The volunteers sat on the ground, some of them lying down, as they heard the sound coming from the automatic door in front of them.
They immediately stood up as they saw a high-ranking officer coming out from the door.
"Hi, brave soldiers. I'm Captain Bron. From now on, you will be part of my team. I will lead you and help build your strength, agility, and mindset. The freedom of your city is in your hands, so please take this seriously as you enter the battle. You are already dead from now on, but I want you to act fearlessly and intelligently, the deadliest of all times. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"I want to introduce these two people behind me," Captain Bron continued.
"These two are the ones who saved us from the monster attack yesterday. They will be your seniors, and I expect you to respect them as you respect me," Captain Bron said.
All the volunteers couldn't believe what they heard from Captain Bron, that the two in front of them would become their seniors.
A clamor filled the room.
"No, we don't allow these two to become our seniors, right guys?" the tall and muscular man moved forward.
"Yeah, it's unfair," his friends responded, and soon all of them joined in.
Captain Bron asked, "Who do you think should become your seniors?"
"Him! That guy," one of the volunteers pointed at the tall guy.
"Yeah, probably he can lead us properly!" they shouted.
"Okay, fine, fine," Captain Bron said.
"What's your name?" Captain Bron asked.
"I'm Brenzo Thoshiba, the owner of one of the big companies in New Gratias City and Zinio City," he said with a boastful action.
"He's the owner of Thoshiba Company?" the room filled with clamor once again.
"Okay, but before I promote you to become a senior," Captain Bron said.
"Please show me your skills by defeating one of them," he pointed his finger at Mark and Jhohan.
"Ah, basic. I will choose to confront the woman because she has a grudge against me," the man said.
"Are you sure? Okay, good luck," Captain Bron said as he moved backward.
"Please teach him a lesson, Jhohan," Captain Bron whispered.
"I don't have time to deal with a bad attitude within my team," he added.
Jhohan slowly moved forward as requested, while the tall guy prepared himself in position, stretching his body with audible clicks.
"Are you not scared, Miss Beautiful?" he asked.
"Hey, are you just trying to show off your useless body and let those words come out of your small brain? Or are you actually going to take the chance to attack me while you have it?" Jhohan replied.
"Ahhhh! I will crush your bones!" the tall guy initiated his attack with swift movements.
"Woah!" all the volunteers were amazed by his agility.
"He can still move fast despite his heavy body."
But Jhohan was even faster, dodging all the incoming punches with ease.
Swift kicks and punches were coming from the tall guy.
"Hey, are you just going to keep dodging like a coward? Show me your strength, lady!" the tall man taunted.
"Okay, as you wish," Jhohan replied. She performed a back somersault and landed gracefully, evading the tall guy's kick.
With impeccable timing, Jhohan's fist met the tall guy's approaching abdomen.
With a loud blow, Jhohan's punch connected with the tall guy's abdomen, causing his knees to weaken and tremble, eventually making him fall to the ground. THUD!
Everyone in the room was surprised by what they witnessed, leaving the room in silence.
"So I see that you have already made your decision regarding who will be your seniors," Captain Bron said.
One of the female volunteers stood up and started clapping, soon joined by the rest of the group, giving them a round of applause.
The friends of the tall guy immediately rushed to help their struggling friend stand up.
"The defeated individual will have 1000 points deducted, which will automatically be added to the winner. I want to remind you that fighting each other is part of the training," Captain Bron explained.
The attention of the volunteers shifted as they heard the sounds coming from the large automatic door on their right side.
"Woah," they all exclaimed in amazement at the impressive opening of the door.
"Before you enter the large elevator, I want you to form groups of five. Each group should act as a cohesive unit, with synchronized actions and thinking. Your task is to protect your teammates from possible attacks by other teams. You can steal points from other teams by tapping the green button on their devices, but remember not to initiate an attack unless authorized by your instructors and seniors during specific training sessions. Is that clear?" Captain Bron provided the instructions.
"Yes, sir!" they replied in unison.
"And those Ten soldiers will become your training instructors," Captain Bron added as he pointed to the soldiers standing near the elevator door.
