Exiled to the Graveyard of Heroes, I Revived Them All and Now an Unprecedented Nation of Legends Has Been Born - Chapter 27 & 28: The Hero of [Resurrection] Loses His Cool | The Hero of [Resurrection] Lets His Guard Down

Chapter 27: The Hero of [Resurrection] Loses His Cool

“…They’ve come.”

The sky was swallowed by fighter jets.

The ground shook under the advance of tanks.

Every single one bore the crest of the Ixion Kingdom.

Inside the monitor room, Laverne’s lips curled into a smug grin.

“Fuhahahaha!! Just as I predicted!!”

“Is this… really going to be okay?”

“Of course!! We spent an entire month preparing for this. With Yamada and the dwarves’ help, I installed anti-air cannons all around the tower—like a hedgehog bristling with spikes!!”

That much was true.

Over the past month, we had anticipated Ixion’s attack.

Our countermeasure? Dozens upon dozens of anti-air guns.

The moment anything approached, the system would auto-lock and unleash a barrage of shells.

And because they were part of Laverne’s dungeon, they counted as traps.

Which meant Ixion’s weapons shouldn’t have been able to destroy them.

Victory was supposed to be certain. Or at least, that’s what we believed—

“…My king, it won’t be that simple.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can sense it… the stench of the evil god clings to their weapons.”

“…Meaning?”

“In other words—those weapons might even be able to pierce this tower. A tower that should’ve been indestructible under the goddess’s blessing.”

I turned toward Laverne.

“…That’s how it looks. But will we really be okay?”

“Fu… fuhahahahaha!! Of course not—nothing ever goes smoothly!! All anti-air guns, fire!! Any hero who can fight, take down those tanks on the ground!!”

Through the mic, Laverne’s commands thundered across the entire tower.

From every direction, shells screamed into the sky at once, ripping into the swarm of incoming fighter jets.

Thankfully—or perhaps cruelly—the taint of the evil god didn’t nullify our defenses. The anti-air guns worked perfectly, blasting enemy planes out of the sky one after another.

“…Hm?”

“What is it, Elott?”

“No, it’s just… when that jet went down, I saw something red spill out. It looked almost like blood.”

“Wouldn’t that just be the pilot’s blood?”

“Ah… right, that must be it.”

In that instant, Zona froze. Her face twisted with revulsion.

“My king… those machines. They are people. And most likely the tanks as well.”

“Huh? But jets and tanks are always piloted by people, aren’t they?”

“That is not what I mean. The fighters and tanks themselves—their very material—is human.”

For a moment, my mind refused to accept it.

It wasn’t the pilots she was talking about.

The machines themselves had been forged from human bodies.

“They were most likely created from the people of Ixion Kingdom—twisted and reshaped by the evil god himself. No wonder every weapon stinks of his presence.”

“Wait, is that even possible? And if they really did that, wouldn’t Ixion stop functioning as a kingdom altogether?”

“The evil god must’ve meddled directly. He’s a hedonist—acting on whatever whim amuses him at the time.”

“…I’ve got plenty of grudges against Ixion and its people, but stripping them of their humanity entirely… that’s just miserable.”

It really was.

If they had been reduced to nothing more than disposable toys for the evil god’s entertainment, then honestly, I couldn’t help but feel a sliver of pity.

Laverne, however, only let out a sharp laugh.

“Ha!! Save your sympathy!! If anything, this is the perfect chance for revenge!! Think about it—destroy those weapons, and you’re destroying the Ixion people themselves!!”

“My king, I agree. This is outright war with Ixion—the final battle.”

…That much was true.

“Imuru, how’s the fight on the ground?”

“The heroes are holding strong!! Especially Silesta—she’s tearing through tanks like she’s settling every grudge she’s ever carried!!”

On the monitor displaying the battlefield below, Silesta’s figure appeared—cleaving through tanks one after another.

For the past month, she had practically starved herself, eating and drinking only the bare minimum, pouring everything into relentless monster hunting.

Thanks to that brutal training, her [Blade] had become sharper, stronger, and capable of striking in a wider arc.

Even when a tank shell slammed into her head-on, she only let out a small grunt—barely scratched.

At this pace, the ground battle was as good as won.

『Yamada, Redline!! Launching now!!』

Right then, Yamada’s voice echoed through the monitor room speakers.

Looked like he had decided to sortie on his own.

“Yamada’s machines really are on another level… and it seems he even managed to mass-produce them.”

“The Abyss was apparently overflowing with ore, so the dwarves went all out. They happily churned out humanoid combat units and marched straight into battle.”

“…Still, it’s a problem when people just take off to fight without permission.”

