Chapter 46
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Five Days of Survival
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When the appointed time arrived.
Kaul appeared once more before the cadets gathered in front of their Gigants to depart from the base.
“Before we set off, let me explain the final objective of this training exercise.”
Though it was sudden, the cadets perked up and listened closely.
“The time left is five days. Survive through it.”
With that, Kaul clamped his mouth shut, as if there was nothing more to say.
Daniel hesitated, gauging the mood, before speaking up.
“Um... what exactly do you mean by ‘survive’?”
“It means don’t fall behind. Anyone who becomes combat-incapable will be shipped to the rear, and that’s it for them.”
In other words, it was exactly as stated at the start: hold out until the six days were up.
Kaul grinned and added one last remark.
“It won’t be easy. Alright, that’s all the questions. Good luck out there.”
With that, Kaul turned sharply on his heel and walked away.
The cadets stared blankly at his retreating back before climbing into their Gigants one by one.
Abel, now aboard his own Gigant, spoke up over the comms so everyone could hear.
-Let’s do as we agreed beforehand. For now, we’ll head straight for the next base, just like last time.
-Yeah.
-Got it.
There was no strong reason to target the next base specifically, but they didn’t have any other destination in mind either.
Unlike the previous stages, which had given them some clear objective, this one was just a vague order to survive for six days.
That was why they’d decided to move toward the next base first while keeping an eye on the situation.
Of course, that was merely the reason he’d given the other cadets. Abel had something else in mind.
‘In any case, the ruins are further inward from here.’
Their current spot was just the entrance to the Telif Plains—the real main stage.
He couldn’t tell the navigation’s next base marker’s exact location, but it had to be deeper in than where they were now.
Which was why he planned to head that way while figuring out how to reach the ruins.
He already had several ideas lined up, so he just needed to pick the best one for the circumstances.
Boom, thump, thump—
Having settled on a destination, Abel led the others and set off.
For a while after leaving the base, nothing happened.
They didn’t encounter so much as a Gigadeus Fragment, let alone any small beasts, allowing them to move at a good clip.
But their luck didn’t hold.
About two hours in, a pack of Gigadeus Fragments ambushed them out of nowhere.
-Left! Three on the left!
-Ones coming up behind us too!
It was another pack of Iron Wolves this time.
Thanks to Darin spotting them quickly, they managed a response without panicking, but there was no room for error.
-Finish them fast! We don’t want to draw more!
Dragging out the fight could lure other Gigadeus Fragments.
-Last one!
Abel’s squad wrapped up the battle swiftly and immediately moved on to avoid follow-ups.
-Damn it! More coming!
But their efforts were in vain. Less than ten minutes later, they faced another attack.
They barely repelled it and got moving, only to be hit again.
After going through a total of four battles like that, Abel and his group finally got a chance to rest.
“Whew.”
Inside the cockpit, Abel let out a sigh and wiped his sweat.
Each fight on its own hadn’t been that threatening, but the problem was fighting them back-to-back with no breaks.
He could feel everyone’s stamina and focus dropping with each successive battle, forcing him to push himself harder to compensate.
But the immediate fatigue and pain weren’t what worried him most.
“They’re more aggressive than expected...”
The training was supposed to be grueling by design, but four attacks like this went beyond that.
The other cadets might not know what was normal, but Abel did.
This exercise was meant to be conducted under the Academy’s strict oversight.
But someone had exploited the gaps.
“United Kingdom...”
Abel murmured the name softly.
The United Kingdom was the only power on the continent that could rival the Empire militarily.
On paper, their visible forces seemed inferior, but that was deceptive.
They had substantial hidden strength.
At present, they were avoiding open confrontation with the Empire, but behind the scenes, they were plotting all sorts of schemes.
This incident during the training was one of them.
‘To be precise, it was an organization under the United Kingdom that did it.’
Abel even knew the name of that group.
The Pilgrims.
The strongest—and most unpredictable—organization under the United Kingdom.
In the game, you had to stop them from interfering in the training and dealing a major blow to the Academy.
‘Well, more like minimizing the damage.’
But Abel, who had delved deep into the game, knew there was more to it.
‘Their real target was something else.’
What they were after wasn’t the cadets participating in the training—it was the relic slumbering in the ruins.
Disrupting the exercise was just a smokescreen to avoid suspicion while searching for it.
That was why Abel was determined to reach the ruins as quickly as possible.
‘If I can secure the relic first, I can prevent most of what comes next.’
That was when he heard it.
-Abel! Time’s up!
Daniel’s voice came over the comms.
Abel straightened up at once and placed both hands on the core.
Whirr—
After going through the familiar startup sequence, Abel awakened his Gigant and slowly rose to his feet.
They weren’t out of danger yet, so they’d taken turns resting while on the move.
Abel had been the last shift, so now it was time to get going again.
-We’re moving out right away?
-Yeah.
