Chapter 177: New Order (2)
Faced with the powerful resistance of the Allied forces, Eve, unable to crush them overwhelmingly, completely set her policy as she grasped the intentions of the Alliance.
For the time being, her strategy was to reduce full-scale war, conserve her strength, and look for vulnerabilities.
‘Of course, I’m not going to sit still. I need to make sure they don’t feel too confident and relaxed.’
‘How are you going to do that?’
‘I’ll find out the coordinates of the main forces who have joined the Alliance and attack them in reverse.’
The answer Eve arrived at was, as expected, through attack. Especially since those barbarian warriors and fairies newly belonging to the Allied forces probably had less defensive measures against spaceships than the Rebel Alliance’s planets.
It was a wicked idea to attack the main forces of the Alliance and shake their foundations.
“Now we will land at the station! Everyone, prepare!”
It was then that the spaceship, which had been navigating through space after the warp, gradually came to a stop. The Alliance soldiers guided us to the spaceship’s connector.
“But why did you bring us here?”
Eve grumbled amidst the gathered people. Although she had improved a lot, her tendency to avoid being close to people remained.
“It’s probably not such a clean intention.”
“…What do you mean?”
And responding to that grumble was Chae Yeon, who had approached us. Eve instinctively covered her front with her body.
“Do you think so too?”
“Yes. You may not know it, but I have never been fond of their actions.”
I pressed down on Eve’s struggling head and spoke to her. Chae Yeon had also noticed that the activities being conducted by the Alliance were certainly not a fight to protect justice, as they claimed.
“I wonder why they insisted on bringing us to their main base. It only sounds like they intend to use us politically.”
“…”
Chae Yeon’s frowning prediction was likely correct. Even the countries on Earth were trying to use the Alliance’s emergence for political purposes.
And her prediction became clear once we entered the planet.
“Oh dear, although I asked for them to hold back as much as possible, it seems our citizens wanted to see the heroes from outside directly.”
Christian, a member of the local cabinet, grinned as he looked down at the crowd filling the city center.
Even citizens belonging to a space power who had jobs and lived ordinary lives were ultimately no different from Earthlings.
I wondered how they described us to these uninformed citizens; the crowd was thrilled as if they were seeing superstars.
‘That doesn’t seem like a very wise choice. Eve, you’re definitely going to get the coordinates here, right?’
‘…No, it’s impossible.’
‘What?’
‘Something is interfering with obtaining the gate coordinates for this place.’
I spoke lightly, but the reply I received was unexpected.
‘Of course it’s not impossible. It’s certain that these guys have already teamed up with others. But it definitely feels unpleasant.’
Gates weren’t a form of omnipotent magic, and there were surely vulnerabilities. Eve attempted to calculate the coordinates based on her avatar but failed.
Of course, Eve wasn’t particularly obsessed with figuring out the gate coordinates of this place, which was their main base right now. There were still many tasks awaiting her elsewhere.
“Please take a good rest here while we discuss the detailed plans and configurations. Our goal is to prepare thoroughly and minimize damage.”
Christian, who was guiding us, led us to a rather tall building. After all, we had come to work together as one team to fight against them, so a detailed consultation was essential.
‘That sounds boring.’
‘I’m feeling the same. I have plenty of other things to deal with.’
In truth, both I, who was still inexperienced, and Eve, who had little interest in the issues of humans, found it easier to move as directed.
While I listened to the others, I surveyed other places through the screen, a privilege of the Player.
Since the other places Eve was managing were unnecessary for me to see, I focused on my direct subordinates that were stationed in the demonic realm and increasing our forces.
As enough time had passed, the 100,000 strong army promised by Richard was now produced and waiting at the nest.
‘It looks like the preparations are complete.’
“Yes. In the meantime, I have downloaded the data of the types of units stored in the Legion’s database and produced and combined them according to that design. But there are some unsatisfactory aspects.”
‘Unsatisfactory? What do you mean?’
At that moment, Richard, who was in the deepest part of the nest, connected his body to a massive auxiliary brain and, with his eyes closed, spoke unexpected words.
