The Vastness of the World

“...”

In the past, Elise had used the eyes of other Great Devourers to conquer the small peninsula where the old Holy Kingdom once stood. Standing on the shore, she had gazed upon the ocean for the very first time.

It was an endless expanse of blue waves, making it impossible to even imagine what lay on the other side.

Back then, when her brain and intellect were not yet fully developed, Elise had been genuinely shaken by that sheer vastness.

Even though that particular sea wasn't exceptionally wide—requiring only a two-day journey by an ordinary sailboat to reach the Lucadia Empire on the opposite shore—it had left a deep impression.

“This world is so vast.”

Realizing how tiny she was compared to this massive world, Elise had felt a mixture of fear and intense curiosity.

It was the first time she had ever felt curious about something other than devouring prey and breeding stronger mutants.

That profound experience still heavily influenced Elise to this day, and the Great Devourer colony was increasingly affected by her growing self-awareness.

【Elise has discovered a new terrain once again.】

She had assembled a small scouting party composed of Leviathans and flying species capable of long-distance voyages. They crossed the sea, bypassing the Elven Empire where fierce battles were currently raging.

Surprisingly, the purpose of this move was not military reconnaissance.

It was purely to explore this seemingly boundless world and discover what lay within it.

In fact, this endeavor had begun long before the actual war even started.

“How vast.”

Through the eyes of a mutated Dragon Ant flying high on soft, feathered wings, Elise looked down upon the expansive earth.

Countless valleys stretched endlessly. The overnight rain acted like the sky's capillaries, dripping down in hundreds of shimmering waterlines.

As the morning sun cast its rays, light flowed along the water droplets on the damp ground.

This world, just a step away from the violent battlefields, was brimming with life, resembling a giant heart where countless creatures breathed in unison.

She was finally beginning to truly understand the structure of the planet beneath her feet.

Within the hive mind, a massive map was being updated in real-time, continuously growing more detailed.

“Yes, the world is indeed very vast. A single nation or continent isn't everything.”

Lin Miao smiled as he spoke to Elise, who was displaying such curiosity and desire to explore. Even so, this was still incomplete; the current Great Devourer colony was still far from being able to fully control an entire planet.

Lin Miao's vision relied on his vassals. He couldn't see places the Great Devourers hadn't visited, nor could he know things they hadn't discovered.

By now, Elise had grown enough to comprehend Lin Miao's oracles.

At the same time, Elise was the very first queen ant he had raised from the size of a fingernail, the first one he had named—his first daughter.

His young daughter understood the vastness of the world, trembled before it, and yearned to know and explore it.

How could he not find this heartwarming and endearing? It was only natural that his words and attitude became incredibly gentle.

“This world... and even the countless worlds in the distant universe. One day, you will surely come to understand and see them all.”

Lin Miao already knew about the universe.

Furthermore, he was aware of the Divine Net. As the only human on Earth to know, he understood that this universe nurtured countless lives and civilizations, including Earth itself.

Ultimately, Lin Miao and the Great Devourers would have to survive as a part of this grand system.

He believed that if this was an inescapable destiny, it was far better to know in advance and prepare for it.

“The sky...”

Sitting quietly in her nest, Elise looked up at the sky.

Through the deep terrarium's massive opening that led straight up, light from the outside poured in. It felt as if the sky could look down upon her at any moment.

To her, the sky beyond the clouds—a place even wings could scarcely reach—was a sacred and mysterious realm, a place where one could touch the Great One.

But now, that very Great One had given her a teaching.

The sky was also a place she could reach. Above it lay the truth of this world.

“I want to go there.”

This was the desire of the first queen who could lead her race to transcendent evolution; her greed was boiling.

If she could possess this entire world, then the sky would be next.

Moreover, Lin Miao had shown that his vision also depended on the Great Devourers. Therefore, they had to go and see more of the world.

Elise felt that she would do absolutely anything for her father, Lin Miao.

“It seems there's been another misunderstanding.”

Seeing her reaction, Lin Miao scratched his head.

...

However, the Great Devourers did not yet have the luxury of focusing elsewhere.

Forget the sky; they hadn't even fully conquered the surrounding lands.

Thus, the Great Devourer colony, including Elise, suppressed their opponents even more violently.

They made no attempt to hide their resolve to completely eradicate their enemies this time and become the absolute masters of this land.

Faced with the endless legions of Great Devourers swarming forward with absolute determination, the armies of the Elven Empire could no longer afford to care about distinctions between elves and other races.

In the eyes of the Great Devourers, they were all the same—just food to be chewed up and dissolved by digestive fluids.

An elven knight leaped forward to save a beastkin soldier from the other-race units, while human soldiers worked together to protect an elven artillery squad.

“We can't hold them! There are too many of them!”

“...Prepare the Prism Cannons!”

Ultimately, in the face of the looming danger before them—a peril that could only be described as the end of the world—everyone fought with one mind. There was no need for overseers or conscription; they fought purely to survive.

“Damn it, these Great Devourers...”

At the very front lines of this fierce war, Ponuo, the Guardian of the Fifth Legion, stood atop the shoulder of a treant he had climbed to command the battle. Looking down at the battlefield, his body trembled uncontrollably.

Though explosions erupted everywhere, the black tide surging from the distance seemed completely endless.

Celia was single-handedly unleashing powerful spells at random, and various mutants like Lictors and Tyrants were emerging in endless numbers, but the most shocking aspect of all was their sheer quantity.

They were constantly evolving. Their growth and gestation had become simpler and faster. From the moment they were born, all necessary knowledge was instantly implanted into their minds, allowing them to enter the battlefield immediately. Such a cycle was utterly unheard of.

Having already devoured nearly half of the continent, the Great Devourers poured troops from their nests. Once they went into full production, their numbers could exceed a million in a short span of time.

The energy contained within the magic stones Lin Miao placed into the terrarium had a limit, even when converted into nutrients.

Even at this very moment, the Great Devourers were felling giant trees that had grown for decades to cultivate mushrooms on a massive scale. They were also eradicating native monsters and beasts on both land and sea, posing a colossal threat to the entire ecosystem.