Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 39

Green Elves, as massive as Trolls, relentlessly swarmed the fallen Elven Knight, whose limbs had been severed by the giant centipede.

With each brutal swing of their axes, the fallen Elven Knight was gradually reduced to a mangled mess.

“No!”

One Elven Knight, desperate to save his comrade, charged into the fray, hacking at the Troll Elves who were relentlessly attacking.

However, surrounded by dozens of Troll Elves, the Elven Knight quickly became another victim to their massive axes.

The sight of the Elven Knights—their hope for victory in the coming race war, their very lifeblood—being so brutally destroyed filled the Elves’ eyes with despair.

In the dark night, the blue aura emanating from the giant Gigantes’ [A Gigantes is a large, humanoid war machine] sword was a magnificent sight.

Among them, Elladion’s aura blade exuded an overwhelming presence unmatched by the others’ aura swords.

Three giant centipedes blocked his path.

But Elladion’s aura blade sliced through the air with terrifying, invisible speed, cleaving the giant centipedes’ heads.

Before the Sword Master’s aura blade, even the mighty giant centipede was nothing more than a trivial creature.

Thus, the giant centipedes that stood in Elladion’s way lost their heads and crumbled one by one.

Hundreds of Elven mages and spiritists launched magical attacks at the enemies.

Numerous fireballs and explosion spells lit up the night sky, scorching the earth, while occasional lightning spells swept across the land, turning dozens of Green Elves to ash in an instant.

However, the number of Green Elves pouring out of the nearly 40 invasion routes dug into the ground far exceeded the number being killed, so their numbers didn’t seem to diminish much.

The mages fighting the giant centipedes were also not having much success.

The most skilled mages in the Elven village were battling the giant centipedes, but the centipedes’ shells were incredibly tough, making it impossible to inflict even minor wounds with ordinary magic.

Still, they diligently circled the centipedes using levitation, relentlessly casting their most powerful attack spells, refusing to give up.

Then, the giant centipede, nearly 40 meters in length, sprayed a potent acidic fluid at the annoying mages, and dozens of Elven mages, drenched in the acidic fluid, melted away without even a scream, plummeting to the ground.

Artheon, witnessing this, gritted her teeth and created three Burst Flares, her signature 7th circle fire magic, focusing her attack on the centipede’s head.

Of course, she could cast Hellfire, the ultimate offensive magic, which was incomparably more powerful than Burst Flare, but it took too long to cast and consumed an exorbitant amount of mana, so she couldn’t even consider using it.

She was the only one in the world, besides dragons, who knew how to use Hellfire, but it was not a spell that Elves or humans could easily wield.

So, instead of Hellfire, she created multiple Burst Flares of a lower circle at once, concentrating them on one spot to increase their destructive power.

Of course, even Burst Flare alone was enough to make her a court mage in any kingdom.

Seeing Artheon create three of them at once showed why she was called a 9th circle mage.

The Black Centipede, struck in the face by three Burst Flares at once, didn’t even have time to scream before its massive body collapsed to the ground.

The destructive power was so immense that its head was completely shattered.

Kuuuuuuuuung!

Acidic fluid gurgled out of the shattered head of the Black Centipede.

Artheon’s face was filled with despair as she looked at the monstrous creature that had died so tragically.

She had only stopped two of them, but there were roughly 100 giant centipedes rampaging through the Elven village.

Moreover, nearly 100,000 Green Elves were slaughtering innocent Elves.

The surviving Elves were fighting back against the Green Elves in groups of dozens, but even they were being annihilated one by one.

Now, all she could rely on were Laseon and Laceon’s rangers, who were bringing the guardians of the forest.

If they didn’t arrive in time, the Elven forest and village would disappear forever from the map of Arcandor.

‘Everyone… please, please hurry,’ Artheon prayed fervently in her heart, then gathered her magic again to create several Burst Flares.

Behind her, thousands of Elves, injured in the surprise attack, were groaning.

There were countless Elves whose lives were in danger if they weren’t treated immediately, but unfortunately, there was no mana to heal them.

The mages had to pour all their mana into attacking to stop the encroaching enemies.

“Everyone! We must hold them back until the reinforcements arrive!”

“Waaaaaaaah!”

At Artheon’s desperate cry, the mages roared in unison and began to squeeze out their magic once more.

