Axion wanted to open his eyes.
But he couldn't.
His body was not obeying him.
It was like what happened to him earlier when Erhan attacked him in the bushes.
But unlike that time, he couldn't breathe properly, causing him severe pain.
He remembered how his consciousness faded into the lake.
Did he fail again then?
What expression would his father's face bear if he saw him like this?
“You idiot.”
In the darkness, his father's contemptuous voice, the voice that had haunted him since his childhood, rang in his ears.
He even felt grateful that he didn't join the Imperial Army and came here instead.
If he had failed to train in the imperial army, his father would have despised him throughout his life, accusing him of desecrating the family's honor.
He wished he could get out of this darkness quickly and breathe properly.
Remembering his father's hellish training in his childhood was making him feel crazy.
"all."
One day, his father brought a small pill and ordered it to him.
He didn't want to take it for fear that something terrible would happen if he did, but he took the pill, his hands shaking.
“When an order is given, never question or argue, just carry out.”
These were the words that his father, who had devoted his entire life to the Imperial Army, had emphasized since his childhood.
As soon as he took it, he felt dizzy and his vision gradually faded.
It was said to be a pill that contained a curse that caused temporary blindness.
“If you show me a performance that satisfies me, I will give you the antidote.”
In the darkness, his father's cold voice pierced his ears.
He had undergone all kinds of grueling training, but this was something he had never experienced before.
To be able to hold the sword, he diligently felt his surroundings.
He had barely found the sword and grabbed it when his father hit him with a wooden sword.
Fuck!
As he fell to his knees, he heard a stern voice.
“Swing your sword and listen to his voice!”
Fuck!
Fuck!
The blows of his father's wooden sword continued.
He was frightened because he did not see anything, so he crouched on the ground, wrapped his arms around his head, and hugged his body.
He wished he could run away, not caring about the sound of the sword or anything else.
“You idiot.”
His father stopped attacking, and muttered a low voice towards him.
Maybe because he couldn't see.
His voice was as usual, but it sounded clearer that day.
This was then followed by the sound of a sigh filled with disdain, and even the sounds of his footsteps as he left the training ground.
As soon as he remembered the past, he was overwhelmed by the despair and sense of defeat that he had hardly forgotten.
His father's voice kept ringing in his ears.
He gradually began to narrow himself.
Wouldn't it have been better if he just suffocated and died like that?
“You chose life over death.
So you are not a coward, but a brave person.”
He heard the voice of 'that girl' who had saved him in the past.
He missed her madly, the one whose face and name he did not know.
Would he die like this without keeping his promise to her?
He was an idiot, just like his father said.
Despite all his mad and desperate efforts after that, he seemed not much different from his helpless childhood.
At that moment, a strange sensation touched his lips.
It was soft and warm to the touch.
But he looked strangely familiar.
“……!”
These are definitely 'that girl's' lips.
He could never forget the feeling of that kiss he had shared with her in the past.
Is she really on my side?
Not possible!
This is just an illusion.
But the texture of the lips was very vibrant.
Little by little, his suppressed breath began to open, and the pain slowly diminished.
He couldn't hear his father's voice anymore.
Even if it was all just an illusion, he wished he could stay with her.
While he was thinking like this, he involuntarily stretched out his arms.
•
Ilia was seriously breathing into the unconscious Axion.
shrink!
His lips moved faintly.
Elia felt a strange sense of discomfort, but she quickly administered first aid.
After exhaling, she pulled her lips away and pressed his chest.
And hello!
A large amount of lake water that he swallowed flowed out of his mouth.
She felt a faint, but palpable, heartbeat in his chest.
She shouted in a hopeful voice to the faces of the anxious members of the unit:
"It worked!
He's alive!"
Joy appeared on the faces of the unit members as well.
There was only one more puff left.
Elia placed her lips on his again.
At that moment, something solid surrounded her body.
Axion extended his arms and embraced her.
'What happened to him suddenly?!'
She tried to pull her body away, but he held her tighter.
Their bodies became completely close together.
Flash!
At that moment, Axion's blue eyes opened.
Axion looked at her silently.
“What are you doing now...?”
He stammered, staring silently at her lips.
