Chapter 236: The Holding Room

Chapter 236: The Holding Room

Noah entered the holding room after finishing what he needed to handle outside. Most of the benches were already occupied. Trainees sat in small groups or by themselves along the walls, and the room was much quieter than the training camp had ever been after an assessment.

A few people were talking, but nobody raised their voice. Several trainees had bandages around their arms, heads, or legs. Others still wore uniforms stained with dirt and dried blood. Whenever the door opened, people looked over, then turned back when they saw another trainee coming in.

Noah spotted Daniel, Claire, and Ethan near the far wall. Daniel saw him first and moved over to make space.

"There you are," Daniel said. "We thought they sent you somewhere else."

"I had a few things to finish first." Noah sat beside him. "Have they told you anything yet?"

"Nothing useful," Claire said. "The staff told us to stay here and wait for the instructors."

Daniel rested his elbows on his knees. "We already know we failed. We just don’t know what happens after that."

Noah looked at him. "All three of you failed your tasks?"

"We did," Daniel said. "None of us completed everything we were assigned."

Ethan looked at Noah. "What about you? Did your challenge fail too?"

Noah knew how his own result would likely be judged. His challenge required him to complete the task using his own forces. Once he accepted help from another planetary lord, that condition was no longer met.

"Mine failed too. I accepted outside support, so I didn’t complete it under the original condition."

Daniel nodded. "Then all four of us are waiting for the same answer."

Claire looked around the room. "I think most people here already know if they completed their objective. Nobody seems to be waiting to find that out."

Noah followed her gaze. A trainee several rows away sat with both hands clasped between his knees. Another leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. Near the entrance, two people were quietly looking over something on a relay.

Noah looked back at Daniel. "What happened with your task?"

Daniel rubbed his hands together before answering. "I had to hold the main position and keep the southern ridge until relief arrived. I held the main position, but I lost the ridge."

"So that was enough to fail."

"The ridge was part of the objective, so there wasn’t much room to argue." Daniel looked down for a moment. "What caught me off guard was how quickly the enemy could change what they were doing."

Noah waited for him to continue.

"During training, if the enemy kept attacking one side, you usually had some time to work out whether they were preparing something larger there. These people didn’t give us that time. They attacked the northern side three times with smaller groups, and I thought they were preparing to send more forces there."

"So you moved your reserve."

"I moved most of it north. Not long after that, they sent their main force against the southern ridge."

Noah nodded. "By then your reserve was too far away."

"That was the problem. The unit on the ridge was still trying to hold its position when the enemy broke through. I ordered the reserve back as soon as the report came in, but they couldn’t return fast enough."

"How did you get the unit out?"

"We opened another route farther west and pulled them back through there. Most of them made it, but the ridge was already lost by then."

Daniel leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees.

"That was when I realized how different the enemy was from what we faced during training. I moved the reserve because I thought I would still have time to correct the decision if I was wrong. I didn’t."

Claire looked at him. "They were faster than the forces we trained against."

"Much faster. They also committed more people at once. The unit on the ridge didn’t get a gradual increase in pressure. One moment they were holding, and then the main attack was on top of them."

Noah looked at Daniel. "So the mistake wasn’t only moving the reserve. You were also judging how much time you had based on your old experience."

"That’s how I see it now." Daniel gave a small nod. "I still made the wrong call. I just understand why I thought I could get away with it."

Claire looked toward him. "You also managed to get most of the ridge unit out."

"I know. That part went better. But the task was to keep the ridge, and I lost it."

Noah turned toward Claire. "What happened with yours?"

Claire sat back against the wall. "My task was to take a fortified crossing. We never reached it."

"How far did you get?"

"The second settlement. We completed the first part of the advance, but every fight took more ammunition than we planned for."

Noah looked at her. "Because the enemy was harder to push back?"

"That was the biggest problem. During training, once you broke a defending force out of one position, they usually needed time before they could fight properly again. These people didn’t. We pushed them out of the first settlement, and another group met us before we reached the second."

Daniel looked toward Noah. "She had to fight more than she expected before she even got near the real objective."

Claire continued. "The second group was stronger than the first. We still got through them, but the front units used a lot of ammunition. Then we reached the second settlement and found another defensive force there."

Noah asked, "Were they reinforcing each position as you moved forward?"

