Chapter 46:

Chapter 46:

Karl appeared again in front of them at the appointed time as they gathered before the Gigants to leave the base.

Before you leave, let me explain the final objective of this practice.

It was abrupt, but the cadets listened with a glint in their eyes.

You have five days to survive.

With that, Karl closed his mouth as if he had nothing more to say. Daniel looked at him and spoke up.

Well What exactly does survival mean.?

It means not to be left behind. Any cadet who becomes incapacitated will be sent to the rear, and thats the end.

In other words, as he said earlier, they need to hold out until six days later. Karl smirked and spoke up again.

It probably wont be easy. Okay, thats the end of the question. Good luck, everyone.

Karl said and turned to leave. The cadets stared blankly at his back and got on the gigant one by one. Abel spoke for everyone to hear.

First, as weve already agreed earlier, lets move to the next base.

Okay.

Alright.

There wasnt necessarily a reason to head for the next base, but it wasnt like they had any other destination either. Unlike the previous stage, which had given them some sort of goal. This time, they only had the vague objective to survive for six days. Therefore, they decided to move to the next base and look at the situation. Of course, that was the only reason he gave to the other cadets, but Abel had another idea.

The ruins should be further away from here anyway.

Their current location is the beginning of the Telif Plains, which is the main stage. Abel didnt know exactly where the navigation will take them next, but it will be deeper than their current location.

For that reason, he decided to head to the next base first and figure out how to get to the ruins. He already had several options in mind, so all he had to do was choose the appropriate one depending on the situation.

Kung, kung, kung-

Having decided on a destination, Abel began to lead the others. They moved for a while after leaving the intermediate base, and nothing happened. They hadnt encountered a single small beast, let alone a fragment of a gigant which allowed them to travel at a fast pace.

But their luck was short-lived. After about two hours of traveling, the fragment of gigants suddenly attacked.

Left! There are three on the left!

Theyre coming from behind!

Once again, it was the Ironwolves who attacked. Darin responded without panicking, thanks to his quick recognition, but there was no time to spare.

Lets finish this quickly!

Another fragment might run at them if they extend the battle for too long.

Last one!

With the battle over, Abel quickly moved on, hoping to avoid another battle.

Damn it, here they come again!

However, his efforts were wasted, as he was attacked again less than ten minutes later. After defeating one, another attack comes again. After fighting a total of four battles, Abel and his group were able to rest finally.

Phew.

In the gigant, Abel sighed and wiped off his sweat. Individually, none of the battles had been that threatening, but the problem was that they fought continuously without rest.

Everyones stamina and concentration dwindled as the battle continued, and Abel had to push harder to make up for it. But something else bothered him more than his immediate fatigue and pain.

Its more threatening than I expected

Infamous Scans

The practice is usually pretty intense, but four raids like this one were way out of scope. Abel didnt know if the others thought it was normal, but it wasnt for him. The practice was supposed to be under the Academys strict control. But there were those who slipped through the cracks.

The United Kingdom

- -

Lets get some rest first.

Okay. Are we going to rest here for a few hours, too? Or are we going to keep.

Excuse me.

While Daniel questioned Abel, the man who had initially guided them returned. The man who disembarked from the Tito was a young man with a sad expression, and his uniform suggested he was a soldier from the Academy.

Since you used up four of your six hours at the last base, you can only stay for two hours at this one.

What?

The cadets were stunned to hear this, and Kalian shot back in a sharp tone.

Ive never heard anything like that. There must be a mistake.

Its a directive from the top. Arguing with me wont change anything,

The soldier said firmly as if he wasnt going to be opposed.

Well, then, what would you do? Would you like me to take you to a place where you can rest right away?

Yes. Well eat there as well. Abel answered, wasting no time, already aware of the time limit.

Then follow me this way, then.

The other cadets looked dissatisfied but followed without any comment. Not long after, they arrived at a fairly large temporary quarters, and as the soldier left, they all spoke up.

Did Instructor Karl leave this out on purpose to give us a hard time? Kalian asked.

And Abel answered him calmly, That might be possible, or maybe he left it out on purpose.

On purpose? Come to think of it, earlier you said something was bothering you earlier, right?

Yes. I mean, this whole practice is very different from the tests we took at the Academy.

Abel continued.

There are no clear goals, rules, just a bunch of cadets on a plain.

Why is that?

Thats why I said it bothered me.

The goal of this exercise is to present various situations, and then learn how to respond to them. We need to be very cautious.

Once Abel finished talking, Daniel, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.

I know what you mean. If we had gotten a full break at the last base, we would have gotten kicked out of here without even getting a chance to rest

In that situation, I could have gotten a pretty intense reaction. Hmph.

Kalian snorted in displeasure as he finished off Daniels sentence. It seemed like he wasnt really in a good mood. The reason was that he could only rest for 2 hours even if he was very tired.

Well, since we only have two hours, dont you think we should get some rest?

Darin said in a timid voice, and the slightly heated atmosphere quickly subsided after those words. This was because everyone realized that even as they were just talking, the clock was ticking.

Yeah talking about it isnt going to change anything.

But this time, Im going to ask a few questions before we leave because I dont want to get into any kind of trouble.

Okay, lets get some rest and then well get up and organize our questions.

Abel ended the conversation neatly and walked to the bed. However, he had no intention of falling asleep right away. He still had work to do and that was to make contact with the other group.

There didnt seem to be any other groups in the base yet, but Abel was sure hed run into at least one before he left. So he sat up in bed, closed his eyes, and waited. How long has it been since he has last waited? He wondered.

Kung, Kung-

In the distance, Abel heard the sound he had been waiting for.

[To be continued.]