Kerrigan was the first to act.
On the western front, where she had been locked in a grueling war of attrition against the beastkin, she now led the entirety of her newly empowered migratory colony to begin their grand march.
At this rate, the beastkin won't last long.
The beastkin of the plains were notorious among the surrounding factions, but even if they united, they stood absolutely no chance against the ant colony.
The reason for their inevitable defeat was essentially the same as the Holy Kingdom's: the beastkin were simply too few in number, and the disparity in sheer scale was far too vast.
They had always relied on their formidable individual combat prowess to make up for this disadvantage. But the problem was, in the face of the ants, so-called combat prowess was not an advantage at all.
If this continued, the beastkin would surely face extinction, and their deity would end up just like the Goddess Hestia.
[God of War: I've had enough. I'm pulling out of the plains. I cannot let my followers die in vain in this meaningless war anymore.]
[God of Knowledge: Wait, are you insane?!]
Right at that moment, an earth-shattering event occurred on the Divine Net forum.
The deity of the beastkin, the God of War, actually ordered all beastkin to abandon their territory immediately and migrate en masse to the west.
【Kerrigan stared at the empty enemy camp, utterly stunned.】
Having arrived with the determination to fight to the death, Kerrigan froze on the spot as she looked upon the completely deserted beastkin camp.
The scouts she hurriedly dispatched flew further out, only to find hundreds of thousands of beastkin already marching in a massive wave toward the west.
After all, the beastkin were naturally nomadic by habit, which was why they could abandon the lands they had inhabited for generations and leave without a single shred of regret.
[Red Moon Inquisitor: Wait, don't come over here! If hundreds of thousands of beastkin rush our way, we'll...]
[God of War: My people want to live too.]
The other deities panicked, but the God of War remained resolute.
This was the first major domino effect triggered by the ant colony.
【An enraged Kerrigan wanted to pursue the beastkin.】
【Elise ordered the main nest colony to attack the Empire, while Kerrigan's migratory colony would leverage its mobility advantage to pursue the retreating beastkin.】
The ant colony reacted immediately.
Having destroyed the Holy Kingdom, Elise's main nest colony set its next target on the Lucadia Empire.
Meanwhile, Kerrigan's migratory colony, which was originally tasked with attacking the beastkin, would leverage its mobility advantage to hunt down the fleeing beastkin.
It seems that beyond the high wall of the Holy Kingdom lies another high wall built by the Empire.
On Lin Miao's screen, a massive high wall appeared, formed by countless interconnected fortresses.
Would this place become a new trap for the ant colony?
Or would it be another obstacle they must overcome, just like the Holy Kingdom's high wall before it?
[God of Knowledge: Bring it on. Our magical civilization has already entered the third stage. I can wipe out all of these Outer God monsters with a single spell.]
The God of Knowledge, the deity rooted in the Empire, was full of confidence in the Empire's rapidly developing magical civilization, boasting that he could easily defeat the ant colony.
It was hard to tell whether he was merely boasting on the forum to draw attention, or if he truly possessed such confidence.
But one thing was certain: while the ant colony was busy dealing with Celia and the Holy Kingdom, the Empire had definitely not been idle.
“It seems we need to think of some new methods as well.”
As if hearing Lin Miao's murmur, Celia, who was praying alone in the deserted, ruined capital of the once-prosperous Holy Kingdom, softly said, “Please believe in me. I will definitely find a new power that will allow the Great Devourer to achieve a qualitative leap.”
For now, I can only trust Celia. After all, she was the one who managed to find the magic to connect to the hive mind entirely on her own.
Lin Miao did not know what Celia was feeling now that her vengeance was served, but having regained her composure, she did not deny her identity as a member of the colony. She was still working tirelessly on its behalf.
After all, her true goal was still far from being achieved.
If the ant colony was destined to conquer the entire world, then the best Celia could do was cooperate with them to the best of her ability, while minimizing unnecessary slaughter and saving as many lives as she could.
【Bloodline Regulation LV6: Allows the regulation of produced individuals using information acquired from devouring prey, enabling the creation of entirely new classes.】
【Universal Cells LV2: The power of the hive mind can now act at the cellular level.】
【*The scope of acquirable information has expanded, now including most vertebrates.】
【Elise has molted once again.】
It seemed it was time for him to take action as well.
Having destroyed the Holy Kingdom and driven out the Goddess's forces, Elise—who had gathered a massive amount of resources in the process—had once again evolved.
Not only did she upgrade her existing abilities, but she had also unlocked an entirely new category of prey.
Most vertebrates.
Seeing this, Lin Miao's eyes widened instantly.
Needless to say, they probably can't devour large animals just yet. But we have to try first. What should I feed them first? Frogs? Or lizards?
The range of selectable prey had suddenly expanded by a wide margin.
And Lin Miao became increasingly certain that if they continued at this rate, the day would come when they could even devour intelligent life like humans.
Rate on N.U.
