“Complete destruction.”
Through the eyes of her soldiers, Elise watched the city, which had already turned into a living hell.
The moment the barrier they relied on collapsed, the mages were ruthlessly crushed like infantry whose formation was shattered by a cavalry charge.
“No... not here! Anywhere but here!”
“We must hold the line!”
Of course, with nowhere left to retreat, the mages put up a desperate, life-or-death resistance.
The top talents of the Empire were gathered here, and their combat capability was naturally not to be underestimated.
Yet the ant colony marched forward relentlessly, stepping over the corpses and treading through the blood of their fallen comrades.
The mages might have possessed a resolve to die, but from the very moment of their birth, the ant colony lived, fought, and died with that exact same readiness.
In this brutal, mutual slaughter, the ones whose spirits ultimately broke and exposed fatal openings could only be the human mages.
“Everything I sacrificed for the great magitech empire... to think it would vanish into thin air like this...”
Standing in the deepest depths of the Silver Twilight Secret Society, the director of the research institute closed his eyes in despair as he felt the presence of the ant colony drawing closer along the corridor.
Behind him lay piles of massive resources plundered from all over the Empire, alongside books and documents recording all the knowledge bestowed by Astaroth.
He had to protect all of this, but the sounds of explosions and blood-curdling screams were already drawing closer and closer.
The director gritted his teeth and raised his staff.
Rather than dying powerlessly, it was better to drag these Great Devourers down with him in a self-detonation.
“Come on then!”
Finally, the ant colony melted the thick, heavy doors with acidic venom and rushed toward the last remaining mages.
Inside the narrow corridor, the floor, ceiling, and walls were completely covered with swarming Great Devourers. The director and the mages raised their staffs, unleashing roaring flames.
“Die!”
The scorching fire instantly engulfed the front ranks of ants. Feeling the intense heat that even singed his own skin, the director desperately poured more magic power into the flames.
‘I'll kill you! I'll kill every last one of you!’
When the flames finally died down, the director and the mages believed the ant colony had been completely incinerated.
They were just preparing to recast their spells and face the next wave when a voice cried out, “T-They're still alive?!”
The Great Devourers, far from being wiped out, took their steps forward once more.
The gladiator ants at the very front deployed their protective barriers to maximum output, shielding their comrades behind them from magical harm.
Then, they brandished their blade-like jaws and charged toward the terrified mages.
【Elise is highly satisfied with this great victory and the abundant spoils of war】
It did not take very long for the ant colony to conquer the Silver Twilight Secret Society.
They hunted down every last target, refusing to let a single mage escape.
And those mages who, knowing they were doomed, fought to their very last breath, ultimately perished in battle.
Within the Silver Twilight Secret Society, no resistance remained. There were only corpses scattered everywhere, waiting for the worker ants to drag them into the digestive pools to be processed into nutrient solution.
“...Ugh.”
There were very few survivors.
Only a few of Tobaro Town's native residents, having given up all resistance, managed to survive by a stroke of luck amid their sheer terror.
Walking through the unsightly ruins, Celia glanced at the survivors who trembled violently at the mere sight of her.
‘The Lucadia Empire—no, the servants of the evil god—are completely finished now.’
Wherever Celia walked, the dense swarm of ants parted automatically, carving a path for her to reach the deepest depths of the Silver Twilight Secret Society.
Arriving at her destination, Celia looked at the blood-stained resources and documents, which had been preserved perfectly intact, and confirmed her victory.
These were the entirety of the wealth accumulated by Astaroth's servants, who had ruled the Empire, by mobilizing the strength of the entire nation.
Looking at the knowledge that was at least two generations more advanced than when she had last sneaked in, Celia whispered in awe, ‘It's ours. All of it is ours.’
Elise's will echoed in Celia's mind.
The only reason the ant colony had been willing to suffer heavier casualties to preserve these things perfectly intact was Elise's greed.
Her endless greed for more knowledge made it impossible for her to let this treasure trove slip away.
‘The Queen will surpass me one day.’
Flipping through the magic-related documents, Celia bit her lip.
Elise's growth rate was truly terrifying.
This could no longer be called simple growth; it was evolution.
Her evolution had already far exceeded Celia's expectations.
Not only had Elise reinterpreted and created her own version of the barrier in her own way, but just as she devoured various organisms to absorb their abilities and create powerful mutated variants, her ability to learn and absorb all kinds of knowledge and make it her own had already far surpassed that of Celia, a human genius.
“Although most of it is war magic, these are indeed high-level academic achievements that have never existed on the Terra continent before.”
As Celia examined the documents, she committed all of them to memory.
Of course, Celia was not the only one doing this.
No matter how strong Celia's learning ability was with the help of the hive mind, it was impossible for her alone to absorb all the knowledge stored in this massive facility in such a short time.
Therefore, Elise mobilized all the ants to learn and organize the information together.
One of the purposes of Elise reinforcing her own intelligence was to learn the language and writing of this world through Celia.
Although she could not speak due to her different vocal organs, having the hive mind meant she never needed to use writing to record anything in the first place.
The sole purpose of the ant colony learning written language was to plunder and absorb the enemy's knowledge.
‘This is no simple defeat. He really suffered a massive loss this time.’
Imagining Astaroth throwing a furious, frantic tantrum right now, Lin Miao switched the screen.
Clearly, others had not yet realized just how terrifying the ant colony's learning ability truly was.
If they had known, they would have risked their lives to destroy all the data first.
Rate on N.U.
