Awareness

“These heretics not only defy the Goddess, but they even seek to collude with the monsters of the evil Outer God! They are heretics through and through!”

“Arrest them all!”

Drawing their swords, the Church of the Goddess of Light swept across the entire kingdom with unstoppable momentum.

The same scenes that played out when Inquisitor Daniel had deliberately allowed the northern fanatics to run amok were now repeating in every corner of the kingdom.

Moreover, this purge was not the uncontrolled action of a few zealots; it was an operation directly led by the Church itself, serving the dual purpose of uniting their ranks and restoring order.

There were absolutely no loopholes to exploit.

Those who still refused to cooperate with the Church had only two choices: be executed in the purge, or be forced to join them.

“What are their charges?”

“They refused to join the Church and even gathered the villagers in an attempt to flee.”

“Fleeing is bad enough, but they dared to incite the public! They are wicked traitors. Hang them.”

The paladins and priests leading the soldiers barged in, but unlike before, they would grant no more grace periods.

They made a direct announcement: join immediately or face execution on the spot. Anyone who tried to run or refused to obey would be put to death without mercy as a warning to others.

“No, please! Spare the children! I was foolish, I lost my mind!”

The dragged man pleaded at the top of his lungs.

The priest merely shook his head coldly. “The monsters threatening the entire world are constantly multiplying at the kingdom's borders! At a time when everyone should unite and fight, you chose to refuse. You are no longer simple traitors; we must strike down with an iron fist!”

Such scenes were not isolated to a single place.

Wherever the Church's influence reached, countless people were sent to the gallows, losing their lives.

To the common people of the kingdom, these Church Inquisitors, operating under high-sounding pretexts, became a different kind of terror.

“Everyone unite to fight the evil monsters!”

“The Goddess will grant us her protection! Defend justice!”

The brutal purge, the infamous reputation of the rapidly spreading ant colony, and the fanatical cries of those chanting the Goddess's name all intertwined.

This was especially true among the refugees, who made up a huge portion of these zealots.

Deeply mired in their extreme fear of the ants, they desperately sought a trustworthy stronghold to lean on for protection.

To them, the slogan “Everyone must unite to fight the monsters” was an absolute, undeniable justice.

Before long, the Church of the Goddess of Light took control of the entire Kingdom of Kamion, establishing an unprecedentedly powerful grip over the land.

“Count Merlin, what is the meaning of this?! Our family has already surrendered everything to cooperate with you!”

However, this entire process was not merely a unifying effort to fight the ants.

These nobles, who had clearly surrendered and agreed to cooperate fully, were rounded up regardless of age or gender.

“I didn't want it to come to this either. If you had received the Goddess's favor and awakened holy power, I could have forgotten the past and become true companions with you, sharing everything.”

Count Merlin looked at the noble families brought before him in bonds, sighed with genuine regret, and continued:

“But how can I trust you? Those uneducated peasants don't matter—they are easy to control. But you are different. No one knows when you might harbor thoughts of rebellion.”

Ultimately, there was only one reason he wanted to purge these surrendered nobles.

He wanted to concentrate all the power of the kingdom into the hands of the Church of the Goddess of Light.

He also knew that rather than serving true righteousness or justice, this was more of a preemptive, convenient measure.

“...This is the divine will.”

He stared up at the sky and waited until the very last moment, but the Goddess Hestia never intervened to stop him.

Finally, Count Merlin closed his eyes and began chanting a spell himself.

Realizing this was a large-scale spell capable of instantly killing the massive crowd before them, the people let out shrill screams and wails, but Count Merlin's magic was unleashed right on schedule.

“You don't need to worry. I authorized all of this, and I ordered it. History will record it as such—assuming there are future generations left on this land to read it.”

Looking at the remains instantly charred to black soot, Count Merlin turned around and muttered to himself.

He walked past without sparing a single glance. Nearby, Celia grit her teeth, watching the entire scene until her strength finally failed her, and she collapsed.

She covered her mouth, trembling violently in the place that had once been filled with living people, now reduced to a ground covered in ash.

To stop the ant colony, they first had to consolidate internal unity.

To achieve this, they had to take up swords.

They even had to purge the old nobility who stood in the way of centralizing power.

In truth, this entire plan had been proposed by Celia, and Merlin had accepted it without a single shred of hesitation.

“No, I only did what I had to do. All of this was necessary... to stop them...”

She remained in that position for a long time, the image of the ant colony she had seen on the battlefield flashing through her mind once more.

Just thinking about the ants made her entire body shudder. She slumped onto the ground, only to force herself back up on trembling legs.

Tears flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks, yet a fierce determination still burned in her blue eyes.

“This is my mission. For this, I must do whatever it takes.”

For a long time, she had acted with the sole objective of stopping the ant colony. And with the passage of time, this resolve had only grown stronger.

“Those monsters... they're moving!”

Just a few days later, news arrived: the mutated ant army had resumed their invasion after a long pause.

