Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 141

The Saxon Duke’s desperate pursuit of Agni was a heart-wrenching spectacle.

“Alright! Let’s forget those old memories and charge at the enemies!”

『Don’t change the subject.』

“Here I go!”

『Hey, wait!』

The Saxon Duke ignored Agni’s protests and charged headlong into the swarm of enemies, his Aura Blade gleaming.

Immediately, a horde of Arc Shadows, lying in ambush, surrounded the Saxon Duke and Agni.

But as if anticipating this, a tremendous burst of flame erupted from Agni’s body, engulfing the shadows.

*Whoosh!*

The intense heat and light flooded the small viewport used by the Dark Elves piloting the Gigantes, causing them to scream in agony.

『Kuaaak!』

『Haaaak!』

While the flame-engulfed enemies reeled, the Saxon Duke, displaying the skill of a true Sword Master, instantly destroyed five Arc Shadows and lunged toward his next target.

He truly lived up to his reputation as the owner of the ancient giant.

『Filthy Dark Elves! I won’t leave a single one of you alive!』

Just as the battle of the Gigantes seemed to be nearing a complete victory for the Continental Allied Forces, a massive force of Troll Elves came charging in, shaking the very ground.

Their numbers were staggering—at least 200,000, twice as many as during the previous Continental War.

Their charge was the embodiment of terror.

Moreover, they were heavily armed with much sturdier armor and weapons than before.

These were weapons and armor crafted by the Green Elves, who now ruled the continent, having scavenged every piece of metal from all the kingdoms.

That wasn’t all.

From one side, hundreds of steel carts simultaneously opened fire on the Allied Gigantes.

Unless struck by an Aura Sword, the projectiles couldn’t penetrate the Gigantes’ shields, but the impacts were powerful enough to deliver significant shocks to the occupants.

As the Allied Gigantes hesitated, struggling to block the bombardment with their shields,

The Arc Shadows, who had briefly retreated, rejoined the Troll Elves and attempted another attack.

However, their numbers barely reached 300.

The Allied Forces had lost nearly 50 Gigantes in that short time.

While the Allied Forces had destroyed less than 500.

Nevertheless, the sheer number of Troll Elves was enough to make the Allied Gigantes nervous.

『Commander, the enemies are encircling our forces with overwhelming numbers!』

『We’re in danger of being surrounded!』

The Allied knights, who had been overwhelmingly pushing back the enemies, panicked and their formation began to break. The Saxon Duke, infused with mana, shouted loudly.

『Don’t break formation! If we can’t stop them, who will? If we run, the ground forces will be trampled by their axes. Everyone, fight to the very end!』

As the Saxon Duke took the lead and charged towards the enemies, the knights, who had been momentarily frightened, steeled themselves for death and charged at the enemies.

『Long live the Visman Empire!』

『Long live the Continental Allied Forces!』

It was a reckless charge, but they maintained their formation, defending their assigned positions, cutting down enemies relentlessly.

Their devilish appearance now emboldened the Allied knights, and the Troll Elves, who had been brave, seemed frightened and broke formation.

However, it was difficult to overcome the overwhelming difference in numbers with courage alone.

Before long, the Allied Gigantes began to fall one by one to the attacks of the Troll Elves and Arc Shadows.

Just then, a giant shadow emerged from the forest, looming over the steel carts.

“Kyaooooooo!”

With a roar like a beast, the giant swung a massive greatsword, and the steel carts exploded without any resistance.

“Enemy ambush!”

The Green Elves showered the enemy who had suddenly attacked them with bullets. But the bullets bounced harmlessly off the giant’s heavy armor.

“M-monster!”

“Krrr! Kuaaaang!”

The enemy was clearly not a Gigantes.

But its size was comparable to one.

There were only two types of monsters in this world that reached such a size: Ogres and Minotaurs.

However, the Green Elves knew very well that it was not a Minotaur.

