"Guhh!! Haah… haah… bleghh… huff…"
William was on all fours, panting so hard it looked like he might pass out.
"This is a bit difficult." Viktor stood beside him, unimpressed by William's sorry state.
"Man, your stamina is just too weak. You couldn't even run a hundred laps around the halls."
"*Cough*... *COUGH*... *COUGH*"
William choked on his own saliva at Viktor's words, staring at him like he was some kind of monster.
"This is tough," Viktor repeated, scratching his chin as if considering something.
"Even if I sparred with you, you wouldn't last a few minutes."
"Then maybe… maybe let me build up my stamina first. One day, I'll spar with you," William said, his voice almost a plea.
"No way." The rejection was firm.
"Please, no. No more. Let me rest. My mind can't take this," William begged.
Viktor ignored him. He uncorked a stamina vial and a healing potion, then shoved both into William's mouth.
A surge of energy rushed through William's body. He lay on the ground, despair written across his face.
"Now then," Viktor said with a smile that looked kind but felt devilish to William.
"Let's start with some light sparring before your next round of physical training."
William's stomach dropped. He had begun to associate Viktor's smile with pure torment.
They faced off. William had no weapon, just his bare hands.
Viktor already knew from earlier spars that William wasn't trained in any weapon, so hand-to-hand combat was the only option.
Without waiting, Viktor charged with his arm raised.
William stayed put, guard raised, not daring to attack.
The reason became clear in an instant.
Viktor's straight punch to his gut sent William rolling across the floor.
Still, compared to past blows, this was mild. William used the momentum to spring back onto his feet.
Closing in, Viktor's leg tensed. He swung a kick at William's head.
William blocked, but the impact left his arm numb and lifted his body off the ground for a split second.
A quick jab followed. William ducked aside, barely dodging.
Punches and kicks came nonstop—Block, dodge, block, dodge. For minutes, William was kept on edge.
Every strike was just within his reaction time. If he slowed down or lost focus for even a second, he'd take a hit.
Each blow forced him to keep moving, never catching a breath, never lowering his guard.
But soon his stamina failed. His movements slowed, and the attacks slammed into him from every angle.
Viktor's barrage didn't ease up. Punches and kicks hammered him across the floor like a rag doll.
At last, an uppercut lifted him clean off his feet. He hit the ground hard, and the assault came to a sudden halt.
"Haaah… *cough*… *cough*…"
William lay there, gasping. His body was drained, completely immobile. His hazy eyes stared at the ceiling.
"Hey, you okay, William?" Viktor asked, scratching his head. For once, he looked a little guilty.
As Viktor thought about training methods, William's own mind raced.
'I can't do this anymore. I need out… I need to get knocked out right now!'
With effort, William forced himself to speak.
"Hey, Viktor. I'm curious… how did you get this strong?"
"Hm? Simple. I pushed myself to the limit every single day. Slowly, year after year, I grew into what I am now." Viktor flexed his arm casually.
"Why? Why did you want to grow so strong?"
"..."
Viktor fell silent for the first time. Seconds passed before he answered.
"Because it's not enough. I may be strong, but it's not enough."
Viktor spoke but refused to elaborate.
William stayed quiet this time and pushed himself to his feet.
"Hey, I don't know why you want to get stronger.
But I do know this—I'm the same. I don't want to be helpless. I want to be stronger, so I'm not a burden to others.
That's why I joined Unit Zero."
He lowered his stance and raised his fists.
"So, Viktor… don't hold back this time. Show me how strong I can become in Unit Zero."
Viktor studied William's determined face. A small chuckle escaped him.
"Heh."
Then he vanished from sight—reappearing right in front of William.
***
Inside a room—
William's eyes shot open. He sat up fast, scanning the area.
Relieved, he muttered, "Thank god. That actually worked."
Then he frowned. "But… where am I?"
The room was a perfect cube, just big enough for the bed he was on. No windows. No door. Only four blank walls.
His bracelet lit up with a voicemail.
He pressed play. A cute, overly excited voice rang out:
[Congratulations, William Stromholde! You are now an official member of Unit Zero!]
[To celebrate, we've dropped you into a forest full of wild beasts and monsters.]
[Your task is simple: survive, and make it to the Unit Zero base!]
The walls around him collapsed, revealing a dense rainforest.
[Oh, and the further you are from the base, the stronger the monsters get. So don't even think about escaping, okay?]
The message ended. William stood frozen in his patient gown, staring into the jungle.
