Codegease: Air and Land Warfare 1946

Elizabeth's question prompted the doctor to reveal more information: encountering the undead was merely a catalyst, while those who participated in the adventure spent most of their time experiencing the beauty of this new world.

……

A desert teeming with alien insects, a burning plains teeming with black dragons—but upon entering this world for the third time, a peaceful and tranquil primeval forest became the new scenery before my eyes.

The experiences of previous encounters with adversaries were forgotten by the armed personnel this time. The infantrymen removed their helmets, and the KMF pilots opened the hatches. The tranquil pond and lush grass were filled with the fragrance of flowers. Colorful birds and glowing insects took off from the tree trunks, which were thicker than tower cranes, and leaped into the air, soaring towards the canopy of trees adorned with colorful fragrant leaves.

"You grew up in South America, didn't you, 'Axe Stake'?" the henchmen called out their leader's nickname. "How does this place compare to your hometown?"

“If you just pluck a handful of grass or pick a single leaf, the botanical gardens in the Amazon rainforest will insist that you’re here to cause trouble.”

With its perfect temperature and humidity, and breathtaking natural scenery, this place is paradise! Everyone forgot about the inspectors testing the pond water for toxicity and hurriedly grabbed a handful to wash their faces—all of this was observed by a silvery-white owl gleaming coldly in the treetops not far away.

After resting, everyone set off, almost forgetting that they had come to check if there were any scourges in this forest. The infantrymen, sitting on KMF's shoulders and arms, had little to fear from wild animals. In fact, their original intention to hunt birds and deer was instead drawn to the glowing fruits on the treetops that were as bright as streetlights.

Unfortunately, this troublesome conflict still came knocking on my door.

KMF hid in the nearby woods, while Axe Stake led the infantry to a patch of winding tree roots as thick as water pipes, watching the two sides clash with their blades below.

On one side were orcs, whose skin was different from the dark skin of the previous ones. Their bodies were covered in blue and gray-green, and they roamed among them. Trolls with long, thin fangs were huddled together with the former on a red battle banner—which was decorated with a horseshoe-shaped pattern with horns and blades.

On the other side are the elves, like the long-eared beauties in novels, clad in light armor and wielding nimble short blades and daggers, fighting against orcs and trolls armed with axes, clubs, and muscles.

As for the core of the struggle, it was the orcs' kodo wagons—creatures unique to this world, resembling a descendant of rhinoceroses and elephants. The ropes binding them had been cut, and the frames, which were tied to huge logs that had just been felled, were scattered all over the ground.

……

"Whom should we help?" Just as everyone was enjoying watching the orcs and elves, they heard a creaking sound coming from the empty branches overhead.

Looking up, they were terrified. Two elves, using some kind of magic, emerged from a cloud of dust falling from the sky, pulled out short knives, and aimed them at their throats.

"Watch out!" The KMF pilots crouching behind noticed something was wrong and rushed over quickly. With a few punches and kicks, one of them was punched into the tree trunk by a mechanical fist the size of a motorcycle, leaving Rika in a bloody mess. The other elven sentry was also knocked away and landed unconscious next to the wrecked cart.

Immediately, the two fighting groups stopped. The orcs looked at the elves, puzzled by the orderly formation of the KMF; the elves looked at the orcs again, frowning at the "treacherous" humans.

In the end, they retreated, exchanging a strange, unspoken exchange of glances.

“It seems this forest is far less safe than we thought.” Axe Stake looked at the elves whose skin was no different from that of the night. Unlike their pure slenderness, they had muscles on their limbs that many men would covet.

He decided to leave his team behind and wait for the personnel to bring back the corpses of the elves and orcs for dissection—just like they would dissect the giant worm, dwarves, and black dragon that had attacked them before, including the wailing kodo beast.

Axe Stake walked alone along the main road—he tried to disguise himself as a strangely dressed traveler. Since there was conflict between civilized creatures in this primeval forest, he would be safe as long as he didn't go into the dense forest.

Indeed, there were even road signs in the forest, written in a language they couldn't understand. Axe Stake wandered around in a daze, and before long, he actually arrived at a treehouse.

