Otaku Translation: Carrying the Bases of Starcraft C121

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Chapter 121: Earth Knight

The heart of the armory wasn’t in its assembly workshops, nor its laboratories or warehouses. Instead, it was a rather luxurious office building. Calling it an "office building," however, felt somewhat misleading. While that was its official designation, in reality, it served as a tranquil retreat for the factory's upper management—a place for leisure, entertainment, and rest.

Beyond offering amenities like gyms, theaters, and card rooms, the structure itself doubled as a fortified bunker and communications command center. For a military-backed enterprise like Makanda Armory, whose owners often hailed from the imperial nobility, even the smaller smelting and processing facilities scattered around the plant were controlled by other aristocrats or their cronies.

And then there was the swimming pool with its shimmering green waters, the lavishly decorated audio-visual lounge, and—most impressively—the building’s exterior, which was sheathed in thick layers of composite titanium armor. Ordinary firearms couldn’t scratch it, and even missiles, cannons, and railguns would take considerable time to breach its defenses.

As members of the privileged elite, these nobles took their personal safety very seriously. This “office building” boasted not only battleship-grade defenses but also anti-nuclear capabilities. Beneath the surface lay a shelter protected by several meters of blast-proof and radiation-resistant material, stocked with food, water, clothing, footwear, radios, defensive robots, and other essentials for survival and communication.

This explained why Montgomery had managed to hold out so long against the Sea Falcon Commandos’ siege—and why Stivie, Shunette, and the others were confident they could rescue him once they broke through the defenses.

When Stivie led Tang Fang and his companions to this location, Montgomery and a few senior advisors were still holed up in the underground refuge. After settling Tang Fang into a room to rest, Stivie took Grant, Shunette, and the others down via elevator to retrieve Montgomery.

Their victory in this battle owed everything to Tang Fang and his allies; without them, the Northern Sunaru Alliance would have likely been crushed by government forces. As the commanding officer, Montgomery needed to personally greet them—not just out of courtesy, but also to show respect and gratitude.

While waiting, Tang Fang grew restless. Leaving Arroz and Housen behind with a brief instruction, he stepped out of the lounge and began wandering the corridors of the “office building.” The guards stationed throughout saluted him respectfully as they caught sight of his powered armor. Unlike ordinary soldiers, these men belonged to the Garcia Resistance—a veteran unit hardened by countless battles. They had witnessed firsthand the devastating power of Arroz and Housen’s assault squads during the counterattack. Their reverence for strength and gratitude for being saved made them no different from any other rebel fighters. Even though none of them had met Tang Fang before, his presence in that iconic suit of armor earned their utmost respect.

In response to their salutes, Tang Fang offered each man a warm smile. It reminded him of his days in the military barracks, where soldiers looked at their superiors with fear and apathy, devoid of any genuine emotion. In the empire’s army, officers treated enlisted personnel like cattle destined for slaughter—you never knew when someone higher up might send you to your death.

As he strolled through the hallway, passing the data processing center, something on one of the monitors caught his eye. A rotating schematic of powered armor appeared on the screen—different enough from the empire’s Guardian Knight to pique his interest.

Tang Fang nodded toward the guard stationed outside and entered the room. Inside was a vast database containing records related to the armory’s development, operations, and production processes. The image he’d seen earlier stood out prominently among the displays lining the walls.

Stepping closer, he noticed a caption beneath the spinning 3D model: EK-305 Earth Knight Powered Armor.

"Earth Knight? How does it relate to the Guardian Knight? Could it be a new prototype developed by the empire?" Knowing that understanding his enemy was key to future victories, Tang Fang tapped a touch-sensitive hotspot on the display.

A classified document thousands of words long appeared before him, detailing the Earth Knight’s purpose, history, development progress, attack and defense specifications, and research reports on various derivative models. Everything was neatly categorized and presented in an easy-to-understand format.

It turned out the Earth Knight project had been initiated to counter the Charles Federation’s formidable Aiolos powered armor. On land-based battlefields—especially those dominated by mechanized infantry—the Monya Empire had consistently lagged behind its rival. This disparity stemmed largely from differences in the performance and characteristics of their respective powered armors.

To put things into perspective, let’s use a simplified analogy. If we divide human society’s mapping of the galaxy into hierarchical zones—from largest to smallest—we get star domains, major star regions, and standard star regions.

A single star domain typically contains tens of thousands of stellar systems, ranging anywhere from 20,000 to hundreds of thousands. Below that are major star regions (or simply “major zones”), even the smallest star domain subdividing into multiple such zones. Major zones usually encompass between 1,000 and 10,000 stars. Finally, standard star regions correspond roughly to provinces or autonomous states in ancient Earth terms, with anywhere from one to nearly a hundred stellar systems.

Think of star domains as continents, major star regions as countries within those continents, and standard star regions as administrative divisions within nations.

Within the Hirnbel Major Zone, shared by the Monya Empire, Sulru Empire, Charles Federation, and Turanics United Kingdom, the Aiolos powered armor ranked among the best in terms of mobility. By contrast, the Monya Empire’s Tuna Can (as derisively nicknamed) excelled primarily in defensive capabilities but fell far short in agility and speed. Time and again, the empire’s marines suffered heavy losses due to their inferior mobility when clashing with Charles Federation troops.

To address this strategic weakness, the empire’s top research institutions engaged in heated debates over countless proposals. Simply improving agility would require recalibrating the entire structure, components, and operating systems of the powered armor—an undertaking akin to designing an entirely new model. Reworking the technology tree, testing component performance, establishing new manufacturing protocols, evaluating experimental prototypes, optimizing results—all of this would take decades to bear fruit under normal circumstances.

With the war against the Charles Federation raging on, the empire lacked the luxury of time. After another round of deliberation, researchers proposed an alternative solution. Since enhancing the Guardian Knight’s agility proved impractical, they decided instead to double down on its strongest attribute: defense. Why chase after fleeting mobility when you can fortify yourself further?

After all, the Charles Federation’s strategy relied heavily on exploiting advantageous terrain, dividing enemies, encircling them, and engaging in fluid warfare. So the empire opted to embrace a strategy of total defensive entrenchment, relying on superior resilience to outlast opponents.

Thus, the Earth Knight project was born. From every available metric, this new model represented an upgraded version of the Guardian Knight. Minor adjustments were made to weight distribution, exoskeletal design, and communication systems, while the outer plating was significantly reinforced to enhance protection.

But the most revolutionary change came in the form of a storage compartment added to the back of the armor—a slot designed specifically for the Ulikemi Shield.

Named by its creator, Dr. Melson Dero, the Ulikemi Shield was a foldable tactical shield crafted primarily from lightweight, durable, and inexpensive carbon steel alloy. Its standout feature, however, was the layer of Element Zero coating applied to the front surface.

Humanity’s utilization of Element Zero remained in its infancy, resulting in low resource conversion rates and leaving behind crystalline residue during refinement. These remnants, combined with advanced polymer materials, formed the shield’s protective coating. When fused with the carbon steel alloy, the result was a dramatic boost in durability, heat resistance, corrosion resistance, and resilience against high-explosive impacts, kinetic shocks, and even nuclear radiation.

Cheap to produce yet highly effective, the Ulikemi Shield provided imperial soldiers with a novel combat system. By planting multiple shields into the ground, rear-line troops could create bunker-like defenses, standing firm against the swift assaults of Charles Federation soldiers.

According to test data, equipping an Earth Knight with a Ulikemi Shield increased its defensive capabilities exponentially. It could withstand sustained fire from 12.7mm heavy machine guns, requiring either large-caliber sniper rifles or heavy autocannons to inflict significant damage.

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