"…Fuck."
The bushes rustled.
A tiger-like beast stepped out. William's spirit sank. Unlike the golems he was used to, this was a real monster—blood and flesh.
It pounced.
William hurled a fireball and sprinted the other way. The beast barely flinched and gave chase.
Then the ground gave way beneath it. The monster plunged into a pitfall.
Still running, William muttered, "This is fine. I've been in worse. I can survive this, too."
He checked his bracelet. The map displayed the base at the forest's center.
"Okay… how far am I from it?"
He scanned the map again. Then froze.
"Wait… where am I?"
There was no marker showing his location.
"This is fine. I can still fly up and see."
Using gravity magic, he floated above the trees. But no matter how far he looked, only endless rainforest.
He landed. Hope drained from his eyes.
"No, wait. The compass."
He activated the compass function on his bracelet, but the arrow only spun wildly.
William sank onto a fallen tree trunk, head hanging in despair.
"Of course. It's Unit Zero. They never make things easy."
But then he remembered the voicemail and replayed it on his bracelet.
[The further away you are from the base, the stronger the monsters get.]
"Haaaahhh. Of course…"
For minutes, he sat with his hands covering his face, dreading the thought of exploring the forest.
But the fear of being defenseless finally pushed him to move.
He covered himself in dirt to mask his scent, scouted the area from above, then picked a direction.
He trudged on for hours as the sun sank lower.
By nightfall, William stumbled on a shallow cave. He built a small fire, skewered some unrecognizable meat, and set it to roast.
He sat hugging his knees and staring at the fire. He had marched all day yet hadn't encountered stronger beasts.
The trek was exhausting but nothing beyond what he had endured before.
The harder part was the hours of silence—alone with his thoughts.
Unwanted memories rose as nothing kept his mind busy.
The pain and fear of Clara's mech pounding him with endless hammer strikes.
The sickening nausea when he remembered the Demon King Mech's fist crushing him, even killing him.
Viktor's cruel training—forcing potions down his throat, beating him into the ground, then making him repeat it again and again.
As these memories flooded back, he screamed inside.
'I can't… I can't do this anymore!'
'It hurts. It sucks. It's miserable.'
'Just give up. It would be easier.'
Emotions and thoughts swarmed William as he sat in silence.
He tried to shut them out, pressing his face into his knees.
But they only grew worse.
'Tonto is dead. My family abandoned me. And Zenith… I can't do anything for her.'
'So who am I even suffering for?!'
The thought brought tears streaming down William's face.
The fire had burned low, the meat long since blackened. William, still in his filthy patient gown, sat curled up, shivering.
Alone in the tiny cave, with only ashes and darkness around him, he wept quietly through the night.
By morning, the campfire was nothing but ashes, and sunlight streamed into the small cave.
William woke with heavy eyes and a pounding headache.
After last night's breakdown, his mind felt numb.
Ignoring it, he stood, forced himself to focus, checked the map on his bracelet, and set out into the forest.
By midday, he spotted something ahead. At first, it looked like a boulder, but as he looked closer, he noticed the slow rise and fall of breath.
It was a massive gray bear.
'It's asleep? With that size, it must be a strong monster… then this should be the forest's edge.'
He carefully backed away, avoiding dry leaves and branches.
William circled the area, trying to gauge the forest's edge and find a path toward the center.
Along the way, he passed wolves, boars, and even towering humanoid trees—all enormous, all radiating power.
Just as he was about to move on, his bracelet rang.
The sound made the humanoid trees turn their heads.
William didn't panic. He simply sank into the earth, tunneling away. Roots lashed out, trying to trap him, but they were too slow.
When he finally surfaced, sweating, he looked toward the forest's center.
'If I walk there, it'll take forever.'
An idea struck him.
The ground rumbled as he shaped it into a massive dirt cannon.
Climbing inside, he layered himself with gravity and barrier spells, then summoned a fireball. He poured mana into it until it filled the barrel.
When it was ready, he let it explode. The cannon shattered, but the blast launched him high into the air.
Weightless under his magic, William shot across the forest canopy at high speed.
Minutes later, he spotted a wide clearing dotted with buildings.
He adjusted his spell to descend, but halfway down, the gravity magic gave out.
His stomach dropped—he was in free fall.
Too drained to curse, William braced himself.
At the last second, he fired a fireball forward. The blast slowed him, but he still crashed hard, tumbling across the ground.
"Whiiiuuu~ That's one hell of a cool entrance," someone whistled nearby.