It really is a treehouse. Wooden stairs and latticed windows meander through the tree hollows, and the towering ancient trees that make up the main body of the treehouse are full of life, with birds singing and flowers blooming. There is also a pole standing in front of the door, decorated with the patterns that I saw on the elf sentinel before.

"What brings you here, stranger?"

Axe Stake certainly couldn't understand the language of this world. He stared intently at the treehouse's greeter for a long time: the body of a sika deer had the outline of an elf girl, her green hair like the leaves of a sycamore tree in late summer, her half-naked body covered with vines that were no different from the surroundings, and a straight javelin held in her hand, standing on the ground to the side.

Axe-stance was scratching his head, how to describe it? So he simply made up a bunch of nonsense to give the deer girl a headache, which finally prompted her to take out a precious pearl from her wrist and flash a willow-shaped blue light at him.

"You are the first human I have ever met who doesn't even speak the Common Language."

Axe was dumbfounded, because this perfectly authentic English sentence really did come from the other person's mouth.

"Wait a minute? How do you understand our English? And what's Common Language?"

"Stay where you are and don't move! Demon!" The language barrier and the strange clothing and weapons obviously aroused suspicion. With a whistle, more deer women surrounded him and used natural magic to channel energy into the axe-stump.

In the end, however, the dispelling magic was just a tickle, a false alarm. The next conversation began with Axe Stake saying, "I'm just a traveler who wants to visit this world."

……

This world is called Azeroth, and the place in front of us, which was originally called Aspen Valley, has been renamed Ashenvale.

They encountered two groups of people in the forest. One group was a tribe mainly composed of orcs and trolls, with some tauren and ogres as their helpers. The other group was an alliance of night elves, which also included humans. In fact, almost everyone in this world with human-like features was on the alliance's side.

As for these dryads with deer-like bodies, they were close friends of the night elves before joining the Alliance. After the Alliance was officially established, since most humans didn't understand Darnassus, the orbs they carried were used for this purpose—it seems that as long as someone resembles an illustration in evolutionary theory, humans from other worlds might also work?

The Alliance and the Horde were originally friends—long ago, when a legion of demons invaded this world, the Alliance and the Horde were in this forest, this grove surrounding the sacred Mount Hyjal, protecting this trampled world.

The price was naturally heavy. Even today, the clearings of Ashenvale may still harbor roaming demonic remnants—succubi wielding evil magic, satyrs with ram horns and large hooves, and even creatures capable of transforming into humanoid forms to infiltrate Alliance and Horde strongholds. Felwood Forest to the north has been completely devoured by the highly toxic demonic swamp gas.

The forest's scourge was not fully cured, and the treacherous tribes once again trampled on the elves' lands. They came from the barren lands to the south, relentlessly felling the trees of Ashenvale, and the war between the two sides has continued to this day.

Ah, what a chaotic world. The Alliance and the Horde have to fight demons, and then they have to fight each other. And now, members who originally belonged to both sides are still fighting each other without any regard for kinship. That's right, the Blackrock orcs and Dark Iron dwarves we encountered in the Burning Steppes did not belong to the Horde or the Alliance.

This was excellent news for the "invaders," especially after Axe and the high command suggested that two KMFs, along with more than 20 fully armed Britannian infantrymen, carrying all their chemical defense equipment, managed to destroy every demon stronghold they could find in Ashenvale and Felwood.

Apart from certain dreadlords and voidwalkers that can be resurrected through summoning rituals, the team didn't encounter any major difficulties. However, inhaling the miasma from the forest caused many team members to become mentally disoriented.

This also brought a message to the higher-ups—consider this: since the native inhabitants of Azeroth needed to unite and exert so much effort to resist the demonic legions, and the demons' abilities seemed to be just so-so, then the native inhabitants, who were currently fighting each other in a chaotic mess, wouldn't pose much of a challenge to Britannia, and turning this place into a new colony wouldn't be a problem.

Look at how much wealth this world holds: the trees in Ashenvale are probably endless, the metal veins scattered across the world are practically offering themselves up, and some strange things called mithril, thorium, and Saronite have even been discovered—the scientists who are eager to use them to unlock the potential of Sakurastone are definitely not going to sit still.

