Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 69

퓨쳐나이트 69화

‘Father, I will do my best until the end!’

Loki gritted his teeth, determined to be a son who wouldn’t shame his father, and fought against Kang Chan’s offensive with all his might.

Soon, Loki’s eyes burned red.

It was the unique power of the Ogre, where strength and speed increased several times when excited.

As Loki swung his massive hoe at the charging Kang Chan, an enormous energy erupted, tearing through the vegetable garden and leaving a trail of destruction spanning dozens of meters.

Kugugugugung!

“Kuh!”

Kang Chan didn’t even think about taking the Ogre’s absurd attack head-on. He quickly dodged and lunged towards the Ogre’s feet.

His aim was to attack the Achilles’ tendon and immobilize him.

However, it was a misjudgment on Kang Chan’s part.

The Ogre’s speed, which he thought would be slower than his due to his massive size, was beyond imagination.

Kang Chan was sure he had cut the Achilles’ tendon.

But the Ogre had vanished in an instant, and Kang Chan’s aura blade merely sliced through the air.

The Ogre was a monster whose movements were on a completely different level from those of other large monsters.

It possessed agility that even a Sword Expert-level knight couldn’t keep up with.

With such an Ogre’s physique, Loki’s speed, controlling mana, was like a fierce wind.

Whoosh!

Loki, who had leaped into the air in an instant to avoid Kang Chan’s attack, aimed to split Kang Chan in two as if chopping firewood while floating in the air.

Despite being a simple and crude attack due to his size, the power behind it was astonishing.

Kuuuuuuuuung!

The earth shook as if there had been an earthquake, and a pit several meters deep was carved where Kang Chan had been standing.

However, Kang Chan barely managed to evade Loki’s crude attack and flew into the air, aiming for Loki’s face in a surprise attack.

But even that sudden attack merely cut through the air again due to the Ogre’s agility.

“This is a cheat!”

With a massive body approaching 5 meters moving at unbelievable speed, Kang Chan couldn’t help but think it was a cheat.

A Sword Master like himself being toyed with by an Ogre who was only a Sword Expert.

Kang Chan’s pride was hurt.

-Shall I help you?

“……”

To make matters worse, the biocomputer, which had started using a presumptuous tone at some point, offered to help as if doing him a favor, further twisting Kang Chan’s expression.

But before he could argue, the Ogre’s formidable attacks rained down on Kang Chan relentlessly, and in desperation, Kang Chan had no choice but to accept the presumptuous computer’s offer.

“Hurry up and help me!”

-Enemy threat level: Top tier.

-Battle Mode Stage 5 activated.

-Suit power: Maximum.

-Commencing battle.

“What? C-Crazy, Stage 5?!”

It was the first time he had used Battle Mode since becoming a Sword Master.

Yet, it had activated Stage 5 on its own accord.

He never used Stage 5 unless it was a truly critical situation because he had to experience hellish pain after using it, but the biocomputer started with Stage 5 as if telling him to go screw himself.

As Kang Chan’s metabolism began to accelerate, the mana within his body also began to seethe as if it would explode.

Then, Kang Chan’s eyes began to turn red, just like the Ogre’s.

“Kuaaaaaak! You crazy computer, you son of a bitch!”

Kang Chan involuntarily roared with a force filled with power in the face of the surging power within his body, causing Loki, who had been relentlessly attacking, to flinch and step back.

Kang Chan’s shout was so loud that it made Loki, whose hearing was dozens of times better than a human’s, feel dizzy.

It was at that moment that an aura blade that was incomparable to the previous one erupted from Kang Chan’s hands.

‘Krrrk! Huk! I-Impossible!’

Loki screamed inwardly.

Because a giant aura blade, as large as the aura sword he had unleashed, erupted from the hands of a human who barely reached his knees.

It was so large that it was almost embarrassing to call it an aura blade.

It wasn’t just Loki who was surprised by the sight.

