At the moment, I only knew a few things.
One was that the NA Battlefront front line was on the 52nd floor. The other was that North America had adopted a bnced strategy of using 60% purification.
This meant that of the 28 zones, 17 would be defended while 11 would be used for training. Floor 24 was 28 floors behind the front lines, so at most the dirge sirens we would get would be at priority 3 and below.
If I really wanted to own the 24th floor, I now have two options. One was to imitate Europe and clear out all the undead. The other was to leave more areas for souls like Asia.
"If we want to secure the region, Europe''s approach is better. But if we want to train and raise an army, Asia''s would be best."
Though, considering how many reapers supposedly died in Asia, not everyone might like it.
[My lord, I have gathered the necessary information. Am I talking to you as if you were five?]
"Hahaha, yes, Exa, please do."
[There are 28 rooms on the 24th floor, most of them look the same, 17 of them have people in them, and only 10 of them have furniture. The 24th floor of the NA house has a doorway to the other houses, so it is usually asked for help and sometimes attacked.]
"Wait! Wait! Wait! The 24th floor is connected to the other battlefronts? What does that mean?"
[The floor is shaped like a slice of pizza. In reality, each battlefront is a slice. Only together do they make the whole pizza.]
"That kind of makes sense, if there is only one Hellsgate, then it makes sense that we only get one slice. So, there are seven equal slices?"
[Yes, the zones are notpletely equal, but oneyer of the Hellsgate spans all seven continents. Most of the time, however, there are walls between them. Shared floors are not the norm. Only they have floors that connect all 7 battle fronts.]
Hellsgate Diagram.jpg
"I suppose these shared floors open up the possibility of both reinforcement and invasion."
[Yes. North America''s immediate neighbors are South America and Africa. With Asia being close enough to go to. Europe and Australia would require considerable effort, while Antarctica is considered too far to reach].
It was amusing to learn about theyout of Hellsgate. Now I could understand why only Asia, South America and Africa would invade us. They were the only ones close enough to do so.
"Wait, if the continent zones are connected, is that why floors with 100% purification like Europe are still attacked?"
[Yes. Although Europe cleans its rooms diligently, South America and Antarctica are not as clean. South America cleans often but is not as thorough. On the other hand, Antarctica hardly cleans at all.]
This made the situation moreplicated. It meant that no matter how hard a battlefront fought, the behavior of its neighbors affected its situation as a whole. North America was next to South America and Africa, so it might be better to ask Exa about their situations.
"Can you tell me how South America and Africa are as neighbors?"
[Of course, my lord, as mentioned, South America cleans quite often, but intentionally leaves pests to breed. North America often has their rooms infested with foreign pests from her neighbor. In contrast. Africa cleans religiously, but they no longer try to increase their rooms].
"Exa, can you stop talking to me like I am five? Exin it properly this time."
[Understood. South America has a lopsided purification protocol. They leave everything in either the east or west of their zone unpurified. This causesrge groups of undead to cluster at the edges of their zone before invading. A man-made floor break, if you will.]
I already knew that intentionally leaving zones undefended turned them into zombie beachheads. Are you telling me that South America deliberately grouped them together to create a powerful undead legion?
''Wait, if the continents are connected, does that mean the Undead Legion cane to us instead?''
[In the unfortunate event that these undead legions do not attack South America, Europe or North America would experience the floor break in their ce].
"Fuck! That''s just fucking irresponsible! Then that means we HAVE to be ready for one because of these assholes!"
[Yes, that is the case. David Thomas does not usually get involved in defenses or attacks because he has to be on standby for such instances. Thest time was during the July enlistment].
"What? You mean the floor break that the girls and I encountered was from South America?"
[Yes. Floor breaks usuallye from fallen zones. Even if you control those under your domain, it is still possible to be attacked by those from other continents.]
"Fuck! So, in addition to the undead, we have to take everyone else into ount?"
[Yes. Do you have any more questions, my lord?]
"Ugh, fuck. Anyway, what about Africa?"
[Africa is a powerhouse in Hellsgate, second only to North America. They have a 100% purification rate in all the zones they own. However, due to the haphazardbat doctrine of Asia, Africa and Australia usually experience floor breaks. This prevents them from advancing.]
"Motherfucker, I take it back, Li Wu Di is a fucking asshole! So, he has not one but three battlefronts to clean up after his ass? No wonder Krishna left."
[Indeed, the overflow from only the left side of Asia, if not properly challenged, has the ability to destroy the African battlefront. Unfortunately, Africa has been stuck at level 54 for over 5 centuries due to this situation].
"Shit...Exa, summarize the current state of each battlefront. Include the standing armies, the purification rate, and when theyst advanced their respective fronts."
[Understood. Summary is now being disyed].
___
Zone 1: North America
Front Line: Floor 52
Average Purification rate: 59.58%
Battlefront poption: Approximately 7,500
Active Assault Teams: 35, (250 individuals)
Datest floor cleared: June 2021
___
Zone 2: South America
Front line: Floor 37n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Average Purification rate: 65.76%
Battlefront poption: Approximately 5,500
Active Assault Teams: 28, (224 individuals)
Datest floor cleared: December 2010
___
Zone 3: Europe
Front Line: Floor 39
Average Purification rate: 98.27%
Battlefront poption: Approximately 9,400
Active assault teams: 19, (152 individuals)
Datest floor cleared: April 2015
___
Zone 4: Africa
Front Line: Floor 54
Average Purification rate: 97.47%
Battlefront poption: Approximately 17,600
Active Assault Teams: 41, (328 individuals)
Datest floor cleared: September 1560
___
Zone 5: Asia
Front line: Floor 50
Average Purification rate: 41.82%
Battlefront poption: Approximately 59,400
Active Assault Teams: 147, (1176 individuals)
Datest floor cleared: February 2023
___
Zone 6: Australia
Front Line: Floor 22
Average Purification rate: 37.82%
Battlefront poption: 600 approx.
Active Assault Teams: 3, (27 individuals)
Datest floor cleared: October 1945
___
Zone 7: Antarctica
Front Line: Floor N/A
Average Purification rate: -15 %
Battlefront poption: Approximately 5000
Active Assault Teams: N/A
Datest floor cleared: N/A
___
It was really hard to understand a situation when you didn''t have enough information. But when you did, it made things so much easier. Just that short report from Exa cleared up so many things for me.
For one, the Reaper poption was proportional to the world''s poption. No wonder Asia had the balls to be as aggressive as they were. They had nearly 60,000 Reapers.
On the other hand, the North was truly in dire straits, as they had no Assault teams left and a negative purification rate. Somehow, the desperation of each continent would influence how they fought.
It seemed that the more I learned, the more I understood that I knew nothing.
If I really wanted to close Hellsgate, then understanding all this information was necessary. I clenched my teeth as I tried to digest what I had learned.
"Sigh. I guess my pay grade just got bumped up."