Self-Destruction

“What is that sound?”

“Stop talking and keep moving the supplies...”

After a brief moment of joy, the imperial soldiers, who were moving supplies and digging fortifications in preparation for another battle, noticed something unusual one by one.

Night had fallen. Working under the illumination of magic lights and torches, they stopped what they were doing, their faces filled with panic.

“The—the ground!”

The approaching noise and vibrations were coming from deep underground.

Just as the soldiers cried out in unison, the hard earth burst open, and countless massive monsters surged out from within.

These were digging ants, specialized for excavation with their massive forelimbs and immense strength. They had tunneled all the way here from deep beneath the earth.

Unlike the high wall, which had its deep foundations magically reinforced beforehand, this temporary position had absolutely no means to block the tunnels of the digging ants.

“Stop them! The monsters are coming from underground!”

In the pitch-black night, a fierce battle erupted once again.

The ants that surged up through the tunnels dug by the digging ants scattered in all directions, throwing the panicked imperial army into a chaotic melee.

Unlike the previous battle, the defenseless imperial army was forced into close-quarters combat with the colony.

“Fire the flares!”

“Where?! Where are they?!”

The darkness of the night was a massive problem.

The mages hastily fired flares to light up the area, but during this time, the colony had already prioritized killing key figures like the mages, seizing the upper hand.

Light had never been an obstacle for the colony.

They were already accustomed to navigating dark tunnels using their other senses, and the various biological traits Elise had devoured also included night vision.

【Elise is certain of victory】

Watching the enemies fall like autumn leaves, Elise's calculations pointed toward victory.

The imperial army, barely holding on under Count Leo's command, ultimately fell to Elise, who could rapidly adjust her strategy and deploy the appropriate species.

“These monsters are truly evil and cunning,” Count Leo sighed as he watched his knight commander, who had failed to regroup with the main force during the ambush and was ultimately killed by Celia.

He had done his absolute best, but the outcome was decided.

From the moment the ambush succeeded, the colony had become the predators of this dark mountain forest, ruthlessly slaughtering all who resisted and driving their prey into a corner.

If they were completely wiped out, the mine's defensive line would collapse, and the large magic stone mine they had to defend at all costs would be destroyed.

“Please surrender.”

“So the rumors that you can speak the human tongue are true. Tell me, witch, are you truly the human traitor who brought down the Holy Kingdom?”

“I don't deny it.”

Celia appeared before Count Leo, who had drawn his sword. Her mask shifted slightly, revealing half of her face.

With one blue eye and half of her mouth exposed, her expression was completely different from when she had just burned alive those who lunged at her. It was filled with regret.

“Those who can survive should survive. You do not seem to use the magic of the gods. As long as you do not make an enemy of us, the Great Devourer will not harm you.”

“Nonsense! You are invaders! What knight would surrender to invaders and clear the way for them?!”

Celia sincerely wanted to persuade him, hoping to save as many lives as possible, but Count Leo only gritted his teeth with intense hostility.

At the same time, he pulled something from his breast pocket.

Celia recognized it as a device that could instantly trigger a spell, and her eyes widened in shock. “Stop! Do you want to kill the other soldiers as well?!”

“They are soldiers conscripted under imperial decree and national law! Their mission is to obey orders and block the enemy! They will surely be proud of this!”

Facing the panicked Celia, Count Leo, his eyes bloodshot, finally activated the device.

The explosive spells he had his trusted mages secretly plant inside the position and around the mine operated on the exact same principle Celia had used when she destroyed the facilities of the Silver Twilight Secret Society.

Boom!

Celia deployed a large-scale defensive barrier, but she still couldn't block the chain of explosions. She bit her lip as she watched.

Although many ants also perished in the blasts, the screams that accompanied the explosions belonged almost entirely to the imperial soldiers caught in the self-destruction.

【Elise deems this a meaningless self-destruction】

In contrast, the colony showed very little reaction.

For ants, who could sacrifice any individual for the sake of the colony, self-destruction had long been utilized as an excellent tactic.

