Chapter 239
Chapter 239
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 239
Chapter Title: Side Effects (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hell Training Punishment.
Only after it began in earnest did the 51st Batch realize why this training was called a punishment.
“Kuuh…….”
“Keuk!”
The 51st Batch hoisted massive iron bars overhead and shouted in loud voices.
“Two hundred twenty-one!”
“Huh? What’d you say?”
“Two hundred twenty-one!”
“What? I can’t hear you, your voice is too quiet.”
“TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE!”
“Ah, now I can hear you. Next!”
“Two hundred twenty-two!”
“Huh? What? I can’t hear you.”
Yuri ignored their voices shaking the training ground to its foundations, claiming he couldn’t hear them over and over.
Because of that, they’d filled 222 reps, but in reality, they’d done well over 1,000.
Yet Yuri still clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
“Tsk tsk, at this rate, when are you gonna hit a thousand? Not sure if you’ll make it in eight hours.”
The 51st Batch ground their teeth watching Yuri yawn hugely.
But they had no choice but to follow orders.
Not just because of the killing intent Yuri had shown, but because they’d noticed the black sword soldiers positioned around him and realized this was an official Cradle event.
“Where’d the guys holding the bars go? Why’s it so quiet?”
“TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO!”
“Yawn… It’s so quiet I’m getting sleepy.”
Then Yuri actually lay down sideways on the platform.
The 51st Batch bit their lips enviously at how comfortably he lounged.
‘Ugh, I’m dying…….’
‘I wanna rest…….’
It had been hours holding these iron bars weighing hundreds of kilos.
They were exhausted enough to want to collapse right then.
But there were people making their already grueling ordeal even worse.
“Looks like you’ve got enough spare energy to daydream.”
“S-Sorry!”
Gunter pointed it out with a sneer, radiating a chilling aura.
“Focus. The moment you slip, your neck snaps. Imagine your family’s reaction if a brand-new official knight died from dropping an iron bar.”
“W-We’ll focus!”
Teresa’s expressionless face made it unclear if she was warning or criticizing.
“Fight through it! Fight! Hey? Didn’t that bar come down halfway just now?”
“N-No, it didn’t!”
“Nah, it definitely stopped about three centimeters short! That last one’s invalid!”
“Ugh…….”
Arin teased playfully but applied the strictest standards of them all.
Thanks to these special instructors Yuri had hired, the already suffering 51st Batch was in absolute hell.
But among the instructors, the one tormenting them the most wasn’t any of them.
“I’m hungry.”
“Yes?”
“I’m hungry!”
“W-What do you mean?”
“I’M HUNGRY!”
“P-Put it on your shoulder?”
“I’m hungry!”
“Y-Yes! S-Sorry!”
The others at least communicated in words.
With Poppi, they had to rack their already exhausted brains to interpret her points.
It drained them physically and mentally at the same time.
But no matter what anyone said, the one tormenting the 51st Batch the worst was Yuri in his red hat.
If the four demon instructors poked and prodded at them, Yuri was straight-up beating them with a club.
Munch munch.
Yuri lay on the platform, leg dangling as he chewed rations.
“Let’s see, what number was it?”
“Two hundred twenty-three!”
“Hmm…… I can’t remember what number it was.”
“TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-THREEE!”
“Ah, I forgot. Looks like we gotta start over from the beginning.”
“…….”
Yuri casually reset all their progress so far.
The 51st Batch glared at him, grinding their teeth.
Yuri just snorted dismissively at their murderous stares.
“What? Mad?”
“N-No!”
“What’re you gonna do if you’re jealous?”
“…….”
“If you’re jealous enough to wanna kill me, come at me outside this hell later. I’ll take off my rank insignia for you.”
Yuri smirked mockingly and flicked his wrist again.
“Alright, start over!”
“Ugh… One!”
“What?”
“ONEEE!”
The 51st Batch’s furious roars echoed across hell’s sky.
Time passed like that.
Finally, their precious ten-minute rest break.
Everyone collapsed, gasping for breath.
“Hey, you there.”
At Yuri’s low voice, the 51st Batch flinched.
The shoulders of those under his golden gaze hunched.
“M-Me?”
“No, not you. The one behind you.”
“M-Me, sir?”
“No, not you either. Further back, back there.”
The 51st Batch turned around in a wave as Yuri waved his hand.
And finally.
“M-Me, sir……?”
“Yeah, you.”
The boy Yuri pointed at gulped nervously.
“Why…… me?”
“I told you already.”
“Huh?”
“I said I’d personally stitch up that thick skull of yours.”
“……?!”
That’s right.
The one Yuri pointed at was none other than the boy who’d first complained.
The one dubbed ‘Cracked Skull’.
“You’re exempt. Over there.”
Seeing Yuri’s gleeful smile, the boy paled and trembled.
Yuri started to step off the platform but suddenly stopped and looked to one side.
“Oh, and you too. Exempt.”
“M-Me?”
“Yeah, the one who’s been going ‘me, me’ since earlier.”
The one Yuri additionally pointed at was the girl who’d just said ‘M-Me?’
Yuri grinned at her puzzled look.
“In this hell, you end every sentence with ‘da’ or ‘kka’. Got it?”
“B-But you just told us now…….”
“Huh? Backtalk from the 51st Batch? You’re really exempt.”
The additionally exempted girl’s face drained of color as Yuri shooed her away.
Yuri was about to step down for real……
“Whoops!”
He stopped again.
Those hoping for a break flinched once more.
“You there, the tall one.”
