From Behind The Door, The Dragon Roars

The deepest part of the mine was wide enough for a row of tanks to march through and looked more like and underground palace.

Dolchev came off the elevator and moved forward with the T-3 II. He had reached his goal.

"So this is the Door... It's the real thing."

Deeply moved, a gasp of wonder escaped his lips.

In front of him was a stone door about two meters tall with a stern-looking dragon carved in the middle.

Dolchev had come to Organbaelz as a spy, made contact with the terrorist group, and used them as his cover, all so he could finally stand in front of this Door.

His motherland, the August Federation, did not tolerate anyone whose will didn't align with that of the state.

Even if the soldier like himself had reason for failing carry out his mission, he would be purged as a traitor for betraying the state's trust.

"T-3 II activate! Prepare the artillery... Smash down that Door!"

The T-3 II -- the all-purpose think-tank of the August Federation - was almost three times as large as a conventional tank, with an upper body that resembled the torso of a lizardman from old legends.

The shape of its hands and arms was also peculiar and unlike the Hunter Units of Wiltia, which resembled a warrior clad in armor, this tank looked cruel and hideous.

There was a turret affixed to its head where the different sensors were gathered in a large reptilian shape that extended from its chest.

The T-3 II's guns boasted the greatest destructive power in use by the Europea countries.

Its on-board AI was not as sophisticated as those in the Hunter Units, and a gunner, a pilot, and a commander were required to operate it. Under orders from Dolchev, the tank commander, his subordinates completed the firing preparations.

"Artillery shells loaded. Firing preparations, all green."

"Shock resistance preparations, all green!"

These were professional soldiers who had served under Dolchev since the Great War.

"Fire!"

With the order, fire spewed from the largest of the tank's colossal guns and shot an artillery shell toward the Door.

The explosion and concussive blast howled through the cavern.

The tank's cannon shot covered the area in a dust cloud so thick it was impossible to see a meter ahead.

"Did we break through?!"

"We can't tell yet... One moment, sir." the gunner responded.

But Dolchev couldn't wait and emerged from the hatch of the tank to confirm for himself.

The dust slowly began to settle.

The Door in front of Dolchev looked exactly the same as before.

"It didn't break... Even from an attack like that?!"

Dolchev was astonished.

He didn't have another choice.

He had brought the Zeihombomber with him, along with the T-3 II, and his only choice was to use it to blow up the entire mine before Wiltia found it, and to ensure that no one would get their hands on it.

However, a human sacrifice would then be necessary.

Himself...

With his plan's failure, he couldn't return to his home country.

He once again commanded his men.

"Fire one more shot, no, fire everything we've got at it!"

"Wait a minute, sir! Captain Dolchev! The Door!"

"What?!"

The Door that didn't have so much as a scratch after being hit with a round from the tank, slowly started to open.

It was opening from the inside. As if its refusal to budge up until that moment had been some kind of joke.

"Has no one taught you Augustian polar bears any manners? Could you try knocking?"

A few moments after her sudden collapse, Sven had sat up as if nothing had happened, and led Lud and Marlene away from the mine shaft.

They stood in front of a shabby tombstone.

If there had ever been an inscription on it, years of exposure to the elements had erased it. Lud touched the stone with his palm and the rock face behind opened up revealing a passageway leading underground.

Could you even call this a passageway...?

It looked more like an elevator shaft than a passageway.

They continued down the path, and came to the inside of Dolchev referred to as "the Door".

"So this is the Door... I didn't believe it actually existed."

In front of the dumbfounded Dolchev and the triumphant Sven, Lud unintentionally murmured to himself.

Lud had heard of its existence.

It was said that the Door was left by an ancient empire.

"I'm shocked." Sven went on to Dolchev. "Wasn't it August that denounced imperial rule? To think that they would be after the legacy of the original European Empire that spanned all of the kingdoms. I can't believe it."

Sven was snickering as she tried to provoke him, and her smile was the sadistic smile of someone who had crushed their enemy's most delicate parts with no hesitation.

The Door was a treasure chest that held the legacy of the Europea civilization that had fallen into ruin years ago.

The imperial capital had disappeared, but there were many such treasure chests scattered in the frontier.