"That was part of it. They also kept counterattacking. Even after we pushed them back, they came at us again before we finished bringing ammunition forward."

"So your supply plan fell behind."

Claire nodded. "The roads were damaged, and we didn’t have enough vehicles, but the main problem was that the front was fighting far more often than I expected. I planned the supply runs based on the pace we had during training. That pace didn’t work here."

"What happened when you reached the second settlement?"

"The front units were low on ammunition, and the enemy had reinforced the crossing. We still had enough for one major attack, but I wasn’t confident we could take the crossing and then hold it if they counterattacked."

"So you stopped there."

"I stopped the advance and ordered the units to prepare defenses in the settlement."

Noah looked at her. "Do you think that was the wrong decision?"

"I don’t think stopping there was wrong. The mistake happened earlier. I kept pushing at the same pace even after it was clear the enemy was costing us more ammunition than we planned."

Daniel looked at her. "That’s what I was trying to tell you before."

Claire glanced at him. "You told me to stop thinking about the crossing."

"I said it badly."

Ethan smiled. "That sounds more accurate."

Noah looked at Claire again. "If you had slowed the advance earlier, what would you have changed?"

"I would have kept the supply point closer and given the transport units more time between movements. I also would have expected another attack after every position we took. I treated each fight like we had finished with that group once they pulled back. That wasn’t true."

Noah nodded. "So the enemy forced you to spend more ammunition before you even reached the crossing."

"Exactly. By the time I understood how they fought, we were already too far forward."

Noah turned toward Ethan. "What happened with your task?"

Ethan leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. "I had to hold a valley and keep two supply points operating. I lost one of them."

"How did they take it?"

"The enemy kept sending small groups toward the eastern side. They never sent enough to break through, but they came back several times."

"You thought they were preparing a larger attack there."

"I did. That was because of how we trained. Repeated attacks usually meant the enemy was testing a weak point before committing more forces."

"So you moved part of the reserve east."

"I moved too much. Then they attacked the western side with most of their force."

Claire looked at him. "How quickly did the western line fall?"

"Faster than I expected. The soldiers there were holding, but once the enemy reached them, the fight changed very quickly. They were stronger in close combat than anything we had faced before. They kept moving forward even after taking losses."

Noah asked, "Did you have time to move the reserve back?"

"I started moving them as soon as I understood what was happening, but the enemy reached the supply point before the reserve returned."

"What did you lose there?"

"Ammunition, medical supplies, and some food. We had more farther back, but losing the depot made every delivery slower."

"Did you try to take it back?"

"I considered it, but by then the enemy had more people around the position. The nearby units had already taken casualties, so I pulled them back and shortened the line instead."

Daniel nodded. "That sounds like the right decision once the depot was gone."

"It was the best option I had by then. The failure happened earlier." Ethan rubbed his hands together. "I expected the enemy to give me more time. That was the same mistake Daniel made."

Daniel looked at him. "I was thinking the same thing."

Ethan continued. "At camp, if you placed the reserve badly, you still had a chance to move it again before the whole position was lost. Here, one bad move could be enough."

Noah asked, "What would you change if you had to do it again?"

"I’d move a smaller group first. I’d also wait until I had better proof that the eastern attack was growing. I treated repeated attacks as proof when they weren’t."

Daniel looked toward him. "Did you still hold the main road?"

"We kept the road open, but the task required both supply points. Once we lost one, I had already failed."

Daniel leaned back. "So all three of us planned around enemies that were weaker than the ones we actually got."

Noah thought about his own battle. The Astragoths had done the same thing in a different way. The ordinary ones could absorb more fire than the goblins expected, while the armored ones forced Noah to use heavier weapons just to stop individual attacks.

"My side had the same problem," Noah said. "The enemy was much harder to kill than what the goblins had faced before. Rifles and machine guns worked against the ordinary ones, but the armored ones forced us to use RPGs, tanks, or artillery."

Ethan looked at him. "Was that why you needed support?"

"It was part of it. The stronger ones kept pushing through areas that would have stopped a weaker force. We were using more ammunition and heavier weapons just to keep the same positions."

Daniel nodded. "Then none of us got the kind of enemy we were used to."

Claire looked across the room. "I don’t think anyone here did."

Nearby, one trainee was explaining how his force had lost a bridge after the enemy crossed the river under fire. Another group was discussing an assault that failed because the defenders stayed in position even after taking heavy losses.

