Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: You've Rested Enough
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‘Everyone, I said.’
Kang Geohan thought to himself as he approached Raphael White.
‘Everyone! Run to the flag 1km ahead and assemble!’ That was exactly what Raphael White had said.
Kang Geohan, who had been a reserve army sergeant in South Korea, knew it well.
‘In the end, this is the military. They’re bound to test teamwork.’
He hadn’t even considered slipping away alone from the start.
Therefore.
‘I have to tie down Raphael White no matter what.’
To complete the mission as a team, he absolutely had to!
‘Of course, it’s dangerous.’
Maybe so.
As Helena had said, and as Loen and Harkrux had done, matching pace with the others might have been the right answer.
The instructors probably hadn’t intended to pass the trainees from the beginning, so just blending in as one of the group and performing well might have been what they expected.
‘But that won’t complete the mission. It won’t surprise anyone.’
Kang Geohan was willing to take the risk.
Even the danger of getting countered by Raphael White, ending up unable to do anything and retiring—he’d bear that to chase a greater possibility.
Boom!
And right now! The moment Raphael White laid out another trainee, Kang Geohan charged in his Pectoralis.
He lowered his stance, aiming for Raphael White’s waist. The tackle that had worked so well last time!
‘But this time is different.’
Last time, he’d poured all his mana in one go to flip Raphael, but now the goal wasn’t just flipping him once—it was grabbing hold and enduring. He had to manage his mana distribution.
‘So, using this moment when Raphael’s stance is broken, load all this Giant’s weight onto him…!’
Crunch!
But,
—I’ve been waiting for you, Kang Geohan.
Raphael didn’t let himself get taken like before. He grabbed the Pectoralis from above like it was swooping down, hoisted it up, and slammed it headfirst into the ground.
Ruuuuumble!
—Guh!
As the machine flipped, Kang Geohan hung upside down in the cockpit.
The cockpit floor’s suction prevented him from falling, but the impact of the massive Giant plunging vertically had to be absorbed with his entire body.
He had to endure the violent shaking that brought on nausea, too.
Kang Geohan’s body trembled.
Raphael White didn’t stop there.
—I said I’ve really been waiting!
Shouting triumphantly, he seized the Pectoralis’s left leg with both hands and swung it around.
Thud! Boom!
—Kuh!
—Kyaa!
The trainees’ machines struck by Kang Geohan’s 8.5-meter Giant went tumbling down like dominoes.
Having swung the Pectoralis like a club, Raphael White raised his hand high and smashed it into the ground.
Kwaaaang—!
A ruthless strike he’d never shown any trainee before.
—We still have debts to settle between us, don’t we?
Raphael White’s whisper pierced the ears of Kang Geohan, writhing on the ground.
Thinking that was the end, Raphael left Kang Geohan and turned toward the other trainees. But.
Grab!
Kang Geohan reached out with both hands and clutched Raphael’s ankle.
—…You’re moving?
‘You think I’m just gonna hang on…?!”
Crunch!
‘Overclock!’
The moment Kang Geohan thought, ‘I need to grip with my fingertips,’ the cockpit lit up brightly, and a pressure enveloped his entire body like a vise.
‘Good! That’s good!’
If it was heaviness, pressure—anything like that,
Kang Geohan had confidence in spades.
‘This body…! It’s not my body…!’
Enduring the pressure that made him want to vomit and blackened his vision as if it were someone else’s pain.
Like doing sit-ups with a heavy plate on his chest, suppressing the burning, trembling muscles, Kang Geohan squeezed every drop of demonic essence from his body and clenched his fists.
—Let go!
Raphael swung his leg fiercely to shake off Kang Geohan’s hands, but,
Clank!
Kang Geohan’s grip stuck to Raphael’s leg like glue and wouldn’t budge.
Instead, Raphael’s machine staggered from the weight of the dangling Giant.
—You bastard…!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Raphael started kicking the Pectoralis’s chest wildly. His body shook helplessly. Each impact to the cockpit brought nausea and the urge to vomit.
