Battle of the Southeastern Philades

### Result

**Japanese and Alliance Victory** * Demons, beasts and wyverns suffer heavy casualties
* Nosgorath and The Yellow Ogre flee splitting west and east

**Battle of the Southeastern Philades** is a campaign between the Emissaries of the Sun God and the Demon Lord's Army that the Imperial Japanese army and navy, consisting of the Alliance of the Races, repels with a full-scale clash against the Demon Lord's Army on the southeastern coast of Philades Continent.

* Ravernal Empire's Remnants
* Irregular Unit Commander Yellow Ogre
* 1st Otherworld Army Division Commander Lt. General Matsushita Takao
* 2nd Otherworld Deployment Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Kasai Ryuuken
* 2nd Otherworld Army Division Commander Colonel Sagara Katsuyuki
* 1st Armored Regiment Commander Takeuchi Koushirou
* 2nd Armored Regiment Commander Colonel Tasaki Kikuzou
* Alliance Chief-of-Staff Galeos (Human)
	+ Goblins
	+ Orcs
	+ Orc kings
	+ Rabid wolves
	+ Small golems
* 300 wyverns
* 40 Goruaus beasts
* Few Charybdis and Kraken sea monsters (unknown number details)

**Yellow Ogre's Force**
* 50,000 demons
	+ Goblins
	+ Orcs
	+ Orc kings
	+ Rabid wolves
* 1 Akagi-class aircraft carrier *Ikoma*
* 2 Kii-class battleships *Kii* and *Owari*
* 1 Nagara-class cruiser *Yoshino*
* 1 Sendai-class cruiser *Kidzu*
* 2 Fubuki-class destroyers *Sasameyuki* and *Awayuki*
* 2 Hatsuharu-class destroyers *Hatsuakari* and *Toyosaka*
* 3 Supply ships *Hijirizaki*, *Tsurugizaki* and *Kousaki*
* 6 transport ships
* 50 Mitsubishi A6M2b Model 21 Zero fighters
* 40 Aichi D3A Type 99 dive bombers
* 30 Nakajima B5N Type 97 torpedo bombers

**Imperial Japanese 1st and 2nd Otherworld Army Divison**
* 24 Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tanks
* 12 Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks
* Kurogane Type 95 scout car (unknown number details)
* Imperial soldiers with Type 99 rifles (unknown number details)

**Alliance's Force**
* Infantrymen (unknown number details)
* Warriors (unknown number details)
* Archers (unknown number details)
* All wyverns dead
* Several Goruaus beasts dead
* All Charybdis and Kraken sea monsters destroyed
* Few soldiers injured

## Background

### Emissaries of the Sun God and Alliance of the Races

While the nineteen ships of the Otherworld Deployment Fleet were on the sea after the destruction of the 2nd Rodenius Dispatch Force in the Battle of Philades Southern Sea, Fleet Commander Kasai Ryuuken and Army Division Commander Matsushita Takao listened to Galeos’s explanation about the numerical superiority of Gulgorath’s force and the Demon Lord's Army. It was probably best to have an expert on ground maneuvers handle the upcoming operation. Malastras didn’t know that the Japanese also possessed ships and that information hadn’t reached the Demon Lord. With the Imperial Japanese also not knowing about that, they raised multiple possibilities for what might have happened.

* *The first was that the Demon Lord's Army may have underestimated them.*
* *The second was that the force Imperial Japanese encountered might have been the main force’s vanguard, sent as a decoy to throw them off.*
* *The third was that the Imperial Japanese was a sacrificial piece in the Demon Lord’s plan.*

The Imperial Japanese and the Alliance haven’t noticed it yet, but the one leading the force they crushed was of the same rank as Malastras. Furthermore, Demon Lord Nosgorath never expected Gulgorath to be able to emerge victorious. He only expected that they’d be able to reach Rodenius safely and that there was no way Gulgorath would force an engagement since they knew little about their opponents. He intended to sabotage the Sun God’s emissaries and the Alliance’s efforts in building ships to buy time for him to reunite with the Blue Ogre, the Yellow Ogre, and the White Ogre so that they could make the crossing to Rodenius and maybe even link up with the Red Ogre and Malastras.

