“What are you talking about?” an adventurer asked.
“We have to move now. It’s an order from headquarters.”
“Shouldn’t you at least explain the situation?” the adventurer questioned.
“It’s hard to explain. Anyway… you must move now, I mean, in four minutes,” they said.
“Damn it… what the hell are they talking about?” the adventurer asked.
I knew it was difficult to understand because it wasn’t an explanation those with combat-related jobs could understand. I had been a field commander for quite a while now, but I was having a hard time understanding the order even with my experience, so I was sure these adventurers were even more puzzled than me.
“I’m participating in the expedition as one of the field commanders. Shouldn't I at least know what’s going on?” I[1] asked.
“I’m sorry, but…” they paused.
It didn't happen that often, but conflict couldn't be avoided—both inside and outside dungeons. The need for experienced field commanders was going up. Clans and guilds recruited people for so-called administrative roles as if it was some kind of trend, but the adventurers' way of tackling dungeons hadn't really changed.
In other words, they had yet to adjust to the fact that field commanders were now a thing, and it was mostly because they were recruited in a hurry. They weren't ready yet.It was similar to the issue that developing countries would have to tackle in exchange for their rapid economic development. The existence of the job called "Field Commanders" was problematic in the eyes of adventurers.
Those with combat-related jobs had no trust in field commanders, and they would all think that their way was the right way. They thought field commanders, who had no hunting or war experience, were idiots.
From our point of view, adventurers like those were the type to cause trouble.
It was undeniable that my reaction was my way of coping with my inferiority complex, which was caused by the fact that they thought of me as unimportant. However, it was also because of the ridiculous decision that my superiors had made.
More often than not, team annihilations were caused by the dumb decisions of the field commander. Of course, there were also incidents that happened because the team members had refused to cooperate with their commanders.
In fact, incidents like these were hot topics among those who were in the same field as me.
‘Still…’
“It’s an order from headquarters. I actually don’t… I’ll try contacting them again,” the soldier said.
— You don’t need to know the reason. Carry out the order. There are four minutes left before the start of the mission.
‘Damn it.’
I left a message on the communication channel. I was sure the other field commanders were in a similar situation as me.
— You don’t need to know the reason. Three minutes and fifty-five seconds left before the start of the mission.
I was a Rank One Commander. I had access to a big chunk of the mission details and limited access to information that the Commander of the Republic and the Honorary Cardinal of the Democratic Country could access.
I decided to join this expedition under that condition in the first place.
"Requesting access to mission details. Rank One Field Commander, Codename Genius."
To be frank, there was no reason for me to know it, as my job was to simply follow the orders from headquarters, but…
‘I need to know the mission details.’
That way, we'd be prepared for any variables.
If I were a low-ranking commander, I wouldn’t do this, but I did have some authority.
However, the biggest reason was that I felt pressured about convincing those who were involved in the mission. I knew better than anyone else that I only managed to climb this position because of my drive.
‘Please approve.’
“...”
‘Please…’
— Limited access has been authorized. There are three minutes and ten seconds before the start of the mission.
I couldn’t help but tighten my fist. However, my reaction didn’t last long.
“...”
“...”
“What the…” I mumbled.
“...”
“What the hell is this…” I said.
[Rafael’s Route 42 Sent]
[Requesting edit permissions]
[Request to edit approved]
[Request to edit 7th Unit’s mission details]
[Unit’s current location and Bahamut’s expected movement pathing]
[...]
[12.24% chance of Bahamut changing his pathing]
[...]
[Route 13 added to the expected route. Approved]
[...]
[42nd Unit is expected to have casualties. Edited.]
[...]
A myriad of screens appeared before my eyes. There were so many texts, coordinates, and routes that I couldn’t understand what was going on. There was also a map that looked like a maze.
To make things worse, the information was changing in real time, causing my jaw to drop to the floor. The location of the enemy and allies, routes given to everyone in the expedition group, and changes were all marked on the screen.
They were all changing at the same time, and there were so many changes happening in our strategy that I couldn’t understand it at all. If I were to exaggerate, it was like I was watching a living organism.
Everything on the screen looked as if they all had a mind of their own.
The map looked like the entire Underground Temple, and I saw thousands—no, tens and thousands of lines crossing each other. It seemed like it was marking a soldier or predicting someone’s movement pathing, but I couldn’t figure it out.
I was able to figure out that the red line was the boss monster's pathing, but even the red line stretched out in hundreds of directions.
‘Those red lines are the paths that the boss monster may take.’
I was literate, but I couldn't read this at all.
I had participated in many missions, but all these looked gibberish to me.
[There is a 92.5% chance that the 22nd Unit may successfully complete their mission.]
[Requesting edit permissions.]
[Request to edit approved.]
[There is a 99.1% chance that the 22nd Unit may successfully complete their mission.]
[Casualty Chance: 0.9%]
[Mission undertaking has been approved.]
‘The success rate of a mission is displayed as a percentage?’
They could calculate the chances of there being casualties based on the ongoing missions—no, the missions that they were creating within these four minutes?
[There is a 95.7% chance that the Blue Guild may successfully complete their mission.]
[Requesting edit permissions.]
[Request to edit approved.]
[There is a 99.8% chance that the Blue Guild may successfully complete their mission.]
[Casualty Chance: 0.2%]
[Mission undertaking has been declined.]
[Request to edit approved.]
[There is a 100% chance that the Blue Guild may successfully complete their mission.]