Everything went smoothly, and the officers and soldiers even found the humans of this world—a group of country bumpkins wearing medieval armor who occasionally took out sailing gunboats. Presumably, none of them would believe that the murlocs and gnolls who died under the KMF and assault rifles could already block a city gate.

……

But all of this came to an end with the undead army that surged forth from the frozen wasteland—a nightmare known by the humans of Azeroth as the Scourge.

Dr. Ron later managed to find out the truth—Axe Stake accompanied him to the tree spirit as a translator, and they arrived at a small town by a lake in the mountains where the autumn colors were in full bloom.

It was here that they encountered their first human in Azeroth. This region, called Redridge Mountains, is bordered to the west by Elwynn Forest, the last and strongest human kingdom, Stormwind.

Yes, the last one, in the desolate wilderness of the north, now overrun with the dead: the bark of the ancient trees in Ashenvale is covered with poisonous vesicles, eggs, and spores; the dried-up lakes of Redridge Mountains harbor bloated, fleshy, blood-sucking worms; and countless rotting corpses and stitched creatures—all of this truly happened on that land that was once called the Kingdom of Lordaeron.

All the intelligent beings of Azeroth dared not recall this catastrophe, the source of which was merely a contaminated grain in a granary. Those who consumed it turned into mindless zombies, while the dead in the graveyards rose from the earth through necromancy, raising their knives to slaughter their former brethren.

Redridge Mountains is home to many descendants of those who fled there, including a warlock who had just returned from the North and retired. He had previously followed the Alliance forces to Northrend, where the Scourge was based, to destroy that nest of evil. He was the one who told the Doctor and his party the story of the Kingdom of Lordaeron.

"Well, if the Scourge were to do the same to my homeland, it might also be a disaster. But since you were able to defeat these undead this time, surely there are always more solutions than problems, right?"

Dr. Ron presented himself as an interstellar traveler doing business in Azeroth—not uncommon in this world, after all, bandaged "gas" are often seen in the Alliance's capital cities; these void smugglers, known as Voidlings, don't even look human.

“Oh, so you want to leave the smuggling world of the Voidlings and compete with the goblin tycoons of Hot Sands Harbor?” The warlock shook his head, gesturing for Ron and the others to come out with him. “Come with me, I’ll show you some necessary things, and you can decide the rest yourself.”

……

The warlock conjured his fearsome warhorse to lead the way, while Dr. Ron and several soldiers followed in a carriage, heading towards a mountain peak south of Lakeside Town.

A little to the east, you can see a swamp shrouded in mist, while to the west, there is a desolate, gray valley. A tall tower made of bricks and stones, its former prosperity and grandeur long gone, stands dilapidated in the mountains like a frozen corpse.

"Those who enter this place, please abandon all hope..." The warlock looked dimly at the void above the tower. "This place is called the Path of the Reverse Wind. A great mage once lived here. Nobles could play in his banquet hall, and commoners could settle down at his door. They were all real people."

"A real person? What does that mean?"

"Later, the master ceased to exist, and this place became a lair of ghostly shadows. All those who sought the mage's treasure, or those who searched for his whereabouts, would have their souls torn apart and imprisoned for eternity in this magical cage..."

"From that day on, Karazhan has rotted like gangrene. Deadwind Pass has turned from lush green hills into a desolate wasteland. Even the territory of Stormwind Kingdom further west is now known as the Duskwood—no sunlight, no life. The residents have settled in Duskwood, and the undead and werewolves have spread like a cursed flood from Karazhan, which no one has been able to cure to this day."

"To be honest, even the Burning Plains you entered was once part of Redridge Mountains, with virtually identical scenery." The warlock paused, then turned and sighed deeply. "Coming to this world means being prepared to be helpless before its hidden secrets. If it affects your business, then I'll have to leave..."

……

In short, this world has curses, plagues, and magical spirits; there are far too many things that cannot be solved by Sakura Stones and technology alone. This runs counter to Dr. Ron's mission—the "rich and safe colony" entrusted to him by his brother Schneizel.

The doctor ultimately suggested abandoning all plans in Azeroth—not just based on the warlock's advice.

