LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 240
Chapter 240. Side Effects (4)
The next morning.
“Wake up!”
At the harsh voice piercing their ears, the 51st batch’s eyes snapped open.
“…What?”
“Wh-where is this?”
It was the familiar ceiling of the barracks.
And then.
“Everyone, get up!”
Gunther appeared, silhouetted against the morning sunlight.
Half-asleep and in a daze, the 51st batch felt as if everything was a dream.
‘…I feel like I’ve seen this in a dream.’
‘What is this? Was it yesterday? No, today?’
This exact thing had happened yesterday… or maybe the day before… or was it just yesterday?
They had fainted after being attacked by the tigers, bears, and wolves.
When they woke up in the morning, they were in this same tent.
‘And then… I experienced hell.’
It was a repetition of something they felt they had gone through once before.
A strange feeling as if the past and present were tangled together.
Seeing his juniors still unable to gather their senses, Gunther flashed a sinister smile.
“Was yesterday’s training not enough to knock some sense into you? Then I guess we’ll just have to make up for the lack today.”
At Gunther’s deadly remark, chills ran down the spines of the 51st batch.
As their minds snapped into focus, they realized.
This wasn’t a dream, nor was it a repetition of yesterday.
It was simply… the beginning of a new hell.
‘Th-this can’t be!’
The faces of the 51st batch inside the barracks grew pale.
‘N-no! I don’t want this!’
Among them, Mucci looked like he would faint at any moment.
* * *
The situation that unfolded afterward was identical to the previous day.
Snapped awake by Gunther’s stern warning, the 51st batch scrambled out of the barracks.
They were guided to the trial grounds by Arin and Poppy, who were waiting outside.
There, they were all subjected to eight hours of hellish training and walked out like soulless husks.
Waiting for them again was Theresia, her cold aura swirling around her.
It was a remarkable repetition of the previous day’s events.
The only difference was that when they arrived under Theresia’s guidance, Yuri was already there, wearing a red hat, waiting for the 51st batch.
He greeted them with a bright smile.
“Did you all sleep well?”
As he waved lightly, most of the 51st batch stared at him with lifeless eyes.
However, among them were a few whose eyes had not yet lost their fire.
Yuri’s eyes gleamed as he noticed them.
‘Oh? So there are still some who haven’t lost their spirit?’
It seemed that draining them of their worldly defiance in just one day was impossible.
But Yuri wasn’t disappointed.
After all, he still had five more days.
“Now then, since you’ve had a good night’s rest… shall we start a lively day?”
The more brightly Yuri smiled, the darker the faces of the 51st batch grew.
And then.
“Dooonggiinnngg!”
“Hey, is that all you’ve got?”
“Ooonee!”
The 51st batch’s screams of despair echoed through the sky of hell.
* * *
“It’s nighttime!”
“Finally, time to hunt!”
As night fell, the beasts of the forest stretched joyfully.
Laughter filled the air among them.
“Man, isn’t this quest just free money?”
“It’s way too easy!”
It was already the third day of the quest, yet only a handful of those playing the role of animals had lost their pelts.
And even that had only happened on the first day of the quest.
If they managed to keep hold of their pelts like this, they’d receive a huge reward on the final day.
So they could say this quest was easy.
But those making such claims were all from the 50th batch.
Everyone else knew this quest was far from normal.
“Hey, hey, this is really weird.”
“Right? It’s not just me, is it?”
“No matter how long we wait during the day, those 51st batch guys don’t show up.”
This quest required them to hold out in their assigned zones during the day, making sure the hunters didn’t take their pelts.
And at night, they would swap roles—the beasts would become the hunters, preying on the humans.
But no matter how much they looked, they couldn’t spot any hunters roaming the animal forest during the day.
The forest was so quiet that those playing the animals whined about being bored.
“Remember how we got totally wrecked by Yuri Holland last year… This quest feels like a freebie in comparison.”
“Last year was… brutal.”
Those who had participated in the Forest of Beasts quest multiple times couldn’t help but compare last year with this year.
Puzzled by the oddities of this year’s Forest of Beasts quest, they ventured into the night hunt.
They soon came face-to-face with an even stranger situation.
“…What is this?”
“Someone’s already been here?”
As they roamed the forest in search of prey, what greeted them were the bodies of the 51st batch, sprawled across the cold ground like corpses.
