Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 126

퓨쳐나이트 126

43. New Weapon

Half a year had passed since Kang Chan and Zikyon joined forces with the dwarves to develop weapons against the enemy.

It was neither a long nor a short time.

Fortunately, during those six months, there wasn’t a single enemy air raid.

Whether that was fortunate or a harbinger of greater misfortune, no one knew, but Kang Chan thought it was fortunate that he had bought time.

Because he was able to successfully complete the development of new weapons during those precious months.

And today was the day that new weapon would take its first step into the world.

It was a momentous event that would be recorded in the history of not only this world but also the universe.

Because it was a weapon born from the harmony of Earth’s science and this planet’s magic.

They called it a magical weapon.

Kang Chan looked around at the newly developed magical weapons in the dwarves’ pride, the War Factory.

Kang Chan picked up a dazzlingly shining vest plate.

It was new armor to be worn by the knights.

Surprisingly, the material of the armor was mithril, produced by the elves, famous for its high purity.

The design was done by the dwarves, the best artisans in weapon making, and the dragon personally engraved high-dimensional magic into the armor.

It was clear that it was a formidable armor, unprecedented even in the past magical era.

It was the birth of the Aegis Armor, which would be known as magical armor.

Kang Chan, wearing the Aegis Armor, infused it with magical power.

Then, a living metal material stretched out from the vest-shaped armor and covered Kang Chan’s entire body.

It was Zikyon who sublimated [enhanced or refined] Kang Chan’s combat suit with magic.

The original full plate armor was reduced in size to a vest plate size using space distortion magic.

This was a very innovative way to increase combat power, as it allowed the wearer to always be ready for battle without having to take off the cumbersome full plate armor.

Because full plate armor was excellent in terms of defense, but it was very inconvenient to put on and take off.

Kang Chan, now armed with dazzling full plate armor, looked at himself in the mirror and was very pleased.

Even if the performance was secondary, the design of the armor was so beautiful that it could be called a work of art.

As expected, when the dwarves got their hands on it, even a weapon that killed people became a beautiful work of art.

Of course, mass-produced items would not be made with such care.

However, performance was the most important thing, so Kang Chan immediately began a defense test.

Kang Chan entered a room specially designed for the test.

When he infused magic power into the shield magic circle engraved on the armor, the magic circles engraved on the armor emitted a brilliant light and formed an invisible wall of magic around him.

Everyone who watched the scene exclaimed.

The appearance of the armor with the magic circle activated was so beautiful.

Leaving behind such exclamations, the power demonstration began immediately.

First, the dwarves’ crossbows flew towards Kang Chan.

The dwarven crossbow was the most powerful ranged weapon in the Arkandor continent, second only to the elven bow.

However, the quarrel [a short, heavy bolt or arrow used in a crossbow], which boasted such excellent performance, was blocked by the invisible shield surrounding Kang Chan, and bounced off, falling to the floor.

The shield engraved on the armor easily blocked the dwarven crossbow.

The next test was to block arrows infused with mana.

An elven ranger who would help with the experiment put an arrow on the bowstring and infused it with mana, causing the arrowhead to emit a brilliant light.

If Kang Chan’s armor was not protected by a shield, no armor, no matter how strong, would be able to block the elven ranger’s arrow at this distance.

The power of the bow containing mana was that great.

However, as expected, the defense power of the shield engraved by the dragon was much greater.

Even the powerful elven arrow containing mana could not penetrate the armor’s shield.

Even the expression of Arteon, the queen of the elves, hardened at the sight.

If such armor was mass-produced by humans, it would be tantamount to declaring the end of the elves.

However, there was no need to worry about that, as the magic circle engraved on the armor was a high-dimensional magic circle that only a dragon could engrave. Moreover, the dragon would collect all of them after the war with the invaders was over.

If there were those who hid them and did not return them, the wrath of the dragon would be upon them.

Because the armor would have the dragon’s tracking magic on it.

The next test for the armor, which had even blocked the elven bow, was the long-awaited final test.

It was a test of protection against the railgun.

If it could not block this, the armor would be a failure.

The reason for making this armor was to block the railgun.

Elica, who had specially attended for the experiment, stood in front of Kang Chan with a railgun.

Elica decided to reveal the power of the railgun first for those who did not know its power.

First, she fired the railgun at a prepared target, not Kang Chan.

It was ten full plate mails of heavy infantry that the dwarves were proud of, lined up in a row.

The result of the experiment was amazing.

With a single shot, ten full plate mails were instantly torn to shreds beyond recognition.

Everyone who saw the scene knew what would have happened if there were people inside.

A truly terrible scene would have been created…

Those who witnessed the power of the railgun for the first time felt fear at its tremendous power.

Even though they didn’t use magic, the power of the invaders’ weapons was that enormous.

“Oh… God, is that the weapon used by the humans who came from that alien world?”

“H, how can it have such power!”

Amidst everyone’s murmuring, the powerful railgun was aimed at Kang Chan.

However, Elica, who was holding the railgun, hesitated.

Even though it was an experiment, she was uneasy about having to shoot the man she admired with this powerful railgun.

Although Zikyon was waiting next to her in case of failure, she was still uneasy.

Kang Chan said to her hesitation.

“Don’t hesitate, Ms. Elica, pull the trigger.”

“But…”

“Someone has to do it. So don’t be afraid and shoot.”

“…”

Knowing that someone would have to shoot him even if it wasn’t her, Elica gritted her teeth, aimed the railgun, and pulled the trigger.

The railgun bullet, fired with a tremendous roar, covered Kang Chan, creating a long spiral trajectory.

Kwaang!

A shock that was on a different level from when the mana arrow hit directly echoed inside the War Factory.

