They can do what they want for all I care. I freakin saved them from those bastards but this is how they repay me? Fuck this shit. “~Oh Ian, you've changed.~” OF COURSE I CHANGED! It’s part of human nature dammit. How the hell can I survive if I hadn't changed, duh.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind as my officers and I arrived at the frontline. All my men are now gathered in one position, but the vehicles are still evenly spread out in case the enemy decides to flank us. The tank and assault tank are still at the HQ, they can still cover us from that position. I also ordered them to just use HE shells.

“Sir, they’re now approaching.” Leah said as she pointed towards the western road.

I was surprised to see the monsters marching in an orderly fashion, some of them were even holding standards. “They appear to be well organized. Tell the tanks to fire on my signal.”

“Yes sir.”

As Leah went to the nearest APC to use the radio, a lone goblin riding on a huge black wolf went in front of the formation. He appears to be screaming something, but I couldn’t hear him from here, he’s still around 150 meters or farther away. It’s not like we’re in some war movie wherein I could magically hear his speech from the other side of the battlefield.

I went to the APC and saw Leah still on the radio, “Leah, let me use that for a second.”

“Of course sir, it’s already set up.” Leah said before handing over the headset and mic.

“Henry, do you copy?”

“*Krshk* I copy sir.”

“Fire an HE round at the enemy formation.”

“Yes S- *Krshk* -ir.”

Seconds after our conversation, the panzer IV's cannon fired with a loud boom. A shell whizzed past us and exploded in the enemy formation. The monsters were surprised and their formation was broken. I hopped off the APC and ran to the defence line again.

The goblin on the wolf shouted something again and the monsters all charged, except for the wolf rider because it just stood there. “Fuck, Men Open Fire!”

Rifles, MGs, and SMGs all opened fire at the mass of monsters charging at us. The monsters dropped like flies in the face of our overwhelming firepower.

Although we've already dropped a lot of them. They just keep on coming. I've even ordered my mortars to fire continuously at the monsters. The Panzer IV and the Sturmpanzer are also firing HE shells non stop, but there's just no end to the monster horde.

After some time had already passed and the road was literally filled with monster corpses, they finally decided to stop their mindless charges and held their position right behind the wolf rider. I also ordered my men to stop firing in order to conserve ammo. The wolf rider slowly approached our position and stopped roughly 25 meters away from us.

"Me great Ulhukay… General of Demon Lord army… Who you dare stop great me?"

"HOLY CRAP! The dumb green monkey is talking!" I exclaimed in my surprise.

"You call great me monkey? You die!"

The goblin general prepared to charge, but before he could even charge. He was met with a hail of bullets as I ordered my men to fire once again. The goblin general's hammer suddenly grew in size and he used it as a shield to hide his entire body and the wolf. Our bullets were just ricocheting off of it.

"Dammit, tell Henry to fire an AP round and the sturmpanzer to fire a heat round." I ordered Leah.

As Leah ran to the APC, the goblin general slowly moved forwards. His makeshift shield still bounced all the shots we fired. “We need those 75s and 150s firing now!” I yelled.

The tanks fired a few seconds later. Both shells directly hit the goblin general and made it stop dead in its tracks. “GRAAAAH! What magic stop great me!?” It roared our angrily.

I ordered my men to stop firing and let the tanks do the job. The Panzer IV and Sturmpanzer moved and positioned themselves in front of our position before firing again. The goblin general was hit again, this time he was pushed back several meters and cracks were forming where the shells landed.

While the goblin general was still stunned from our previous attack, I ran to the Sturmpanzer and banged at the hatch. A few seconds later someone opened it and greeted me with a salute, “SIR! Do you need something?”

“Yeah, load an HE shell and target the ground beside the goblin general. The blast might knock  him off or something.” I replied.

“Will do, sir!” The tank crew said as he popped back into the Sturmpanzer.

I hopped off and went to the Panzer IV, Leah was standing on top of the turret and Henry was manning the machine gun but he wasn’t firing. “Henry, fire an APCR round next.”

“Sir, we don’t have any APCR shells, we only have APCBC and HE shells.” he replied.

“Huh? Didn’t I give you some when we were fighting the dragon?” I asked.

“No sir, we killed the dragon before you even had the chance to give us some APCR rounds.”