...

【The servants have noticed that the enemy's response is somewhat unusual.】

“Hmm?”

The notification popped up just as the ant colony, having rested for a period and completed their nest expansion and population reorganization, officially began their move. It was also at the exact moment Lin Miao was packing his bags to move.

Hearing that the enemy's response was unusual, Lin Miao immediately opened the display, projecting the scenes witnessed by the ant colony before his eyes.

Lin Miao finally understood why the ant colony felt something was off.

It was one thing for the people in the north to flee, but Lin Miao had assumed those living in the southern territories would fight to the death. To his surprise, they were also abandoning their lands and constantly retreating.

They abandoned their villages and cities, leaving behind only those who appeared to be soldiers to man the steep fortresses and prepare for defense.

【The servants have discovered a high wall being constructed by the enemy.】

“So that's why...”

Before long, the reason was revealed.

They were putting all their effort into building a towering wall in areas they deemed suitable, solely to buy as much time as possible.

In the eyes of the flying scouts, the high wall looked like a tiny speck of sesame, yet it was as long and towering as the Great Wall of China in reality. One could tell at a glance that its purpose was to completely divide the land.

“Hurry up! Faster! No one knows when those monsters will strike!”

“Those things are experts at digging—they can even tunnel through castles! Carve defensive magic at the base of the wall! We absolutely cannot let them tunnel through easily!”

Zooming in on the display as much as possible before the scouts were attacked, Lin Miao listened to the conversations of the workers as they built the massive wall.

They weren't just piling up stones; they were also imbuing the wall with various spells and building defensive fortifications.

The sheer thoroughness of it made one clearly feel that they were truly pouring everything they had into constructing this defensive line.

Even now, Lin Miao had not fully figured out what magic truly was in that otherworld.

But he was certain that magic was far more than just breathing fire, summoning wind blades, or launching ice spears.

After all, they could make massive stone pillars rise out of the ground from nothing, and control creaking, giant stone golems.

A wall that would take a long time to build even on Earth with heavy machinery was already nearing completion by the people of the otherworld in such a short span.

Of course, it was also possible that this was not entirely achieved through their own strength.

【Divine Net forum connection successful.】

To confirm this, Lin Miao temporarily paused his packing and logged onto the Divine Net forum.

He had known for a while that the person who seemed to be the Goddess Hestia would post on the forum to curse him whenever she had free time.

She complained that because of Lin Miao—or more accurately, because of these ants—she was utterly overwhelmed, and nothing was going smoothly.

[Goddess of Light: Look, another new variant has appeared. What on earth are these damn variants?】

[God of War: There are more and more creatures looking weirder and weirder. After the living bombs, is it a high-speed variant that runs faster than a horse?]

[Goddess of Wisdom: Please, just don't let them come to our Phelan continent.]

Sure enough, Goddess Hestia had just posted a new thread on the forum.

The content was precisely about the brand-new variant born after the Queen Ant preyed on the tiger beetle and inherited its abilities.

Other deities were also leaving comments in the reply section, actively exchanging information about the ants.

[God of Knowledge: But thanks to this, your foundation is finally secure, isn't it? I actually think it's a good thing.]

[Goddess of Light: A few of my servants are quite clever, so they were able to quickly eliminate some of those who stood in the way. Though it's a pity, it couldn't be helped.]

Watching the conversation between Hestia and the other deities in the comments, Lin Miao also caught a glimpse of how the Church of the Goddess of Light had achieved internal unity.

They had implemented high-pressure purges and suppression under the guise of stopping the ant colony, which was painted as an absolute evil that had to be stopped.

Lin Miao sighed softly.

Such matters were of no concern to his ant colony, so he had long forgotten about them. But to other deities, internal unity was always their top priority.

There were many ways to unite a group, but they had chosen suppression, paving the way with force and fear.

This was a method with severe side effects... but as history had proven time and again, its results were also immediate.

[God of Knowledge: At any rate, it looks like you should be ready within the time limit, so make sure to hold them off. The important thing is to buy time.]

[Goddess of Light: Wait, is that all you have to say? That is the force of an Outer God! Do you plan to just hand over the Terra continent to someone else?]

[God of Knowledge: I've already helped as much as I can. Thanks to the golems, the construction of the high wall is almost complete. Isn't that enough? Unlike you, I haven't fully secured the territories around me yet.]

Furthermore, it was revealed that other deities had also provided assistance to some extent.

Hestia had called for everyone to join forces to block the Outer God—who was Lin Miao—and another deity had mentioned the golems he provided.

In other words, the heavy machinery of that world deployed to build the high wall.

Even putting aside the features he had yet to fully unlock, Lin Miao, leading the ant colony, could never engage in normal diplomacy with them.

Just as it had always been, he and the ant colony would forever be the villains in that world.