The monster before them was an Ogre, a creature well-known to them as a symbol of terror during the Continental War.

The Ogre was Loki, a bloodthirsty slaughterer known to the Green Elves as a figure of fear during the Continental War.

Loki was an Ogre with tremendous strength and swordsmanship, capable of fighting Gigantes even with his bare hands.

Unlike before, Loki was now clad in gleaming metal armor.

It was armor crafted in the form of a demon from hell.

Two massive horns, like the horns of a devil, stood tall on his head, and huge spikes were attached to his shoulders and knees.

A terrifying sight that would make anyone soil themselves.

It was custom-made armor that Kraccion had gifted to Loki.

But its appearance was more like a Gigantes than armor.

It was a wearable Gigantes, not a rideable one.

It was a Gigantes exclusively for Loki.

The mana circuit-installed armor amplified Loki’s power, enabling even stronger attacks than before, and greatly enhanced Loki’s defense, which had been his greatest weakness, protecting his body.

In the end, the armor that Kraccion gifted created a fearsome monster.

And the ultimate monster craved the enemy’s blood.

“Kwaaaaaaak!”

While Loki was destroying the Green Elves’ steel carts, a giant, smaller but still enormous, followed behind Loki.

It was Britina.

She, too, was armed with gleaming full plate mail like the other knights, which was an extra-large Aegis armor made just for her.

Her armor, which used more than five times the materials of ordinary armor, was so large that it would go down in history.

But in front of the Gigantes armor that Loki was wearing, it looked infinitely small and cute.

Although her swordsmanship was not as destructive as Loki’s, who could destroy steel carts in one strike, she possessed tremendous strength, enough to send dozens of Green Elves to the afterlife with a single blow.

Having received personal instruction from Sword Masters Kang Chan and the Saxon Duke, she had become a skilled Sword Expert, surpassing the intermediate level, in just three years.

While the steel carts were being helplessly destroyed by the two powerful couples, the Allied soldiers, who had been faltering due to the bombardment, began to advance again.

Towards victory.

* * *

While the ground battle was raging fiercely, the two battleships were now passing through the stratosphere.

The offensive of the two battleships was even more intense than in the atmosphere.

Since they were originally designed to operate in space, they began to demonstrate their true performance as they passed through the stratosphere.

However, it was still the Zvezda that demonstrated overwhelming performance.

It was twice as large as the Red Mars and had more armaments.

*Kugugugugung!*

“Ugh!”

-Energy shield output 35%, left graviton cannon lost, upper armor heavily damaged, it’s dangerous.

“Just a little! Just hold on a little longer, Red Mars!”

Artheon, who had boarded the Red Mars to control the newly installed magical weapons, was speechless at the incredible battle in this other world.

It was a battle on a different dimension than the ground battles she had seen so far.

Moreover, stepping into the unknown realm of space for the first time, leaving the ground, she was even more speechless at the unfamiliar scenery unfolding before her eyes.

She had become the first Elf from Neo Earth to venture into space.

-Enemy battleship, launching unmanned fighters and Zoids [robotic combat vehicles].

“Damn it! Launch our unmanned fighters too! I’m going out.”

As Kang Chan jumped up from his seat, Artheon looked at him with worried eyes.

Even though he had shown tremendous abilities so far, the number of unmanned fighters the enemies possessed far exceeded the number of unmanned fighters on the Red Mars.

Moreover, there was only one Zoid on their side, but the enemies had nine.

There seemed to be no chance of winning.

However, Kang Chan couldn’t just sit back and be defeated, so he risked his life and boarded the Red Rabbit.

Sylphiris was behind him, but she soon had to get out of her seat.

“Get out.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll go with Kang Chan.”

“B, but…”

“You stay and help Artheon protect the battleship. And if a real crisis comes, use that.”

“Zikyon…”

As Sylphiris reluctantly vacated her seat at the Lord’s command, Zikyon sat in the empty seat, and Kang Chan watched the scene silently.

