“Get back to your posts!”
“All these new recruits are exactly the same.”
At the exact moment the migratory colony defeated the beastkin and took control of most of the plains, the massive spoils of victory ultimately made the entire colony even stronger.
And this newfound strength was ultimately channeled into the drive to breach the ‘trap’ of the high wall, allowing them to harvest even more prey here.
By now, a colossal wall stretching across the land had been completely finished, without a single gap.
And here, yet another brutal battle was raging between the ant colony and the defenders of the human kingdom.
Although the colony had never deployed enough forces to completely destroy the high wall, every battle ended with nothing but demolished defensive installations and countless corpses being dragged away.
Yet, the defenders were also fighting with everything they had.
“Activate the turrets!”
Following the urgent order of the sector commander, the mages simultaneously activated a certain device.
It was a bizarre-looking contraption, appearing as though several mages' staffs had been pieced together.
Despite its crude appearance, this automatic turret was the product of combining mana-infused magic crystals with incantations. It could automatically track enemies and fire Flame Bullet spells, making it the latest weapon of war.
“With these turrets, our firepower is finally catching up.”
“The mage who invented this is named Gambino, right? He's performed a great service this time.”
Watching the turrets fire Flame Bullets, relentlessly bombarding the rushing ant colony, everyone present couldn't help but marvel.
This turret was precisely the achievement of a mage who had utilized the secret inheritances of various magic schools that had recently been made public.
【The servants have designated the enemies automatically casting magic as priority targets for elimination.】
Naturally, the ant colony also immediately detected the presence of the turrets, designating these devices—which could continuously cast spells as long as their magic crystals were replaced—as priority targets for attack.
“It's the Wailing Wings!”
The tiger hornet ants—few in number but serving as decisive weapons due to their immense magic resistance and strength—had deployed much earlier today than usual.
Accompanied by their characteristic buzzing, the flying hornet ants instantly raided the top of the high wall, destroying the spell-firing turrets one after another.
The second-ring spell, Flame Bullet, fired by the turrets, couldn't even scratch their exoskeletons.
“They're rushing up!”
With the hornet ants having destroyed the turrets, the ant colony, no longer suppressed by firepower, immediately climbed up the high wall.
The defenders poured water on the high wall and used freezing magic to make the surface slippery, but the ants linked together to form living ropes, pulling their kin up one by one, and ultimately scaled the wall anyway.
The bombardier ants that climbed onto the high wall exploded one after another, their venom instantly leaving gaps in the wall's defenses.
Closing in to attack range, using the bombardier ants' venom for carpet bombardment to instantly tear open a gap in the defense, and then deploying follow-up forces.
This was the siege tactic that the ant colony was still constantly refining and perfecting up to this very moment.
“No! If this keeps up, we're going to...!”
Watching the gladiator ants climb the high wall and cleave soldiers in half with their forelegs, Baron Belon, the sector commander and captain of the garrison, despairingly threw down his baton.
Even if they could hold the high wall this time, they would surely suffer heavy casualties.
Time was too tight; he had only managed to deploy the finest conscripted soldiers of adventurer origin here just a few days ago.
If these men were wiped out too, they might truly be unable to hold the high wall during the next ant attack.
“Commander! Reinforcements have arrived!”
“What?!”
But just then, heartening news came from behind.
“Drive those monsters down!”
“Charge without fear! Their venom is useless against us now!”
The arriving reinforcements were all clad in a special type of armor.
This armor was pieced and woven together by craftsmen in large workshops using the hardest parts recovered from the corpses of the ant colony, especially the mutated species.
This armor possessed an astonishing immunity to the ant colony's venom.
Furthermore, its compatibility with magic power was extremely high, allowing reinforcement magic to be applied more easily and with greater strength.
【The servants feel bewildered.】
The toxic venom capable of corroding steel was actually useless against this armor. What bewildered the ant colony even more was that they felt the aura of their own kin from the armor.
The ant colony had never expected humans to launch a counterattack against them in such a manner.
And because of this, the ant colony, which had been rampaging on the high wall and harvesting countless lives, was ultimately driven back down the wall.
【Elise has flown into a violent rage.】
But compared to the ordinary ants, Elise, who was the first to possess an independent self-awareness, felt not bewilderment, but absolute, unadulterated anger.
Every single one of these mutated species was a creation Elise had poured her heart into and crafted with her own hands.
Yet, humans had actually turned around and used her creations to fashion weapons that threatened her.
After the instinctive greed of devouring everything and monopolizing all growth, the second emotion Elise learned was this blazing anger.
In particular, as one of the only two individuals in the colony with independent self-awareness, Elise shared a direct bond with Lin Miao, making the speed at which she learned and adopted emotions incredibly fast.
“Fortunately, the new armor worked.”
The one leading the reinforcements in the new armor was none other than Celia.
“To think I would see this legendary figure with my own eyes, Special Commissioner Celia.”
Upon seeing her, Baron Belon instinctively became somewhat restrained.
Though she was only about the same age as his daughter, Celia was now the most sought-after figure in the kingdom's upper echelon.
Everyone knew that with the backing of Count Merlin, almost all the reforms to combat the ant colony were spearheaded by her.
Naturally, immense power had also accumulated in her hands.
The unique position of Special Commissioner was the best proof of this.
“We must expand the workshops and increase production capacity as soon as possible. Also, Gambino's magic turrets need further improvement to ensure they can withstand enemy attacks.”