If the Demon Lord has at the very least only 10,000 troops under his command at the southeastern coast of Philades Continent, the Blue Ogre and the Yellow Ogre would be trying to reunite with the Demon Lord from two directions. The Imperial Japanese would wait for them to have already come together, and then they bombard them. However, the Imperial Japanese were still plagued with the problem of supplies. Even if they were indeed easy to kill with a bombardment, the Demon's Army of 110,000 would still require a lot of shelling. If they exhausted everything that they still failed to wipe them out completely, that would put them in a precarious position, one where the Demon Lord could have all the avenues to attack them. Fleet Commander Kasai and Army Commander Matsushita proceed as planned: they split up into two where one heads east and the other west, chasing them back all the way north and destroying their numbers bit by bit.

Kasai and Matsushita carefully confirmed the movements of their forces on the map that the distance between the eastern and western tips of Philades may at least be around 4000km, with the highest possible estimate being around 5000km, dividing out times as they calculate how much they would move in a day. Additionally, they have no means of communication once they split. They did bring messenger pigeons. Them being meticulous with time is due to the difference in the distance that will have to be covered by those going east and those going west. Since there was an isthmus connecting the Grameus continent with Philades, they wanted to drive them back there. However, the western contingent will have to cover a lot more distance than the eastern contingent to do so. As they head north, they will bite away on the Demon Army’s numbers bit by bit until they are small enough to be finally annihilated through shore bombardment. To successfully execute this plan, they would need to get the timing right. Lastly, they decided to complete all legs of the plan in two years.

The nineteen ships of the Otherworld Deployment Fleet sailed toward the southeastern coast of Philades Continent where the Demon Lord’s Coastal Defense Force and encampment.

### Demon Lord's Army

It was only the fifth day since Gulgorath set out the 2nd Rodenius Dispatch Force for the Rodenius continent, however; the Otherworld Deployment Fleet crushed Gulgorath’s force. At the encampment in the southeastern Philades, Demon Lord Nosgorath heard the report from a communications demon that some sea monsters that Gulgorath had perished in battle by the ships of the emissaries of the Sun God. He learned that they were moving faster to the coastline, but the Yellow Ogre was heading towards them, expecting to be arriving tomorrow. The Blue Ogre and the White Ogre had split up their forces in the western continent, taking time for them to reform and return. He ordered to deploy all 40 Goruaus beasts to the coastline ready to intercept any landings and 10,000 demons to prepare the defense on the coastline. He had cursed himself of Sun God and her emissaries.

Hearing that the Demon Lord was in danger, the Yellow Ogre and his forces of 50,000 had run back, hardly having a wink of sleep. Since he possessed near-inexhaustible stamina, the regular orcs and goblins didn’t have a great time. The rabid wolves that the orcs use for mounted warfare were also worn out with most of the beasts and other demons being on the brink of falling asleep.

## Battle

### Bombing Raid on the Southeastern Coast

One of the goblins on the lookout spotted multiple ships of the emissaries of the Sun God far off to the horizon. Not taking any chances, the goblin ran towards the Demon Army’s main encampment. The communications demon reported to the Demon Lord Nosgorath and the Yellow Ogre the news. Nosgorath ordered the communications demon to get all the wyverns to sortie out and the Yellow Ogre to wait for them to land and attack them before they could form ranks. The Demon Lord's Coastal Defense Force split their sea monsters in two and placed them to the east and west, and as soon as the ships made themselves scarce, they proceed to sink them. They must cut off their retreat.

The moment Nosgorath left his tent, something came over him. He noticed gigantic, ultra-fast arrowheads darted from the sea towards where the Yellow Ogre’s troops were resting, producing equally spectacular explosions and shockwaves. The explosions didn’t stop as more manifested over the Demon Army’s camp. The beasts that were sleeping that had been subject to the attack were suddenly running amok. The 50,000 strong force began to get up and prepare for the battle.

