chapter 253
253 Tue-Epilogue (3)
The world ran into endless war and competition for each other’s existence. And it is still the same today.
“Even if you look at it very simply, only the firepower of the guns has become more than ten times stronger than before the Great War. Even the size and cost remain the same.”
“okay.”
“So, villager. Where are you from?”
He giggled and pushed his face away. As if the interview with the instructor in charge was going well, Karl, who had been relieved inside, shook his eyes. In the past, after being rescued by the Federation.
He became acquainted with Ben, the guardian of the Federation, and Karl was recognized for his talent and developed his strength. And further from there, at Ben’s recommendation, he was sent to a planet belonging to the Federation, and decided to become a formal guardian.
After all, there was nothing left in the homeland, which had lost neither house nor village. It was here that he came to this place, the Guardian Educational Institute of the planet Bark.
“It’s the first place I’ve ever heard of.”
“Choi, this is where I recently joined the Federation.”
Hearing about Karl’s hometown, he reacted more bitterly than he had asked. Actually, hometown or place of origin was not so important within the Federation.
Especially, especially here. It was a place with only one purpose: to fight the enemy and become stronger.
“Is the girl next to you from the same background as you?”
The instructor’s eyes turned to Karl’s side. To the red-eyed girl who clings to Karl and is openly wary of him.
He wore the uniform of a trainee like Carl, but the hostility made the instructor wince.
“That’s right. He’s a little shy. His name is…”
“Lopez-sama. You must go slowly now.”
“Hey, it’s time already. The interview with 300 prospective trainees ends with this.”
However, the instructor, who was busy with work, had to leave before hearing her name. Karl didn’t really care. As they said, they were just one of hundreds of trainees.
Of these hundreds, some became apprentices and some became official guardians.
And she wasn’t even interested in that in the first place.
“But Ben-nim told the instructor to look good.”
“It’s always the same, Karl.”
As Karl, who smiled bitterly, looked at her and spoke, her red lips curled and a beautiful voice came out.
“You just have to prove it with your skills.”
She smiled and said there was nothing wrong.
It was familiar to both of them. It was because he was already a handsome adult, and he had come to this place only with his skills, defeating the high-profile royal knights from the front.
“Even though our training center is out of the country, people from all over the world flock to it for raw meat. To survive, it’s usually difficult with talent.”
After that day, the trainees went into training. Those who start as trainees are usually promising youngsters who showed their talents to Guardians dispatched to various places, and most of them were still in the raw stone stage.
However, there are people who have different origins even with the same gemstone.
Within a few months, the so-called ‘seeing sprouts’ began to appear.
“Sergeant Lopez. Where did anyone want to be this rider this time?”
“Of course it is, dean.”
Instructor Lopez confidently nodded to the old man who had come to see him. For instructors, nurturing talented people has always been a rewarding job.
“Are you able to get an early promotion as an apprentice?”
“…an early promotion?”
“Because you have to be an apprentice at least to go out in the real world.”
However, he was taken aback by what he said next. Because the dean’s words were saying that the current trainees would be promoted early and put into practice.
Among the trainees, more than 80% were minors even according to the federation.
“The Eastern Front is in peril, Sergeant. People are still dying.”
“But trainees are people too!”
“Aren’t they here to fight for themselves at least?”
He instinctively objected, but the dean shook his head. I came to fight for myself. At that one sentence, he was at a loss for words.
Because I’ve seen people get tired of losing something, not being able to protect it, and being angry at their helplessness.
“Is it them?”
In the end, Lopez showed the dean the information of some trainees that he had compiled. The headmaster’s eyes twinkled. These were clearly outstanding performances as they were carefully selected by strict instructors.
And some of them stood out.
“Pair efficiency 150%?”
“Yes. It’s the best as an individual, but the two of them move as if they were one body, showing more than twice the efficiency compared to an individual. Already in the same rider, there are no opponents except for each other.”
“It’s like…”
“Isn’t it similar to them? Indeed, how wide this universe is. It’s similar to the fact that the woman gets into an argument and goes through all kinds of accidents.”
They noticed a pair of men and women. Apparently, they are just ordinary boys and girls. However, their recorded video shows what it means to have no rival.
Both the dean and Lopez shone their eyes. Similar cases like this have already existed in history.
“If you do this well, it will be of great help. People who are driven to extremes always look for a hero. If that hero is the most powerful pair in the early days of the Great War that cannot be compared with now.”
Unless the war is over, the world is always thirsty for heroes. If a new hero could appear, there was no reason to refuse.
“Early promotion?”
“If you agree, it can be done. However, you must go to the field the moment you are promoted to apprenticeship. To the battlefield where Z-01’s corps is trying to invade.”
Lopez gathered the selected trainees. Everyone’s bewildered tea was evident. It’s nice to be promoted early, but the price is real. That is to say, you could lose your life.
“I’ll do it.”
