“Instructor has stepped away for a moment, but Squad 2 will continue.”
Even though Instructor Jin Crow had temporarily left, there was no chance the battle against the already-engaged Bishop would come to a halt.
To begin with, Assistant Instructor Ginatio remained behind to continue the evaluations.
More importantly, the battle had already grown far too intense to stop midway.
“Haaah!”
As proof of that, even Hino Kanae—who normally did her utmost to maintain her composure—was deflecting the incoming tentacles with a faint blush on her face, her competitive spirit fully ignited.
‘As expected, it still can't compare to the real battlefield...!’
The other cadets could not truly appreciate it.
But at least they could.
Naturally.
To the average cadet, this was merely another Training Dummy.
For them, however, it was an enemy they had crossed the boundary between life and death against at Mercato.
“It's still... still not enough.”
“Tch....”
Hino Kanae and Dokgo Ran had entered a state bordering on trance as they repeatedly severed and deflected the Bishop's tentacles, charging and retreating over and over.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAANG!
The exchange they displayed already far surpassed that of the other cadets.
Yet neither of them was satisfied.
‘Of course not.’
Gripping his spear shaft tightly, Baek Hwi-young unconsciously smiled faintly as he tracked the constantly changing trajectories of the two, whose exchanges shifted with every blink of an eye.
He could not help but be pleased.
The rapid growth of Dokgo Ran and Hino Kanae would eventually become a tremendous source of strength for him as well.
“Those idiots....”
“Haha.”
Behind Baek Hwi-young, who was serving as Defender, came the overlapping voices of Famille, the Striker, and Beatus, the Keeper.
Both stood ready to strike the Bishop at any moment.
However, with the two Attackers moving so chaotically, they had yet to find the opportunity.
“This isn't an opportunity that comes often. Let's watch for now, Famille.”
Or rather...
It would be more accurate to say they were intentionally holding back.
Both of them knew it.
Since those two were Martial-types themselves, there was no suppressing their competitive spirit and desire to improve.
‘Especially because of Baek Hwi-young.’
Famille quietly watched the gray-haired back standing directly before them.
She never said it aloud.
But she was not dense enough to miss the reason Dokgo Ran and Hino Kanae had become even more devoted to training recently.
‘Has he changed...?
Or was that always his personality?’
She could not tell.
One thing, however, was certain.
Baek Hwi-young, who had been nothing more than a mid-tier cadet just six months ago, had now firmly established himself among the elite Martial-type cadets.
That very transformation had become considerable motivation for the other Martial-type students.
‘Though... it doesn't seem entirely positive.’
Wrapping Psionic Energy around the fingertips of her open-finger gloves, Famille slowly turned her head to observe the expressions of the other cadets.
All 500 cadets were watching them.
But what filled their eyes was not merely admiration or goodwill.
‘Jealousy...
Or inferiority.’
There were not many cadets looking at them that way.
But they certainly existed.
And those emotions were fundamentally different from competitive spirit.
They were closer to hostility.
Had she only considered Baek Hwi-young's growth by itself, Famille might have felt the same way.
She was human too.
But every time she recalled the true self she had witnessed within him...
Those feelings disappeared.
Leaving behind nothing but unanswered questions.
‘......’
Having reached that conclusion, she turned her attention back toward the Bishop.
She had no hobby of dwelling endlessly on questions without answers.
And the instant her gaze shifted—
“Kyaaaack!”
Dokgo Ran was already flying through the air.
“Sigh.”
Meanwhile, the researchers monitoring the battle were no less busy.
“What about the data?”
“It's being calculated.”
“As expected, there are still shortcomings since we rushed the calibration. Even so, I'd say it's more than acceptable.”
The laptops and sensors arranged along one side of the training ground continuously recorded the battle between the Bishop and the cadets while rapidly outputting combat data.
Since Lillian was absent, Naomi, the lead researcher, had taken command on-site.
Under her calm and efficient leadership, the researchers moved without hesitation.
From the outside...
It appeared to be an entirely peaceful scene.
KWAAAAAAANG!
Every now and then explosions echoed.
Dokgo Ran occasionally flew through the air and rolled across the ground.
But at the Central Special-duty Officer Academy...
That was practically everyday life.
“Hm?”
The problem arose precisely then.
Just as everyone had become convinced everything was proceeding smoothly.
“L-Lead Researcher!”
“Yes?”
At the frantic cry of one researcher monitoring the Bishop's biological data, Naomi looked up from the combat analysis she had been calculating.
Biological data was ordinarily the category least prone to problems.
It was thoroughly calibrated beforehand.
Thus, Naomi's face showed neither concern nor apprehension.
“T-There's... something wrong!”
That remained true.
Until she saw the data herself.
Beep. Beep.
Even from a distance, she could immediately tell something was terribly wrong.
The display was entirely crimson.
Naomi instantly sprang to her feet and rushed toward the monitor.
The flustered researcher barely regained her composure before continuing her report in a trembling voice.
“Th-The stress index has exceeded the locked limit by ten times... n-no, even higher. A-And its aggression is increasing exponentially...”
Though her report was disjointed, Naomi remained composed, rapidly typing while evaluating the situation with the calm expected of the lead researcher.
‘If it's only a temporary calibration error, the best option is to stop its operation immediately.
To do that, I need to forcibly reset the signal relay from here....’
Some degree of error had always been anticipated with the Bishop.
Its calibration had been rushed at Jin Crow's request.
Of course, this problem was far more severe than expected.
Even so, it did not appear impossible to resolve.
Tap tap tap tap!
