"Now with that out of the way, let's get into the class for today. If you'll be taking on crawlers tomorrow for the first time, it is essential you know the basic anatomy of crawlers, their rankings, and lots more.
First, crawlers consist of seven known tiers, and for ease of understanding, those tiers were named after many years of research.
The tiers are like so: the Shades, which constitute the lowest ranks of the crawlers. They are relatively weak and very rarely cause darkness corruption.
Though it's still very possible for them to do it, so marines are still careful with them. Shadows are also referred to as pawns; they attack under the order of a higher crawler.
Most of the time, they act as guide dogs, pushing the humans to their leader, while they slip out smaller pickings for their satisfaction.
It's been a while since the last breach of the walls, but they did manage to get in some time ago. About three to four of the shades were seen.
Some of you might have heard about that breach, some of you might have had people close by, and you were able to experience the aftermath of the attack." William said. He was about to continue, but he spotted a boy raising his hand, so he pointed at the boy.
"You have a question?" William asked. The boy nodded and got up.
"If shades are considered the weakest, can students like us take them on?" the boy asked.
"I expected that question, and I want to answer this in a way that doesn't break your spirit, but there might be no way for that.
Right now, if a shade crawler broke into this class, it would kill all of you before I get the chance to take it down.
Aside from the fact that you are extremely weak, and you have no control over your darkness, there is the fear factor to look at.
Crawlers have a natural setup to instill fear into their prey; this fear causes nervous breakdowns. You could straight up pass out at a close range.
It's one of the reasons that marines don't just train their bodies; they train their minds as well. They have to be very ready, physically and mentally, before even going against a shade." William finished, shattering their dreams of standing against a shade, but he wasn't done. He went further.
"By the time you graduate, you should be able to hold your own against a shade, but that is if you are one of the top students. Else, you would need a team of two to take one down. Any other questions?" he asked.
Another student raised her hand, and William picked her.
"If the shades are that strong, and they are the lowest, what will we be fighting tomorrow?" she asked.
"Well, a very watered-down type of shade, that is what you'll be fighting. Their strength will be reduced to only ten percent.
Honestly, even that is a bit too much for you, but it is supposed to be a challenge; hence it was left at ten percent," he answered her. She sat down after getting her answer.
"Alright, if there are no further questions on the shades, we will look into the second rank of crawlers: the shadow tier.
This is where the whole thing started to get serious. Shadow crawlers are the most notorious for turning humans into corrupted.
They emit different types of substances that can turn a human into a corrupted. They are extremely more powerful than shades; it's not a simple double or triple. A shadow dwarfs a shade without trying.
Shadow crawlers are most known for breaching walls, even the toughest defenses that have been built over the years. They are the biggest threats we have, because they are numerous and always attacking human settlements.
And they never come alone. They come with a group of shades. If you ever spot a shadow crawler, never ever assume that they are alone, because they aren't.
There must be at least two shades hiding somewhere. They use shades to gather humans after they have breached a settlement.
Now, going back to the tragedy I spoke of that happened in our walled city a while back, it was a shadow that found a way to breach the wall and allow the shades to run in and cause havoc.
It wasn't an expected attack, and so the response was slow, but the shades were taken down, and as for the shadow, the big one, it was captured.
The city decided that it would be good to research the shadow. After all, this city is well known for its research."
When Alex heard that the crawler that killed his father was alive rather than dead, his mind went blank for a moment. His blood started boiling, and he balled his fist so tight that his fingers dug into his flesh.
He managed to bottle up his anger and raise his hand to ask a question. Everyone looked at Silva with surprised expressions because he never spoke like he was above them all or something.
William saw Silva and pointed at him. "You have a question?"
"Yes, I do." Silva forced himself to speak, his blood dripping to the floor from his fist. He got up and spoke.
"The attack on the city a while back, can you tell me how many people were recorded dead?" Silva asked.
William was shocked by those sorts of questions; he didn't expect twelve-year-olds to ask, let alone a ten-year-old kid.
But he saw the look on Silva's face. He could tell that Silva wasn't joking and he wanted to know the answer. "I'm not sure of the number, but by reports, it shows that over fifty people lost their lives," William responded.
"Fifty people, fifty lives, children, mothers, fathers, all of them died, and rather than avenge them, you captured their killer for research?" Silva asked, finding it difficult to hold in his rage.
"You see, I understand your point, but if we understand them more, we will be able to fight them better," William said.
"You don't understand anything. Just put a fucking blade through their head and kill them," Silva yelled. He slammed his fist on the table, leaving bloodstains, and in that instant, the door swung open and it was Ace.
"Silva, enough, sit down," Ace yelled.