Chapter 81
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Invasion and Corrosion (10)
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"Pant... pant..."
Gasping for breath, she panted like a dog, all dignity forgotten. Even with body enhancement magic, her muscles were screaming.
But Reina couldn't stop walking.
After walking through the night, the landmark in the sky was gradually getting closer.
This was only possible because they were both heading toward each other.
'An army really has been assembled.'
Reaching the top of a hill, she saw people who looked like mere specks in the distance and collapsed to the ground.
Miraculously, she hadn't encountered any Legion soldiers. This was because Eve had mobilized all nearby Legion soldiers and was moving them elsewhere.
'Who on earth are they at war with?'
Thanks to that, still ignorant of the truth, she couldn't hide her confusion.
The assembled human army prepared for battle while continuously advancing, as if their destination was set.
"...This is!"
Just then, sensing something, she turned around, her face pale.
She was horrified to see a black mass swarming toward her, casting a shadow over the ground.
"Aaaah!"
Assaulted by flying species streaking across the sky, she had no choice but to cover her head and flatten herself against the ground.
However, these flying monsters paid no mind to a single human like her.
"Unbelievable."
A swarm of unimaginable monsters was flying toward the army.
Reina's face hardened in an instant. She knew exactly where those monsters came from.
"Roses...!"
Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself back up.
Her only thought was to deliver the truth as quickly as possible.
"L-look at that!"
As Reina hurried toward them.
Naturally, the main force had also spotted the attack of the flying species.
Giant winged beasts were streaking across the sky, heading straight for them.
"Don't panic! We've already received reports about flying ones!"
The commander-in-chief, a seasoned officer, reprimanded the panicked men.
"The magi-tech siege ballistae!"
Following his command, people moved busily.
Giant ballistae were mounted on the backs of earthen golems.
As the golems braced themselves by placing their hands on the ground, a complex magic circle appeared at the front of the specially crafted ballistae.
"Ready!"
"Fire!"
Massive arrows, closer to spears, were launched.
Passing through the magic circle, the spears received a magical propulsion boost, accelerating rapidly and tearing through the air.
"Excellent!"
The volley did more than just skewer the flying enemies; it shattered them to pieces with explosive shockwaves.
With that single strike, the ranks of the flying species, which seemed to number over five hundred, were nearly halved in an instant.
"Fire again!"
Now filled with confidence, they reloaded and fired another volley of arrows.
At that moment, as if on cue, the flying species nimbly scattered in mid-air, letting most of the arrows fly harmlessly past.
"What in the... It's like someone is controlling them..."
The officer in charge of firing and calculating for the ballistae muttered in disbelief.
Even to their eyes, the movements the flying species had just displayed were swift and precise.
"What does it matter? They're just beasts! Form a barrage, don't let them get close!"
At the commander-in-chief's order, the mages stepped forward.
They stood in formation, their bodies forming specific coordinates. Simultaneously, they manipulated their mana and chanted the same spell.
A large-scale spell cast jointly by the Formation Stathas Society and the Flame Blakele Society.
Dozens of fireballs, generated in succession, amplified in power as they were fired rapidly into the sky.
"Do you see? That is the end of those monsters."
The commander-in-chief grinned.
A barrage of fireballs rained down, leaving no physical room to dodge. One by one, the flying species were shot down and began to fall to the earth.
"Continue the advance!"
Having achieved a decisive victory in the first clash, the main force continued its march forward.
And when they finally reached the desired point.
The mages began to move fluidly once more.
"Magi-tech howitzers!"
"Ready! Fire!"
Having stopped dozens of kilometers away, the mages prepared their spells, aiming for the nest.
A multi-combination spell cast by teams of three mages.
The effect of this war magic, unknown to the Legion, was to fire a shell packed with energy to its limit in a high arc to its impact point.
It had a longer range than a self-propelled gun, was more agile, and had a faster rate of fire.
As such, all three casters required a high level of skill unimaginable for an ordinary artilleryman, but those present were more than proficient enough.
"It's nothing special, is it?"
The commander-in-chief muttered as he watched the shells streak through the air.
The shells were about to hit their target, the nest, precisely... but they didn't.
