Chapter 24: Medieval Era - Barbarian Invasion! Bonus Chapter

(7,000-word bonus chapter, one chapter to finish the foreshadowing. Still a big chapter tomorrow. Entering the next big climax. Wish everyone a Happy New Year in advance! Celebrating the follow-up reads breaking 3,000.)

Waves rolled.

Deng Ken climbed the mast to look out and saw the Saxon warships from afar. They looked a bit like Viking dragon-head warships, belonging to the fish-scale wooden shell ship type, but the volume was not large, about twenty meters long and five meters wide.

The warships of this era, the most advanced were the quinqueremes of the imperial navy, nearly fifty meters long and five meters wide, which could accommodate three hundred rowers at the same time.

In the heyday of polytheism, when the belief in the sea god was still there, the empire once built Sky Raven ships, but they had long since been scrapped, and no one had built such large warships later. Because of the innate geographical advantage of the Italian Peninsula, it was still relatively leading in the shipbuilding technology tree, having conquered the Egyptian region as early as BC. (The shipbuilding technology of the Mediterranean was first-class in the era.)

"Our current position should be near Dover."

The narrowest part of this strait was only about 30 kilometers. If Deng Ken acted alone, he felt that with his current physical fitness, he could swim across.

"They are going to chase us." A sailor exclaimed.

Among the many barbarian tribes of Germania, the Franks and Saxons were currently the strongest in combat power, especially the Saxon pirates, who were notorious in this invasion history lasting nearly a hundred years. They were roughly equivalent to early Viking pirates, and at their peak, they were not much different from Vikings, worshipping gods mainly Odin and Thor.

Deng Ken's expression was serious. He fell from the mast and reached out to test the wind direction.

Because there was a strong wind on the sea, the aiming crosshair under the God's-eye view would shake, and even the correction of combat techniques was weakened significantly.

The naval warfare of this era was relatively primitive, and the final boarding battle was estimated to be the real engagement.

Too few people.

These sailors couldn't beat the Saxon pirates.

Deng Ken wasn't very confident, mainly worried about the safety of the witches.

Their melee was really weak.

At this time, Raven Queen-Triss walked over. She stared at Deng Ken and said: "Are you confident?"

Deng Ken's expression was solemn, hesitating: "Too few guards, these sailors are probably not their opponents."

——Saxon Pirate Ship (High Morale) (Natural Sailors).

Raven Queen-Triss nodded slightly and said: "Then leave it to me."

After speaking, Raven Queen-Triss looked at the Saxon pirate ship in the distance, walked to a hidden corner of the deck, knelt on one knee, and made a prayer gesture, not knowing if she was preparing magic.

The restrictions on magic in this world were extremely great.

"The wind direction is favorable to us!"

"They can't catch up with us."

The sailors on the deck were very excited, and some praised the sea god loudly. The wind direction on the sea changed slightly. In this way, they could slowly shake off the enemy without worrying about being caught up by the pirate ship.

Can you still control the wind direction?

Deng Ken looked at Raven Queen-Triss who stood up, feeling that this woman was truly reliable and reassuring.

Subconsciously, he looked at Anya, who was nervous behind him.

Two-star white-board.

Compared to Raven Queen-Triss, Deng Ken had never seen Anya display any powerful supernatural means. She didn't look like a real witch, but more like an exquisite daily necessity.

However, she was indeed very rich.

Born as an old Roman noblewoman, a noblewoman in the upper echelons of the empire, she had her own fleet, and her money bag was full of gold.

Anya believed in the Aphrodite secret sect, belonging to the branch sect of the goddess of beauty Venus. After fusing with the faith in the Greek region, it specifically served the sex and desire goddess aspect of Aphrodite. Her supernatural ability was estimated to be various means of charming and pleasing men, but unfortunately, it was directly whipped away by Raven Queen-Triss.

(Scaring Anya so much that she never dared to use charm-type witchcraft again. Roughly equivalent to the charm person spell.)

In the mountain folk stronghold, Anya had many plans, but in the end, she became a wedding dress herself, turning into a PLAY link for the emotional heating up of Deng Ken and Raven Queen-Triss.

But she wasn't a truly peaceful master. She was obedient now, but it didn't mean she wouldn't make trouble in the future.

The true civilized era of the British Isles was brought by the Roman Empire.

The empire established the British province here and began to transform the plains into cities, during which it built towns like Londinium, Eboracum, Londinium, etc. There were no real big cities here, most of which were small and medium-sized town settlements, among which Londinium was the later London. (In the future, it will be called London directly. Most cities use modern names, which is more convenient.)

