"How are the new recruits doing?"
In the western command post of the Maginot Line, Murphy sat in his chair and asked with interest. Adele stood beside him, fully armed and ready to deploy at a moment's notice. She glanced at the records on the calculating orb and said softly:
"Just five minutes ago, the last rookie squad sent to the front was wiped out. The five hundred rookie soldiers lasted only one morning in the front-line trenches. Fewer than twenty are still alive. The fighting was certainly intense, but their performance really wasn't as impressive as that of the carefully selected Otherworlders we had before.
"They're quite ordinary in both adaptability and innate talents."
"Ah, perhaps that's only natural."
Murphy shrugged. He looked a little regretful, but not sad, as he said:
"There's a difference between one in ten thousand and one in a hundred. Even so, they did much better than fresh recruits on their first deployment. It proves that our heroic spirits still have plenty of untapped potential. Aside from them, how are the soldiers in the positions holding up?"
"The casualties are still within acceptable limits."
Adele reached out and tapped the psychic sand table the goatman sorcerers had constructed in front of them. She said:
"The gnolls haven't deployed their full strength yet, and the only part of the line attacked this morning was the Nack Mine, slightly east of the center. But judging by the sheer number of gnolls currently crossing the Filthy Swamp, the fighting will intensify significantly this afternoon. Still, there are only a few locations along this line where they can easily launch a large-scale assault and make the fastest gains. We've already stationed large forces at all of them.
"According to the predictions made by General Kudel's command, the fighting—including