These treasure chests contained Europea's scientific and technological legacy, which so far outstripped current knowledge that it was closer to magic.

After the empire fell, those who thought of themselves as its successors - the current nations of Europea - placed the treasure chests under safeguard and let no one near them.

"The continent is vast... It's not surprising that untouched ruins have yet to be found... So you located one in Baelz Mine and deliberately incited the terrorists in order to get in. And now you've tried to pry it open by blasting it with your tank..."

"Grrww..."

Dolchev's growl confirmed the truth in Sven's words.

"The Zeihombomber... That's to prevent Wiltia from discovering the Door's existence in case you failed to open it?" Lud concluded.

Zeihombomber was as valuable as ten Hunter Units so using it to destroy a mine didn't add up.

Unless perhaps it was worth it to conceal something that could rewrite the power relationships between the two countries.

"You are a pitiful bunch... Taking the artifacts of a long dead king to improve your own technology, and sneaking in like a common thief to steal it. How pathetic."

"... I'm not sure you're in a position to talk, little girl."

"Hm?"

Dolchev hid the gnashing of his teeth as he snapped back at Sven.

"This T-3 II... It seems your people like to call it an imitation Hunter Unit but... I wonder if you know that it was developed by defectors from Wiltia."

"So that's it..."

Lud understood what Dolchev meant.

When Lud was in the military, stories about this "Door" were so outlandish that they sounded like tales of the supernatural.

For August to dispatch a unit and spend a significant amount of resources on a campaign based on such a story could only mean that they had serious grounds for believing it.

"The Hunter Units came from technology that Wiltia discovered from one of these ruins?"

"That's exactly it, Silver Wolf... Your country asserts dominion over the continent as the rightful successor to the Europea Empire, but by that logic, the Door should open according to your will, correct? Why did you need to pry them open?"

That inescapable proof that Wiltia wasn't recognized as the successor to the ancient empire either.

The engineers who created the Hunter Units, who had analyzed the technology found behind these Doors, must have told the August Federation what they knew about the ruins when they defected.

The suppression of the Doors' existence was a giant, national scandal.

However August didn't make the information against Wiltia public. Instead it used it to ensure their own technologic power.

So August has been driven that far into the corner, is that it?

With their appearance in the last war, the Hunter Units displayed enough strength that even one could defeat a whole battalion of soldiers.

The August Federation's strategic advantage was their enormous human capital in the form of massive armies.

Wiltia had only a tenth of August's population, but the Hunter Units helped them gain strategic superiority.

The Hunter Units displayed enough fighting strength to overcome a whole battalion of soldiers.

So, for the August Federation, getting their hands on a weapon that could match the Hunter Units before the next war was the top priority.

"Now I understand you reasoning..." Lud told Dolchev.

"And now that you understand, what will you do? Risk your life to protect it?!" Dolchev snarled.

"No. If you want to take whatever is in there, I don't care. Just don't harm the people of this town any more than you already have."For Dolchev, who had pledged his allegiance to his country, Lud's words were unbelievable coming from a battle hero, and he looked at him with surprise.

"I'm not a soldier anymore." Lud explained. "I'm just a baker. The next war has nothing to do with me. So let Milly go and do what you want in here."

"Huh... I see... It seems that what I brought along just in case has produced some curious results."

Dolchev reached inside the T-3 II and pulled out the unconscious girl, bound with rope.

"Milly!" Marlene shouted.

"Marlene... so you led these two here?" Dolchev seemed unconcerned, as if Marlene's betrayal was beneath his curiosity or contempt.

"Mister Dolchev, why did you bring her here? You said you wouldn't touch any of the children... that they didn't have any use to you!"

"Oh, well, I heard a legend, you see, that 'Ancient Doors will open with the blood of the promised maiden.' If the blasts failed, I thought I might need the fresh blood of a virgin."

Dolchev wasn't joking.

It seemed they weren't able to find a way to open the Door either.

 So they arranged the maximum amount of firepower and had this supernatural method ready as well.

Lud didn't laugh.

They were people who - for the sake of their country and their mission - would spill the blood of a girl "just in case".

I'm...

Thinking that he was once the same as the man in front of him, Lud felt anguish.

"That's not true... Master, you're different!"