It was roughly between 407-410 AD that the last legion of the empire withdrew, the British province was abandoned, and London began to decline, with many residents migrating, but soon it was supplemented by Celts, turning back into a large town with a population of over ten thousand.

Deng Ken and his group's original destination was Londinium, but it had been occupied by the Saxons, and the surrounding area was a chaotic zone.

After the Roman legions withdrew, the British Isles entered the era of kings.

Finally landed.

After stepping on the coastline of the British Isles, Deng Ken finally relaxed a bit. In naval warfare, personal martial arts were extremely limited.

He wasn't Beowulf, who could hunt sea monsters in the sea, and could exchange body fluids with sea demons and sea spirits in the sea.

Even if the power of the Blood of the Holy Grail took effect, Deng Ken was currently equivalent to half a Beowulf.

After most of the combat techniques were improved to proficiency, his strength entered a bottleneck period, and he might need to hunt supernatural monsters to obtain more special abilities.

Pure combat skills, the threshold for master-level combat techniques was very high, and he didn't know if there was anything above it, but he hadn't fought an enemy of that level yet.

Hmm.

It must be mentioned that in the current era, Beowulf hadn't been born yet. His active period was very close to King Arthur, a few years later than King Arthur.

"We are going directly to the Kingdom of Camelot?" Anya whispered.

Camelot was the kingdom in the legend of King Arthur, possessing an indestructible castle.

In this medieval world, it surrendered to the Roman Empire in the early days, and restored independence after the imperial legions withdrew. Its geographical location was in the southeast of the British Isles, roughly the territory from Hampshire to Wales.

Because of its geographical advantage, the Kingdom of Camelot resisted the Saxon invasion, but it was also occasionally invaded by Saxon pirates.

The current ruler of the Kingdom of Camelot was King Uther, the father of King Arthur.

He had carried out a massacre of wizards in the country, so Camelot was a holy land that could not be invaded by evil magic, and it was one of the areas where the Church took root. (The Church in Britain was very different from Europe, with strong autonomy, belonging to the early church monk group, and the rituals were also different. It is said to have

As for Merlin, it is rumored that he was a magician who accepted baptism. The boundary between wizards and magicians was probably drawn during this period. Usually, wizards were referred to as those who used evil magic. (After the Middle Ages, male wizards received certain preferential treatment and became magicians, while all kinds of dirty water were splashed on witches, which has to do with the status of women in the context of the era.)

Merlin is a supernatural existence of the centrist faction.

Deng Ken actually doesn't trust him much, but establishing a foothold on Britain cannot avoid this powerful wizard.

"There's a situation!" Sai Weilu said in a deep voice.

Deng Ken had already entered the God's-eye view and, hearing Sai Weilu's reminder, immediately expanded the strategic map and soon made a discovery.

But what surprised him even more was that Sai Weilu's mark changed after entering Britain.

—Sai Weilu (Two-Star Silver-Gray) (Druid) (Mildly Disabled) 【Friendly Unit】.

He upgraded.

Without the slightest warning.

Before crossing the sea, Sai Weilu was still a two-star blank, mildly disabled unit, but suddenly became a two-star silver-gray elite unit.

"His spellcasting ability has recovered?"

This was the first thought that popped into Deng Ken's mind; otherwise, there was no way to explain why the mildly disabled Sai Weilu suddenly had a surge in strength. Britain should still be a Celtic faith region. After entering Britain, some changes invisible to the naked eye occurred in Sai Weilu.

"Because Britain still has the Druid faith, Sai Weilu recovered part of his spellcasting ability?"

Something even more surprising happened.

Sai Weilu approached a woodland ahead, and then, amidst his strange calls, a stag actually ran out.

The stag was very afraid of people, but it was not afraid of Sai Weilu.

He approached the stag alone, signaling others not to get close, and then whispered something, as if talking to the stag.

Animal communication?!

A Druid's supernatural ability?

Deng Ken was now more certain that Sai Weilu had recovered his spellcasting ability. He didn't know much about the supernatural powers of this world yet, but the last time the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, went berserk, she also used an ancient sacrificial stone from the ancient Roman era.

Their supernatural abilities fluctuated, quite unstable.

In the team, only A Niya remained at the two-star blank level, operating stably with a low-level ability close to that of an ordinary noblewoman.

"A war has broken out upstream."

Sai Weilu returned soon, and the stag also disappeared into the woodland.

He looked at Deng Ken and said: "There are corpses floating down the river, not very far from our position."

In fact, Deng Ken already knew.

