Ch.182182. The Battle of Obitus Workshop

Ian was nearly out of his mind.

The cause was losing his most precious Fresia in yesterday’s battle.

Blinded by jealousy toward Gilbert during the previous engagement, Ian had failed to follow Fresia’s instructions properly.

Unable to contain the dark, sticky emotions threatening to drive him mad, he had recklessly charged into the heart of enemy territory despite Fresia’s protests.

As a result, his giant mech’s limbs were completely destroyed, putting his life in danger. Overwhelmed by the frustration of another failure and the helplessness of being unable to defeat Gilbert, Ian had literally given up on everything.

Fresia activated an emergency teleportation spell to save him.

Even as the spell activated, Ian remained in a state of resignation. By the time he finally came to his senses, it was too late to retrieve Fresia’s artificial spirit core.

In the final moment, he reached out for Fresia’s spirit core, but his body had already arrived at the designated evacuation point in the rear.

Extremely anxious at the thought of abandoning Fresia, Ian immediately expressed his intention to return to battle, but was flatly refused. The offensive had already reached its endpoint, and they couldn’t send Ian back out with his unstable psychological state.

When informed that re-deployment was impossible, Ian tried to go retrieve Fresia on foot, but was restrained. The military doctors, judging him to be in an abnormal state due to combat stress, placed him in restraints and detained him.

It wasn’t until he regained his composure and could think rationally that they finally released him.

By then, it was already late at night, and it seemed impossible to recover Fresia.

“It’s my fault. Because of me, Fresia…!” He blamed no one but himself. Even Ian, with his sky-high self-esteem, couldn’t help but blame himself.

Someone as intelligent as Fresia would surely have known what would happen if she fell into the hands of the Neo Resistance. Nevertheless, she had thought only of him until the very end.

Ian couldn’t sleep due to his guilt over her. Despite news of the Allied forces’ victory, he remained shut in his quarters, unable to feel any joy.

If Prince Richard hadn’t come looking for him, he might have spent the entire night trembling with self-loathing and anxiety.

Prince Richard spoke to Ian about the battle planned for the next day. He wanted Ian to take the lead and perform as brilliantly as Gilbert had.

Ian didn’t refuse, seeing it as an opportunity to distinguish himself. After all, what he wanted was to outshine Gilbert, so Richard’s order was something he welcomed with open arms.

However, he said he had no intention of operating as a special assault unit like Gilbert had. What was required of him was to lead the formation as a vanguard, not to penetrate deep into enemy territory like Gilbert.

That was the source of Ian’s dissatisfaction.

It felt as though they were showing that Gilbert could do it, but he could not.

Though he bowed his head in agreement before Prince Richard, when Ian returned to his quarters, he spent the night consumed by dissatisfaction with the orders and anxiety about Fresia.

When dawn broke, Ian mounted his giant mech with hollow eyes and stared at the core of the generic artificial spirit. He could hear Fresia’s voice, always nagging him, but she wasn’t here now.

Growing anxious again, he bit his nails while waiting for the sortie signal. Just restraining himself from rushing out immediately pushed him to his limits.

After suppressing the urge to charge out several times, the deployment order finally came.

[Commander Ian! No rash actions!]

Other commanders tried to restrain Ian as he surged forward using his magic booster, but he had already broken to the front.

Ian desperately searched for the red giant mech.

His emergency evacuation had been caused by the red giant mech piloted by Horizon, which Ian was now looking for.

As a former Great Sage, Horizon knew about Fresia’s existence. He clearly recognized that she was a super artificial spirit and had ambushed Ian to steal Fresia from him.

Ian, never imagining someone would know about Fresia’s existence, was caught off guard by Horizon and only managed to escape thanks to Fresia’s sacrifice.

If he hadn’t intended to recover Fresia, Ian might have died in the explosion.

Therefore, Horizon was likely in possession of Fresia now. Ian clearly remembered the giant mech that had tried to tear open his cockpit just before teleportation.

“Just wait, Fresia. I’ll definitely save you…!”

Ian gritted his teeth and crashed into the Neo Resistance’s battle line.

Driven by his determination to rescue Fresia, Ian moved his giant mech relentlessly.

Despite his earlier impatience, Ian now showed remarkable concentration, dodging magic bullets and magical armaments that would normally have destroyed him.

As seconds and minutes passed, his piloting skills continued to improve. His potential, coupled with intense concentration, was finally beginning to bloom.

Simultaneously, the proficiency of his trait skill began to rise rapidly. His trait skill, which activated the moment he piloted the giant mech, began to grow alongside his potential.

[What the hell is this guy?]

[He-he’s a monster!]

