Chapter 110: Actively Efficient

"...Okay, everyone’s had their turn and learned the ropes. Now, how about you all work together so I can see who gets the best result?" I say to the Zenith students as I analyze everything they’ve done.

Each one of them did well overall. They learn fast. Even though only Ashlyn started off strong, they all managed to get great results over time. And now I’m going to create a riskier situation.

I even digitized their data so they could be added to the hologram and choose where to go inside of it.

Although, their hologram versions don’t have powers. They only serve to "motivate" the soldiers, keeping them from getting hesitant while they’re nearby.

"Commander Nadir, how’s it gonna be this time?!" Tanya asks excitedly, looking pretty confident.

"It’s almost the same thing. But instead of making 20 monsters attack like I did for each of you, I’m going to make 200 monsters attack in very different locations. And the five of you will need to choose how to position each of the allies on the battlefield," I say to them as the hologram starts positioning the monsters.

"You five will be at these locations here, marked in red. The monsters will be marked in blue, and the allies in yellow. The more allies that die, the fewer points you get. And just so you know, Zenith managed to get through this little test against a thousand monsters with only 3 deaths."

"I managed to get through with only two deaths against 1500 monsters. Maya got through 2000 monsters with only 1 death. And the record result was 4000 monsters with 2 deaths."

"Currently, getting past that with fewer deaths is pretty much impossible, because there are only 300 soldiers in the hologram. Everything depends a lot on where you position them," I explain to them, and they look pretty interested.

"Hey, 200 monsters sounds way too low!! I want at least 800!!!" Tanya says in a frustrated tone. The others look at her with a bit of anger, but then Rouge agrees.

"It’s true. 200 seems like nothing now that you said all that about the records."

’800...’

"If you want 800 monsters, that’s fine. But honestly, you’re going to have to try really hard not to lose. And even though you have the advantage of having 5 extra characters — which are yourselves — you’re still new at this," I add more monsters and position them on the same strategic base that everyone who’s used this device has seen.

"You can start by positioning them beforehand." That’s another advantage. Both Zenith and Maya and I started with the monsters already attacking. But they don’t need to know that.

"I think we should obviously place them on top of the ruin structures," Tanya tries to take the lead again.

"No! I don’t think so. I think it makes way more sense to keep them in a lower position, since not all of them can take advantage of their weapons from too high up. We’re also on the field, even if we can’t use powers and only weapons!" Eirwen says, disagreeing with Tanya.

"G-Guys, let’s not fight... th-there are 300 soldiers and a huge area. W-why don’t we split up?" Ashlyn nervously tries to give her opinion, which makes everyone look at the hologram.

’Ashlyn had a good idea to avoid fights.’ Ashlyn seems to be the most strategic one. And considering her power, it makes sense — her power depends a lot more on how strategic she is and how well she can shape the positions of what she creates.

"That gives 60 soldiers for each of you. Do you want to split up?" I ask, leaving the choice up to them.

"...That’s fine with me. At least we won’t fight," Charlotte agrees in a cheerful tone. I remember Zenith said she’s pretty manipulative.

’She doesn’t seem like it... but you can’t judge a book by its cover.’

"Perfect. So which area is each of you going to defend? Take all the time you need." I watch them talk and decide. It takes about 30 minutes, but I don’t interrupt so it’s truly 100% their choice.

Once they’ve all decided on their spots, I watch them start positioning. Tanya sticks to her idea, placing her soldiers on high points. Which seems like a good idea.

But it’s a bad idea, because there are walls in front. That means her soldiers are only useful once the monsters have already invaded. Though I have to say, the tactical positioning is excellent — they’re in spots that can cover every street.

Eirwen, on the other hand, positions them below. Which is also bad for the same reason — they have no way to attack before the monsters get in. But the street-by-street positioning is also good.

Risky, though. If one side falls, the others become vulnerable. But it also maximizes the chance of one team helping another.

’Ohh... interesting strategy...’ I watch Ashlyn position hers on top of the wall. But she uses the field much more to her advantage, giving her soldiers the chance to fall back if the monsters climb the walls.

