Chapter 49 — Beastmen Empire

A lone Frigate drifted across the land, leaving a lonely trail of smoke. Flags billowing on it clearly marked it as belonging to the Third Reich. It charged ahead, steadily, at a stable speed, high above the stretching green wilderness which seemed to stretch endlessly. On its deck were stationed several dozen marines, keeping an eye on the surroundings. They enjoyed the view as they smoked; none of them expected there to be danger.

They were on an important mission, to deliver an ultimatum to the neighbouring Thornspire Empire. On board held an important ambassador to personally deliver the message.

[Damn… That ambassador that High Command sent us, is he even human? I swear he's like a machine, just working all day, he hasn't even come out to admire this view!]

A grizzled veteran lay on a chair right next to the edge of the deck, showing a mesmerised look as he gazed at the scenery. His scars were his medals, proving his participation in countless deadly battles. Next to him sat a young soldier, his face youthful and energetic, not yet exposed to the horrors of war.

The veteran took a long puff of his cigarette and sighed contently.

[Damn it's beautiful! The wind blowing against my face, the endless greenery, I feel like a bird. This is life!]

[I-It's all so exciting isn't it! We're going to war with the d-damned demi-humans, and we are the ones to tell them! I can't wait!]

Contrary to the flushed and excited soldier next to him, the veteran was much more calm and stable.

[It's been so soon and there's already another war…]

[And we'll crush them! During the last one, I was always on the ship and didn't even get a chance to shoot! This time, I will surely return covered with medals and g-glory!]

The veteran shook his head and gestured with his cigarette.

[Phillip, you're young so you won't know this. But let me give you a word of warning. I have a feeling that this war with be nothing like the last one. Demi-human Empires are very different from human ones. And they unite as well. If we attack one, they will all join to fight us to the dead. A million bullets don't even account to a fraction of their population…]

But Phillip was obviously too excited to listen to him.

[I'll take my gun, and then bang bang bang! Dead before they hit the floor!]

The veteran ignored Phillip's excited ramblings and finished his cigarette before throwing it overboard. He knew that this war would be completely different. Beastmen, the harder you hit them, the harder they'll come back. They weren't like the cowardly Elsass Empire.

Beastmen civilisation was unlike any other. Unlike humanity which had long entered the feudal era, beastmen civilisation had never left the tribal era. Likewise, their technology had never left that era of tribes and clans.

While humans were indeed advancing extremely slowly, at least they were making progress, like with the recent exploration of gunpowder. Of course, this was before Konrad just blitzed the entire tech tree. However, at least they were moving, no matter how ever so slowly.

This was in contrast with the Beastmen, whose traditions advocated against intellectuals and change. Their Empires didn't consist of a single ruling group in the traditional sense of an Empire but were created from the merger of several large clans. Each clan, who competed to be the voice of that Empire.

The intense competition and infighting between the clans only created large numbers of capable, veteran warriors. And, the one tradition that kept them strong was that no matter the internal contradictions, they all instantly united to face outside threats. Former enemies would stand side-by-side with no dissatisfaction, as if they never fought. Of course, that was only in theory, real life often plays out much differently.

Beastmen were always more in tune with their instincts, preferring to fight and live that way, with pure unsophisticated power. They found precise and complex tools hard to use and preferred to build simple weapons that complimented their wild fighting style.

And perhaps, this mentality did indeed work the best for them. Before the great equaliser known as the machine gun, bravery and physical strength were what dominated the battlefield. In the mortal battlefield, beastmen held a crushing advantage.

Therefore, the only thing stopping the Beastmen from sweeping over the world was the high-powered individuals of the human race keeping them in check. And the only reason THAT was the case was that the advantages of brutality diminished as you got more powerful, in favour of skill and precision.

While the higher-end power of the human race was vastly superior in terms of quality, the Beastmen had superior numbers of them, bringing human wave tactics to the high-end battlefield.

Generally, the issue of morale largely diminished the more powerful an individual as no person with a weak will would be able to endure the training required to reach such a level. And even if they started with a weak will, the tortuous and life-threatening training required to squeeze out the full potential of the human body guaranteed a hardened individual.

Likewise, the advantage of cooperation, equipment, tactics and swordsmanship only really became evident in high-powered battlefields. Things that humans specialised in, but Beastmen did not.

In short, the greatest strength of the Beastmen- their barbaric culture, their way of life, was their greatest strength in the mortal battlefield against humans, yet became their greatest hindrance in the superhuman battlefield.

It was for this reason that humans were unwilling to wage war for the huge casualties their population would suffer. And like this, an awkward peace was formed.

And this was where Konrad came in. He knew full well that he held an absolutely crushing advantage in the mortal battlefield. And he was eager to use it.