Ch.9191. The Sigurdian Raid

Sigurd, the progenitor of the Sigurdians, had numerous children as befitting his renowned valor across the continent.

According to surviving records, he had so many offspring that they could not be counted on both hands.

But this was common in that era.

For powerful rulers, producing as many descendants as possible was not a choice but a duty.

Sigurd, too, had many children in accordance with this social custom.

As a great hero who had conquered the continent, he bore the heavy responsibility of passing down his excellent bloodline to future generations.

By the time he had fathered more than twenty children,

Sigurd crowned his most outstanding firstborn as his successor and bequeathed his kingdom to him.

He chose an early retirement, believing his era had passed.

Fortunately, his eldest son who inherited the kingdom ruled admirably. This was possible because he had inherited Sigurd’s blood most strongly, making his abilities far superior to those of his siblings.

Moreover, although retired, Sigurd remained influential and valued harmony among his children, which allowed the brothers and sisters to coexist without major conflicts.

However, this was only possible while Sigurd was alive and his firstborn ruled.

Sigurd had fathered more than twenty children. When these children married and had their own offspring, their numbers quickly doubled.

This meant there were many potential heirs to the throne.

Fortunately, since Sigurd’s firstborn had children early, the kingdom remained stable until then.

The problem came afterward.

The child who inherited the throne from Sigurd’s firstborn had offspring too late in life.

As a result, the remaining potential heirs who had been quiet began to covet the throne, triggering a civil war.

The civil war continued for many years. The prolonged internal conflict was enough to destroy the once powerful and prosperous Kingdom of Sigurd.

The stalwart soldiers all perished in the endless war, and the once-fertile land became desolate.

But the succession claimants, blinded by desire for the throne, were obsessed only with eliminating their competitors. They continued their game of chicken, focused solely on the throne while disregarding everything else.

The neighboring countries, which had been waiting for the Kingdom of Sigurd’s downfall, seized this unexpected opportunity. They began to nibble away at the border territories.

Thus, in the tenth year since the civil war began, a new successor to the throne was finally determined.

By then, only the capital remained of the Kingdom of Sigurd, and they had to witness enemy soldiers beginning their final advance toward the capital.

In the end, the kingdom established by the great hero Sigurd was destroyed by his own descendants.

However, not all of his descendants perished. Some survived even through the worst circumstances.

They gathered around their clans to form tribes, and over time, they grew to rival the size of noble estates in any empire. At that point, the tribal chiefs formed an alliance to defend against foreign invasions, and this alliance continues to this day as the Sigurd Tribal Confederation.

By now, they could rightfully be called a kingdom, but they maintained the tribal confederation structure. This was to avoid repeating the fate of the kingdom that had been destroyed by succession disputes.

However, many imperials who were unaware of this history disparaged the Sigurdians as barbarians because they called themselves tribes.

Malicious rumors spread that they were less civilized or technologically backward.

Of course, anyone with even a modicum of awareness knew that the Sigurdians were not barbarians as claimed.

The kingdom that preceded the tribal confederation, though now fallen, had once been a massive power that had devoured a significant portion of the continent.

Could all the legacy of such a kingdom have been completely lost after its fall?

The answer was ‘no.’

Although many were blinded by the desire for the throne during the civil war, not everyone was like that.

The ancestors of the current tribes, foreseeing the kingdom’s collapse, divided and preserved the kingdom’s technologies among themselves.

While much was indeed lost in the process, not everything disappeared.

Particularly, they desperately safeguarded the data on giant war machines, so most of those records survived. Thanks to this, the Sigurd Tribal Confederation maintained a high level of magical engineering, enough to wage war against the Empire.

Above all, they possessed something the Empire did not:

The ancient giant war machine that only the Grand Chief could authorize for use.

That was the ancient giant war machine, Fafnir.

***

After issuing the deployment order, Gilbert took the vanguard position as soon as they set out.

Normally, having the Commander-in-Chief at the very front might be good for morale, but strategically, it was a poor move.

If by any chance he became incapacitated, the command structure could collapse.

Fortunately, Fermo was here as his aide and could replace Gilbert if necessary, but as his adjutant, Fermo could not simply stand by and watch Gilbert’s actions.

[Commander-in-Chief! What kind of unit has its commander leading from the front?!]

“Deputy Commander Fermo. I trust you.”

[Is that all you have to say right now?]

“I’ll listen to your complaints later. We’re about to encounter the enemy’s vanguard.”

[Sigh… Very well. We’ll continue this discussion after the battle.]

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

With those words, Gilbert ended his communication with Fermo and could now see the advancing forces of the Sigurd Tribal Confederation in the distance. Opening the general channel to halt the entire army’s advance, he reviewed his plan once more.

The strategy he had in mind was based on Tactical Combat, so he couldn’t be certain how it would work now that it had become reality. It might be a kind of trick, or in some ways, it was a strategy he could formulate because he knew the Sigurdians well.

If things went well, he could end the war with minimal casualties, but if not, they would have to deal with the aftermath of war for some time.

He had done everything he could.

Having prepared everything possible, all that remained was to somehow proceed according to plan.

