Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 2 - Chapter 22 - An Important Lesson (Patreon)

                                                                The Training Hall

Frank clenches his fist around his sword’s handle as he watches dozens of soldiers all rush at the second lieutenant in tandem, only for each one of them to be stopped cold in a counter that sends them flying by him. All without the second lieutenant even breaking a sweat.

So he raises his voice while the others get back up, shouting, “Everyone! Rushing at him won’t work!”

Some of the soldiers look at him before returning their attention to the second lieutenant again, and a few of them just rush at the frost infused for a second time instead of listening. But most of them at least stand back to listen.

Frank takes a deep breath and steps forward, the sergeant likely being the only one in the room to have fought with a high Tier Symbiont Host before. And after just a brief hesitation, he begins to detail a plan for the soldiers around him through the use of his terminal so that the frost infused can’t hear.

Meanwhile the few soldiers who decided not to listen continue charging at the frost infused, albeit with more caution than the first time so that they don’t just get sent flying again. Even though they end up getting sent flying eventually anyways.

After all of the soldiers are filled in on the plan, they spread out to surround the frost infused, making the second lieutenant cross his arms as he looks around at them. Then ten soldiers charge in from the front while another ten charge from the back and two more throw smoke cartridges from the side – something their researchers managed to get working simply through a rather outdated method of compressing smoke into the ball and releasing it without any advanced technology used to do it. A process they can only start when the eternal winter isn’t near but can hold afterwards indefinitely.

The smoke slowly fills the room, making it difficult for them to see, but from what Frank’s learned, frozen ones shouldn’t be able to see through smoke. They can only see in the dark and through mist.

So with the smoke blinding the second lieutenant, all of the soldiers rushing him including Frank himself should-

His thoughts are interrupted as Frank lets out a cough, feeling a powerful force impacting his gut and sending him flying through the smoke straight to the wall at the back of the room while also clearing out the smoke in-between him and the second lieutenant. And what he sees next has him freezing up from terror.

The man moves faster than his eye can accurately keep up with, sending one soldier flying after another while occasionally slashing a single claw through the air to send an arc of cold energy flying at a random soldier trying to shoot at him with a cold energy engine infused rifle. And the rampage just continues all the way till each and every soldier is laid out on the ground, defeated.

When a few of them try to get up again, the frost infused simply sends an arc of cold energy flying at them, cutting a chunk out of the metal floor in the process after just barely missing them. Most likely on purpose.

He’s a monster…

Frank feels himself shivering both from the cold that seems to have infused the room and the sight of the man’s pitch black eyes and the glowing blue rings within them as he looks around the room, crossing his arms once more now that everyone’s dealt with. Then he glances at his daughter and cousin and says, “Looks like this training session is over.”

But…

Frank feels his eyes narrowing slightly as he watches the second lieutenant move through the room, his arms now at his sides, before the man starts talking to his family members.

…he’s our monster.

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                                                      Alexander North

Well, that was an interesting workout. Wasn’t expecting the smoke bombs, but that goes to show the soldiers have intuition.

Except the ones that just kept charging me. Those don’t.

“You couldn’t have at least taken it a bit easy on them, Dad?” Alexia complains with her hands on her hips after I reach her and Cynthia, but I just shake my head.

Before I can answer her, Cynthia says, “It’s best to let them experience this first before they end up fighting a real battle against a frozen one.” Her face grows slightly dark. “Absolute defeat is something everyone should experience at least once if they want to be able to deal with it when it really matters.”

A short silence ensues after that. Then I turn around to face the soldiers who are slowly beginning to get up while cradling any wounds I gave them.

Wounds that I made sure hurt but didn’t really cripple them in any real way and would heal quickly enough.

I focus on the few soldiers who rushed ahead and didn’t bother with the sergeant’s plan as I state, “You four, I’ll expect better from you the next time I come to this training hall. If you can’t work as a team, then you shouldn’t be working with them at all and I will recommend to the commander that you are left out of any out-of-base missions from then on. So do better next time if you want to be put on any real missions.”

They all grimace, but none of them say a word. Possibly out of shame, possibly out of fear.

Either one works.

As long as they get the memo.

I turn my attention to Sergeant Frank Rogers where I find him looking at me with a rather intense expression on his face, but I ignore the expression and nod my head, saying, “Good job, sergeant. It was a good plan, but sometimes the gap in strength is too much for any plan to work. Please keep that in mind the next time you go out on a mission.”

He looks surprised for a second before the man nods his head.

And on that note, I turn around and begin leaving the training hall, raising my hand slightly along with my voice as I say, “I’ll be back in a week or two for another round if anyone wants to join.”

Might as well help out these soldiers whenever I happen to be at the base.

Not like I miss out on anything, and it could help Alexia in the process.

I smile slightly at that thought.

Now to go find the remaining nests around the base.

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