Jikyon and Elrika, who were watching from behind, were just as astonished as Loki.

“Huk! Such a massive aura blade!”

The aura blade that erupted from Kang Chan’s hand was so large that even Jikyon, who had lived for thousands of years, had never seen anything like it. Usually, the aura blades emitted by those called Sword Masters were almost the same length as the sword, or at most 1 meter longer, but the aura blade that Kang Chan was emitting now was a whopping 2 meters long.

And that was with both hands.

“I knew he had become a Sword Master, but I didn’t know it would be to this extent……”

Jikyon shook his head in disbelief.

Looking at his friend, who had grown so unbelievably.

Elrika was also speechless at Kang Chan’s appearance.

It had only been ten days since he had surprised her by emitting an aura sword, but now it was an aura blade, the power of a Sword Master…… It was an unbelievable sight.

Elrika’s eyes were now filled with awe, surpassing mere surprise.

But they didn’t know yet. That this wasn’t the end of Kang Chan’s hidden abilities.

‘Huk, such a massive aura blade! Even Father’s aura blade wasn’t even half that size……’

Loki’s eyes, looking at the massive aura blade that couldn’t even be compared to the aura blade his father had emitted in the past, were filled with disbelief.

And despair.

‘Father…… You said there wouldn’t be a human stronger than Father in this world. But what is that guy?’

Of course. At the time, Garman was definitely the absolute being among humans.

To the point where there was no comparison.

But Garman, who had suddenly become a windbag thanks to Kang Chan, might be wailing in heaven.

‘Oh well! I don’t care! All or nothing!’

Loki, who had already given up on living, gritted his teeth and struck down on Kang Chan with all his might.

Loki’s massive hoe emitted an even thicker and more enormous aura than before. Its momentum was as if it would collapse even Mount Tai.

Kwaaaaaang!

A massive impact that shook the earth struck the vegetable garden.

Due to the impact, the large pumpkins that were nearby exploded simultaneously.

It was Loki who should have been heartbroken at the sight of his precious crops being destroyed.

But Loki had no time to care about that.

Because of the unbelievable divine power of the human.

“Kuh……!”

The human no longer dodged his attack.

He lightly blocked the hoe, which he had struck down with all his might, by crossing the aura blades in both hands.

A human who barely reached his knees, no less.

Although he was buried in the ground up to his ankles, his expression was full of composure.

“Hap!”

As Kang Chan put strength into the crossed aura blades, Loki’s aura scattered and the hoe was cut off.

In the first place, Loki was able to withstand the human’s aura blade purely because of the Ogre’s strength and the enormous size of the aura sword.

Without that, it would be absolutely impossible to counter an aura blade with an aura sword.

Because an aura blade can cut through a sword clad in aura. However, that also depends on the aura sword; if it’s Loki’s massive aura sword, which is 3 meters long, even an aura blade wouldn’t be able to easily handle it.

But now that advantage had disappeared.

The opponent’s strength and the size of the aura blade had surpassed Loki, the Ogre.

Loki, holding the severed hoe, took a step back and quietly watched the human.

Loki’s life, having lost his weapon to fight, was now in the hands of the human. But Loki didn’t want to beg for his life in a pathetic way.

No matter what anyone said, he was Kalitz Loki, the son of Kalitz Garman, the greatest swordsman on the continent.

Having destroyed his weapon, Kang Chan could easily end the Ogre’s life in front of him with a single move.

However, Kang Chan paused his attack at the Ogre’s strange attitude.

“What is this guy?”

Kang Chan’s mind was full of questions.

The Ogre was not only using aura swords with very sophisticated advanced swordsmanship, but also retreating as if acknowledging his defeat and waiting for the opponent’s disposal.

If it were a ferocious monster that ate humans, it would either continue to attack with malice even after losing its weapon, or be terrified and run away.

If that were the case, Kang Chan would have cut him down without hesitation.

But the Ogre in front of him didn’t.