“O-oh, sorry about that. I’ll give you some now.”

Hey, can I get 5 APCR rounds for my Panzer IV?

“Affirmative… 5 PzGr 40 rounds purchased… Total cost is 300 points… Deducting total cost to total points balance… Remaining points is 14231.75 points… Purchased Items will appear in a small ammo crate… “

Holy crap, 14k points!? How many monsters did we kill?

A small ammo crate appeared in a summoning circle on the tank’s turret. I tried lifting it up and I was surprised that I could still lift it. It weighs around 20 kilos or something, heck a sack of rice is heavier than this. I gave the ammo box to Henry, “There’s just 5 rounds there, use it wisely.”

“Yes sir!” he replied as he opened the crate and took one shell before going back inside the tank. I peeked inside the cupola to see what was going on. Henry was holding the APCR round while his loader took out another round from the cannon breech. After removing the loaded round, Henry gave the new one to the loader and the loader placed it in the cannon breech.

“Firing!” The gunner said before firing. *BOOOOM*. The inside of the tank was filled with smoke, but it quickly dissipated. The loader unloaded cannon breech and a smoking spent casing fell to a bag placed under the breech.

 So that’s how tanks fire. Henry was about to get another round but I decided to help and give a round to him. “Thank you sir.”

I checked the goblin general after giving the round, I found a metal spike embedded on his shield. That must be the tungsten core of the APCR. The Sturmpazer also fired after a few seconds and the shell exploded beside the goblin general. The goblin general wasn’t blown away by the blast, his shield just shook for a moment.

“DAAAMN YOUU!! Me great warg killed!!!” he roared. I guess that explosion and blast did some damage.

*BOOOOM* The Panzer IV fired its second APCR shell. It impacted right beside the first shell’s core and chipped off a decent chunk from the goblin general’s shield. The cracks from the earlier shells also became more visible and small bits continuously fell.

“HENRY FIRE AN HE SHELL NOW!” I yelled as soon as he popped his head out.

“U-uh yes sir!”

After a few seconds later, the Panzer IV’s cannon roared again. This time, the goblin’s general burst into a thousand small chunks as soon as the shell exploded. Not missing the opening, I ordered my men to open fire. Dozens of small arms opened up and hit the goblin general. The intense hail of bullets made the goblin general fly backwards for a few meters before coming to a complete stop. “CEASE FIRE!” I yelled. The goblin general didn’t get up even after our guns went silent, but I’m not taking any chances and ordered Henry to fire another HE round at the goblin general.

*BOOOOM* The shell exploded a few meters to the goblin general’s side but the blast was still enough to send its body flying. The body flew in an arc and landed in front of us. I took out my MP40 and fired a few rounds to make sure it’s dead.

After confirming that the goblin general is dead, I turned to my men, “FIX BAYONETS AND CHARGE. ALL TANKS MOVE FORWARD TOO. HALF-TRACKS WILL FOLLOW BEHIND!!!”

The monsters who were shocked from the death of their leader began to retreat as they saw us charging. Their already broken formation became more chaotic as their fear was greater than their discipline.

Leah and I held onto the cupola’s hatch as Henry manned the MG34 and fired at the fleeing monsters. Our chase continued up until the dungeon on the western part of the town. The monsters entered the dungeon, but our vehicles couldn’t follow inside. Well, maybe they can fit, but maneuvering inside will be hard to do and the vehicles won’t be able to descend to the lower floors.

I ordered my men to dismount, except for the two tanks. “We will now proceed with the mopping up operation, don’t stray from your squads. And only fire your guns when necessary, we’re running low on ammunition here.”

 “” YES SIR!!! “”

One by one, the squads entered the dungeon. I was with Leah’s squad and we were the first to enter. The dungeon didn’t physically change, but as soon as I stepped inside, I could feel something very oppressive coming from deep within.

We descended floor after floor, but still no sign of the monsters was found. I’ve got a bad feeling about this, this was just like when we entered the town. I gripped my MP40 tighter as tension slowly built up in me.

+ + + + +

At the town plaza after Ian and his troops moved out, the heroes and the adventurers stood there, unsure what to do next. “Uhmmm… so what do you guys want to do now?” Rika asked.

Marvin who was previously unconscious slowly and unsteadily got up, “We fight the monsters of course, and kill those damn glory stealers.”

