Iron Throne

The Holographic Image projected by the Magic Net Terminal glimmered with radiance, creating a wondrous atmosphere that blended fantasy and technology in the room after dusk. Gawain sat before the communicator, listening intently to Camil's report from the rear laboratory.

"...Pittman has confirmed that the high-level Crystal Giants were transformed from priests of The End of All Things—though we cannot rule out the future emergence of 'commanders' transformed from other Supernatural Beings, at this stage, the fanatical End of All Things Cultists are the core upper echelon of the Crystal Legion...

"Crystal Giants transformed from ordinary people are smaller and weaker. Their capacity for thought—or rather, the remnants of their sanity—must rely on higher-ranking individuals to sustain it. There is a strange interdependent relationship between higher and lower Crystal Clusters. Lower-ranking Crystal Giants can think, but their thoughts themselves are incomplete...

"Pittman and I both speculate that this unique connection among the Crystal Giants indicates that they possess a certain degree of 'telepathy.' Commander-level Crystal Giants may be able to use this telepathy to control nearby units or sense the state of distant Crystal Legion forces, but the connection is not very clear and weakens dramatically with distance—this is the conclusion we reached after several isolated comparison experiments.

"After losing their commander, lower-ranking Crystal Giants rapidly weaken and lose their minds, devolving into monsters that act entirely on instinct. Complete weakening takes around an hour—but their sanity ceases from the very beginning..."

Gawain listened to every word of Camil's report, his brow sometimes knitting tightly and sometimes easing.

Thanks to the researchers in the rear, the soldiers fighting on the front lines no longer had to face an unknown enemy. As more and more infected samples were sent to the rear, and as Camil unlocked those memories from the Gondor