Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 85: The Plan Is Set!

"We count the number of monsters attacking us at every designated spot. The highest count identifies the area closest to their den. After all, if we are close to their den, that’s where the densest number of monsters are. Plus, as we are close to the den, they could easily send more waves faster," she said, rolling her eyes at their slowness.

"It’s a simple rule of warfare: the base camp of any enemy is the most fortified and densely populated place in the entire theatre of operations! So, the closer we get to the heart of their hive..."

"The more monsters we’ll fight," John finished for her. He slowly stood up, looking at Elena as if he were looking at a buried treasure finally unearthed. Her logic and detailed strategy was simply perfect.

"And we can repeat the process!" Cissel added, her excitement mirroring John’s. While Ricky was still leaning against a tree, convinced this was all a tedious waste of time, Cissel was already running the numbers.

"Once we pinpoint a general direction—say, North—we venture deeper along the path and perform the same trick again. It’s like a field compass that points toward the highest threat level!"

"Exactly that," Elena nodded, her chest swelling with pride. She felt a deep sense of satisfaction in finally aiding the team with a brilliant idea, one that indeed stemmed from the generational military wisdom of her family, plus her rich field experience and tense training, as John had suspected.

"What are we waiting for then?" John’s voice was sharp with renewed hope. He scanned the group, his mind already selecting the strike team. "Elena, since you have more experience than anyone else in this specific method, you’re coming with me. Cissel, you’re coming as well." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

John didn’t hesitate in his choice. While he needed Luke’s reliability, the idea of leaving Cissel and Ricky alone together again was akin to leaving a lit match next to a row of gunpowder barrels. He didn’t know the full history of the friction between the two, but he was determined to prevent a civil war within his own ranks.

Not to mention, he wanted to send a subtle message to his friends: work your brain hard, and you’d get instantly rewarded! Picking Cissel was like rewarding her for this genius idea; the same went for Elena for her brilliant strategy.

Luke’s face fell instantly. He looked depressed at the prospect of being left behind with the increasingly arrogant Ricky instead of being by John and Elena’s side. Furthermore, staying within their established territory had become a chore; with only one wave of monsters visiting per day, it was more like being a bored watchman than a warrior.

However, John’s next words made Luke’s features beam with a wide, surprised smile.

"As we are obviously going to move our base of operations soon, we’ll need tons of cores. If we take over a new area, we can’t afford to be low on cores. Not to mention, we are aiming to exterminate the monsters’ den, which includes a high possibility that finding monsters later to kill will be a struggle," John explained, his gaze turning to Luke and Ricky.

"So, while we are scouting, you two will venture out from the territory in any direction you like. Create a small pocket cleared area—a hunting ground, like how we did in the past ten days together—and start harvesting. Kill every monster that comes your way. We need a massive supply that’ll sustain us for months..."

John began to relay more orders with a focused eagerness. He felt certain Elena’s idea would work; it was a strategy field-tested in the blood and dirt of Athanasia. His instructions were now directed toward the near future after the success of the inevitable siege of the Fog Seekers’ den and its extermination.

If his intuition and the quest description were right, the food and water sources wouldn’t just be nearby—they would be the reason the den existed. That meant they would span over a huge stretch of land, not just located in a small area like the Blue Serpentile trees.

Securing them would require a massive territorial expansion, far larger than the orchard they currently held. They had already spent close to fifteen thousand cores just to keep the trees safe. To secure a permanent water source and a new food supply, he estimated they would need five, perhaps even ten times that amount.

’After all, the system asked me to secure and take total control of them,’ John thought, his mind racing through the logic. ’Which can only mean I need to cleanse the fog away from the entire area and keep it away. That means a massive core expenditure.’

He continued to calculate the logistics, weighing their current core count and their daily hunting yields against the potential costs of the den takeover and renovation.

He waited while the girls gathered a fresh supply of Blue Serpentile fruits for the journey. He had already built up a significant inventory and was disciplined enough to keep his consumption low, preserving his stamina for the hunt.

When the girls returned, Cissel adjusted her gear and looked at him. "What’s the first move? We have paths already extending in four different directions."

"We’ve already ventured deep enough in different directions over the last ten days," John added, gesturing toward the narrow corridors they had carved into the grey void. "We’ll run to the end of each existing path. Once we reach the limit, we’ll stop, create four temporary pockets, and fight exactly one wave at each. Then, we compare the results."

"I’ll be responsible for the recording then," Elena said, raising her hand like a student in a classroom. "I’m the most accustomed to handling the math and the tracking of large enemy numbers!"

John didn’t mind that at all; it allowed him to focus on the threat. "Then Cissel and I will handle the heavy lifting. We need to clear those waves as fast as possible."

He turned to Cissel, who gave a sharp, determined nod.