The pressure squeezing his whole body compounded by the shocks and shaking.
But Kang Geohan gritted his teeth.
‘Better to take hits to the cockpit. I’ll protect the lower abdomen with the Giant Heart and SPU no matter what!’
Curling up as best he could to guard his lower abdomen, he channeled strength to the Giant’s fingertips.
Blood trickled from his bitten lip, unnoticed.
‘Hoo… Hoo… One more set. Just one more!’
Kang Geohan no longer even knew what he was muttering to himself.
He was simply activating his Full Body Mirror ability, scrutinizing and squeezing every strand of demonic essence in his body, directing all that power to the Giant’s fingertips.
It was the moment the message from gaining the Full Body Mirror ability—‘Amplifies the efficiency of demonic essence and spirit’—showed its true worth, but Kang Geohan had no mind to realize it now.
Raphael paused his kicks, eyes gleaming.
—Whoa… This guy’s tough. Guarding the lower abdomen packed with vitals perfectly… And I can’t just rip apart this expensive Giant…!
While Raphael was trapped by the shackle named Kang Geohan, kicking and shaking futilely.
Kwa-rung!
—We broke through!
The trainees under Helena’s command finally toppled the remaining instructors.
—Press them! Press them down! Crush them!
Even instructors couldn’t withstand seven or eight Giants piling on with their weight. Pinned beneath, they struggled until they exhausted themselves.
Excluding Raphael, the other instructors were rookies among the White Knights, with a huge skill gap compared to him. They couldn’t hold back the surging trainees.
Having sorted the situation, Helena turned back with a complex gaze and shouted.
—Let’s grab Sir Kang Geohan Yellow! Same for Sir Raphael White! Pin him down!
Of course, Raphael White was different.
—These bastards!
Even with his leg grabbed by Kang Geohan, he deftly repelled the charging trainees.
If he’d wanted, he could’ve ripped off Kang Geohan’s arms or folded the charging trainees in half at the waist… but that crossed the line considering Giant repair costs.
—Hah… Haha… This isn’t the scenario I had in mind…
In the end, unable to use ruthless force, Raphael was swept away by the wave of 76 Giants and pinned to the ground.
—Woooah!
—We did it!
Raphael didn’t even try to grab the trainees’ Giants exuberantly hoisting and jumping with Kang Geohan.
He could’ve if he wanted, but he didn’t feel like going that far.
“Well… At this point, they pass.”
Lying in his cockpit, Raphael White shook his head.
He glanced at the departing Kang Geohan and grinned, baring his teeth.
“Fine. I’ll let you win once. It’s just the beginning, after all.”
In truth,
He was finding this unexpected situation quite amusing.
“Let’s see how far you go, Kang Geohan.”
* * *
The flag fluttered,
Gerot’s machine, foaming at the mouth and passed out, lay discarded to one side of the objective point.
The trainees assembled beneath it, cheering.
“We did it!”
“We made it!”
They popped their hatches, screaming and jumping around.
The mana nearly depleted to its limit, the pain everywhere—none of it mattered against the skyrocketing adrenaline.
Crowd psychology, perhaps? Kang Geohan, carried here like a king by the trainees, felt his spirits soar too.
‘Not bad.’
[Kang Geohan]
Height: 176cm
Weight: 55kg
Willpower: 17/61
Strength: 6/23
Mana: 1/21
Fat Mass: 5.31kg
Muscle Mass (Skeletal): 20.03kg
Demonic Essence: 203 pindem
Mana was nearly bottomed out, and even that ample willpower had been whittled down. The world felt hazy, like fogged mist.
Still.
‘We did it.’
All he’d done was cling to Raphael White’s ankle… It looked humiliating on the surface, but against that Raphael White.
A monster with nearly 15 times his demonic essence.
Holding such a being even briefly was an incredible feat.
“Man… You were amazing back there!”
