Harder Than Big Daddy's Shield / The Uka War

However, his former employer, Howling Guard Company, is now demanding that he wear the latest Jack 2 armor model experimental knight armor to fight the recently popular Night Knight in the opening match of the Major, also known as a one-on-one "exhibition duel".

Putting aside the fact that this experimental model of armor was never suitable for knightly combat, the Night Knight on the other side was a monster-like being.

That guy was wearing Powered Armor that was far ahead of its time, with performance that even amazed this veteran. Moreover, the pilot himself was very experienced. He/she was by no means a numerical monster who could only rely on equipment advantages to crush others.

Simply put, the two complement each other; only a driver with this skill can unleash the full power of this Powered Armor.

After learning that his opponent was the "Night Knight," Sergiac carefully watched every battle recording of this gladiator knight. He discovered that this guy was getting stronger after each battle, and he was working hard to improve himself and become more and more worthy of this advanced Powered Armor.

Sergiac never looked down on or despised such an opponent, nor did he superficially believe that the guy was just good at using powerful equipment. Not everyone could pilot Powered Armor like him.

However, Sergiac was somewhat speechless, because his former employer had actually spent a fortune just to have him fight the Night Knight. The original opponent for the opening exhibition match was the highly popular Candle Knight. Powered Armor and magic, sword and fire, red and black—it was definitely going to be a spectacle.

In the end, Howling Guard paid a high price to get a chance to participate in the exhibition match, and then said that he should go up there... to get beaten up.

Is this meant to show that the "Plastic Knight" is too weak, just like plastic, or to imply that the equipment of Howling Guard Company is too poor...?

In short, Sergiac was helpless; however, as the saying goes, they had given far too much.

Bai Ye did not go directly to Melantha's current residence, which is Zofia's manor. After all, he knew that his student had a competition the next morning, and going there now would obviously disturb Melantha.

So, Bai Ye decided to rest for one night at his base in the Grand Knight Territory, and then take the Abyssal Hunter and Big Daddy to the arena the next day.

"Big Daddy, try out our Powered Armor. Starting tomorrow, this armor will be your new outhouse... oh no, I mean your coat." Bai Ye almost slipped up.

The taciturn Bokkas nodded, and then, with Bai Ye's assistance, assembled the Powered Armor onto his body one by one.

Unlike Melantha, who can enter a vehicle with a single press of the F key, Big Daddy's Powered Armor is so enormous that it was not manufactured as a single piece, but rather modularly assembled onto Big Daddy's body.

The whole process is actually quite complicated.

"It's more comfortable than... my original... armor..." After putting it on, the Big Daddy nodded with some satisfaction.

This Powered Armor suited him perfectly, reminding him of the feeling of fighting in the armor that Ursus had made for him back then, rather than the feeling of his armor becoming stiff and broken due to lack of maintenance and upkeep after he became a guerrilla.

"But... this shield... is a bit light..." Big Daddy looked at the shield generator on the outside of his arm.

"Because it's an energy shield, you don't need to charge forward carrying iron blocks anymore."

Bai Ye explained with a smile.

This setup made Big Daddy a little uncomfortable.

However, the Powered Armor operates very smoothly, and the helmet's sensors are directly connected to his skull. With just a thought, the Powered Armor can perform the actions he desires.

The main purpose of this armor is actually to conceal his identity as a "pure-blooded Wendigo" as much as possible, at least before he comes into close contact with the Sarkaz.

This thing can even suppress his bloodline fluctuations, making it difficult for Sarkaz to detect him at close range.

So, the next day, when Melantha walked into the arena amidst cheers, she immediately spotted Bai Ye sitting in the stands.

It was so conspicuous that a large space was cleared around Bai Ye, and then a huge... well, a robot stood beside him.

There was no way around it; the Wendigo's features had all been concealed by Powered Armor, and it did indeed look quite like a giant radish with long horns.

