Yomajin Expedition

After Volnar and the Yomajin Front struck a technology sharing agreement, it quickly became evident most of the weapons sent from Earth to Volnar suffered malfunctions and became useless. Gunpowder didn't ignite, computers didn't start, and most modern weapons simply failed under Volnar's laws of the world and its physics.

However, there are exceptions to the rule - some weapons partially work when used by certain humans. This begged the question of which ones could and could not be used, and what factors were determining this.

In order to answer this question, the Yomajin Expeditionary Force (YEF) was assembled, its mission being "to conduct practical experiments of Earth-produced weapons in Volnar". Leading this ensemble were the Yamada Corps, considered to have the most variation in magic suitability, with officer Hiroshi Yamada as its Captain.

They took two experimental pieces of equipment with them:

* All terrain transport crawler "Danny" - An eight-legged transport with a prototype mana propulsion engine.
* Powered suit "Tsukikage" - It can triple the speed and strength of its wearer, but it can only be used by someone with nearly superhuman reaction times like Captain Yamada.

The task force orders of the YEF were as follows (to be completed within a month):

1. Use the interdimensional gate to move from Earth to the Volnar Frontier Ruins (gate exit)
2. Be joined by Ms. Shiori Laudia, a Volnar Imperial Magus who will act as a local guide.
3. Transfer to the Imperial Capital of Wescalot through a transfer spell.
4. Engage in current and new weapon field experiments and train Wescalot army on any useable weaponry.

However, during the transfer to Wescalot, the Fell Dragon Vastorus Rex magically intervened to alter the transfer's destination - they appeared more than 200 km south of the capital, at the center of the Fell Dragon territory.

* *Yamada: That's a flashy welcome, Ms. Shiori!*
* *Shiori: Well, if it had gone as planned, a military band would be welcoming us, and not hostile marauders.*
* *Yamada: You mean... this is not imperial territory ...?!*

In order to escape Vastorus' lands, they had to cross the Beastfolk territory, the Bloody Forest, the Land of Madness, and the mountains where the Fell Dragon itself resides.

It was discovered that Willpower, or the capacity to impose oneself over the world's rules, determined which weapons were working - essentially, only those who thought of a weapon as an extension of their anatomy and as something that necessarily had to work, succeeded.

According to Shiori, this tendency is specially developed in magic users - but Yamada was not able to use a single modern weapon.

*"Captain Yamada, you've got zero potential for magic. You're what we call a 'negator', a person who can't use nor be affected by most magic."* - Shiori Rhodia, to Yamada.

In view of the above, Yamada made the call to go to Reclusive Demon Melror dungeon - the Godlock - to ask for his help.

> *"In short, the Operating System governing the physical laws of Earth and Volnar is different." - said the Demon. "But I can help you hack it to move some normal and experimental weapons."*
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Having confirmed that the fell dragon quadrarch was absent from his lair, Yamada and his troops broke into Vastorus's temple to reach the shortest path to the Wescalot Empire. But Zoa, the quadrarch's high priest, was not about to let them pass.

Zoa's Soulgrinder Hex magic had no effect on Yamada though, due to him being a negator. Yamada eventually defeated Zoa, but this bought Vastorus some precious time to reach his lair and confront the expeditoners.

(To Be Continued...)