novelraw Chapter 15
Chapter 15
“Hmm.”
Lambda manipulated the Central Training Ground’s panel with a tense expression.
The training grounds used by individuals were all automated, but having a large number of people access the same simulation at once was a different story.
‘Bio-signals are normal, no dropout data either…’
No matter how advanced the assisting AI was, hacking or errors could not be completely ruled out.
Especially if a hundred Special Mission Officer cadets were to suffer even a minor problem in their brains or nervous systems due to an error in the simulation room, it would be a major disaster.
The reason Lambda had been dispatched was precisely to shut down the system from the outside if necessary.
Even then, it was only because the Central Training Ground's androids happened to be on vacation that she, who had a relatively friendly relationship with Jin Crow, was chosen.
“Alrighty.”
However, with several safety measures already in place, there wasn't much for Lambda to do.
Therefore, after briefly tidying up the system panel, she simply blinked her characteristic blue eyes while staring at the black central screen and the internal view of the training ground where the simulation was taking place.
‘So the security clearance applies here too.’
Normally, the screen should have displayed which simulation was in progress, but it seemed the AI, recognizing Jin Crow's security clearance, had forcibly blurred the image.
Thanks to that, all she could see were the bio-signals of the awkwardly standing cadets, Instructor Jin Crow, and Assistant Instructor Ginatio.
“Hm?”
But then, something unusual happened.
Beep-.
While the stress levels of the other cadets who had entered the simulation room were rising, one cadet was slightly different.
Because of this, Lambda pulled up the relevant data and checked the name.
“Cadet Baek Hwi-young……. Hmm.”
He was strangely unperturbed.
However, it wasn't a major concern, and his stress levels soon rose to a similar level as the other cadets, so she quickly lost interest.
“Ahem.”
Lambda glanced around for a moment, and after confirming once more that she was alone in the control room, she took out a small wrapper from the inner pocket of her black military uniform.
“A new product. Durian flavor?”
What she took out was none other than a new product of the artificial jelly she frequently enjoyed.
She tilted her head for a moment at the unfamiliar name, then quickly searched for information and licked her lips.
‘They say it smells awful, but tastes good.’
Wasn't this something entirely new?
Lambda's eyes sparkled without her realizing it, and then, with a thought of ‘what could go wrong,’ she tore open the wrapper and popped it into her mouth.
“Eugh, hmm? Th-this taste is?”
Then, her brow furrowed at the taste, and she murmured lowly.
“It’s… it's delicious!”
She had awakened to a new flavor.
〔I-is that possible?〕
〔Insane…….〕
Of course, even at that moment, the cadets' murmurs, somewhere between astonishment and amazement, could be heard vividly from the screen.
***
The training ground's simulation room was not an unfamiliar place for the cadets.
It was a place they were often brought to when the training grounds were full, or when the combat faculty wanted them to experience a real battlefield.
However, the enemies the cadets usually chose were either anti-personnel combat simulations against the soldiers of the Holy Galactic Empire or fleet battles.
It was only natural.
Why had the Synthetic Nation's military grown so large, to the point that some even considered it militaristic?
‘The Galactic War that has continued up to its third iteration.’
It was because they were still fighting with the other races of the Holy Galactic Empire for hegemony over the entire galaxy.
In other words, the first enemies the cadets would face after graduating from the academy and being commissioned would not be the Creatures they had until recently considered mere beasts, but intelligent beings with a proper military.
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaak!
Because of that, the cadets couldn't hide their bewilderment.
They had seen many battlefields through simulations or on inspection tours to the front lines, but none had been as brutal as the urban warfare before their eyes.
“……Ugh!”
They knew it was just a simulation.
They were not unaware that the nauseating smell of burning corpses brushing past their noses, the screams of people echoing in their ears, and even the vibrations of the earth were all fake.
“G-Gods.”
“Uuugh.”
But was it because it was a highly advanced simulation?
Or was it because they were unconsciously reminded of the cases on Planet Aurum and Planet Remal?
“Grr!”
“A-are you okay?”
A few cadets from the Martial Arts Division flushed as if they were about to charge out at any moment, while the more soft-hearted cadets tended to the fallen soldiers.
But right then.
Jin Crow, who was standing alone in front of the cadets amidst the corpses of the fallen Creatures and staring into some unknown point in the empty air, opened his mouth in a low voice.
“Assistant Instructor Ginatio.”
“Yes.”
“I leave the cadets to you.”
“Understood.”
Instructor Ginatio immediately closed his eyes.
He may have been slightly flustered by Jin Crow's unexpected response, but he too was an instructor of the Central Special Mission Military Academy.
Woooong-.
He rotated his inner Gear.
As the Psionic Energy briefly resonated, the space occupied by the cadets and Jin Crow was separated.
Famille’s eyes gleamed as she carefully observed the deployment of Ginatio's ability.
‘So that’s an instructor…’
Despite being from a similar class in the Special Ability Division, his efficiency and output were overwhelming.
Even though they were both Triple Gears.
The reason was probably the difference in proficiency.
Her eyes wide, she took in the flow of Psionic Energy guided by Ginatio.
Just as Famille was gaining her own insights.
“Th-they’re swarming in!”
“Build more barricades!”
“Get down!”
Beyond the separated space, the despair-filled voices of the soldiers, who were barely holding on in the section of the city where Jin Crow stood, brushed past their ears.
The cadets held their breath, and soon, a mixture of anxiety, strange anticipation, and somber gazes fell upon Jin Crow's back.
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!
-Kiiiiiik! Kiiiiiiik!
From every direction of the city where they stood, the Creature that Jin Crow had cut down moments before, the 「Pawn」, revealed itself.
