Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 50

“Sniff! Sniff! What’s that smell?”

I’d never encountered such a terrible stench, not even in the depths of the battlefield.

He slowly regained his senses, his eyelids fluttering open. The surroundings were instantly familiar.

It was the cockpit of the Red Rabbit.

“Huh? What happened? Why am I alive?”

Confused, he lifted his arm to examine it.

His hands were smooth and white, like polished jade. Gone were the calluses, once as hard as stone.

“What’s going on? Computer, explain.”

-I don’t know either.

Kang Chan was taken aback.

The bio-computer, usually so polite and helpful, had spoken in a strangely informal tone.

“Computer, why the sudden change in your tone?”

-It’s my business.

“…….”

Kang Chan was speechless at the computer’s bizarre response.

‘The computer’s gone haywire. What on earth is going on?’

With his mind reeling, Kang Chan decided to open the hatch and get some fresh air.

The Red Rabbit’s massive hatch slowly creaked open, bathing the cockpit in dazzling sunlight.

Kang Chan squinted against the glare.

“Is it morning already?”

The morning sun brought with it a wave of exhaustion, a reminder of the previous night’s relentless fighting.

The Elven Knight stood guard in front of the Red Rabbit.

It was battered and scarred, bearing the marks of intense combat.

Perched on the Elven Knight’s gauntlet, Eladion was deeply engrossed in mana cultivation [a technique to gather and refine magical energy].

“Master…….”

A wave of relief washed over Kang Chan at the sight of Eladion, unharmed.

Grado was also alive and well.

Eladion slowly opened his eyes, his gaze settling on Kang Chan.

“What have you been doing inside all this time? Huh?”

Eladion’s expression was a mixture of concern and something akin to disgust as he looked at his disciple, as if he’d witnessed something deeply unpleasant.

“What’s wrong, Master?”

“I was wondering why you hadn’t come out, but now I understand…….”

“What do you mean?”

“Yes, I understand your predicament.”

“Pardon?”

Kang Chan, completely lost, blinked at his master.

“I’ve heard that knights who find themselves in urgent need of relief during battle sometimes resort to using their Gigantes cockpit as a toilet. There’s no need to be embarrassed.”

“Ye… Yes?”

Kang Chan was utterly bewildered by his master’s sudden and strange pronouncements.

But the meaning became clear when he caught a whiff of the Red Rabbit’s foul-smelling cockpit.

“No, surely you don’t think I just… relieved myself in the cockpit, do you?”

“I told you, there’s no need for embarrassment.”

“That’s absolutely not true!”

Kang Chan’s denial was almost a scream. Eladion’s gaze dropped to Kang Chan’s lower body.

“Then why are you only wearing that black vest and no pants? Are you trying to flaunt your… assets to your master?”

“Huh! When did that happen?”

Realizing he was indeed without pants, Kang Chan quickly covered his privates and dove back into the Zaid’s cockpit.

Eladion watched Kang Chan’s frantic search for his missing trousers.

“Goodness… I wonder what he ate? The smell is atrocious.”

“Ah, really! I’m telling you, that’s not it!”

Kang Chan used the drinking water stored in Zaid to wipe down his soiled body and changed into a spare spacesuit.

Then, he sat down and began to cultivate his mana.

His mana pool was completely empty.

‘When did I use so much mana?’

Kang Chan, who had never depleted his mana reserves so thoroughly, was puzzled. He slowly inhaled, drawing mana through his mouth.

Kang Chan was startled.

His mana pool was ten times larger than before.

Kang Chan couldn’t believe it.

How could his mana capacity increase tenfold simply because he had lost consciousness and woken up?

He couldn’t understand it, but Kang Chan began to refill his mana pool.

The speed was also drastically different.

The rate at which he absorbed mana was more than ten times faster than before.

Kang Chan was momentarily stunned.

‘What on earth is going on? What’s happening to my body?’

He shook off his distracting thoughts [잡념 – japnyum, a Korean word for distracting thoughts] and focused on gathering mana at an astonishing rate.

Eladion, who was guarding him, was startled and his eyes widened.

‘No! When did his mana breathing become so fast?’

Eladion was astonished by the sheer force with which Kang Chan was absorbing mana. He was horrified to see a flower-shaped manifestation of mana blooming above Kang Chan’s head.

‘Huh! That, that is! A Mana Flower!’

It was a symbol of the Sword Master, a feat impossible to achieve without reaching that level of mastery.

It was a joyous occasion that his disciple had become a Sword Master. But this was far too soon.

