Why had it turned out like this? Elise was originally just a minuscule, ordinary Queen Ant, and even she did not know why she harbored such hatred for humans.
Clearly, from the very beginning, humans had been just one of countless prey and enemies.
Even when she viewed Celia—who had once used other humans to oppose her—as an archenemy and finally exacted her revenge, her personal resentment toward Celia far outweighed her hatred for the human race as a whole.
If she had to point out anything special about humans, it was that compared to races with very distinct strengths and weaknesses, human capabilities were more balanced, making them closer to well-rounded fighters.
But as she gradually transcended the limits of ants, her intelligence and self-awareness grew, and she began to understand things like emotions. As her learning capacity improved, humans became an entirely different existence in her eyes compared to other races.
‘Why?’
The more she knew, the clearer she saw.
Elise discovered that, inherently, humans had always enjoyed “his” favoritism.
In this world plunged into chaos by the conflicts of deities, he would listen to Celia's words, do his utmost to save human lives, and oppose the indiscriminate slaughter of humans.
Elise could even sense that whenever she harmed humans, he would subconsciously look away.
Elise could not yet fully understand the sense of kinship Lin Miao possessed as a human who had awakened as a deity.
This sense of kinship was something that even she, who had been granted her name and everything else by him, did not possess.
Elise, who wanted to possess all of him, could not tolerate this.
【Elise intended to infect humans with fungi, altering their nature and form to turn them into forces under her control】
The liquid Elise sprayed onto the mages was a nutrient solution mixed with mutated Cordyceps spores.
These mutated spores were even more lethal than the Gene Stealers implanted in Celia's body. They would rapidly absorb the nutrient solution to grow, burrow into the human hosts' bodies, and seize control of their nervous systems.
Just like how Cordyceps controlled insects, these mutated Cordyceps would modify human bodies, forcing them to act according to Queen Ant Elise's will.
Since the vast majority of the magic knowledge they acquired was structured with human users as the baseline, using magic immediately ultimately required human bodies.
However, Elise's predatory capacity was currently insufficient, and the Great Devourer could not manufacture human bodies on its own.
So she chose to occupy human bodies this way. Consequently, Elise, possessing a reserve of magical knowledge far exceeding any human mage, could rely on that terrifying brain to cast magic and fight at will.
However, those infected would have the control of their bodies, including their spines and brains, snatched away, turning into beings that were no longer human.
Once they became like this, it would not be long before their self-awareness completely faded away.
‘If humans are no longer human...’
This was a bio-attack of atrocious malice, yet the motive behind it was laughably simple.
It was merely because she childishly and simply believed that since her “father,” Lin Miao, loved humans, as long as she turned humans into non-human entities, that love would transfer to her.
“Your Majesty! It is not because we were once humans that he acts this way!” Celia explained.
【Elise sneered, asking what she knew】
Looking at the people who had instantly turned into monsters, Celia spoke with a heavy heart, but Elise paid her no mind.
In fact, the bond between Celia, Lin Miao, and Elise was far less profound than the bond between the two of them.
Although after joining the colony, she could understand and interpret Lin Miao's oracles better than Elise by leveraging her advantage of once being an intelligent human, she ultimately could not read his heart like Elise, who was a special existence soul-linked to Lin Miao.
【Elise claimed that she had made the choice most beneficial to the colony. If you deny this, then you are not an existence born for the colony】
“This...”
Furthermore, Elise was not acting willfully without reason.
From the moment she gained self-awareness, the entire colony had been on guard against her self-indulgence.
Even Kerrigan, acting as her alter ego, would vehemently stop her.
In the end, the Queen Ant was also a part of the colony, an existence that lived for the colony.
The reason Elise's actions could receive the tacit approval of the entire colony was because they believed it was beneficial to the colony.
After all, compared to a normal magic legion that needed to be commanded through Celia, a host unit infected by fungi and directly controlled by the colony possessed far greater combat power.
“That is indeed true. What a sly creature.”
Left speechless, Celia fell into silence, while Lin Miao, who had witnessed the entire process from the side, let out a soft sigh.
Children had their own little cleverness too.
And sometimes, their cleverness could seem exceptionally insidious and meticulous in the eyes of adults.
Having been logically refuted by Elise, Celia could no longer say a word.
Because Celia's goal, besides the interests of the colony, also contained the selfish desire to save human lives.
If she spoke, she could only appeal to emotion, and to Elise, who had no sense of kinship with humans, such emotion was not even worth mentioning.
“Still, business is business.”
Standing in front of the terrarium, Lin Miao put on thick gloves and sighed.
【Elise panicked due to an earthquake】
Having just logically refuted Celia, who had always been favored before Lin Miao, the triumphant Elise was suddenly plunged into immense panic.
