Nesting

“...”

Celia was currently trying to read the room.

After their victory at the magic stone mine, she was leading her troops toward their next target when she noticed that Elise was in a bad mood.

Elise herself was still trying to process this unfamiliar emotion, but Celia, who shared the feeling through the hive mind, knew exactly what it was.

It was jealousy and possessiveness.

“Please don't worry too much. The one He values most will always be you.”

Strictly speaking, as someone merely parasitic to the hive mind, Celia didn't know what Elise—who was integrated with Lin Miao—had actually seen to make her act this way.

Celia was simply doing her best to comfort her.

Fortunately, Celia's efforts seemed to work. Elise quickly calmed down and turned her attention elsewhere.

“Hold your ground! If you let your guard down for even a second, those things will climb right over the high wall!”

“Raise the alert level! Request reinforcements from headquarters and the reserve units immediately!”

Elise watched the armed conflict erupting at the high wall.

A massive swarm of ants had begun to openly assault the high wall, forcing the main imperial forces—which were originally scheduled to be deployed inland as reinforcements—to remain pinned down at the wall and its nearby fortresses.

As a result, the infiltration unit led by Celia now enjoyed much greater freedom of movement.

【Elise says your objective is to buy as much time as possible and cause maximum destruction.】

“I understand. Especially the magic stone mines and research facilities that are vital to the development of their magitech civilization. Not to mention their military installations, as well as the production facilities used to produce and store military rations...”

Upon receiving Elise's instructions, Celia trailed off.

In war, destroying the enemy's nests and stockpiled resources to render them unable to fight was a matter of course—something even the ant colony understood.

The problem was that attacking cities and destroying farmlands would deal a devastating blow to the common people.

When the Holy Kingdom fell, it had happened too quickly for such things to occur. However, when fighting an Empire several times larger than the Holy Kingdom, such consequences were unavoidable.

In Celia's mind's eye, scenes of barren lands where countless people starved and died of disease flashed by.

This was a catastrophe that absolutely could not be allowed to happen.

Now that her fate was intertwined with the ant colony, the only way Celia could prevent this was to help the colony secure a swift victory, minimizing the amount of land ravaged by the flames of war.

“...Everyone, prepare for battle. Crush the enemy's defenses and burn the research institute to the ground.”

Gritting her teeth, Celia put on her mask and looked toward an imperial army gathering in the distance.

It was an army assembled to protect a magic research institute, which was considered the hub of magic power flow.

After multiple units were routed while trying to stop the ant colony, the imperial army had hastily gathered here, adopting an extreme defensive posture to defend the institute to the death.

The ant colony, wandering and fighting like a migratory colony, showed not a shred of hesitation or discontent. They were fully prepared to fight to the death.

Everything was for the colony, and for that great lord!

【Elise sensed the fear in the enemy's hearts and sneered at it.】

On the other hand, the imperial army, shaken by successive defeats and the spreading notoriety of the Great Devourer, was already cowering in fear.

Detecting this through the eyes of her scouts, Elise mocked them without reservation.

...

In the imperial palace at the heart of the Empire's capital.

“We cannot let this continue! We must redeploy troops and equipment from the high wall. Otherwise, we will lose several times more people and resources than we already have!”

Arguments erupted one after another.

Although they were conscripts hastily gathered from all over, tens of thousands of soldiers had fought the ant colony to defend the mine, only to end up taking a portion of the Great Devourer down with them in mutual destruction. Even then, the mine was lost.

The portion of the Great Devourer that Count Leo had sacrificed himself to eliminate had somehow instantly restored its forces and swept across the entire region. Now, the vital research institutes in the southern part of the Empire were also completely destroyed.

“Those things are poison. If left unchecked, they will continue to spread and eventually corrode this great Empire to its very core.”

“You're right, but the forces numbering in the millions eyeing us from outside the high wall are more than just poison. They are a blade hanging over our necks.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs' words made Schuber frown.

They were already being led by the nose by the Great Devourer.

Having too much to lose and too many concerns, they had already lost a step the moment the Great Devourer crossed the sea and landed on the mainland.

“Furthermore, those monsters are constantly shipping in reinforcements by sea. We must cut off their maritime routes first!”

“Are you saying we should just ignore the monsters wreaking havoc on the inside?”

“Our lines are practically ringing off the hook with distress calls right now!”

The conference room was in utter chaos. Although the ministers all sided with Schuber, they each had their own agendas.

Some genuinely believed Schuber's actions were for the future, some were only in it for the immense wealth and power he promised, and others followed him simply because they believed he would soon become the center of authority.

Furthermore, no one knew when the invading Great Devourer would reach their own hometowns—the very foundation of their power—making everyone exceptionally touchy.

“Has the Great One handed down any new oracles?”

“None so far.”

Schuber left his seat along with his trusted lieutenant. Upon hearing that Astaroth had yet to issue any new instructions, he let out a sigh.

