Published: September 9, 2025
※2015/6/17 Typo corrections made.
This is Satou. When I think of the Underground Empire, I usually imagine underground dwellers, but perhaps due to the influence of Western movies set in Egypt, these days having undead there doesn’t feel out of place.
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—Exiting the cave, we found ourselves on a battlefield.
“Looks like it just started.”
The endless tracks clattered, carving two grooves as the steel-bodied vehicle advanced.
Four tanks lined up on a hill inside the fortification halted their advance and rotated their turrets.
After a brief pause, black smoke puffed out from the muzzle and muzzle brake at the end of the barrels.
—So it’s not smokeless powder.
Four shells fired from the muzzle soared across the battlefield and pierced a steel golem that had just climbed over the first trench.
The shells penetrated the golem’s thick armor and gouged the earth behind it, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The golem was destroyed with a single hit, its body scattering in all directions.
“Oh, Mukuro’s catchphrase is coming!”
“Catchphrase?”
Before I could ask, a loud voice amplified as if through a megaphone echoed throughout the underground cavern.
“Drop dead! Fantasyyyyyyy!”
—Hey, come on.
“Again with that! Why don’t you try shouting a victory cry in your own words for once?”
An unseen opponent shouted insults in a synthetic voice.
This was probably from the “Iron Phantom (Iron Stalker).”
Looking closely, thin iron towers painted in red and white had been constructed on the battlefield, with what looked like speakers fixed near their tops.
The previous voice probably came from there.
Checking the map, the defenders appeared to be the “King Mummy.”
Besides the four tanks I saw earlier, the defenders had four armored vehicles and 56 skeleton soldiers deployed.
The attackers had seven steel golems and about 56 mud soldiers.
Neither side wielded swords or shields; instead, they equipped rifles with attached bayonets.
Including the golem that was just destroyed, it seemed to be a perfect 64 versus 64 battle.
Rather than an actual war, it looked more like a war game.
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We watched the battle from a viewing tower guided by Semery, and just as I first felt, it looked less like a genuine war and more like a war game or an experiment in weapon operation.
The battle ended with the tanks, who focused on ambush tactics, victorious and in control.
Once, the golems got close and destroyed two tanks, but a disposable bazooka-wielding hidden soldier took out the golem’s legs, immobilizing it, and then it was annihilated by concentrated long-range fire.
From this fight alone, modern weaponry won, but the golems’ movements were noticeably slow.
Despite looking identical to the golem guarding the entrance to the True Ancestor’s main area, these moved sluggishly, as if underpowered.
If that gatekeeping golem had been here, it should have beaten all the tanks alone.
There might be some kind of limitation or regulation in place.
“All right, let’s head to Mukuro.”
Following Semery, who leapt energetically from the tower, I descended as well.
Having just seen modern weapons, it felt strange that we were jumping from a height of 50 meters without any safety ropes.
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Beyond the battlefield stood a white building resembling a research facility.
On top of a fence about two meters tall was barbed wire with outward-facing spikes, an architecture that, as Arisa might say, “takes away the fantasy feel.”
Semery, apparently having free pass, greeted the mummies guarding the gate and entered without being stopped.
From a distance, the building looked like marble, but approaching closer, I realized it was made of concrete.
A skeleton dressed in a maid outfit came to greet us and guided us inside.
I chose to pretend I didn’t see the skeleton wearing a maid outfit.
The place we were led to was a spacious room about 50 tatami mats in size, illuminated by fluorescent-like lights.
At the center was a large table with a diorama reproducing the earlier battlefield, miniature tanks and golems placed on top.