The Mine

“Evacuate immediately!”

“Stop fighting! Those monsters are demons!”

As the emergency orders from the imperial palace spread in all directions via communication magic,

【Elise is satisfied with the success of the plan】

The ant colony had already dismantled the defenses of Belen City and was now wreaking havoc inside.

They mercilessly slaughtered anyone who resisted or stood in their way, regardless of age or gender.

The mages—servants who wielded Astaroth's magic—were pursued and annihilated with particular ruthlessness.

“No, please, no!”

In the city center, where screams echoed continuously, a mage shrieked in despair as he was ensnared and dragged away by silk shot from a spider ant.

Dragged away in an instant, the mage was impaled on sharp, venomous fangs, dying instantly before being wrapped in silk.

Nearby, a knight struggling to resist had his head, helmet and all, crushed by the massive mandibles of a pouncing predatory ant.

This chaotic melee was exactly what the colony wanted.

Unlike human soldiers, who struggled to coordinate without a unified command, the colony shared senses and information in real-time, moving as a single cohesive entity.

“Ugh...”

In a gloomy back alley,

a slum boy watched the horrific sight of the resistors being ruthlessly devoured. He dropped his weapon and collapsed to the ground, tightly clutching his younger sister's hand.

The ants that had been swiftly pursuing them along the walls of the buildings suddenly stopped and twitched their antennae at them.

With that, the ants turned and left.

The ants, which had been mechanically slaughtering humans just moments before, actually spared the siblings who had lost all will to fight.

The siblings assumed the monsters found them too emaciated to be worth eating, but that was not the case.

This was simply the first directive issued by the entity controlling the Great Devourer.

【Elise wants to try the technique learned from the migratory colony】

Of course, the assumption that there was nothing to eat was not entirely wrong.

The colony began piling their hunted prey from all over into the ruined central square.

Soon after, several massive mutants appeared before the mountain of corpses.

These were the decomposers—Tyrants created by Kerrigan, the queen of the migratory colony.

The decomposers spewed a massive amount of digestive fluid stored in their bodies, completely dissolving the piled organic matter.

The worker ants would then drink their fill of the resulting nutrient solution, regurgitating it to feed the combat ants when needed.

“This way, they can keep moving indefinitely without even building a nest.”

Celia murmured softly as she watched the scene unfold.

Elise had never intended for this attack to be a mere raid.

She planned to utterly devastate the Empire's rear, and even build nests on the spot, dismantling the Empire from within as it tried to block them with its high wall.

【Elise issues a movement order to the forces】

Those who could escape had fled, those who were meant to die had been killed, and all had been processed into nutrient solution.

All magic-related facilities were demolished, and acid venom was poured over the armories, rendering their equipment entirely useless.

Having thoroughly laid waste to the city, the colony set out once more.

“There is a magic stone mine nearby. Although it is useless to us, who are protected by the Great One, it is a vital lifeline for our enemies.”

The colony's current target was not the major cities inhabited by hundreds of thousands, but the nearby large-scale magic stone mine.

This idea had come from Celia, who suggested raiding the mine, and Elise had approved it.

By now, Elise also understood.

She knew what was truly important to her current enemies.

Thus, she decided to destroy that place first.

【Elise dispatches a portion of her forces to attack the cities】

But Elise did not stop there; she took it a step further.

She would attack the cities to pin down the imperial army.

Elise had realized that unlike ants, which were born quickly, died quickly, and ultimately returned to the colony, each human individual was incredibly precious.

Therefore, she reasoned that if she attacked the major cities, the imperial army would surely deploy their forces to protect them, naturally weakening the defenses of her true target, the mine. If she were commanding the humans, she would certainly do the same.

Queen Ant Elise understood better than anyone that the most valuable resource to humans was "individual human lives."

However, Lin Miao and Celia, who were privy to this thought, were not so certain.

For they knew that humans were not absolutely rational, calculating entities like Elise.

How things would play out would likely only be known when the time came.

...

【Elise is confused by the enemy's movements】

Following her plan, Elise dispatched a portion of her forces toward the cities. Most of them were the aerial assets of her infiltration units.

While not enough to destroy a major city, it was sufficient to disrupt the enemy, inflict noticeable damage, and delay an opposing army that had far too much to protect.

However, the enemy's subsequent actions left Elise thoroughly bewildered.

Contrary to her expectations, the enemy abandoned their most critical resource, sending their main force to the mine to defend the magic stone mine to the death.

