Episode 144 – Crisis facing the combat team
Jason, who led the combat team of Adalbert’s team, was looking around the ruins with his team members.
The task given to them was to figure out what was around the area they had designated as temporary shelters.
Everyone in the combat team was following Jason cautiously, hesitantly.
The move in a hesitant posture was to reduce the detectable area so that the monster would not come into the sight even a little.
Because monsters adapt to the environment, albeit very little, depending on where they live.
Even if monsters belonged to the same species of orcs, orcs living in mountainous areas and orcs living in plains were bound to adapt to different environments in different directions.
For orcs who live in mountainous areas, it was not easy to secure their sight because of the trees that were full of trees.
For that reason, Orcs in the mountainous regions had slightly worse eyesight than ordinary Orcs.
However, on the contrary, the sense of smell and hearing have developed.
It has developed a sense of smell so that it can track the smell of its target prey while avoiding various antibacterial substances emitted by plants.
Hearing has also developed so that it can accurately track the footsteps of its target even in the midst of the rustling of leaves.
That’s why orcs living in mountainous areas have bigger noses and longer ears like elves.
On the contrary, Orcs living in the plains had a slightly lower sense of hearing and smell than Orcs living in the mountains.
However, Orcs living in the open plains needed the ability to track targets approaching from afar or fleeing far away.
Adapting to the environment, Orcs’ eyesight has improved, and they have become better at spotting prey approaching from afar, like an eagle’s eye.
Their eyes are well-developed like high-end telescopes, and for this reason, the lenses and corneas obtained from orcs in the plains were highly valued as ingredients for elixirs that improve eyesight for a certain period of time.
Anyway, this place where combat team members practice is a vast plain.
“You may encounter an unknown monster, so use the scattered wreckage as cover and move.”
There were a lot of ruins of buildings that looked like ruins in the middle, so there were many places to hide.
“This seems to have been a city in the past, perhaps.”
“I’m sure it is. In a wide plain, with so many ruins of buildings… How big a city could there have been?”
After seeing the remains of buildings scattered across the plain, the combat team members guessed that a city had been built here.
No matter how many times I counted, and counted, and counted, there was no sign of the end of the count.
“I don’t know. Perhaps, an ancient civilization was settled in this land.”
Jason expressed his feelings, recalling a fairy tale about an ancient civilization he had heard when he was a child.
He was saying in that fairy tale.
‘A long time ago, there was a country that tried to rule the world by researching magic, but it was destroyed after committing an act of blasphemy.’
At the end of the text was added the words, “So you must never do anything that blasphemes God.”
“What is certain is that there might be a monster hiding here somewhere.”
“That’s right.”
At Jo Won’s words, Jason escaped from his past thoughts and began to focus on the present again.
A dangerous place where everyone can die if you relax even a little.
A place where even a veteran adventurer has no choice but to lie down on the ground as a cold corpse if he makes a mistake.
They were now in an unexplored land.
–
That being woke up from the hunger he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Hunger.
Endless hunger.
To make oneself suffer.
Eat and eat and eat, but there is no means to satisfy hunger.
How long has it been since I was exhausted from endless hunger?
From noble mtl dot com.
Can’t count.
But once again the hunger awoke.
“Creek.”
A being who was tired of endless hunger and forced himself into eternal sleep.
A monster from beyond the world, from the void.
The ‘Void Eater’ raised its body.
–
As he led his team and carefully inspected the buildings in the ruins, a cold sensation ran down Jason’s spine.
“Hmm?”
“What’s the matter, Captain?”
After seeing Jason suddenly stand up, the combat team members asked what was going on.
However, Jason was not in a position to answer the members’ questions.
A chilly sensation running down the spine.
It was a unique ability passed down from the ancestors that flowed through Jason’s blood.
The ability to detect when a very dangerous, powerful enemy that cannot be dealt with on its own is nearby.
Thanks to that ability, I have never been in danger while practicing martial arts.
But now, more than ever, this ability was sending him a strong warning.
“All ready for battle.”
“Yes?”
“Prepare to retreat at the same time as the battle. I guess…”
Looks like there’s a problem.
Jason’s voice resounds without pitch.
However, there was not a single member of the crew who did not hear it.
The combat team led by Jason knew about Jason’s unique ability.
When a powerful enemy appears, the very ability to automatically warn of a crisis.
They understood that that ability was warning Jason now.
“Where do you feel?”
“It’s far away. It’s a bit far from here.”
Fortunately, they don’t seem to have noticed our presence.
“Let’s check if the crisis response notebook says what to do in this situation.”
“Uh, yes.”
Crisis Response Handbook.
It was given to students who went on an outside practice, and it could be said to be a kind of collection of information written on what to do in case of an emergency.
“Uh, uh uh?”
“Why is that?”
“Joe, Captain. Something strange is written there?”
“What?”
Jowon said that there were strange contents written in the crisis response notebook, and Jason was handed over Jowon’s notebook and checked the contents.
“What is it, there is something written that I can’t understand with common sense?”
Jason looked at the contents written in the Crisis Response Notebook and reacted as if he was dumbfounded.
[If you encounter a powerful enemy, run towards it!]
[To the proud students of Noble Academy, no enemy can block their path!]
[Extra points for bravely defeating strong enemies!]
“Crazy, who the hell did this prank?”
The original content was erased, and the content seemed to have been jokingly written by someone.
This is something you should never do to a crisis response notebook that will be used at the moment of life and death.
“The same thing is written on mine.”
“Me too.”
All the notebooks held by the combatants had the same information written on them.
If you encounter a powerful enemy, rush in and take it down to earn points.
“It’s something I don’t understand from common sense.”
“I think so too.”
“I don’t know who it is, but it seems that our notebook is not the only one that has changed like this.”
The moment he heard the words from one of the members of the group, Jason again felt a cold sensation running down his spine.
Now, the time when those senses are renewed is getting faster little by little.
That meant that a mighty enemy was gradually approaching this place.
“You must quickly run away and join the support team.”
“Yes?”
“There’s no time. Move quickly. I’ll explain the details as we move, so let’s move quickly.”
At Jason’s urgent voice, all the members of the combat team gathered their equipment and started moving towards the temporary shelter.
However, even when fleeing, they moved and hid themselves in cover.
‘What is it? How strong is the enemy that the ability sends such a strong warning?’
Jason questioned the strong warning his powers sent.
How strong is the enemy to send such a warning?
This sensation, as if the spine was cold and frozen, was unprecedented.
However, there was no way I could do anything here right now.
Considering that the contents of their Crisis Response Notebook were manipulated, it seemed that they should cross-check with the Crisis Response Notebook held by the support team to find out what had changed.
“Damn it.”
However, this is a field where you have to survive.
In a place where you don’t know when a crisis will strike, do you have time to sit around and cross-check your crisis response notebook?
‘If I meet a bastard who is mean to my notebook, I will definitely slit his head.’
Jason vowed to slit his head if he ever met the one who was messing with the notebook.
But does he know?
The fact that the person playing the joke on the notebook they use is none other than the head of Bless’s planning department.
And the head of the planning department didn’t even know how many people would die in this exercise because of the prank he played.