Rather, the defeated Ogre’s appearance was like that of a proud knight.

“……”

While Kang Chan was unable to do anything, human words suddenly came out of the Ogre’s mouth.

“Krrrk, I lost, human.”

Kang Chan was momentarily taken aback by the Ogre’s admission of defeat. But he didn’t actually know if Ogres could speak like humans, so he thought of the Ogre in front of him as a case like Urukanta.

However, Jikyon and Elrika were different.

Especially Jikyon’s surprise was even greater.

“O-O-Ogres can talk!”

Jikyon, who had rushed to Kang Chan’s side in one step, looked at the talking Ogre in front of him with curious eyes and asked.

“Did you just speak?”

When Loki nodded silently, Jikyon was momentarily lost for words. An Ogre who could understand and speak human language was a strange sight that even Jikyon was seeing for the first time.

“Ha, hahaha…… In the world, Ogres can speak human language.”

In fact, for a dragon of Jikyon’s caliber, it wouldn’t be difficult to give Ogres intelligence.

But that was clearly a type of chimera, and such Ogres had to live as servants of the dragon.

There was no way Jikyon wouldn’t recognize such a chimera-like Ogre.

But the Ogre in front of him was different.

This blue Ogre was a real wild Ogre.

A wild Ogre who could control mana and speak on his own.

This Ogre was truly a tremendous historical discovery. It itself had tremendous ecological and biological value.

Jikyon was eager to have the Ogre in front of him.

An Ogre who could even speak like a human and was well-versed in swordsmanship was enough to make his mouth water. Loki opened his mouth at Jikyon’s sticky gaze.

“Kurrrk…… Kill me.”

Kang Chan silently looked up at the Ogre.

The moment he made eye contact with the Ogre, Kang Chan somehow felt that this Ogre wouldn’t commit senseless slaughter.

The eyes of someone who has killed a person and the eyes of someone who hasn’t.

The difference was something that only those who had killed a person could know.

“Why are you here?”

“Kurrk…… This is my home.”

“Wh-What? This is where you live?”

Kang Chan, Jikyon, and Elrika were momentarily lost for words.

They had attacked the Ogre thinking that the Ogre had attacked the village, but in reality, they were about to invade someone else’s home and kill the homeowner, making them completely off track.

“Krrrk, kill me quickly, hunter.”

“Hunter?”

“It seems he considers us hunters.”

As Jikyon shrugged his shoulders and said, Kang Chan looked at the Ogre with a troubled expression.

His expression clearly showed that he was having a hard time figuring out how to talk.

“……”

“Krrk, isn’t what you want my skin and blood? Kill me quickly and skin me.”

Kang Chan felt even more sorry for the Ogre, who was waiting for death in resignation.

“We don’t want to kill you.”

“Krrr! What does that mean?”

“We are not hunters.”

“Krrrk! Don’t lie.”

“Believe me. We just thought you were a wild Ogre who had invaded a human village.”

“Krrrk, this is my cultivated vegetable garden. There are no humans.”

“We misunderstood. I’m sorry.”

Loki, whose life and death were in the hands of the other party, calmed his excited heart for a moment.

And after taking a few deep breaths, he opened his mouth.

“Kurrk, so you’re not going to kill me?”

“Yes, and I apologize again.”

“Krrr……”

Loki’s expression, having regained the life he had given up on, seemed to feel a sense of joy for some reason.

“My name is Kang Chan. Do you have a name?”

“Kurrk, Kalitz Loki.”

“Loki…… You were mastering great swordsmanship, who did you learn from?”

“Krrrk, I learned from the father who raised me.”

“Is your father also an Ogre?”

“Kurrk, no. My father was a human like you. He raised me, who had become an orphan.”

“Then did you learn human language from him too?”

“Kurrk, yes.”

“Then where is he?”

“Krrrk, my father has passed away.”

Loki pointed to a large tomb made of stacked stones.