“Uhmm, what about letting the townsfolk back here? Since everything looks quiet already?” Mary Claire suggested.

“I don-t think that’s a good idea… “ Maria tried to voice her opinion but was ignored by the heroes.

“Yeah, let’s go with that!” Jose said with a smile.

“Let’s go with that then.” The other heroes agreed without even thinking twice about it.

The group of heroes left the plaza and went to get the townsfolk, but the adventurers just stayed behind. Maria was looking down and the others watched her worriedly. “Maria?” Marga asked.

“Those damn heroes don’t even know what they’re doing! Bring the townsfolk back here? Are they even thinking!? We aren’t even sure that the whole town is clear of monsters and yet they just decide to bring everyone back here!?" Maria ranted, "URGHH! Screw training those kids."

Maria walked off angrily to the direction of the dungeon. Her other party members soon followed after her, leaving Tristan and the other adventurer at a loss of what to do next.

"Hey boss, should we go with Maria?" The other adventurer asked.

"Argh, dammit. Let's go with the heroes and help them. Maria and her party will be fine, but those heroes are another story." Tristan said as he marched off to the direction the heroes went to. They reached the heroes after some sprinting.

After arriving outside the town, the heroes announced that it was safe to enter. So the townsfolk entered the town with smiles on their faces. The heroes also had smiles on their faces thinking that what they were doing was the right choice.

+ + + Ian + + +

We chased the fleeing monsters through the dungeon, killing those who couldn't run away. I left the mopping up operation to the other squads as I led Leah's squad to chase after the fleeing monsters. We've already gone down several floors already.

What floor are we on anyways?

“Answer: 25th floor… Last floor for this dungeon… “

Wait, no cap!? We’re here now? The last floor!?

I ordered my men to slow down after finding out that we’re already on the last floor. After a few minutes of exploring, we finally found traces of the monsters. We followed it and found a group of monsters in front of a stone door.

"FIRE!" I yelled.

The monsters were no match for our guns and they fell one by one. After the last one fell, I ordered my men to open the stone door. The male soldiers pushed the door open with a loud shout.

Inside the room, we found a pedestal with a crystal ball on it. Hey, what is that?

"Answer: That is a dungeon core… "

A dungeon core? What, it's like the heart of the dungeon or something?

"Answer: Yes… "

Behind the pedestal I also noticed a large mirror. Ripples formed on the mirror's surface before a figure appeared.

My men aimed their weapons at the figure on the mirror. "Hold fire!" I ordered.

The ripples on the mirror finally disappeared and the figure became clear. The figure was wearing an ominous blood red plate armor with spikes adorning it. The helmet was also blood red with thick curled horns on it.

"Kays iti ira iti oynomed… "

What the hell is that thing saying?

"Kanah natawaan¿"

I still couldn't understand what it was saying. Finally noticing that he wasn't being understood, he pressed his hand on his throat. 

"Nessuya… Erd… C… can you now understand me, mortal?"

"Yeah, who the hell are you?"

"I am the Great Demon Lord of the time… I want to congratulate you for defeating one of my greenskin divisions… You might have defeated them but you still lost this battle… "

As soon as the figure finished saying that, the whole dungeon suddenly shook as if a huge earthquake hit it.

"W-what the hell did you do!?" I asked.

"You will soon find out… "

Ripples started forming on the mirror's surface again and the figure was slowly fading away. Before the figure completely faded away, I ordered my men to open fire.

"Your magic won't work on- GRAAAGK… "

The figure let out a pained scream before completely fading away. 'Magic doesn't work on me' my ass, we ain't using magic dumbass.

After that little satisfaction that came from knowing that we can hurt the 'Great Demon Lord' faded away. Leah quickly reminded me of the tremor.

"We need to get out of here quickly!" I yelled out with urgency.

Dammit, what the hell did that dumbass do!?

We ran up as quickly as we could, linking up with the other squads we passed on our way. A few minutes passed and we finally reached the dungeon entrance. There we saw Henry and the other tank crew members leaning on the cave's wall. Some of them were even injured and the two medics were hard at work tending to the injured.

I ran to Henry, "WH-WHAT HAPPENED HERE!?"

Henry tried to stand up straight but his foot limped and he almost fell down, but he managed to steady himself by leaning on the cave walls. "S-sir… "