“Yes, yes...”
Facing the baron's flattery, Celia didn't even bat an eye, simply inspecting the frontline battle conditions and issuing orders in rapid succession.
‘They say that whether she's awake or asleep, those monsters are all she thinks about.’
Even just watching from the side, the baron could clearly feel that Celia's entire focus was solely on the ant colony.
The automatic turrets born from the integration of secret inheritances of various schools, the significantly reinforced troop numbers, the brand-new armor forged from the ant colony's exoskeletons...
Indeed, that they could fight the ant colony to a standstill up to this point was largely due to Celia, who had insisted on waging an all-out war against the colony from the very beginning.
【Elise is curious as to who among the humans is causing her such rage.】
Before this, Elise had always regarded humans as a collective consciousness aggregate, not much different from herself.
But with her own growth, she gradually realized that within the human collective, there must also exist a core entity like herself that guided the growth and evolution of the entire community.
In particular, the changes taking place in the Kingdom of Karmi on this side of the high wall under the rule of the Church of the Goddess of Light were incredibly rapid and highly structured, even in Elise's eyes.
Even with the aid of deities, this speed of growth and flexibility far surpassed any human community they had encountered before.
This had already disrupted Elise's original plan of treating this high wall as a trap to steadily harvest prey.
Although she did not yet know whether this core entity was male or female, a single person or an organization, this core figure named Celia had already become the first recognized ‘arch-rival’ in the life of Elise, the Queen Ant.
“What is that!”
“In the sky! It's those monsters! The flying monsters the Goddess warned us about in her oracle!”
Elise would never back down.
To crush these humans, massive monsters in the sky spread their wings, revealing their silhouettes.
The Dragon Ants, which had flown toward the west immediately after their birth, finally appeared on the battlefield of the high wall as well.
“This is insane...”
Dropping venom-pot ants from altitudes unreachable by bows and magic, they bombarded the high wall, instantly reducing it to a shambles.
Even with the reinforcements clad in poison-resistant armor, it was utterly futile.
Bombs falling from the sky were simply not something that could be blocked with physical bodies.
Though few in number, they seized the opportunity while the defenders were paralyzed by the bombs' toxic gas to launch a raid alongside the tiger hornet ants.
These massive monsters landing on the ramparts easily grabbed mages and knights with their forelegs, dragging them into the sky.
“Use wind magic to alter the air currents and disrupt their wings... cough!”
Celia hurriedly issued orders for the mages to respond, but the battle situation had already deteriorated to the absolute worst.
After all, before she had arrived with the reinforcements, the defensive line here had already been on the verge of collapse.
Although it was a back-and-forth struggle, if this continued, the final outcome would only be an angry Elise successfully harvesting enough prey from the high wall, even if she had to suffer some casualties.
“Fortunately, we're not too late.”
“You are...!”
But just then, a pair of hands caught Celia as she was about to fall, and a figure stepped out from behind her.
It was a beauty with long pink hair and a gentle smile on her face.
Before Celia could say anything, the pink-haired girl, wielding a massive mace and clad in shining silver armor, charged forward and swung her weapon down fiercely.
Holy light erupted with a boom, instantly crushing the oncoming Dragon Ants and hornet ants, dissolving them into a blinding glare.
...
【Elise has withdrawn her army. However, compared to the original plan, the harvest is meager, and she remains in a state of rage.】
“It seems the other gods haven't been idle either. Could that mace be another divine artifact?”
Lin Miao watched the ant colony retreat from the high wall, letting out a helpless, bitter laugh.
Although the hunt was ultimately completed, the enemy's resistance had far exceeded expectations, and the final amount of prey was far less than projected—that was also a fact.
Especially those few individuals who suddenly appeared at the final moment; they had played a decisive role.
Just like the beastkin Ironclaw who had wielded the holy spear and instantly breached the migratory colony's defensive line earlier, each of them could unleash immense power, easily slaying powerful mutated species like the tiger hornet ants that had previously reigned like grim reapers.
【Elise believes that a new method must be found to counter this unreasonable power.】
Naturally, Elise yearned for even greater power.
The ant colony had long been accustomed to facing powerful enemies.
It was enough for them to simply keep growing and become stronger than their opponents.
‘What, is she asking for my help?’
And one of the core driving forces behind their growth was Lin Miao's assistance.
Therefore, it was not surprising at all that Elise would yearn for this easiest and most direct path.
“Of course.”
As if he had prepared for this long ago, Lin Miao took out something brand new.
What he brought out were no longer the test tubes he usually used, but several massive plastic containers, just large enough to hold the increasingly large materials he had prepared.
And the reason Lin Miao could be so composed now was entirely because of the reactions of the other gods he had glimpsed from the Divine Net forum.
[Goddess of Light: We blocked them, yes, but the price paid was simply too high. This is practically a bottomless pit.]
[God of Knowledge: Resources, power, weapons, technology—everything has been drained. It's simply not worth the cost!]
[God of War: Otherwise, did you think pioneering a new world would be so easy? Stop complaining over there.]
Seeing the complaints of Goddess Hestia in the community, Lin Miao knew full well that their situations were also far from composed.
Since the support of the gods was not infinite, opportunity would always exist.
After all, those who were desperately resisting behind the high wall right now would never have lasted this long without the support of the gods.
Rate on N.U.