[Mission undertaking has been approved.]
There was no way a human being could do all this.
I wasn't even sure whether I understood what I was staring at or not, but I knew what they meant. I was sure they wouldn't let the others know. Even if all of this was created relatively quickly, headquarters wasn’t planning on notifying the others of this mission.
‘That's a way to reduce the variables.’
They… They probably looked at humans as if they were parts of a machine.
I was sure they thought that keeping us in the dark about what we needed to do and who we had to fight would reduce the variables. They wanted us to cast aside our feelings and simply execute their orders.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have calculated the chance of our survival.
It was different from bragging about how the success rate of a mission they had been preparing for three months was eighty or ninety percent. They were analyzing humans as if they were mere data and in a pretty thorough way at that.
Their analysis included everyone's nature and abilities.
‘Is it okay for me to look at something like this?’
Headquarters had approved my request, but…
— There are one minute and nine seconds left before the start of the mission.
“Did you find out something?” one of the troops asked.
“I-I’m not sure. It’s an order from headquarters,” I replied.
“What are you staring at…” they asked.
“I’m not sure, b-but… we won’t fail. We’ll succeed no matter what,” I told them.
I couldn’t see my face right now.
Was I smiling, or did I look disgusted? Despite that…
— There are ten seconds left before the start of the mission.
We had to carry out the orders.
“Let’s get moving,” I ordered.
I had to start dishing out orders, as my unit was given six missions to tackle.
We were to move to the specified location, fire long-range spells at the marked coordinates, and scatter holy power around the place. Then, we'd move to the next specified location and treat the wounded there before moving to another specified location and joining the allied forces.
The mission hadn't started yet, so there was no one with any injuries among us. The mission we were about to carry out was created under the condition that the other units were going to suffer injuries.
They weren’t thinking about their deaths. Rather, they were worried about the possibility that there weren't going to be any casualties. I was sure they believed that having zero casualties could be variable.
‘This is crazy.’
I had never seen anything like this in any textbooks or adventure journals.
“Units line up! Units line up!” the soldier shouted.
“What…”
“Units line up! Get into position!” the soldier yelled.
“What do you think you’re doing…” I questioned.
“I just received an order from headquarters. We must get into position if we don’t want to die,” they replied.
“If they could give us a reason—”
“Damn it! I don’t know either!” the soldier shouted.
Everyone looked at me bitterly, but their faces changed soon.
"Rooooooooooooooar!"
Kabooooooooooooom!
"Rooooooooooooooooooooar!"
I was sure everyone knew that the roars were getting closer.
We moved to the specified location, and the ground beneath us started shaking violently. The roars were fast approaching, and the troops were becoming more and more nervous as time ticked by
My heart was racing as well—no, I felt numb all over.
We had yet to encounter the enemy, but the fear of dying enveloped me. We had to follow orders if we didn’t want to die here. I was sure they understood that fact. I was sure there was a reason the headquarters gave us that order.
“What is… going on…” a soldier mumbled.
“Channel your spells!” I ordered.
The coordinates were already available to me. My hands were shaking, but I couldn't be so nervous here. I was sure the mistakes that our unit was going to make had already been included in the so-called variables.
‘It’s okay to make mistakes.’ My hands that were typed in the coordinates in the communication channel were quivering. ‘Stop being so nervous.’
I was so nervous that I couldn't speak properly.
Just then.
“F-Fire!” I ordered.
As soon as the spells were unleashed…
Kabooooooooooom!!!
A colossal hand passed right in front of me.
It happened in the blink of an eye, and it felt like my time had slowed down.
The mages instinctively unleashed their spells, and the vanguards froze before the sudden attack. That wasn’t all. The colossal hand crushed everything around it, but it wasn't really close to us.
It felt like the colossal hand was close enough to touch my hair, but it was actually far away.
In fact, it was so far away that not even the debris managed to touch us.
"Rooooooooooooooooar!!!"
I finally saw the monster’s colossal figure, and my legs grew weak at the sight of it. I collapsed to the ground, but my eyes were transfixed on it. I saw the spells landing on the monster’s back. I wasn’t sure whether it was effective or not, but I would say that it wasn’t effective at all, as the monster didn’t even glance at us.
The monster was looking up at the hole where it had come from, and we saw a figure dropping down the hole. She rushed at the monster and swung her spear. Layers of protective shields manifested on the monster's arm, and the monster swung it toward the spear-wielding figure as if it were annoyed by the latter.
The woman wielding a spear used one of the semi-transparent shields like a slide and slid down the monster's arm.
BOOM!
The monster broke the ceiling again and disappeared.
I heard noises from all over the place.
“Fire!”
“Hold up your shield! Hold up your shield!!! Hold up your shield! You bastards!”
‘What the hell… is going on? What are we doing?’
“Hold it for one second. One second! Just for one second!”
"Rooooooooooooooooar!"
“Priest! I need a prieeest!”
“AAAAAH! Help me… Help me!”
“We’re leaving the wounded!” a soldier ordered.
“But…” I said.
“Damn it! It’s an order! We’re leaving the wounded and moving forward!” shouted the soldier.
“...”
“Move, you fools!”
"ROAAAAR!!!"
The monster broke a wall and left nothing behind. The only thing that remained in the ruins was a path that the remaining troops and I had to take for our next mission. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I heard that monotone voice again.
— There are twenty seconds left before the start of the mission.
1. Field Commander’s POV ☜
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