Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 38

퓨쳐나이트 38화

“That doesn’t matter. Even if she is a discarded Dragon.”

“To say that even a Dragon doesn’t matter is quite arrogant. Very well. I will trust you and leave her in your care. In return, I will take Elradion.”

Elradion, the Elven Sword, one of the four guardian deities of the Elves, was also a key figure in this invasion operation.

“If it’s Elradion, the martial god representing the Elves, then Nemitz-nim is the perfect opponent, ohohoho.”

“As for the remaining four guardian deities, Raseone of Summoning will be handled by Silence, the master of dark summoning here, and Reisian of the Elven Bow will be taken care of by Yara, the head of the Blacklion family, the best assassin group of our Dark Elf tribe.”

As Nemitz introduced his subordinates, they exchanged awkward greetings.

“And finally, Amari of Spiritism, whom I originally intended to ask Green-nim, but since you insist on wanting Arteon’s head, we will entrust her to Promae, our Dark Elf wizard.”

“I understand. I sincerely appreciate Nemitz-nim’s kindness.”

“Now, with the arrangement settled, I hope the Green Elf tribe will take good care of the Elves’ main camp and the remnants.”

“Don’t worry about that. Our children are all seasoned by war.”

Nemitz nodded and looked around the conference room, saying,

“Today is the day we rewrite the history of the Arkandor continent. Our children will never lose their light again. They will never freeze to death in extreme regions.”

When Nemitz mentioned the extreme regions, Green nodded slowly with a stiff expression.

“Uwaaaaa!”

A thunderous roar echoed throughout the cave.

“Now, let’s wish for today’s victory.”

Nemitz reached out his hand, and everyone placed their hands on top of his, praying for victory with one heart and mind.

“Now, everyone to your positions!”

Everyone moved to their assigned positions with perfect discipline.

When the moon was exactly in the center of the night sky, they would all begin the operation.

Thus, most of the Elves were sound asleep, completely unaware of the disaster that would befall them, and the unusually red moon seemed to foreshadow the upcoming festival of blood.

13. Night of Nightmares

As the red moon rose to the center of the night sky, the earth began to tremble.

Not just in one place, but from all directions as if they had made a promise.

Although the number of guards had increased more than usual due to heightened alert, they were all terrified and bewildered by the inexplicable tremors of the earth.

“W-what is it? Is it the enemy?”

“I don’t know! I can’t see anything!”

“Ring the bell!”

All they could do was ring the bell.

But that was already far too late compared to the disaster that was about to befall the Elven village.

The shaking earth began to crack, and soon, giant shadows broke through the ground and revealed themselves.

Countless legs wriggling, a chillingly huge silhouette.

Such things slowly rose above the ground and began to scan their surroundings.

Charrrrrrrrrrrrk…….

The guards who watched the horrifying sight couldn’t even think of screaming; they just stared blankly at the scene.

They knew they had to do something, but they were too afraid that the giant monster in front of them would find them if they moved even a little, so they froze in place.

The black, glossy shell of the giant monster, illuminated by the moonlight, looked like solid armor, and the wriggling legs looked very sharp, like sharpened blades.

Dozens of such centipedes bowed their heads in all directions, diligently moving their creepy antennae to find prey.

And soon, the centipedes, having discovered the warmth of delicious prey, roared and began their attack.

The Elves, startled by the sound of the bell, grabbed their weapons and jumped out of the trees, only to see the guards being trampled by dozens of giant centipedes.

Giant centipedes continued to wriggle and rise from the ground, and they mercilessly attacked not only the guards but also the Elves sleeping in the trees.

Following the holes that the centipedes had broken through, green Elves surged out of the ground like waves with thunderous shouts.

Wherever those green vines stretched, flowers made of red blood bloomed in profusion.

“It’s a surprise attack! The enemy is attacking!”

“It’s a surprise attack! The enemies have entered the village!”

“How! Where did they attack from?”

The four guardian deities of the Elves, who had been preoccupied with the war strategy meeting until late at night, were greatly shocked by the sudden, unexpected news.

“From underground. Giant centipedes have broken through from underground. And behind them, countless green Elves are pouring out. Their numbers are so vast that they cannot be counted.”

“U-underground!”

Arteon felt his legs give way as if he had been struck in the back of the head by an unexpected attack. But the enemy’s attack had already begun, and there was no time to delay, not if they wanted to save even one more Elf.

“Raseone-nim, please wake up the guardians of the forest quickly.”

“Understood.”

“Reisian-nim.”

“Yes.”

“Gather all the rangers stationed on the outskirts of the forest and protect the rear of the guardians.”