Bai Ye waved to his students, and the girl, whose thoughts were still somewhat chaotic, miraculously calmed down after seeing Bai Ye.

"Witness this. You once said just how high I can fly with these borrowed wings!"

Melantha controlled the Powered Armor and raised her right arm toward Bai Ye's position.

"This child has become more confident..." Laurentina commented as she watched Melantha grow step by step.

"She's always been fighting me, always in my shadow, never winning even once. She was a monster in Lungmen, and I called her a noob, so she's never really been confident, never knowing how strong she truly is. But now, her talent has been fully displayed on the stage of Kazimierz. She knows just how high she's soared." Bai Ye laughed; he had already grasped what Melantha was trying to say.

Chapter 156 Harder than Big Daddy's Shield

Due to the sudden appearance of the Undead, i. e., the Players, and the fact that Bai Ye secretly influenced the relevant decisions of the Commercial Federation, the start date of the Knight Tournament in Kazimierz was "forced" to be postponed to February of the following year.

Although many companies protested when the announcement was made, expressing their dissatisfaction with this sudden decision, the entire event is a lucrative opportunity for companies and businesses. Besides those in the competition-related industries, companies in other sectors can also profit from it.

For example, during the competition, sales of snacks and sparkling water drinks were quite good, showing a significant leap in sales.

These companies had already prepared their annual budgets for this large-scale event, but the postponement disrupted all their plans.

In short, such arbitrary delays cannot be solved simply by postponing the event, nor can the issues be summarized in a few words. The direct and indirect economic losses are clearly substantial.

However, since the Commercial Federation is the boss, even the bigwigs didn't object or complain about their losses, so other companies could only swallow their anger.

"I have no objection."

Fortunately, with the participation of Players, this Major will only be bigger in scale, and everyone will probably earn more. Although this is just a prediction, it has calmed everyone down a bit and made them prepare for the upcoming event.

At this moment, Bai Ye was already seated in the spectator section, in a seat specially prepared for the guests. Beside him were naturally three Abyssal Hunter and a giant robot.

Yes, that is, the Big Daddy disguised as a Powered Armor user.

He will only attend this tournament, after which he will lead everyone away from Kazimierz to Vitória Lentinium. In fact, there's absolutely no need for White Night to attend the Major, not even for the opening match.

After all, many things had already been discussed and prepared before the Major was held. When the Players and the Cavaliers actually participated in the competition, all the staff needed to do was run the pre-set execution program and there would be no problem.

A well-established procedure and several comprehensive emergency plans are sufficient for these staff to handle most issues. If a problem truly cannot be resolved, it's still possible to urgently notify Bai Ye. After all, Bai Ye's mobility is truly extraordinary.

All I can say is that Bai Ye came here purely for Melantha, but he would never admit it outright.

For example, right now, when Laurentina saw Bai Ye greeting her student, she poked his shoulder with her finger:

"You seem to care quite a bit about your students..."

"Don't get me wrong, I was just showing off in front of the undead, and testing how effective Big Daddy's disguise was. Well, mainly it's to promote our flagship product, the Powered Armor. Hopefully, the Players will like them," Bai Ye said with a straight face.

However, when he looked at his students, he couldn't suppress the smile on his face and the admiration in his eyes.

This is his prized student. Two worlds, two lives. He is the only student he ever took in, the first, and probably the last.

As one of the most powerful Players in the past, many people naturally hoped that Bai Ye would take on apprentices. Even the vice president of the "The Revelry Tea Party" wanted to ask Bai Ye to mentor an apprentice through personal connections.

However, Bai Ye never personally admitted to taking anyone as a student. Well, he did have quite a few students, but Bai Ye never considered it a master-disciple relationship. He only regarded it as a transaction. He invested time and energy and received a considerable reward, nothing more.

The only one with whom he truly established a master-disciple relationship was probably this girl from Feline. Melantha was special, and Bai Ye didn't know why he agreed to the girl's request. However, whenever he recalled that night, what appeared in his mind was the girl's bright and determined eyes.