Subsequently, the infestation spines embedded throughout the city transformed into infestation nests, swallowing and spitting out lost civilians.
Along with the mutants born in such a way, which could hardly be called mass-produced, hundreds of Creatures with glinting red eyes appeared throughout the city.
“The infestation spines are ejected from their warship, the Void Turtle, and the moment they embed themselves in the ground, they take deep root and transform into nests, hatcheries, and so on.”
However, there was no tremor in Jin Crow's voice as he calmly continued his explanation to the cadets, who could only watch from the separated space.
“In short, if civilian casualties are expected, as in urban warfare, remove the infestation spines immediately. However, if you miss the timing and civilians are transformed into mutants……”
-Ah, ahhhh!
-Kigigik!
“They are merely non-viable organisms. Eliminate them immediately.”
Slice, thud-.
There was no emotion at the tip of Jin Crow's jet-black blade.
A grotesquely misshapen, hideously distorted head rolled on the ground.
One, two, three, four…….
With every swing of his blade, the blood of the countless monsters swarming as if to devour Jin Crow at any moment, scattered into the air.
“……”
From the moment the Creatures began to swarm, there were no living humans left in the city.
It was only natural.
The simulation was ‘designed’ that way from the beginning.
Pabababak!
Mutants with grotesquely twisted arms contorted their bodies and dashed through the streets, and the Creature shattered the asphalt as it charged at Jin Crow.
……Rumble……
The purple-tinged sky swirled, and the limbs of humans caught between collapsed buildings swayed in the wind.
“……Th-that’s a lot.”
Dokgo Ran muttered, and the cadets standing beside her nodded inadvertently.
A wave that filled the city surged forward, as if it would sweep over Jin Crow and engulf the cadets at any moment.
‘What is this pressure…’
‘……Are those monsters really like that?’
It wasn't just one cadet's thought.
Without exception, all the cadets could do was stare with weary faces at the endlessly swarming Creatures.
They knew it was an illusion.
But was this to be expected of the facilities assigned to the Central Special Mission Military Academy?
It was perfectly deceiving all five senses into believing it was real.
Just as the cadets' spirits were beginning to wane, hundreds of Creatures simultaneously charged towards him across the ground.
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaak!
-Ugh, uwaah!
Running at the forefront were the humans who had been forcibly turned into mutants by the infestation nests.
Tentacles squirmed from their arbitrarily split necks, and they leaped to tear Jin Crow to shreds, dangling fragments embedded where their eyes should be.
-Kaak, kiiiiik!
However, Jin Crow remained standing in the same spot, cutting down the charging fiends.
He sliced through an outstretched arm.
He occasionally twisted his body to dodge, and even while being drenched in blood, he protected the front of the cadets.
If he took one step back, he took another step forward.
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Even when a roaring Pawn trampled the mutants and extended its spear-like arm towards him, the result was the same.
“Kgh.”
Frowning and biting his lip, Jin Crow took the brunt of the creature's charge, then slid inside and precisely plunged his sword into its solar plexus.
CRUUUNCH!
He didn't care if it was blocked by the exoskeleton.
If it was blocked once, he stabbed a second time.
If it was blocked a second time, then a third, a fourth, a fifth time…….
-Ki, kiii?
At that, it was the Creature that was flustered.
It hastily reached out to throw Jin Crow, but in that moment, Jin Crow murmured lowly.
“Tsk, this is certainly a hassle.”
The small but clearly audible murmur reached not only the Creature but also the cadets who were standing behind, watching his battle.
And only then did they realize.
‘…He’s using power on par with us, no, he’s not even using that much.’
‘And he can move like that?’
Even those in the Martial Arts Division, no one solved everything with physical ability alone.
They were only called the Martial Arts Division because they borrowed the forms and stances of traditional martial arts; fundamentally, they processed Psionic Energy with their Gear and unleashed it through their weapons.
“……Insane.”
That was why the Martial Arts Division cadets could only follow Jin Crow's movements with dazed eyes.
To put it bluntly, there wasn't a single cadet here who couldn't replicate his movements.
Because they were Dual Gears.
But the story changed if it was on a battlefield against hundreds of Creatures.
“Hoo.”
He took a short breath, and without leaving his spot, he fought the enemy only within the limits allowed by a Dual Gear.
His restrained sword tip was not flashy, but rather crude.
However, his sword had no errors.
As if he had faced Creatures from birth and spent his entire life cutting them down.
‘……It's not perfect. But.’
Hino Kanae looked at his back with somewhat shocked eyes.
‘There’s no wasted motion.’
Dual Gear was a level that any cadet of the Central Special Mission Military Academy had long since surpassed.
However, what he was showing was a manifestation of movement more efficient than they could have imagined.
Only now could she understand the incomprehensible disregard and hostility Jin Crow had shown towards the cadets.
‘I see, so his battlefield experience included Creatures.’
Thus, Hino Kanae's misunderstanding grew, and the other Martial Arts Division cadets were also shocked in their own way by Jin Crow's bizarre yet masterful display.
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!
And finally, the moment he cut down the last Creature.
〔Survival time: 28 minutes, 49 seconds. Terminating training.〕
The simulation, which had reeked of blood to an overpowering degree, ended, and Jin Crow, along with the cadets, returned to the interior of the training ground filled with white walls.
Naturally, Jin Crow's body was not stained with blood, but as if by habit, he flicked the blood off his longsword and sheathed it again, scanning the cadets.
“Submit a report summarizing the role of a Special Mission Officer in an urban warfare situation by the next lecture.”
With those words, he turned and silently headed out of the training ground with an attitude and expression that were not the least bit disheveled.
“……He said to submit it.”
Ginatio added, but the cadets' gazes were all fixed on Jin Crow, who was walking out of the training ground.