“Ugh…”
“Urgh…”
It seemed they were alive, as they twitched occasionally.
However, they were still unconscious, unaware of anyone approaching them.
These half-dead bodies were mostly found near the hell training camp.
The Black Sword Corps quickly figured out why this was happening.
When the Black Sword Corps members arrived to collect the unconscious, they clicked their tongues.
“…How hard must they have pushed them to end up like this?”
The night hunt for the beasts had just begun, but there was only one reason why they’d be collapsed already.
They had been in this state even before the night hunt began.
In other words, the 51st batch had collapsed near the hell training camp after leaving it and hadn’t woken up since.
The Black Sword Corps smiled at the sight.
“Looks like we’ll be clocking out early today.”
“Yeah, right? We just need to pick them up around the training camp.”
“I’ve assisted with this quest several times, but it’s never been this easy.”
“They said Yuri Holland was in charge of training the 51st batch, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Hopefully, he’ll take charge of training next year too.”
The Black Sword Corps, chatting and smiling, picked up the unconscious 51st batch and disappeared.
Thus, this quest left everyone happy—from the cadets playing the animals to the Black Sword Corps assisting with the quest.
Everyone except the main participants of the quest, the 51st batch.
* * *
“Wake up!”
At the sharp, cold voice, the 51st batch instinctively sat up.
And their faces turned pale.
“Gasp?!”
“Again, again?!”
“Why… why am I… why am I here?!”
The familiar ceiling of the barracks.
Gunther appeared, silhouetted against the backlight.
Everything was exactly the same as the day before and the day before that.
If not for the horrible muscle pain coursing through their entire bodies, they might’ve thought they had gone back in time.
‘I definitely… got released yesterday….’
‘And then… what happened?’
They distinctly remembered being released yesterday.
But after that, they had lost consciousness, so why were they waking up in this damn barracks again?!
“I’m going to count to ten. Anyone still inside by then will be considered as ignoring my orders… and you’ll pay the price.”
Hearing the same words for the third time, the 51st batch’s eyes filled with tears.
“This… this isn’t right…”
“P-please… someone… someone help us.”
Trapped in the endless loop of Yuri’s hell, the 51st batch’s feeble cries for help scattered pitifully into the void.
And then.
“Dooonggiinnngg!”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Ooonee!”
Once more, their desperate screams echoed across the hellish sky.
* * *
Time flew by.
It was the fifth day of the pelt-gathering quest.
Thanks to a single demon king, the Forest of Beasts was experiencing an unprecedented era of peace.
However, trapped in the endless loop of hell, the 51st batch was growing thinner by the day.
For the past few days, their routine had been incredibly simple.
In the morning, they’d wake to Gunther’s wake-up call.
They’d roll through hell’s fire for eight hours, squeezed dry of energy.
After being released, they’d take a few steps away from the hell training camp, collapse, and pass out.
Then they’d wake up in the barracks to greet the morning again.
By this point, the 51st batch realized this wasn’t a pelt-gathering quest anymore.
It had become a survival quest in hell.
‘Pelts, my ass!’
‘Instead of wasting energy gathering that crap, I’d rather get one more second of sleep!’
They knew that the only way to survive this hell was to sleep as much as possible and recover their bodies.
So, some of them even refused to leave the barracks after being released, saying there was no point in going outside since they’d just be dragged back in anyway.
However, as they say, humans are creatures of adaptation.
Proving this, the 51st batch slowly began adapting even to hell.
The problem was that as they adjusted and gained a little composure, the complaints that had been suppressed by pain and fear began to surface.
“…I can’t keep living like this. We need revenge, revenge!”
Someone, slumped against a tree trunk, shouted.
The fiery voice caught the attention
of the 51st batch scattered near the hell training camp, who slowly lifted their heads.
But even that seemed too much effort, so they gave up and just turned their bodies while asking.
“…Revenge?”
“Yes, revenge! Against Senior Yuri… no, against that demon instructor!”
The brief glimmer of interest quickly faded.
“Revenge, huh… I thought you were serious. Tch.”
“Has he lost his mind or what?”
“Revenge? Sure, I’d love that… but how?”
Who among the 51st batch didn’t hold a grudge against Yuri?
If they could, they’d all want revenge.
They wanted to return the pain they’d suffered.
But how?
The one who first spoke up provided the answer.