The location of Elise's main body should have been the original nest, which was safer than anywhere else—the interior of Lin Miao's terrarium.
But at this moment, the entire terrarium was shaking with violent tremors, just like when Lin Miao was about to move.
However, unlike the last time when Lin Miao carefully packed up the nest and personally moved it to the car, resulting in only slight shaking, this time the nest itself was collapsing.
‘Why...’
Staring at the blinding sunlight filtering through the collapsing ceiling, Elise froze.
A giant hand easily destroyed the sturdy nest as if crushing tofu, impatiently swept aside the mutated ants arranged around it, and reached inside.
That hand, carrying the Divine Status of a deity, radiated a powerful force that the Great Devourer dared not approach.
The worker ants that should have risked their lives to protect the Queen Ant scattered and fled in all directions, leaving Elise alone in the collapsing nest, panicking in confusion.
The colony had abandoned the Queen Ant.
Because Lin Miao's will had already been communicated to all servants.
Now, the deity was going to punish the Queen Ant.
Protecting the Queen Ant meant defying the deity.
For the Great Devourer, which placed the safety of the colony above all else, Lin Miao's protection was far more important than a mere Queen Ant Elise.
In an ant kingdom, a Queen Ant was originally just an egg-laying machine and a consumable that could be replaced at any time.
‘The dominance must remain in my hands. For the sake of victory, I can turn a blind eye even if humans are slaughtered, but absolutely no one is allowed to deceive me.’
Lin Miao looked at the panicked Elise, his face darkening.
This was not a child's prank. Countless lives had already been lost because of this, and this was a major matter concerning the safety of himself and everyone around him.
Although his Divine Status had been continuously rising, he always kept in mind that unlike other complete deities, he was just a half-baked one.
To him, the most important thing was ultimately the servants who could make him a true deity—the Great Devourer.
The Great Devourer had to become strong.
For this, he was prepared to pay any price.
He had to continuously grow stronger, strong enough to truly contend with those Outer Gods without falling behind.
But merely being strong was not enough.
His plan had an essential prerequisite: the Great Devourer had to be absolutely loyal to him.
And the core of this absolute loyalty was the First Generation Queen Ant Elise, who controlled the entire colony.
Putting everything else aside, as long as Elise was loyal to him, the entire colony would act on his orders like a single entity.
He could have killed Elise and created a new Queen Ant, but he had no such intention at all.
Because he, too, had developed feelings for this Elise, who was gradually gaining emotions and self-awareness, and slowly coming to know herself.
So now was the perfect time to discipline Elise.
Just like how children could no longer be controlled once they grew up.
Lin Miao murmured, “I believe you will understand.”
【Elise panicked in confusion】
Elise watched uneasily as the giant hand, which had temporarily withdrawn, reached toward her once again.
She could sense his blame from Lin Miao's emotions, and she knew very well that this was definitely no reward.
A spark of electricity flashed from the reaching fingertips. With a loud snap, Elise was instantly shocked into convulsions and crashed heavily onto the ground.
“Ugh...”
The punishment inflicted on Elise was faintly transmitted to the entire colony through the connected hive mind.
Celia, who possessed a stronger self-awareness, was affected even more. Clutching her head, she dropped to one knee on the ground.
“A-Are you alright?”
“I am fine. The problem is the Queen, who is being punished.”
As a panicked Calian stepped forward, Celia wiped away her cold sweat and shook her head.
At this very moment, Elise was still subjected to continuous electric shocks, her body writhing non-stop.
Her screams echoed throughout the hive mind, but no one could help her.
Kerrigan gloated and mocked in the hive mind, while Celia could only watch with heartache.
‘The true master of the colony is not the Queen. The Great One has already made the Queen understand this.’
Having calmed down slightly, Celia let out a sigh and stood back up.
Lin Miao put away the taser and withdrew his hand from the terrarium.
“Then what about the next plan? Can they be restored to normal?”
“Restoring them to normal is impossible, but such emergencies will not happen again in the future. Please... keep your mouth shut, Your Majesty. For the sake of our smooth cooperation with the human Empire hereafter.”
Celia looked at the mages who had already been infected by Cordyceps, and then at Calian's subordinates, who were watching all this with eyes full of terror.
【The servants approached the Queen Ant once again】
Lin Miao's hand reached in once more, gently stroking Elise as she lay on the ground, trembling with pain.
Punishment and forgiveness—thus it ended.
The worker ants gathered around again, helping Elise up and feeding her the nutrient solution to aid her recovery.
At the very least, the warning “do not act on your own initiative” had been deeply engraved in Elise's mind along with the electric shocks.
Through the hive mind, Celia saw the once-overbearing Queen Ant now looking completely dejected, and she let out a soft sigh.
At the same time, she secretly vowed in her heart that she would absolutely never defy that lord.
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