After the strategic map in God's-eye view expanded, he had already seen an area in battle, but because it was a bit far and not very clear, the two sides in the chaotic battle were a mess.

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, turned to look at Deng Ken and said softly: "Should we go take a look?"

Currently, the Saxon invasion has captured large swaths of land. London has not fallen yet, but it is also on the front line of the battle.

Another force resisting the Saxon invasion is the Kingdom of Camelot.

London is the last bit of the Roman Empire's power here. After the Imperial legions withdrew, those who accepted cultural transformation spontaneously formed the 'British Legion' to protect their homes. Their training standards were very close to the Imperial field army, but their equipment was still quite lacking.

Besides that, when they were fighting back and forth in earlier years, the London region also formed a coastal defense legion, which belonged to a militia unit, with equipment even worse than the Imperial border defense army.

They could defend the coastline back then, but now the Saxon pirates have driven straight in.

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, must have guessed that Deng Ken improves his strength through killing and fighting, because she occasionally mentions the Spartans and tells Deng Ken that the Spartans were destroyed in slaughter.

An era where gods and men lived together.

The Spartans of Greece believed in the God of War, Ares. They were a true fighting nation, and many warriors would rapidly transform in the slaughter of war and grow into the best soldiers.

Later, Sparta perished, and the faith in Ares, the God of War, was also severely damaged. Athena, the Goddess of Victory, began to rise, directly becoming the main god in the field of war. Subsequently, war began to rely more on wisdom and strategy, and the Spartan tradition completely became history. (The twelve main gods of ancient Greece were worshipped according to the times. Some groups served by main gods died out, and they would have fewer and fewer sacrifices, eventually leaving only the name of a main god.)

After the rise of the Roman Empire, the faith in Athena gradually merged with Minerva.

Around 43 BC, after the Roman legions invaded and ruled Britain, the Romans built many saunas and swimming baths in Bath, which the Romans identified as the miracle site of Minerva, the Goddess of Springs and Wisdom.

(The Empire's bathing culture was extremely developed; gladiatorial arenas and public baths were an indispensable part of the early Empire. Romans loved cleanliness, unlike the Middle Ages where they didn't bathe.)

Minerva's war priesthood is not clear, but several of her temples were directly converted from training grounds.

This point inherits ancient Greek culture.

Because the Great Temple of Artemis was also a training ground, specifically used to train excellent archers.

"Does she have some misunderstanding about me and the Spartans?"

The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, likely believes that Deng Ken possesses the power of the God of War or war, or the special ability of the Spartans, rapidly improving himself through battle and slaughter.

Deng Ken didn't know how to explain it, so he simply defaulted to it.

He looked at the strategic map, pondered for a moment, and said: "Let's go take a look, and find some horses while we're at it."

"Try not to get involved in their war."

Their party of five: Deng Ken is at full status, Sai Weilu is upgraded to an elite unit but is mildly disabled, and the Raven Queen, Te Lisi's burst is extremely strong, but the preparation time for the start-up is too long, and it requires the blessing of relics from the old era.

The witch A Niya is the same as the female slave saved from the bandit stronghold, basically equivalent to half a combat unit.

Her two-star blank strength is all water.

"Five people can only count as three combat units."

Deng Ken didn't dare to be reckless, approaching along the strategic map, and discovered the army fighting in the plains in the distance.

—Saxon Pirates.

—Saxon Elite Raiders (One-Star).

—Saxon Spearmen.

—Saxon Elite Axemen 【Thor's Blessing】 (One-Star Silver-Gray).

—Saxon Hunters.

—Germanic Priesthood.

Deng Ken saw a non-combat unit formation on the battlefield for the first time. They seemed to be encouraging the surrounding Saxon warriors. Their attire was very close to the priests of the polytheistic Nordic region, both men and women, small in scale, only about a dozen people, and they would bless the Saxon warriors.

They can inspire barbarian troops to a 'High Morale' state.

"A bit like the Crusades in the Middle Ages, with church priests accompanying the army."

"Are they supernatural units?"

Deng Ken was quite curious because he hadn't opened his mana bar yet. The Raven Queen, Te Lisi, had said that many wizard priests had no spellcasting ability, and only a very few could cast some simple witchcraft.

—Barbarian Chieftain Guard (One-Star).

—Saxon Noble Knights (One-Star Silver-Gray).

On the strategic map in God's-eye view, the composition of the Saxon army was quite complex, with all kinds of combat units. They also had a cavalry unit, with the Chieftain Guard protecting the general, and the Saxon Noble Knights were well-equipped, already counting as true heavy cavalry.

