Moment of Evolution

“What on earth is going on here?!”

Sarel, the Speaker of the Central Council, rushed over the moment he heard the news.

When he saw the scene before him, his entire body froze, unable to believe his own eyes.

The experimental facility was completely demolished, leaving behind nothing but the mummified corpses of goblins that had been sucked completely dry.

He knew all too well how many resources and how much time they had invested in this project, which made the shock at this moment exceptionally devastating.

Based on his common sense, none of this made any sense.

How did the Great Devourer even find out about this place? How did it breach their multi-layered defenses, annihilate the entire guard force, and level this area in such a short amount of time?

If he knew that Elise had targeted these completely unrelated elves simply as retaliation for the enemy's assassination attempt on Kerrigan, he would probably have fainted on the spot from sheer rage.

“This is retribution.”

Just as Sarel was standing there lost in despair, a voice spoke up mockingly.

Sarel followed the sound and saw a blonde female elf tightly bound by tree roots, causing him to frown. “Lisette, stop being so stubborn. You saw it with your own eyes—those monsters of the Outer God want to destroy this world and harm all life living on this land. Only we elves can stop them.”

“How can you be so arrogant?”

The female elf named Lisette retorted weakly.

In truth, the two had already argued over this topic countless times.

The problem was that as Sarel and the new elves' actions grew increasingly extreme, their conversations had long since ceased to be on the same wavelength, veering in completely opposite directions.

Sarel spoke with a frigid expression, “If you do not change your mind, then for the remaining hundreds of years of your life, you can only remain tied up here, unable to move a single inch.”

Bound to the ground, Lisette looked up in anger. “Stop being so hypocritical! You have already murdered many of our own kind, including the elders. You are a kinslayer! The only reason you don't dare to kill me is because... Mmph?!”

“Until the World Tree hands down a new oracle, this place will be completely sealed off.”

Sarel's face darkened. Unwilling to listen to her any further, he waved his hand, and the tree roots moved.

A wooden gag stuffed itself into Lisette's mouth, preventing her from making any more of those grating noises. Only then did Sarel turn and leave.

“Are we really going to just leave her here like this?”

His subordinates also felt the icy aura radiating from him and did not dare to say much more.

“Yes, until that pride of hers is thoroughly ground down.”

Yet, there was not the slightest softening in Sarel's expression.

Sarel did not deny his own feelings either.

The reason he had not killed Lisette for resisting the revolution, keeping her alive all this time, was because he believed that she would eventually submit and change her mind.

And all of this was to possess both her body and her mind.

Sarel had been watching her for a very long time.

...

Just as Sarel and the other elves were thrown into a panic by the sudden attack, Lin Miao was already evaluating the results of this operation.

However, since the deity of the elves rarely posted on the Divine Net, it was impossible to know their exact losses.

He could only infer from the goblin deity Venerable Night Moon's posts on the forum and the reactions of other deities that the elves had poured astronomical resources into this project.

“A holy relic... Can I create something like that too?”

All the deities, including Venerable Night Moon, were discussing how the elves had undoubtedly suffered a massive loss this time.

From this, it was clear that the value of a holy relic was far higher than he had imagined.

And now, that power was stored within the goblin fluids sloshing inside the abdomens of the ant-flies flying back to the nest.

【Elise is urging to quickly bring back the new power for her to devour】

Having developed an intense greed for this power, Elise could not wait to devour it completely.

Lin Miao believed that the clever Elise would handle everything well, so he turned his attention elsewhere.

The tactic of utilizing Celia for covert infiltration and surgical strikes had worked surprisingly well. Not only could it be used repeatedly, but it might even completely revolutionize the Great Devourer's way of waging war.

“I agree. To oppose our forces, the elves are manufacturing powerful weapons and mobilizing vast amounts of supplies from all over. As long as we continuously disrupt their supply lines and facilities, their front line will naturally collapse.”

Celia was also highly enthusiastic about her new role.

After all, compared to a war of attrition fought head-on, weakening the enemy's strength by raiding their rear supply lines and vital facilities before crushing them in one fell swoop would drastically reduce the Great Devourer's casualties.

Although the enemies had temporarily halted their offensive due to supply issues and troop losses, once the Beastkin Kingdom and the Dwarven Alliance finished regrouping, the migratory colony that had lost its queen would likely collapse entirely.

Lin Miao believed they had to concentrate their forces to deal with one side while ensuring the other side could not pose a threat to the Great Devourer.

Celia would take on this responsibility.

Just like this successful operation, she would continue to launch surprise raids on vital facilities and warehouses deep within the Elven Empire, retreating swiftly after bombarding them to throw the enemy into disarray.

“...What is that sound?”

Chick, an elven guard responsible for securing a large supply warehouse, heard a howling wind in the dead of night and looked around warily.

However, he was not overly worried.

This was the safe rear. Furthermore, the elves had set up strict detection and defensive magic arrays here, along with mechanical treants guarding the perimeter around the clock.

The watchtower, towering like a lighthouse, emitted a faint glow as it monitored all directions. As a defensive facility of their own side, it provided an immense sense of security.

Thus, when Chick was assigned to be a guard here, he had been absolutely thrilled.

Although there was little chance to achieve military merit, Chick was merely an ordinary citizen content with being a second-class citizen of the Elven Empire.

“Hmm?”

Yet, at that very moment, a figure descended from the heavens with immense impact, spreading her wings.