Kasai looked at the continent through his binoculars and pinpointed the Demon Army’s position through their observation equipment. The Kii-class battleships *Kii* and *Owari*, Nagara-class cruiser *Yoshino* and Sendai-class cruiser *Kidzu* had commenced their offshore naval bombardment. However, the wyvern force had managed to take off before the bombardment started. The 300 wyverns immediately dispatched their air assets in force upon seeing the multiple ships. Since the aircraft carrier *Tosa* and Ikoma had also already sent out all of their Zero fighters up, the matter of air supremacy won’t be a problem. However, since the number of wyverns this time was much more significant, some may bypass the fighters and threaten the fleet itself.

As the destroyers led the way, they proceeded with exterminating the sea monsters in passing. The torpedoes they launched found their mark, resulting in the occasional sight of blood and flesh being thrown everywhere.

### Air Battle near the Southeastern Coast

The first to attack was the Demon Army’s wyverns. The lumps of shining flame fell on the air superiority fighters of the Otherworld Deployment Fleet like a meteor shower at its peak. The Zero fighters lightly climbed up to an altitude unreachable by the wyverns, leaving the trails of fire to run right under their bellies. From there, they immediately turned their noses down, diving to absurd speeds of 630km/h and pressing down hard on the wyverns below them. More than 60 wyverns were blasted apart in the hail of autocannon fire, taking out a fifth of their force in a single moment.  The orcs, piloting their wyverns with one hand, grew anxious. The hands that clutched the reins stiffened up as the thunder-like roar of the iron dragons echoed, instilling fear into their hearts as they looked at the eerie shape and absurd speed of the Zero fighters. They immediately ordered their wyverns to ready a second salvo of magic flame bullets, but the incredible speed and shaky maneuvers of their enemies made it difficult for them to target them. At this moment of the wyverns hovering in the air, the Zero fighters returned, driving wedges in the enemy formation. This time, several pilots suggested a decoy in the form of pretending to be experiencing faults to lure in opportunistic enemies.

While the enemies they lured in were distracted, other fighters would come in from behind to shoot them down. Two Zero fighters slowed down to speeds of 300km/h and dropped their altitude to travel at a straight line, enticing ten wyverns to take the opportunity to shoot them down. As they did, however, three other Zero fighters descend on them from behind, showering them in autocannon fire. Switching from employing decoys and regular attacks, they managed to fool some wyverns to shoot down. Repeating the process, they managed to whittle down the wyvern force to around 200. The orcs broke off from the fighting, splitting their forces to attack the attack and bomber aircraft as well as the fleet. Struggling with the terror of having the Zero fighters kill them off from behind, the wyverns desperately flapped their wings to their objectives as they readied their magic flame bullets.

The Type 99 dive bombers and Type 97 torpedo bombers noticed that the wyverns were now heading for Zero fighters, prompting them to respond in kind, despite the heavy payload they carried, staying on course while keeping the wyverns at bay with their 7.7mm machine guns. Since their ultimate objective was the Demon Lord's camp, there was no need for them to take out the wyverns completely. Despite that, the 7.7mm machine gun alone appeared to have enough power to deal serious damage to the wyverns, enabling the force of 70 planes to shoot down 15 wyverns that managed to get close enough.

By the time the 30 wyverns closed in on the fleet. As their speed wasn’t particularly fast either, they might be able to take their time to aim and shoot at them. The order was propagated in each ship. The gunnery crews confirmed the angle of elevation and bearing as they also completed the ammunition loading on the anti-air warfare. However, the wyverns had no idea that the ships were armed with similar weaponry as the iron dragons. They continue to close in. Now under the storm of 25mm anti-aircraft shells, the wyverns were taken back, disrupting their aim and making them fire their magic flame bullets in all sorts of directions.

At the end of the battle, the gunners aboard the Kii-class battleships *Kii* scored two wyvern kills, and the *Owari* killed three, those on the cruisers *Yoshino* and *Kidzu* shot down five wyverns. The wyverns that diverted for the transports and resupply ships were dealt with by the Zero fighters, ending the air battle in a total victory for the Japanese.