Fortunately, their numbers were very small, only about thirty or forty people.

Resisting them were the indigenous people of Britain, some of whose troops were very close to the Imperial legions.

—British Legion (Low-spec Field Army).

—Coastal Defense Legion (Low-spec Border Defense Army).

—Sarmatian Auxiliary Riders.

—Lageer Heavy Cavalry (One-Star).

—British Monastic Order.

Most notable among them was a heavy cavalry unit composed of knights, marked as 'Duke Tintagel's Knight Guard', all one-star units, plus elite knights, well-equipped, all in full scale armor, with warhorses also armored, similar to cataphracts.

They had about a dozen people, mixed with some armored riders, plus a small number of light cavalry.

"Wait!"

Deng Ken tried his best to recall, as if remembering something, and muttered: "Duke Tintagel?"

"In legend, did King Uther sleep with Duke Tintagel's wife?"

"And then King Arthur was born?"

If Deng Ken's memory was correct, King Uther took advantage of Duke Tintagel's absence, had the magician Merlin turn him into the likeness of Duke Tintagel, then sneaked into the castle, spent a night with the Duke's wife, and finally conceived King Arthur.

Could it be now?

Duke Tintagel is defending against invaders on the front line, while King Uther takes the opportunity to sleep with his wife. Later, Duke Tintagel died, and his wife married King Uther.

Since then, the power of the Kingdom of Camelot has been completely concentrated in the hands of King Uther.

"So has King Uther slept with his wife now?"

Deng Ken observed the battlefield and found that the British army's situation was very bad. The Cantii, as an auxiliary legion, were about to be crushed.

This is a relatively primitive tribal nation.

The Cantii still have some traditions of 'group marriage', that is, different clan tribes each produce a batch of young men and women. For example, ten men and ten women marry, and they can combine at will. A man can mate with any of these ten women to reproduce, and a woman can also have a marital relationship with any of these ten men. (To prevent population outflow)

Britain only slowly changed its cultural traditions after being conquered by the Empire.

But in some remote areas, there are still very primitive tribes, even cannibals, and even older 'mixed marriage' traditions. There were still many savages in early Britain.

The Caesar era recorded many things about Britain, and for the next few hundred years, the Romans tried their best to change the traditions of primitive tribes.

The phenomenon of group marriage also slowly decreased because of this.

"Did they pull all the auxiliary legions of the indigenous tribes?"

They have the numerical advantage, but their equipment is poor and their morale is low.

Under Deng Ken's strategic perspective, three indigenous auxiliary legions were easily crushed. They probably couldn't even beat the youth army of the ancient Roman era, and were hacked until they cried for their parents by a team of Saxon barbarian axemen. The large-scale rout even impacted the center army, causing the British Legion to fall into a 'chaotic' state.

Too many miscellaneous soldiers.

Without a powerful main battle force, the miscellaneous soldiers formed a chain reaction as soon as they routed.

"Is this Duke Tintagel going to die?!"

As the center of the formation appeared chaotic due to the impact of the routed soldiers, the Saxon Chieftain Guard and Noble Knights also began to move, aiming directly at Duke Tintagel's personal guard.

This damn thing won't even wait for Deng Ken and the others to rush over; the British army will probably be routed.

A one-sided beating!

This is a true one-sided beating.

Because the era is very close to the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China, the combat power of the barbarians around the Empire is also very fierce.

However, the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China in Asia should have ended for some time, while the Empire's barbarian invasion has just entered its climax, and there will be hundreds of years of barbarian chaos in the future.

"The Saxons' advantage is too obvious."

"If there were no King Arthur, no Knights of the Round Table, and a knight unit close to the Middle Ages, I'm afraid Britain would fall faster."

The Knights of the Round Table can be seen as a heavy elite knight order of a hundred people.

In this era, once sent out, it's like throwing dice, directly determining the fate of the entire local battlefield.

According to legend, Duke Tintagel belongs to those destined to die.

If he doesn't die, King Arthur's mother cannot legitimately marry King Uther.

Deng Ken has already foreseen a rout.

Suddenly.

He seemed to see something, his whole body stunned, and he muttered: "What the hell is that?"

—Valkyrie (Three-Star Gold) (Female Warrior God) 【Neutral Unit】?!

A blurry, invisible female figure appeared above the battlefield. She seemed to be waiting for something. Under the bird-winged silver helmet, her eyes stared at the Germanic barbarian warriors on the battlefield, as if waiting for the moment they died in battle.