Because Zikyon’s help was more urgent than Sylphiris’s right now.

It was obvious that the power of the Ancient-class Zikyon would be more helpful than the young Wim-class Sylphiris.

“This is the only way I can help you in space without air, right?”

“Are you sure? I drive a bit rough?”

“I’ve had a baby on board, do you think I can’t ride? Just drive straight.”

“Then buckle up tight! Here we go!”

The armor closed, and Kang Chan connected to the computer and mana circuit. Then, the Red Rabbit, equipped with a flight on its back, soared into space through the ejection port.

The scene that unfolded before them was the wreckage of the Red Mars’ hull and the unmanned fighters fighting fiercely in a tangled mess.

The Red Mars’ unmanned fighters were being destroyed one by one by twice as many enemy unmanned fighters, and a series of explosions occurred on the Red Mars’ hull.

“Damn it, the energy shield is almost gone. Zikyon, I’m counting on you.”

“Okay, I’ll switch to a magic shield! Rekrashion, deploy the magic shield.”

『Understood.』

At Zikyon’s command, the 14 dragons aboard the Red Mars joined forces to deploy a huge magic shield.

A powerful magic shield that would protect a huge hull over 300 meters long.

The magic shield was much stronger than the Red Mars’ energy barrier. But one disadvantage was that they could not attack the enemy while the magic shield was deployed.

That meant that only Kang Chan and about 30 unmanned fighters had to face the enemies outside.

It was a desperate situation, but Kang Chan never gave in.

“Well, shall we start playing in earnest?”

“Yeah, let’s play!”

Zikyon also became one with the Red Rabbit and began to cast magic.

“Reverse Gravity!”

As the speed of dozens of unmanned fighters rushing towards the Red Rabbit decreased significantly, Kang Chan did not miss the opportunity and swung a huge Aura Blade to destroy the enemy unmanned fighters.

Kang Chan didn’t show it on the outside, but he was quite surprised inside.

He definitely felt that an Ancient-class dragon was different.

‘Sylphiris is on another level entirely.’

That wasn’t the only thing that surprised Kang Chan.

The casting speed of space movement was also 10 times faster than Sylphiris, and the distance was 5 times greater.

That meant only one thing.

There was no one to catch Kang Chan now.

‘This is doable?’

As Kang Chan frantically roamed the battlefield and began to destroy enemy unmanned fighters, the Zvezda crew watching him were horrified.

『What! That bastard’s space movement speed is on another level than before!』

『Damn it! I can’t get him in the crosshairs!』

The Red Rabbit’s mobility, flashing from east to west in the blink of an eye, was truly outstanding, and Kang Chan roamed the enemy lines, destroying unmanned fighters as if he were mocking them.

The Red Rabbit was like a rabbit roaming the universe, just like its name.

*Ujijijijik… Kwawawawawang!*

*Kwagagagang!*

Enemy unmanned fighters were destroyed one by one without a break.

In an instant, the number of enemy unmanned fighters that fell at Kang Chan’s hands exceeded 20.

The Zvezda crew’s mouths were burning as they watched Kang Chan’s prowess.

Because the destroyed unmanned fighters were weapons of enormous value that could no longer be replenished anywhere.

Honghakmae shouted as if in despair.

『We can’t lose any more fighters! Stop him!』

As the nine Zoids poured concentrated fire on Kang Chan, Kang Chan quickly dodged and ran away.

After dozens of minutes of hit-and-run tactics.

Judging by the performance, Kang Chan may have seemed somewhat superior.

However, the unmanned fighters launched from the Red Mars had already become scrap metal in space, and the enemy still had 40 unmanned fighters and 9 Zoids intact.

The Red Rabbit was completely isolated.

As all the enemies began to pressure Kang Chan from all sides, Kang Chan faced a situation where he could no longer move as excitedly as before.

Kang Chan, who was busy running away from the concentrated fire, looked around and said.