“That senior said it, didn’t he? ‘If you’ve got a problem, come at me outside. I’ll take you on without ranks!’”
“…He did.”
On the first day of hell, Yuri had certainly said that.
Seeing that others were finally paying attention, the first speaker straightened up a bit.
“You all know that senior’s a tiger.”
“Who doesn’t? So?”
“Let’s charge in! Into the tiger’s territory! And let’s catch that tiger!”
Everyone stared at him like he was crazy.
But the first speaker met their gaze with confidence.
“Why are you all thinking it’s impossible?”
“Isn’t it weird to think it’s possible?”
“No, it’s possible. I’ve got some top-secret information.”
“Top-secret information?”
The mention of top-secret information piqued their interest, and the first speaker’s eyes gleamed with confidence.
“Yeah, top-secret information that will help us get our revenge.”
“…What is it?”
“Listen, they said the tiger can only attack ten times. That’s the limitation on the tiger role.”
Those who heard this top-secret information had their eyes light up.
“What? Where did you hear that?”
“From Instructor Arin… no, I mean Assistant Instructor Arin. During the last break, he told me how he cleared this quest last year.”
With the reliable information and source, the interest of the slumped 51st batch grew even stronger.
They were starting to calculate that if the information was accurate, the revenge the first speaker mentioned might not be impossible.
Then someone raised an objection.
“Ten attacks… It still won’t be easy. That senior’s skills aren’t to be taken lightly. I heard he knocked down about ten people by himself on the first day.”
Apparently, the first speaker had expected this, as he immediately responded.
“If ten people aren’t enough… what if all of us charge in?”
“What?”
The first speaker’s eyes shone brightly.
“If ten aren’t enough… then all 81 of us from the 51st batch can rush him.”
“……”
“No matter how skilled he is, do you think he can take all 81 of us down with just ten attacks?”
Now, even those who had been slumped over raised their upper bodies.
As if inspired by the first speaker’s fervor, a similar fire glinted in their eyes.
“Certainly……”
“…If we do that, it might be possible.”
No matter how skilled, he was still just a cadet.
And only one batch ahead of them at that.
If all of the 51st batch charged him, surely they could bring down that demon king.
This thought was enough to fill them with hope.
As the atmosphere around them heated up, the first speaker looked to one side and asked.
“What about you? What will you do?”
The others turned their gazes as well.
Standing there was a giant whose head towered over everyone else.
“I……”
Mucci hesitated for a moment.
His eyes gleamed with a fierce light.
“…I’m in. That revenge.”
The light in Mucci’s eyes.
It was none other than a murderous intent.
“Make sure to count me in on that revenge!”
Mucci clenched his fist tightly.
Over the past five days.
In that time, Mucci had shed quite a bit of his gentle, innocent aura.
Of course, given his natural disposition, he still gave off a mild impression.
But even so, Mucci, who had never quite fit in with the cradle’s atmosphere, was now showing his first hints of “murderous intent”—a truly astonishing change.
This was something Ralph Schnell had tried to instill in his grandson over the past decade but failed.
Yuri had achieved it in just five days.
Of course, if a third party had witnessed how Yuri treated Mucci, they might have called Mucci a saint for enduring for five whole days without succumbing to darkness.
“Yeah, I figured you’d say that.”
“Not even enemies would torment someone like that… poor guy.”
“Mucci, if you’re in, then we’re in too!”
Those present looked at Mucci with pity.
They welcomed Mucci’s participation in the revenge plan.
By now, they had realized that Mucci’s skills were far beyond their own.
The addition of a skilled member was welcome to everyone.
With the plan now gaining rapid momentum, the first speaker, energized, continued.
“Great, I’ll go persuade the rest of our peers. I’m sure… most will agree.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the 51st batch scattered around them flocked together.
They stood shoulder to shoulder.
As they looked at one another, their eyes were filled with a profound camaraderie.
And this was all thanks to the extreme yet highly effective training led by Yuri, which caused unforeseen side effects.
“We can do it! Let’s do it, that revenge!”
“Yeah! Even if we go down, let’s land a blow on that demon king first!”
“Down with the Demon King!”
From time immemorial, humanity has always banded together against a massive foe.
“Comrades!”
Through the grueling training of the past few days, a tight-knit brotherhood had formed among the 51st batch.
“We are one!”
Under the rallying cry of “Down with the Demon King,” they united as one.