Squad Leader's Crushing Strength
"Be careful not to let your wrist snap."
Hanks gripped Aleck's hand in return as he spoke.
So small and fragile.
Hanks muttered to himself as he held Aleck's hand, which was only half the size of his own.
I hate the weak ones... really hate them.
His eyes grew cold and sunken.
Hanks. Emperor Scorpion clan.
He had a pathological hatred for the weak.
Every time he saw something feeble, memories of the past resurfaced, unsettling his mind.
There's no place for you weaklings here.
With an indifferent gaze, Hanks clenched Aleck's hand tightly.
This time, unlike before, he put real force into it.
The kid wouldn't be able to withstand just this grip strength.
Huh?
But Aleck showed a reaction completely different from what he'd expected.
He'd clearly put in full effort, yet Aleck's expression remained utterly calm.
Why is he fine? And his hand feels like a rock...
Just as that thought crossed his mind, the signal to start the finals rang out.
Boom—!
A massive thud echoed immediately after.
* * *
He's really going all out.
I let out a smirk as I watched Hanks desperately trying to crush my hand.
It seemed like he wanted to crush my spirit from the start, but unfortunately, it had no effect on me.
I've really gotten a lot stronger.
If this were my original lesser mantis body, I wouldn't have withstood his grip.
I'd have been sweating bullets from the excruciating pain.
But now, even as he squeezed with all his might, it was just a slight pressure.
No real pain at all.
"Match start!"
The signal to begin the finals came.
The guy threw everything he had into flipping my arm, but...
Hup.
I tensed my arm and flipped his hand over.
Bam—!
Hanks's hand slammed into the table like a twig swept away by a massive wave.
"Gaaahhh!"
His eyes bulged wide, mouth gaping open.
A perfectly normal reaction to unbearable agony.
Whoops, was that too much?
I guess I'd unconsciously put a bit too much power into it.
Understandable, since even I couldn't say I felt zero resentment toward his dismissive attitude.
A sliver of that emotion must have slipped into my strength.
"Hanks, you okay?"
Phines asked if he was alright, seeing how much pain Hanks was in.
"Kh, kugh! N-no problem... I-I got careless and was surprised, that's all."
With his face twisted in agony, he spat out a self-justifying excuse and insisted he was fine.
Hmm, careless, huh...
What I'd felt was him going all-out to overpower my hand.
His pride must have taken a huge hit.
That lame excuse said it all.
"Good thing you're okay, then."
Phines said to Hanks.
"You might want to ice it later, though."
I suggested the same to Hanks.
His hand looked like it'd taken a serious shock just from a glance.
"Hmph, you think I'm some weakling like you? I said I'm fine."
He snorted at my words, pretending to be tough and unscathed.
Whatever, his call.
Our exchange ended there.
"Aleck, congratulations. You've become squad leader. Looking forward to working with you."
Phines announced to everyone that I'd become squad leader.
"Whoa—! Congrats, Aleck!"
"C-congrats... Aleck!"
Katt and Comji were the first to congratulate me.
"Ho! As expected. Congrats."
The samurai ant Dirt offered his congratulations too, as if he'd known it all along.
"Impressive. I see you in a new light."
"Can't judge solely by race, huh. You remind me of that again."
"Congrats, squad leader. Here's to a good run."
"Congratulations on becoming squad leader."
The others chimed in with sincere well-wishes.
"Check your card later. You've earned 20 miles."
Then Phines said exactly what I'd been hoping to hear.
20 miles banked.
Just 30 more, and I could get that fossil fragment.
Thump.
My heart raced again at the thought of the fossil.
Excitement bubbling up.
Gotta rack up the remaining 30 miles quick.
* * *
Zing!
"Kugh."
Back at the dorm, Hanks clutched his throbbing right wrist and the back of his hand.
A crack in the bone...?
Based on his experience, he could tell his bone was fractured.
What kind of monstrous strength is that...?
At the start of the finals, the moment he'd put force into his hand...
Hanks had felt like he was pushing against a sheer cliff face.
It didn't budge an inch.
That meant Aleck had several times his own strength.
I'm no slouch in power myself... How does that even make sense?
He wore an utterly baffled expression.
If he'd felt that 'wall' from someone from the Hercules or Caucasus clans in his intake group, he might have accepted it.
They were the ones touted as the 'strongest' in raw power.
But Aleck was lesser mantis clan.
Even against top-tier mantises like king or shield mantises, this would be unacceptable.
A lesser mantis? Seriously?
No matter how he thought about it, Aleck's freakish strength made no sense.
Zing!
Kuh...!
Thinking of Aleck brought the sharp pain in his hand surging back.
Still...
Even amid the pain, he curled his lips into a smirk.
Better than weaklings. Actually, this works out great.
Feeling a mix of complex emotions, Hanks stood up.
Time for that ice pack...
He was following Aleck's advice from earlier.
He might look like a rebel on the outside, but he was quicker than most at taking good advice.
* * *
The next day dawned.
The grand training grounds, huh.
They'd been told to gather at the grand training grounds from morning.
Training on day one?
I headed there, lost in thought.
After becoming squad leader and returning to the dorm yesterday, I'd looked into ways to earn miles at Chung Hak Gwan.
And my conclusion?
If you've got the skills, it's faster and easier than I thought.
There were various ways to earn miles, but two main ones stood out.
First: Follow the curriculum and score high on monthly group assignments.
The safest method, but it required good teamwork—not just from you, but your whole team.
So the second suits me better.
The other was 'request fulfillment'.