“All the existing soldiers modified and combined according to necessity from the stored tens of thousands of species were intended to fit into a hive-mind system with detailed and immediate control. This means there are aspects that are lacking for what we are currently handling.”
‘Is it due to the difference in command structure…?’
I understood Richard’s point. The command structure of Eve’s Legion and my Legion were different from the beginning. Unlike Eve, who could control millions of troops simultaneously with her now vast brain, my Legion operated through commands passed down via Richard, a submind, much like robots.
“Give me time and budget! No, just a bit more energy. I will directly synthesize new types of soldiers suitable for our system and the environment of this demonic realm!”
In that situation, Richard showed enthusiasm that surprised even me. He outright asked for the Legion’s power, the ability for genetic manipulation.
If Eve were to find out, she would probably be furiously angry. After all, it was as if a mere human-born submind was boldly declaring a challenge to her abilities.
‘Alright. Let’s see what you can do.’
Of course, I accepted his suggestion. After all, this process was essential for evolving in a different direction than Eve and building my own Legion. Eve’s angry and pouting visage was more cute than scary.
‘However, I can’t transfer authority to you. So, create detailed genetic blueprints for me. Then I will proceed with the combinations and will provide you with samples to be mass-produced.’
“Understood!”
With consent, Richard enthusiastically jumped straight into his work. This demonic realm was certainly a unique place.
A strange land where glaciers and deserts coexist, along with wetlands and highlands, separated by boundaries. Having Legionnaires specifically adapted for activities in such a harsh and erratic environment would inevitably raise combat effectiveness.
‘So what kinds of new combined legionnaires are you planning to create specialized for this demonic realm?’
“Excluding the native species, the biggest enemy we face is the Troll, based on the data. In calculating efficiency, I determined that increasing numbers would be better than simply growing their size.”
Richard analyzed numerous data and calculations simultaneously, establishing an overall theme and designing the legionnaires fitting that theme.
“I will lay various insects as a base and, as before, assign roles and determine the corresponding types of soldiers to mass-produce.”
He focused on insects and crustaceans among the myriad types of legionnaires, including quadrupeds, crustaceans, insects, birds, reptiles with scales, and large bipedal beasts.
Blueprints for the new legionnaires, maximizing the advantages of the existing insect-type legionnaires, gradually began to arrive in front of me.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at them.
What if someone like Richard were Eve’s Player? The synergistic effect would be unpredictable. He would have guided and designed Eve’s growth from the cellular level, potentially creating the ultimate Legion.
He might even have been happy if Eve devoured the whole universe, excluding him.
“But we need to keep producing soldiers, and now we’ve hit a gap. What do we do?”
‘I was worried about that too, but the enemies’ movements seem suspicious.’
As Richard and I conversed, Kang Do-yeon, who had been sitting on a rock near the nest, interjected with a mutter into the air.
Her concern was that we had just revealed our identity and needed to start moving, yet there was now a gap.
‘As far as Earthlings go, it’s one thing, but I’m sure our information has reached their higher-ups through the goblins. Why are they so quiet while we are producing our forces?’
“Could they be intentionally leaving us alone? Why?”
Kang Do-yeon scoffed in disbelief. Of course, I didn’t know every single thought they had, but it felt like déjà vu as if I was experiencing a similar situation now.
‘Like the Alliance wishing for the mutual destruction of Eve and the Allied Forces, could the demons also want us to fight against the Earthlings?’
“Funny bunch.”
Kang Do-yeon burst into open laughter upon hearing my explanation.
We were inherently different in disposition from Eve’s Legion. Though we might not be allies of the Earthlings, we aimed to widen our forces in this realm to drive out the demons.
We would keep some level of restraint, but it’s unlikely we would need to fight against the humans before dealing with them first.
“Hey, it seems like a variable has occurred.”
However, when Oh Yu-na, who had gone for a further reconnaissance, observed what she found, I sensed that our future plans might slightly change.
‘It’s the Alliance.’
The ground forces of the Alliance, provided in exchange for enlisting hunters, began to actively engage on this battlefield.