Her body was small enough to bypass all detection magic targeted at flying creatures, yet she possessed a devastating firepower capable of piercing through any defensive magic in a single strike.

Staring at the entity whose entire body was wrapped in deep blue magic power, wearing a black mask with eyes gleaming red, Chick collapsed to the ground in sheer terror.

Only then was the alarm magic finally triggered, its shrill ringing echoing throughout the area. The patrolling mechanical treants roared and charged toward her.

“Aah!”

Chick curled his body up, watching a massive foot slam heavily right beside him.

Celia paid him no mind, simply raising her staff to point at the mechanical treants rushing toward her.

"..."

Magic erupted, instantly shattering the bodies of the mechanical treants and setting them ablaze in raging flames.

Immediately after, the unquenchable fire devoured the entire warehouse, reducing all the war supplies stored within to ashes.

Chick stared blankly at Celia's retreating figure as she took to the skies once more and vanished before the reinforcements could arrive.

From this moment on, Celia, who had previously only operated on the front lines, began leading a minuscule force to conduct lightning raids on the Elven Empire's rear.

She also became a symbol of terror in the hearts of the common folk, and her name began to spread far and wide.

“It seems the Third Legion has no choice but to alter its original plan and deploy all its forces to secure the rear first.”

“Damned witch!”

Naturally, amidst their panic, the Elven Empire quickly made a decision. They resolved to tighten security in the rear and dispatch additional defense forces in an attempt to stop Celia.

Yet, this action alone had already dispersed their forces, achieving the Great Devourer's objective.

Moreover, if they merely deployed defensive forces haphazardly, they would only be picked off one by one by Celia, failing to protect even their facilities.

Just like right now.

Celia struck the Third Legion's supply facility right on schedule once again. Drawing her sword, she unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning at the elven knight charging toward her.

Though the elven knight was bound by chains extending from a magic circle and resisted with all his might, he ultimately failed to withstand the lightning strike. He was electrocuted to death and plummeted to the ground.

With even their strongest knight slain within a few exchanges, the others were completely helpless. They could only watch blankly as Celia demolished the facility and made a clean getaway.

Even if the Great Devourer had lost Kerrigan, they still had Elise to swiftly take over command and lead the entire colony.

In contrast, the elves, who lacked a hive mind, would instantly plunge into massive chaos once their commander fell, requiring a vast amount of time to regroup and pursue.

"..."

And quietly watching all of this, besides the deity Lin Miao, was another entity.

【Elise asks, do you have any realizations?】

Within the dark space of the hive mind, Kerrigan, who had been left there alone watching Celia's battle, received a visit from Elise.

【Kerrigan says, I finally understand why you made that kind of choice】

Surprisingly, Kerrigan actually accepted Elise's bizarre appearance in mimicking a human form.

Desire and obsession were indispensable things for the queens of the colony.

Only by possessing a sufficiently strong motivation of one's own could a queen awaken her self-awareness and lead the colony to continuous growth.

A queen's growth was intimately linked to the growth of the colony.

Kerrigan finally understood the actions of her older sister, Elise, who had grasped this point a step ahead of her and had always remained true to her inner desires.

Elise extended her hand to Kerrigan.

Since Kerrigan now possessed the qualifications, Elise was willing to help her young sister.

Kerrigan's heart wavered.

All this time, she had believed that being able to fight and slaughter was enough.

But now she realized that was merely an incomplete desire.

Simply slaughtering and fighting were far from enough.

She had to find what she truly yearned for.

Looking at the martial prowess of the beastkin hero Grimgor who had killed her, and looking at Celia who destroyed the enemy single-handedly and played a core role, Kerrigan seemed to have found her answer.

【Elise is growing rapidly】

【With the complete absorption of another deity's Divine Status, the rapid growth of the vassal has driven the elevation of the deity's Divine Status】

【Mid-Tier Deity, Grade III → Mid-Tier Deity, Grade IV】

【Unlocked partial restricted functions】

“This is...”

Lin Miao stared at the screen, his eyes widening in astonishment.

Inside the nest, Elise had devoured the goblin fluids brought back by the ant-flies, completely absorbing the power contained within and undergoing a massive transformation.

Extracting a deity's Divine Status that had integrated into a vassal's body was an extremely difficult task.

There was a reason why the elves had invested such monumental effort into this.

Without the proper technology, it would require a vast amount of time and resources.

However, from the moment they became Lin Miao's vassals, the Great Devourer was naturally endowed with the ability to absorb power through devouring.

This ability was a gift Lin Miao had bestowed upon them back when they were still a group of ignorant, low-level creatures.

And now, after absorbing a deity's Divine Status, this ability finally demonstrated its true value.

【Bloodline Regulation Lv. 8: Can utilize genetic information obtained through devouring to adjust the traits of produced units, creating new classes】

【Universal Cells Lv. 4: The power of the hive mind can act at the cellular level】

【Energy Conversion Lv. 4: Can convert absorbed energy into other types of energy】

Although she had only absorbed a minuscule amount of a deity's Divine Status, it brought about an earth-shattering change in Elise.

All this time, she had only evolved by devouring nutrients. When her evolution ground to a halt, everyone believed she had reached her limit.

But now, she had finally taken the first step toward a higher level of evolution.

【*Can devour certain intelligent lifeforms】

【Elise awaits the Great One's grace】

Lin Miao's eyes trembled slightly.

This moment had finally arrived.

The very moment he had constantly envisioned since the day he bound his destiny to the Great Devourer!