Fighting with a sword.
To the Great Devourer, this was actually an incredibly awkward and unfamiliar concept.
They had no need for tools. After all, tools were merely things created by organisms with insufficient physical capabilities to overcome their biological flaws.
Lin Miao's Great Devourer colony served as tools for the swarm while simultaneously evolving into living weapons. From the moment of their birth, they each possessed weapons like sharp mandibles, barbs, and venomous stings.
Kerrigan was no different.
She was accustomed to fighting using her own biological organs. Fighting with a tool felt as clumsy and foreign to her as a toddler taking its very first steps.
Yet even so, Kerrigan did not discard the sword in her hand.
She moved her body as best she could, swinging her blade to parry her enemy's strikes.
The realm she yearned for was, in the end, something that could only be reached by using a weapon.
It was also an evolution—one where she had to accept the unfamiliar and discard the familiar.
Kerrigan continued to stare at the sword tightly gripped in her hand.
It still felt incredibly awkward. To be honest, rather than executing swordsmanship, she was simply using raw power to shove the enemy's blade away.
However, Kerrigan believed that as long as she persevered, she would eventually grow accustomed to it.
“Ugh?!”
Meanwhile, Takar was pushed back repeatedly by a powerful force.
In truth, his first attack had not been at full strength; it was more like a probing strike.
Even though Takar was filled with rage, he had not lowered his guard.
As an experienced warrior, he was not some novice who would unleash his full strength in the first clash against an enemy whose true identity he did not even know.
‘It seems her strength is much greater than I anticipated.’
Takar bit his lip, instinctively realizing that Kerrigan, whose frame was a size smaller than his own, possessed raw power that far surpassed his.
Elise had focused on mimicking human appearance but could not fully replicate their internal biology, so she had done her best to compensate in her own way.
Part of this compensation was synthetic muscle. Formed by blending the genes of various organisms, this muscle was far more efficient and destructive than human muscle.
【Elise's eyes gleam with new possibilities】
Initially, this was merely a temporary stopgap, but both Elise's and Kerrigan's mindsets were quietly shifting.
Both Queens had adopted human forms for their own respective needs, but was it truly necessary for them to make their inner selves identical to humans as well?
After all, Lin Miao already favored Elise, and Kerrigan was now capable of wielding a sword.
Objectively speaking, human physical capabilities were not strong. They had no claws or sharp teeth, their offensive power was weak, and their physical strength was pitifully small—not even comparable to beasts much smaller than them.
A nearby beastkin hurriedly stepped forward and asked, “Lord Takar, are you alright?”
Takar raised a hand to stop his companion, his tone cold. “Stay out of this. Though her strength is great, she is ultimately just clumsily mimicking us warriors.”
However, Takar did not back down just because Kerrigan's physical capabilities surpassed his own.
As an experienced warrior, he perceived that while Kerrigan possessed outstanding physical capabilities, her actual combat skill was currently abysmal.
“Simply picking up a sword and swinging it does not make you a warrior.”
Takar took a deep breath, circulating his magic power.
This was to unleash a combat technique he had studied under his master for over a decade.
That was the very “technique” Kerrigan had been yearning for.
Beneath her mask, Kerrigan's eyes lit up. At that moment, she began to record everything into her own brain.
Operating two brains simultaneously was not an ability unique to Elise.
First, Kerrigan used the hive mind to store the memory in the main nest's storage brain, and then she rapidly extracted the necessary parts back into her own brain.
“Come, take this!”
Utterly oblivious to this, Takar kicked off the ground and swung his sharp sword at Kerrigan, who appeared to be standing there in a daze.
In an instant, the red magic power enveloping his sword threatened to cleave Kerrigan's body in two.
The Thrust Slash, a technique only beastkin warriors of a certain caliber could master, was a traditional skill of the grassland beastkin. It allowed them to instantly cut down an enemy with a rapid strike.
However, Kerrigan had already analyzed his movements in that brief window. Standing completely still, she accurately parried Takar's attack.
This was just like how Elise had learned and memorized the vast amount of remaining magical knowledge of the Lucadia Empire in a short period.
Possessing a powerful will and the necessary prerequisites, Kerrigan was also frantically absorbing everything accumulated within the hive mind in this fleeting moment, growing at an explosive rate.
“This is impossible! To learn it after seeing it only once... That's impossible!”
Blown back, Takar clutched his sword and stared in utter shock at Kerrigan as she charged toward him.
Just as Takar had circulated his magic power to display his skill, a bluish-black energy erupted from Kerrigan's magic heart, enveloping her sword.
In an instant, a Thrust Slash erupted from the tip of Kerrigan's sword, striking toward her enemy with blinding speed.
Had he been prepared, the battle might have continued, but Takar was too panicked to mount an effective defense in time.
“Lord Takar!”
Under the terrified gazes of his subordinates, blood sprayed from Takar's body as he was cleaved in two, his lifeless eyes staring blankly as he crashed to the ground.
【Kerrigan feels elated】
Flowing blood, slaughter, screams, and the sheer terror felt in her presence!
Unlike biting them to death with mandibles or piercing them with venomous stings, this new form of pleasure brought Kerrigan immense gratification, causing her body to tremble with excitement.
The remaining beastkin warriors and slave soldiers were petrified as Kerrigan turned her head toward them.
The true slaughter was only just beginning.
And these mountains of corpses and rivers of blood would eventually pave her way to the end of her revenge.
‘Colony, seek out more enemies.’