On the return journey, the earth suddenly began to tremble, and the sky west of Redridge Mountains was filled with thick gray smoke. Driven by curiosity, the Doctor followed the Warlock into Elwynn Forest, which had instantly become ablaze. The jungle had turned into a sea of ​​fire, and the farms into pools of flame.

As mentioned, the doctor is still restless because of that last glimpse in that other world—yes, that world hides too many unsolvable mysteries.

As he and the warlock traveled along the main road to the outskirts of Stormwind, a colossal dragon clad in obsidian soared through the wildfire-ravaged forest, leaping and landing atop the city gates. Its armored body, torn open by lava, transformed into a deafening roar and a frenzied dance of wings; the peaceful land of Azeroth crumbled before its eyes…

Section 471 Beyond the Sky of Pendraken III: The Living KMF?

Elizabeth had become a seasoned reader of Dr. Ron's books to some extent, and for that reason, the doctor decided to place books related to traveling to another world on the shelf next to the door of her room when he was busy with his desk documents, so that the princess could easily pick them up and read them.

She came today as expected, and on the shelf was a booklet that the PhD had recently compiled, which analyzed the biological samples that the team had collected from so many different worlds.

After turning just a few pages, Elizabeth came across data about elves, orcs, kodos, and other creatures dissected from the corpses of beings from that otherworldly place called Azeroth.

It contains a wide variety of images and descriptions, including the internal organs of elves, the skulls of orcs, and the physiological structures of kodo beasts compared to those of large land mammals such as rhinoceroses and elephants.

However, when Elizabeth glanced at a page inadvertently, she became somewhat unsettled: she saw a hand made entirely of metal parts, and the doctor's booklet labeled the photograph as "close-up photograph of a biological specimen."

"What do you mean, Doctor?" The princess looked at the doctor with astonishment and surprise. "Now that we've arrived in this world, are all our KMFs alive?"

……

This brings us back to a long time ago, when Dr. Ron led the team that successfully opened a portal to another world.

The scenery of the other world was just like the desert northwest of the imperial capital, Pendraken. When the leading KMF team stepped onto the high hill where the portal was located, there were no buildings in sight, only a two-way single-lane road stretching out before them.

"Damn it, are we here to play in the grass?" Among the KMF members were three brothers, Aden, Aaron, and Yag. The three brothers were crammed among the advance team of ten KMF members. Unable to bear the dry heat, they cursed at the desert in front of them.

“The presence of infrastructure here indicates the presence of an intelligent civilization in the vicinity.” The leader of the advance team was a captain named Rocco. “Everyone, take a look around first, and then meet back here in half an hour.”

However, before the captain could call everyone away, they heard a rapid gust of air whistling in the sky. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a jet fighter flying in from a distance.

"What does that look like, Aden?" the three brothers murmured. The thing looked too much like the Britannian Empire's now obsolete fighter jets. "Are we going back to Pendraken?"

"Are you kidding me?" But then they had a sudden feeling that something was very wrong, because the jet was going ridiculously fast.

"Oh God... Everyone scatter! Find cover!" Soon, the fighter jets seemed to have spotted them from a thousand meters in the air, suddenly turning and diving, launching clusters of missiles at the KMFs they were piloting.

Several KMF members who didn't have time to escape were instantly reduced to scorching hot parts, arms and legs scattered all over the ground. Fortunately, the three brothers managed to jump into a large, dark pit shrouded in the shadow of a mountain valley.

The fighter jet swooped low over the mountain, the sonic boom of its high-speed flight surrounding it, kicking up a cloud of sand and gravel like a file before raising its nose high and soaring back into the sky.

"What do we do now, brothers?" The youngest, Yag, was terrified by the aggressive and unheard-of fighter jet. "Should we tell Dr. Ron we need backup? Wait a minute? Why is my radio so noisy?"

“Mine too!” Aden and Aaron replied—the radio waves in the three brothers’ ears were suddenly interrupted by a series of electrical noises, although they could still basically hear what others were saying.

But this current wasn't like the pure noise of a television set unable to find a signal; it was more like a subwoofer mixing with the crisp ringtone of a cell phone, full of ups and downs. Rather than interference, it was more like incomprehensible language.

"How pathetic, Autobots!" But then the current stopped, and the three brothers' communication was quickly met with a sarcastic English sentence: "Did you come into this world to forget your native language and rot here?!"

