Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Land Crawler
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"Blonde with golden eyes. Definitely a Monarch."
"These days, even among direct blood relatives, golden eyes are supposed to be rare, aren't they?"
"Not rare—I've heard that kid's the only one."
The four instructors in charge of Real Time Alien Tactics had their eyes on one cadet.
Lush, shining golden hair, and golden irises that seemed to glow on their own amid the darkness.
Leonard Monarch, who possessed both, evoked memories of the ancient title "Golden-Eye King," lost since the aliens first appeared.
"It's fascinating. The records I reviewed definitely classified him as a collateral relative."
"Isn't that good news for us? Gives us some room to probe."
"True enough."
The middle-aged man who had retired at the highest rank among them nodded.
A renowned commander during his active duty, he showed particular interest in Leonard among the four.
"Speaking of which, for a kid that young to produce a tactical report at this level... Impressive."
"No coincidence there, right? Not connected to 'them' or anything?"
"We've reviewed it multiple times already. Even 'Mimir' found no issues in its personnel evaluation of Leonard Monarch."
The man looked surprised.
Important enough to involve Mimir?
'No, not surprising at all.'
Considering the importance of academy cadets to the Human Union, it made perfect sense.
Especially in a situation like this.
The man gazed once more at the footage building to its climax.
"Hoo... Just how far do these monster bastards plan to evolve?"
From the dizzyingly deep chasm in the earth torn open by firepower, something enormously massive crawled up.
A colossal alien.
And this was the first sighting of its kind.
"Has it been named yet?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"Land Crawler."
"Fitting name."
In the footage, the Land Crawler recoiled, wounded under the barrage from the army that had prepared in advance.
Even forcibly dragged out before reaching full maturity, it was no pushover.
If they'd underestimated the situation and skimped on forces, the consequences didn't bear thinking about.
"Does humanity still have hope left...?"
"Humanity will triumph. They'll make sure of it."
"...Yeah. Looks like we'll raise a glass tonight."
"Count me in."
Over the ending footage, the Land Crawler let out its final screech and collapsed.
*
The cadets in the lecture hall were all glued to the footage.
An undiscovered specimen.
And one with such an overwhelming visual presence—it was impossible to look away.
'Uh... Why's that thing there?'
I was surprised for a different reason.
Land Crawler.
This hulking beast, also called the aliens' land-based mothership, was a Hazard Level 7 alien that delivered a fresh shock to the Human Union.
The original story mentioned it debuting around this point, but I never dreamed it'd pop up so suddenly.
'Is that why they gathered us for the joint class?'
Hazard Level 7 carried massive implications.
Especially the Land Crawler—it could outproduce an entire mid-sized hatchery colony on its own.
And its defenses were nightmarishly top-tier for its class.
'The real horror is what happens if it evolves from there: it takes to the stars.'
I didn't even want to imagine.
Otherwise, we'd be dealing with swarms raining from the sky like meteors.
In any case, thanks to early detection, the Hurunshaya planet averted a major crisis.
In the original, its shocking debut caused heavy casualties and forced a full readjustment of the Human Union's anti-alien defense lines—probably saved tens of millions of lives at least.
"Whoa, what is that? I wanna fight it."
"Head to toe, gotta be 5 kilometers, right? A little thing like our Roze wouldn't even register."
"Nah, Merdi. If I hit it, it'd be rolling on the ground in pain."
The two beside me chattered away, seemingly unfazed by the Land Crawler's bulk.
I just couldn't fathom wanting to fight something like that.
Is that what made them superhumans?
"Looks like it wasn't fully mature to me. What do you think, Lemon?"
"...Hm, probably?"
I mumbled vaguely, unsure how to respond to Saim's question.
Should I play it like I knew?
The Land Crawler was just being unveiled.
Considering this footage recorded yesterday's op, they'd barely started dissecting the corpse by now.
Still, I could share some predictions.
"If it grew more, it might hit 10 kilometers."
"10 km? Whoa. Even ten battleships side by side would be smaller."
"The scarier part is it looks like a mobile production base. No idea on output, but it'd be terrifying."
"Whoever planned that op and spotted it early is a genius."
Saim nodded at my words.
I couldn't exactly say it was my doing.
Keep pretending I didn't know?
Luckily, my dilemma didn't last.
As the footage ended with the Land Crawler going silent, one of the instructors spoke up.
"Cadets, the planet Hurunshaya won't be unfamiliar to you. This footage records what happened there just yesterday."
As he spoke, he transmitted a batch of data to each tactical tablet.
The stalled updates on Hurunshaya resumed.
Overall situation: the front lines had pushed back slightly due to the op.
But a slight retreat like that was as good as no losses, given the circumstances.
"Specimen name: Land Crawler. From what we've ascertained so far, it has production capacity comparable to a mid-sized hatchery colony, and..."
The intel matched my memory spot-on.