Looking back now, perhaps this was fate. Bai Ye has no regrets about this student. In fact, when he saw Melantha standing on the stage of the Major Knights Tournament, he felt proud of the young girl.

Yes, of course. Through this student, Bai Ye also found the feeling of being an elder, which is probably a novel experience.

Hearing Bai Ye's answer and glancing at the expression on his face, even Skadi shook her head helplessly.

Skadi rolled her eyes and exchanged a smile with Laurentina beside her.

Well, even Skadi knows that Bai Ye is stubborn.

The next moment, a voice rang out beside Bai Ye:

"It's been a while, but you still haven't gotten rid of your stubbornness."

"Dr. Kal'tsit, you're here too?" Bai Ye turned around and saw that Kal'tsit, along with Amiya and the Doctor, had also attended the opening match of the Major.

Clearly, they had already arrived at the Grand Knight Territory of Kazimierz and appeared to have already discussed matters with the Grand Knight Commander. This was because Bai Ye also saw Ioleta Russell, the President of the Kazimierz Council of Vigilantes and Grand Knight Commander of the Crusader Knights, appear in the guest seating area next to Dr. Kal'tsit.

It seems the two have reached a consensus; the elderly grandmaster and the old woman have a very good relationship.

"Of course I had to come and see. Don't forget, Melantha is also an operator of Rhodes Island. She's been away from the ship for so long and hasn't returned. The External Operations and the Human Resources Department are quite worried." Dr. Kal'tsit said, glancing at Bai Ye.

This made him somewhat embarrassed, since Melantha hadn't returned to the ship even once since he took her away.

The time frame was indeed considerable, and for the External Operations and Human Resources Department, this situation was not normal, so they had already reported it to Dr. Kal'tsit.

Fortunately, Kal'tsit knew that it was Bai Ye who took Melantha away, so she didn't care.

"But... you actually brought him here..." Dr. Kal'tsit glanced at the huge "robot" standing next to Bai Ye with some surprise.

While others might mistake this for a new product from the Bai Ye Corporation, Dr. Kal'tsit could tell it was merely an empty shell. Beneath the Powered Armor lay a pure-blooded Wendigo with the ancient Sarkaz blood flowing through his veins.

"Lady..." the massive Wendigo greeted Kal'tsit in his deep, husky voice. The two had met before on Rhodes Island.

"Bokkas." Kal'tsit stood up and nodded to the Wendigo before her, then frowned as she looked at Bai Ye and opened the terminal in her hand:

"This is Kazimierz, and you brought Wendigo from Ursus here. That's really outrageous."

Chapter 157 The Uka War

Because her Big Daddy was nearby, Kal'tsit chose to communicate with Bai Ye using the terminal.

Although she had heard before that Bai Ye was going to take her Big Daddy to Victoria, she did not expect that Bai Ye would be so efficient and even prepare a set of Powered Armor for camouflage.

The disguise was quite successful. At least for now, with Big Daddy sitting to the side, occupying the seats of several people, no one suspected that the person sitting there was a pure-blooded Wendigo.

Yes, Dr. Kal'tsit did know that Bai Ye really didn't have a good way to stop this stubborn old man. It just so happened that Regent Theresis of Victoria Londinium was summoning the former Sarkaz court, and the pure-blooded Wendigos going there seemed to have their own reasons.

However, unlike taking this Big Daddy to Victoria, taking him to Kazimierz... well, that seems a bit, well, even more outrageous.

Well, anyone with a little common sense, or even just a basic understanding of Terra's history, would know that there have long been some minor misunderstandings and some... well, minor unpleasantness between Kazimierz and the Ursus Empire.

That's roughly equivalent to at least 10 Ukrainian-Kazakhstan wars. And that's just the level of a full-scale conflict; there's much more bloodshed involved.

Even in 1072, the Ursus Army Group caused some bloodshed on the border.

