Future Knight

Chapter 55

“It’s truly a terrifying monster.”

“Yes, the attacks of the thousands of Ents were useless against its hard shell.”

At Arteon’s dismal words, the dwarves were left speechless, deep in thought.

Just as they fell silent, Kang Chan entered through the conference room door.

“You called for me?”

“Come, sit over here.”

When Kang Chan sat in the seat offered by the Dwarf King, Elradian introduced him to the unfamiliar dwarves.

“Let me formally introduce him. This is my disciple, Kang Chan.”

“What?”

“Disciple?”

The conference room turned into an uproar at Elradian’s bombshell announcement.

Not only did the dwarves stare in disbelief, but Arteon was especially astonished beyond words.

Never before had they seen a proud and arrogant elf accept a mere human as a disciple.

Of course, Kang Chan himself couldn’t keep his mouth shut as he looked at Elradian.

“Master, that was supposed to be a secret…”

“I’ve decided not to hide it any longer.”

“But…”

Elradian raised his hand to cut off Kang Chan’s words and bowed his head to Arteon, offering a sincere apology.

“I remember discussing this with you before, Arteon.”

“Yes, I remember. But at that time, I clearly…”

“Yes, you clearly said it was not allowed. However, after that, I made a personal judgment and broke the law to accept him as my disciple. I deeply apologize for that, Arteon.”

“No, Elradian. In hindsight, I think your judgment was correct. However, it’s still a bit surprising.”

Looking at Arteon, who was smiling at him, Kang Chan couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

Elradian, who had always insisted on keeping this a secret, had made such a shocking revelation in front of everyone.

“I apologize for deceiving you all this time.”

“I had sensed mana from Kang Chan and wondered if Lady Zikyon had granted it to him. But to think he mastered the Elves’ swordsmanship and accumulated such mana, how incredible. How did he achieve this so quickly…”

“The swordsmanship I learned is not the Elves’ but the celestial… umph!”

Kang Chan, thinking there was no point in hiding anything now that his master had revealed their secret, tried to reveal the name of his swordsmanship without hesitation.

But Elradian hurriedly covered his mouth.

‘That, that must remain a secret!’

Arteon’s eyebrows twitched at Elradian’s strange behavior.

“The celestial? So what you learned is not the Elves’ swordsmanship?”

“No, well, I’ve been developing a new swordsmanship recently, and I taught it to him. The name is still a secret, haha.”

“Is that so? Then that’s a relief. I was worried it might be the Thunder and Lightning Dual Swordsmanship.”

“No way! As an elf with my own swordsmanship, would I teach someone else’s swordsmanship to my disciple? Haha!”

Arteon, still suspicious, scrutinized Elradian but reluctantly nodded, finding the explanation plausible.

No master would teach someone else’s swordsmanship to their own disciple.

“Now, please stop making such a fuss and take your seat.”

“Ah, yes!”

Elradian, blushing at Arteon’s words, sat down and mouthed to Kang Chan, ‘You’re dead,’ which made Kang Chan turn pale.

In the ensuing commotion, Cracksion solemnly opened his mouth, drawing everyone’s attention.

“…I heard that Lady Zikyon infused him with mana. Could it be that Zikyon is the ‘G. Zikyon’ I know?”

His anxious question made Kang Chan answer without hesitation.

“Yes, she’s my friend.”

“Gasp!”

“Eek!”

“Screech!”

“Gasp!”

“Argh!”

“Ack! Ptooey!”

Suddenly, Cracksion and the five elders simultaneously reacted, shuddering.

One dwarf even spat on the floor.

One of the elders, backing away, asked in a trembling voice.

“A- a friend? S- so, does that mean y- you’re also a d-d-d-dragon?”

Kang Chan, bewildered by the dwarves’ extreme reactions, was at a loss, and Arteon hurriedly stepped in to calm them.

“No, Kang Chan is not a dragon. He is definitely human. He just became true friends with Lady Zikyon.”

“Became true friends?”

“How is that possible?”

“…”

Arteon’s words only poured fuel on the fire, intensifying their reactions.

“If you are friends with that devil, does that make you a devil too?”

Cracksion trembled like a leaf in fear.

Unable to bear it, Kang Chan burst out in anger.

“Devil? Isn’t that too much? Apologize. He may be a freeloading good-for-nothing, but he’s my friend.”

“Apologize? For what that devil did to us! Umph!”

As Cracksion tried to reveal Zikyon’s past deeds, Arteon swiftly covered his mouth.

“Umph! Uumph?!”

“Ah, hahaha… Cracksion, please wait.”

Kang Chan and Elradian watched a scene very similar to the one they had caused earlier, and Arteon hurriedly led Cracksion and the five elders out of the conference room.

“Why did they suddenly act like that?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen Arteon so flustered in a long time.”

While Kang Chan and Elradian were left wondering, Arteon took Cracksion and the five elders out for a stern talking-to.

* * *

Around that time, Zikyon had hurriedly ended the tedious meeting with her kind and teleported back to the Red Mars ship to meet Kang Chan.

