Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 106

“I… is that possible?”

The soldier, fresh from the day’s brutal battle, stared at the seemingly endless line of severely wounded men being healed, his voice laced with disbelief.

“She’s a Goddess, so anything is possible!” another soldier exclaimed.

“Th-then, if I get hurt in tomorrow’s battle, will she heal me too?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Besides, rumor has it she’s unbelievably beautiful.”

“Ah! Really? That beautiful?”

“That’s what I’m saying! Just now, Walter got healed and wouldn’t stop bragging about it—emerald green hair, jade-like skin, a killer body…”

At the mention of green hair, Kang Chan’s ears perked up.

‘Green hair? It’s Zikyon!’

Kang Chan immediately stopped his mana training and headed towards the field hospital where the supposed Goddess had appeared.

As the morning sun began to paint the sky with its first light, the soldiers, somewhat recovered from their injuries, prepared to return to the front lines.

A palpable sense of determination filled their eyes.

No one ordered them back to the battlefield; they were all going voluntarily.

“Goddess, thank you so much for saving my life. I will definitely win and return.”

“Please bless us, Goddess.”

Numerous armed soldiers sought out Zikyon, offering heartfelt gratitude and requesting divine blessings. Zikyon placed her hand on each of their heads, bestowing her blessing. Fear seemed to melt away from their eyes, replaced by a newfound courage as they bravely departed for the battlefield.

“I will go out and fight too!”

“I will fight too!”

Even soldiers who hadn’t completed their treatment clamored to rejoin the battle. The priests and healers attending to them looked troubled, attempting to dissuade them.

“It’s still too much for your body.”

“I’m fine now! Just tighten the bandages!”

“Ugh! My spear has a healing ward on it! Hey, lend me your spear.”

“No way! I’m going too!”

“Where do you think you’re going with no legs? You stay here and help the Goddess!”

Zikyon had personally treated fewer than 1,000 of the injured soldiers, leaving the majority still seriously wounded.

Nevertheless, they were voluntarily heading back to the battlefield.

The line was as long as when they had first arrived.

For them, this war had transformed into a holy war.

Passing by the soldiers marching towards the front lines, Kang Chan arrived at the field hospital and couldn’t suppress a chuckle as he saw Zikyon placing her hand on the heads of the departing soldiers, bestowing blessings.

She had become a Goddess, and she was fully embracing the role.

‘Seriously, the dragon race are masters of acting.’

Kang Chan positioned himself behind Zikyon. However, she was too engrossed in blessing the soldiers to notice his arrival.

“The grace and blessing of Pionessa [likely a deity or figure of reverence in their culture] will be with you.”

“Thank you, Goddess.”

Kang Chan stared blankly at Zikyon.

Such a benevolent smile as she blessed the soldiers… it made Kang Chan feel slightly queasy.

‘Did she eat something wrong?’

Kang Chan quietly spoke from behind her.

“Hey… what are you doing?”

Flinch!

Startled by Kang Chan’s sudden voice, Zikyon turned to him with wide, rabbit-like eyes, as if caught red-handed.

“How did you get here?”

“I heard rumors of your amazing abilities and came to see you, Goddess.”

Zikyon hesitated for a moment, then gently pulled Kang Chan away from the crowd.

“Just a moment, excuse me,” she said to the soldiers.

Suddenly, the Goddess dragged a man away and disappeared, leaving the soldiers who hadn’t yet received her blessing looking on with great disappointment.

“Hey, where are you going?” Kang Chan asked, surprised.

“Just follow me!”

Zikyon led Kang Chan to a small hill behind the hospital. There, she took a deep breath and asked, “When did you get here?”

“A little while ago. But what are you doing?”

“It’s nothing. I was just bored, so I was playing Goddess.”

“You’ll be punished for that.”

“I wish I could receive that punishment. And to be honest, even if a real Goddess came, she wouldn’t be as good as me.”

Kang Chan burst into laughter at Zikyon’s audacity.

“Hehe! That’s so you, Zikyon.”

“Am I funny? You try living for 8,000 years! If I don’t do something like this, I’ll go crazy from boredom.”

“Pfft! Hehehe!”

Zikyon glared at Kang Chan suspiciously as he laughed again.

“You’re acting strange today. Why do you laugh every time I say something? Is something up? Could it be?”

“Could it be?” Kang Chan echoed, playing along.

“You haven’t developed strange feelings for me, have you? Huh?”

Zikyon poked Kang Chan’s cheek with her finger, and Kang Chan frowned and said coldly, “Am I crazy? To like an 8,000-year-old perverted dragon?”

“Then why are you suddenly like this?”

“It’s nothing. I just came to see your face because it’s been hard to see you during the war.”

“Heh, wow! This is a tearjerker! Thank you.”

Zikyon extended her hand to Kang Chan, and he took it and shook it.

Then, he dusted himself off and prepared to leave.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Okay, take care.”

“You take care too.”

“Taking care doesn’t suit me.”

“Seriously, your arrogance is sky-high. Anyway, don’t get caught being a fake Goddess.”