When Yamada launched, one humanoid giant after another burst into the sky.

They were the cheaper “Blueline” models of Yamada’s humanoid machine, built and piloted by dwarves—the originals being the Redline.

Their white armor, marked with bold blue stripes, honestly looked plain cool.

The loadout was heavy: a gatling gun on the right hand, a pile-bunker on the left, and two extra arms sprouting from the back that carried shields.

Even their legs were armed—housing auto-tracking missiles that locked on and pursued their targets.

With boosters for short bursts of flight, the Bluelines soared into positions the anti-air guns couldn’t cover and began gunning down enemy fighters.

If we kept this momentum—shooting planes out of the sky and crushing the tanks—we should win.

Then it happened.

『This is Rocoro!! While wiping out tanks, I ran into the masked girl!!』

Rocoro’s voice crackled through the monitor room speakers.

I snatched up the comm mic and shouted back.

「Rocoro!! Don’t push it—fall back, now!!」

『Nope, I’m taking her out here!! If I leave her, she could tear through our defense line later!!』

「You can’t handle her alone—that’s suicide!!」

『It’s fine. That’s why I spent today—and every day before this—hunting monsters and growing stronger.』

Click. The line with Rocoro went dead.

Sending reinforcements now would be dangerous; a poorly chosen hero would only slow him down.

All we could do was trust Rocoro—and hope for the best.

“Whoa!? Elott, something bad’s coming!!”

“Hm? W-What the heck is that!?”

Imuru pointed, and when I looked at the monitor I couldn’t believe my eyes.

It was a ship—floating in the air.

Far larger than any fighter, bristling with dozens of cannons far bigger than a tank’s gun.

T-That was…

“That— that’s the airborne battleship Yamada said his friend was building!!”

“Yamada, you idiot!! Why’d you blab about that thing!! And the kingdom building it too—what the hell!!”

“Now’s not the time to complain about Yamada!! The main gun is aimed at the tower!!”

No sooner had Imuru warned than the battleship’s main cannon fired.

The shell tore through the sky; the delayed boom punched a clean hole right through the tower.

“This is bad!! Yamada!! Yamada, can you hear me!!”

『HYAAAH!! Trampling enemies feels SO GOOD!!!!!』

“Hey, Yamada!! Tune in!! I’ll kill you if I have to!!”

“W-Wow, Elott never gets this angry about anything—he’s totally losing it!!”

Right, right—calm down, Elott. Now was not the time to lose my head.

“Yamada!! Leave the fighters and tanks to the other heroes and take down that airborne battleship with the dwarves!!”

『Hyaaah!!』

“Listen to me!!”

The last battle still had a little way to go.

―――――――――――――――――――――

[Afterword]

A Random Tidbit

Blueline

The cheaper mass-production version of Yamada’s humanoid unit, the Redline—built by the dwarves for their own use.

Main weapons: a gatling gun on the right, a pile-bunker on the left.

On their backs, they’ve got two extra arms that can mount whatever weapons or shields you like.

Compared to the Redline, the Blueline is even more customizable.

There are reverse-joint types, tank-legged types, four-legged crawler types, and even heavy models loaded with oversized propellant tanks and boosters.

…And as a little secret, the very first four Bluelines—and the Redline itself—hide a special function.

If you thought, “Wait, Yamada’s the one driving everyone insane!?” then toss some ★s my way!

And if you caught yourself thinking, “Mass-produced units are pure romance,” “YAMADAAA!!” or “I won’t be able to sleep wondering what that hidden function is,” —then don’t forget to leave a comment, bookmark, ★rating, or review!

Chapter 28: The Hero of [Resurrection] Lets His Guard Down

Somehow, I managed to calm Yamada down and begged him to focus on bringing down the airborne battleship.

Thrilled to finally have a worthy target, Yamada let out his usual “Hyaaah!!” scream and charged in, leading the dwarves straight into battle.

If he didn’t destroy it before the next shot, the tower wouldn’t last.

“Tch, the battleship’s main cannon is gathering mana!! It’s about to fire again!!”

“Ohh!! That’s a short cooldown between shots!!”

“Now’s not the time to be impressed, Laverne!! At this rate, the whole tower’s going down!!”

“Relax. That section of the tower is just a decoy! A little damage isn’t a problem!! …Still, it ticks me off to see the dungeon I worked so hard on get wrecked, so—Hero of [Dragon], it’s your turn!!”

The comm line switched to the Hero of [Dragon], Dran.

『Oooh!! Finally, it’s my time to shine!!』

“Shoot down the cannon blast!! And don’t even think about telling me you can’t!!”

『Roger that!! Leave it to me!!』

And then—the battleship’s main cannon roared.