Chung Hak Gwan was huge.
Bigger than anyone could imagine.
And it housed a ton of organizations inside.
The research teams alone were countless.
Each posted requests on the Chung Hak Gwan 'request board' for their research materials.
Plenty looked manageable for me.
Clearing those would let me hit 30 miles way faster than expected.
Plus, requests weren't just from research teams—any Chung Hak Gwan staff could post them, even external partners.
Fulfill those, and you earned miles too.
In short, if you had the ability to complete requests, miles weren't hard to come by.
Might as well grab other fossils while I'm at it.
Other ancient fossils might yield more goodies.
And miles could snag elixirs or treasures from Chung Hak Gwan anyway.
Perfect—saw some requests I can handle. Soon as I get free time, I'll check 'em out.
Requests tied to ancient fossils.
My interest in ancient species had skyrocketed since arriving here.
Doing them would answer some questions and net miles—a win-win.
Better claim them before someone else did.
Lost in plans and thoughts, I arrived at the grand training grounds in no time.
"Assemble by squad."
The 101 new recruits, including me, gathered toward their squads.
This was our intake's exclusive training ground.
A chance to see how the growth-stage class's 101 members were distributed across squads.
"These are your classmates for at least a year—memorize their faces."
The instructors from squads 1 through 10 spoke.
Squad 1's instructor was the head, and today was free training.
"Oh."
"Smart move."
"Free training on day one is the rule."
Everyone welcomed the policy.
The instructors left soon after.
The remaining recruits sized each other up, committing faces to memory.
Hercules clan in squad 1, Caucasus in 2, Amar in 5.
I quickly noted the top clans' squads.
"Scorpion punk, so you're just a dispatch. Figures. I thought you were strutting like you'd aced the entrance exam or something, but you're just a half-baked dispatch slot?"
Then a hulking brute picked a fight with Hanks.
That guy's...
I remembered him.
On the first day, during Phines's Chung Hak Gwan tour.
At the ancient fossils exhibit, he'd clashed with Hanks.
Black Gigantia Centipede clan, as his name suggested—a massive black centipede type.
"Hmph, think I couldn't pass the official exam? The same exam a scrub like you passed?"
"You little...!"
The black centipede fumed at Hanks's retort.
"Hey, squad leader! Who's this you're fighting?"
"Montyol picking a fight over there?"
Then his squadmates approached.
One was king dragonfly clan, the other deathstalker scorpion clan.
All top-tier breeds, no pushovers.
Squad 6.
I checked their badges.
Each squad had numbered badges worn on the chest.
Squad 6's lineup looked solid.
Guess that black centipede's the squad leader.
Montyol, the black giant centipede called out, had tiny wings flanking the '6' on his badge.
Squad leader markers.
Proof of his strength in snagging the spot.
"Ah, nothing big—just the squad leader of these squad 10 half-breeds... Wait. Hold up. You don't have a squad leader badge? What? A lesser mantis? He got his squad leader spot stolen by the inferior race he was dissing? Kahahaha!"
Montyol spotted Hanks lacked the badge and burst into laughter.
"All talk, no spine. Tsk, wasted my time. Why bother with a loser like—"
He spewed near-insults.
Hanks's face twisted in fury.
"You spew garbage from that hole you call a mouth."
"What, mad? Wanna go? Free sparring's allowed."
Montyol gestured to the sparring ring on one side, beckoning.
Hanks flinched at the words.
A far cry from his earlier bravado.
I could guess why.
His hand's bothering him. Guess he did get hurt yesterday.
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Yeah, a bit of emotion had crept in.
Didn't mean to injure him, though.
My bad, unintended.
"Look at this loser flinch. Hey! Just scram. Not even worth the effort."
"...Grit... Fine... Let's go one round."
Hanks fell for the provocation.
Sigh, this is why top breeds are trouble.
I shook my head inwardly at the scene.
Not all top breeds were like this, but those basing power on savage primal ferocity tended to inherit the temperament too.
These two baring their fangs now? No coincidence.
But taking a match with that hand...?
Tsking inwardly, I stepped between them.
"Hanks, step back. I'll handle this one."
"Now even randos are butting in. Hey, squad leader or not, you think you're on my level? Know when to butt in and when to back off."
Montyol gaped at my interference, incredulous.
He saw me as utterly beneath him.
"...Squad leader, stay back. This ain't your fight."
Hanks felt the same.
He was dead certain I couldn't handle Montyol.
"Doesn't look like a spot for an injured guy either. Back off. Squad leader's gotta step up for this."
I said that, then looked up at Montyol without waiting for Hanks's reply.
Had to crane my neck a lot to meet his face properly.
The bastard was huge.
I'm big for a mantis, though.
I'd grown a ton awakening as Megaera mantis, but my head only reached his solar plexus.
"You said a match? Let's go. Try me."
With that, I spread both palms wide and held them out toward him.
Arm-wrestling stance.
"...!"
Hanks, who'd been about to speak, smirked faintly and stepped back.
He'd experienced it firsthand—knew better than anyone here just how insane my strength was.
"Hah! For real, what a...!"
In stark contrast, Montyol snorted in disbelief.
Makes sense—from his view, I'd look ridiculous.
Put myself in his shoes: it'd be like Comji the grima challenging me to arm-wrestle.
"Not my fault if your fingers snap."
Montyol humored me, gripping both my hands and interlocking fingers.
Now that it was set up how I wanted...
A sly smile tugged at my lips.
I poured strength into both hands locked with his.