novelraw Chapter 45
Chapter 45
Chapter 45
“Of course, that wasn’t all.”
There were other sticking points as well.
“There would be no shortage of criticism and interference telling us to consider the military’s prestige, and on top of that, military expenditures were already being drastically reduced.”
In truth, Professor Lillian herself was an eccentric, so she had expected pushback to some extent when she made it.
Otherwise, why would she have gone so far as to cover part of the budget out of her own pocket?
“Well…….”
Ideale hadn’t failed to consider that aspect either.
What she had overlooked, however, was that the Ministry of Defense was a more conservative group than she had expected, and that they still limited the enemy to the Empire.
In fact, at the present point in time, the number of people who regarded Creatures as the enemy could be counted on one hand.
“Honestly, it’s ambiguous in a lot of ways. Training dummies are something you use during wartime, and in reality you just spin them around for training during normal times. Haaam.”
Mixed into her long, stretching yawn was a researcher’s dissatisfaction.
Moreover, when she thought about the costs that would go into maintaining and repairing it going forward, Ideale had no choice but to quickly fold away the faint possibility she had entertained, even if only briefly.
‘For the time being, using it for training really is the best option.’
Still, compared to when she had first heard about it from Jin Crow, her sense of rejection had lessened.
Of course, it had only lessened—she still didn’t fully approve of the teaching method…….
How should she put it.
He was engaging in bizarre behavior, but since the results aligned with the lecture content and were clearly for educational purposes, she had nothing to say.
“Argh! My bones got hit!”
At that moment, Dokgo Ran’s pain-filled cry burst out as a series of parabolic arcs slammed into the ground.
Kwaaaaaaang!
The sound was louder than expected, drawing worried looks, but sure enough, Dokgo Ran soon sprang back up like a roly-poly doll and instead spat out an irritable shout.
“Shit! I’m dead!”
Watching that scene, Professor Lillian—who had been floating leisurely while seated in her chair—muttered as if surprised.
“She’s holding out better than I thought. Honestly, I figured five minutes was the limit…….”
At Professor Lillian’s words, Ideale shifted her gaze back toward the cadets, soon taking in Squad 2, who truly were holding out well in many respects, just as she had said.
Of course, no matter how high the cadets’ level was, it was inevitable that they were gradually being worn down.
“Uh, uhh!?”
“Ghk!”
Dokgo Ran charged again, only to be helplessly knocked back and tangled up with Beatus.
However, just as when she had collapsed the sparring hall before, her fists were anything but light, and it left a strong impression as the training dummy—overwhelming when facing Squad 1—hesitated for a brief instant.
“Hm.”
Jin Crow slowly checked the time.
The engagement time was about six minutes.
Just as Lillian had said, they were holding out longer than expected.
Yet Jin Crow, who was watching it all, merely looked at the cadets without making any particular comment.
“…….”
Ideale looked at him.
Typically, instructors fell into one of four types.
A dictatorial instructor.
A devoted instructor.
A laissez-faire instructor.
And lastly, an instructor who became a guide themselves.
Although she had spent more time on the battlefield, she too had graduated from the Central Special Service Academy. Even if she didn’t often present herself as the headmistress, she wasn’t indifferent to instructors or cadets.
From the perspective of her experience, most instructors were either dictatorial or laissez-faire.
‘In a way, that’s only natural.’
All of the disciplines they taught had their roots in violence.
That wasn’t a discourse saying violence was evil.
Even if the reason was protection, it meant that the root itself couldn’t truly be justified.
Whether they were aware of it or not, instructors’ dictatorship and indifference stemmed from there.
‘Either you crush their spirit from the start and educate them, or you never give them affection at all.’
Because of that, she couldn’t deny the method, even if she didn’t agree with it.
Until not long ago, Instructor Jin Crow had been an instructor who possessed both of those aspects.
His lectures were always dogmatic, and he maintained thorough indifference toward the cadets.
If there was a difference between him and other instructors, it was probably just whether he showed it openly or not.
‘But he changed.’
More precisely, after the Creature invasion began, he made an effort to restrain his drinking and devoted himself wholeheartedly to everything.
And that line of thought overlapped with the man who had said he would make training dummies out of Creatures.
‘He’s just doing what needs to be done…….’
At this point, unless one was a fool, it was impossible not to notice that the reason he had changed was because of the Creatures.
‘……I need to look into this.’
Just what did he know, and what had he seen, that someone so broken and exhausted was trying to stand up again?
She mulled over the question.
And then she thought.
‘Perhaps.’
Yes, truly, perhaps.
Wasn’t Jin Crow becoming the rarest and most ideal kind of guide as an instructor?
“Instructor, they’re holding out better than expected. Should I tell Poppy to push a bit harder?”
“Not yet. That wouldn’t be fair.”
“Well……. Then next time it’s fine to raise the output until just before they die, right?”
“We’re surprisingly on the same wavelength, Professor.”
……Or not?
Ideale was confused.
Kwaaaaaaang!
On the floor of the training ground, now cracked and damaged in places, a woman with bronze-colored skin irritably pushed herself up.
“Ptooey!”
The woman—no, Dokgo Ran—glared at the training dummy through the thick, swirling dust.
Her shoulders jolted as she wiped away the sweat that had become sticky, mixed with dust, but she merely adjusted them irritably and muttered.
“It hurts like hell!”
“……I agree.”
Hino Kanae, who hated anything lacking in decorum, expressed agreement for once.
She tidied her distinctive black hair and tightly gripped her special-service weapon that resembled a Japanese sword.