“Me too.”
However, the overall atmosphere was a tendency to accept the decision. There was even a sense of intimacy.
Karl raised his hand as well. Most of those who came here in the first place had a clear goal of fighting literally, whether it was revenge or whatever.
Fortunately, there was one person who was irritable, but no one cared about her.
“Then prepare. I don’t have much time.”
Lopez confirmed their will and reported it to the superior. Due to the urgency of the situation, the work proceeded quickly.
The ten trainees, or apprentice guardians, who graduated from the educational institute unusually quickly were immediately dispatched to the battlefield.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“Will that be easy?”
In the transport plane, Karl, who had not had a good complexion right after departure, laughed at her words and shook his head.
“I thought it was an opportunity. A chance to get recognized, to grow up, and to get revenge. But you really have to fight them anyway.”
“Z-01, they are just ignorant beasts.”
At Carl’s words, she revealed this and smiled. But behind that laugh is the obvious murderousness and scorn. In this way, her hostility toward her enemies was enough to make even Karl, who was trying to avenge her revenge, flinch.
“Look at me. We can cut them all down.”
“I know.”
“Then why don’t you drink this and calm down?”
As if she was used to it, she suggested a drink from the glass to Karl. Karl said thank you and drank it without any doubt.
But Karl had no clue. Obviously, the content itself was an ordinary drink, but how the one drop of blood that she deliberately spilled just got into the drink and accumulated, changing her body.
“Coming soon!”
Meanwhile, the transport flies through the gates, traverses space, and arrives at the battlefield. It was such a horrific battlefield with debris already floating around in space.
***
“Just before the city defense line fell. Please go there!”
The apprentices who were brought in in a hurry were put on the battlefield on the ground, not in outer space, where the battle difficulty rapidly increased. At the monsters that spread their nests and eroded the planet, the people resisted with firepower.
However, the planet, which was still only an early frontier, had very poor defense capabilities.
“It’s nothing. You just have to follow my orders!”
A Guardian began to command the frozen apprentices, but never brought them to the fore.
The order given to the apprentices is to protect those evacuating from behind here. Karl, too, kept his seat, looking around with a hardened face.
‘…you can do it.’
Looking at the citizens evacuating in a hurry, and seeing himself reflected in their eyes, Karl superimposed the present on the events of the past.
The benefactors from heaven saved his life, so this time he had to be the savior. Because that was his goal in the first place.
“Well, it’s the rear, so they don’t come all the way here?”
And as time went on, the tension between the same apprentices gradually eased. Because the enemies have not yet been seen at all.
“Uh… there!”
But at that moment, variables began to appear, just as words become seeds. Everyone looked up at the sky at someone’s words.
At the same time, Carl’s eyes widened when he saw them.
“It’s an flying bell!”
Legionary flying class that rules the sky. Neither birds nor bugs, these bizarre flying beasts attacked the site at once, breaking through the anti-aircraft nets that they barely spewed out.
“Aww!”
“Sah, save me…”
In an instant, the scene where people rested with peace of mind turned into a disaster. The soldiers resisted, firing desperately, and the few Guardians raised their weapons to fight.
“Don’t panic, hold your seat! At most, a few medium-sized ones. You can win!”
The guardian who led the apprentices, including Karl, cut down the flying bell that was attacking with a single sword with a sword and shouted proudly.
That alone gave me hope and strength. Believing that it was okay to have him, a veteran, developed.
“The big fish has arrived.”
“uh…?”
But the moment it rushed from the sky and landed on the ground at once. Leaving behind her quietly muttered words, everyone’s eyes turned to him.
“Hey Ik! Guardian!”
The flying bell’s claws that landed on the ground glistened and dripped with blood, and the Guardian’s body ripped in half as it stumbled and fell, spouting blood.
“Super class!”
An enemy of the Guardians, the reaper of the battlefield. A formidable enemy that could not be dealt with came down to the ground without any expectation or notice, spread its feathered wings, and flashed a dark red barrier.
And at that moment, this area fell under the control of the gnome. The fear and shock of a completely unexpected formidable foe froze not only the refugees, but also the soldiers and apprentice guardians.
death. It dominated everyone’s mind.
“What are you hesitating about, Karl?”
“…Yeah. That’s right.”
However, there were almost unique beings that could move in the meantime.
When Carl heard her voice with his sword already drawn, he clenched his teeth and drew his sword. The high-ranking species also recognized the two as enemies and immediately attacked them, wielding black nails the size of a human upper body.
Just before the collision, the swords of the two men who ran together rang and moved as if they were one.
It was a situation in which others would say that he was crazy, but he was certain that he would not lose to the two who had already entered the battle.
“The wounded go this way.”
“I’m just glad the damage was done.”
A great storm passed once. There were certainly some dead and some injured, but everyone thought it was a miracle.
It was because the superior servant suddenly attacked the rear with only the wounded in the reserve force. But thanks to shutting it down, a miracle could come true.