If there were an oracle, he could have blindly followed it. However, since the Great Devourer's massive invasion began, Astaroth had only left a single instruction to "do everything in your power to protect what is vital to the development of our magitech civilization" and had not spoken since.

There was a reason why Astaroth was uncharacteristically silent.

As he watched his servants' pathetic struggles through multiple split screens, his mind went completely blank, utterly clueless as to how to clean up this mess.

Astaroth was a god who had always achieved victory by relying on optimized systems for his servants and the rapid civilization development that followed.

Unlike the God of War, who excelled in warfare, Astaroth focused on academic inheritance and system development. Faced with the Great Devourer, who did not play by his designs or commands, he had completely lost his formula for victory.

He wanted to crush the Great Devourer with superior technology, but the Great Devourer had long since seen through this, utilizing infiltration units to systematically destroy the most vital facilities of the Empire's abnormally developed magitech civilization.

“First, halt the supply of equipment to the high wall. Equip all assembled forces with our latest gear and deal with the internal enemies first.”

“What about the coastline?”

“It's impossible to defend such a long coastline entirely. Mobilize all warships to defend the major cities, especially the river mouths—they must be held at all costs. If we let those things travel upriver, it's all over.”

In the end, as a servant, Schuber could only rack his brains to find a solution on his own.

However, the situation was not yet hopeless. The high wall remained sturdy, and only the southern part of the Empire had fallen into chaos; the central and northern regions were still intact.

“I heard that insisting on defending the mine caused us to miss the window for early suppression, which is why things have gotten this bad.”

Just then, Calian appeared and walked up to Schuber's side.

“Your Majesty...”

The appearance of Calian, who hadn't even been invited to the meeting, caused Schuber's eyes to twitch.

Moreover, Calian seemed to have expected this, deliberately speaking in a way to provoke him.

With a solemn expression, Schuber said in a grave voice, “The Great Devourer is a resilient, cunning servant of an Outer God. It cannot be easily eliminated. Furthermore, they have a witch who understands humans by their side.”

Upon hearing this, Calian could no longer suppress his emotions, demanding with dissatisfaction, “Are you telling me to just wait? What if those monsters march all the way here?”

Schuber remained calm, reassuring him in a firm tone, “That will not happen.”

The two stared at each other, their psychological warfare showing no signs of ending anytime soon.

Schuber had lost his moral high ground due to this defeat, while Calian wanted to seize this opportunity to reclaim as much of his power as possible.

Calian sighed as he watched Schuber turn and walk away, his robes fluttering behind him. “The Chancellor is as shameless as ever. Even if those demons actually march into the capital, he will surely never admit his failure.”

Bowing, the royal butler advised in a calm voice, “Your Majesty, now is not the time.”

Deep worry etched Calian's brow as he sighed softly. “I know, but the longer this drags on, the more people will die...”

Although Schuber had blocked Calian's information channels, there were still people who managed to deliver news to him.

And those messages were entirely filled with bad news.

Calian frowned slightly, slowly repeating the rumors he had heard. “There are also rumors that the Great Devourer does not harm innocent unbelievers who do not worship any gods. They say it has come to purify the evil gods and their factions that seek to devour this land.”

Standing by his side, the royal butler quickly countered in an urgent tone, “Your Majesty, those are merely rumors spread by that wicked witch who betrayed humanity.”

The butler was clearly flustered, but upon hearing this, a sudden spark of light lit up in Calian's eyes instead.

He pondered for a moment, then spoke softly, “But I have heard that the witch can indeed communicate with humans.”

The rumors about Celia were enough to catch the attention of the young emperor.

For he knew better than anyone else who the evil god trying to devour this land and his servants truly were.

...

【Elise has ordered the implementation of invasive nesting within the Empire.】

“Ah, it's finally here.”

At that moment, Celia received Elise's instructions and closed her eyes tightly.

Elise intended to allow the forces that had already established a foothold within the Empire to unleash their maximum combat potential.

“Invasive nesting?”

Lin Miao, who was not connected to the hive mind, did not understand what she meant at first.

But soon, he understood the meaning behind this operation.

The infiltration units, which had been constantly on the move like a migratory colony, suddenly dispersed and began to build nests in various suitable locations.

These included the villages and cities they had already destroyed, dense forest caves, deep canyons, and so on.

However, these nests were not the kind of nests Elise dug in her own territory, built with stones and mud.

Strictly speaking, they were more like makeshift nests.

They used the digestive fluids of the decomposers to dissolve everything. On the scorched earth, they threw all their prey into a pool of nutrient fluid, then built only the most basic nest structures around it, such as cocoon storage facilities required for extracellular production.

Constructing such nests in all directions, constantly spreading to the surroundings like cancer cells—this was Elise's strategy as she set her mind on conquering this land.

Lin Miao marveled in a low voice.

This was because she understood that as long as she took away the land humans relied on to survive, even without winning the war, humanity would go extinct as they lost the struggle for survival.

This method was perfectly suited for the infiltration units that could wear down the Empire simply by surviving, and it was also one of the invasion techniques the ant colony could utilize effectively in the future.