Despite facing a mix of heavy and light armored mechs, Ian used everything at his disposal to eliminate the enemy. The Neo Resistance members tried to form an encirclement to take down Ian’s mech, but repeatedly failed.

Ian moved too quickly for their encirclement to fully form.

He deflected incoming magic bullets with his magic barrier. By avoiding direct hits, he significantly reduced his magic consumption.

A smile began to form on Ian’s lips. His earlier anxiety had disappeared.

He was in a state of complete immersion, cutting through enemy lines with remarkable agility.

If things continued like this, he could both recover Fresia and surpass Gilbert.

Shaking off even his deep-seated inferiority complex, Ian envisioned a hopeful future.

If only…

[Warning: Battery level below 10 percent.]

If only he had sufficient battery power, it might have been possible.

Ian’s eyes widened at the sudden red warning light inside his giant mech.

His piloting skills were improving dramatically even at this moment, but the conditions couldn’t support his growth.

The reason Gilbert hadn’t gone out alone was because he was wary of completely depleting his magic battery.

Even Gilbert couldn’t move a giant mech using only his own mana.

This was no different for Ian, despite having more mana than Gilbert.

From the beginning, giant mechs were monsters that devoured magic. No matter how powerful a knight might be, it was impossible to move a giant mech using only one’s own mana.

Even if it could move, the operating time would obviously be very limited.

In that sense, Ian had been too careless with his magic battery distribution. Precise piloting meant moving the giant mech with greater finesse.

The magic consumption was clearly higher than normal movement, and the inexperienced Ian had overlooked this.

But having already penetrated deep into enemy territory, Ian couldn’t stop. Even as the magic battery was visibly depleting in real-time, he pulled the control lever.

As the battery level dropped to single digits, Ian felt anxious.

With his concentration broken, his incredible growth rate also slowed.

[Warning: Battery level below 5 percent.]

Ian gritted his teeth. The operational shutdown was imminent.

[Ian! Snap out of it!]

Just as Ian was about to close his eyes and give up, a familiar voice came through the magical communication channel.

“Fresia!”

At the sound of Fresia’s voice that he had so longed to hear, Ian’s eyes flew open.

He quickly turned his attention to the connected magical communication.

And through the magical communication, he saw Gilbert—the last person Ian wanted to see.

“What is this…?”

[Get a grip! Gilbert will buy you time to escape. We’ll talk later, now get out of there!]

“Fresia. Why are you with Gilbert…?”

[There’s no time!]

“Ugh.”

Ian closed his eyes tightly and gripped the control lever at Fresia’s shout. As she said, the remaining battery was truly almost depleted.

Feeling questions and indescribable emotions about the situation, he retreated. He couldn’t repeat yesterday’s mistake.

But even as he retreated, his eyes never left Gilbert’s giant mech. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

***

Gilbert confirmed that Ian was retreating.

He was reluctant to open the magical communication channel, but it had been unavoidable.

Fortunately, Ian seemed too shocked by the fact that Fresia was with Gilbert to think about anything else.

At least there was still a chance to hide the existence of his trait skill.

[Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to save Ian.]

“I was just keeping my promise.”

[Promise… right…]

Fresia trailed off, seemingly remembering a promise she had forgotten.

Whatever she was thinking, her previously confident tone wavered slightly.

Gilbert realized he had created another misunderstanding, but didn’t bother to correct it.

There was no time for that now.

“Lead the Brynhild troops to join us here. I’ll stir things up as much as I can.”

[What are you thinking, recklessly charging into the middle of enemy territory alone?]

“I had no choice.”

[That’s not an answer…! We should talk after you return.]

With those final stern words, Brynhild cut the magical communication.

Somehow, seeing her angry expression reminded Gilbert of a nagging wife he didn’t even have.

After shuddering once, Gilbert regained his composure. Despite the momentary lull created by his sudden intrusion, this was still the heart of enemy territory.

“Fresia.”

[Y-yes! What is it?]

“In the current situation, we can’t afford to be gentle. Understand that I might need to be a bit aggressive, like yesterday.”

[You’re going to do what you did yesterday again?]

Fresia asked with visible distaste.

Gilbert silently nodded.

[Do whatever you want. It’s not like you’d stop if I refused anyway.]

Once again, Gilbert had to experience a strange feeling.

Somehow, what Fresia had just said felt oddly familiar.

“I had no choice then. There was no time to ask for your consent.”

[I said it’s fine. Do what you want. I need to keep my promise too.]

Fresia spoke as if she had made a major decision.

Gilbert still couldn’t shake this strange sense of déjà vu.

“Then here I go.”

Gilbert activated Limit Break.

[Special condition for trait skill “Your Mech is Awesome” confirmed.]

[Skill Limit Break activation… confirmed.]

[Skill Hundred Techniques acquisition… confirmed.]