Meanwhile, Beatus—who had been supporting Dokgo Ran, Hino Kanae, and Baek Hwi-young as they took the front line—loaded reinforced rounds into the pistols in both hands and immediately aimed forward.
-Kraaaaaaaa!
Gunfire was swallowed up amid the thunderous monster’s roar that was now irritating enough to make one’s ears itch.
Next, unlike Dokgo Ran and Hino Kanae, who clearly didn’t look to be in great shape, Baek Hwi-young—who stood without any notable injuries—kicked off the ground and charged straight at the thing.
A floating sensation.
A shaking field of vision.
It was the sort of time that should have left a cadet dizzy, but his view was calm, no different from that of any other instructor—or rather, a superhuman seasoned in real combat.
‘He could handle it alone.’
Kagagagagang!
He avoided the incoming fist, kicked off the creature’s abdomen, and leapt into the air as he thought.
It was a mass-produced spear, but its quality wasn’t bad.
Moreover, his opponent wasn’t a living, breathing Creature, but merely a dummy with a mechanical interior.
The only difference was that it acted out a beast born solely for slaughter, not a human or demi-human.
Buuung.
He dodged the spear-like hand that swung at him, grabbed it as it passed and slid along it, and in Baek Hwi-young’s calm eyes, the creature’s weakness was laid bare.
‘He could aim for the power source, or just stab out the eyes to block its vision and sever all the joints.’
He was someone who, across countless repeated worlds, had faced monsters called Lords or Legion Commanders.
Even if all he had was triple Gear, its application could already be considered complete.
“Ghk.”
But in the end, Baek Hwi-young merely twisted the spear and pierced through the palm that was trying to stab him, then landed lightly on the ground.
No one said anything.
Rather, some of the instructors even let out small exclamations of admiration, impressed that he had not only twisted his body midair to evade the Creature’s spear, but also launched a counterattack.
And at the moment his feet touched the ground.
“Uaaagh! Guek!”
The proud martial arts of the Dokgo family were thrown to the dogs as Dokgo Ran, eyes half-crazed as she charged in, was struck by the shaft he had avoided and sent rolling across the training ground floor once more.
“Haa, haa…….”
“Hhuuk.”
Defeat was already thick in the air.
It was an impression shared by everyone in Squad 2 except Dokgo Ran, and Baek Hwi-young thought it only natural.
‘It’s only natural.’
Cadets who had trained for less than half a year had no chance of facing a Pawn.
Of course, in the distant future, a triple Gear cadet might be able to contend with a Knight alone—but that was far off.
For now, this was the correct result.
‘It’s about time to end this.’
About ten minutes had already passed.
Dragging it out any longer would be meaningless.
From his past experience, most wouldn’t last more than five minutes before collapsing.
There were, of course, exceptions—but even they wouldn’t make it past ten.
‘It was the same in the past.’
Indeed, the expressions on the faces of the other cadets waiting their turn weren’t bright.
Naturally so.
To cadets who had studied doctrines, tactics, and combat against humans, a gigantic beast driven purely by an instinct to slaughter was an utterly unfamiliar opponent.
“Ggueeeek!”
Just as he expected, the first to go down was Dokgo Ran.
Letting out a bizarre scream that made it clear why Famille called her a wild boar, she was sent flying by the blunt tip of the Creature’s spear and lost consciousness.
“Everyone, move aside! Support unit!”
“Yes, yes!”
Ginatio, the assistant instructor, hurried over to check on Dokgo Ran’s opponent, while the support-type ability cadets who had been waiting to the side examined her condition.
“E, euhh.”
She didn’t seem completely unconscious—her eyelids fluttered faintly—but the sight of her half-limp body bleeding lightly was anything but pleasant.
“……Oh.”
“Hm.”
And naturally, Squad 2, who had been watching.
Hino Kanae, Beatus, Famille Demezear, and Baek Hwi-young exchanged looks, none waiting for another to speak first.
“Instructor, we’ll forfeit here.”
“We’ve reached our limit.”
“Squad 2. Ten minutes, twenty-three seconds.”
Soon, their gazes reached Jin Crow, who was checking the time with his usual expressionless face at one side of the training ground.
“Not bad. Next.”
He muttered without letting any emotion show in his black eyes, then turned his head toward Squad 3, who were stammering in front of the spot where Dokgo Ran had been sent flying.
“Squad 3, go up.”
“Poppy’s done for. Then shall we have Leo step in now?”
And Lillian sent Poppy—no, Training Dummy No. 1—back after it had been battered all over by Squad 2, pushing the second dummy that had been waiting behind it to the front.
Naturally, the Squad 3 cadets, staring at the second training dummy that was practically brand new, could only swallow hard.
“H-hii.”
And, as expected.
“Kkyaaagh! R-run!”
Kwaaaaaaang!
“T-this is insane. This is insane!”
“I-Instructor.”
“You won’t die. Next.”
Jin Crow’s first practical exam ended with an unforgettable impression on instructors and cadets alike, setting an impressive record of forty-three injured.
“I trust you know what I’m going to say?”
“I have no excuse.”
“……Get out.”
Ideale, now wearing a smile of enlightenment, presented him with ten pages of written explanation and a three-month pay cut.
“If you’re short on budget, tell me. It won’t be much, but it’ll help with maintenance costs.”
“Forget it. A soldier’s salary isn’t that much anyway.”
Of course, Jin Crow and Professor Lillian didn’t care in the slightest.
“…….”
Watching the scene from the side, there was only one thing Assistant Instructor Ginatio could do.
‘Poor things.’
To express his regret for the cadets.
That was truly all.