“So where are those heroes? I’d love to see them.”
“I’ll be over there in the back.”
He said with a smirk as he healed the wounded soldier’s leg. The soldier smiled and pointed backwards.
“The rumors have already spread. The most popular rumors on the battlefield are these heroic stories.”
“I’ve heard other things about them, too.”
“Ah, the doctor probably knows.”
The soldier seemed to enjoy telling this story, so he forgot about the pain and talked a lot.
“I wonder if it’s the return of the heroes who have remained as legends in the past.”
“I see what you mean. I’ll have to go. They seem to be looking for me.”
He smiled faintly and got up from his seat, agreeing to the soldier’s story. In the distance, beckoning to him were the men of the Guardian HQ.
“Did you find it?”
“There are injured people here as well. Of course, the critically ill have already been transferred, and only light treatment is urgently needed.”
The patients were full. It was the same among those who fought at the forefront.
“Did you hear me, nurse?”
“I don’t understand. How long are you going to play doctor?”
“I don’t think it’s been a year, but why?”
Moving from place to place, he quarreled with the woman who was following him. Although she grumbled that he did not understand his actions, the actions themselves were faithfully obeying the words.
“Healing is over. Healing spells and spells are broken when another power intervenes… so I just used normal treatment.”
He healed wounded apprentice guardians. Of the 10 apprentice guardians who participated in this battle, 3 were killed. Half of them were injured, and the other half were those who did not seem to be able to escape the aftereffects of the first battle.
“ah.”
And then they met each other. Unlike the others, there seems to be no sequelae, and now the two most famous duo in this area and a duo of doctors and nurses with ordinary black hair.
“hello.”
Karl greeted him normally.
“Fame… I’ve heard of it.”
He, too, was greeted normally.
However, the two women, no, the two creatures instinctively looked at each other and glanced at each other with interest.
‘cute child.’
Soon, her eyes pierced through the opponent’s true identity. I couldn’t figure it out Because it was one of his own seeds and fragments that grew on his own, as he intended.
In fact, the other party just frowned, not realizing what kind of existence this young, short-haired nurse standing in front of him was.
“Reputation, to be honest, it’s too much…”
“What do you mean? It’s great that just the two of you at such a young age can catch the top species.”
Meanwhile, Carl scratched his head and muttered. He asked, seemingly interested.
“Compared to those two, we’re still lacking. They’ve been fighting the higher-order, special-class of the original.”
“Because it’s the original…Aren’t they already disappeared from this universe? Kang Shin-woo and Eve are also in a sealed state that you never know when they will wake up.”
He smiled and encouraged Karl. It is known that the originals, which were called true horrors, have already ceased to exist.
The first heroes who fought against them, with the exception of long-lived species like Shuri, all die or become sealed and wait for the time to wake up and fight someday.
“There is no way the original could have completely disappeared.”
It was then that the girl opened her mouth. As soon as the original story came out, the girl flashed her eyes and showed hostility.
“They are losers. In the end, they could not eat their opponents and were culled.”
“You stupid kid.”
While Karl was taken aback by the sudden intrusion of a girl, this time she snorted and opened her mouth.
“profit!”
The girl tried to pull her hand away from her grip on her head, but to her surprise, her slender, white hand did not move.
With that, she pressed her face to the girl.
“Original is not defeated. How about thinking like this, you have achieved everything you want and are now living a different life. Your children have grown up and covered the universe once more, and you have already conquered this world once. If you ever got it.”
“The bullshit…don’t let this go!”
“Stop it now.”
“Stop it. Eve!”
Two men beat up two women.
He wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her towards him, and Carlo grabbed the girl’s hand and pulled him away.
“That’s a cool name.”
“Hmmm…”
He smiled as he saw Carl shouting the girl’s name.
In fact, Karl coughed and avoided his gaze. Because Eve was the name he had given the girl himself. The motive was obvious.
“Okay, that’s a big deal! Write it down again!”
It was then that the loud siren sounded.
Confused, Karl, the girl, and Eve looked outside. Another group of enemies was seen coming from beyond the horizon.
“Let’s go. We’ll evacuate too.”
“Oh, I see.”
Carl, the girl and Eve ran out together.
He and she, watching the back, had interesting faces while others were making fuss and preparing to evacuate.
“Isn’t it dangerous? All the other children are living with it.”
“But how can I bear this? Can’t I show bitterness to the ignorant and naive little girl and to my granddaughter once in a while?”
He grasped her intentions at once, turned his head and smiled bitterly, but she had already made up her mind.
Soon, while no one was watching, her body began to twist all over her clothes. It is a higher-order species of the original, which has been disappearing for more than 100 years, gradually taking shape.
Such a being has just reappeared in this world for the purpose of making fun of little children.
‘Do it in moderation.’
In the end, he could only deliver a message through a connected ritual.