“No one knows when those monsters will attack! Hurry and prepare the defenses!”
“But my Lord, if we don't tend to the fields, this year's harvest...”
“Is now the time to worry about the harvest?! Once those monsters attack, we're finished!”
While a certain someone was spending an exciting and immensely enjoyable time conducting various experiments for his ant swarm, in another land, panicked people were fleeing their homes, frantically preparing for war in a chaotic scene that resembled a living hell.
“When that black tide sweeps over us, no living creature will survive!”
“I-I heard they are the incarnation of evil heralding the end times! Even the holy light cannot defeat them!”
The source of all this was the rumors spreading from the mouths of the subjugation army, who had barely managed to retreat after their crushing defeat. To them, the ant swarm was already an unstoppable torrent of death, the very embodiment of terror.
“The more desperate the times, the more we must pray to the Goddess! Everyone saw it! Look at the miracle our Church's Inquisitor performed when facing those monsters!”
Of course, there were those who saw this situation as an opportunity instead. The Church of the Goddess of Light, which began building momentum by leveraging the achievements of Daniel's self-sacrifice, was one of them.
Ironically, despite their defeat, as the ant swarm's infamy spread further, more and more people supported and joined them. It even reached the point where lords brought the entire population of their territories to join them en masse.
The headquarters of the Church of the Goddess of Light, located in the central region, also took this opportunity to dispatch more paladins and priests. They acted with growing fervor, seemingly intent on swallowing the entire northern region.
“I think this is only natural. After all, dealing with those monsters in the first place requires relying on the Goddess's power.”
Celia, who had been watching this trend with a troubled mind ever since she escaped by the skin of her teeth, bit her lip tightly as she listened to Sebas, who was trembling with fear of the ants just like her.
Is the Goddess really the only answer?
Daniel had once told her that she was gifted and would surely be rewarded if she followed the Goddess, but Celia had still not fully joined the Church. It was simply because of a sense of incongruity she felt in her intuition.
She certainly wanted to do everything in her power to stop the ants, who were an absolute evil. However, even if she followed the Goddess's will and successfully drove them away, the peace she longed for would probably not arrive.
Celia had long been exhausted. From the moment her hometown was raided by bandits, all she had ever wanted was peace.
“It's the beastkin! The beastkin have appeared in the north!”
But the sudden, drastic changes in this region did not stop there. The beastkin, who usually appeared like a gale from the northwestern plains to raid, stir up war, and bring disaster to this area, were now assembling a massive army and approaching on a grand scale.
“A proposal for an alliance? Why so suddenly?!”
Celia could not help but widen her eyes at the sudden alliance proposal brought by these beastkin.
...
At the assembly spontaneously organized by the northern lords due to Daniel's death and the rampaging ants, everyone was arguing endlessly over the appearance of the beastkin.
“Don't you find it suspicious? Those beastkin suddenly came with a large force of fully armed warriors, saying they want to deal with those monsters together with us...”
“Exactly. On this land, those beastkin are the real disaster. Every time they attack, they plunder our food, slaughter women and children, and drag the survivors away as slaves.”
One faction believed they should accept the beastkin's proposal and form an alliance to fight the ant swarm together, while the other faction believed the beastkin were just as untrustworthy as the ants. The clash of opinions sparked a fierce conflict.
“What's even more suspicious is that they seem to have timed it perfectly, showing up at this exact moment. Why would those beastkin, who detest humans, propose cooperation instead of attacking us while we are in chaos?”
Those wary of the beastkin were most suspicious of their attitude in proposing the alliance. Over the past few decades, no, centuries, the conflict between the two major factions in this northern land had been a history forged in blood. Even with the emergence of the ants as a new threat, this history made it impossible for them to easily trust each other and shake hands in peace.
“Our stance has never changed. This is the Goddess's will; we need only obey.”
Unlike the northern lords who had long suffered from beastkin raids, the representatives of the Church of the Goddess of Light from the central region firmly insisted on accepting the beastkin's proposal. They offered only one justification: the oracle handed down by the Goddess Hestia. However, this reason was not enough to convince everyone, leaving their discussion going in circles.
[Goddess of Light: These damn bastards won't listen to a thing.]
[God of Knowledge: Isn't that obvious? Terra is still in the early stages of pioneering. This is the time when everyone should be expanding their influence with all their might. How could things go smoothly with such a major incident breaking out?]
Of course, the claim by the Church of the Goddess of Light that this was the Goddess's will was indeed the truth. In reality, this sudden alliance proposal, which most found bizarre, was actually something privately discussed, planned, and executed by higher-tier deities beyond their knowledge.
[Goddess of Light: Are they all newbies here? Do they really not know what happens to a place targeted by an Outer God? If we don't clean them out from the very beginning, those disgusting things will just keep spawning endlessly.]
In the forum existing within the Divine Net, the one leading this operation was none other than the Goddess Hestia, who had recently fought a battle against the ant swarm. She was already convinced that the ants she had seen with her own eyes were absolutely the incomprehensible and illogical servants of an Outer God. She firmly believed that the gods wishing to pioneer Terra had to join forces as quickly as possible to drive them out first.
[God of War: You have to consider reality, too, don't you? Aren't you currently unable to even fully secure a single human kingdom yourself?]
Uria, the deity of the northern beastkin who had agreed with her and mobilized his servants as reinforcements, was currently mocking her for blaming the other deities for their lack of cooperation.
[God of Knowledge: There aren't many deities right now who have the spare capacity to deploy troops outside their own strongholds.]
The power of deities was by no means infinite. In the early stages of pioneering, the influence they could exert on their servants was also extremely small. Although Hestia and Uria each had their own headquarters—their territories—existing in other worlds, in order to connect their headquarters with Terra, they needed their territories and servants in Terra to reach a certain scale first.
Damn it, if this continues, it will fall far short of my original plan...
Staring at the screen, Hestia bit her lip.
The coalition army she had initially wanted to assemble was supposed to be of a scale large enough to surround and completely annihilate the northeastern ants from all directions. However, due to various reasons, this scale had been drastically reduced. In truth, Uria was practically the only deity who actively responded and provided a significant amount of troop support.
At this point, I can only risk it all. Of all places, the Outer God's influence had to emerge right near where I settled down.
Even so, as long as the northern lords ultimately could not resist the will of the Church of the Goddess of Light and decided to ally with the beastkin, the prototype of the Eastern Alliance would basically be formed.
As long as she was willing to bear a bit more of the cost, it was definitely worth a try. However, even this small cost was enough to make her fall behind in the competition with other deities. Thus, Hestia ground her teeth in hatred as she imagined the face of the Outer God who had pushed her to this point.
I don't even need to think to know that it must look disgusting and hideous. It's either covered in hundreds of eyes or made entirely of squirming tentacles.
Her mind was filled with prejudice stemming from the Outer Gods she had encountered in the past.
[Goddess of Light: Waiting online, urgent! This is what the Outer God's servants on Terra look like. They are absolutely disgusting to the extreme. Does any deity know whose Outer God's subordinates these are?]
She did not stop there. Instead, she uploaded the photos of the ants she had taken to the deity forum, actively hoping to gather information from more deities.
Rate on N.U.