As if Sven had guessed what was in Lud's thoughts, she grabbed his hand to reassure him.

"Yeah... Thanks..."

Strangely, Sven's words did a little to help heal the splinter in his heart.

"Master... Um... I understand that you want to save Milly. But, if we show them what's inside the Door..." Sven whispered to Lud.

"I know... but, they have a T-3 II. And they have Milly. We need to first accept their demands."

Lud and the others were at a serious disadvantage.

Lud had to listen to Dolchev and wait for the opportunity to strike back.

He turned to Dolchev. "Follow me. I'll show you the Great Empire's legacy that you're so desperate to see."

"Where... am I.. Huh?!"

When Milly opened her eyes, she saw the ferocious face of Dolchev, who looked to her like a giant bear.

"You keep quiet." Dolchev's voice was quiet and cold.

The young girl understood instinctively that he would happily kill her.

"I'm sorry Milly... This won't last much longer. You'll be safe very soon."

It was the voice of the person she hated the most in the world, the former soldier-turned-baker, Lud Langart.

Why, how did this...

She slowly remembered what had happened.

After that frightening waitress had left the church, a bunch of strange men showed up.

Before she could figure out who they were, Milly and the rest of the children were forced to inhale some kind of drug.

The pungent drug seeped into her eyes and nose, and Milly remembered coughing violently but had no memory of anything after that.

While Milly was unconscious from the sedative, Dolchev had taken her captive and brought her with him to find the Door.

"How exactly did you lot get inside the Door?"

".....?!"

Dolchev held his pistol to Milly's temple as he demanded an explanation from Lud.

"I think that you found the back door. We came in through the main entrance by chance. That's it..."

Lud couldn't explain any further.

Lud suspected that Sven knew more, but she and Marlene were outside at Dolchev's insistence.

Sven had led them inside the Door, so she would have been able to give a more detailed explanation, but this was all Lud could say.

"The main entrance, is it..." Dolchev muttered.

I have to try and find an opening...

Lud wanted to grab Milly, but Dolchev didn't give him an opportunity to make a move.

His pace, his line of sight, and the space between them were all just out of reach for Lud to grab her.

Since he had neither a gun nor a knife, Lud would have to get close enough to Dolchev to incapacitate him.

If he challenged Dolchev, he might crush the small girl's head.

While Lud contemplated his choices, they arrived at the inner room beyond the Door.

"Wow..."

Entering the ancient empire's treasure chest, Dolchev's voice filled with awe.

Inside was a pure white space.

How the room was made, and what it was made of was entirely beyond their comprehension.

As if they had stepped inside a white porcelain vase, the square room was a glossy and lustrous white, without a single joint or seam.

It was just big enough to fit Lud's old truck inside.

It wasn't small enough to be suffocating, but it wasn't spacious.

There was a cylinder extending from a half-circle foundation in the middle of the room like an altar, and on either side were two boxes, also made from an unknown material.

"This is the artifact of the European Empire!"

Dolchev drew closer to the boxes, but despite his excitement, he kept the gun pointed at Milly's head without dropping his guard.

"This is... this is... this is... what...?'"

His voice after opening the boxes sounded disappointed.

Inside one box was what looked like a black carcass.

Its shape had eroded long ago, and without the protection of the box, it would have broken into pieces and been swept away.

"What in the world... is this? What is it?!"

In the other box he found a dry, sandy substance.

Neither box contained the treasures of an advanced civilization that Dolchev - and the people who had given him his orders - had hoped for.

"That is the remains of some sort of plant. It's at least one thousand years old so it decayed to something like sand. Inside the other box is the corpse of some animal. Like the plant, it's been in here for years."

"Plants...? Why would something like that...?"

There was a look of puzzlement on Dolchev's face.

Lud had felt the same when Sven showed him the boxes earlier.

For some reason she knew how to open the Door and go inside, but she didn't know the details of what was stored there.

But from deciphering the characters on the boxes, and the messages around the room in a script that only she understood, Sven discovered the secret.

"In that case, what's with this altar?! This small, movable door..."

Dolchev opened the small double window in the middle of the altar-like structure, but there was nothing inside.

"Most likely an instrument that was used to heat up the animal and plant remains to make them edible."

"What? Then.. this is..."

