Contaminated Land

“Are all of these people refugees?”

“There’s no other way. Those demons built nests and sprayed poison gas everywhere. The water is foul, and the land is contaminated. It’s completely impossible to farm and survive anymore.”

It was only after the ant colony had completely turned the south upside down and begun implementing their invasive nesting that Schuber dispatched the Silver Twilight Secret Society's latest weapons and well-trained elite troops to the southern part of the Empire.

Marquis Hermann, the commander sent by special imperial decree to lead the army south, stared blankly at the images displayed by the mages.

Behind the endless procession of ragged refugees lay a ruined landscape: pools of viscous nutrient fluid, densely packed cocoons, and worker ants busily scouring the area for nutrients to throw into the fluid pools.

“Is this really the land of our great Empire?”

Marquis Hermann, who had only heard stories of such things and had never left the vicinity of the high wall or the capital, sighed, his face pale.

He could hardly believe his eyes.

When he had first heard of the war with the demons and witnessed the fierce battles at the high wall with his own eyes, he had thought it was a bloody conflict worthy of being called a great holy war.

In what was considered the barbarian lands outside the high wall, countless monsters of the Outer God poured in endlessly, and the Empire's brave warriors stood tall to confront them.

If they survived, these deeds would surely become the stuff of countless heroic legends, passed down through generations.

But the scene the Marquis was witnessing now was nothing like a heroic legend.

It was simply a terrifying, hopeless devastation—homes destroyed, land and water seized, and the very foundation of their lives eroded piece by piece.

Just feeding the countless refugees who had suddenly appeared would empty the national treasury.

“We must stop them! We absolutely cannot stand by and watch those demons defile the Empire's soil!”

“My Lord Marquis, we must not act too rashly. They have already built countless nests like this. One wrong move, and we could be surrounded from all sides, putting ourselves in grave danger.”

The staff officers, who were equally shaken, were divided in their opinions.

Some advocated for an immediate march to burn down all the nests, while others believed it was already too late and that they had to proceed with greater caution.

“...We move immediately. We were not sent here to defend, but to eliminate the enemy. Besides, defending makes no sense now. Their reproduction speed is far faster than ours.”

Amid the chaotic situation, Marquis Hermann quickly made up his mind.

Now, after destroying major facilities like the mines and research institutes, the ant colony was no longer massing in large numbers to carry out their invasive nesting. Instead, they had split into small units and dispersed across the entire southern region.

With the strength of his elite troops equipped with the latest weapons, they should not be easily defeated.

Marquis Hermann actually hoped the ant colony would feel threatened and mass to attack him.

For the most troublesome pests were never the single ones appearing before one's eyes, but the swarm that scattered and tenaciously survived.

【Elise is avoiding direct confrontation and focusing on expanding the nests.】

The problem was that the ant colony had already seen through this.

“Burn that disgusting nest down quickly!”

Marquis Hermann and the Imperial Central Army launched an assault on the nest closest to them.

This place, which had once been a peaceful farming village, now held only a small number of worker ants and a few defensive units.

But the once-endless fields that should have been undulating with golden waves of wheat were gone.

The windmills on the hills had been destroyed, and the houses had all been razed to the ground during the Great Devourer's attacks and the subsequent evacuation of the refugees.

All the livestock had been dissolved down to their very bones by digestive fluids, turned into nutrients.

The soil was contaminated with poison gas, leaving not a single blade of grass alive; the only living organisms were the mutated ants immune to the gas.

In this village where hundreds of people had once lived and worked in peace, nothing remained now but web traps laid by spider ants and a deep purple poison gas that drifted like mist.

“Purge them! Leave not a single one alive!”

At Marquis Hermann's command, the furious imperial army launched a general assault on the nest. They used magic to disperse the poison gas and slaughtered the ants that came out to resist.

Drinking a potion, a mage smacked his lips and remarked with a hint of surprised admiration, “This stuff works pretty well, doesn't it?”

Seeing this, a colleague nearby calmly pointed out, “If you knew what it was made of, you'd definitely be shocked. It's made by drying the shells of those monsters and grinding them into powder with other ingredients.”

Hearing this, the mage instantly couldn't help but choke and cough.

The colleague looked at him with a helpless expression. “Don't worry. The poison gas has been completely purified, and many people have already used it, proving there are no side effects.”

Just like Celia had done, they were also studying the ants to develop countermeasures.

“Commander, it looks like there are no survivors left. We have won. But...”

“Burn everything and clean it up first.”

Just then, the worker ants fled carrying their cocoons; the battle had ended in a mere tens of minutes.

Marquis Hermann entered the ruined village that had been converted into a nest and frowned. “How many of these nests have been discovered so far?”

Though they had won, there was not the slightest joy of victory.

Observing his commander's expression, the lieutenant spoke with difficulty, “At least... over two hundred. And the number is still rising constantly, making it impossible to calculate the exact total.”

Burning down a single nest was far from a victory.

The battlefield was the entire southern part of the Empire. Even at this very moment, the Great Devourer was constantly building new nests, causing countless imperial citizens to be killed or lose their homes and flee.

The ever-increasing number of refugees placed a massive burden on the imperial central government, turning into a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.

“Hurry up! Any later and the Empire will be in danger! Send a message to the Chancellor immediately.”

“What should it say?”

“Tell him we need reinforcements. This is an unprecedented war.”

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Hermann completely abandoned the thoughts he had before coming here—of achieving illustrious military exploits and gaining the appreciation of the god Astaroth.

Forget achievements and glory; this was now a desperate struggle to avoid being weeded out in the competition for survival.

Looking at the land contaminated by the Great Devourer's poison gas, Marquis Hermann's eyes grew heavy and lost.

He could not even begin to imagine how long it would take for this land to return to normal.