Elijah's face flushed at that look.
“It was a first aid to save you...!”
Wait, why am I justifying my position?
I was the one who saved him!
Meanwhile, Axion's facial expression froze strangely.
Is it possible that I just mistook the lips of that man Erhan for the lips of 'that girl'?
There are limits to errors!
He felt so angry and ashamed of himself that he wished to die.
He stared at Erhan as if he was about to kill him.
He had always thought he was handsome, but today he seemed even more handsome to an annoying degree.
“Hey, are you okay now…?”
“Get away from me!”
Axion stepped back and shouted coldly.
Elia looked at him, unable to believe what she was seeing.
She saved him, but instead of being grateful, he became angry.
She even felt wronged.
'decent.
His strange personality is nothing new.'
At that moment, Keisha and Theo approached from the other side.
“What's going on?”
“Absolutely nothing!”
Elia shouted upon seeing them, getting into a ready position.
Keisha said with an unusually serious face:
“An unexpected vortex has appeared in the lake.
It was not serious, and Theo and I were able to control it, but searching for the Aura Stone in such conditions is impossible, so today’s training is cancelled.
Everyone return to the barracks.”
At that moment, Elia hesitated, and Keisha's eyes narrowed.
“Unit Commander, what’s going on?”
“I have something to say.”
"What?"
“I already found the Aura Stone.”
Illya held out the Halo Stone to him.
Keisha's eyes narrowed.
This was definitely the Aura Stone that he had thrown.
When Theo saw him, his eyes trembled.
'Did he bring this from among those monsters?'
Moreover, it wasn't just the monsters, an unidentified vortex had also appeared.
Although Keisha and Theo were able to control the situation thanks to their abilities, it was not a spiral that the members of this unit could endure.
'What the hell is this person...!'
Keisha looked at Elijah with a satisfied smile.
“Good.
Tringen, Ruppelt.
I grant you leave for one day.”
•
Fortunately, there were no seriously injured people among the unit.
Of course, there were many members of the unit whose limbs had frozen from enduring the cold in the lake.
Had it not been for Theo's quick treatment, the frozen limbs might have developed gangrene.
‘I want to go to the Grand Duke’s Palace quickly!’
Elia rose from her tent, opened her eyes, and screamed deep within herself.
After going through this horrific field exploratory training, I fully realized that moderate training in the training ground and doing business for special products was like heaven.
Anyway, since it's already the fourth day, this hell will end tomorrow.
Even the actual training is the last day!
And tomorrow, on the fifth day, they would have to leave for the Grand Duke's Palace early in the morning, so there would be no training.
She intended to use the exit permit upon her return.
'I want to quickly breathe the air of the outside world!'
But hope did not last long, as anxiety preceded it.
The last training is usually the most intense.
If it was Keisha, he would likely have arranged for extremely bad and terrible training.
I left the tent and ordered the unit to wait.
Axion was the first to come out today as well.
When their eyes met, he quickly avoided her gaze, and she ignored him as well.
Keisha appeared and distributed weapons and protective gear to them.
“Take.”
It was a sharp-bladed sword, not a wooden sword.
It wasn't a brand new sword, but it was in very good condition.
The protective equipment was also old but sturdy.
“Today’s training is to subdue the monsters residing in the lower reaches of the Qin Mountain Range.”
Elijah's eyes narrowed upon hearing those words.
The Qin Mountain Range was not home to very powerful monsters.
Especially in these lower reaches.
Of course, their number was enormous.
But last time, Keisha opened a portal and summoned the monsters living here for training, and Illya got rid of most of those monsters using magic traps.
Therefore, the number of monsters remaining here was not very large.
‘Of course, this time Keisha won’t have cast a spell to prevent vital points from being attacked like he did last time……’
But she and the unit haven't been out of work since then either.
They have improved significantly through the intense training that Keisha puts them through daily.
Even that cowardly Lennox could now subdue lower-tier monsters if given a suitable sword.
With a little effort, staying here for a day wasn't difficult.
It was unreasonable for Kesha not to know this fact.
'There is something strange.'
She felt anxious.
He's not the type of person who would ever do an easy training like this on the last day.