Elise only scoffed at Count Leo, who had died heroically alongside his subordinates, because his self-destruction was neither efficient nor effective.

Count Leo gritted his teeth and rasped, “For... the great Empire...”

Celia used wind magic to disperse the acrid smoke. Looking down at Count Leo, who lay charred on the ground, she said, “Do your subordinates who died in vain really think so? They clearly had a chance to live.”

Her expression had turned cold.

“...It doesn't matter. With this, you... have also suffered heavy losses. I have already investigated... you have no individuals capable of laying eggs. With only a few hundred left... you cannot possibly stop the incoming reinforcements...”

The rear units had already retreated under his orders. Count Leo seemed satisfied that, at the cost of such a great sacrifice, he had personally blown up the mine and drastically reduced the number of ants.

Celia bit her lip as she watched the colony carry his body away.

It was not just the colony that stood in the way of her mission to save lives.

It was also the other deities who refused to let go of their greed and arrogance, along with their thoroughly brainwashed servants who did not hesitate to sacrifice countless people.

“Your Majesty. The enemy's self-destruction has indeed drastically reduced our forces. If we are to continue operating within the Empire, we must replenish our numbers.”

The imperial army had failed to hold the mine, with nearly half of their soldiers killed.

But at such a devastating cost, the already limited number of ants had indeed been drastically reduced.

Celia judged that they could no longer continue their operations with the remaining forces.

【Elise wants to try a new production process】

However, Count Leo was highly likely wrong in his assumptions.

Elise had intentionally kept the bloated production units away from the infiltration units from the very beginning to prepare for exactly this kind of situation.

Aside from transporting reinforcements from the nest in the former Holy Kingdom, Elise also wanted to take this opportunity to conduct an experiment.

Her inspiration came from Kerrigan's migratory colony. By utilizing extracellular digestion, they could maintain mobility even under harsh conditions and deploy forces much more rapidly.

【Elise attempts extracellular production】

Inspired by this, Elise attempted extracellular production.

This meant moving the series of processes that normally occurred inside the massive abdomen of a production unit into external pools of nutrient solution.

This plan left even Celia speechless.

Beside the dumbfounded Celia, the decomposers began spraying digestive fluids onto the countless prey that the worker ants had dragged onto the flat ground, forming massive pools.

Celia watched blankly, trembling at Elise's growth. She was now vastly more powerful than when they had first met.

“Planting the fragments that serve as 'seeds' in the nutrient solution pools...”

Celia murmured softly, watching the orderly process unfold.

The nutrient solution produced by the decomposers' breakdown of the prey contained not only basic nutrients but also the magic power within their bodies.

This was because the colony had gained the ability to absorb magic power when they awakened as Lin Miao's vassals.

Elise had the worker ants drop the seeds, which had been sent ahead by the production units, into these pools.

These walnut-sized objects were a type of fertilized egg.

Normally, they would be synthesized inside the egg-layer's body, absorbing nutrients in her abdomen to grow into a mutant of a designated code.

“Then the seeds absorb the nutrients and grow into cocoons on their own...”

Watching the nutrient solution pools, which had been seeded with countless eggs, bubble and boil as massive, dividing cocoons rapidly formed, Celia was stunned.

The worker ants only needed to wait and then retrieve and transport the cocoons.

Afterward, the cocoons, which had stored all the nutrients, would grow on their own and hatch into various mutants.

This pool had been created at the cost of twenty thousand lives, and most of them were just ordinary, low-combat-strength conscripts.

Thus, the number of ants born from it was less than half of the casualties.

But what if something like this happened in a place like the high wall, where hundreds of thousands of elite troops were stationed?

Celia shuddered as she imagined a scene where, after the sacrifice of countless humans, the vast plains were covered in endless pools of nutrient solution.

【Elise orders the attack on the next target】

But that was not all.

To deter the imperial army from taking rash action, Elise mobilized a massive force near the high wall.

Watching the panicked and chaotic enemy, Elise replenished the forces of the infiltration units commanded by Celia, urging her to immediately strike the next target.