16 - Tools of war

One of the mages standing on top of the walls looked at the tanks in the distance for a bit before he concluded

"They are simple metal carriages, they must be armed with some sort of projectile launcher, though I can't possibly see how it would be able to reach the walls from there…"

The city lord that stood next to the old mage nodded, his eyes were red from crying over his dead brother, though they were no longer filled with grief, but anger and hatred pure and simple as he spoke in a frighteningly cold voice

"I want them dead, as for the dragon parts you sirs can use them in your research or sell them, I don't care"

The eyes of the 3 mages flashed with a trace of greed as they imagined the life of luxury that was ahead of them, then they quickly hid away their greed before they showed smiles and one of them quickly promised the city lord

"They are already dead men"

Another spoke up

"That's right, they will die painful deaths to comfort your brother in the afterlife"

The last one stood and kept an eye on the tanks that seemed to have woken up as they moved around with roars of the engines sounding out faintly in the distance, then he spoke up

"They seemed to have formed a formation… A battle formation…"

The other 2 mages and the city lord looked at the tanks in the distance before they scoffed as the city lord spoke

"They are what? Under 20 metal carriages? I have 400 well-trained men and you 3 sirs ready to support them… Plus, my brother's elite soldiers are already moving around to hit them at the back"

The 3 mages showed smiles before they nodded, though the one that had pointed out the formation still showed a slight frown, he didn't know why but he felt as if a noose was tightening around his neck when he looked at the metal carriages in the distance, though he quickly scoffed and muttered

"I must have grown soft with age… I need to retire soon…"

Merlin stood on top of the back most Panther tank, Vier, and looked towards the matching soldiers before he nodded and crawled down into the tank where Old man Geo and Jane waited, Geo quickly asked him

"How was it? Are they attacking?"

Merlin nodded

"They've lined up their troops, like lambs ready for a slaughter…"

Geo showed a frown before he asked

"Isn't there another way than killing all those men? I know most of them by name and have helped train about half of them..."

Merlin sighed before he spoke

"If I, we don't show our might now it will only lead to bigger conflicts in the further, if we bow down we'll only be stepped on, the weak are only there to feed the strong"

Geo looked like he wanted to argue but he quickly shut his mouth before he sighed deeply

"I will take those words to heart"

Then he closed his eyes as he was making peace with the fact that he had seen a lot of faces for the last time before they would be ground into the dirt by Merlin's engines of war, Merlin looked down at his own shaking hand, those words were meant as much to Geo as they were to himself, Jane looked at the side profile of his face, she was just about to say something when she closed her mouth again, then Merlin closed his eyes and spoke, loud enough for the others to hear

"Engine's on, load High-Explosive in all cannons except sharpshooter, check belt-fed machine guns, advance with 10 Kph…"

The 14 tanks came to life at once as their engines roared as if they were ancient beasts being woken up, then the engine's power was quickly translated through the transmission of the tanks as they slowly advanced forwards, then like one dropped a live grenade into a pond it happened as Merlin commanded with an eerie calm voice

"Fire"

Cannon fire rang out at once followed by machine gun fire as the cannons were deftly reloaded by the unfeeling automatons that crewed their equally unfeeling weapons of war, the synchronized cannon fire soon turned into a pandemonium of noise as the different reload times came into effect, this had never been a fight, but a mere weapon demonstration instead as the tanks displayed their cruelty while they slowly advanced forwards, while they did Merlin received notifications from the system

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer I, award: 10 points]

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer II, award: 25 points]

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer III, award: 50 points]

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer IV, award: 75 points]

[Ding! Achievement unlocked: human slayer V, award: 100 points + random blueprint fragment]

Merlin felt sick as he saw the notifications from the system, he felt sick to the core of his body, this wasn't a damn game, those were people, men, and women that had families, children, and loved ones who they would now never see again, their bodies were torn apart by the cannon fire that plowed the field with blood, guts and blown off limbs, he felt sick to the bottom of his soul, he felt sick about himself that had ordered such a thing, no matter how much he told himself that it was necessary he still felt sick, as he did something inside him was about to snap as the thought emerged in his mind

'Maybe I am a monster..? Have I become the very same thing I was sent to destroy?'

As Merlin's mind neared collapse from the screams and horrifying images that entered his mind through the scope control a hand reached out to him and drew him into a warm embrace, this was Jane that had pulled him into her embrace as she hugged him tightly and spoke

"It's going to be okay Merlin, just hold out a little longer"

"It's horrible, I… I… I am a murderer! A genocidal maniac! I should not have done this, I-I-I need to stop it!"

Jane hugged him closer as a strange light flashed in her eyes, she thought back to when she was captured by Centaurs and the person that ripped her from that darkness was Merlin, she tightened her hug slightly as she spoke

"It's okay, I am here"

Merlin broke out crying at once, it was as if all the floodgates had been opened, all the insecurities, helplessness, fear, and grief of suddenly being dragged away from his family and friends and finding himself in a new world where he was forced to kill living creatures and people all bobbled out violently

The cannon and machine gun fire lasted only a short while as the tanks came to a halt, they had completed their most recent order, so now they were still, they were after all only tools of war, dutiful tools that followed their masters orders, the four people on the wall were horrified, their eyes were planted on the field of death that spread out in front of them, the gore was all around, a sick silver lining was that there were no survivors as the tanks had been ordered to eliminate the targets they had eliminated all the targets, only a deathly stillness remained that was broken by the gore and mud that rained down front the sky still, the city lord was the first to react, he puked at once as horror filled his eyes before he stumbled backward on shaking legs, the other 3 people, however, were feeling quite different emotions, they felt rage and not a single drop of fear, they had all reached the same conclusion, these weren't metal carriages, they were demons from hell, demons that had to be exterminated and right now they were the only ones with the power to do so, one of the mages spoke

"Senior brothers, It has been pleasant being your junior… If the wheel of reincarnation allows I'll be your junior again in the next life"

One of the other mages nodded before he showed a faint smile on his pale face

"Our death is not certain yet, the only thing certain is that we must wipe out these demons, cleanse them from the lands of man!"

The final mage nodded and closed his eyes as he focused, his Mana quickly reacted with the surrounding Odd as a violent reaction happened on his open palm as a flame spear formed before his eyes snapped open and he spoke

"I'll lead, you two follow up!"

""Yes!""

One of the mages threw his fire spear at one of the tanks to test the waters, the spear hit the front end of the M4A2 and quickly spread over the frontal armor of the tank as the intense heat seemed to melt the armor slightly, the mage yelled to the other two

"Fire is effective!"

"Got it!"

"I'll try a water spear!"

The 3 mages jumped into the air and threw various spells at the tanks as they floated through the sky