’Ashlyn’s soldier positioning is a bit limited, but it makes sense considering the space on the wall itself... she’s the best so far...’ I look at Rouge’s positioning. Hers is much more aggressive — she placed them outside.

But near an entrance, allowing them to flee inside. The defensive formation is good, but it requires some to die if they want to retreat, since at least 10 of them would have to keep firing to hold back the advance for a few seconds.

’That... I get what Zenith meant now...’ I watch Charlotte’s positioning more closely. She does a mix of placing them on top of the ruin structures, on top of the wall, and outside with ropes.

That way, those outside slow the monsters’ advance. When they need to retreat, the ones on the wall give support. And when they retreat further, the ones on the ruin structures provide support.

It was designed not to hold the monsters back, but to reduce their numbers so that when they invade, there’ll be far fewer of them and they’ll be easier to deal with. It’s the best strategy so far. Although she spreads out the few soldiers she has way too much. If she were controlling all 300, this strategy would be great. But in the current situation, it’s risky.

"I’m going to start the simulation. I see you’ve positioned your holograms at the points you judged best. Let’s see the results." The chip activates everything, and the monsters start moving while the soldiers start shooting.

I speed up the fight so we get to the result faster. At first, everything goes well. But as expected, Tanya struggles a lot with her positioning, and so does Eirwen.

Ashlyn and Charlotte get the best results, while Rouge — surprisingly — manages to stop the monsters on her side and forces them back, since her side had fewer monsters than the others.

’I see. Since the gunfire drew attention, a lot of the monsters scattered. Luck smiled on Rouge.’ It all ends with 21 casualties for Tanya, 14 for Eirwen, 3 for Ashlyn, 0 for Charlotte, and 12 for Rouge.

"Considering the matches where each of you went solo, and this one where — honestly — you forgot to work as a team, I already have my pick." When I say that, they all stare at me intently, wanting the reward.

"Tanya, you’re in third place."

"Ahhhh!! No!! That’s so unfair..."

"Ashlyn, you’re in fourth place. Your performance was good, but your passive fighting style didn’t account for the monsters’ unpredictable behavior both times."

"Oh... okay... I’ll improve." She looks disappointed about losing.

"Eirwen, you’re in last place. You had a good overall performance, but the way you handled everything was much closer to someone trying to avoid risks and support injured allies. Honorable, but not efficient at all."

"And if you were more efficient, you’d have fewer injured allies in the first place. So in the end, your strategy was already that of someone who expected injuries, instead of someone who didn’t want them. Your mindset is in the wrong place."

"Really? I... I didn’t even realize."

"...Yes. You should be making strategies aimed at efficiency, minimizing injuries as much as possible, and completing the mission... Now, for second place." Rouge and Charlotte pay close attention.

"...We have a tie. There is no first place."

"What?!" Rouge freezes like she didn’t expect that.

"While I watched you, I gave points and took points based on what you did. You two tied — and all because of flaws. Rouge, you fight very aggressively, but inefficiently in general terms."

"You disregarded retreat. Just because it’s a hologram doesn’t mean you should ignore the soldiers’ lives. And Charlotte, both times you spread your soldiers out too much."

"It’s a good strategy, but you ignored that many of these soldiers don’t have a useful power for fighting, or don’t have powers at all. They can’t be anywhere near as fast as Kairas, and they’re not in large numbers... Since there’s a tie, I’ll give the chip to both of you. And it’s up to you two to share it through teamwork," I say, picking the chip up from the floor and handing it to them along with a small control device. But first, I activate it to format everything after a few hours.

"...It’s getting late, so I’m heading out. But you can all train a little more. It’s yours now. And since you’re all classmates, nothing stops you from using it together." Tanya looks at Charlotte and Rouge and tells everyone to compete. Eirwen agrees, and the two of them seem interested too.

Then they set the chip on the ground and try to learn how to use it. I leave with a satisfied smile.

’Zenith needs to work on communication. They’re not even that difficult as girls — they just need the right incentive to team up.’