“Ah…”
Groaning sounds echoed throughout the training ground, and most of the unit's members were lying on the ground.
Naturally, the entire majority fell within one hour.
As Elia predicted, the dream (albeit false) of leaving the camp evaporated.
Currently, there had only been three people running for four hours: Axion, Ilya, and Yusar.
'Oh my God, this medicine is really crazy.'
Illya looked at her body, which was still running completely normally.
She had run non-stop for a full four hours, and yet her breathing was only slightly rapid, and her limbs only felt a little stiff.
It was as if she had gone for a light jog.
On a normal day, she would have been on the verge of fainting.
Yusar, who took the same medicine as her, also looked very well.
But what was truly terrifying was Axion.
Unlike them, who used medication, Axion would run for four hours on sheer physical strength.
He even seemed much better off than Ilya and Yusar.
'Is this a human or a machine?'
Illya murmured in admiration as she quickly paced the training ground.
•
Six o'clock.
"Huff... huff..."
Elijah's breathing became sharply ragged.
The effect of the medicine began to gradually wear off.
Her limbs began to hurt more and more.
Soon after, Yusar fell.
He hadn't reached the point of collapsing from exhaustion, but he seemed to have stopped at the point where he wouldn't overdo it.
Only her and Axion were left.
But the back of Axion, who was running in front of her, remained firm and unwavering.
It's really a monster.
She glanced at Keisha who was watching them.
He looked at them running, a slight smile on his lips for a while.
That smile was the reaction he showed when his cultivators exceeded the minimum he set.
‘Six hours minimum… What a crazy human being!’
But he showed no signs of issuing an order to stop running.
He must wait until only one person remains.
How stubborn!
'More than that, should I stop too now...?'
By this extent, she will have met Keisha's standards and will not be punished.
Moreover, today is not the only day.
Considering the hellish daily routine and training that would continue, it seemed best to stop there without going overboard.
This monster called Axion might have been able to run all night, but she was different.
After making her decision, Illya roughly estimated the timing of her fall and released all the strength from her body.
At the moment when her body was about to fall helplessly to the ground,
Catch!
“?”
Axion, who had somehow returned to her side, wrapped his arm around her waist and grabbed her tightly, pulling her towards his body.
Their bodies stuck together.
M-What is this development?
Illya, panting heavily, looked at Axion who was hugging her with astonished eyes.
Axion, who had been running for six hours straight, was also breathing hard.
His pale face was flushed, and his blond hair was slightly damp with sweat and stuck to his broad forehead.
From his hot body, she could feel his heartbeat, which was beating madly.
When the scent of his body mixed with the falling drops of sweat reached her nose, Elia felt dizzy.
Unlike the stench of sweaty military personnel from training, which she had grown tired of in her previous life, his scent was extremely fragrant.
'Even the main hero's sweat smells perfect!'
Then, Axion looked at her and opened his mouth.
“Huff…Erhan Trengen, you…”
His blue eyes, as he spoke pantingly, were burning with anger.
“…There is a limit to underestimating me!”
What does this say now?
When Ilya looked at him in astonishment, he muttered in a voice full of anger:
“Where are you trying to pretend to be weak and fall like you did yesterday again?”
Does he think I intentionally fell early during yesterday's head punishment training?
Why on earth?
'Is it because I, the first-place finisher, knocked him out?'
It seems so.
Ilya continued with difficulty:
“Huff… Huff… Yesterday I really fell because I was exhausted...”
“Shut up...!
Are you trying to make me lose my guard and stab me in the back again like you did last time...!”
She tried to protest, but Axion continued, panting:
“And I know very well.
You are in no condition to faint from exhaustion at all now…!”
Is he an expert in detecting such things because he has received harsh training since he was young?
But even if it's not complete exhaustion, the truth is that I feel like I'm going to die from exhaustion!
Accion whispered to her now menacingly:
“If you fall now, I will tell the coach everything.
You are being lazy and trying to avoid training...!”
