Turn the Enemy's Strength Against Them

Most large-scale spells were made by stacking or fusing multiple spells together, much like stitching together a garment from countless scraps of cloth.

This was also the case with the holy defense barrier currently deployed over the high wall.

The barrier had been constructed by priests channeling holy power into a magic circle designed by mages. To withstand the raw brute force of the ant colony, its structure had been specifically and heavily reinforced against physical impacts.

But just like cutting a stitched garment, if the most critical thread was pulled, the entire piece of clothing would unravel in a chain reaction. This massive spell was bound to have a vulnerability.

And at this moment, Celia, as a mage, could clearly see the seams and flaws in the magical structure.

“What is that?!”

“Lord Gilbert, look over there!”

The panicked soldiers of the Holy Kingdom stared in absolute shock at a massive fireball rising from the swarming ant colony.

The scale of this fireball was comparable to a combined spell cast by dozens of mages. The size of a small carriage, it streaked across the sky and struck the holy defense barrier with pinpoint accuracy.

“Magic? That's impossible!”

Gilbert watched the fireball dissipate after colliding with the barrier, his face pale and his eyes wide in utter disbelief.

No one could have ever imagined that the ant colony would be capable of casting such magic.

“The magic circle is collapsing! The magic circuits are completely destroyed!”

“How could this happen...”

But Gilbert had no time to worry about that now.

Just as the screaming mages had said, the fireball had struck a critical junction of the holy defense barrier. The massive shield began to crack and crumble, like a ship that had been holed below the waterline.

The charging ant colony did not let this vulnerability go to waste.

Taking advantage of the chaos among the defenders on the high wall, an overwhelming aerial assault was launched once more.

At the same time, the jumping ants at the very front unleashed the full power of their hind legs, leaping over the towering high wall and pouring inside like a tidal wave.

“Damn it, stop them!”

Gilbert drew his sword and, alongside the others, was forced to engage the invading ants in a brutal melee.

But this time, the ant colony was unleashing its true strength, worlds apart from the war of attrition they had waged beneath the high wall before.

“They're scaling the wall!”

A desperate cry echoed across the high wall amidst the fierce, bloody slaughter.

The endless tide of ants either climbed the walls or leapt over them, completely ignoring the mountains of corpses beneath their feet as they flooded in wave after relentless wave.

Gilbert split open a gladiator ant lunging at his head and sliced through the legs of a spider ant shooting silk at him, cold sweat drenching his back.

He had already slain countless enemies, yet the swarming insects before him remained endless.

They had given their all—deploying magic turrets that fired automatically, wearing armor crafted from ant exoskeletons, and receiving support from priests and paladins channeling holy power. Yet, a fundamental problem remained entirely unresolved.

The absolute disparity in sheer numbers between the two sides was simply too vast.

“There are too many of them,” Gilbert muttered to himself, gasping for breath as he stared at the still-dense swarm of ants.

The Kingdom of Karmi, which served as the foundation of the Holy Kingdom, was not a large nation to begin with.

Compared to the neighboring Empire, it was a minor country in terms of both territory and population.

With such weak influence, the Goddess's interference force was naturally limited, and there was a hard cap on the military strength they could mobilize.

On the other hand, the ant colony, which completely controlled the northern lands, possessed a devouring capacity far exceeding that of the beastkin and humans who once lived there. The forces they could reproduce were unimaginably massive.

“Why hasn't the Holy Judgment been activated yet?!” Gilbert shouted urgently.

In truth, to prepare for a large-scale invasion by the ant colony, they had readied far more than just the single line of defense that was the holy defense barrier.

They had also prepared a large-scale spell that, once activated, would release a powerful shockwave to sweep away the ants crawling all over the high wall.

As long as they could trigger it, they could resolve the crisis of the high wall falling time and time again.

“R-Report! The magic circle circuits carved into the wall have all been destroyed!”

“What?”

The reply left his mind reeling.

“Look over there!”

A paladin grabbed Gilbert's shoulder and pointed in a certain direction.

Gilbert looked in that direction, his eyes instantly widening.

Standing there was a woman.

She stood atop the back of a massive heavy-armored ant, holding a staff, systematically destroying every magic circle carved into the wall.

Gilbert failed to recognize her.

This was not only because Celia was entirely covered in a black exoskeleton, but also because her face was concealed by a mask resembling an ant helmet.

“Was she the one who cast the spell that broke the holy defense barrier earlier? I must kill her myself!”

Although he did not recognize her identity, Gilbert instinctively sensed her danger and immediately made a decision.

He intended to charge out himself and eliminate this unidentified threat.

If he didn't, the high wall would fall, and everything would be over.

As an Apostle burdened with the mission of protecting the Goddess and the faction She had established, he had no other choice.

“Who on earth are you?”

Gilbert seized the right moment, leaping down from the high wall onto the back of the heavy-armored ant as it neared the wall.

Amidst the chaotic battlefield that resembled a living hell.

In an eerie silence that made it feel as if they were the only two people left, Celia said nothing, merely pointing her staff at him.

“Take this!”

A cold light flashed in Gilbert's eyes as he instantly lunged toward her.

As an Apostle, Gilbert possessed the Goddess's divine protection and the support of various artifacts, making him one of the strongest figures in the Holy Kingdom.

Reaching Celia before she could cast her magic, he swung his longsword, which was wrapped in golden holy power. He shattered her summoned protective barrier in an instant, the blade slicing from her shoulder all the way down to her chest.

“Urgh?!”

