Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 242: Three Human Groups, Three Hundred Each!!

"What is wrong with these humans?! Why are there three groups, each formed of three hundred people, and all of them are standing around a specific spot without moving?!!"

John woke up early the next morning, as was his habit. Ever since he had been thrust into this world, he had been the first among his friends to rise, usually greeted by the bright daylight and some new, harrowing surprise or challenge.

Even now, with the territory secured and the primary threats neutralised, save for a measly eight hundred Hiveminds cowering behind their walls in the southern reaches, John couldn’t shake the internal clock that demanded vigilance.

He took a few quiet bites of the Terakos meat Elena had grilled yesterday. As he chewed, he idly wondered if she had exhausted half their entire supply just to fuel last night’s massive feast, and how come she prepared all that meat before setting out from the territory, and why? It had been worth it for the morale boost, yet the entire situation looked, in a way, quite weird and funny.

Around him, the camp was slowly stirring. A few Bulltors were waking up in various spots, stretching their massive, muscular frames and beginning their own morning with weird dances that told him they planned to keep celebrating for today. So, John decided to spend these early hours checking the map.

The plan for the day was already set. Last night, before the celebration had fully wound down, he had reached an agreement with his friends, Lanmar, Reody, and the Twelve. They were to commence a grand strategy meeting today to dictate their next moves. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

With their current numbers and all the defences and killing weapons John had in his inventory, they were more than capable of wiping out the remaining Hiveminds and marching toward the distant human territory in the south, almost on the same move.

Yet, the moment he opened the map, the casual air of the morning vanished. He was instantly startled by what he spotted happening at the other territories.

While he usually kept a periodic eye on the Hivemind remnants, feeling more restless the longer they remained inactive, today’s anomaly was different. Clustered across three distinct territories on the map were dense patches of green dots.

Humans.

John zoomed in, his brow furrowing as he analysed the bizarre scene he was seeing. Weirdly enough, these weren’t scouting parties or random teams. They were gathered in tight, circular formations, leaning toward the ground. And when he watched them for almost an hour, they hadn’t moved a single muscle at all.

He couldn’t be sure how long they had been stationed there. The last time he had performed a checkup of the southern territories was right after he woke up from his long slumber yesterday. The celebratory atmosphere and the sheer relief of victory had pulled him away from his usual routine of checking the map every few hours.

Seeing a few humans roaming the map wasn’t an inherently surprising matter. He had spotted small green dots almost daily since he acquired the map and expanded its coverage to the entirety of the pocket trial.

However, those were always small groups, never exceeding ten people, and they always followed a predictable path back to the main human territory in the far south. John had wondered about their purpose before, eventually chalking it up to human curiosity for opportunities and dangers around.

Luckily for those small teams, the surrounding territories were relatively safe, except for the usual Fog Seekers. The territories were devoid of any aggressive races except for the Krogers. But the Krogers were isolationists; they stayed locked within their own borders, seemingly indifferent to the power struggles of the trial.

But this? Seeing three separate groups, each consisting of exactly three hundred people, standing perfectly still in the middle of nowhere? John’s frown deepened. Even without a concrete explanation, his instincts, honed by lots of near-death encounters, told him this was a bad omen. It felt less like a gathering and more like a ritual. Or a sacrifice.

"Good morning," a voice called out, breaking his concentration.

Cissel and Elena approached from the side, offering a morning greeting. John didn’t realise it, but he had been standing in that exact spot, staring intensely at the map, for almost three hours without moving.

His statue-like posture had attracted the attention of every Bulltor who had woken up during that time, leading them to quickly inform the girls the moment they rose.

"Is everything alright?" Cissel asked, her eyes focused on John’s grim face. "You look like you’ve seen a ghost."

"Great timing," John said, snapping out of his focus. He looked between the two girls, his voice dropping into the low, commanding tone he used when the stakes were high. "The meeting starts now. Call everyone. Get Ricky and Luke. Bring the Twelve, Lanmar, and Reody."

"Oh, are we really going to plan things this early in the morning?" Elena asked, momentarily mistaking his seriousness for a mere morning productivity. However, when John solemnly and slowly shook his head, her heart clenched. Cissel felt the same cold spike of dread; both girls possessed a sharpened intuition for the bad things that tended to follow John’s sudden shifts in mood.

"We have something super weird going on," John said, his finger extending to point toward the great expanse of the south. "And we need to investigate it as soon as possible!"

"Is it the Hiveminds? Just give us the word, and we’ll annihilate them!" Blakar bellowed as he approached from a distance. His booming voice acted like a magnet, drawing in three more of the Twelve who were standing nearby.

"I told you before," Lilith said, rolling her eyes with a sharp, impatient edge. "We should have moved and struck them the moment they ran away! Giving them breathing room was a mistake."

"It’s weird, though," another of the Twelve paused, rubbing a massive chin in contemplation. "I didn’t receive any distress messages from the scout teams surrounding their territory. If they were mobilising or doing something there, my lads would have signalled by now."