Chapter 306: The Lion, the Giant, and the War

A dazzling emerald glow made everyone present blink in bewilderment. Only Svanrige inexplicably felt a sudden sense of relief.

An instant later, the figure of a golden-haired knight emerged, brandishing a shining runeblade. Lann's pale blond hair, his dark golden eyes, the griffin armor and cloak, and the legendary sword of the Lady of the Lake… Each of these features was unmistakable. Although the soldiers of Nilfgaard had never seen him in person, they knew him better than anyone.

"It's Lannister! The Lion of Cintra!" The sharp-eyed soldiers in the Nilfgaard team reacted immediately.

The news sparked enthusiasm in the enemy ranks.

"Kill him! If we kill him, the gates of the North will open before us! The North will no longer have the strength to resist His Majesty Emhyr!"

Lann frowned slightly and quickly analyzed the situation. Nilfgaard in Skellige?

Thoughts raced through his mind, but his reaction was instantaneous. Seeing the island warriors engaged in combat against the Black Sun soldiers, he did not hesitate to charge. Like lightning, he charged into the enemy ranks, his runeblade spinning around him in a deadly whirlwind.

[Whirl]!

Golden arcs of light intertwined with crimson splashes. The Skellige soldiers, who had been fighting desperately just moments before, saw their opponents fall suddenly, without a chance to react.

But before Lann could continue his carnage among the enemy ranks, he felt a chill run down his spine. A thunderous roar filled the air.

He looked up just in time to see a huge rock streaking across the sky.

"Catapult?!"

These were no ordinary catapults. From the size of the projectiles and the speed of their launch, it was clear that these were the most advanced siege machines of the Nilfgaard Empire.

When he saw that the enemy contingent was not large, he had assumed it was a harassing force or a reconnaissance unit. But if they had deployed siege machinery of this calibre, were they planning a full-scale attack on Skellige? How had they managed to land such a large force undetected?

"Lann, watch out for the catapults!" shouted Svanrige. "They don't care about sacrificing their own, they're fanatics!"

Lann cast a quick glance at the now partially collapsed Tuirseach Castle, then in the direction from which the shells had come. In the distance, he could make out metallic glints reflecting the sunlight and a cloud of dust rising with each shot from the catapults.

Locating them was not difficult, but the distance was considerable. The Nilfgaardians had positioned their machines on top of a hill, more than four hundred paces away.

The decision was immediate. Lann activated his [Teleport] skill.

Seven flashes of light appeared in the air. Six of them went out in a blink, revealing four witchers, the druid Fritjof, and Black Wind.

With a swift leap, Lann mounted Black Wind, reined in and spurred the eager horse on, heading for the catapults. The others stayed behind to support Svanrige in the battle against the Nilfgaardians.

The last flash of light, larger and brighter than the others, had not yet finished teleporting so it immediately caught everyone's attention.

It wasn't just that he attracted attention; it was impossible to look away from the enormous figure enveloped in light.

A blue-skinned giant, more than ten meters tall, emerged from the light. The Nilfgaardians and Skelligers who watched him wore expressions of pure terror.

The giant looked around, then reached out a hand and uprooted a tree so thick it would take two men to get around it. A wave of energy vibrated through the air as he transformed the trunk into a huge club more than ten meters long.

The giant raised his weapon and roared to the sky: "My god!"

"The ice giant!" Svanrige shouted. "How is that possible, Lann, you don't...!"

Before the Skellige warriors could react, the giant turned, turning his back on them. Without hesitation, he charged into the Nilfgaardian army, ignoring the rain of arrows raining down on him. His blue back, massive as a wall, somehow conveyed a sense of security.

Svanrige and his guards were paralyzed with surprise, as if their intervention was suddenly no longer necessary.

Behind them, Fritjof began to recite a spell. A portal opened and Yennefer emerged from it. Then, with the help of the druid, she continued to summon portals to bring back the soldiers still remaining in Undvik.

The witchers attempted to follow the giant, ready for battle, but soon realized they could not keep up with him: he was killing enemies faster than they could get close.