They couldn’t say they’d gotten a proper rest, not even as empty words, but lingering in one spot too long was dangerous.
Even this brief break had been a calculated risk.
-Let’s aim to reach the next base as fast as possible.
-Yeah.
-Got it.
Abel scooped up his weapon and started walking again.
The situation wasn’t ideal, but once they reached the intermediate base, things would improve.
It wouldn’t just be because they could rest.
The base they were heading to from the first one was much larger in scale.
And multiple squads would converge there.
In other words, it was a chance to reinforce their forces.
* * *
The Gigadeus Fragment attacks kept coming, forcing Abel into three more battles.
Fortunately, they hadn’t faced any major crises, but everyone could feel their fatigue reaching its peak.
Just as exhaustion was setting in for all of them.
-It’s the base!
They’d finally arrived at the next base.
At Darin’s shout, Abel turned to look in that direction.
There, plain as day, stood man-made structures.
-Let’s go!
Abel led the others that way. It wasn’t long before he confirmed they’d come to the right place.
Even from afar, the base was easily three or four times larger than the previous one.
-Wow, it’s huge!
Daniel let out an impressed exclamation.
Kalian, who’d been quiet, chimed in.
-A base that size has to have different facilities and such from the last one.
He’d nailed the key point.
The base ahead was definitely different from the last in several ways.
Abel knew that, but instead of explaining, he quickened his pace.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the base.
“This way!”
Unlike before, it wasn’t Kaul welcoming Abel and the cadets—it was an Academy member riding a Tito.
He guided them ahead to where they could park their Gigants.
After handing his machine over for maintenance, Abel waited for the others while scanning the base.
‘Lots of Titos.’
The base’s defenses were handled by Tito riders, and there were quite a few of them.
The reason for using Tito-grade machines was efficiency.
The power needed to run one Miles-grade could operate five Titos.
Plus, Titos could handle most enemies just fine.
‘If something they can’t handle shows up, the Titos buy time while they bring in higher-grade machines.’
As Abel pondered the base’s defensive setup, Darin dismounted last and walked up.
Confirming everyone was there, Abel spoke.
“Rest first.”
“Yeah. We staying here a few hours like last time? Or pushing straight through...”
“Pardon the interruption.”
Daniel had been asking Abel when the guide from earlier returned.
Having dismounted his Tito, he was a mild-mannered young man in Academy uniform—likely a soldier.
“Since you spent four out of the six hours at the last base, you can only stay here for two.”
“What?”
The cadets were stunned by the unheard-of rule, and Kalian even snapped sharply.
“We never heard about any of this. Isn’t there some mistake?”
“It’s an order from above. Arguing with me won’t change it.”
The soldier spoke firmly, brooking no argument.
“So, what will you do? Shall I show you to the rest area right away?”
“Yes. We’ll eat there too.”
Abel, who’d already known about the time limit, answered without wasting a second.
“This way, then.”
The other cadets looked unhappy but followed without protest.
Soon, they reached a fairly spacious temporary lodging, and once the soldier left, they let loose what they’d been holding back.
“Did Instructor Kaul deliberately leave that out? To mess with us?”
It was Kalian speaking.
Abel replied calmly.
“It’s possible. Or maybe he intentionally omitted it when passing on the info.”
“Intentionally? Come to think of it, you said something felt off last time.”
“Yeah. This whole exercise is totally different from the Academy’s usual tests.”
Abel continued steadily.
“No clear goals or rules. It’s like they just dumped us in the plains.”
“Why’s that a problem?”
“That’s why it bothered me. The objective seems to be throwing all sorts of situations at us and seeing how we respond.”
Daniel, who’d been listening quietly, spoke up.
“I get the vibe. If we’d rested the full time at the last base, we’d have been kicked out of here without a break...”
“That could’ve sparked some pretty heated reactions. Hmph.”
Kalian finished Daniel’s thought, snorting in displeasure.
It felt like they were being toyed with, so it wasn’t a pleasant mood.
The root cause was probably the piled-up fatigue combined with only two hours to rest.
“Um, excuse me. Since we only have two hours, shouldn’t we rest now?”
Darin spoke up timidly.
The slightly heated atmosphere cooled at once.
Everyone realized time was ticking away even as they talked.
“Yeah... Talking like this won’t change anything.”
“But this time, let’s ask a bunch of questions before we go. I’m not getting screwed over again.”
“Sounds good. Let’s rest first, then sort out what questions to ask when we wake up.”
Abel wrapped up the discussion neatly and headed to his bunk.
But he had no intention of sleeping right away. He still had work to do.
Namely, making contact with another squad.
No other squads were at the base yet, but Abel figured he’d run into at least one before they left.
Unlike the others, this was a major base designated as a destination for multiple squads.
So Abel sat cross-legged on his bed, closed his eyes, and waited.
How much time passed like that?
Thump, boom—
From the distance came the sound Abel had been waiting for.