Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 122

40. Loki’s Spring (2)

Loki and Britina, having drunk late into the night, walked side-by-side toward the barracks.

Loki’s barracks happened to be closer to Britina’s than expected.

Loki, drunk for the first time, beamed incessantly. Britina, looking at him, said with a resigned sigh, “This is unfair…”

“What is?”

“You’re a man, and I’m a woman, but how can you be more feminine than me?”

She looked at Loki’s small, delicate frame and sighed again.

His appearance was so slender and beautiful that even she, a woman, envied him.

Britina couldn’t help but sigh. “Oh, I wish I were as small and delicate as you…”

At her words, Loki tilted his head. “Why do humans like small and delicate women?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Every man likes thin and pretty women. Don’t you?”

“No, I don’t. Because I’m not human.”

“What?”

Britina tilted her head, puzzled by Loki’s statement that he wasn’t human.

“When you say that, it sounds like you’re not human.”

“That’s right, I’m not human.”

“You’re not human? Then what are you?”

“I’m an ogre.”

“What? An ogre? Pfft! Hahaha.”

Britina burst into laughter at Loki’s words, and Loki asked with a puzzled expression. “Why are you laughing?”

“Are you kidding me? Are you telling me to believe that now?”

“Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but I’m really an ogre.”

‘Oh my god, how much mental shock did he have to receive…’ Britina looked at Loki with pity again.

‘Poor him, believing he was an ogre.’ Then she smiled brightly and said, “Okay, what does it matter if you’re an ogre or a human? You’re Loki, and I’m Britina. Right?”

“Yeah.”

The two of them chatted about this and that as they walked toward Loki’s barracks.

The barracks where Loki stayed were located within the Hellainer Knights’ garrison in the Allied Forces Headquarters. Since the Hellainer Knights were Duke Sachsen’s personal knights, Britina could only sneer at Duke Sachsen in her heart as they approached the place.

‘You seem to cherish this child quite a bit, seeing as you keep him close even during this great war.’

Britina, who still regarded Loki as Duke Sachsen’s lover, felt betrayed by him. He was a hero of the Arkandor continent and an idol to those who walked the path of chivalry.

It was definitely a problem for such a person to bring such a young boy to the battlefield and keep him by his side.

Everything stemmed from her misunderstanding, and there was no sign of it being resolved.

As they approached the barracks, Loki stopped and grabbed Britina’s arm, as if sensing something.

“Wait.”

“Why?”

“Enemy.”

“Enemy?”

Britina was taken aback by the sudden warning. They were standing in the middle of the Allied camp, in the very core where the headquarters was located.

Detection magic was everywhere, so even the Dark Elves couldn’t easily infiltrate. An enemy in such a place? Britina regarded it as just one of Loki’s pranks.

However, Britina couldn’t help but be surprised when Loki, who looked like a clumsy child, suddenly exuded a murderous aura like a honed blade.

She was surprised by the drastic change in his demeanor.

“Why are you doing this? Don’t joke around.”

Despite Britina’s plea, Loki stared intently at one spot.

“Why? What’s there?”

She also stared at the same place as Loki.

Then, an amazing thing happened.

The enemies really appeared from there.

“Gasp! E-enemy!”

The enemies that appeared in front of Loki and her were none other than Dark Elves.

“No, how did those things get here!”

Britina hurriedly drew her longsword, which was more like a huge two-handed sword. A thick tension filled the air between the two groups. In that tension, a Dark Elf asked Loki, “How did you find us?”

“By smell.”

“Smell? Do we smell?”

The Dark Elves were very displeased with Loki’s words.

Dark Elves, like Elves, are a race that values cleanliness. Although they couldn’t maintain their usual standards due to the war, they weren’t so bad that they smelled.

For a young human child to say that he found them by smell was nothing short of an insult.

While they were making unpleasant expressions, Britina raised her mana and said, “I don’t know what your purpose is for coming here, but how dare you infiltrate this place without fear! Give up on the idea of going back alive!”

At the same time, a faint aura formed on her sword.

However, the Dark Elves, looking at the aura, laughed rather than being nervous.

“With that skill? Judging by your size, you can use some strength. But it’s ridiculous to try to fight us with the skill of a beginner Sword Expert [a swordsman who has mastered the basics of mana-infused swordsmanship].”

In an instant, blue aura swords spewed out from the Dark Elves’ dual swords.