“Yeah, your hands just stuck like glue—wouldn’t let go.”
“Raphael White was pounding you like he wanted to kill you—didn’t puke?”
“I thought that skinny guy would be all frail at first. But damn, he’s no joke.”
Having witnessed it amid the chaos, they all shot glances at Kang Geohan, chiming in.
Kang Geohan just grinned in response.
A relaxed, elated mood. He wanted to close his eyes and rest.
“Sir Kang Geohan Yellow. Thank you. You played the most crucial role.”
But Helena climbing up to the Pectoralis hatch where he lounged forced him to open his eyes again.
Even standing still, she exuded elegance. Despite being a peer, she addressed him with his full formal title.
“Don’t be so formal. Just call me Kang Geohan.”
“I can’t. You’re a knight, aren’t you? Can’t call a knight casually.”
“You’re a knight too.”
“That’s exactly why. Well, it doesn’t matter what you call me. Just chalk it up to my stubbornness. Anyway, thank you.”
Kang Geohan chuckled, thinking she had a quirky side.
“What’s to thank? We both benefited.”
Helena smiled faintly.
Kang Geohan opened the Giant’s palm for her, and Helena sat facing him on it.
She said,
“To be honest… I was frustrated. It felt like barely nailing 10,000 consecutive downward chops, catching my breath, then seeing someone next to me nail 10,001 right away.”
‘Her analogy is downward chops of all things…’
Feeling like he understood what kind of person Helena was, Kang Geohan replied.
“Then why didn’t you grab Raphael White yourself?”
Helena smiled bitterly.
“…That would’ve been nice.”
“Nice my ass.”
Such a greedy one. Kang Geohan clicked his tongue.
“You got plenty of attention already, didn’t you?”
Helena looked at Kang Geohan, then muttered so softly he couldn’t hear.
…That’s why I was scared.
“Huh? What?”
“No, you’re right. I already had my moment—no need to risk it. Sir Raphael White is… strong.”
But her face was filled with resolve. In truth, she was vowing inwardly that next time, she wouldn’t hesitate—she’d charge first.
‘It was a cowardly excuse. Compromising won’t achieve feats that amaze others.’
She gazed at Kang Geohan with challenging eyes, and he met them without flinching.
Just then, Loen and Harkrux clambered up the armor plating onto Kang Geohan’s Giant.
“Kang Geohan! That was insane! How’d you endure? My intel says… Raphael went easy, sure… but still, amazing!”
Loen beamed.
Following her hesitantly up the Giant, Harkrux said,
“Um… I’m Harkrux. It was so… impressive, I had to say hi.”
Blushing shyly, he gripped the hatch and extended a hand to Kang Geohan.
“Ah, I know the name. Harkrux.”
Kang Geohan shook it. Harkrux smiled bashfully.
* * *
One instructor watching the rowdy trainees clicked his tongue.
“This batch is something else.”
Raphael White growled as he rose.
“Something else? You all get special treatment. Even as second-year Whites, losing to trainees who haven’t earned White yet?”
“Y-Yes? Ah… But Senior Raphael, you too…!”
“I let them win. You lost.”
“Urk…”
“In a program meant to break their spirits, you ended up boosting them.”
Thud!
Fully standing his Giant, Raphael looked at the trainees and laughed.
“Well… Breaking in fresh, lively ones has its fun too.”
Then he stomped toward the trainees.
Hiss—
Steam billowed, drawing all trainees’ eyes to Raphael White.
He shouted.
“You’ve rested enough, right?”
“Yes?”
The trainees turned to him.
They’d just endured the toughest moment of their lives. They’d squeezed every ounce to clear the training. Why ask if they’d rested?
Raphael grinned at their dumbfounded faces.
“Everyone! Mount your Giants! Training continues.”
“W-What?”
Eyes wide in shock, the trainees saw…
Rumble rumble
Clank! Screeech!
Thud!
Instructors’ Giants rising like grim reapers amid thick steam.