The ancient Greek pantheon perished, and the ancient Roman pantheon perished.

Under the polytheistic faith system.

The last faction of the Western pantheon, Scandinavia, the Nordic pantheon, officially appeared!

This is the last polytheistic camp that put up a desperate fight, and it is also the core of Germanic mythology, persisting until a thousand years later, when it was completely destroyed by the church!

—Medieval Era - Barbarian Invasion!

Against the background of the era of the Empire's collapse, in addition to the huge pressure given by the Hun Empire, many Germanic barbarian tribes also followed the guidance in the dark and began a large-scale invasion of the 【fully Christianized】 Roman Empire.

Thus, the Medieval Era opened the prelude to an era that lasted for hundreds of years!

Secular royal power, the faith of all people, polytheism and monotheism, the last polytheistic camp - the Nordic pantheon, the prophecy of Ragnarok, with the barbarian invasion as a prologue, opened the final battle of the pantheons!

This battle ended hundreds of years later, and the Nordic pantheon basically perished.

………………

【PS: This chapter explains the background of the last part of the first volume. Although it is written as a pure refreshing novel, this is the medieval world of the first volume, but I am very serious about laying out the background of the era.

Other system novels mostly gamify reality, with the system pushing the plot and the protagonist as a tool, making a real world look like an RPG game. The conception of this book is to make the game realistic. In Deng Ken's eyes, it is a game screen, but it is a real and cruel reality.

This is the origin of the super-dimensional player.】

【Note 1: The heroic spirit transformation of the No. 1 human body is because the Nordic pantheon still survives.

After the monotheistic religion destroyed the Nordic pantheon, it completed the unification of faith.】

【Note 2: Nordic mythology spread to Iceland in the 7th century, so it survived and was completely replaced and destroyed in the 16th century.】 (The prophecy of the Raven Queen, Te Lisi, is actually a retreat left for the Nordic pantheon. It is not left for the witches.)

【Note 3: The Edict of Milan was promulgated, the ancient Olympic Games were banned, the sacrificial fire was extinguished, and the gates of the Pantheon were closed. The chronological order is probably 300-394 AD, and the real large-scale invasion of Germanic barbarians also officially started around 400 AD.

The ancient Greek pantheon and the ancient Roman pantheon camps declared their demise in the same year.

The civil war of the polytheistic camp turned into a confrontation between polytheism and monotheism.

Thus, the logical loop of the background of the first volume is completed, and the Medieval Era - Barbarian Invasion (End of the Mythic Age) is officially constructed.

The war of secular factions is the bright line, and the war of faith factions is the dark line.

The Franks were of barbarian origin, and finally believed in the church, which means they failed in the dark struggle of the Nordic pantheon. The invading barbarians were turned by the church and directly changed their faith.

The barbarians physically destroyed the Empire, while the church secretly destroyed the Nordic faith of the invading barbarians. This is the background of the chaotic battle in the Medieval Era.

You fight your battle, I fight mine, sacrificing the Empire to forge the Roman Curia.

You physically destroy the Empire, I spiritually destroy the Nordic faith, and turn all the invading barbarians into church believers.

Primitive religion, missionary efficiency is far inferior to the church.

But there are military bonuses such as sacrificial traditions.

And the Empire is too strong. It can establish a state religion in one word and decide whether polytheism or monotheism rises, so the Empire must die.

The Empire can be destroyed, but faith must be unified.

Trial of heresy.

This is a big game played by the church.

The coffin lid must be pressed down, and the remnants must be cleared.

Lest one day a big news suddenly appears - the ancient Roman (ancient Greek) pantheon camp has been restored.

The apostate Julian period has already been restored once.

This is the era node where the protagonist cuts in.

This is where the witch's escape comes from.】

【PS: The power system of the first volume is basically set according to The Lord of the Rings, and the suppression of the witch's power is also borrowed from The Lord of the Rings system.

The supernatural existence of the Nordic pantheon is approximately equal to the human body of the Maiar in The Lord of the Rings.

That is, the strength of wizards like Gandalf, and the strength of individual god-level existences, can reach the level of Sauron and the Elf Queen.

At the beginning, what I wanted to write in the first volume was the oldest fantasy style.

Not Japanese-style fantasy, priestess healing, and the fantasy style of later web novels.】

【PS: Writing a game alternate world with a fantasy style, for me, is really like a wanderer leaving home, bumping into things, hitting his head full of blood, and finally returning to the place where his dreams set sail, but writing it is much more relaxed and casual.】

【Finally, I remembered a line from a video I watched - In the name of God, sweep across Europe!】