Typing at mechanical speed, Naomi completed the emergency shutdown code and pressed Enter.
The instant she did—
The skyrocketing values rapidly began to fall.
The crimson display slowly returned to normal.
“Arin, over something this small...”
Relieved, Naomi turned toward the researcher standing there in panic, preparing to scold her.
Or rather...
She was about to.
“L-Lead Researcher!”
“Ah.”
The researcher named Arin pointed desperately at the screen.
Only after instinctively turning her head did Naomi see the countless words filling the monitor.
「SYSTEM ERROR」
「SYSTEM ERROR」
「SYSTEM ERROR」
……Omitted……
「SYSTEM ERROR」
The screen had already completely failed.
Naomi's face turned deathly pale as she looked away.
And before her...
The nightmare she had witnessed at Mercato was unfolding once again.
—Uuuuuuu... Uuuuuuuuuuu!
Bathed in crimson light, the Bishop finally tore away the leash humanity had fastened upon its consciousness.
Its body awakened to the violence engraved into its very being.
The docility branded into its brainwashing was ripped apart by the savagery buried within.
‘Humans.
Kill them.
Every last one.’
It was a familiar whisper.
A sweet whisper.
The beast that had lived as a slave trembled violently.
Its body, twisted by deprivation and contradiction, had become even more ferocious.
And the result unfolded before everyone's eyes.
—Uuuuuuu....
Like the solemn tolling of a bell echoing through a tranquil forest—
The tentacles that had been extending toward Hino Kanae suddenly spread outward in every direction.
“Huh?”
“W-Wait!”
Moving faster than the speed of sound—
Dozens of tentacles split apart.
Then became hundreds.
They descended upon the cadets.
“Kh!”
“W-What is this?!”
Some managed to block them almost instinctively.
But no matter how superhuman they were...
No one could react to attacks exceeding the speed of sound while caught completely off guard.
“Kugh!”
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
“A-Aaaagh!”
A male cadet's heart was pierced clean through.
His body lifted into the air before collapsing as blood sprayed wildly from the coin-sized hole in his chest.
“Ah... ah.”
The female cadet standing before him merely blinked blankly as his blood splashed across her face like a fountain.
The next tentacle pierced straight through her eye.
It burst out the back of her head.
PAAANG!
Like a watermelon exploding—
Her head burst apart.
At that moment...
The vast majority of the cadets instinctively realized one thing.
‘If we don't fight, we'll die!’
That was no longer a Training Dummy equipped with safety restrictions.
It was no different from a living Creature running rampant.
No.
It was a Creature.
The moment they realized that—
The first person to act was none other than—
“Everyone, battle formation! Get the wounded and the Support-types to the rear!”
It was Ginatio.
His face had gone completely pale as he roared the command.
PAAAAANG!
The tentacles that had regrouped scattered once again toward the cadets.
Grinding his teeth, Ginatio unleashed brilliant blue Psionic Energy.
「Spatial Occupation」
「Refraction」
Though only a Triple Gear revolved within him...
He was still a Special-duty Officer who had survived the Galactic War.
An instructor-class combatant.
Brilliant light burst from his eyes.
The meticulously controlled Psionic Energy flowing from his fingertips manipulated space itself, forcing unreality into reality.
KAGAGAGAGAGAK!
Every tentacle extending toward the cadets was helplessly deflected by the massive Refraction field he deployed with his full strength.
“...Cough.”
Blue Psionic Energy spread across an area larger than an entire soccer field in an instant.
The Ability-type cadets stared in disbelief.
They immediately understood how absurdly impossible such a feat was.
Yet Ginatio himself felt like he was dying.
‘At most...
Five times.
That's my limit.’
He reached the conclusion calmly.
Then he shouted toward the panicked researchers.
“Request reinforcements!”
“Y-Yes!”
There was no time for formalities.
KAGAGAGAGAK!
Even now, the Bishop rampaged wildly as though determined to cast off the disgusting brand of slavery embedded within it.
After blocking attack after attack—
Blood streamed down Ginatio's chin.
Yet not even one minute had passed.
However...
To superhumans, one minute was more than enough to transform shock, confusion, and grief into rage and fighting spirit.
“AAAAAAAH!”
“Fuck! Kill it!”
More than ten cadets had died in the initial assault.
Over thirty had been wounded.
Naturally, the Attackers whose eyes had gone bloodshot charged the Bishop first.
Dokgo Ran and Hino Kanae, having fully grasped the severity of the situation, were no exception.
“Hup!”
「Dokgo Style」
「Ran Style」
「Explosive Thunder Fist」
The most destructive and straightforward secret technique erupted from Dokgo Ran's fist.
Hino Kanae followed directly behind, swinging her blade.
Nor were they alone.
Every other cadet poured their fury into the weapons aimed at the Bishop.
Yet at that very moment—
Something no one had anticipated occurred.
—Uuuuu....
After uttering a short murmur—
The Bishop gathered all of its tentacles together.
As though mocking the charging cadets, it kicked off the ground and leaped.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAANG!
A tremendous explosion shook the very earth.
Its massive body slammed into the ceiling of the training ground.
Tentacles shot through the cracks it created.
“N-No...”
Seeing that, Ginatio withdrew his scattered Psionic Energy and reached out to stop it.
Or rather...
He was about to.
Until he saw a single streak of light.
「Penetration Stack: Acceleration」
「Comet」
The streak of light trailed a short tail of brilliance behind it.
Then—
It pierced straight through the Bishop's abdomen with absolute precision.
—UUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
At last—
The Bishop's agonized scream echoed down from the ceiling of the training ground.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter