Tyrants

The Lucadia Empire had connected the various fortresses originally built to defend against the beastkin, constructing a massive high wall in the north—the Wall of Glory.

At this moment, a group of soldiers and mages gathered around a novel contraption, marveling in wonder.

“Oh, so this is the Oberon Observation Orb.”

“With this, we can observe areas far beyond the reach of our familiars.”

This precisely carved wooden sphere was embedded with magic stones and engraved with magic circles. Under the mage's manipulation, it slowly rose into the sky.

“Connection successful. The feed is incredibly clear.”

A mage smiled as he unrolled a scroll inscribed with magic circles.

Soon after, a translucent beam of magic power projected a massive screen in midair.

Displayed on the screen was the ground landscape captured by the observation orb high in the sky.

The soldiers and knights watched in fascination, whispering excitedly among themselves.

After the Silver Twilight Secret Society received support from the deity of the upper world, the Empire's magic had become far more precise and profound than in the past.

“From now on, we no longer have to risk our lives scouting outside the high wall. And this is only the beginning. Once our magic develops further... nothing in this world will be able to stop us.”

The one presiding over this experiment was Staffen, an old mage from the Silver Twilight Secret Society. He stroked his snow-white beard and laughed triumphantly.

Although that unpleasant incident had occurred previously, it had only caused a minor delay. The Silver Twilight Secret Society remained standing strong.

They didn't even need to rebuild; they simply relocated to a new facility and continued their research.

As the wealthiest nation in the eastern part of the continent, the Lucadia Empire could mobilize the entire country's strength, pouring in limitless manpower and resources.

Thus, its rate of development could only be described as terrifying.

In this manner, the Lucadia Empire was steadily becoming the continent's leading magitech superpower.

[God of Knowledge: Do you see? A flawless system, meticulous planning, and the ability to put the right talent in the right place. In the face of a highly advanced system, so-called heroes are ultimately fragile.]

Their deity, Astaroth, was in high spirits at this moment, boasting arrogantly on the forum.

His confidence was not without reason. Astaroth was an experienced high-tier deity who had conquered countless colonies.

After laying down such a solid foundation, he had never lost to any other deity.

[God of War: Talk about arrogant. If you're so capable, why don't you stop hiding inside the Empire's territory all the time?]

[Earth God: You should wait until you've completely cleared out the Outer God's servants before talking so big.]

His heat-seeking behavior naturally drew the dissatisfaction of many.

Facing the provocations of others, Astaroth merely sneered in disdain. “A bunch of heretics who only know how to combine magic and machinery!”

The Earth God was the deity who had taken the dwarves of Terra as his servants. His power had been steadily expanding, and he had finally emerged from the Great Mountains to broaden his influence.

Astaroth looked down on him from the bottom of his heart.

To Astaroth, who pursued pure magic and led the development of the magitech civilization of the upper world, those who combined magic and machinery were nothing more than a bunch of low-class offshoots.

[God of Knowledge: One day, we will settle this. After all, we aren't the only two here.]

The Earth God did not pay mind to Astaroth's ridicule.

Just as Astaroth had said, no one knew what the future held.

However, a change had already quietly begun.

The first to cry out in alarm was the very mage operating the new observation device, the Oberon Observation Orb, to conduct long-range scouting.

“What is it? What's all the racket?”

Staffen, who was leisurely sipping tea with the knight commander, frowned in displeasure.

But the screaming mage seemed frozen in place, his body stiff and his eyes glazed over.

“S-See for yourself!”

Snapping out of it, the mage hurriedly shared the imagery he saw with everyone present through the scroll.

The moment the projection unfolded in midair, everyone present froze instantly.

“How can this be...”

Staffen's eyes widened involuntarily as he mumbled blankly to himself.

On the screen, countless monsters were swarming out of their nests, surging toward them in a grand, sweeping tide.

After a period of silence, the colony had finally launched another all-out offensive.

“W-What on earth are those mutated species? I've never seen them before!”

But that was not the most terrifying part. Just as the knight commander said, mixed within the ant army were brand-new mutated species they had never laid eyes on.

Their most prominent feature was their unimaginably colossal size.

They were evolved species far larger and sturdier than any previous mutants, shattering the limits of biological life.

Just looking at their ferocious and horrifying appearances, one could feel an overwhelming sense of power and threat.

“Tyrants, you must perform well. This way, we can go head-to-head with the Empire's magitech weapons!”

Watching the spectacular sight of her creations—the new mutated species, the Tyrants—marching out in full force, Celia bit her lip tightly.

“Quick! Issue an emergency alarm immediately!”

“Ring the bells! All forces, Level 1 alert!!”

Although the enemy was still far away, the terrified imperial army immediately rang the alarm bells and began preparing for battle.

The tension on the front lines, which had just slightly eased, was wound tight once again.

“Everyone, there is no need to worry. Have you all forgotten the teachings of the Great One?”

Fully armed knights and soldiers ascended the high wall, while the golems, ready to deploy at any moment, finished their activation sequence and stood on standby in the rear.

Behind the high wall, a vast number of mages gathered together, holding their staves with tense expressions.

“Our magic, at least in the realm of warfare, has already surpassed all previous eras. We are no longer barbarians who only know how to use primitive magic.”

