Future Knight

Chapter 51 The Choice of the Survivors

The hellish night passed, and today, the sun shone on the earth without fail.

Then, the horrific scenes of the previous night were starkly revealed before the survivors.

The once lush forest of the Elves had transformed into a barren land stretching for tens of kilometers.

The once abundant forest trees were reduced to bare stumps, and countless corpses lay scattered everywhere.

Most of them were victims caught in the missile bombardment by the Red Mars ship.

The missiles not only took countless lives but also changed the very landscape of the area.

The once beautiful Elf village had disappeared without a trace.

Of the 50,000 Elves who had gathered here, barely 3,000 survived.

The surviving Elves gathered in the desolate clearing where their village once stood, weeping bitterly.

Their eyes, having lost their families and homes, were devoid of hope.

At the center of them were Arteon and Elradian.

Of the five elders, only the two of them survived.

“You’re safe, Elradian.”

Arteon welcomed Elradian with tears of relief upon seeing him alive.

“I’m sorry, Arteon. I couldn’t protect the village and Gigantes.”

Elradian, who had held back tears even at the death of his disciples, now wept uncontrollably.

“No, it’s enough that you survived and returned.”

As Arteon and Elradian wept, the Elves gathered in the square began to wail loudly.

Kang Chan also collapsed to the ground in despair over Jaina’s death, crying as if he had lost everything in the world.

As if the sky was crying with them, a light drizzle began to fall on the devastated forest.

* * *

The Elves, having tended to the wounded, were extremely fearful of the Dark Elves who might attack again that evening.

They had no confidence in fending them off with their remaining forces.

Kang Chan suggested to these fearful Elves that they should go to his spaceship.

There was a barrier created by Zikyon on the ship, and he thought they would be safe hiding there.

Arteon and Elradian agreed with his suggestion, and the Elves began to move towards the distant Red Mars ship.

Since they had to guide the injured, it took nearly half a day to reach their destination.

The Elves, upon arriving at the Red Mars ship, lay down their exhausted bodies within the barrier.

Meanwhile, Edelene and Jaizen were astonished by the grandeur of the massive Red Mars ship.

As time passed and the sun began to set, an Elf standing guard shouted loudly.

“Lady Arteon! A massive army is approaching from the east!”

Hearing the sentinel’s words, Arteon and Elradian quickly climbed onto the Red Mars ship and looked at the approaching army.

Being Elves, they had excellent vision and could see far distances without telescopes.

In their sight, they saw a massive number of soldiers crossing the devastated forest.

The number of them seemed to be in the tens of thousands.

The appearance of this large group caused a moment of unrest among the Elves, but when Arteon identified them, her anxious heart settled.

They were the Dwarves, their allies.

The Dwarven king, Gafeld von Cracksion, had personally led elite troops to support the Elves.

The heavily armored Dwarven infantry and barbarians wielding enormous battle axes marched towards the former Elf village with formidable presence.

However, their arrival was already too late.

Cracksion shook his head in disbelief as he looked at the barren surroundings.

“My God, how could this happen…?”

The once abundant Elven forest had vanished without a trace, replaced by an endlessly desolate land stretching to the horizon.

The air was thick with the smell of burnt corpses, causing the sensitive-nosed Dwarves to grimace.

“What on earth happened overnight to turn the lush Elven forest and village into such a horrific scene?”

Having fought in numerous battlefields, Cracksion had never seen such widespread devastation occur overnight.

The scene before him resembled a battlefield that had been ravaged by years of relentless war.

“The power of the Green Elves… is this formidable…”

A magic circle appeared before the Dwarven king, causing Arteon to materialize.

Upon seeing Arteon, Cracksion breathed a sigh of relief and greeted her warmly.

“Oh! Arteon! You’re alive. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. But the forest and the children…”

A single tear fell from Arteon’s eye.

Cracksion felt nothing but guilt as he watched her quickly hide her tears.

“If only I had come a bit sooner…”

“No, Cracksion. We’re truly grateful that you came at all. You must be exhausted from the journey, but I’m afraid we have nothing to offer in hospitality.”

Lifting her head to show her gratitude, Cracksion helped Arteon up and spoke.

“What are you saying? We are comrades on the same ship! Of course, I had to come! Let’s hurry and go to our underground kingdom, Mine Kingdom. This place is too dangerous.”

Arteon expressed her deep gratitude once more for Cracksion’s words.

“We Elves will never forget this kindness.”

In the past, Elves and Dwarves did not have a very good relationship.

The Dwarves’ obsessive greed for mines often clashed with the Elves, who possessed vast forests rich in resources.

However, facing a common enemy brought them closer together as they began to help each other.

Everyone hurried to treat the wounded and prepare for their departure to the Dwarven kingdom of Mine Kingdom.

Even with the portal connected to the Elves’ forest, it would still take a day of walking to reach the Dwarven kingdom, so the Elves busily searched for food, water, and means to transport the injured.