“How can you say that after my 8,000 years of acting experience? I can even shed tears in one second. Watch.”

Zikyon made a sad expression, and tears like jade beads streamed down her eyes.

“See? See?”

“Hehehe, you’re a really funny one. Then I’m really going now.”

“Okay, go. Eat breakfast.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Kang Chan headed back towards the battlefield, seeing Zikyon off.

He thought it was a good thing he came to see Zikyon.

Meeting her had completely dispelled the gloomy mood caused by Keremion.

* * *

When Keremion returned, Nemitz slapped Keremion’s cheek.

Then he hugged him tightly.

“I’m glad you came back alive.”

It was a strange gesture, like giving medicine after causing the illness, but it was Nemitz’s way of showing consideration for Keremion.

Keremion was the leader of the annihilated group, so the slap was to acknowledge responsibility for the loss.

Nemitz knew why they were annihilated.

The few enemies they faced were all Sword Expert mid-level or higher, and some were even Sword Masters [highly skilled swordsmen].

Sending them against such opponents was like sending them to their deaths.

So Nemitz was truly relieved that Keremion had returned alive.

He was the disciple most likely to become a Sword Master among Nemitz’s students.

“It will be difficult, but prepare for battle quickly. Today’s battle will probably be tough…”

Keremion knew that Nemitz said that because they had lost 10 Arc Shadows [likely a type of warrior or unit].

“Yes, Master.”

33. Zikyon’s Crisis

Third day of the all-out war.

The Green Elf forces had been reduced to less than half of their initial strength.

The arrows that had rained down like a storm on the first day now only flew occasionally.

Moreover, they looked very hungry, probably because their food supply was disrupted.

The damage inflicted on them by the Black Wyvern unit’s terror was significant.

However, in contrast, the Continental Allied Forces were full of murderous intent.

The soldiers were enraged by the Dark Elves’ guerrilla warfare, and with the help of the fake Goddess Zikyon, more than half of the soldiers injured the previous day had returned to the front lines, giving the Allied forces a troop advantage for the first time since the war began.

Moreover, the sight of their comrades recovering from the Goddess’s miracle had emboldened the entire army, and the belief that God was with them made their morale soar.

Even Zikyon didn’t realize that her Goddess act, which started as a joke and a way to indulge her vanity, would lead to such a significant change.

Duke Sachsen also disliked Zikyon, but he was actually happier than anyone else that she was helping.

In fact, he had hoped she would stop the Green’s Spirit King.

If she had, they could have used their overwhelming ground forces to push them from the Helion Kingdom to the end of the continent.

However, Zikyon did not provide much direct help throughout the war, and Sachsen could only sigh in disappointment.

But Zikyon was helping the Allied forces in a way that surpassed his expectations.

Faith was a truly terrifying thing.

The power of humans running wild as fanatics was truly great.

“Waaaaaaah! God is with us! You evil beings!”

“Come on! Come on! You children of the devil!”

The Green Elf army, terrified by the seemingly abnormal state of the enemies, began to falter.

They were exuding a tremendous momentum that was completely different from the previous day.

Thanks to that, the Green Elf army, already weakened from lack of food, shrank even further.

“Centurion! The enemies are acting strange! They all seem to be out of their minds!”

“What! Did those guys take drugs as a group? Why are they like that?”

“Glory to Pionessa! Charge!”

“Glory! Waaaaaaah!!”

“This is a holy war!”

“I give my life to Pionessa!”

The Green Elf army’s formation began to collapse helplessly against the fanatical enemy army.

It wasn’t just the soldiers who were being pushed back.

Kugugugung!

Arc Shadows were falling apart one by one everywhere.

The number of Arc Shadows had been significantly reduced because the 10 Arc Shadows led by Keremion had become corpses at the hands of Kang Chan.

The remaining Arc Shadows could not stop the overwhelming number of Allied Gigantes [likely giant war machines or constructs].

Nemitz despaired as his disciples’ Gigantes were destroyed one by one.

There were only 12 Arc Shadows left.

However, there were still more than 70 enemy Gigantes intact.

And since the pilots of the enemy Gigantes were all top-tier Sword Experts, the few remaining Troll Elves were no threat to them at all.

‘I… I can’t win….’

As the leader of a race, he could see that the tide of the battle had already turned against them.

No matter how hard Green struggled, it seemed difficult to regain the lost momentum.

The only option left for them was to retreat with minimal damage.

However, it seemed difficult because retreating in war caused much greater damage than fighting back.

‘How great would it be if we could use the Black Centipede at times like this? Damn it!’

The underground giant monster, the Black Centipede, was weak to the sun, so it could not be used during the day.

In the end, Nemitz had no choice but to decide to retreat.

He fired a flare without hesitation, signaling a retreat.

Beeeep! Bang!

The flare fired from Hellenic’s back signaled a retreat, causing the Green Elves’ morale to plummet, and their formation began to collapse rapidly.

Green, who had been fighting alone against the Allied forces, shed tears of blood as he watched the retreat signal suddenly soar.

“I can’t end it like this, not like this…”