At the same moment, Dran let out a deafening roar of her own, unleashing waves of energy from her entire body.

『—DRAGONIIIIIIIIIIIFY!!!』

Dran’s small frame exploded in size in an instant. A tail, wings, and horns burst forth; crimson scales spread across her body.

She had become a true dragon.

The draconic Dran opened her massive jaws at the incoming shell and unleashed a blazing fireball.

『Dragon Breath!!』

The inferno struck the projectile head-on, melting it instantly and neutralizing the shot in a flash.

Nice—thanks to that, the airborne battleship’s cannon had been stopped!!

I let out a short breath of relief and turned my eyes back to Yamada’s humanoid units.

『Ugh!! Even the pile bunker can’t pierce it!!』

『The armor’s too thick!! And with all those secondary guns and anti-air fire, we can’t even get close!!』

『…If that’s the case, there’s only one thing left.』

『Yamada!! You’re not seriously thinking of that, are you!?』

『To bring that flying battleship down, there’s no other choice!! Everyone, get ready!!』

While Dran had stopped the cannon blast, Yamada and his crew were preparing something else entirely.

“Yamada, Yamada. At least tell us what you’re planning!!”

『It’s every man’s dream, Elott-san. Boys have always loved super robots that transform and combine in sentai shows.』

“T-Transform and combine?”

『Here we go, everyone!!』

The moment Yamada gave the signal, four Bluelines rushed over to his Redline.

Then—each of the Bluelines transformed.

One became the right arm. Another, the left. The others shifted into the right and left legs.

They locked into place, fusing with the Redline and making the machine grow one size larger.

But it didn’t end there.

The Redline’s crimson stripes and the Bluelines’ azure lines spiraled together—

And the entire frame lit up in a brilliant violet glow.

Holy crap, it looked incredible!!

『Behold!! The transform-and-combine unit—Violet Line!!』

“A-Amazing!! That’s insanely cool!!”

“…Cool, you say?”

“I’ll never understand men’s tastes.”

Imuru and Laverne both sounded unimpressed in the monitor room, but cool was cool. No two ways about it.

『And when it comes to a combine-mecha, who needs long-range weapons!? We’ll cleave it apart with this anti-ship blade!!』

“Uoooooohhhh!! Go for it, Yamada!!”

What Yamada drew was a sword bigger than the Violet Line itself.

A blade forged for one purpose: to cut ships in half.

Without the slightest hesitation, he charged the airborne battleship.

Anti-air fire hammered him again and again, but the armor held—allowing him to close the distance.

And then—he brought the anti-ship blade crashing down with all his might.

『Slash!!』

The anti-ship blade cleaved the airborne battleship clean in half, sending the massive wreck plummeting to the ground.

It was a flawless victory.

“Alright!! Yamada, you saved us!! Keep taking down the enemy fighters—and if another battleship shows up, deal with it!!”

『Yesss!! Hyaaah!! We’ll bathe them in blood—』

“Nope, that sounds like a villain line no matter how you spin it!!”

Imuru’s jab barely landed before reports came flooding in from every battlefield.

『T-Tiara here!! I crushed every last enemy tank!!』

『Mister, revenge mission complete.』

『Iltar reporting!! We’re all wrapped up on this side too!!』

The tide of battle had clearly swung in our favor.

The only real concern left was the masked girl, who still had the power to flip everything on its head—

『This is Rocoro. I took a heavy hit, but I managed to neutralize the masked girl.』

“Good, good!! Everyone, rally to Rocoro and get him out of there!! I’m heading down too—gather the fallen in one spot!!”

『『『Roger!!』』』

We had won. A clean, undeniable victory.

I bolted out of the monitor room, racing to the battlefield below to bring our fallen comrades back to life.

But I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.

Even if we crushed the Ixion Kingdom and took care of the masked girl, the mastermind behind it all was still out there.

“Yo, yo!! You must be the leader of the heroes, right? Nice to meet you!! I’m the evil god!!”

“…Hah?”

What greeted me on the ground wasn’t the cheers of comrades—

But the corpses of fallen heroes.

And standing proudly atop those bodies was a woman of breathtaking beauty.

―――――――――――――――――――――

[Afterword]

A Random Tidbit

The Ixion princess had been fused into the airborne battleship as a living component, but after the battle she was safely recovered and thrown into a cell, same as Glenn. What happens to her next? Well, look forward to it.

If you thought, “Serves her right!!” then toss some ★s my way!

And if you caught yourself thinking, “Combine mechas are pure romance!!,” “Wait, Rocoro actually won!?,” or “The evil god is evil as hell, lol,” —then don’t forget to leave a comment, bookmark, ★rating, or review!