina’s Cyclops jumped behind the wall and took position. The Cyclops, with sealed joints and special shoe parts for smooth movement in the desert, wouldn’t easily sink into the sand, loaded Rodelini’s machine guns.
“Kneel on one knee, Erika. Using that as a support should stabilize your posture even on sand.”
“Yes, Professor. Eisen, don’t push yourself too hard!”
“Yeah. Don’t worry.”
He lightly saluted Erika’s unit with one hand and turned forward again. Then, lowering his own posture, he extended his left arm.
“Shall we try a test fire?”
The shield equipped on the left arm. The gatling gun additionally mounted beneath it.
“Professor Rodelini really did a good job again.”
A weapon developed because the Knight, which had poor long-range suppression capability, needed a long-range suppression weapon.
He immediately aimed the gatling gun at the monsters. The barrels began to rotate, locked onto the targets, and when he pulled the trigger, a hail of bullets poured toward the monsters.
—Tututututut!!
The rain of bullets instantly began grinding the lizards’ bodies. As corpses piled up, they formed another obstacle in front, further slowing the monsters who already couldn’t charge smoothly.
And the fact that their speed decreased and movement became difficult meant…
“Eisen, they’re going to use magic…”
“Count to three and move!”
He counted inwardly and jumped upward. Immediately, the mages’ area-of-effect magic was fired, clearing the front line. Before landing back on the ground, the machine guns fired to clean up the enemies, and seeing the mages begin chanting again, he landed.
“Everything’s going according to the textbook.”
The close-combat specialized golem bought time on the front line, the mages fired area magic, and the rear golems filled the gaps with supporting fire. Thinking that this hastily improvised strategy was working quite well, he quietly smiled.
If things continued like this, they’d block them without difficulty.
Of course, that was always the hardest part.
—Kugugugugu….
From behind the horned lizards, a much larger lizard appeared. With two horns and a size that looked capable of piercing through a Cyclops or Knight even with a simple charge.
“Eisen, according to the commander, that giant lizard is their boss.”
“The leader isn’t at the front but in the middle.”
He didn’t know if it was their habit to send out advance parties first or just coincidence. But.
“That means we have to take it down here.”
He dyed the sword blade red. Tentatively naming it the Twin-Horned Lizard, he first fired the gatling gun. The lizards clinging to it like escorts were caught in the gatling’s bullet storm and perished, and immediately magic bombardments flew in to attack the giant lizard’s body.
Then, breaking through the smoke, two horns approached right before his eyes. He quickly thrust up his shield to block the horns.
“Damn, its body is really tough!”
As expected of a boss, it didn’t flinch even under magic bombardment and gatling fire. Its strength was as great as its massive body suggested, and creaking sounds came from the unit’s joints.
While locked in a contest of strength, he felt something hard catch on the shield.
‘This bastard, don’t tell me…’
Sensing the danger immediately, he detached the shield and saw the Twin-Horned Lizard violently jerk its head back, flipping the shield away. If he hadn’t detached the shield quickly, he would have been sent flying or lifted up. That thought lasted only a moment.
Soon the monster’s massive body began pushing the Knight back.
‘…I thought we’d prepared enough for desert terrain…!’
He tried to push back the Twin-Horned Lizard with the Knight, but unlike the monster whose wide feet allowed it to exert good force even on sand, the Knight’s feet gradually sank into the sand, getting pushed back.
Normally, he wouldn’t have been at a disadvantage in this kind of strength contest, but the terrain put him at a disadvantage. If this continued, he’d fall over and get crushed. And if that giant body crushed him, even the Knight’s cockpit couldn’t be guaranteed to hold.
If he fell, that is.
“Sorry, but golems don’t only have legs as a means of movement!”
He immediately activated the boosters and, while grabbing the monster, pushed forward. The Twin-Horned Lizard, which had briefly pushed this side back with the terrain’s help, began to be pushed back as the boosters’ output was added. True to being a boss, it seemed to know it would lose if pushed back like this, and he could feel it putting strength into its legs to resist. But.
“Even like this, I can still increase the output!”
He immediately raised the output and strongly shoved the monster’s jaw away. Then, he struck the monster’s head hard with the Knight’s fist.
—Kuwooor?!
The Twin-Horned Lizard, a four-legged beast, was struck directly on the head. It immediately tried to counterattack by thrusting its horns, but this side was humanoid. He immediately brought his back toward the monster, grabbed the horns, used his torso as a lever, and swung his arms down while rapidly increasing output.
The Twin-Horned Lizard’s massive body briefly flew into the sky. Then he thrust the horns away once more.
—Kwaaaang!
Finally, the horns broke and the monster fell forward. With its belly facing the sky, it hurriedly twisted its body, but a body that large couldn’t flip over that quickly.
“Four-legged animals avoid showing their bellies to enemies because the belly, where the organs are, is the most vulnerable.”
He stepped on the monster with his leg as it frantically moved its legs trying to quickly regain its posture. The Knight shook from the monster’s strength, but the Knight’s weight wasn’t something to be trifled with either. He had completely seized its vital point.
Quietly speaking while raising the broken horn and the heated blade,
“Let’s see how you like it.”
He thrust the horn and sword into the monster’s abdomen. As its organs burned, the Twin-Horned Lizard struggled, but the Knight maintained its posture while trampling the monster. Eventually, the monster’s struggles ceased. The lizards that had been watching from nearby began backing away. When he raised his sword, the heated blade was revealed as the blood evaporated.
—Kireeeek!!
When what seemed to be the next highest-ranking one cried out, the monsters began fleeing. The horned lizards began withdrawing from the front line all at once. Realizing they would be annihilated if they stayed, they were putting all their effort into escaping as their survival instincts dictated.
The dust that had been charging with all their might toward human habitation was receding. The once-noisy desert instantly fell silent. At the moment he thought he could hear the sound of beasts fighting each other from farther away carried on the wind—
“Baron Arclight has slain the enemy leader!!”
“Waaaaah!!”
When Erika’s voice was greatly amplified through the speakers, the soldiers finally began cheering.
It was an overwhelming victory.