Mob Bots

Everyone was rushing forward immediately after hearing the signal from Officer Sander. They ought to climb to the top of the hill immediately.

Currently, the sun has started to peek out. Its orange light can be seen peeking over the eastern horizon.

Garry and Officer Sander were left behind after the cadets sprinted away in haste. Seconds after the cadets ran away, the officer urged Garry to join him.

"Come on Garry, join me in the observation room."

"Yes, sir!" Garry followed behind him.

Inside the observation room, Garry saw the three staff who were busy observing the monitors in front of them.

When everyone noticed them entering the room, one of them stood up and immediately gave a brief report.

"Sir, the drones and the mobs are now in the right places."

"Good", Officer Sander nodded approvingly.

In the monitor, Garry saw the year-1 cadets racing towards the hill. It looked like this room was where they monitored everyone in the field.

After giving his report, the staff went back to his seat and focused his attention on the monitor again.

"Hm, let's see which of the new cadets is capable enough to overcome the surprises I'd prepared", Officer Sander said in a serious tone.

Garry turned to him. "Some of them are from prominent families", Garry replied.

"Yeah", the officer nodded.

"I heard that one of them has a high mana score second only to Scarlet", added Garry.

"Ah, are you talking about William Sanford? Yes, you heard right. Although he is not as good as Scarlet at piloting a mech, he still has a good future especially if he takes his training seriously. Maybe if he is as diligent as you in training, he will easily be included in the Elite Class."

Hearing the officer, Garry subconsciously scratched the bridge of his nose. He was happy that the officer noticed his efforts.

"I hope he will pass the obstructions I've prepared", the officer smirked slightly.

Garry silently glanced at him before Garry returned his gaze to the monitor. He could eventually guess what kind of surprise the officer had prepared.

On the monitor, he saw the year-1 cadets nearing the foot of Backyard Hill. But before they could get close, they were suddenly blocked by strange creatures.

~~Screech! Briii! Those creatures made strange noises.

"Zergs?!" One of the cadets who was running in front of the group shouted in shock.

Hearing that, everyone stopped running and fear and dread suddenly appeared on their faces.

"What?"

"Z-Zergs?"

"W-Wait, stop!"

"Careful don't push."

Cai Lyn, Noir Rin, and the other cadets were also immediately stunned by fear. It could also be seen that everyone had started to panic and some were trembling.

No matter how dedicated they were in their training, in the face of such horror creatures, they could only succumb to their fear.

"What are we going to do?"

Their reaction was just natural because the Zergs were known predators who spare no one. Humans for them are just good supplies for their belly.

William and his cronies were not exempted from fear. Although he expected some surprises in this activity, Zergs were just out of the box. They were the embodiment of terror. Summed to that— that they were empty-handed right now, they have no way to fight them.

Also, was this part of the surprise the officer mentioned? Or a rift appeared nearby? William thought worriedly. A frown was on his face.

"No, those aren't Zergs!" A strong voice rang out. They saw a cadet with a large body step forward. "Look carefully!" He pointed to the strange creatures in front of them. "They are giant insects like the Zergs but if you compare them to real Zergs, they are insignificantly smaller!" He stopped briefly before he continued saying, "And if you looked properly, you would notice their difference apart from the size."

Everyone followed his directions and looked at the creatures properly. A thin blonde guy fixed his spectacles before he exclaimed. "Brittle Joe is right! Those are not real Zergs, they are Mob Bots!"

The creature in front of them had a long body like an alligator. But their bodies were bent like a snail without its shell.

These creatures were supposedly known as Nemesis Zergs. A type of Zerg with Danger Rank "Killer". This type of Zerg must be avoided at all costs. Once you encounter one of them, you better run away as fast as you can. Though historically speaking, only a few managed to survive from them.

Regardless, looking at these Zergs in front of them, their sizes seemed immature.

Immature Nemesis Zergs? They could not help but ask this in their minds.

However, as Brittle Joe said, these creatures looked different from the Nemesis Zergs they knew.

Where their insect wings should be there is a pair of wings with propellers. They were hovering in the air through that.

On their mouths, there were no pincers as the Nemesis Zergs should have. Instead, there was a muzzle.

A real Nemesis Zerg was horrifying to watch and everyone couldn't help but get goosebumps. But these Zergs in front of them looked fun to watch.

The panic and fear they felt just now had gone completely upon noticing that they were not real Zergs!

Regardless, although there was a big difference between the real Nemesis Zergs and these Zergs in front of them, the pair of scythe-like fins on their sides was almost the same as the real things. In that case, these Mob Bots were truly the poor copycat of Nemesis Zergs!

They were smaller in size and vastly different from the real Nemesis Zergs.

"Indeed they are just Mob Bots", Rebecca sighed in relief.

Inside the observation room, Officer Sander's lips curved into a smile. "As expected of the son of a renowned military man, he's quick to notice it", muttered Officer Sander as his gaze landed on Brittle Joe's figure in the monitor.

"However…" the smile on Officer Sander's lips suddenly turned to a grin. "These idiots easily put down their guards."

"Hahaha! See? They were just Mob Bots", the bespectacled guy moved closer toward the Mob Bots and started explaining about these creatures in front of the other cadets. "They were man-made machines designed after Zergs. They have many uses. One of them was for military assistance. Since they could move swiftly and you could attach cameras somewhere on their bodies, they were a good ally for scouting, especially in a densely packed forest or in urban areas. They could also easily slip in a pack of Zer—"

Bam!

The bespectacled guy stopped speaking when a thin ray of light grazed his cheek. Obviously, not just him who was stunned by it. All the cadets who saw it were shocked by that.

Then right after the ray of light grazed him, something warm trailed down from where the light grazed him.

When he touched his cheek and checked what it was, a scarlet liquid was on his fingers.

"B-blood?!" He exclaimed.

Everyone widened their eyes right after hearing him.