Upon hearing Captain Bron's words, they immediately started choosing their teammates.
All of them finished choosing their teams and followed Captain Bron into the large elevator. As the doors closed, the instructors and Captain Bron entered a small transparent room.
"You two should stay here. I want to see your skills," Captain Bron said as he entered the small transparent room.
"What do you mean? You said we weren't joining the training today," Mark asked.
Captain Bron responded with a wink and a smile, "Just do your best, Mark."
"All soldiers, get ready for your first training task. You will act as teammates to defeat the Monsters. Choose your weapons from the boxes," the female AI voice instructed from above, and the boxes displayed unfamiliar weapons.
"These weapons don't have real bullets, but they will cause pain. Get ready and take your weapons now," the AI added.
They immediately rushed towards the boxes, grabbing their weapons as the red alarm sounded throughout the large elevator.
As the elevator started moving, some of them stumbled and fell to the ground.
Holographic figures appeared and roared as they attacked the volunteers, causing them to be shocked by electricity and fall to the ground.
One of the female volunteers struggled with how to use the gun and was hit on her back, causing her to fall.
Some of them started shooting at the holographic figures.
"Mark, catch this! Shoot them in the head," Jhohan threw a gun to Mark while dodging the attacks.
Mark caught it and, as he managed to hit the monster attacking Jhohan, he exclaimed, "Ah, the bullets are electrically charged!"
"Everyone, aim for their heads!" Mark shouted.
All the volunteers tried to target the heads of the holographic figures as they heard Mark's instructions. Some of them failed as the figures gained an advantage over them.
Over 200 volunteers had already lost consciousness.
Mark moved swiftly, shooting at the holographic figures while dodging their attacks.
Jhohan charged at one of the holographic monsters, sliding to dodge its attacks and shooting it in the back of the head. She noticed some volunteers struggling to defend themselves and shot the figures leaping towards them. Mark continued to do the same.
However, the number of holographic figures kept increasing.
The tall guy stumbled upon a body on the ground, and Mark immediately protected him from the approaching monsters.
"Thanks," the tall guy said.
"You should run to that corner, and I'll follow you," Mark pointed to a corner of the elevator.
"We're the only three left," Jhohan said as she followed Mark.
"We should go to that corner so we can shoot them in front of us," Mark said, shooting at the monsters attacking the tall guy as they tried to reach the corner.
"Spectre, look out!" Mark shouted, pushing Jhohan away as the monster attacked from behind. He swiftly shot its head, causing it to disappear.
Once they reached the corner, they were able to easily take down all the remaining holographic figures from their advantageous position.
The three of them continued shooting as the number of monsters decreased.
They successfully defeated all the holographic figures and cautiously walked towards the transparent room, careful not to step on any fallen volunteers. Standing near the room, Captain Bron pressed the red button on the side, and the AI voice announced, "Congratulations to the survivors for successfully completing the first challenge. Recovery smoke has been activated." Smoke started to fill the elevator, and as it dissipated, the fallen volunteers regained consciousness and began to stand up, although they still felt the pain in their bodies.
The AI voice spoke once again, saying, "All soldiers who failed the challenge will have 1000 points deducted from their scores."
The large door opened as they arrived in the next room.
Captain Bron took the lead and walked in front of the volunteers.
"I have decided to appoint Mr. Brenzo as another senior officer. While we are not here, he will oversee your training," Captain Bron said.
"And I will become stricter once you enter this training facility. I will give you a chance to decide whether you want to continue or not. Step forward and enter this facility," Captain Bron declared.
The sound echoed among the volunteers as they contemplated their decision.
"I'm in. I need to fight for my family," one volunteer declared.
"Count me in too," another volunteer added.
All the volunteers except 50 of them entered the facility. The remaining 50 looked ashamed of their decisions, but their choices were final.
"I can't do this. It's better for me to stay with my family, protect them by my side, rather than die in battle defenseless and quickly," the guy with glasses explained.
"Alright, I respect your decision. Send them back to the barracks," Captain Bron ordered.