Lud nodded.

"It's a kitchen. And this is an oven or something similar to it." Lud pointed to what they thought was an altar.

It was ridiculous.

Inside the mysterious room, behind a Door built to withstand direct fire from a tank's cannon, was cookware?

It could be the punch line to a joke.

But it wasn't unbelievable.

It was a door with a lock, just as you'd find in any house.

If a monkey with only enough intelligence to brandish a stick looked at a regular locked door, what would they think about it, Lud wondered.

Surely it would wonder exactly how such a thing was made, and what exactly it could do, even questioning whether it was the work of God himself.

It showed just how large the gap was between our knowledge and that of the lost empire.

But why were the Doors deep underground?

According to what Sven discovered, the Door wasn't built underground originally. The whole had been buried.

Perhaps originally this had been some sort of important facility and after it was destroyed they had buried it to hide it away. Those not deemed important might have been buried as they were, without being destroyed.

At any rate, it was the legacy of a civilization whose cause of extinction was completely unknown.

"How idiotic! I went through so much to find... something like this!"

Without and outlet for his anger, Dolchev's body began to tremble in rage.Lud thought about how much time, money, and manpower he must have used to get this far.

After all that work, for the punchline to be a kitchen's cooking equipment, whether you were a professional soldier or a special operations spy, it would be impossible not to be shocked.

But now Lud's chance had arrived.

"Milly! Don't move! Just stand still!"

As Lud shouted at Milly, he bounded toward Dolchev.

Moving all of his body - his shoulders, legs, arms and waist - with lightning speed, Lud shaped his hands half way between an open hand and a fist, so they looked like the claws of a fierce beast. Then, stepping with the power of the god of war crushing a demon underfoot, Lud drove his palm heel into Milly's chest as though he was gouging it out.

"Huh?"

A grown man. And an attack by someone with the muscular strength of Lud, who trained his body when he was in the military. Unleashing such force against a small girl of fourteen, would have been enough destructive power to rupture her organs.

But the sound Milly made wasn't a scream of pain, but just the befuddled voice of someone who didn't understand what had just happened.

"Gwah?"

The person who raised an anguished cry of pain was Dolchev, who was standing behind Milly.

"Uckt... Augh... Urgh?! Y-You... what did you do?!"

All the blood vessels in Dolchev's massive body swelled.

"The martial arts of the east are impressive. It's a technique that can stop and opponent's heart through their armor, called 'The Dragon's Roar'".

The special forces enthusiastically incorporated many fighting styles in their training, including methods to survive without weapons, for environments without proper support.

The Dragon's Roar was a hand-to-hand martial art, invented by an eastern culture from Europea, known as "bujitsu" in their tongue.

Its impact can penetrate the opponent's shield and armor, and even pass straight through the muscle to their organs.

The attack Lud used went through Milly's body and directly to Dolchev's heart.

It was originally used to completely stop and opponent's heart, but Lud had held back before killing Dolchev.

Nonetheless, Dolchev's heartbeat would remain irregular, and the chaotic flow of blood through his body would be painful.

"Ugh... Augh... Uck... Aaaauuuuuuggh!"

Tearing at his own chest, Dolchev writhed in agony.

He had great strength not to faint from the pain, but because the pain was proportional to the physical power of his body, he was now experiencing hellish torture.

"Milly, are you okay?!"

Despite his strength, Dolchev couldn't restrain his hostage any longer and Lud rescued the young girl now freed from Dolchev's arms.

"You-... baker... why..."

The fear of being killed still hadn't left Milly and her body shook.

Lud knew that he had done something reckless, risking Milly and himself.

No matter how confused Dolchev had been, Lud's opponent was still a veteran soldier. His body moved with conditioned reflex when beset by an enemy. Lud's attack made use of his opponent's error in thinking Lud wouldn't attack the hostage.

He hadn't use The Dragon's Roar in two year, and if he had failed, he might have hurt or even killed Milly.

"Sorry, Milly..."

"Why... are you apolo-"

Milly was about to reply to Lud, but before she could finish, a shock ran through Lud's leg.

Lud turned and saw Dolchev pointing a gun at him, smoke trailing from the muzzle.

"It's your fault... because of you bastards...!"