But Kang Chan, the friend she so wanted to see, was nowhere to be found, and only two letters remained in his room.

One was addressed to his beloved Jaina, and the other was for Zikyon.

Upon finding the letters, Zikyon felt a sudden unease.

“Could he have left?”

Since he had written a letter to Jaina, it didn’t seem like they had eloped.

He might have returned to the otherworld where he originally lived.

Desperate, Zikyon hastily opened the letter addressed to her.

As she hurriedly read the letter, her eyes widened in surprise.

The letter spoke of the Green Elves allying with the Dark Elves to launch a dawn raid, the destruction of the Elves’ village, and the death of his beloved Jaina at their hands. It ended with a plea for forgiveness as he left to seek revenge for her.

Zikyon sighed in relief after reading the letter.

“Phew…”

Contrary to her fears, Kang Chan had not returned to the otherworld.

So, it wasn’t time to conclude her game just yet.

She possessed the ability to follow Kang Chan to the ends of this world.

To follow his trail, she teleported to the Elves’ village.

Upon arriving, she was once again shocked.

“Oh, how could this happen!”

An unbelievable sight spread before her eyes.

A forest, destroyed as far as the eye could see, filled her vision, and the Elves’ village, which should have been at her feet, had turned to ashes, leaving no trace.

Zikyon was momentarily dumbfounded by the desolate landscape.

“How dare they… do this to my territory!”

The scene before her eyes was horrifying, even for a dragon.

A deep-seated fury welled up from within Zikyon.

“With what power… do they dare defile the territory of G. Zikyon!”

Her eyes glinted with a deadly aura as she hovered in the air, scanning the area.

She then saw another astonishing sight.

A vast area, hundreds of meters wide, where the ground and rocks had melted from intense heat, turning into glass.

Only the Red Clan or the Fire Spirit King, Phoenix, could do such a thing.

But the Red Clan wouldn’t do this.

No one would dare spew a breath in her territory without permission.

That left Phoenix as the only suspect.

“The leader of the Green Elves is said to have contracted with one of the Four Spirit Kings. Yes, Phoenix could do this to my forest.”

Overcome with immense rage, Zikyon wanted to punish the Green Elves immediately.

But she couldn’t.

In the recent dragon council, the dragons had decided to turn a blind eye to their actions.

That’s why they had gathered—to decide on that matter.

The dragons agreed to reduce the overwhelming numbers of humans and orcs.

It wasn’t just their decision.

There was a heartfelt plea from the Spirit Kings, who had long maintained a close relationship with the dragons.

Humanity’s reckless misuse of mana was disrupting the natural order.

Thus, the dragons decided to remain neutral, adding their opinion to the Spirit Kings’ request.

Given these circumstances, as the lord, Zikyon couldn’t go back on their decision and attack them.

“Damn it…”

Zikyon felt like her head was going to explode from the anger.

She couldn’t break her promise as the dragon lord.

However, she couldn’t easily forgive the act of destroying her territory and taking her precious friend at the end of her life.

“Damn… I’ll see about that.”

Zikyon decided to swallow her anger and wait for the right moment.

For now, finding Kang Chan was the priority.

Zikyon started scanning the entire Elves’ forest with her View Mana Force to locate any living beings with mana.

Kang Chan and the Elves had mana, so she thought it would be quicker to find them that way.

Scanning the vast Elves’ forest, spanning hundreds of kilometers, was something only an Ancient-grade Dragon like her could do.

In

her wide-ranging View Mana Force, several beings with mana were detected.

Zikyon teleported to them without hesitation.

Before her eyes appeared several elves.

They seemed to be magicians.

Aside from them, there were also hundreds of dwarves with no mana, using heavy machinery to transport the remains of a gigantic Gigantes.

Zikyon slowly looked around.

All around were the scattered remains of Gigantes.

It seemed they were collecting the debris of the destroyed Gigantes.

The remains of the Gigantes were filled with valuable materials, even Zikyon would covet them.

Zikyon approached those busy collecting the Gigantes’ remains to ask about Kang Chan’s whereabouts.

But then, she noticed hundreds of other beings.

Unlike those working hard, these beings were quietly crouching.

They were probably assassins waiting for the elves collecting the Gigantes’ remains.

They hid under an Invisibility Magic Circle, waiting silently.

Moreover, to deceive the magicians, they had meticulously set up a Hide Mana Force magic circle.

But that wasn’t enough to deceive a dragon like Zikyon.

Her eyes gleamed with a deadly light.

“I see… You’re caught.”

The hidden Green Elf soldiers slowly drew their swords.

“No more reinforcements. Currently, we have a total of ten magicians and 135 dwarf warriors.”

“The archers and magicians will ambush the elf magicians, and the rest will follow me to attack the dwarves.”

“Yes, sir.”

They carefully exited the Hide Mana Force magic circle and cautiously approached the elves and dwarves.

When they were within sufficient attack range, the order was given to the archers.