Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 105

퓨쳐나이트 105

“Keremion! Keremion! Wake up!”

Someone shook Keremion roughly, snapping him out of his daze.

“Keremion! We have no chance of winning!”

‘Huh? Keremion?’ Kang Chan thought, momentarily confused.

Amidst the slaughter of the Dark Elves, Kang Chan heard the familiar name. He turned his head and spotted a Dark Elf wielding a saber instead of a dagger, unlike the others.

‘Hmm? A Dark Elf using a saber?’ he mused.

Intrigued, Kang Chan cleaved the Dark Elf in front of him in half with his sword and charged toward the one with the saber. Keremion, now the target, gritted his teeth and channeled as much mana as he could into his aura sword.

“Damn it! Fine, let’s do this!”

He wasn’t a Sword Master yet, but he was a top-tier Sword Expert, so he decided to fight out of sheer stubbornness.

A clash of power against power ensued, but the result was devastating.

Clang!

“Gah!”

Keremion suffered severe internal injuries from Kang Chan’s powerful blow and was sent flying backward.

As Keremion staggered, the Arc Shadows [elite Dark Elf warriors] around him launched a coordinated attack on Kang Chan. However, they too were quickly turned into cold corpses by Kang Chan’s aura blade.

They were mid-level Sword Experts, yet they couldn’t withstand ten of Kang Chan’s attacks before collapsing miserably.

After that, no Dark Elf dared to attack Kang Chan. Kang Chan calmly approached Keremion, who was lying on the ground, and asked,

“Is your name Keremion?”

Keremion nodded.

“Why do you use a saber?”

“Why? Do you find it funny that I use a saber?”

“More than funny…”

Kang Chan stopped talking and stared intently at Keremion’s face.

Then, he recoiled in surprise.

“No, you’re!”

He recognized the real Keremion at a glance. Although his skin had turned dark, his handsome features and combative eyes were the same.

“Long time no see…”

“How did you end up like that?”

“Do you even need to ask? You’re the one who made me this way!”

Keremion’s words, blaming him out of the blue, made Kang Chan tilt his head.

“I made you that way? What are you talking about?”

“After losing to you, I resented and cursed myself, and this is what happened. How does it feel? Are you satisfied?”

“Satisfied? What’s there to be satisfied about? Whether you’re a Dark Elf or a Green Elf, you’re still Keremion, aren’t you?”

Keremion burst into laughter at Kang Chan’s words.

“Hahaha! Hehe…”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Are you saying that for my benefit?”

“So?”

“What would you know? You’re just a human…”

“I lived in an Elven village, so I know a thing or two. I know why Elves become Dark Elves, and the reality of how Dark Elves are ostracized.”

“Oh, really? Then you must know how I felt when I woke up with dark skin, forced to leave my beloved family, friends, and homeland, and descend into the dark underground where not a single ray of light shines.”

Keremion believed that Kang Chan had ruined his life. The depth of his resentment was beyond comparison to what it once was.

“I understand how you felt having to leave, but why is that my fault? I thought you hated humans even before I came along?”

“The problem is that you, a human, entered our forest! If you hadn’t come to our forest, I wouldn’t have become like this!”

“That stubborn personality of yours hasn’t changed at all.”

As Kang Chan said that, he dodged a Dark Elf’s dagger that was trying to ambush him from behind, cut off the Dark Elf’s hands, and then beheaded him.

It was a natural movement without a moment’s hesitation.

Seeing him, Keremion said,

“You’re still used to killing people.”

“It’s true that I’m used to killing people, but I don’t remember killing anyone in front of you?”

“Do you remember the day we first fought?”

“I remember.”

“That’s when I knew you had killed countless people.”

“Based on what?”

“When you attacked me back then, you kept aiming for my vitals. You attacked my vitals, where I could have died, without any hesitation. That’s how I knew you had a lot of experience killing people. Am I wrong?”

Kang Chan agreed with everything Keremion said.

His words were all true.

“Yes, you’re right. I had killed many people even before I met you.”

“Then I guess it’s my turn to die. Here, go ahead and stab me.”

Keremion opened his chest and offered it to Kang Chan, but Kang Chan ignored him, turned away, and said,

“I don’t want to kill you. Just go back.”

Keremion was furious at the words that he didn’t want to kill him.

“Why? Why don’t you want to kill me? Are you pitying me now?”

“Pity? Fine, call it pity. So get out of my sight.”

Sparks flew from Keremion’s eyes as he raged.

“I’d rather die here than receive your pity. Yaaah!”

Keremion stabbed his saber into Kang Chan’s back as he turned around.

However, Kang Chan easily deflected his reckless stab and kicked him in the stomach.

Thwack!

“Kehk!”

Keremion was thrown back several meters and collapsed on the ground again. Kang Chan turned back and coldly said to the fallen Keremion before turning away again.

“Go back while I’m letting you live.”

“…”

Keremion couldn’t say anything to Kang Chan’s words.

“Captain, we’ve taken care of all the remaining Dark Elves. But we missed a few.”