“Understood.”

“Elradion-nim.”

“Yes, Arteon-nim.”

“Elradion-nim, please take the Elven Knights and board the Elven Knights immediately.”

“Understood.”

“Amari-nim, lead all the wizards and spiritists and stop the enemies that have emerged from the ground. Please move as quickly as possible.”

Arteon and Amari were tasked with delaying the enemy in the most dangerous place. If the support from the others was even slightly delayed, they would surely be annihilated.

“May the spirits and the protection of the forest be with you all.”

“May the spirits and the protection of the forest be with Arteon-nim as well.”

* * *

“P-Princess! It’s a disaster.”

“Ahem, be quiet.”

“Princess! Please wake up!”

Even amidst the explosions and screams echoing from all directions, Edelrin seemed to be sleeping soundly, indicating that she had nerves of steel.

“Princess! This is not the time to be sleeping. There’s a war, a war!”

“Aish! Why is there a war here? If I catch you lying to me, you’re dead.”

Edelrin, still annoyed from being woken up, usually pretended to be elegant, but in her sleep, her true 말투 [manner of speaking] came out without any 필터 [filter].

“Can’t you hear the sounds outside? The green Elves have invaded all the way here! The nobles have already abandoned you and run away!”

Edelrin, startled by the sound of weapons and the screams of women, jumped up.

“What did you say? The nobles have all run away?”

“Yes, they scattered and fled!”

“You stupid fool! Why did you wake me up so late!”

In fact, Jaizen had been trying to wake her up for over 15 minutes.

Since he couldn’t touch her precious body, the only way to wake her was to shout in her ear, so it was incredibly difficult to wake her up, given her thick skin.

In the meantime, the nobles had each ridden away on their horses, and the horses of the eight-horse carriage that were supposed to pull the princess’s carriage had long since disappeared.

“I need to change my clothes and pack what I need, so please leave for a moment.”

“Oh, come on! There’s no time to waste like that. Just follow me in your pajamas. Hurry, quickly!”

“W-wait a minute! Where are you taking me in my pajamas? Let go! Can’t you let go?”

Jaizen dragged the screaming Edelrin like a piece of luggage and hurriedly began to flee into the forest.

Fortunately, the residence where the diplomatic mission was staying was far from the enemy, so the two were able to escape into the deep forest without much difficulty.

* * *

“Loyal guardians who have protected the forest since ancient times, in the name of Raseone, the 21st tree chief of the tree Elf tribe, I ask you to awaken from your slumber and protect our precious forest from those evil enemies.”

Raseone held the faintly glowing horn, which was kept in the shrine located a little away from the Elf village, and blew the horn with all his might while chanting a spell.

Then, a low, sacred resonance echoed throughout the forest, and after a while, the trees slowly began to move with small tremors here and there in the forest.

The ents, the guardians of the forest, had awakened from their long sleep.

“That’s it! Now we can protect the village.”

The number of ents that had awakened was truly enormous, but their movements were so slow that it would take some time to reach the Elf village, which was in crisis.

Still, Raseone was relieved and climbed onto the shoulder of a passing ent, setting off for the village with his reliable reinforcements to support Arteon.

At the same time, Reisian, who had arrived at the rangers’ encampment guarding the outskirts of the forest at tremendous speed, informed them of the danger to the village.

And together with them, he headed for the village.

Meanwhile, the rangers who had been contacted began to join one after another.

Their numbers were steadily increasing, now approaching almost 20,000.

“Our mission is to support Raseone-nim and the ents from behind. Kill every single intruder without leaving a single one alive!”

“Yes! Reisian-nim!”

Reisian finished speaking and headed for the village at top speed through the trees with 20,000 highly trained rangers.

As they were rushing towards the village, Elradion and the Elven Knights were riding on the Elven Knights and engaging in a bloody battle against the green Elf army along with other tribal Elves.

The fire Elves, facing the green Elf army, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, engaged in close combat using fire-based spirits.

A terrible scream and the smell of burning flesh vibrated from the green Elf who was stabbed by the rapier, which was reddened by elemental fire.

The water Elves chanted healing spells and were in charge of healing them.

Other tree Elves summoned tree roots to tie up the legs of the green Elves, and the wind Elves shot arrows from afar to annihilate them.

However, even though they were working together in such fantastic harmony, the number of green Elves was overwhelmingly large.

Moreover, their skills were by no means inferior to those of the Elves. Thus, the Elves were gradually surrounded and annihilated.

More than half of the Elven Knights, which were the Elves’ hidden card, had already been destroyed and were lying around as scrap metal.

By the damn strong, giant centipedes.