Do As You Please
A fleeting sense of foreboding washed over me.
But I pushed it aside for the moment and decided to focus on the situation right in front of me.
"This creature bears a form unlike any Abyss we've encountered before. Positioned at the very heart of the Abyss forces currently advancing south, we believe this entity is the commanding presence leading the entire army."
"Hmm…"
"That one right there is…"
The adjutants absorbed Haeun's briefing with grave expressions. Undeterred, she pressed on, her voice growing even more serious.
"As you can see, whereas every Abyss until now has taken the shape of a monster or beast, this one possesses body parts remarkably similar to our own. In connection with that, we currently suspect that the tactical movements the Abysses have displayed recently originated from this creature."
"In other words… you're saying it doesn't merely resemble us in appearance, but also possesses human-level intelligence?"
"Yes, exactly. In fact, on the way here, we confirmed several instances of precisely that kind of strategic behavior."
With that, Haeun began cycling through the footage again. Moments later, the screen filled with images of tens of thousands of black waves spreading into formation around the humanoid Abyss, encircling their enemies and annihilating them in a single stroke.
Their movements were organic yet systematic — as if the horde itself were a single living organism.
Watching it, I found myself murmuring in genuine admiration, almost against my will as a commander.
I know it's strange to say this about the enemy, but… damn. This is actually magnificent. Not hundreds — tens of thousands of troops moving in perfect lockstep under that kind of discipline…
If they were human, it would have been the sight of elite soldiers, drilled to perfection through endless training, holding formation without a single break in the line as they met the enemy and casually wiped them out.
At the same time, though… the fact that these Abysses — creatures that had always moved on pure instinct — were capable of such precise coordination sent a chill through me.
There's a world of difference between a trained elite force and an enemy that just charges forward without thinking. The ability to employ tactics, to read the enemy's movements and arrange themselves systematically instead of simply rushing in on a wave of frenzy the way they used to — that's something we absolutely have to keep in mind.
Deception tactics, and the near-perfect operational ability to execute them smoothly. And above all, the inherent advantages of being Abysses — qualitatively superior to any ordinary human army, with the numbers to match.
Looking at an enemy that had become troublesome in every possible way, my brow furrowed of its own accord.
Then something else struck me — something I'd been slow to notice while fixated on their movements. I turned carefully to Adjutant Haeun with a question.
"One thing, though… am I seeing this correctly? It looks like they're waging war against other Abysses."
"Yes, that's right. You've spotted it exactly, Adjutant Lee Jinhyun."
As a rule, Abysses never attacked their own kind, no matter the circumstances. Even when thousands or tens of thousands of them gathered in one place, concepts like quarreling or fighting among themselves had never been observed. Their hostility was reserved exclusively for humanity.
And yet right now, the Abysses on the screen were locked in combat against other Abysses. Not mere skirmishes, either — battles that ended in thorough extermination, leaving not a single survivor.
"We don't know the exact reason, but as this force advanced in our direction, the Abysses they encountered along the way — or those lingering nearby — reacted in one of two ways. Either they joined up as naturally as if they'd been part of the group from the start, or they showed hostility, attacked, and were annihilated without a fight, just as you're seeing now."
"Surrender and live, refuse and die… something along those lines."
"Yes. And there's another point of concern: the closer they get, the faster nearly every Abyss force in the vicinity — including the ones that had been attacking us — is relocating toward them. The drop in both the frequency and intensity of assaults on our defensive line over the past while is precisely because of this."
Join them, or die.
Whatever the cause, that was how a force of thirty thousand Abysses had been handling every other Abyss they met on their way here. The way some joined as if they'd always belonged was unsettling enough. Even more so was the way the horde was drawing in nearby Abysses like a magnet pulling iron filings — something we would have to watch carefully.
I registered that there was now one more fact I needed to confirm.
Having finished her briefing, Adjutant Haeun looked at us and continued in a grave tone.
"The enemy's current position is approximately thirty kilometers from here. Their speed isn't particularly high, but at this rate, they should arrive in about ten days."
"Ten days… meaning that's roughly how much time we have."
"Yes. Unfortunately so."
Ten days was enough to bring in some reinforcements and reorganize the front. But facing thirty thousand enemies of this caliber without thorough preparation was simply impossible. More than that, the information we had so far was nowhere near enough to take on an enemy superior to us in raw power. From this moment on, I realized, I had a great deal of work ahead of me.
Watching me, Adjutant Song Dana spoke with a careful edge in her voice.
"That's everything we've learned about the enemy so far. Well? Do you think you can devise a way to defeat them?"
There was even a hint of desperation in her tone. I answered with unfiltered honesty about our current situation.
"It would be… extremely difficult."
"…I figured as much."
Adjutant Song Dana's reaction was one of regret, but also understanding. And for good reason — the enemy outnumbered us more than three to one, and their movements were both tactical and nearly perfect in discipline. Even with the advantages of a defensive battle, the gap in both quantity and quality of forces was substantial. Without something close to a miracle, this would not be easy.
Looking at her disappointment, I continued in the same calm voice.
"Yes… it really would be extremely difficult. Now that their behavioral patterns have changed from everything we've seen before, victory is impossible with the information we currently have. Not without working the drone-operating hunters nearly to death, that is."
"…What do you mean by that?"
The slight opening I'd left in my words seemed to kindle a spark of hope in Adjutant Song Dana. Meeting her reaction, I continued laying out the reality in a steady voice.
"Exactly what I said. We have only ten days left. To identify their behavioral patterns and formulate countermeasures in that time, we would need to launch aircraft at nearly hourly intervals. Fortunately, we've already developed a successful method for dealing with their anti-air fire, so we can just barely make the timeline work. Even so, actually carrying it out would be…"
There was, of course, an efficient way to extract information from the unknown enemy advancing toward us: continuous small-scale engagements using unmanned aircraft. No matter how formidable the opponent, dozens of battles would naturally accumulate meaningful data. Allied losses would be inevitable in the process — but right now we had those excellent eighty-billion-won information-gathering mosquitoes called unmanned aircraft, capable of minimizing those losses.
Even so, having Glass sortie alone wouldn't be enough to finish the job in ten days. We would absolutely need help from the other Air Force hunters.
Not that I was particularly optimistic about getting it.
Honestly, even saying all this, it's probably impossible. They say they'll hear me out, but there's no way they'd agree to let a civilian — not even a fellow soldier — work their people into the ground like that…
I allowed myself a bitter smile at the thought.
And then—
"Fine. Do it that way."
"…Excuse me?"
The next moment, Adjutant Dana's answer came so cleanly and without hesitation that I found myself staring blankly for a second.