At a glance, they were more than intermediate-level experts.

They were elite assassins of the Dark Blade, one of the best assassination groups among the Dark Elves, and a special operations unit that infiltrated to target Duke Sachsen’s head.

Britina really thought she was unlucky to run into them.

But she still didn’t know who was truly unlucky.

“Intermediate Sword Expert…”

Despair filled her eyes.

All five enemies were intermediate Sword Experts.

It seemed impossible to deal with them, even with her size, which far surpassed humans.

Looking at them slowly surrounding herself and Loki, Britina pushed Loki back.

“Run away quickly! I’ll buy you some time somehow.”

Loki looked at Britina, who was throwing herself at the enemy to protect him. She was throwing herself at enemies with no chance of winning to protect him.

The confrontation that took place in an instant ended as expected.

Her skills were no match for them.

Her huge longsword cut through the air, but no Dark Elf was hit by her sword.

The Dark Elves began to avoid her sword and aim for her openings, and one of them rushed straight to Loki.

They had no intention of leaving a single witness alive.

“No!”

Britina screamed as she watched the Dark Elf rush toward Loki.

She thought it was too late.

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed impossible for Loki to avoid the Dark Elf’s sword with the skill of an intermediate Sword Expert.

However, the moment the Dark Elf’s sword reached Loki’s neck, Loki’s figure disappeared from his sight.

“Huh!”

It was a reflex impossible for ordinary humans.

The Dark Elf, who had futilely cut through the air, turned his head left and right to find the disappeared human child, but Loki was already behind him.

Loki twisted the Dark Elf’s head without a word.

Crunch! Cough!

A swift, decisive action.

As an ogre, Loki had no mercy in taking lives.

As Loki released his grip, the Dark Elf, now a corpse, fell to the floor.

Then Loki took off his belt without looking back.

He had to revert to his ogre form.

Even in his transformed state, Loki was much stronger than ordinary humans, but even so, it was too much to face four Sword Expert-level experts.

Besides, Britina was on the verge of being killed by them.

There was no time to think about other things.

In an instant, a dazzling light enveloped Loki, and his body began to grow.

The hugeness was enough to easily overwhelm Britina, and the eyes of the Dark Elves widened in surprise.

“Kuaaaaaaaa!”

Loki, who had finally finished transforming, screamed at the enemies with a scream that would tear their eardrums.

The Dark Elves, who had been making Britina bloody, grabbed their ears as if in pain and stepped back.

They are a race with very developed hearing.

“O-Ogre!”

“Could it be *that* ogre?”

They despaired as they looked at the huge ogre that filled their vision.

The ogre in front of them was one they knew very well.

Besides, Allied soldiers began to pour out like ants at Loki’s scream. There was no longer any chance of winning for them.

“Damn it! Let’s run away!”

As the Dark Elves stopped attacking and began to flee, Britina, who had been slashed all over her body, collapsed in a bloody state.

“Keuk! Britina!”

Loki, grabbing Britina as she fell, carefully laid her down.

“Keureu, Britina, are you okay?”

“Ugh…”

Britina was on the verge of losing consciousness due to excessive bleeding.

“Keureureuk! You bastards!”

Enraged, Loki picked up her longsword and began to chase after the fleeing Dark Elves.

“Kyaooooooo! I’m going to kill you! Keureureuk!”

Just before losing consciousness, Britina was startled when a huge hand gently picked her up.

She saw a huge ogre running like the wind toward the Dark Elves, shaking the ground. She struggled to utter a word and fainted.

“H-he was really an ogre…”

That night, an ogre on the verge of losing his mind due to anger roamed the Allied camp and went on a Dark Elf hunt.

Kuuuuung!

“Kweeeeeek!”

No matter how agile the Dark Elf assassins were, they couldn’t be faster than Loki, who was an ogre.

Even if they tried to hide their bodies with Blind Hide [a spell that conceals the user from sight], they couldn’t escape the sense of smell of the monster called the strongest on earth.

Due to Loki’s tenacious pursuit, the Dark Elf assassins became unrecognizable lumps of flesh one by one.

Finally, Loki, who had torn apart the last Dark Elf, let out another roar full of anger.

“Kuaaaaaaaa!”

The Allied soldiers who had been urgently dispatched due to the huge monster’s roar shaking the Allied camp also trembled in fear.