[Enemy distance approximately 1km. Prepare for engagement.]

CT-777’s warning echoed inside the cockpit along with a red light.

Gilbert gently gripped the control stick, focusing on the giant war machine at the forefront of the enemy forces.

With its golden body and the massive iron sword on its back,

he instinctively recognized the identity of that giant war machine.

One of the ancient giant war machines boasting the highest performance in Tactical Combat.

It was Fafnir.

[For Sigurd!]

A rough but powerful battle cry, amplified by sound enhancement magic, reverberated throughout the valley.

The pilot of Fafnir, perhaps intending to seize the initiative, drew Gram, Fafnir’s unique weapon, filled it with blue mana, and swung it toward Gilbert’s giant war machine.

The intent to cleave through to the cockpit in a single strike was evident, but Gilbert was not one to yield so easily.

Gilbert also infused his iron sword with golden mana and swung it toward Gram.

BOOM!

Perhaps because both swords were filled with mana, a mana wave spread like an aftershock when they collided. The water in the valley splashed upward in an instant, and birds startled by the resounding boom fluttered about in all directions.

The pilot controlling Fafnir, seemingly not expecting his attack to be blocked, chose to retreat rather than continue the assault.

This created a momentary lull in the battle.

Gilbert quickly used this opportunity to check the durability of his iron sword as displayed by CT-777.

So this feature was implemented here too.

Gilbert clicked his tongue.

Gram, the unique weapon of the ancient giant war machine Fafnir, possessed one special ability. It could deploy a field that disrupted the mana concentration at the point of impact.

While it couldn’t completely erase magical power, the ability to disrupt mana concentration itself was extraordinary. Carelessly trying to block Gram could result in significant damage due to the disrupted mana concentration.

That wasn’t all.

By swinging the sword at incoming spells, it was also possible to perform a pseudo-parry. This too was thanks to the field that disrupted mana concentration.

When this feature became known, the community was in an uproar for a while, calling it an overpowered function. Being able to implement a high-skill technique like parrying by simply swinging the sword was essentially an auto-parry feature.

Because of this, users didn’t hesitate to place Fafnir, with Gram as its unique weapon, in the tier 1 category of giant war machines.

It’s not like there’s no way to counter it though.

Gilbert curled the corners of his mouth upward as if finding this amusing.

Now that he had confirmed Gram possessed the same abilities as in the game, he just needed to apply the appropriate countermeasures.

A field that disrupts mana?

The superior specs of an ancient giant war machine?

A tier 1 giant war machine?

What always surpasses these is the experienced player. For Gilbert, who had even achieved the feat of defeating giant war machines barehanded, the current situation presented no difficulty at all.

“CT. The golden giant war machine’s greatsword has a field that disrupts mana.”

[Analyzing input information and situation. Estimated match rate: 90%.]

“That’s a high probability.”

[I analyzed the wave that occurred before the swords collided. Considering the analysis of a high-level knight, the information match rate approaches 98%.]

Gilbert was impressed by how quickly CT-777 produced results after he provided a few words to aid its analysis.

[Searching for countermeasures based on the information. Gil, this will take time.]

Seeing how it immediately began formulating defenses after completing its analysis, Gilbert thought that CT-777 could indeed grow into an artificial spirit comparable to Fresia.

“It doesn’t matter. I already have countermeasures.”

[I will collect combat data.]

When Gilbert mentioned having countermeasures, CT-777 declared it would collect combat data rather than continue analysis. This change showed the bond they had built through various battles.

Gilbert, pleased with CT-777’s evolution, simply nodded in response.

The brief lull ended with Fafnir’s attack. It seemed the pilot had taken some time to recover, perhaps surprised that their first strike with Gram had been blocked.

Instead of meeting the attack head-on like in their first clash, Gilbert responded with parrying. The method to counter Gram, discovered through the collective intelligence of users, involved exploiting the system.

It was possible to block Gram, which deployed a disruptive field, by deflecting attacks with precise timing.

Wasn’t cutting through magic also a technique using parrying?

In the end, by responding to Gram’s aura-infused attacks with parries, one could block attacks without damaging their weapon.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Gilbert was demonstrating swordsmanship bordering on the miraculous as he deflected the heavy Gram. Even for a skilled knight, executing parries so proficiently would be difficult.

No matter how well one could control a giant war machine by linking with an artificial spirit as if it were their own body, it wasn’t actually their real body. Without being a high-ranking knight, performing parries as naturally as breathing would be impossible.

But for Gilbert, who was as experienced as one could get, it wasn’t difficult. His control ability score was at the theoretical maximum of 100. Moving a giant war machine as if it were his own body was effortless for him.

After exchanging dozens of blows in just a few seconds, the two giant war machines separated once again as Fafnir retreated.

[Who are you?]

A familiar voice came from Fafnir.

It was the same voice that had roused the Sigurd Confederation warriors earlier.

Gilbert knew well who this voice belonged to.

Brynhildr Vanir.

The great warrior of the Vanir tribe and the key figure in the strategy to counter the Sigurdians’ attack.