[Compatibility with super artificial spirit Fresia… 70% confirmed.]

[Special condition for “Your Mech is Awesome” partially fulfilled. Limited access to higher trait skill ??? granted.]

[Condition for skill Hundred Techniques confirmed. Limited access to higher skill ??? granted.]

So I was right?

Gilbert smiled wickedly, feeling a sense of omnipotence coursing through his body.

As he had suspected, these higher-level trait skills and skills seemed to activate when two conditions were met.

Those conditions were the activation of his trait skill through Fresia and the use of Limit Break.

It seemed that when he forcibly opened his still insufficient growth with Limit Break, the conditions were met and unlocked.

[I won’t… lose…!]

Except for the voice struggling to suppress pain, it couldn’t be better.

But even taking that into account, he felt like he could accomplish anything right now.

Moving the giant mech felt like moving his own body, with a sense of unity he experienced.

Gilbert smiled fiercely at this sensation he had never felt even in the game.

His giant mech began to move, breaking the momentary lull.

Unlike Ian, Gilbert focused all his attention on breaking through their encirclement and joining up with the following troops, rather than moving flashily. He minimized his movements, moving only when necessary.

Two light armored mechs occupied his path, but he broke through them without difficulty.

[Gilbert. We’re coming to join you!]

After buying enough time, the main force led by Brynhild approached within reach. Gilbert’s giant mech, which had been moving conservatively, suddenly launched an aggressive offensive.

[Rear magical armament Explosion, fire!]

With Fresia’s shout, they used the explosive recoil of Explosion to gain propulsion and tear through the encirclement.

After stirring up the enemy territory, he was able to join Brynhild’s main force.

[Be prepared when we get back.]

With one final threatening message from Brynhild, the real war began.

[First and second squads, break through their lines in wedge formation!]

Gilbert immediately opened the unit communication magic channel and sent the giant mech squads through the gap he had torn in the encirclement.

The Neo Resistance troops, with their lines already shaken, couldn’t stop the wedge formation of giant mechs. In their confusion, they abandoned their positions, creating gaps in their formation.

The Allied forces wouldn’t let this opportunity pass.

[Charge! We must split their formation in two!]

The Allied forces poured in like a flood, targeting the visible gaps. Despite their numerical advantage, the Neo Resistance forces couldn’t respond properly as the momentum had shifted.

The Allied forces were determined not to miss this opportunity. They threw everything they had into the attack, with giant mechs rotating to the rear for resupply before returning to the front line.

Though numerically disadvantaged, they opted for a rotating attack strategy, made possible by their high-caliber knights.

At the very forefront, cutting through the enemy, were Gilbert and Brynhild. The two of them sliced through or blew up every giant mech that stood in their way like fish in water.

They were skilled at retreating at appropriate times for resupply and made excellent use of having Obitus behind them.

Two hours after the battle began.

That was how long it took to cut the Neo Resistance forces, which had numbered in the thousands, in half.

***

“This is impossible!”

Horizon trembled with rage as he cut down the approaching Allied giant mechs.

He had thought his preparations were perfect when he started this battle.

Yesterday, the tide had turned because of the variable named Gilbert, but this time he had formed his troops to prevent such a performance.

As he had predicted, they effectively blocked Ian’s giant mech, which possessed Fresia. Despite suffering some damage due to Ian’s unexpected piloting skills, Horizon thought it would be worth it if they could eliminate a knight with such potential.

Until then, everything had gone according to Horizon’s plan. If he could kill Ian, Fresia’s contractor, and forcibly break the contract, he would have a chance to obtain the super artificial spirit.

He would need to recover Fresia first, but he didn’t think that would be difficult. Gilbert, the variable, surely had her, so winning the war would solve everything.

But once again, Gilbert had interfered.

Just as he was about to finish Ian, Gilbert’s intrusion changed the course of the battle. With piloting skills that amazed even Horizon, Gilbert bought time to join the main force and then turned the tide in favor of the Allied forces.

As a result, they had suffered incomparable damage compared to yesterday.

Thinking about it, it had been that way from the beginning.

From his bold attitude toward Horizon at Demeia Academy, Gilbert had begun to interfere with his plans at some point.

During the academy attack, the monster incident, and even revealing his identity.

The accumulation of all these events had led to this battle at Obitus.

“You inferior creature!”

Unable to contain his fury, Horizon searched for Gilbert’s giant mech with eyes gleaming with rage. He was still rampaging at the front lines.

Horizon felt that now was the time for him to step in.

It was time to eliminate his greatest obstacle and variable.

With that decision, he gripped his control lever.

“Insolent child! I shall be your opponent!”

Horizon’s red giant mech began to charge toward Gilbert’s.