Kang Chan, leaning against Zaid, simply watched them.

His eyes, full of indescribable sorrow, stared blankly at the others, as if he were a man whose screws had come loose.

His heart felt as empty as the desolate, burned Elven forest.

A vast emptiness swept over him, as if there was a huge hole in his chest.

He looked up at the sky with tears in his eyes.

“Jaina… What should I do? I can’t live alone without you… What should I do now?”

As he cried in sorrow, Erica watched him from afar with a long sigh.

Seeing him weep over Jaina’s death was heartbreaking for her.

Though she had vaguely guessed they were more than just close friends, she learned today that they were truly in love.

Watching Kang Chan suffer, Erica wanted to be by his side to comfort him.

‘Oh… what am I thinking…’

Even just thinking about it made Erica’s heart race uncontrollably.

But she wasn’t the only one watching him with a lost expression; there was also Edelene, the princess of the Visman Empire.

‘How can he be so beautiful…’

“Princess, we’re ready to depart. Princess?”

Jaizen, carrying a large bundle of provisions needed for the journey, spoke to the princess. But the captivated princess, absorbed in watching Kang Chan cry, didn’t respond to Jaizen’s words.

“Princess? Princess!”

Startled by Jaizen’s raised voice, Edelene turned her head in surprise.

“Why, why are you shouting all of a sudden?”

Jaizen sighed as he looked at the angry Edelene.

“Princess, what are you staring at so intently? Were you watching Sir Kang Chan sitting over there?”

“How dare you! I was just thinking about how to report this incident to my father!”

Still in her nightgown with soot all over her face, Edelene.

She was so flustered that her earlobes turned red, yet she still tried to maintain her dignity, cooling her face with a broken fan.

Jaizen, watching her silently, thought for the first time that she looked cute.

Jaizen slowly turned his gaze from her to Kang Chan.

Behind Kang Chan stood the enormous Gigantes, overwhelming in its presence.

‘Amazing swordsmanship, a close relationship with the Dragon, the ability to force the Spirit King into retreat with one strike. Plus, the Green Witch said those terrifying fire arrows that created this hellish scene were his doing… What is your true identity?’

Putting his curiosity aside, Jaizen hurried to prepare for departure to Bellaren.

The Dark Elves would likely attack again by nightfall.

They needed to leave this place as quickly as possible before sunset.

As Jaizen turned to leave for the journey, Elradian, Arteon, and the Dwarven King Cracksion approached Kang Chan together.

The fact that the three busiest people in the evacuation had come to see him at the same time suggested it was something very important.

Kang Chan quickly wiped his tears with his sleeve and greeted them.

“You all must be very busy. What brings you to me?”

“Oh, it’s just that Lord Cracksion said he wanted to collect the destroyed Gigantes to begin reconstruction. He wants to take your broken Gigantes and repair it as well. That’s why we’re here to ask for your permission.”

They were undoubtedly referring to Red Rabbit.

However, even if they took Red Rabbit, the chances of repairing it were zero.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t repair it.”

When Kang Chan bluntly refused, Cracksion, standing behind Arteon, jumped forward and grabbed Kang Chan’s hand.

He spoke earnestly.

“You, young man!”

Kang Chan flinched as the large, hairy dwarf with calloused hands suddenly grabbed his hand.

The moment he saw the dwarf’s face, Kang Chan felt an unbearable sense of revulsion.

Cracksion’s cheeks were flushed like peaches.

His eyes shone like a calm lake.

“What are you doing?”

“Please, let me try to repair this Gigantes. Hmm? Hmm?”

As the extremely repulsive face kept approaching, Kang Chan began to feel annoyed.

“This is not a Gigantes! If you touch it carelessly, it will be disastrous.”

Kang Chan doubted if they could even disassemble Zaid, a marvel of modern science, but if they recklessly opened Zaid’s body, uncontrollable events could unfold.

If they mishandled Zaid’s power source, a small nuclear fusion reactor, their kingdom could become a land of death from the leaking radiation.

If Helium-3 were to trigger a chain reaction, their kingdom would vanish from the map forever.

“In my entire life, I have never seen such a beautiful machine. I swear on the name of the Dwarves that I will not touch the body! So please, allow me to repair at least the severed arm.”

With Cracksion’s repeated earnest requests, Kang Chan hesitated.

Zaid’s damaged right hand could no longer be used.

But he couldn’t just leave it as it was.

In any case, repairs were definitely needed.

However, Kang Chan also did not have the confidence to repair it.

After all, he was a soldier, not an engineer.

As Kang Chan was contemplating, something flashed through his mind.

The reason he struggled against that ridiculously strong black Gigantes.

Unlike his Zaid, that Gigantes could use Aura Blade.

Not only that, but even the master who piloted the Elven Knight could use mana.

The Gigantes could manipulate mana just like its pilot.