“Good work.”

“Um, that Dark Elf doesn’t seem to be dead yet. Should I finish him off?”

“No, it’s okay. Just leave him alone.”

“L-leave him alone?”

Hollis asked back as if he couldn’t accept the order to just let the enemy go, and Kang Chan said again in a commanding tone.

“Yes, leave him alone.”

“A-alright.”

“Gather the troops. We’re returning immediately.”

“Yes, sir!”

Kang Chan left the enemy camp with his troops without looking back.

Left alone, Keremion couldn’t move from where he was lying on the ground.

It was as if he was having a nightmare.

How nice would it be if this was just a nightmare?

“Uaaaaaaagh!”

Left alone, Keremion wailed in front of the cold corpses of his annihilated subordinates.

But he wasn’t wailing because of the deaths of his subordinates.

It was because of his hatred and anger towards a human.

That human was Kang Chan.

“H-how could you! How could you!”

Keremion couldn’t understand how Kang Chan had become a Sword Master before him.

Just three years ago, he couldn’t even handle mana.

How could he, who had trained for 100 years, become a Sword Master before him?

Keremion cursed God.

And he resented him to death.

He didn’t want to live anymore.

He had already tasted the bitterness of defeat twice against him, and today he had received the cup of defeat again, and even received pity.

A life spared by the pity of his enemy.

It felt more insignificant than a fly’s life to him.

Keremion would rather die.

It felt like he would feel better if he slit his wrist with his broken saber.

But he couldn’t die like this.

He absolutely couldn’t just die.

He had to take revenge on Kang Chan no matter what. And he had to take revenge on his old master, Elladion, who had betrayed him and taken the hand of a human.

He could never forgive those two.

Perhaps his heart was heard?

With a tremendous explosion that shook the earth, a huge flame soared into the night sky.

Kaaaaaaaboom!

It was the same explosion that had destroyed the food warehouses yesterday.

Keremion instinctively knew that the Green Elves’ smithy had been destroyed. The direction of the explosion was the opposite direction from where they had been tracking the guys.

However, he had no feelings about the smithy he had to protect being destroyed.

Only that dazzling, huge flame moved his heart.

Because that flame was burning as fiercely as his desire for revenge.

The Wyvern-riding troops detonated the magic-armored bombs in the air, and the enemy’s vast smithy was engulfed in flames and burned fiercely.

The mission was a great success.

On top of that, they had also taken care of 30 Dark Elf pursuers, so it was an incredible achievement.

However, the troops couldn’t be happy.

Because although they had achieved great results, their captain, Kang Chan, was in a very bad mood.

While the troops were cautiously watching Kang Chan, Kang Chan was recalling the image of Keremion he had met in the battle a little while ago.

His appearance as a Dark Elf.

He was a frustrating guy filled with resentment, but even though he hated him, he had clashed with him several times and crossed swords with him, so he had developed some affection for him without realizing it.

For him to become a Dark Elf, that appearance was somewhat shocking to Kang Chan.

‘Is the feeling that Elladion felt when Nemitz became a Dark Elf the same as this feeling?’

Kang Chan lowered his head and sighed at his own ridiculous thought.

“Hoo…”

Elladion and Nemitz were close friends who had been together for hundreds of years, but he and Keremion were enemies, not friends, so the comparison itself was ridiculous.

But it was true that his changed appearance somehow made a corner of his heart feel wistful.

Feeling depressed, Kang Chan unknowingly went to find Zikyon.

However, Zikyon was not in his tent.

‘Where did he go?’

Kang Chan went to Loki’s tent to find out where Zikyon was.

“Loki, are you in there?”

“Oh, come in.”

As he entered the tent, Loki, who looked very tired, was sitting on the bed doing mana cultivation [meditation to enhance magical power].

“Am I interrupting?”

“No, I couldn’t sleep, so I was doing mana cultivation. But what’s up?”

“Are you looking for Zikyon? I haven’t seen him all day today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Loki asked with a worried tone at Kang Chan’s gloomy appearance.

“Is something wrong with you?”

“No, nothing’s wrong. I’m just a little tired.”

“Really? But why are you looking for Zikyon in the middle of the night like this?”

“No, it’s nothing. I was just wondering where he was. Then rest. You need to rest well to fight tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you get some rest too. You look tired.”

“Okay. I’m going.”

“Okay.”

Kang Chan left Loki’s camp and returned to his own camp. And he also performed mana cultivation. After all, mana cultivation was the best in times like these.

“Hoo…”

Kang Chan, who had slowly drawn in the surrounding mana, guided the gathered mana into the mana line [pathways for mana within the body]. But right then, he heard the soldiers’ chatter as they stood guard.

“Hey, did you see the Goddess?”

“Huh? What Goddess?”

“Hey, haven’t you heard about the Goddess?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Ugh, you’re so frustrating. Everyone else knows, why don’t you?”

“So is it real?”

“Man, she’s healing all the soldiers who were injured today at the field hospital right now.”