The war between the two great powers ended in 1073 of the Terra calendar with the death of Vladimir Ivanovich, the former emperor of Ursus, and the succession of Fyodor Vladimirovich. In other words, from that point onward, Ursus's expansionist ambitions came to an abrupt halt.

In 1074, several Army Group, led by the Sixth Army Group, set their sights on Saint Junbao, triggering the "Great Rebellion." The Second and Seventh Army Group returned from the western front to reinforce Saint Junbao, and the Ukrainian-Kazakh War came to an abrupt end.

More than twenty years later, Bai Ye helped Talulah gain control of the Core City of Chernobog and her fiefdom, becoming a noble of the Empire. This also indirectly gave the peace-loving reformers the upper hand, thus indirectly halting Ursus's war machine and its endlessly expanding desire for battle.

The conflict between the two countries was also indirectly quelled.

The Wendigo standing beside Bai Ye was a witness to all of this.

He also participated in the Ukrainian-Kazakh War.

Of course, this story probably begins with that night from the past. The second year of the Yuanhe era... oh no, I'm getting off-topic!

Actually, this matter is somewhat related to Melantha's friend, Maria, and her sister, Margaret.

This story was told to him by this lady when Bai Ye last met with the Grand Knight Commander of the Council of Vigilantes.

"In the Tenth Uka War, in that hopeless battle, in the heart of the dark swamp, Cyril Nearl vowed to save every besieged knight. No supplies, no communications, and the Army Group's artillery divisions and mobile units were hunting them down."

"Nearl persuaded only seven knights to participate in the rescue operation. Before setting off, each of them engraved 'Unafraid of Bitterness and Darkness' on their shields."

"Seven knights set out, but forty-one returned; of the original seven, only two came back. Besides bringing back forty-one, they also brought back the shields of all the fallen."

"After that night, they broke out to the east, annihilating three thousand enemies. When they rejoined the Knights' headquarters, only seven knights remained. However, all forty-six knight shields, each bearing the crest of its family, returned to the land of Kazimierz; not a single one was abandoned."

"That was the Dawn of the Golden Plains, the second sun rising over the battlefield in this battle."

However, this was Kazimierz's glory, but also Ursus Empire's shame.

Or rather, the Silverlance Pegasi like Cyril Nearl Kazimierz did indeed cause great trouble for the Ursus army.

Another cool old man in the Core City Chernobog, Hellagur, almost died at the hands of the Silverlance Pegasi. If it weren't for Bokkas leading the Shield Guard through the blizzard to storm the fortress for this Wendigo, Hellagur and his comrades would probably be dead at the hands of the Silverlance Pegasi.

Of course, Wendigo is also a terrifying presence for Kazimierz.

If there is anything that can represent the image of war in Ursus, then the heavily armored Wendigo is the embodiment of war.

Five Shield Guard can slaughter a squad of knights, four Inner Guards can sweep through a village, three Wendigo can conquer a small town, two Army Group can destroy a duchy, and a king can wreak havoc on a land.

The Wendigo are undoubtedly the elite of the Imperial armed forces; their existence extends beyond simply fighting humans. Of the remaining Wendigo, only the Big Daddy resides in the Core City, while some have wandered into Columbia. The remaining Wendigo are still fighting monsters in the northern Ursus; they no longer hold the Sarkaz Royal Court in their hearts.

"If the Grand Knight Commander finds out you brought a Wendigo, it could ignite another war between Uka and Kassim. A Wendigo has appeared in the heart of Kazimierz's most bustling city, right at the Major tournament site..."

Dr. Kal'tsit was at a loss for words.

Thinking about it carefully, this is absolutely the craziest thing ever. If Kal'tsit didn't know Bai Ye's character well, she probably would have thought that Bai Ye was about to make headlines.

"... I can only say that I was lucky I had prepared Powered Armor..."

Bai Ye was somewhat speechless; he hadn't considered that possibility. To put it another way, he wasn't really from this world, and assimilating into Terra didn't mean he could think like the natives.