Chapter 40: Battle Report

****

“Ah, ah. This is Dr. Geum, Director of Facility 82. I am addressing all Foundation personnel listening to this transmission.”

“All Foundation personnel listening to this transmission, please move to a safe location where communication is possible.”

“First, please report casualties.”

[This is Task Force ‘Praetorian Guard.’ One member dead, sniper missing.]

[This is Task Force ‘Purifying Flame.’ Two members dead. Three missing.]

Five lost… They got wiped out.

[This is Task Force ‘Moon of Seoul.’ One member dead. No missing.]

[This is Task Force ‘Mistilteinn.’ No casualties at present.]

[This is Recovery Section 1. Ten personnel dead. Recovery Section 1 is not currently participating in the operation and is standing by outside the city.]

I gritted my teeth.

Recovery Section 1 should have been relatively far back—how did they lose that many? As far as I knew, they were organized into two teams of eight.

[This is Recovery Division 2. One dead.]

[This is the Precognition Division Field Survey Team. Five personnel dead. Still conducting field surveys.]

“…”

Countless people had died by my orders. Some teams were close to annihilation.

“T-twenty-five confirmed dead or missing. Currently—”

My voice trembled. I cleared my throat briefly, then gritted my teeth and grabbed the radio again. I had to be strong now. This wasn’t the time.

“Twenty-five confirmed dead or missing. Units other than Recovery Section 1 and the Precognition Division field team are judged to retain operational capability. Disintegrated units will be extracted from the field, and the operation proceeds as planned.”

There was no response.

“Has anyone found civilian survivors?”

Nothing.

“Understood. Briefing follows.”

“A truck carrying nerve gas is dispersing the gas throughout the city. The entire city will soon fall within the gas’s area of effect.”

The nerve gas contains substances such as cinnamon, mistletoe, and silver iodide. It adversely affects certain anomalous organisms and anomalies, but is not significantly harmful to humans.

“Investigation results indicate that multiple Groups of Interest have summoned demigod entities in this city. Accordingly, the operation’s objectives are revised.”

Christopher nodded in front of me.

“First. Neutralize all humanoid anomalies in the city that are not Foundation personnel.”

“Second. Neutralize as many demigod entities within Yulje-myeon as possible.”

“Third. Gather intelligence on the anomalies controlling Yulje-myeon.”

“Numerous humanoid mimics are rampant throughout the city. All survivors who are not Foundation personnel are to be considered nonexistent.”

“The sun will set at 17:40 today. Withdraw from the city before sunset.”

“By now, the Foundation’s main force should be standing by near the city. Once withdrawal is complete, bombardment of the city will commence.”

“That is all. Good luck.”

The moment I finished speaking, I dropped the radio from my hand and buried my face in the concrete floor.

****

Ughhh.

I blinked repeatedly in pain.

[Director Geum! Can you hear me?]

“Who is this?”

[Medical officer of the task force. Director, you must withdraw immediately.]

“I’m perfectly fine— ow!”

[This is not a suggestion.]

“I can still fight. More than that—I just gave the order to continue the operation. I can’t be the first one to run.”

The medical officer ignored my words and picked me up. My equipment alone must weigh 15kg.

[Withdrawing. Medical armored vehicle standing by.]

“Hmph.”

[Moving out.]

****

Déjà vu.

I sat in the tent, wrapped in that ridiculous foil blanket. Honestly, a Hello Kitty blanket would have been less embarrassing.

“Director, I’ve brought you some hot chocolate.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Whoa! A shiny foil blanket!

Every breath I took made it crinkle loudly, and I could feel everyone nearby staring at me. They actually were staring, too.

Like I’m some hypothermia patient.

I just killed three gods in there and walked out, you know? I’m not in a position to be accepting some weird-looking blanket and drinking hot chocolate.

I quietly sipped the hot chocolate I was given. It really is the appearance that matters. They’re only treating me this way because I look like a girl.

“Hold this mug for a second.”

“Me?”

I handed the hot chocolate to some random staff member, then tossed the blanket aside and stood up.

“I’m fine, everyone go about your business. Get me a comms link to the operation zone! Who’s the field commander? Who’s providing support?”

A Foundation staff member ran over and helped me into my coat. I adjusted the sleeves of my white lab coat.