Only Gerd felt a growing uneasiness at the sight of the crumbling castle. "Svanrige, where is Torgeir?"

Svanrige took a deep breath and pointed at the ruins of the castle. "During the first catapult attack, he was trapped under the rubble of the wall… Wait, Gerd!"

Before Svanrige could finish speaking, Gerd charged towards the castle ruins. Between him and his destination stood the Nilfgaardian troops, but his body was covered by a golden shield of energy, causing the enemy swords to barely produce any ripples on its surface. In contrast, the steel sword Gerd wielded moved with devastating force, easily ripping through the Nilfgaardian soldiers' armor.

The desire to save his lord, his closest friend, drove him to unleash the true power of a legendary witcher, the same power he used to slay a dragon single-handedly. He outmatched even the ice giant that stood on the battlefield, cutting through the tide of Black Sun soldiers and reaching the edge of the castle ruins.

"Torgeir…" Gerd looked at the soldiers buried under the rubble. Not long ago, he had drunk and sung with some of them at the banquet. For a moment, he stood frozen, forgetting that he was still in the middle of the battle.

"Gerd, watch out!"

A warning shout came from behind him, just as a shadow obscured his field of vision.

A new volley of projectiles fell from the catapults, ready to reduce the castle to complete rubble.

The ice giant leaped with surprising agility for its size and, swinging its ten-meter-long wooden club, struck one of the projectiles as if it were playing baseball. The next split second was a chaos of explosion and destruction: the club and the rock exploded into a thousand pieces in the air, and the beast, unbalanced by the force of the impact, fell heavily to the ground, crushing several Nilfgaardian soldiers in the process.

The Nilfgaardian soldiers reacted immediately, surrounding the ice giant like a swarm of ants and attacking him with their swords. However, their blows barely managed to tickle him; it was as if they were hitting a rock wrapped in fur.

The creature, enraged by the impact of the projectile and the treacherous offensive of the Nilfgaardians, stood up and, with a single movement of its gigantic fist, turned several soldiers into mere stains of blood and iron on the snow.

But the giant had only managed to stop one of the stones.

More shadows fell from the sky, crashing into the castle's remaining walls and pillars. What remained standing trembled until, finally, the structure collapsed completely.

Among the rubble, a golden flash was seen it was the energy shield generated by Gerd's Quen Sign... and then, the light shattered.

…

From a hill not far away, the Nilfgaardians, after firing three rounds of shells, ceased fire.

There were still plenty of rocks left to throw, but for the first time, no one seemed to want to continue the assault. For a moment, everyone stared at the scene in disbelief, paralyzed by what they had just witnessed.

"A giant of ice…"

In the vanguard, a thickly bearded officer watched the scene with a mixture of fear and amazement. Before arriving at Skellige, he had studied several chronicles about the islands and was well acquainted with the ancient legends.

"The Skelligers… No. It's the Lion of Cintra!" The officer felt a chill run down his spine. "That man… has gained power of this magnitude. He can control this ancient beast. If the ice giant shows up on the battlefield…"

As the officer spoke, his forehead became covered in cold sweat. His voice became frantic as he turned to his soldiers. "Resume the attack! Forget the pirate king's castle! Aim for the giant! We must kill that beast right now!"

The soldiers, clad in Black Sun armor, rushed to reload their shells. However, in the next instant, a golden flash lit up their eyes. A longsword slid in a perfect arc, occupying their entire vision.

Nilfgaard had only thirty soldiers, barely enough to operate the catapults. For Lann, this number of men posed no threat.

Lann's sword blade danced with flashes of crimson. Before the Nilfgaardian soldiers could even react, Lann had already finished them off.

Seeing his soldiers being slaughtered, the officer drew his sword and, roaring, tried to block Lann's attack. But Lann's runeblade, without even touching his weapon, seemed to extend an invisible edge that shattered his blade as easily as a dry branch.

A little blood trickled from the officer's neck. Lann's sword had stopped at his throat. Although the invisible blade had wounded him, it had not killed him.

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