### Coastline Battle

By the time the struggle for air superiority had been decided, six experimental-type transport ships landed on the shores of the Philades continent, beginning the Imperial Japanese Army’s Otherworld Army Divison’s phase of the operation. The imperial Japanese soldiers that had taken positions on the beach opened fire with their Type 99 rifles at the Demon Lord's Army that descended on them, mowing down droves of demons and magical beasts. The small golems that took a hit from rifle bullets to their foreheads and chest areas readily crumbled to dust.

At 1st Armored Regiment Commander Takeuchi’s orders, tanks rolled off the transport ships one after the other. At the end, 24 Type 97 medium tanks and 12 Type 95 light tanks emerged onto the beaches. Seeing the uncanny appearance of the iron land dragons, the magical beasts quivered and hesitated. With the goblin units taking a step back, 40 gigantic, four-legged Goruaus beasts came forward from behind them. The Goruaus beasts had horns protruding from their forehead. From time to time, sparks of blue flames swirled around the horns, and from a glance, the Japanese understood that they were immensely powerful magical creatures. The Goruaus beasts made clever moves contrary to their huge size, dodging most of the Japanese 7.7mm machine gunfire.

The Goruaus beasts let loose streaks of light from their horns, blasting the turrets of the Type 97 tanks in front and covering them in bluish-white, explosive flames. Some of them took extensive damage to the turret ring, rendering them unable to turn and effectively taking them out of the fight. Some of the Goruaus beasts opened their mouths wide, forming fireballs within them. While they were smaller than what a wyvern can conjure, they moved at the same speed when unleashed. The fireballs landed hits on some Type 95 light tanks, seriously damaging their wheels and throwing off their tracks. Takeuchi doubted his own eyes, but it was the reality. The magic cast from their horns was explosive magic that accompanied the shock from a lightning-based magic spell. The fireballs were flame-based explosive magic that manifested upon contact. The velocity of those attacks, along with their refresh rate and potency were a match for the Imperial Japanese Army’s tanks.

The Type 95 light tanks tried to counterattack through their mobility, but the speed offered them little in the way of survivability. They were supported by the Type 97 medium tanks, taking down multiple Goruaus beasts, but two more tanks were taken out of the fight. When the Goruaus beasts closed the distance, their extremely strong melee attacks dealt significant damage to the Japanese tanks despite their sturdy steel armor. While the Goruaus beasts were also somehow susceptible to the small arms fire coming from machine guns and rifles, the fact that they were still yet to suffer deaths was nothing short of miraculous.

Takeuchi gathered up his vehicles to reform into a wedge and pointed it straight towards the Goruaus beasts. The armored units, having reformed their posture, began their simultaneous counterattack as Matsushita ordered. The Goruaus beasts, hardly had any semblance of coordination, intimidated and whittled down by the timed, concentrated fire of the Japanese tanks, forcing some of them to run away from the fight. However, they didn’t appear to have the intention of running back to the main camp, stopping some distance away and turning to face them once more. Behind the tank formation, the beastmen scurried to carry the disabled tanks and carry them back to the transports. Seeing it happen with their very eyes, the Japanese tankers and infantrymen looked in amazement.

When several shells flew in from the sea, the 30 tanks that were left promptly retreated. As the Imperial Japanese Army took positions 1km away, the Demon Lord's Army examined what was wrong. A second after they realized what the retreat meant, the shells from the fleet reached them, showering them in massive explosions and wiping all of them out in a single moment.

