Future Knight

Chapter 143

“Hey! Are you okay? Hold on a second! I’ll heal you right away!”

Zikyon urgently cast healing magic on Kang Chan.

However, no matter how much healing magic she cast, it was useless.

Even her magic couldn’t stop the collapse of Kang Chan’s body.

The force tearing apart Kang Chan’s body was spinning ferociously, surpassing the healing speed of the Ancient-grade Dragon Zikyon.

“No! Don’t die! You can’t die!”

Kang Chan’s eyes had already turned white, as if he had lost his sight.

“Ah, I can’t see in front of me…”

The speed at which his body was breaking down from repeated rampages was incomparable to before.

When he first used the sixth stage, the collapse of his body was maintained for about 30 minutes. The second time, it lasted less than 15 minutes. Now, barely five minutes had passed, and he was on the verge of death.

Kang Chan’s hair rapidly turned white, falling onto his shoulders, and Zikyon held him, weeping.

“Don’t die! You can’t die!”

“My… my final strike. Be my eyes, Zikyon.”

“……”

The Zvezda ship’s attacks continued incessantly, and the blind Kang Chan was blocking the rays of destruction solely by feeling. Witnessing his desperate struggle, Zikyon steeled her heart.

“Okay, just a moment.”

Zikyon sent a magic communication to the Red Mars ship.

『Rekracion, can you hear me?』

『I hear you, Lord.』

『Execute the final plan. Prepare.』

『Lord…』

『No more talk, just do it!』

Raising her voice, something she rarely did among her kind, Zikyon’s firm determination was conveyed to Rekracion, who accepted her command.

『Understood. I will prepare.』

Although he didn’t know what they were preparing, Zikyon aimed Kang Chan’s head toward the enemy and spoke.

“The enemy is in the direction your head is pointing.”

“The distance?”

“About 3 kilometers.”

Upon hearing the distance, Kang Chan began a reckless charge toward the Zvezda ship.

One could infer that he didn’t have much time left from the urgency of his actions. Tears continuously flowed from Zikyon’s eyes as she realized this fact.

She had never shed tears for anyone else before.

Not even when her parents died. To her, a dragon, parents were nothing more than beings who had given birth to her.

But Kang Chan was different.

Kang Chan was the first person she had ever opened her heart to. His impending death made her understand the pain of having her heart ripped apart.

“How much distance is left?”

“One kilometer.”

“Now, escape to the Red Mars ship!”

“……”

Seeing Kang Chan breaking through the enemy’s continuous attacks and charging toward the Zvezda ship, Zikyon silently teleported away.

She had something else she needed to do.

As she disappeared, Kang Chan, without any hesitation, unleashed all his power and struck the barrier of the Zvezda ship.

『Kraaaaaa!』

Boom!

A tremendous impact struck the Zvezda ship, spreading far out into space.

It was as if a giant meteor had collided with it.

Unable to withstand such a massive shock, the Zvezda ship’s robust barrier was utterly destroyed.

A barrier that even an Ancient-grade Dragon’s breath couldn’t penetrate.

But that was it.

No further attacks followed. The Aura Fire that had formed in Kang Chan’s hands vanished in an instant.

That signified Kang Chan’s death.

Zikyon, watching his final moments, was in space.

She hadn’t gone to the Red Mars ship.

She quickly transformed into her dragon form.

Despite the extreme cold of minus 270 degrees Celsius in space, with no air or atmospheric pressure, even the greatest terrestrial life form, a dragon, would soon die.

But she didn’t care.

As she manifested as a dragon, thirteen beams of light shot toward Zikyon from the Red Mars ship.

The dragons of the Red Mars ship had come out into space and were breathing toward Zikyon.

This was the reason they had all boarded the Red Mars ship.

A linkage of power.

**The Last Power of the Dragon Tribe**

The breath they exhaled gathered in a massive magic circle that appeared behind Zikyon, condensing their breath and exploding out along with Zikyon’s own breath.

It was the Dragon Tribe’s power to consolidate all their strength through the sacrifice of one dragon.

Their combined power was said to rival that of a god, which was also the real reason the Demon King of the demon world had never conquered the earth.

The massive breath released through Zikyon’s body directly hit the Zvezda ship, its barrier already weakened by Kang Chan’s strike.

“No!”

Benziller, who had been watching from the bridge, screamed his final cry. But before he could finish, the bridge shattered and was engulfed in flames.

Zikyon’s breath had pierced through the Zvezda ship.

The 600-meter-long metallic mass of the Zvezda ship, unable to withstand the blow, began to crack like a spiderweb before ultimately exploding.

It was an unprecedented explosion.

The shockwave was so powerful that it shook the Red Mars ship, which was at a considerable distance.

“Kang Chan! Zikyon!”

“Zikyon…”

The dragons and Arteon wept as they witnessed the two heroes vanish in the explosion.

They watched the tragic end of the two heroes who had brought hope to all the races living on the continent.

Even after the Zvezda ship turned to cosmic dust and disappeared, a heavy silence lingered on the Red Mars ship.

No one dared to speak hastily.

In the face of the heroic sacrifice of the two heroes.

However, they couldn’t afford to sit and mourn.

They had to sweep away the remnants of the Earth invaders on the ground now that they had been driven out of space.

The battle with the Earthlings in space had been arduous, but the Continental Allied Forces fighting millions of enemies on the ground were equally struggling.