Lin Miao was not particularly surprised to see this, but his expression darkened.

“This is the command of His Majestic Emperor! We must defend the mine to the death!”

“Demons have appeared in the sky! Evacuate quickly!”

Consequently, two starkly contrasting scenes unfolded.

The imperial army marched with tragic solemnity to defend the magic stone mine from the Great Devourer. Meanwhile, the cities, stripped of their defending forces, fell into absolute chaos under the aerial assault, teetering on the brink of collapse.

Although news of Belen City's fall and the Great Devourer's invasion had already spread, the meager remaining forces stood no chance of successfully defending against the Great Devourer's aerial raids.

Gas bombs exploding everywhere and relentless stinger bombardments systematically destroyed defensive installations, claiming countless lives.

“The god who treats the people of the Empire as servants believes that even if it means sacrificing human lives, their strategic assets must be preserved.”

Through Celia's mouth, Lin Miao explained the reality of the situation to the confused Elise.

The humans were not merely acting on their own will; they had now become servants ministering to a god.

Lin Miao, who had long known that some deities treated their servants as mere tools, remarked that this was simply another choice.

Ultimately, this war would serve as the means to prove whose choice was correct.

The victor takes all, and the loser is left with nothing. It was as simple as that.

Elise roughly understood Lin Miao's meaning as conveyed by Celia.

She also accepted that her calculations were not absolutely correct, and that the final outcome would prove who was right.

Yet at the same time, her red eyes flashed, firmly believing that her own calculations and judgments were correct.

If this was a judgment dictated by the enemy god while the humans merely followed blindly, Elise dared to think this way.

She had known since birth what kind of power Lin Miao, who nurtured the colony, possessed. All those memories and experiences were deeply embedded in the depths of the hive mind.

Because of this, she revered and absolutely obeyed Lin Miao out of genuine, heartfelt devotion as well as instinct.

But to Elise, who barely understood what the concept of a "god" even was, other deities were nothing more than troublesome, complex enemies.

She obeyed Lin Miao not because he was a god, but because he was her creator, the source of all her existence.

This conviction was only strengthened by the fact that Lin Miao made no secret of his hostility toward other deities, and had personally destroyed the goddess who established the Holy Kingdom.

“They're coming!”

Count Leo, who had been appointed by the Emperor as the front-line commander for the defense of the mine, grimaced, his heavily scarred face tightening upon hearing the report.

“As expected, the evil Outer God wants to seize our most precious asset.”

At the very least, they had secured the high ground first.

The worst-case scenario would have been failing to secure the mine and having to clash with the Great Devourer before establishing a foothold, so this was already a stroke of luck.

Yet Count Leo's expression did not soften.

Although he had tens of thousands of troops under his command, they were a patchwork force hastily drafted from various regions.

Far from having decent weapons or advanced equipment like combat golems and rune-engraved armor, many of them possessed gear that predated the rise of magic.

Under such circumstances, even if the ant colony numbered only a few thousand, victory was by no means guaranteed.

“Remember, everyone, we only need to buy time. No matter what, we must hold the mine until the main reinforcements arrive.”

Thus, Count Leo did not seek glory.

He intended to focus entirely on defense and delay the enemy, waiting for the elite forces stationed at the high wall to march down and deal with the ant colony.

“But the enemy only has a few thousand...”

A few proud individuals, seeing this as a golden opportunity to earn merit, were reading the room.

Count Leo had already anticipated this and barked sharply to silence them, “Only a few thousand? Those monsters are demons! Servants of an Outer God! A single misstep, and we will all be wiped out!”

As a veteran knight with extensive combat experience and a seasoned commander, Count Leo had long understood that the most important thing on the front line was to know one's place.

A front-line officer spoke up anxiously, “But those winged monsters are attacking everywhere, harming civilians. If we delay any longer, there will be more casualties!”

Count Leo's expression grew solemn, and he said in a deep voice, “His Majesty has ordered us to hold this place at all costs. Splitting our forces to rescue refugees would play right into those monsters' hands.”

At the same time, he was a loyal soldier.

To execute the Emperor's command, he was prepared to abandon everything else. Under his command, the mountainous terrain near the mine was rapidly being transformed into a fortress.

Count Leo stepped out of his tent and gritted his teeth as he watched his soldiers busily digging trenches and driving wooden stakes to construct their defensive lines.