【The servants are searching for weaknesses in the high wall. They have determined that they must find a breakthrough point before the high wall completely seals off all the land.】

Since the enemy increased their strength through the violent suppression of their own kind, hoping for a backlash was entirely meaningless to the ant colony, which was forever driven by an endless desire to devour.

Every single second, the current ant colony craved more food.

As long as there were targets to hunt before them, they would never avoid a fight.

The only time they would display patience was when it would allow them to devour even more food.

Since the ant colony had already decided to wage war, helping them out was the right choice for Lin Miao.

【The Queen Ant maintains that starting the war as soon as possible is the optimal solution. She believes that acquiring spoils and driving the colony's evolution through the mutual attrition of forces is the only answer.】

As one of the core entities of the colony, the Queen Ant was especially eager for a swift, decisive war.

This was because the ant colony could only acquire the special resources needed for evolution through endless warfare with hostile forces.

“I'd like to help you get those things too...”

Looking at the display, he couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.

Lin Miao certainly knew what resources the ant colony needed most right now, but those weren't things he could easily obtain.

After all, the Queen Ant, who could barely prey on insects right now, couldn't possibly consume magic stones.

Regardless, he had to take things one step at a time and do what needed to be done.

Just like the ant colony, which slowly patched up its shortcomings and constantly evolved.

Lin Miao took a deep breath and slowly lifted the heavy terrarium.

He tried shifting the position of the terrarium slightly, and the rift hidden underground, as Lin Miao had previously confirmed, did not remain in its original spot but was still present within the terrarium.

With this, the moving plan seemed like it could proceed smoothly.

【The servants have fallen into extreme panic due to the sudden changes.】

【The Queen Ant has detected abnormal earthquakes and is convinced that this is by no means a natural phenomenon.】

“No way.”

He had only picked up the terrarium and shifted it slightly, yet a succession of notifications popped up as if the world inside had turned upside down.

Seeing the terrified ant colony in the display moving with frantic urgency, Lin Miao quickly put the terrarium back in its original spot.

If they reacted this strongly now, what would he do when it was actually time to move?

To ease their panic, Lin Miao opened the lid and threw in a few mealworms—which were no longer food but more like symbolic offerings now.

【The Queen Ant believes that what just happened was the influence of a “certain existence” that has been watching over the colony.】

The worker ants immediately carried the mealworms back, and at the same time, the Queen Ant's thoughts popped up in the form of a notification.

A certain existence. To them, Lin Miao was still just a certain existence.

But the ant colony had sensed his presence for a long time, and as they continued to grow, this awareness was becoming increasingly concrete.

Before long, they might fully figure out his existence and true identity.

...

“...”

Watching the mealworms fall from the sky and the servants chopping them up into food, the Queen Ant fell into deep thought.

She didn't know when it started, but these regularly dropped mealworms would now only fall from the sky at special moments.

In her memory, she remembered that the first time this happened was when they had won a battle.

Since then, whenever she evolved, a new variant was born, or the entire colony achieved growth and results, mealworms would rain down from the sky.

【The Queen Ant knows that this is by no means a coincidence.】

The constantly growing Queen Ant understood the meaning behind this very well.

Although she did not know the identity or concept of that entity, she understood that beyond the sky, something was watching over them.

This proved that Lin Miao's efforts to make them remember and recognize his existence had not been in vain.

It wasn't just mealworms that fell from the sky.

Brand-new materials that could allow the ant colony to complete their evolution would also fall from the sky.

The Queen Ant craved new materials at every moment. After all, her predatory abilities were currently limited to insects, and the only way to obtain these materials was through Lin Miao's assistance.

To obtain them, they had to act in accordance with what that existence desired to receive rewards.

The Queen Ant's thoughts were incredibly rational.

The accumulated memories of the colony would not fade, and her advanced intelligence allowed her to discover new facts from past memories.

Thus, based on the behavior of that existence dropping new insects every time they won a war, she deduced his intentions.

Consequently, the Queen Ant firmly believed that he desired war. And since what he wanted aligned perfectly with what she wanted, nothing could be better.

Following this, a concrete curiosity about that existence naturally surged within her.

And once this curiosity began, it would not easily stop.

Who was he? And what exactly was this transparent wall trapping them and the soil?

This was definitely not magic. The acrylic walls were made of a material never before seen in Terra.

The rapidly accumulating experience in the otherworld was becoming their capital to explore all of this.

【The Queen Ant believes that they must not leave any time for the enemy.】

But for now, clearing the enemies before them took priority over solving these mysteries.

The Queen Ant judged that although these human communities were inferior to the ants, they were still groups that would continue to grow and strengthen over time.

They absolutely could not afford to leave such opponents any breathing room.

【The servants have found the weakest spot in the enemy's fortress.】

In terms of digging and construction, the ant colony also possessed their own expertise.

Having found the unfinished, seemingly weakest part of the high wall through the scouts, the ant colony began moving toward that direction in unison.

It was a massive army, tens of thousands strong and mixed with countless never-before-seen variants, the likes of which this land had never witnessed before.