But while this strike nearly split her upper body in half, it failed to sever her completely, finally grinding to a halt.

Even so, Celia did not fall. Instead, she reached out and firmly gripped the blade.

“That hurts, Lord Gilbert.”

The exoskeleton covering her body creaked and groaned as it began to squirm on its own.

The mask obscuring her face cracked open, revealing her true features.

Her split flesh also writhed, forcefully pushing out the blade embedded in her body.

Gilbert gasped, “...That's impossible.”

Watching Celia's bizarre form twist like the wriggling limbs of an insect, Lin Miao couldn't help but sigh softly. What should that even be called? A symbiotic carapace ant? Can it even be considered an ant anymore?

What covered Celia now was not a simple suit of armor cobbled together from exoskeletons.

It was a living organism capable of freely changing its shape, clinging tightly to her skin and connecting to her flesh like a piece of bio-power armor that moved in perfect synchronization with her.

This was no longer just manifesting or synthesizing devoured abilities. Rather, Elise was now capable of arbitrary manipulation at the cellular level, having poured a massive amount of resources into creating this brand-new mutated species.

“This can't be... It's you! How did you become like this!”

Shaken to his core, Gilbert stumbled back a few paces.

By then, the upper half of Celia's body, which had been nearly severed, had already finished regenerating.

Now half-human and half-ant due to the Gene Stealer parasitizing her body, Celia was likewise influenced by the Universal Cells controlled by Elise.

Celia spoke calmly, “Gilbert, the Great Devourer is fundamentally the same kind of existence as your Goddess. If you want to save more people, we must erase all traces of the Goddess from this land!”

But Gilbert could not accept this shocking reality at all.

“Shut up! You vile monsters... to think you would desecrate even her corpse!”

For Gilbert, it was easier to believe that the ant colony had murdered Celia and was now wearing her skin to commit evil. This was the easiest conclusion for someone who had harbored no ill will toward her.

“Die, you monster!”

In the end, Gilbert charged at Celia once more.

This time, he put the entirety of his strength into a horizontal sweep, intending to sever her completely in two.

But in that exact split second, Celia, who had donned her mask again, summoned a massive magic circle with astonishing speed.

Gilbert instantly recognized it as a combat composite spell that normally required multiple mages a long time to cast. His eyes widened in sheer terror.

【Elise has developed a strong interest in using magic.】

This was not a spell that could be cast by the original Celia, whose reflexes couldn't even keep up with Gilbert's speed.

Although she was utilizing Celia's body and knowledge, the one casting this large-scale spell at this moment was Elise, drawing upon the full power of the hive mind.

Naturally, its speed and scale far surpassed the combined efforts of dozens of mages.

Even though Gilbert was an Apostle who possessed the Goddess's divine protection, there was absolutely no way he could survive a direct hit from such a large-scale spell at point-blank range.

Watching Gilbert's body turn completely to ash—save for a portion of his shins and ankles—Celia's legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the ground.

She had not only exhausted all of her own magic power, but had also overdrawn the strength of the mutated species connected to her to its absolute limit.

A magical backlash of this magnitude would normally rupture the heart and burn out all magic circuits, leaving any survivor permanently disabled. Yet, Celia's body managed to regenerate even through this backlash.

【Elise is certain that the high wall is about to fall.】

Panting as she sat on the ground, Celia watched the ants continuously scale the collapsing high wall.

Before she knew it, the brutal battle atop the high wall had come to a complete end.

Having suffered catastrophic casualties, the Holy Kingdom's army had no choice but to retreat in disarray.

However, now that the high wall was breached, there were no more natural defenses left to guard the rear. No one understood this better than Celia.

Now, all that lay before the ant colony were new prey and new lands waiting to be devoured.

Celia grit her teeth and dragged herself back to her feet on trembling legs.

Lin Miao had clearly promised Celia that anyone who was not under the influence of the hostile Goddess Hestia and did not resist the ant colony would be spared.

This meant that if she wanted to save as many people as possible from the indiscriminate slaughter of the ant colony, she had to personally intervene.

...

“Evacuate, quickly!”

“Yes! Retreat as far as possible to a safe place first, and then build a new high wall there, or...”

The high wall had fallen, and the monsters from the north had descended.

This news spread across the entire Holy Kingdom in an instant.

Panicked people, regardless of their status, hurriedly abandoned their work and began preparing to flee, and the Church was utterly powerless to stop them.

Once the ant colony went all out, their previous stubborn defense became completely meaningless, and their resistance crumbled in an instant.

“At this rate, it makes it look like those monsters were holding back the entire time! Right now, their main force is still fighting the beastkin on the distant plains!”

Grand Duke Lucas could no longer suppress his rage, slamming his fist onto the armrest of his chair.

Amidst this atmosphere of public anxiety, a rumor began to spread far and wide.

“Have you heard the rumors circulating among the refugees pouring in from the north?”

“I've heard them too. They say that if you betray the Goddess, the monsters will spare your life! It's absolute nonsense!”

In this climate of fear, the rumor continued to quietly circulate.

For those servants who relied on the divine protection of the Goddess Hestia to gain power and authority, and who viewed Her prestige as the source of their own strength, this was undoubtedly a terrifying rumor that had to be denied at all costs.

“...The Goddess has just handed down an oracle.”

However, the rumor was quickly proven true.

The High Priest who received the oracle announced a shocking piece of news with a face full of disbelief.

Celia, whom everyone had believed to be dead, was still alive—and had become a lackey of the Outer God.