The Chainsaw Sword
Marquis Krat, Count Fairbairn, and the various nobles of the North began to move.
The project I had proposed—reinforcing the wall's weak points and constructing the demonic beast processing plants—was no simple task.
It was a massive undertaking that required the cooperation of many.
Yet the North was now ready to move, more passionately and diligently than ever before.
For the first time, the word 'hope' had begun to materialize before their eyes.
"Alright, alright! It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Cardrim! Haha! You've returned?"
"Aye! I'm back! Let's get this godforsaken place moving once again!"
The North was home to many skilled technicians.
It was only natural.
This was the place that had self-produced the artillery shells, bullets, armor, and everything else the North consumed.
Those technicians and the dwarven artisans joined hands once more.
Reconstruction of the ruined steelworks began.
Meanwhile, the dwarves set up temporary smithies near the steelworks and hurriedly began manufacturing trap installations for the wall's weak points.
With the rebar and steel imported from the West, and the mobilization of every skilled laborer, supplies steadily began to roll out.
The Northern nobles would often stand and watch the spectacle for a long time, deeply moved.
"Marquis Krat. Count Rompelt. What are you two staring at so blankly?"
"We are simply overcome with emotion, Your Grace. Hearing the sound of hammers and seeing the steelworks rebuilt... it makes me feel as though the North is truly coming back to life."
"It's only going to get noisier from here. Don't lose your focus over this. Hurry along. Count Fairbairn, use the funds I brought to focus on rebuilding the steelworks and the infrastructure. Pinch every penny. The North is not wealthy."
"Of course, Your Grace."
"Marquis Krat, focus on feeding and reorganizing the Northern army. If you need supplies or equipment, request them from me. I will provide as much as I can."
"I shall do as you command."
"And Count Rompelt."
The Knight Commander.
The pinnacle of the chivalric might that symbolized the North.
This man had a slightly special role to play.
"Come with me to meet the dwarven artisans. I need your help in crafting a certain weapon."
"Looking at it again, it is crude. Truly a mess."
Count Rompelt swung the chainsaw sword that the Hellhound Brigade members had been using, immediately voicing his criticism.
"The shape is terrible, the balance is off, and it doesn't allow for proper leverage when swung. Furthermore, the design is far too complex."
He wasn't wrong.
These were issues that had been constantly raised even within the Hellhound Brigade.
And the man standing before me was a human weapon who made his living solely by the blade.
I needed the insight of someone with his exceptional instincts for cold weapons.
"I intend to fashion this into the shape of a proper sword. A single-edged blade. The teeth and chain will be made of mithril, and the body will be adamantium. Also, while this current model runs on gasoline, the new one will run on Elixir."
At my words, Rompelt's face twisted into a bizarre grimace.
"Is there... is there really a need to make such a sword? Why go out of your way to create such a deformed weapon?"
"Because it is the most effective tool for killing demonic beasts."
Count Rompelt chuckled at my response.
"I have hunted more than my fair share of demonic beasts since I was a boy, Your Grace. From my perspective, a sword is of little importance when dealing with them. Artillery shells are far more effective. There is no need to make such a weapon."
"That is how the North has hunted them until now, yes? Your basic doctrine is to thin their numbers as much as possible with artillery and machine guns, and then deploy knights only when close combat becomes unavoidable."
"That is correct."
"But we were different. During the six years of war, there were countless times when my beastmen soldiers had to engage in close-quarters combat with those beasts. And the results of those clashes made one thing clear: conventional cold weapons cannot kill demonic beasts."
Spears could not pierce their hides.
Even if they did, they would get stuck and couldn't be pulled out.
Hammers?
No matter how large or heavy, they could not kill or incapacitate a beast in a single blow.
Swords, polearms, shields, axes—we tried them all.
We used every cold weapon imaginable, but none proved effective.
It would be a different story if we could wipe them all out with artillery and machine guns, but given their speed, durability, physical strength, and the toughness of their hides, that was impossible.
The chainsaw sword was the closest thing to an optimal solution for close combat, forged through countless hellish battles.
"Count. From now on, we are going to reduce our consumption of artillery shells and machine gun ammunition when dealing with demonic beasts. We will minimize it as much as possible."
Count Rompelt's eyes widened.
"If we reduce artillery and machine guns, how on earth do you plan to fight them?"
"We will lure them into the weak points. Then, we will finish them off with swords. Their carcasses will be reborn as high-purity Elixir. Demonic beast corpses are going to be our source of income now. To process them, crafting a close-combat weapon like this sword is essential."
I patted Count Rompelt on the shoulder.
"And the first users of this chainsaw sword will be none other than your knights."
"Pardon?"
"The mass-production plant for Elixir isn't finished yet. Until then, we must power the chainsaw blades using the knights' Aura Blades. Furthermore, the knights must refine a specific swordsmanship style for fighting demonic beasts. Can you forge both the sword and the style?"
Count Rompelt's expression grew solemn.
His gaze was fixed intently on the chainsaw sword.
Soon, he nodded.
"I will do it, Your Grace. Hey, Cardrim. Can you refine mithril and adamantium right now?"
Cardrim Ironbeard, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, burst into boisterous laughter.
"Well, we lack a proper refining furnace, a magic forge, and a steelworks, but I can manage enough to arm a single man."
"Let's build a prototype. Not just a crude handle welded onto a chainsaw, but a proper chainsaw sword."
"Bwahaha! Splendid! Splendid! I can feel the fire burning in my veins already! Let's get to work!"
I walked out of the room, leaving the two of them to their passionate discussion.
I should ask the mages to miniaturize a mana engine that runs on Elixir.