In any case, the nonstop naval bombardment and bombings from the air forced disorganized them, making them unable to mount any reorganization. With the Demon Lord focused on the bombardment and the bombings, he didn’t notice that two recon planes were circling the sky. Eventually, one of the 14cm shells fired by the Sendai-class cruiser Kidzu flew straight towards the Demon Lord. Looking at the trajectory of the 14cm shell, Nosgorath immediately cast ten layers of physical shields without uttering a single chant. Using all of his innate magical power to cast it, he took mana particles from the air and mixed them with the earth, forming tough shields in the nick of time. In the single second it took to finish the process, the 38kg heavy high explosive 14cm shell landed and exploded, destroying 9 of the 10 shields. The last shield was embedded with metallic fragments from the explosion causing it to collapse three seconds later. Sweat flowed from all corners of Nosgorath’s body. It was a close brush with death. He patted himself on the back for choosing to create physical barriers rather than strengthening his own body. Such decisions pulled Nosgorath away from the brink of death.

Demon Lord Nosgorath struggled to get it out, but he was able to issue orders. The demons and beasts were running amok returned to him, hastily forming ranks and retreating to avoid the storm of explosive magic raining down from the iron dragons. However, it was already too late to round up everyone completely. The objective of the seaborne and airborne attacks was to split the Demon Lord's Army. The Yellow Ogre was nowhere near Nosgorath, likely having run off to assist in the counterattack.

When the rain of shells from the sea stopped, the Zero fighters were making their way towards them. The Demon Lord fled west with his least 2,000 demons, splitting from the Yellow Ogre, who escaped to the coastline eastwards.

## Aftermath

After having completed their landing, the Imperial Japanese Army’s Otherworld Army Division promptly made their way north, splitting up as planned with the 1st Division going east and the 2nd Division going west to split further and isolate the elements of the Demon Lord's Army. The Imperial Japanese Army’s current phase was largely going forward as expected. However, none of them knew if the Demon Lord and the Yellow Ogre were together or if they had split up. Since they may have understood that the ships were going to attack them, they should be in the mindset that they have to link back up with their main force. Since their Air Service was also helping them scare the demons from doing so, they were able to completely isolate the eastern and western halves of the Demon Army. If something happens, their recon planes can inform them.

They planned to keep the Demon Lord's Army on the run until nightfall. They at least wanted to achieve a 30km distance from the eastern and western halves, slowly yet completely isolating the two halves of the Demon Lord's Army. The long days of the Japanese and Alliance forces had begun.

While the Demon Lord was continuing his retreat westwards, the 3,000 demons unaccounted, which had been lost in the attacks by the emissaries along the way, leaving 4,000 with him. With the Red Ogre and Malastras in Rodenius, it would take them more than a week to return to Philades, even with sea monsters. After they land, they would then have to take the overland routes, which if they want to take the shortest route, they should be better off linking up with the Yellow Ogre to the east. As for Demon Lord and his demon army, the Blue Ogre and the White Ogre will join them with their full force over 60,000 troops. Since the emissaries’ forces may have also split up, they may be able to overwhelm the half that’s chasing them with sheer numbers.

As Nosgorath followed the coastline west along the southwestern edge of Philades, the Yellow Ogre continued his retreat with 35,000 demons along the coastline eastwards.

## Outline Map

1. Gulgorath leads 26,200 troops of the 2nd Rodenius Dispatch Force (named by humankind) and departs the Philades Continent.
2. About 200km south of the Philades continent, the Japanese fleet in the other world is sighted. Gulgorath launches his 200 wyverns, but they are shot down by 50 Zero fighter planes. Gulgorath decides to retreat immediately, but the entire fleet is destroyed by bombing by the Japanese Naval Air Force and torpedo attacks by destroyers. Gulgorath dies in battle.
3. The 300 cavalry of the Wyvern Crops of the Demon Lord's Army are destroyed in the air battle with the Imperial Naval Air Force and by anti-aircraft fire from the otherworldly fleet. 1,500 coastal defense troops of the Demon Lord's Army intercept the Imperial Tank Division. 40 Goruaus beasts disable 6th systems, but they are all reduced by the second volley of artillery fire.
4. The Imperial Japanese Army’s Otherworld Army Division, Otherworld Deployment Fleet, and Alliance Force are divided up and begin their pursuit.

## Trivia

* The Battle of the Southeastern Philades only details in the light novel.