It had been less than three years since he had begun learning swordsmanship.

‘How, how could this happen…….’

But he couldn’t deny the evidence before him.

His disciple had undeniably become a Sword Master.

After a while, Kang Chan opened his eyes, a flash of light illuminating his gaze.

It was a mysterious intensity that could only be seen in someone who possessed an immense amount of mana within their body.

Soon, that energy subsided, and Kang Chan’s eyes returned to normal.

His eyes were as clear and transparent as polished glass beads.

“Hoo…….”

Kang Chan, having completed his mana cultivation, rose from his seat and saw Eladion staring at him with a blank expression.

“Master, is something wrong?”

“When did you become a Sword Master?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. You are definitely a Sword Master.”

Kang Chan, who hadn’t yet fully grasped that he had become a Sword Master, was embarrassed by his master’s pronouncement.

But as he recalled the strange phenomena he had experienced during his mana cultivation, he began to suspect that he might have indeed reached that level.

* * *

Zaidane was searching for Laysian with the surviving elves.

After a desperate search of the forest, they finally found her.

But she was no longer among the living.

Her body was cold and lifeless, her limbs severed.

Looking at the devastation surrounding her, it was clear that she had fought a fierce battle before her death.

“Aaaagh! Lady Laysian! Lady Laysian!!”

The surviving elf rangers cradled her body and wept at her tragic fate.

Zaidane clenched his fist as he watched them.

He had come to help her, but he had failed in his mission.

It was a disgrace for a knight to fail to complete a given task.

As the elves mourned Laysian’s death, Yara, the one who had killed her, was desperately fleeing, leaving a trail of blood.

She had barely managed to kill Laysian, and she was far from unscathed. Arrows fired by Laysian were deeply embedded in her abdomen, shoulder, and thigh.

Although she had won the desperate battle, it was clear that she would soon meet her end if she continued in this state.

Dark elf assassins never cared for those who fell behind, so no one would come to her rescue.

She had to escape this place on her own, no matter what.

But fate was not on her side.

“Where do you think you’re going! You filthy dark elf!”

A surviving elf ranger blocked her path.

The elf ranger’s eyes burned with hatred, and Yara saw no hope in her own.

She didn’t have the strength to fight the elf ranger blocking her way.

“Keuheuheuk…… Is this the end for me? Glory to Blacklion.”

She willingly accepted her death.

Just as the elf ranger was about to draw his bow and kill her,

someone burst from the forest with tremendous force and severed the elf ranger’s neck.

Skeok!

The elf ranger’s head was separated from his body without even a scream.

Yara couldn’t believe her eyes.

She thought she was doomed, but suddenly someone had rescued her.

She, who had always been at the forefront of abandoning those who fell behind.

But she couldn’t relax.

The person who had saved her was not a dark elf.

The attire, with a deeply pressed hood, was the style favored by the elves in this region, and the sword he wielded was not the glaive or dagger used by the dark elves, but the saber of the elves.

The person who had saved her was surprisingly an elf.

Yara couldn’t understand this situation at all.

But one thing was clear: an elf had saved her.

Yara cautiously questioned the other person.

“What do you want from me?”

“I will help you. In return, I want you to help me.”

“How do you want me to help you?”

“I want you to take me to your world.”

“That’s absolutely impossible. Just kill me.”

“Why?”

“Hmph! Do you think I would readily reveal the location of our base to an elf?”

At Yara’s words, the elf sighed deeply and said.

“Hoo, an elf…… Keuheuheuk.”

He chuckled and removed his deeply pressed hood.

Surprisingly, he was not an elf.

He was a dark elf.

“Even now, shouldn’t I go there?”

“Are you a defector from the elves?”

The other person nodded, and Yara finally felt relieved and said.

“Congratulations on becoming a member of the same race.”

At Yara’s words, he smiled bitterly and said.

“Then can you guide me now?”

“Of course.”

With that, Yara leaned on him and began to flee towards Dark Drow, the city of the dark elves.

“There is a secret passage inside that cave that leads down to the underground invasion route.”

Yara staggered, dizzy from blood loss, so he laid her down in the cave.

Then, he took out a healing potion from his pocket and administered first aid.

Yara’s face flushed slightly as she looked at him.

The face of the dark elf man who was healing her was very handsome.

Moreover, the skill he had displayed when he killed the elf ranger was also remarkable.

Yara felt a strong attraction to him.

“My name is Yara. What’s your name?”

When she asked his name, he hesitated for a moment and opened his mouth.

“Keremion, Paiainen Mute Keremion.”