Chapter 103
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: Forest Empire (1)
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“I heard the human mages got completely wiped out, but those humans have truly lost their minds.”
The news that the empire had fallen to the ants spread remarkably fast.
In particular, subordinates under the rule of deities could report such facts directly to their own deities.
However, there was one peculiar point about the empire's downfall.
To be precise, it wasn't that the entire empire had collapsed or that tens of millions had been massacred by the ants. Only those who followed the deity Astregon had been precisely expelled.
In fact, most of the empire's citizens were bewildered by the ants' disregard for them.
The ants showed no sign of seizing land, devouring livestock, or rampaging indiscriminately. Having won the war, they simply left the people untouched.
In truth, Emperor Karian, who had negotiated with Seira, claimed this as his own achievement. He warned that the ants, having driven out those corrupted into subordinates of an evil deity, would no longer harm people—and that his subjects should not provoke them first.
“That young emperor brat has gone completely insane too. Selling his country to monsters and offering people as sacrifices. Utterly wicked.”
“That evil emperor will surely keep feeding his people to those monsters steadily from now on. Looks like we'll have to save the humans of the Lucadia Empire ourselves.”
It was obvious how such a sight would appear to surrounding forces, especially the subordinates serving deities.
The elves to the south recoiled at the news, denounced Karian, and mocked the remaining people of the Lucadia Empire.
“According to reports, those monsters have pacified the empire's interior, demolished the barriers, and are now advancing southward in large numbers. They're coming for us.”
“How insolent!”
At the same time, the elves had already heard about the ants' overt movements.
Guardian Belpein, watching his enraged kin seated in the conference hall, faintly lifted the corner of his mouth.
“It was bound to happen anyway. In the end, whether it's those monsters or the human empire... our great empire must trample them all someday to blanket this world.”
He rose from his seat and gazed at the scenery outside.
The empire's southern regions, which the ants had ravaged, had already been largely restored.
It was the fruit of their labor: using ant corpses and various fertilizers, mobilizing vast numbers of slaves to purify and cultivate the land.
'The spirits have awakened our true power. We will surely triumph.'
He recalled an event from not too long ago in his over 300 years of life.
The day he and his comrades assassinated the elders spouting outdated rhetoric and proclaimed the true power and role of the elves.
Unifying the Great Forest and extending influence around it, their victories had ignited that conviction into blazing certainty.
“Guardian, the enemies are approaching this place in great numbers right now.”
“We've been waiting for this moment. Give them a proper welcome, then push straight up. We'll make the entire human empire ours!”
Upon hearing the ants were approaching, he issued orders and personally grabbed his bow.
Not a traditional bow made from sacred divine wood, but one etched with complex mechanical gears, cogwheels, and spell inscriptions.
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'They're planning a scouting battle after all. Honestly, the infiltration swarm hasn't had proper forces to fight until now.'
Asmora had sent the bulk of the forces that survived battling Astregon's subordinates southward.
As Jin-hyuk had guessed, the intent was heavily focused on reconnaissance.
Though they had gathered some information, the infiltration swarm—lacking mana heart distribution and unable to amplify biomass through fusion variant eggs—had only avoided direct clashes with the elves until now.
To test a full-scale battle including heavy armored ants and tyrants among large specimens, the ants surged across the empire's central regions toward the south in unison.
“W-Wow...”
“His Majesty's words were true. They're really just leaving us alone!”
Thanks to this, the empire's central residents, who had flocked there, were awestruck by the ants' march.
Central folk unfamiliar with ants mostly reacted with wonder and admiration, while refugees from the south and north were gripped by extreme fear or rage at the sight of the ants that had attacked and killed their own.
“Those demons only punish followers of the evil god? Then what about my mother? She spent her whole life farming!”
“His Majesty is still young and can't discern right from wrong. Those monsters...”
Of course, not everyone accepted this phenomenon.
Though they couldn't show it openly—since any resistance or hostility meant death at the ants' hands—plenty harbored resentment toward the ants, and by extension, toward Karian for surrendering land to them.
'Can't be helped. That's for the remaining rulers to handle. He wanted to play emperor so badly; a bit harsh, but we have to test his capabilities.'
Jin-hyuk confirmed the public sentiment and gave a wry smile.
As Seira had warned Karian, the countless follow-up issues would ultimately fall to those left behind.
Still, with ant nests near imperial territory and ants freely traversing imperial lands, the odds of reckless fools emerging were low.
Humans might be swayed by sly tongues or bribes, but not ants.