A dark red barrier manifested around the black Divine Tree, appearing exactly at the point of impact and blocking the bombardment.
"Commander-in-chief! They...!"
"Damn it, what in the world."
The fact that the ancient monsters, previously swept away even by mere golems, could block magic was quite a shock to them.
There was no information on the Legion's superior species that used Form Power, as they had never left a single witness alive.
"Keep firing! There must be a limit!"
Slightly flustered, the commander-in-chief ordered continuous fire as if in disbelief.
However, this decision was made without knowing the total amount of energy the Legion currently possessed, and within a few hours, the mages had to be replaced due to mana exhaustion.
"We will continue to advance."
In the end, the main force had no choice but to break formation and advance. If long-range bombardment didn't work, they would just get close and burn everything down.
Of course, this was exactly what Eve, the Legion's Hive Mind, had wanted and induced.
[But we have no troops right now. You even ordered the forces we sent outside to advance further inland. What on earth are you thinking?]
"So many fascinating spells. Their versatility and potential are truly limitless."
Eve, sitting on her throne, let out a smirk.
The enemy's main force was now burning down the outpost nests and approaching the very front of this place, the Corrosion Nest.
"There are still so many things I've only heard about. I want to see more, but I suppose they're not showing me because they think we're an easy target. Either that, or they're just weak."
Eve admitted she had taken a significant blow. The discipline of magic developed by the humans here was that complex, diverse, and held great potential.
"That just makes me more, and more, curious. I want it even more."
Leaping up from her throne, Eve mobilized the last of her waiting Legion soldiers.
The ones attacking the nest now weren't even a regular army. They were merely reserves, a kind of local defense force assembled in just two days. In other words, this wasn't the humans' full strength.
And yet, they had pushed her this far. Eve once again etched into her mind the need to evolve even further.
For a monster that sought to devour the entire world, struggling against those who wouldn't even amount to a single meal was unacceptable.
"Shall we show our teachers, who are teaching us magic, the fruits of our labor?"
In that instant, the entire area trembled.
Even while pouring most of her energy into indiscriminate expansion, Eve had kept a little in reserve.
With that reserve, she had created a new type of soldier.
A super-large species, surpassing the large ones. An individual possessing brute strength and defense, capable of withstanding enemy magic attacks with sheer mass alone.
It was still in the experimental stage, but it was a force that could be put to good use.
[The largest beast encountered in the labyrinth, the Cave Ox, which had been driven to extinction by the Ruin Fungus, was augmented with the armor of a Cave Scorpion and the Legion's compressed muscles, then enlarged. A new soldier created for the sole purpose of charging, trampling, and piercing through the enemy.]
Shaking the ground, the dormant soldiers crushed the great trees of the forest as they awoke and charged forward.
Their size was beyond that of any normal creature, rivaling a large house. Bodies ten meters tall at the shoulder and weighing thousands of tons moved at impossible speeds, swinging hard heads adorned with broad, sharp, spear-like protrusions resembling a hammerhead shark.
There were a dozen such monsters in total.
Alongside them ran hundreds of medium-sized, quadruped-based Legion soldiers in packs, ready to slaughter the enemy once their formation was broken.
[They are resisting. Magic and powerful spears have begun to fly. The attacks are barely a scratch, but if they accumulate, the outer carapace could be damaged, and if the flesh underneath is exposed, a single blow could be fatal.]
"Let's give them a gift."
Eve wouldn't let all those attacks rain down unimpeded on her precious super-large species.
A superior Legion soldier, perched atop one of the super-large species, opened its dorsal carapace, spread its wings, and took flight.
Flying into the center of the wedge formation, the superior species used its power core to draw a circuit.
The axis of this circuit was the power cores of the charging super-large species, which served as their hearts.
"Although a power core of this size can barely sustain such a massive body, let alone use Form Power, combining species in this way allows for efficient synergy."
A grin spread across Eve's face, her eyes clearly seeing the looks of horror on the humans' faces.
The young mage from the Stathas Society she had devoured days ago. He had held out stubbornly, but after torture so severe it felt like his brain was melting, he finally confessed every secret of the Society.
Now, the results were showing. The superior species and the super-large Legion soldiers were perfectly replicating the formation shown by the knights and mages.