The rising dust covered everything.

In the midst of that, Elica slowly opened her tightly closed eyes and looked at where Kang Chan was standing.

“K, Kang Chan-nim?”

Elica called out to Kang Chan in an earnest voice as she saw someone standing in the dust.

Then, Kang Chan’s slightly excited voice was heard from the dust.

“As expected, you’re amazing, Zikyon!”

“Kang Chan-nim!”

Elica ran to Kang Chan, who was walking out unharmed.

The others who were watching also ran towards Kang Chan.

“How is it? Is it usable?”

“Yeah, it’s very usable! This is enough to protect against the railgun.”

“How many shots do you think you can block?”

Since the shield consumes the user’s mana each time it receives an impact, Kang Chan estimated his mana and said.

“Well, I don’t know exactly, but I think I can handle 100 shots without any problems.”

“If you, a Sword Master, can handle 100 shots, then ordinary Sword Expert knights can handle around 20 shots.”

If there was only mana, he could block hundreds of shots, but for humans, not dragons, there was a clear limit to mana.

This was even more true for ordinary Sword Expert knights, excluding Sword Masters.

However, that alone was a great achievement.

Even though it was around 20 shots, it would be enough to counterattack or escape.

Kang Chan, who had released the armor, handed the Aegis Armor to the dwarf and looked at the next newly developed weapon.

It was a new concept bow made by elves and dwarves, taking the railgun that he had given to Elica as a motif [recurring subject or theme].

It was more like a gun than a bow, but the elves insisted on calling it a bow.

The principle was simple.

A bullet slightly larger than the warhead used in the railgun was combined with dwarven gunpowder to create a bullet, which was then accelerated and fired by a magic propulsion device designed by Arteon.

It was the first magical weapon created by an algorithm that generates the same magnetic field as a railgun by flowing electric magic through the barrel.

The power of the bow that was first introduced was enough to surprise even Kang Chan, who had spared no advice in the design.

The bow they made turned ten dwarven full plate mails into scrap metal, just like Earth’s railgun.

This somewhat crude bow, shaped like an old Earth arquebus [an early type of portable gun], had the same power as the railgun that Kang Chan had given to Elica.

Of course. There were also disadvantages.

Although the power was satisfactory, it was impossible to fire quickly due to the limitations of technology.

That meant that it had to be reloaded one shot at a time.

This would clearly be a huge disadvantage on the fierce battlefield.

However, it was a great achievement just to have developed a cannon with the same power as a railgun.

Now the soldiers here could also fight against Earthlings with this bow.

And as time passed, their weapons would gradually be supplemented and changed, just like the old cannons of Earth.

Kang Chan named the bow a musket rifle, after the name of a rifle on old Earth.

Also, what Kang Chan considered most important was the cannon.

There were cannons here, but they were battlefield-style cast cannons at the level of the Middle Ages on Earth.

It means a cannon that is made by pouring molten metal into a mold and loading it from the front.

Kang Chan succeeded in modifying it to the principle of modern cannons by applying the technology stored in his head.

First, he changed the loading to breech-loading [loading from the rear of the gun barrel], and made the barrel by cutting it instead of casting.

This is because only barrels of the same standard can withstand strong pressure.

And he created grooves inside the barrel and designed a recoil mechanism to absorb the shock.

Then, a cannon at the level used in World War I was completed.

The shells used magic armor-piercing bullets containing explosion magic along with gunpowder.

Since the chemical field was still far behind the level of Earth, fusion with magic was essential for more powerful power.

He thought that alone would be of great help in the war.

Since cannons have always been the flower of war.

Next, Kang Chan was waiting for his Zoid [a type of mecha or robotic animal], Red Rabbit.

“What is this?”

Kang Chan, who looked up at the Red Rabbit, which had changed so much, could not take his eyes off its beautiful appearance.

Should it be called a combination of modern mechanics and medieval armor?

If you look at the combination alone, it wasn’t a very good combination, but the Red Rabbit was exuding an unusually intense personality.

“How is it? Do you like it?”

The Red Rabbit, which had a huge body one head taller than the Elven Knight and a sleek body, had a very different appearance from the Gigantes [giant humanoid war machines] here.

However, the hands and feet attached to such a Red Rabbit were those of Gigantes.

This was because Kang Chan had to be able to use Aura Blade.

“It’s really cool.”

Kang Chan was eager to ride the Red Rabbit, which had been reborn as a really cool guy.

Kracksion, who knew his mind, recommended boarding.

“Would you like to ride it now?”

Kang Chan answered without hesitation.

“Yes!”

Kang Chan hurriedly climbed onto the cockpit of the Red Rabbit.

Then, there was a strange cockpit that seemed to combine the characteristics of the Zoid’s cockpit and the Gigantes’ cockpit.

And strangely enough, the cockpit was not a one-seater but a two-seater.

“Why is there one more seat here?”

“Ah! That was because Zikyon asked me to.”

“Zikyon? Hey! What is this?”

“You’ll find out later.”

“What does that mean?”

Kang Chan couldn’t figure out why the cockpit was remodeled into a two-seater.

But it was one of the methods discussed at the dragons’ meeting.

“It’s been a while, Red Rabbit. I missed you.”

Kang Chan roughly stroked the Red Rabbit’s sensor master as usual.

And when he started the nuclear fusion generator, deuterium and tritium in ultra-high heat began to cause a nuclear fusion reaction inside the tokamak [a device for containing plasma using magnetic fields], creating enormous energy.

Shortly after, a tremendous amount of energy began to pour out of the Red Rabbit’s body as the nuclear fusion reaction reached its critical point, and the power was so great that even Zikyon, a dragon, was surprised.