Mana engines that ran on oil, gasoline, or coal were easy to manufacture and cheap.
On the other hand, Elixir-based mana engines were highly complex to build and expensive.
However, the engine for the chainsaw sword had to be Elixir-based.
A compact size with immense output was the defining characteristic of an Elixir-based engine.
And when I visited the banquet hall to make my request to the mages, Larmor's absurd genius manifested once again.
"Miniaturizing a mana engine? An Elixir-based one?"
"Yes."
"Hmm... what if we arrange the circuits like this? My intuition tells me it would be much stronger this way."
The mages brilliantly refined Larmor's intuition and advice. Before long, a rough blueprint for miniaturizing the mana engine began to take shape.
The dwarven artisans,
the passionate mages, Larmor,
and Count Rompelt.
My subordinates were incredibly competent.
In just two days,
they had completed the prototype.
And the timing was absolutely perfect.
On the very evening the prototype was finished,
"Demonic beasts! Thousands of demonic beasts are approaching the Blood Wall!"
The perfect test subjects for our new weapon had arrived.
The 8mm water-cooled machine guns spat fire.
The 155mm howitzers roared violently.
The demonic beasts charging frantically from the Magic Realm beyond the Blood Wall were engulfed in flames, their bodies tearing apart.
Yet, as always,
before they could be completely wiped out by the artillery and machine guns, the beasts closed in on the Blood Wall with terrifying strength and speed.
The cunning creatures threw themselves into the gaping breaches, drooling greedily as they attempted to breach the inner wall.
But there were those standing in their way.
Five knights, led by Count Rompelt,
alongside the bear and wolf beastmen of the Hellhound Brigade's close-combat units.
Will this... actually work?
Count Rompelt stared down at the prototype chainsaw sword crafted by the dwarven artisans in his hand.
It was crude and bulky.
The blade body was made of adamantium.
The teeth and chain were made of mithril.
A miniaturized mana engine was embedded between the hilt and the center of the blade, designed to rev up in response to the knights' mana or Elixir.
It is excessively complex, and far too heavy and thick compared to a normal sword.
The North was traditionally a place where heavy swordsmanship flourished.
Since they had to deal with demonic beasts, they had developed styles that crushed and sheared with heavy, powerful blades. Thus, the weight itself was not a major issue.
The problem was reliability.
And his doubts regarding the weapon's actual power.
But he cast his doubts aside.
This was a weapon made by Volka Adrakin.
There had to be a reason he had handed it to them.
With that trust, he stepped forward.
"Raise your blades, knights of the North!"
The knights raised their prototype chainsaw swords and began channeling their mana.
Normally, an Aura Blade would have flared to life, but instead, a ferocious roar of the mana engine erupted from the swords.
The mithril teeth began to spin violently.
A faint aura began to coat the spinning teeth.
"Kill them!"
The knights roared, charging toward the demonic beasts pouring through the breach.
With anxiety and distrust toward the unfamiliar weapon written on their faces, the first clash occurred.
Huh?
The knights' expressions instantly changed.
Unlike when using a standard longsword, the violently spinning, aura-clad teeth tore through the beasts' flesh with absolute ease.
It delivered a thrilling sensation of impact as it shredded the beasts' hides and muscle.
Rompelt's eyes widened.
What is this... what is this feeling?!
It was an overwhelming sensation.
A demonic beast's hide was incredibly tough.
How tough?
Even with an Aura Blade, the moment of impact felt stiff enough to send a jarring shock straight to the wielder's bones.
But this was different.
The thick hide, the skull, and the brain inside were sliced clean through in an instant, like a knife through cake.
The hide, which was the beasts' greatest defense, was effortlessly neutralized before the spinning teeth.
And that wasn't the only advantage of the chainsaw sword.
The mana consumption is noticeably lower.
The mana required to run the engine,
and the mana needed to coat the teeth and chain with aura—
both were so negligible compared to coating an entire longsword blade with an Aura Blade that it felt like using almost no mana at all.
It consumed far less physical strength and mana, yet killed the beasts with overwhelming ease compared to conventional longswords.
"Fire! Lay down cover fire so the knights don't get hurt! Fir— wait, what the hell is that?"
The soldiers firing machine guns from atop the wall were so dumbfounded that they momentarily ceased fire.
As experts, the five knights had grasped the core of anti-beast swordsmanship in an instant.
They executed highly efficient techniques, minimizing their movements while targeting only the heads, thrusting and retreating with precision.
But that wasn't all.
"Leave some for us to kill!"
At the bear beastmen's shouts, Count Rompelt quickly adjusted his tactics.
"The legs! Aim for the legs! Sever the legs and pull back!"
This time, the knights' blades targeted the beasts' legs instead of their heads.
Stripped of their overwhelming speed once their legs were severed, the beasts became easy prey for the bear beastmen.
The bear beastmen couldn't slice through the hides in a single stroke like the knights.
However, they killed the beasts by thrusting the spinning blades into vital areas and letting the teeth grind away inside their bodies.
After about ten minutes of combat,
"All targets neutralized! The situation is clear!"
The artillery fire ceased.
The machine guns stopped spitting bullets.
Standing amidst the carcasses of hundreds of demonic beasts, the knights stared blankly at the weapons in their hands.
This is the real deal.
It was heavy.
The balance was still off.
The connection between the mana engine and the mithril chain was frayed, perhaps damaged during the fight.
While its power was outstanding, its reliability needed significant reinforcement.
There was a risk of malfunction due to the cold or foreign debris.
But...
even so, this was an incredible weapon.
This isn't just for demonic beasts; it can be used in combat against other knights! This is... a mad invention!
This was the armament that would save the North.