Elijah's face froze when she heard those words.
Keisha hated laziness and skipping training, or what was called “feigning illness,” more than anything else.
If he knew that she tried to pretend to faint to finish training, he would obviously make her undergo insane training that bordered on torture for several days, to the point that the medicines Yusar had prepared would be of no use.
What the hell does this bastard want?
Axion continued, looking directly at her:
“Run until you drop, really.
It's a duel between you and me.”
“……!”
After he finished speaking, Axion loosened the arm that was wrapped around her waist.
Her legs faltered.
Axion looked at her with an angry look, then started running around the training ground again.
the curse!
Why should I run a race with this damned monster?!
But since things had come to this, she had no choice but to run until she really fell.
It was better than receiving one crazy angry Keisha training after another.
Illya reluctantly started running again.
Eight o'clock.
“Hah… huh!”
Even breathing was difficult.
She felt a sharp taste of blood under her chin.
Her leg muscles were screaming, and her whole body ached as if it would disintegrate.
Axion, who was running in front of her, glanced at her from time to time.
It was clear that he was checking her condition.
He's as stubborn as Kesha.
She lost all strength in her body, and her vision went white.
I wanted to die from exhaustion.
It has reached its limits now.
If I fell now, this Axion wouldn't be able to say anything, right?
At the moment when she was about to lose all the strength from her body, she heard a familiar voice in her head.
“If you went out, a girl like you, you would be nothing.”
……What?
“Do you think you'll live well if you get rid of us?”
“By ignoring your family like this and pretending to excel on your own, you will receive divine punishment!”
They were the voices of her family members who had taken advantage of her so badly in her previous life.
She thought she had forgotten them, but they still remained in her memory.
‘……It seems that I am really exhausted to death right now.’
In her previous life, when she was serving in the army and receiving training, and just before she reached the threshold of death, she remembered the voices of these humans.
She was deliberately remembering their harsh voices.
Thus, she was able to overcome the training with sheer force of will, determination, stubbornness, and unwavering determination, not to live a life of sacrifice and devotion for her despicable family, but with a firm determination to live a happy life for herself.
As a result of this repeated process, in deathly difficult situations, their voices would come to her reflexively, regardless of her will.
When she heard those sounds, she would automatically clench her teeth and overcome the pain.
It was like an awakening.
Specifically, it was a survival instinct, cruelly and repeatedly drilled into her body.
And that habit was really scary.
Even though she knew very well that those worthless members of her family were no longer in her life, she reflexively gritted her teeth.
Axion's figure before her eyes disappeared.
You didn't see anything.
The power returned to her body as a machine, regardless of her will.
She couldn't think of anything but her desperate desire to escape her cursed family and survive.
She extended her foot, and extended, and extended again with a face filled with determination and intensity.
Just to survive.
•
“Huh, huh…”
Axion turned back and realized that there was something strange about Elijah.
She seemed to be running as hard and panting as hard as before, but something had clearly changed.
Look at her eyes!
Her eyes, which looked like she was about to die from fatigue, suddenly changed into a desperate look.
But at the same time she looked a little sad.
His blue eyes shook.
It's a strangely familiar look.
Axion turned his head and focused on running.
Nine o'clock.
Axion's speed gradually slowed down.
He realized that he too had reached his limits.
“Huh, huh…”
He exhaled heavily, then turned back.
Elia had been running hard for a while, but she hadn't lost her pace.
In fact, the distance between them was shrinking even more than it had been a while ago.
How could he do that?
The moment he was distracted,
tata tat-
Illya passed him and stepped forward.
impossible…!
Axion looked at Elijah's small, skinny back in front of him, and gritted his teeth, trying to get past her again.
But his legs didn't move as he wanted.
Swing-
His legs got tangled, he lost his balance and fell.
I can't stop here...!
“Hah hah…!”
As he stared at Elijah's back, which was gradually moving away, and at the moment when he was trying to get up with difficulty again,
"Stop!
Training is over!"
Keisha shouted towards them.