The expeditionary force had attempted to cross the plains, reclaim the homeland of the grassland beastkin, and purge the nests of the Great Devourers. However, they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the migratory colony led by Kerrigan's overwhelming military force.
Uria, the god of the grassland beastkin, proposed a revenge campaign on the deity forum where the gods gathered for the colonization of Terra.
[God of War: Of course we must continue to invest. Do you want everything we've consumed so far to go to waste?]
Although he used sunk costs as his justification, the true reason burning deep in his heart was his boiling rage and thirst for battle.
A god born of war could not accept defeat. To him, fighting to the bitter end like a true warrior was the only real virtue.
Of course, he was not only the God of War, but also a deity who possessed countless servants and guarded his home planet and the colonization zone.
Posting on the Divine Net forum to persuade other potential competitors was driven by his combative spirit, but it was also because he realized that he could not stop the Great Devourers on his own in the end.
[God of Knowledge: What a fool. Do you want to get trapped there and pay an even higher price? That Outer God is clearly playing with us. It would be better to just abandon the colonization zone and let those greedy bastards take their own forces to attack it.]
[God of War: Since you've already failed and been kicked out, shut up and get lost!]
When Astaroth saw this on the deity forum, he replied with a sarcastic remark, which infuriated Uria and sent him into a rage.
Thereafter, the deities argued endlessly on the forum, but in the end, only one fact became clear.
They had to invest more if they wanted to compete with the current Great Devourers.
The Great Devourers preyed on the genes provided by Lin Miao to construct the strongest bodies, mimicked and learned their opponents' techniques, and even filled in their own technological gaps.
To keep up with the growth rate of the Great Devourers, the other deities had to invest a massive amount of interference force.
Lin Miao, who had been quietly observing all of this, was slightly surprised by the newly learned facts.
【Pioneering Zone: A newly generated region designated by the Divine Net. In areas set as Pioneering Zones, deities can engage in fair competition.】
The Pioneering Zone described by the Divine Net was a rule, much like Earth's Awakened system.
Within the Divine Net, which deities automatically joined upon birth, there was a mixture of all kinds of gods, ranging from those above the highest Divine Status to newly awakened low-tier deities.
Since high-tier deities who ruled numerous planets on their own and their subordinates could not engage in true competition with others, the Divine Net guaranteed a set of minimum conditions.
Namely, in areas designated as Pioneering Zones, no extra power could be brought in other than the interference force generated by the local vassals.
This was why, despite the Great Devourers running rampant on Terra and utterly crushing the deities, those deities could not summon their main forces.
'We are not ready yet. Even after the pioneering period ends, there is a protection period, but is that really enough? The Great Devourers... if they don't fight something, their growth will stagnate.'
Lin Miao fell into deep thought.
Unlike the other deities, he could not bestow more advanced technology upon the Great Devourers.
Even so, the reason the Great Devourers continued to develop and grow was that, from the very beginning until now, they had been endlessly fighting, warring, and learning from their opponents.
“At any rate, I need to squeeze as many benefits as possible from the remaining enemies,” Lin Miao muttered anxiously to himself, his gaze fixed on the battle unfolding on the screen.
The worst-case scenario would be winning the war with great difficulty, only to be trapped on Terra, helplessly waiting for the protection period to end.
Once the Pioneering Zone's protection period ended, enemies wishing to eradicate the Outer God's vassals and expand their own territories would undoubtedly swarm in.
Therefore, before that happened, the Great Devourers had to unite Terra and acquire the technology to access 'other worlds.'
However, the current sources of such technology were extremely limited.
They were the few remaining vassals of the deities on this land currently fighting the Great Devourers.
'I wonder how much they've invested. Has the elven deity still not planned to back down?'
Lin Miao confirmed the intentions of the beastkin deity, Uria, through the deity forum.
And the elven deity, who rarely appeared on the forum, had also shown its will by deploying new weapons to the battlefield.
This also meant that there was still room for the Great Devourers to grow further.
...
“She doesn't seem to be an ordinary elf. Are those spell formulas engraved on her body?”
Celia was highly surprised upon receiving the report of what had happened during her temporary absence.
The modified elven holy warriors were just that powerful.
They were the product of power injected by a high-dimensional civilization deity who deeply understood the elven race, displaying a formidable strength that matched it.
There was insufficient data to make a definitive conclusion, but Celia knew in her heart that even if she fought with all her might, she might not be able to suppress her opponent.
In fact, more than five of these individuals had already appeared, tipping the balance of the front lines—which had originally favored the Great Devourers—once again.
“...”
Elise, who sat quietly, was naturally in an extremely foul mood.
Resting her arm on the armrest, her face beneath her Great Devourer mask was stiff, suppressing a cold rage.
Elise was not a pure warmonger who simply enjoyed war.
War was fun because she could win.
To her, a losing war was not just boring; it was utterly detestable.
“Your Majesty, if they use the Prism Cannon, guarded by the holy warriors, as their vanguard, no amount of troops we deploy will be able to break through. I suggest we withdraw our forces for now.”
Celia cautiously offered her opinion.
But Elise retorted coldly, “I know.”
Realizing the queen was in a bad mood, Celia shut her mouth.