The shock to both his body and his mind had robbed the man of his cool judgement. He was directing his seething hatred at whatever was in front of him.

"Unh!"

The wound in Lud's leg was serious.

He wouldn't be able to run away.

Lud only had one choice.

"Fwah?! W-What is this... What are you doing, you damn baker?!"

Lud embraced the young girl tightly, as she spat abuse.

He should be able to use his body as a shield to protect the girl.

"Die! Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die!"

Deranged, Dolchev tried to fire his gun again with drool dribbling from the corners of his mouth.

But there was another gun shot.

..... Huh?

Lud had been prepared to die, and yet something felt off.

The sound of this shot was different.

"Sheesh... Please be more careful, I'm begging you..."

Sven was standing at the entrance.

In her hands, she was tightly gripping the gun Marlene had been carrying, the liberator that was given to the resistance fighters out of pity.

"Ughwah!"

Dolchev collapsed.

In the split second before Dolchev had fired at Lud, Sven had released a shot from the liberator.

"Phew... huff..."

Feeling relieved, Lud's strength drained from him.

"U-Unh..."

"Oh, sorry..."

Lud realized that Milly was struggling in his arms and flustered, he released her.

By squeezing her tightly to protect her, Lud had made it painful.

"Why... why did you save me... someone like you..."

Milly was crying.

"I hate you! If I need to be saved by someone like you... T-then I'd rather die!"

As far as Milly was concerned, all of her misfortune was because of Wiltia, because of Lud and others like him.

Lud was sure she wanted to ask him how he dared to show off and pretend to be an ally of justice when he was the cause of all her problems.

"Sorry..."

Lud apologized again.

"But I'd be really put out out if you died. I want you to eat the bread I make."

"Huh?!"

Milly's voice held both surprise and disgust.

"Apples... Those are your favorite right? That's why, next time... I won't bring leftovers, but freshly baked ones! I want you to have apple danish... So that's why..."

Lud couldn't express what he was trying to say.

He didn't want Milly to feel indebted to him, and as he tried to convince her that she wasn't saved by her most hated enemy, Lud piled excuse upon excuse until Milly looked thoroughly confused.

"W-wha..."

Milly's face grew red.

Lud was sure she was thinking, "Idiot, don't be stupid!"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, jerk!"

It seemed Lud was right.

Milly ran over to Marlene who was standing with Sven at the entrance.

"What is it with that child! If she doesn't behave, she'll get what she deserves! Completely without charm." Sven muttered in annoyance, rushing past Milly to Lud.

"No, it's fine. I'm fine with that."

Even though Lud had saved her life, Milly still felt the same as before.

And in a way, her capture was the fault of Lud and military people like him.

Lud actually felt a little relieved that Milly was unchanged toward him.

"Master! We need to do something about your wounds!"

"This isn't anything to worry about. It just grazed me."

A hand-to-hand battle would be difficult, and he wouldn't be able to run, but it wasn't anything too important.

On the battlefield, this kind of wound was routine.

"Humans can suffer severe damage to their bodies without being aware of it!"

"Huh...?"

Lud couldn't believe his ears when he heard Sven's response.

"For example, during the Great War, a Sparian on the southern front might say, 'You can cure a wound like this just washing it with the leftover pasta water.' and then after a few days he might get tetanus... Master?"

"Avei...?"

In spite of himself, Lud said the name of his dear partner.

Hearing Sven use the same words Avei had used when admonishing Lud for being too reckless on the battlefield, he was stunned.

"Um, Master... what are you saying...? I'm Sven..."

If Sven had given Lud a look that said she had no idea why he was questioning her word-for-word, identical choice of words, Lud would have simply taken back what he had said.

Instead, Sven plainly appeared flustered.

Despite the fact that it was impossible to believe that the AI installed in his Hunter Unit from long ago had appeared before him as a young girl.

"Are you..."

Lud began to ask Sven again, but then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and stopped.

"Where's Dolchev?"

The soldier, who had been unconscious moments before, was nowhere to be found.

The only thing left behind was the gun he had been holding.

Rumble, rumble.

Lud could hear the ominous sound of an engine as if it was the low growl of a demon.

"That couldn't be-"

Before Lud could finish, there was a blast of artillery fire.