I sat up immediately, muscles tensing as I registered the sharp ringing.
Steve lifted his head as well, his eyes narrowing. Without a word, we both gestured for North to answer her communicator. She pulled it out from her shirt pocket, flipping it open with a practiced motion.
A deep, gruff voice crackled through the device.
"Hello, soldiers. This is your commander speaking."
I raised an eyebrow. I had expected June, but this time, it was Arkas himself. That meant something important.
His voice carried the same energetic tone as I heard on the first day.
"I am here to give you instructions for Command-02.
Command-01 officially ends today, and your results will be included in your reports at the end of the month. I have been watching all of you throughout the past week, evaluating your actions and designing a profile for each of you based on your performance so far."
I glanced at Steve and North, but they were both focused on the communicator, listening intently.
Arkas sighed, his tone dropping into something almost disappointed.
"And I must say—I expected better. Most of you are fighting Abominations at or below your own level, which is unacceptable for Elite Unit members.
That is not how soldiers of your caliber should behave. Once probation ends, you will either be leading a unit or standing alone as a one-man army, defending our world.
If you continue to fight like weaklings, then let me make this clear: you will be the first to die."
I nodded at that.
He was right. In a real battle, there were no one-on-one duels. No fair fights. There would be hordes of enemies, waves of Abominations swarming at once.
If you couldn't handle enemies stronger than yourself, then you had no business being on the front lines. You might as well stay home and wait for death.
Arkas's voice sharpened.
"I am giving you the rest of the month to prove me wrong. Fight harder. Take on stronger Abominations. Show me what you are made of."
A short pause, then his next words made my face twist in annoyance.
"And now, thanks to Billion Ironhart, your fellow unit member, I have been forced to increase the difficulty of this task. He is so far ahead of most of you that I had to adjust my plans. You can thank him for that."
Steve and North both turned to look at me.
I sighed, shrugging.
"Not my fault," I muttered. "What am I supposed to do, slow down for them?"
Steve snorted, but North just shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips.
Arkas continued, unfazed.
"Your next task requires all of you to travel to the center of the map you received at the checkpoints. There, you will find a 'very, very big volcano'.
That volcano will be your battlefield."
Now that got my attention. I leaned forward, intrigued.
"Tomorrow morning, the volcano will erupt once again, and from it, creatures will emerge. There is a powerful entity sealed inside that volcano, but it has the ability to create countless lower-level creatures.
These creatures will flood the battlefield, and your mission is simple: kill them.
The clearing surrounding the volcano will serve as your battlefield. That is your arena. Outside of the clearing, in the forest, is your safe zone.
If you need to rest, step out. Recover. Then step back in and fight.
For the rest of the month, your task is to kill, kill, and kill. The more creatures you eliminate, the higher your ranking. The top three soldiers with the most kills will receive personal rewards from me—but what those rewards are will remain a secret.
As for anyone below the top three, you will receive rewards from the military, but those will also depend on your ranking."
My mouth fell open slightly.
This… this was amazing.
A battle royale.
A real, endless battlefield where we could fight, rest, and fight again. This was exactly what I wanted.
Now, I just hoped the creatures were strong enough to make it fun.
Arkas's voice cut through my thoughts.
"The creatures emerging from the volcano will range from level 10 to level 20. Most of you will need to push yourselves beyond your limits to bring them down. Also the projector will no longer display level rankings and will instead show rankings based on kill counts."
I grinned.
Level 20?
Now we were talking.
Arkas paused for a moment before continuing.
"Since you'll have more than fifteen days to fight and train, I've decided to provide each of you with system skills. These won't be basic skills—they'll be higher-level ones, fitting for Elite Unit members.
However, the skills you receive will depend on your current rankings. The higher your rank, the better your options.
Your vice commander, June, will be arriving at the Volcano soon to oversee the process.
You have until the end of today to reach the Volcano and claim your skill. If you don't make it in time, you'll be starting tomorrow without one."
His tone turned grim as he delivered his final words.
"Our world…no, our entire universe is not in a position where we can afford to relax. We fight because we have no other choice. If we stop, it means we've given up. And if we give up, we die.
There is no rest for us. We fight, we recover, and we fight again. We learn skills while fighting, we train ourselves while fighting, and we even live our lives while fighting. That is the only way we stand a chance at breaking free from this cage.
The sooner you understand that you are nothing more than prisoners, the better it will be for you."
The communication cut off.
Silence hung between the three of us.
That last part, it struck something deep.
Who wanted to be a prisoner? Who wanted to be shackled in some endless cycle, doomed to wait for death?
My hands clenched into fists.
Right now, I just wanted to smash something.
I stood up and stretched, rolling my shoulders as anticipation thrummed through me.
Finally, enough enemies to smash. Enough chances to grind my skills and push them further.
I agreed with what Arkas said, fighting was the best way to grow.
If I kept pushing myself, I could force both my skills to level up in real combat.
At the same time, this was the perfect opportunity to experiment with Essence and create an attack skill.
The Abominations would also help me level up my Talent and push my stats past the 50-point mark.
If I could do that, I'd have over 200 total stats—far ahead of the average soldier, who barely had 125. The gap was only going to grow wider.
I glanced around.
North and Steve were both lost in thought, no doubt planning their own strategies for the upcoming battle.
"Hey, guys," I spoke up. "We've got the rest of the day and night off. So, what do you wanna do?"
They answered at the same time.
"Train."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Hmmm… alright then, let's make it interesting. Two against one. Both of you against me. What do you say?"
North exchanged a glance with Steve. He stood up, grabbed his sword, and rolled his shoulders.
"Fine by me."
North got to her feet as well, adjusting her bow.
"Alright, count me in. But I want you to be serious. No playing around. Remember what you told me?"
I smirked.
"Sure. I'll give just enough to keep both of you on your toes."
Before we could start sparring, Steve brought up the real issue.
"What about food? Are we supposed to fight for the rest of the month on an empty stomach?"
I turned to North.
She threw up her hands.
"Alright, alright. Let me call him."
Pulling out her communicator, she dialed.
"Hello, how's my little baby doing?"
Arkas' voice rang out, and I cringed.
North's face twisted in horror.
"Grandpa! I'm with my teammates. You know that!"
Arkas chuckled.
"Of course, sweetie. I even know who they are. Don't worry, I'll take care of them for you."
I shot Steve a look.
North groaned.
"No, Grandpa. I don't want you to take care of anything. They're my friends. Stay out of it."
Arkas laughed.
"Alright, alright. Have I ever gone against your wishes? So, why the sudden call?"
North hesitated before answering.
"We're out of food. You don't expect us to fight like this all month, do you? There aren't even fruits or animals in this forest. What are we supposed to do?"
"Ah, that's my bad. I forgot to mention, food drops will start soon. Supplies will be scattered around the forest near the Volcano."
"You forgot to mention that?" North sighed. "Whatever. Just inform everyone now. I'm ending the call. Bye."
"Bye, honey. Grandpa misses you."
The call ended and we stared at each other in silence.