Chapter 399:A new problem.

Chapter 399: 399:A new problem.

Gareth secured the case.

"What?"Antony asked almost defensively.

"We have the objective," Gareth said while checking the perimeter.

"Yes."

"We have enough time."

"Yes."

"Nobody is bleeding."

Leon looked at him.

"Why are you complaining?" Leon asked.

"Because this academy doesn’t allow happiness, there has to be a catch somewhere. I’m not usually this paranoid but something isn’t right," Antony said while lookingatound," this feels way too easy."

The communication device beeped, and everyone stopped.

Antony slowly looked at Gareth before chucking.

"See... I hate being right."

Gareth lifted it.

A clear automated voice came through. For the first time in hours, there was no static.

[Attention all candidates.]

Antony closed his eyes.

"Here we go again," he said with resignation.

[Emergency Situation Detected.]

Mira’s smile disappeared.

[Extraction Route Alpha is unavailable.]

Rebecca looked toward the map. Alpha was their primary return corridor, the fastest one. The one they had planned around.

The announcement continued.

[Candidates are instructed to independently determine an alternative extraction method.]

Then the signal ended.

Antony stared at the communication device.

"That’s it?"

Gareth tried the channel.

"Academy Command, Squad Seventeen requesting updated extraction information."

Static.

Antony spread his hands almost in defeat before ranting almost to himself.

"They came through perfectly to ruin our day and immediately disappeared again, this is soo annoying."

Rebecca looked at the map.

"Alternative routes," she calmly said.

Mira unfolded it across a table and everyone gathered. Route Alpha followed the main service road southwest. Beta crossed the same bridge they’d discovered collapsed that morning.

Gareth stared, the fatigue visible in his eyes.

"Beta is useless."

"Unless the bridge repaired itself," Antony said.

Leon pointed toward another route.

"How about, Gamma."

Mira shook her head.

"That takes us east before turning south. At least an extra hour and a half," she said while looking through another side of the map.

Gareth frowned.

"Maybe more."

Rebecca looked at the remaining paths.

"There’s a smaller route here," she said.

Mira leaned closer, examined it before responding.

"That’s not an extraction route. It’s an old maintenance trail."

Antony looked.

The line was faded. It ran southwest through a rocky section, then connected with a service road near extraction.

"How old is this map?"

Of course nobody knew.

Gareth rubbed his jaw.

"We already know some of it is outdated."

Antony pointed out.

"Which means this trail could be gone."

"Or better than the marked routes," Rebecca replied.

Mira studied the terrain markings.

"I’d need to see the entrance," she quietly said.

Gareth closed the map.

"Then we see it."

They left Observation Post Four.

The journey back became worse almost immediately. The maintenance trail existed for approximately three kilometers, then it vanished beneath a landslide.

Antony stood before several thousand tons of rock and looked at Gareth.

"Before you ask, male form isn’t helping with that,I’m not that strong," he said, almost defensively.

Gareth laughed despite himself.

"I wasn’t going to ask, no one in our level can lift that, even a streght contractor."

"Good atleast you have some senses."

Gareth rolled his eyes at that.

They rerouted west.

The map became increasingly unreliable; a stream was wider than marked, one path had become completely overgrown and a service road ended at a section of collapsed terrain.

Their communication device worked only intermittently. Time disappeared around all of them.

Then, shortly after noon, Mira stopped so suddenly Antony almost walked into her.

"People ahead," she whispered.

Gareth raised his hand.

"How many?"

"Several."

"Beasts?"

"No. Human."

They advanced.

They found another squad beside a rocky embankment. Four candidates stood while the fifth lay on the ground, his leg bent at an angle Antony immediately disliked.

A girl from the squad raised her weapon before recognizing their candidate equipment.

"Academy?"

Gareth nodded.

"Squad Seventeen."

Relief appeared on her face.

"Thank God."

Antony looked at the injured candidate.

"What happened?" He asked while looking at the leg in horror.

"Beast hit him against the rocks. We killed it, but his leg is broken."

Leon immediately moved forward.

The other squad’s leader spoke.

"We used most of our medical kit earlier. We can stabilize him, but we can’t move quickly."

Gareth looked at their own medical kit, still mostly intact, then at the time. They were already losing their comfortable margin.

Rebecca asked, "Did you request evacuation?"

The girl shook her head.

"He refuses."

The injured candidate clenched his teeth.

"If I get evacuated, I’m eliminated."

Antony stared blankly.

"Your leg is broken, what are you going to do about it?" He asked.

"I know," the teammate said in a voice filled with frustration and pain.

"You say that like it isn’t important."

"I made it through yesterday. I’m not quitting now."

Gareth crouched.

"Can you stand?"

"No."

"Then how exactly are you planning to complete the mission?"

The candidate looked toward his squad.

"They can carry me."

His teammates didn’t look enthusiastic, mainly because they were exhausted.

Antony understood what was going on now.

Carrying someone through kilometers of wilderness wasn’t easy. The other squad leader looked at Gareth.

"Do you have medicine?"

"Yes."

"We only need enough to immobilize the leg and control the pain. We’ll handle the rest."

Gareth looked at Leon, who checked their supplies.

"We can spare some."

Gareth nodded.

"Do it."

Leon knelt beside him.

Antony watched Gareth. That decision had been immediate, medicine could matter later but he still gave it.

They helped splint the leg. The injured candidate gritted his teeth throughout. Antony eventually crouched near him.

"You’re really going to let them carry you all the way back?" He asked while staring into his eyes.

The candidate looked at him before breaking contact.

"I would carry them."

"That’s not what I asked."

"What would you do?"

Antony thought about it.

Honestly.

"If evacuation was available and I physically couldn’t continue, I’d probably hate it, complain for twenty minutes and activate the emergency signal."

The candidate frowned.

"So you’d quit."

"I’d stop turning one casualty into five."

The words made the other squad members quiet.

Antony continued.

"If they carry you, they’re slower. They can’t fight properly. One or two people always have their hands occupied. If another beast attacks, you become something they have to protect while already exhausted."

The candidate looked angry.

"You don’t understand."

"I understand perfectly. You don’t want two days of this to mean nothing."

"Exactly."

"But making your squad fail with you doesn’t make it mean more."

The squad leader looked at the injured boy.

Antony stood.

"I’m not telling you what to do. It’s your examination, your choice."

That was important.

It was his choice.

Gareth looked at Antony, then at the other squad.

"We need to move."

The other leader nodded.

"Thanks for the medicine."

They separated.

As Squad Seventeen walked away, an emergency signal sounded behind them. Antony didn’t look back immediately, then he smiled slightly.

Rebecca heard it too.

"He activated it," she said.

"Probably the right decision," Mira replied.

"Probably," Antony echoed her.