Since they'd taken it down pre-maturity, I still had the edge on Land Crawler knowledge.
"The key point here is why we're showing this footage in a joint class."
The lecture hall stirred a bit.
Not hard to figure out.
It had to be connected somehow.
Barton picked up on it and asked me,
"Lemon. I remember you digging into that sector's intel?"
"...Haha, yeah?"
"You know something?"
"Hm... Won't the instructor explain?"
Barton grinned and turned away at my reply.
He'd caught on.
Grateful he wasn't prying deeper.
Wait, did Barton just smile?
As I stared at him in surprise, the instructor continued.
First, the tactical proposal I'd slaved over days ago was revealed—then my name.
"...Truly astonishing. A round of applause for Cadet Leonard Monarch, please."
An overwhelming number of eyes locked onto me.
This time, the cadets' surprise was genuine as they clapped.
Probably the first time since Cradle of Heroes Academy was founded.
A few sour grapes mixed in, but from this moment, my standing would change dramatically.
This was real professional merit—not some semester ranking at 23rd.
"It's not exact, but calculations show that without foreseeing this incident, casualties would have exceeded three million. The military would've taken heavy blows too. Chilling to think about, all around."
Roze looked at me with sparkling eyes.
If we weren't in a packed lecture hall, she'd probably be hugging and jumping all over me.
"Lemon, is that for real?"
"Yeah."
"Whoa, amazing!"
"...Thanks, but now's not..."
"You're the best!"
Of course, she didn't need to jump—her face was plenty red already.
I barely calmed Roze down.
But the shocks weren't over.
"In the near future, Cadet Leonard Monarch will receive a medal. Attendance is confirmed from the 2nd Legion Commander and Central Superhuman Unit Leader Darmosa."
Now the cadets buzzed for a different reason.
Darmosa—one of the Human Union's top superhumans.
Over a century since the aliens arrived, he'd built his legend on countless feats. Idolized by civilians and soldier-superhumans alike.
But to superhumans especially, he meant more.
"Think we can see him too?"
"With inter-semester外出 bans for cadets, the ceremony'll be on academy grounds."
"Yeah. Darmosa, the academy founder, wouldn't break his own rules."
Impressive, sure—but enough to move Darmosa himself?
Knowing his personality, I was a bit puzzled.
'Something else going on? Nah, probably not a big deal.'
Whatever Darmosa's reasons, facing him this early was a stroke of luck.
"Wanna spar with him?"
"Land a punch first. Might make him fight back."
"Ooh, Merdi, clever."
Don't even think about it, you two.
As I reined in the two troublemakers with Barton, one instructor approached me.
The middle-aged man who'd just held the mic.
Word was he'd been a hotshot officer on active duty—still had that sharp glint in his eyes post-retirement.
"Cadet Leonard. Mind a quick word?"
"Ah, sure. Anytime. Where to?"
"No need. Right here."
What'd he want?
Everything I knew about this was in the submitted report.
"I'm Gerald, one of the former RTA Tactics instructors. I reviewed your tactical report personally."
"...Ah!"
"Caught me off guard yesterday. Imagining if I'd rejected it... cold sweat. Thanks for this chance to say so—truly grateful."
"Yes. Thank you."
As Gerald said, rejection was a real risk.
The author was just a cadet seven months into training.
Yet he'd greenlit it for actual execution—bowing wouldn't suffice.
"Your battlefield analysis was refreshingly novel. Never thought I'd learn something new at my age."
"Haha... I just pieced together what I knew."
"Won't deny it was rough around the edges. But the depth of your alien knowledge and how you wielded it tactically? Unmatched. Phenomenal."
"No need to go that far..."
"It's true."
His fervent gaze stung.
Zero tolerance for this kind of attention yet.
Was that all? Empty praise?
"Your efforts have spiked military HQ interest in RTA Tactics. System changes incoming, probably soon."
"Our proposals actually getting implemented?"
Saim jumped in.
Gerald nodded at him.
'Already?'
In my memory, this change hit after the original story started—post-protagonist enrollment.
Way too soon.
"Not 100% adoption, of course. They'll review for feasibility first. Factor in op site-info lag, even tougher."
"That's huge already. Basically commanding for real."
"Exactly."
The instructor turned that heated gaze back to me.
"Wanted to tell you first."
"Thanks."
"Oh, and..."
He paused rising, adding one more thing.
"The principal wants you to drop by whenever you're free. Seems he's got a lot to discuss."
About time for a visit.
Last saw him officially at enrollment.
Barring Miracle Generation and a few others, he showed zero interest—without this incident, probably not till graduation.
"That perv old man? Watch out, Lemon."
Roze scrunched her eyes, worried.
"Don't worry."
"You'll handle it, Lemon."
"The principal's not to be underestimated. Don't get roped in, Lemon."
At some point, my nickname went public domain.
I spent a while fielding warnings from the crew.