“A civilian support team has arrived on site. It would be best if you met with them, Director.”

A civilian support team?

****

The world is a stranger place than you’d think.

It always is.

“Hello! We’re the Hanwha Defense technical support team. We’ve heard a lot about you, Director.”

Salespeople in navy suits. They must have been curious whether the weapons they sold actually worked in the field. For the record, they did not work well.

“Ah, yes.”

“We apologize. We heard our company’s unmanned machines couldn’t enter the operation zone due to communications interference. That must have been inconvenient.”

I gave a vague nod.

“We’re currently developing autonomous decision-making robots and machines with more reliable communications, so you should see definite improvements in the next generation of products.”

“Is there no solution available right now?”

“There’s no solution for the unmanned machines, but we’ve come mobilizing all our resources to provide support.”

“Thank you.”

“The armored vehicle that rescued you is also one of our company’s products. Was the ride comfortable?”

“No.”

Not all equipment used by the Foundation is Foundation-made. Main infantry fighting vehicles or tanks, maybe, but smaller armored vehicles, trucks, and drones are apparently purchased from outside.

And these are those people.

“We’ll try harder. Was there anything in particular that inconvenienced you on the way here?”

“Monsters.”

Honestly, the inconvenience had nothing to do with the vehicle. It was the four hours of walking around in ballistic gear plus protective suit that was uncomfortable.

“By the way, what exactly do you people do?”

“We’re just Hanwha Defense employees here to survey customer satisfaction. If needed for the operation, we can also perform field repairs.”

I thought for a moment. I needed to pawn these people off on someone because they were a hassle—what do I do with this. I grabbed a Foundation staff member walking by.

“Take these people to the Mechanical Section Chief.”

The Foundation staff led the group away.

****

I sat in a quiet corner and thought.

All the civilians in the city were dead, and every single person who could have explained the situation had been killed too.

The only clue we had left was that grotesque mahogany door we’d found inside the library.

We still couldn’t make sense of the situation.

It had to be connected to the Temple of Knowledge that the humanoid anomaly I’d encountered mentioned, and to Cosmos and Kairos as well.

What reason could there be to summon a bunch of grotesque ancient gods and kill tens of thousands of civilians? Is there even a motive that could justify… that?

****

[Operation Record]

[Filed by: Dr. Geum]

[This is not a record of the operation as a whole. This is a personal record I am leaving regarding the operation. There may be parts I remember incorrectly.]

[The command armored vehicle I was riding in was destroyed a few minutes after entering the operation zone.]

[After giving the order to proceed with the operation, I entered the city on foot.]

[At the time, I was under the influence of anti-amnestics and cognitohazards, so I may have responded somewhat rashly. I apologize for that.]

[First. A massive reptilian demigod entity with apparent regenerative abilities destroyed the armored vehicle and attacked me.]

[That demigod entity was, upon investigation, identified as an instance of anomalous phenomenon P-1682, the “Tarasque.” I fired a shotgun round loaded with a vial of raw amnestic solution into the monster’s open mouth and neutralized it.]

[Second. I engaged a humanoid anomaly with antlers. I subdued the already-injured anomalous instance with 7.62mm silver bullets.]

[Overseer Petraeus claimed this anomaly was a type of “wendigo,” but I found no evidence to support that.]

[Third. I engaged the spider god. As I could not determine a method of neutralization for this instance, I deployed anomalous phenomenon P-3030, Popo, to kill it.]

[Fourth. I engaged mimics. Several anomalies of the human-mimicking variety had occupied the police box in Yulje-myeon.]

[I was extracted from the field by the task force due to accumulated fatigue and injuries. For the record, I opposed the field extraction at the time.]

****

[Research Assignment]

[Filed by: Recovery Division Science Officer Team]

[A large number of anomalous phenomena were discovered.]

[Most of the anomalies found at the site were simply incinerated. We judged that the majority had no containment value and were dangerous only.]

[We secured the artifact “the Librarian’s Door.”]

[We discovered ritual altars, shrines, or religious symbols within the city. We believe there are several dozen or more. Someone summoned multiple demigod entities on the day of the solar eclipse.]

[We do not know why. We will do our best to establish leads for determining the cause.]