Staffen paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, shouting loudly in an attempt to calm the anxious mages.

“Those demons are, after all, just living creatures. Even if those mutated species can store some energy in their bodies in a primitive way, as long as they are made of flesh and blood, they cannot withstand our war magic.”

Although Staffen was tense, he was not afraid.

He firmly believed that the magic he possessed, along with the evolved imperial civilization, was far superior to those savage monsters outside the high wall.

This was the truth personally told to him by the deity Astaroth.

He believed in it without a shadow of a doubt.

“Now, let these wicked demons witness our power once again! Deploy the formations!”

At his command, the mages who had already taken their positions began chanting large-scale spells in unison.

One after another, individually controlled magic artillery units slowly materialized.

Composed of intricate magic circles and processed magic stones, their power was far greater than ever before.

“Fire!”

Observing from atop the high wall, Staffen delivered the order to fire using amplification magic.

Countless elemental shells pierced the sky, trailing long plumes of flame as they crossed the high wall, pouring down like a meteor shower toward the swarming ant army.

【Elise watches the magic of these abominable enemies, her anger burning fiercely】

At the same time, the colony witnessed the devastating firepower raining down upon them.

In the previous battle, even the strongest mutated species could not withstand artillery of this caliber and had been forced to retreat.

But this time, they had a trump card to rely on.

It was the Tyrants, whose bodies were implanted with magic hearts, shattering their physical limits.

Although their numbers were currently still small.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Elise had decided to use the heavy-armored ants, using the most defensive giant heavy-armored ants as a base, to create a mutated heavy-armored ant variant that could utilize this power most effectively.

It was modeled after the rhinoceros beetle and fused with all the shells, bones, and other biological materials Elise had gathered so far, making it an ultimate defensive individual with its defense stats maxed out.

“As expected...”

Whether it was Lin Miao as the deity, Celia as the designer, or Elise as the Queen Ant.

At this moment, everyone on the side of the colony was of one mind.

Moving in perfect unison, the heavy-armored ants formed an indestructible wall, using their own bodies to take the brunt of the artillery fire.

“T-This is impossible!”

On the other side, everyone's reaction was identical in their sheer shock.

Amidst the billowing thick smoke and violent explosions, those heavy-armored ants only sustained minor cracks on their shells or broken horns, yet they continued to advance steadily, completely unharmed. This threw the imperial army into absolute panic.

“This is impossible! How can they still be alive after taking an explosion like that!”

Staffen shrieked in disbelief.

Firepower of this scale would blow even a Hero-grade individual to smithereens if they stood still and took the concentrated fire.

Yet now, those massive monsters had actually withstood all the attacks with their bare bodies and were still moving forward.

“Keep firing! This must be a fluke! They can't possibly withstand a second—”

“The sky! Look at the sky!”

Even if they could withstand it, there would eventually be a limit. However, Elise did not give them the chance to fire a second round.

Just as Staffen was hurriedly ordering a second round of bombardment, a despairing shout made him abruptly look up.

“Damn it, deploy the defense shield first.”

He frowned deeply as he watched the flying ant swarm appear, blotting out the sun accompanied by a deafening buzzing of wings.

Even now, air supremacy remained firmly in the colony's grasp.

“But their attacks won't last long anyway. Once those flying pests fail to break through our large resonant defense shield and retreat, we will resume firing.”

“Understood. I will simultaneously order the golem units to prepare for deployment.”

Hearing Staffen's words, the garrison captain nodded.

Soon, magic circles spread across various points activated simultaneously, and a massive translucent defense shield unfurled in midair.

This was an advanced defensive magic array that could be toggled freely and was capable of covering the entire battlefield.

Staffen thought through gritted teeth as he watched the sky from behind the defense shield.

Merely throwing venom-pot ants filled with toxic liquid could not possibly break this sturdy magic defense shield.

“...Hm?”

But in the very next second,

Staffen saw something swoop down from the sky at an incredible speed, instantly piercing the head of a mage standing beside him.

The mage didn't even have time to realize what had happened to him before he collapsed straight to the ground with a bloody hole in his skull, blood and brains splattering everywhere.

“The sh-shield, the defense shield...”

“The defense shield has been breached!”

Immediately after, countless objects rained down like hailstones, easily piercing and shredding the defense shield as they began indiscriminately bombarding the ground.

Panicked people screamed and scattered in all directions, only to have their bodies impaled by the invisible, high-speed projectiles, leaving them dead or wounded.

“They are... venom stings.”

Dragged by his subordinates, Staffen retreated in a disheveled state to a safe area. He swallowed hard as he stared at the object embedded in the ground.

It was a pitch-black venom sting, roughly the thickness and length of a short spear.

Most bizarrely, the tip and parts of the venom sting's surface were covered in a thin, glittering crystalline substance.

When he realized that it was a type of magitech weapon crafted from magic stones, he involuntarily held his breath.

【Elise is highly satisfied with the test results of the new mutated species】

Tiger hornet ants.

Originally only proficient in close combat, they had shattered their limits and completed an astonishing evolution after obtaining their new hearts.

They could trigger gas explosions within their bodies to launch their venom stings like bees, possessing an incredible rate of fire and range.

Furthermore, the launched stings and the firing organs could recover rapidly through their regeneration ability. They had become all-around warriors capable of both close and ranged combat.