Everyone under Yuri’s gaze panicked.
Then they all turned around in unison.
‘Who’s it this time?’
‘P-Please not me!’
Finally, all eyes landed on none other than Muchi.
“M-Me?”
Yuri beamed at his words.
“Yeah. You.”
“W-Why me…….”
“I was just calling you for fun at first…….”
Yuri’s face suddenly darkened as he bellowed.
“Hey, you thick-headed bastard! Did I say answer with ‘da’ or ‘kka’? You forget what I said seconds ago?”
“S-Sorry!”
“Sorry my ass. You’re exempt too.”
“My bad!”
“…‘Yo’?”
“I-I mean, my bad.”
“Yeah, if you’re dumb, your body suffers. Exempt. Definitely exempt.”
“U-Ugh!”
Muchi flailed in panic, and the 51st Batch around him subtly backed away.
As if he had the plague.
Yuri clicked his tongue watching.
‘Tsk, what an idiot.’
Muchi probably had no idea.
Whether he messed up or not, he was getting exempted no matter what.
‘Snotty Nose, you’re one lucky guy. Having such a great direct senior!’
It was all from his good intentions toward his junior.
Yawn, yeah, that’s it!
‘Kinda sucks there’s only a week left. Back in my day, it was ten days.’
But what could he do?
The new 51st Batch was small, so the training period got shortened.
Instead, they just crammed ten days’ worth into one week.
Call it practical compressed training?
‘The next week… Muchi, you’ll shed your dumbass self and be reborn! As a ruthless Muchi fit for this era!’
Yuri, having singled out Muchi and the other two, grinned as he stepped down from the platform.
Soon, the exempted ones followed Yuri and vanished.
“Kyaaaaak!”
The horrific screams echoing to the sky made the 51st Batch tremble in fear.
* * *
Seven hours later.
“One.”
“Together!”
“Two.”
“One!”
“What?”
“TOGETHER!”
“CAN’T HEAR YOU?”
“TOGETHERRRRRRRR!”
As the Hell Training Punishment neared its end.
Glasses Guy watched in admiration as Yuri squeezed every last drop out of the 51st Batch.
“…Impressive.”
He’d worried about entrusting the 51st Batch’s training to a mere first-year senior.
But no.
Seeing Yuri and his crew work them over, those worries were unfounded.
“That guy…… was born for this.”
Yuri instinctively knew how to piss them off the most, how to rile them up, and acted like flowing water.
He gauged their stamina limits intuitively, pushing them to the brink and then just one or two more.
And as if he’d done this before, he’d brought his own instructors and handled everything smoothly.
While Glasses Guy admired Yuri, some black sword soldiers approached.
They couldn’t tear their eyes off Yuri as they spoke.
“…Did the Captain predict this?”
“Damn… Watching him drill these kids, we’ve got a lot to learn from that guy.”
“Today, I reflected on myself. We’ve been running a fake hell all this time… That right there is real hell.”
Awe filled the black sword soldiers’ voices.
They’d drilled countless cohorts through this hell over the years.
But they had to bow to Yuri’s version.
“Captain, uh…… can we call that guy back next year?”
“Especially Yuri Holland! Bring him for sure!”
Glasses Guy adjusted his glasses at his subordinates’ pleas.
“…I’ll consider it. Seriously.”
Glasses Guy’s lenses flashed white.
* * *
Creeeak!
The rusty iron gates of the [Hell Training Grounds] swung open.
“Ughhh…….”
“Keuh…….”
Dozens of boys and girls stumbled out like zombies.
Not a single exception—every one of the 51st Batch, limbs trembling, barely escaping the hellish training grounds.
Their faces were twisted in agony.
‘They said it feels like your limbs are being torn off…… and it’s true!’
‘M-My arms and legs…… have no feeling…….’
The tiger hadn’t devoured them, but the instructors had torn their limbs apart.
It was truly excruciating pain.
But worse than the pain was the crushing fatigue.
‘Sleepy…….’
‘Wanna…… rest.’
The dozens of 51st Batch members staggered toward the Animal Woods.
To recover their broken bodies, even a little.
To sleep, even a moment sooner.
More time passed.
Night fell.
* * *
A girl was sprinting frantically through the woods.
“Hahk hahk.”
Her breathing ragged.
Her clothes torn and filthy.
Pale-faced, constantly glancing back—it was clear she was being chased.
How long had she run?
Rustle.
A sound from right beside her.
Rustle rustle.
As the eerie noise drew closer, despair washed over her face.
And finally.
Rustle!
A black shadow leaped from her side, lunging at her.
The shadow rose high against the moon.
Its face shadowed, the girl screamed.
“N-Nooooo!”
Her piercing shriek echoed under the moonlight, answered from the shadow.
“Yeah, it does.”
The shadow that blotted the moonlight then fully engulfed her.
Thud.
A dull impact, and she tumbled over.
Yuri, succeeding in his hunt, grumbled irritably.
“Ugh, why run if you can’t even go far? Just get caught quietly.”
He reached into his ration pouch.
Rustle.
Chewing rations, he looked down at the passed-out girl.
“Still got energy to run, huh?”
After all that drilling, she still had run.
It bruised Yuri’s pride a bit.
‘Gotta crank up the intensity.’
He nodded lightly and set off for the next prey.
No, less hunting and more ‘collection’.
Gathering the half-dead ‘corpses’ groaning around the Animal Woods and dragging them back to hell.
Thus, on the second night in the Animal Woods.
It didn’t take long to collect every 51st Batch member, still unrecovered from the hell training aftermath.