What? Was that fighter jet mocking them in their native language?

The three brothers stared in disbelief at the sky. The fighter jet, seemingly uninterested in fighting, glanced at their disheveled state, then immediately changed course with an aerial maneuver that defies easy explanation, dusted itself off, and soared away into the sonic boom.

……

Fortunately, besides the three brothers, Captain Rocco also survived, and like the other three, he received the same mockery before watching the plane depart.

When all of this reached Dr. Ron and the officers around him, the amount of information was beyond comprehension.

"We've encountered something in another world that looks like a Britannian jet fighter but could crush the KMF to dust, and they can even speak English?!"

What kind of world is on the other side? The doctor and the officers were extremely uneasy, but soon their curiosity overcame any thoughts of retreat.

"Captain Rocco, listen up. Within half an hour, I will send about five more KMF squadrons through the portal to meet up with you. In the meantime, your task is to help the other personnel settle their supplies, and at the same time, collect as many 'interesting' items as possible on the road in front of you. Also, don't wander around unnecessarily, because nobody wants to run into something as troublesome as that plane."

“No problem, sir.” Captain Rocco hung up the communicator with mixed feelings in his heart, taking a picture of a string of English road signs on the road that he could actually read—Hoover Dam, 10 miles away.

……

Even with reinforcements arriving, Captain Rocco and his three brothers, among others, dared not make any rash moves.

For safety reasons, they came up with a good idea—since there was a highway right in front of them, why not set up an ambush on both sides of the highway, wait for civilian vehicles to pass by, and then kidnap the civilians to get some things?

This was indeed a good idea. Just as Captain Rocco finished smoking a cigarette on the hilltop, the three brothers who were lying in wait on the road below, along with the other KMF pilots who were lying in ambush, came to report.

“We saw four vehicles that looked like civilian vehicles heading toward Hoover Dam. The four vehicles seemed to be together.”

“Explain in more detail, soldier. Even in your most instinctive descriptive language.”

"The first one looks like a, well, a red and blue striped big-nosed semi-trailer truck, the second one is a silver-gray sports car, the third one is an off-road van with flashing orange headlights, and the last one is a black off-road pickup truck."

"Do they have any strange parts on their exterior?"

"Uh, I don't know what the steel pipes pointing to the sky on either side of the truck at the front and the pickup at the back are for, Captain."

“Very good.” Now Rocco can see the four vehicles. “Listen carefully, take the sound of the cannon as the signal. The lead truck is under the control of the men behind it. You three brothers go and surround the three vehicles behind it. Remember, don’t open fire right away!”

"understand!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Captain Rocco aimed a recoilless rifle at the rear of the truck and fired. The four civilian vehicles scattered in panic, and the three brothers immediately grabbed their machine guns and spears and rushed forward.

"Where are you going?" Yag, spear in hand, charged ahead, brushing past the red and blue truck, and set his sights on the drifting sports car that was retreating to the rear, preparing to thrust his spear into its engine.

But then something unexpected happened. Suddenly, the sports car leaped up strangely, and a silver-gray arm emerged from the detached body, grabbing KMF's head. In an instant, it transformed into a steel giant taller than KMF, and with a high-speed leap and a judo throw, easily tossed Yag's machine away.

"Wh-what?!" The two older brothers in the back didn't understand what was going on. The off-road truck with headlights had suddenly started to "show off."

This was actually an off-road rescue vehicle, but the word "relevant" was no longer important. It had transformed into a metal giant that was just as agile but half an arm's length taller than the KMF. Before Aaron could react, the circular saw in its left hand and the gun in its right hand tore his machine in half, shattering the power system and cockpit into pieces.

The remaining leader, Aden, quickly dodged left and right to get to the front. At this moment, the other KMF squads, sensing the danger, arrived, only to be blocked by the black, humanoid metal figure that had transformed from the pickup truck. It wielded a massive cannon in each hand, and with perfect accuracy, it blasted the arriving KMF members into a bloody mess as it dodged and weaved.

"Sergeant Major Aden, hold on! I'm coming to support you right away!" Captain Rocco, seeing the situation was dire, had already rushed down from the hilltop, but it was too late.