Chapter 41: Survived
Dale stared at the sky as his vision slowly lost light. Despite his consciousness fading at an alarming rate, he could still feel his muscles locking up from the venom the centipede had injected into him.
His eyes were still open when his vision finally turned black. In fact, he wasn’t sure if his eyelids were still open.
’Did I die?’ If he had, at least he did it fighting back. He was sure that at least his repeated attacks must have deeply affected the beast.
So even if he died, the others would kill it.
But despite his positive train of thoughts, regret crept into his chest. Part of his whole reason for joining the military was to gain renown and money.
Somehow, he had gained neither and even if the military did recognize what he did, it would quickly be shoved aside as the war quickly closed in on them.
This was especially true when you considered the size of the pool. Calling it a pool was beyond generous.
At most, it was a puddle so the military would most likely drain it if they could and add it to their reserves for the creation of Blessed weapons.
Another thought slowly formed in his head as his mind lost its cohesion. Would he see his parents on the other side?
He had never known his mother, having died when he was extremely young.
At least he’d see his dad and maybe June. He smiled, or he hoped he did, as he remembered her bright blonde hair and colorful demeanor.
A sudden drop and rise in temperature startled him, forcing Dale to open his eyes.
Bright lights burned his retinas, forcing him to shut his eyes. He waited for them to adjust before he opened them again.
A dull ache spread through his body as he did. It was like he had sprained every joint in his body.
He looked around the pure white room he was in.
Having been here numerous times over, he certainly recognized the place. He was in the clinic.
The door opened and General Todd walked in beside Sergeant Joanne.
"...still dangerous. You don’t understand the heavy implications—" She paused her conversation with the General the moment she noticed his eyes were open.
The battle veteran stepped closer to him. "Dale Green. Congratulations on your successful task and promotion to the second year of the boot camp." He spoke slowly without a change of expression.
Dale’s eyebrows furrowed deeply. ’The task...’ the last thing he remembered was being dosed with enough toxin to end him.
That and the centipede being split in two. There was that.
Also, how had he survived and why was such a deadly beast even left alone for so long?
He didn’t even know what had happened to the others.
There were just too many questions and he planned to find out the answers to all of them.
General Todd nodded at Sergeant Joanne and she stepped back, walked to the door, and locked it.
He turned to him, staring at him with an unreadable expression.
The General seemed to be searching for something in his eyes. Perhaps a reason or something similar.
"It appears as though the renegade recruits are still on the loose." He suddenly said, startling Dale.
"What?" His voice was dry and raspy but it was only natural that he asked that.
General Todd sighed loudly. "The task we indeed set was indeed to hunt an Ascended beast... but it was in an entirely different region of the borders surrounding our nation."
"We found one of the two letters that had been sent to Byron. It asked him to take you to the forest for your task."
Dale’s eyes widened. It was obvious that the military hadn’t sent the letter but that raised another question and answered a couple he had.
It finally made sense why the eagle and the centipede were there. He had wondered why the military would give them such a task.
As it turned out, they hadn’t and whoever sent the letter did.
’But why?’ He couldn’t think of anyone who would have anything against him except for Ream... and even he was absent when they left for the task.
That naturally left the person or people who had killed the recruit.
’So they didn’t leave me alone. Instead, they were biding their time carefully to ensure that they died as efficiently as possible.’
Dale turned his attention back to the General. "If Lord Byron kept the letter, then why didn’t he come to pick us up as soon as he realized?"
That was naturally the more obvious decision once you realize that you delivered recruits to what could have easily been their deaths.
General Todd replied immediately. "I said ’one of the two letters’ didn’t I? The other was a deployment letter to a contact point with the Dreb Empire."
The Dreb Empire was the enemy nation they were rapidly escalating into a war with.
Whoever had sent the letters clearly also faked a deployment one so that Lord Byron would be out of the picture long enough that by the time they’d realize, he would be dead.
Dale’s stomach dropped and he felt a shiver run down his spine.
The implication of everything that was being told to him was simply frightening.
Just as before, the renegade recruit planned it meticulously from the start.
But whoever they are mustn’t have put in place contingencies for one of them to Awaken and the other to achieve power on par with an Ascended beast.
Nor did they know that his blades would be a major decisive blow against the bird.
All in all, it had worked out in their favor and they were stronger because of it.
That didn’t mean Dale would thank them or let them try again. As was a popular saying, the third time was the charm.
He would rather not find out if that applied to attempts on his life.
General Todd cleared his throat to grab his attention again. "Naturally, this should stay between the three of us. You’ll be properly compensated for the loss of your weapons and the near-death experience."
Dale understood the reason. With a war on the horizon, recruits were already on edge.
Knowing that a secret force was pulling strings would only cause more harm. Plus he wouldn’t want to risk his approaching benefits.
Before the General left though, he had a question. "W-what happened to the centipede?"
Sergeant Joanne was the one who answered. "It has been taken care of. Worry not."
She unlocked the door and they left Dale alone to his thoughts. ’What now?’
Even if he moved on, the threat of the unknown enemy hung over his head. He had to take care of it.