There was nothing more to say anyway, and if she spoke out of turn now, she might suffer for it.
'That great lord who can discipline the queen won't be swayed by this, but I...'
Celia felt somewhat weary.
It wasn't because of this particular incident, but rather the long-accumulated exhaustion that had finally begun to burst forth since she was semi-forcibly integrated into the colony.
Knowing that Lin Miao would not easily abandon her alleviated some of her burden, but this feeling wasn't one of being burdened.
'Loneliness.'
Loneliness. It was unmistakably isolation.
After joining the colony, Celia had essentially been all alone.
The ordinary Great Devourers possessed only faint self-awareness and could not communicate at all, while the queens who could communicate did not view Celia as an equal.
If her body were gradually remodeled, that might be another story, but Celia's mind was still fundamentally human. In her eyes, the queens behaved like children in many ways.
Occasionally, she would visit Count Merlin, an old acquaintance from her human days, or Calian, the emperor of the Lucadia Empire with whom she had proactively established relations, and have brief chats. But that was all.
Even those conversations were strictly business, so Celia could not shake the feeling of being an outsider in the colony.
It was only natural for Celia to subconsciously long for a 'companion' with whom she could share her thoughts and who ultimately shared her plight.
“It's done! With this, we can exact our revenge on those bastards, unify this world, and achieve great deeds!”
Just as the surging tide of Great Devourers temporarily retreated.
Virgil, the Guardian of the Second Legion, had merged the remnants of the leaderless Third Legion to form a new army, and he laughed with delight.
Following the tragic death of his niece and their defeat, his desire for revenge against the Great Devourers burned fiercely.
Even during his temporary sidelining, he had been honing his blade, waiting solely for this moment.
Waiting only for the moment to personally fight the Great Devourers and take his revenge.
“Victory or death. I will not leave a single one of those horrific demons alive on this land.”
Virgil had received orders to clear the insectoid nests located within the occupied territory of the former Kingdom of Bartonia—nests that the Third Legion had failed to conquer. He grinned.
The nests constructed under Celia's guidance were integrated with the cities, and their ferocious defensiveness was legendary. However, Virgil now held the Prism Cannon in his hands.
It was a weapon capable of obliterating the Great Devourer nests along with the surrounding areas, even when fired from a long distance.
“Lord Virgil, the captains of the foreign race units have expressed concern. If the Prism Cannon levels the land, the reconstruction of the occupied territories will require a massive amount of time and resources...”
A subordinate, reading the room, had barely finished speaking when Virgil flared up in anger. “Shut up! Such trivialities are not worth mentioning! Eradicating those Great Devourers from the face of the earth is a necessary sacrifice!”
To him, the foreign race units had been nothing but expendable tools from the very beginning.
Since even his niece had died in battle, the other elves were now merely instruments for his revenge.
“How disgusting, Virgil. What difference is there between you and those monsters? Plunging this world into chaos and slaughtering countless lives—is this truly the great achievement you desire?”
Only one person could speak words of genuine disdain to Virgil like this.
“Lisette, you've finally become a holy warrior recognized even by the Elven God, so why are you still acting like this?”
Faced with the disdain of Lisette, who was traveling along to escort the Prism Cannon, Virgil's mouth twitched.
“We must become the apex race of this world. Otherwise, our ultimate end will be just like that child Sillian, or like you, you bitch!”
Virgil mocked Lisette, whose entire body had been remodeled, and slapped her across the face.
Lisette glared at him, but she could no longer resist.
After all, Virgil was now her master.
Looking at the madness flashing in Virgil's eyes, driven by his desire for revenge, Lisette gave up on further conversation.
'I really hope someone will put an end to me.'
Walking out of the building alone, Lisette rubbed her cheek and lowered her head.
The peaceful life in the Great Forest that she had longed for, those small daily routines—everything had been destroyed by the very kin she trusted.
Now, even her body had been transformed into a vessel incapable of ending its own life. It was only natural for her to feel exhausted and utterly drained.
She didn't want to fight anymore. Now, she even wanted to give up on life.
“It's the enemy! The Witch of the Great Devourer is in their nest!”
“Quickly, prepare the Prism Cannon!”
Right before Lisette, a massive nest integrated with the city and a woman wearing a black mask appeared.
People bustled around, preparing for battle.
Lisette fluttered the fairy wings on her back and took to the sky. She recognized her opponent, who, like her, had spread membrane-covered wings and flown into the distance, appearing now as a small speck.
“I heard that you are the human witch who sold her body and soul to demons.”
Lisette drew her sword, looking at Celia, who had flown in with the flying species units to stop the bombardment of the Prism Cannon.
“Why?”
What had looked like countless tiny insects in the distance transformed into a swarm of giant monsters before her eyes. Lisette swung her blade, unleashing a golden slash that split Celia's lightning strike in two, before asking.
For Lisette, who had been forcibly dragged into this and used, Celia's alleged voluntary allegiance to the monsters was completely incomprehensible.
Lisette appeared in pure white armor alongside the elven Winged Squad; Celia showed herself in a black exoskeleton alongside the mutated ants.
The two women finally saw each other up close.
Rate on N.U.