They had to act quickly.

“I will honor their will by dealing with the remaining enemies on the ground.”

“Our Dragon Tribe will spare no support.”

Rekracion, who became the next Lord of the Dragon Tribe after Zikyon’s demise, was burning with a desire for revenge, and his anger was directed at the Green Elves and the Dark Elves.

As the nearly half-destroyed Red Mars ship turned its bow and returned to Neo Earth, the silent space was left with only desolate scraps of metal, bearing the marks of the fierce battle.

As the battle in space was drawing to a close, the Continental Allied Forces on the ground were being gradually annihilated, surrounded by the Green Elves.

No matter how well-armed they were, they couldn’t withstand the overwhelming numbers of the Green Elves.

No matter how many they cut down, the enemies kept coming, and the leading knights, feeling their mana depleting, began to fall back. The musketeers and regular infantry positioned behind them were sinking into despair.

The Gigantes’ fight was no different.

Only 50 Gigantes remained.

Facing hundreds of thousands of Troll Elves and endlessly replenished mass-produced Gigantes, they were on the brink of annihilation. The aura on their swords was faint, and the depletion of mana had significantly weakened their power.

The exhausted soldiers.

At that moment, Green and Nemitz, who had been watching, appeared before them.

Accompanied by Naiad.

Green stood beside Nemitz, sneering at them.

She thought that if they eliminated those in front of them, there would be no force left to threaten their empire.

Even though Green had been forced to become their lackey, she thought it wasn’t so bad if she could exact her revenge on this world.

The extermination of the Four Great Tribes, her goal, was now within reach.

『Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves!』

In desperation, Elradian shouted, but Green, still smiling, retorted.

“What are you talking about?”

『You side with the alien invaders and hand over our precious homeland, aren’t you ashamed in front of your ancestors?』

“Where is our homeland? When have you ever acknowledged us as a race living on the same continent?”

『…….』

Elradian couldn’t answer Green’s words.

Just as she said, the Elves had never acknowledged their existence.

The Dark Elves had to live in damp, dark caves, and the Green Elves had taken root in the cursed land called Iceland, all because of them.

As Elradian fell silent like a mute who had eaten honey, Duke Sachsen stepped forward and spoke on his behalf.

『It’s not too late! Forget the grudges of the past and let’s join forces to drive out the alien invaders!』

Duke Sachsen didn’t expect those words to work, but he said them as a last-ditch effort.

But as expected, Green responded with a cold sneer.

“Huh, how ridiculous. You ask me to forget the grudges of the past? Do you know the pain your race inflicted on me, and you want me to just forget it? It’s easy for you to say that since it’s not your problem. You humans are selfish and hypocritical!”

Duke Sachsen’s insincere words only fueled her anger further.

Even if she were to forget all past grudges, the chip implanted in her brain by the Earthlings made any kind of alliance impossible from the start.

Green spoke in a dry, emotionless voice.

“Is that all you have to say? Then die now…”

As Green raised her hand to point at them, the Green Elves, who had paused their attack, resumed their assault.

But their attack had to stop again.

A warship pierced through the atmosphere and appeared in the sky.

Everyone’s gaze turned to the sky at that moment.

The returning warship would determine the outcome of this war.

Shortly after, the warship, which had been just a small dot, descended close to the ground.

The ship’s horrific, battle-damaged state was revealed to everyone.

And then, a cheer erupted from the mouths of the Continental Allied Forces.

Despite its dreadful damage, the returning warship was the Red Mars ship that Kang Chan had boarded.

As cheers from the allied forces echoed from all sides, Green and Nemitz’s faces turned ashen.

The Zvezda crew, who had been confident of overwhelming victory, had been defeated.

Although they were currently overwhelming the Continental Allied Forces, it was only a momentary victory.

The situation had effectively reversed.

Their despair didn’t stop there.

From within the horribly damaged warship, no less than thirteen massive dragons emerged.

The Green Elves, trembling before the sight of the dragon horde, shivered in fear.

When the new lord of the Dragon Tribe, the Red Dragon Rekracion, who had succeeded Zikyon, was about to launch an attack on them, Naiad stood in his way and spoke.

“This is troublesome, isn’t it? Have you forgotten the pact we made with you?”

The pact between the Spirit King and the Dragons.

It was to significantly reduce the number of the four dominant species of this world.

“Is their blood still not enough for you, Naiad?”

“As you can see, our plan is still ongoing, young dragon.”

Referring to Rekracion, who had lived for over 6,000 years, as a young dragon might seem contradictory.

But compared to Naiad, who had been with this star since ancient times, Rekracion was nothing more than a foolish young lizard.

Rekracion, fully aware of Naiad’s intent, controlled his anger and responded calmly, befitting the Lord of the Dragon Tribe.

“I’m sorry, but our pact ends here, Naiad. Look at those foolish and foolish creatures you created. They not only disturbed this land but also conspired with invaders from another world. To us dragons, they are nothing but the invaders’ lackeys. As the arbiters of this world, we dragons will not let them live.”

“……”

Naiad pondered Rekracion’s proposal for a moment.

Honestly, he too was very displeased with Green’s decision to collude with the alien forces from space.

Moreover, the environmental pollution they had caused to the Arkandor continent was beyond the Spirit King’s imagination.

Compared to them, the Four Great Tribes of the continent were nothing.

They had surpassed what the Four Great Tribes had polluted over thousands of years in just three years.