Then, the various attack spells of thousands of Elven mages flew towards the enemies, and the Green Elves, startled by the tremendous firepower that was changing the shape of the earth, began to retreat out of range.

“Indeed, the level of the Elven mages is far superior to that of human mages. To have thousands of mages who can wield such high-level magic… At this rate, the damage to our children will be too great. When are the Dark Elves planning to move?”

“It is not yet time. The true power of the Elves will soon arrive. Our Dark Elf elite forces are waiting for that moment.”

He spoke of the Elves’ true power.

Green, who knew that power well, could no longer argue.

But her expression was distorted as she watched her children die.

It was then.

The forest began to stir, and something began to gather around the Elven village.

“They’ve come…”

Emerging from the forest were the guardians of the forest, the Ents [Ents are tree-like beings that protect the forest], who had maintained a symbiotic relationship with the Elves since ancient times, protecting the forest together.

The Ents, moving slowly as if the entire forest was moving, were no less massive than the Black Centipedes, but their numbers were incomparable.

Nearly a thousand Ents were swarming in.

The sight of the endless Ents was a majestic spectacle, and tears of hope streamed from Artheon’s eyes as she watched the scene.

“Artheon! As promised, we have awakened and brought the guardians of the forest.”

“Laseon, thank you so much for your hard work. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Where is Laceon?”

“Laceon is probably targeting the enemies in the forest right now.”

“Good. Let the counterattack begin!”

“Let’s show the invaders the spicy taste of the Elven forest!”

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

The Elves’ eyes, which had been filled with despair, were rekindled with hope, and with a mighty roar, the Elves, led by the Ents, slowly began to advance towards the Green Elves and giant centipedes.

Kooong!

Elladion, having laid two giant centipedes to rest on the ground, glared at the black Gigantes standing before him.

—No! That’s Hellenic! C, could it be?

The familiar Gigantes blocking his path was the Gigantes of someone Elladion knew well.

—It’s been a while, Elladion.

A heavy, amplified but familiar tone, a voice he thought he had forgotten.

It was the voice of Elladion’s old friend.

—Nemitz, is that you?

At the mention of Nemitz, the Elves fighting nearby began to murmur.

He was the only Elf who had conquered the continent as a swordsman long before they were born, and a heretic who had betrayed his race by becoming a Dark Elf.

Among the Elves, even mentioning his name was taboo.

The swordsmanship he created had also been buried.

It had already been 500 years since that happened.

After all that time, they were now facing each other.

In the suffocating silence, Nemitz in the black Gigantes and Elladion on the Elven Knight stood still, saying nothing.

Breaking the silence, the black Gigantes drew two daggers from within his black cloak.

Seeing Hellenic [Hellenic is a type of dagger], Elladion no longer doubted that he was Nemitz.

Wasn’t he the one who had conquered the vast continent with two daggers in the past?

—You came with the Green Elves, does that mean you’ve joined hands with them?

—Don’t ask me why.

—The fact that you’ve drawn your sword means you’re going to attack me, right?

Looking at his daggers, Nemitz slowly opened his mouth.

—All I can do for my old friend is to send him off without pain.

Nemitz’s Hellenic brandished the massive 2-meter daggers with dazzling skill.

—No matter how much you are the master of the ancient giant, you cannot defeat our ten Elven Knights.

—Don’t worry about that. Their playmates are here.

As Nemitz raised his hand, five more black Gigantes emerged from the trees in the forest.

They seemed to be Gigantes made by humans.

—Wouldn’t those Arc Shadows be a bit too much for those youngsters over there?

—Youngsters!

The Elven Knights, enraged, raised their massive swords.

—Stay calm! How can you call yourselves Elven Knights if you’re so easily provoked!

—S, sorry, Master.

—Nemitz, I don’t want to sacrifice innocent disciples. How about you and I settle this one-on-one?

—Aha ha ha ha!

At the word one-on-one, Nemitz laughed madly.

—My old friend, how do you see the situation right now? Do you think I’ve come before you because of past grudges? I’ve long forgotten such trivial matters. My only purpose here is to kill all the Elves who threaten the future of our Dark Elves and Green Elves, and to destroy the Gigantes. And yet, you’re saying such weak things, you’re still far from it.