It was impossible for something like what happened—Schuber and Astregon failing to control Karian, leading to Arcadia Zero's fall and their expulsion from the empire—to occur within the ant swarm.
[Asmora discovers the advancing enemy forces and issues an attack order]
In the meantime, the proper scouting battle began.
The elves who had advanced to the southern tip clashed with the ants' main force descending to reclaim the south.
“Magitech...”
Jin-hyuk let out a small gasp of admiration at the sight of countless cannons firing scorching shells over vast distances and mechanized wooden giants rivaling combat golems in size.
Each deity had their signature weapons and systems at the forefront.
If Astregon of the Lucadia Empire developed his subordinates based on advanced magitech civilization and rigorously calculated systems, then the elves' deity touted this new technology.
“The elves' magic differs somewhat from what we know. Their power, blending magic, spirit arts, and mechanical engineering, remains largely uncharted territory.”
Seira recognized the elves' power and explained it to Asmora.
Asmora had already conquered Arcadia Zero and absorbed most of the empire's accumulated technology and magic into her memory.
She coveted even this elven technology, similar yet distinctly different in texture.
And this current scouting battle doubled as an evaluation to gauge the true value of their tech.
“They're closing in. Activate the cutting grid!”
As the ants—having pierced the barrage as if it were nothing more than what they'd faced at the barriers—reached them, the elves activated pre-installed devices.
Light burst simultaneously from pipes embedded in the ground, instantly erecting rippling barriers in layered grid patterns to block the ants.
[Asmora judges it as familiar]
Erecting barriers was all too familiar now—an act the ants themselves could perform easily.
Asmora assessed the elven barriers as not particularly strong and decided to shatter them with hornet ant venom needle barrages.
“Blocked...!”
But the venom barrages that had blasted through human mages' large-scale barriers with mana stone coatings failed to pierce the elven ones.
Even when heavy armored ants rammed through layers with their massive bulk and horns, more barriers lay behind.
The shields cracked and shook but held firm.
“Big, numerous, and decently strong, but is that all? Drive them back!”
Belpein smirked at the ants failing to breach the cutting grid despite enduring their own artillery fire.
Sensing victory, Belpein activated the second function embedded in the cutting grid—one infused with the essence of magitech.
[Asmora panics]
The heavy armored ant-tyrants clinging to shatter the barriers exploded in unison from erupting shockwaves, spraying bodily fluids and debris from their massive frames.
These were troops who had barely suffered under enemy fire thanks to the barriers—but the cutting grid concealed a function to store absorbed energy and unleash it all at once against foes.
“Hah, take that, you vermin.”
Seeing the hulking heavy armored ants shatter under the shockwaves, Belpein charged his forces.
Combat-modified wooden giants and heterorace battle slaves fused with embedded mana stones or mechanical devices led the assault against the ants.
These surgically altered soldiers traded vitality and bodily durability for greater power than usual.
Not outmatched even by variant ants, they became berserker warriors who held their own in the melee under the poison overseers' roars.
'Strong. They had time, and above all, their deity hid information well. At this point, only the elites remain, huh.'
Jin-hyuk hardened his expression at the elves' revealed might as the ants retreated.
More than anything, the elven deity's rare appearances in the community irked him.
With the deity clearly possessing an extremely cautious and prudent nature, exploiting gaps seemed nearly impossible.
“Using the southern empire as a battlefield and striking the elven empire's coastal territories along the shoreline—like we shook the empire before—might work well.”
“Not a bad choice. For now, we still hold the numerical advantage.”
He murmured softly in response to Seira.
The ants still had strengths.
Having made the Lucadia Empire their front yard, the ants were producing more mana heart synthesis bugs and biomass amplification fusion variant eggs, previously confined beyond the barriers.
Every time Jin-hyuk supplied mana stones, the ants processed them into tyrants or used the high-concentration biomass to mass-produce several times more troops, bolstering their forces.
'How much do they know about the ants? And how will they counter?'
His screen already swarmed with countless ants.
The scouting battle with mere tens of thousands was brushed off nonchalantly; now, hundreds of thousands mobilized, gearing up for a true 'war.'
And ants never repeated the same mistake.
Knowing the enemies had cast grid magic via ground pipes, they prepared numerous tunneling ants. Per Seira's advice, having tasted success before, Leviathans loaded vast troops along the coast and submerged to bypass waterways.
Enemy actions uncovered in scouting were never ignored—thoroughly countered.
In truth, plenty had fought and won against ants once or twice.
But those who survived to mutual annihilation until the end were always the ants.