Daniel listened for a moment. "That explains why everyone keeps talking about the same thing."

Ethan looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Almost every story is about the enemy doing more than expected. They moved faster, took more punishment, or kept attacking when people thought they would pull back."

Claire nodded. "That doesn’t mean our mistakes don’t matter."

"I didn’t say they don’t. I’m saying we made those mistakes because we were still judging the enemy by what we fought before."

Noah looked toward the entrance. "That may be what the instructors wanted to see."

Daniel glanced at him. "You think they expected us to fail?"

"I don’t know. But there wouldn’t be much point in sending us against enemies that behaved exactly like training opponents."

Claire looked at him. "They probably wanted to see how quickly we changed our plans."

Ethan leaned back. "Then we changed them too late."

Daniel gave him a tired look. "That’s probably true."

Noah looked at Daniel. "You changed your plan after the ridge fell and got most of the trapped unit out."

Daniel nodded. "Too late to save the objective, but I changed it."

Claire looked toward Ethan. "You stopped trying to hold the same area after the supply point fell."

"And you stopped the advance instead of attacking the crossing with low ammunition," Ethan replied.

Claire nodded. "We adjusted. We just didn’t do it soon enough to complete the tasks."

Daniel looked around the room. "Maybe that’s what the instructors are going to ask about."

Claire looked toward him. "That would make more sense than only asking whether we passed or failed."

"We still failed."

"I know. I’m saying there may be more to the evaluation."

Noah looked toward Claire. "Has anyone heard anything about how they’re scoring us?"

"Nothing. Every time someone asks the staff, they say the instructors will explain it."

Daniel exhaled. "Then I hope they get here soon."

The door opened again. Two trainees entered, one with a bandage around his forehead and the other limping slightly. They looked around, found two empty seats near the wall, and sat down.

Daniel watched them for a moment. Claire noticed.

"Don’t start guessing again."

"I’m not guessing. I’m only looking."

"That’s how you started earlier."

Daniel looked at Noah. "She’s been doing this since I got here."

Noah smiled slightly. "Then stop giving her a reason."

More trainees entered over the next several minutes. Some joined friends, while others took the first open seat they could find. The room became crowded enough that the latest arrivals had to search for somewhere to sit.

Noah listened to pieces of conversation around them. One trainee had failed to deliver a convoy because the enemy destroyed the lead vehicles during the first attack. Another had been ordered to hold three defensive positions and lost two after the attackers continued forward despite heavy casualties. Someone near the opposite wall said his force reached its objective but could not hold it against the counterattack.

Daniel listened too. "I think we were right about one thing."

Noah looked at him. "What?"

"Almost everyone here underestimated the enemy."

Claire nodded. "In different ways."

Ethan leaned back against the wall. "Training gave us expectations. The real enemy didn’t follow them."

Daniel looked toward him. "That’s probably the simplest way to say it."

The door opened again. A trainee entered alone and immediately noticed several people looking past him into the corridor.

He stopped near the entrance. "If you’re waiting for the instructors, they’re not behind me."

Several people turned away.

Daniel called over, "Everyone thought you were bringing them with you."

The newcomer looked at him. "I just got back. I don’t even know why everyone keeps watching the door."

A few nearby trainees laughed. The man found an open seat and started talking with someone beside him.

After that, nobody entered for several minutes. The room gradually became quieter. Some trainees checked their relays while others kept watching the entrance.

Daniel leaned toward Noah. "How many people are still missing?"

"I haven’t been counting, so I don’t know."

Claire scanned the room. "Only a few from our training group. They may have been sent somewhere else first."

Ethan looked toward the entrance. "Most of us are here now. The instructors should arrive soon."

A chime sounded somewhere in the corridor. Several people looked toward the door, but it stayed closed.

Daniel looked around. "Everyone does that whenever they hear something outside."

Claire glanced at him. "You looked too."

"I know. I’m waiting for the same thing."

A short time later, several sets of footsteps came down the corridor and stopped directly outside the holding room. The trainees nearest the entrance stopped talking first. People farther back noticed and turned toward the door until the room went quiet.

Daniel sat straighter. "There are several people outside."

Claire looked toward the entrance. "It’s probably the instructors."

Noah faced the door with everyone else. It opened a moment later, and several instructors from the military training camp entered together. They walked toward the front while the trainees watched them in silence.