Soon, standing atop the brutally dismembered corpses, Kerrigan grinned and transmitted her command to the migratory colony.
More warriors and more battles were both the nourishment she craved and the study materials that would make her stronger.
After reorganizing, the western front, where the migratory colony had once been unilaterally suppressed, underwent a drastic shift the moment the existence known as the Sword Demon appeared.
...
The Great Devourer's learning capacity was truly astonishing, and its speed was incredibly rapid.
Unlike Lin Miao, who was constrained by a human cognitive framework, they would sometimes evolve in completely unexpected directions to solve problems.
This realization became even more pronounced upon seeing Elise and Kerrigan, who had ultimately preyed on humans and transformed as a result.
【New vassals are awakening】
The new soldiers currently awakening were the perfect proof.
One by one, they woke from their cocoons, revealing their true forms and drawing a soft sigh of admiration from Lin Miao.
This was the new combat unit created by the evolved Elise—the Lictor, a unit Lin Miao had never even dreamed of.
They had evolved further beyond the Tyrants, which already possessed magic hearts grafted onto their original mutated bodies, granting them physical sizes and strength that surpassed normal biological limits.
This was because they were mutants formed by blending various preyed-upon organisms, even incorporating a portion of human genes.
Looking at the dense crowd of monsters on his screen, Lin Miao could not help but knit his brows.
The Lictors had magic hearts embedded within thick, scorpion-like bodies, complete with pincers and venomous stings, yet their upper torsos were humanoid.
Although traces of humanity could be seen in certain parts of their bodies, Elise had emphasized only the functional aspects of these creatures.
Surely, if she had put just a little effort into it, she could have made them look a bit more aesthetically pleasing.
【Elise is satisfied with the Great One's reaction】
...
The reason was obvious.
Elise felt that she alone was enough to be the beautiful existence that captured Lin Miao's gaze.
Perhaps with the exception of sister queens of Kerrigan's caliber, Elise would never allow any other creature in the colony to possess an attractive appearance.
“The elves suffered heavy losses during the mages' attacks last time, so they must have prepared their magical defenses by now. However... they probably never anticipated this.”
Celia muttered to herself, staring blankly at the new soldiers as they began to march with pride and vigor.
Just as Celia said, the Lictors had been born because Elise wanted to freely utilize the technology and magic she had seized.
The already powerful Great Devourer colony had now been equipped with new weapons.
It was about time for the war to enter a new phase.
“Lord Proxy, Ye Yunshang says she caught the person.”
Furthermore, things were starting to move on Earth as well.
To procure blood for Elise, Lin Miao had met with Ye Yunshang.
She had mentioned back then that her stalker had been caught, and this call was about that.
“It seems there's a mastermind behind this, but...”
Even through the phone call where Bai Zhantang delivered the news, Lin Miao could practically feel the sweat bead on the man's forehead.
As a vassal who already knew of the existence of the Divine Net and deities, the mastermind Bai Zhantang referred to was not some major corporation or government agency.
“Handle it as I instructed.”
Lin Miao did not want to expose his identity, so he handled the matter remotely.
Since he was watching everything unfold through the Divine Net screen anyway, it was not a difficult task.
‘Is he an easy target, or someone who shouldn't be trifled with?’
Lin Miao fell into contemplation as he stared at the young man shivering inside a captured warehouse on his screen.
He had already figured out the distribution of power on Earth through the Divine Net forum.
The deity currently wielding the greatest influence in the Dragon Nation had already bought out major corporations, numerous Awakened, and even quite a few local officials, ordering them around like dogs.
It was not just the Dragon Nation. Most parts of the world had already become playthings in the hands of deities.
The vast majority of events widely reported in the news were like scripts orchestrated by the deities behind the scenes.
Lin Miao was not yet powerful enough to clash with those entities.
However, there were also deity factions like Lin Miao's that entered and operated on a small scale.
As long as they were not connected to a major faction, Lin Miao had no reason to show mercy.
If possible, he would devour them directly; if not, he would eliminate them.
The captured young man yelled, “Y-You're committing a crime by doing this! Just call the police and—”
Hearing him mention the police, Ye Yunshang raised her sword with a stern face. “Stop playing dumb.”
Seeing her expression, Lin Miao could not help but let out a dry chuckle.
It made sense. Ye Yunshang had only been an ordinary Awakened until now. Even if she knew the truth about the competition among the deities, she probably had not truly grasped its full implications yet.
She was certainly not yet accustomed to the concept that a deity's vassal was different from an ordinary citizen.
Lin Miao commanded calmly, “Verify whether he has received a deity's divine protection directly. If he has, it is impossible to make him switch allegiances unless that deity relinquishes their rights.”
Ye Yunshang knitted her brows, her face showing concern as she pressed further, “What if he does have divine protection? What if his master refuses to let go?”
Lin Miao spoke nonchalantly with an indifferent expression, “Then he cannot be converted. We'll just have to dispose of him.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Yunshang's face instantly stiffened, her eyes wide with astonishment.
Lin Miao remained unbothered. Since the other party was a deity's vassal, they had no choice but to kill him.
From watching the Great Devourer, that sort of bone-deep mindset had now naturally taken root in Lin Miao's mind.
Seeing the helpless Ye Yunshang, Lin Miao recalled his own past, bewildered self, and could not help but let out a bitter smile.
[Goddess of Delusion: Wait, let's talk.]
Fortunately, before Lin Miao could have the stalker killed, a private message arrived.
Lin Miao replied to the private message. On Earth, there was no need for him to pretend to be an Outer God.
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