Chapter 133
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: Worthless Task (3)
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"E-everyone, fall back!"
The moment the two forces collided in midair, some of them plummeted to the ground amid a ferocious impact.
The terrified soldiers of the Elf Empire retreated. They instinctively realized this was a fight they had no business interrupting.
"Stay back."
The ants did the same.
At Seira's command, the ants immediately pulled back, careful not to interfere with the one-on-one duel between the two leaders.
Instead, battles between the ants and the Elf Empire forces raged chaotically in the skies and on the ground around them.
In the skies above Elder Spire, now a battlefield, flying units darted erratically to evade the Wing Guard and anti-air barrages, while on the surface, landed troops clashed with charging defenders.
"Hold them off! Kill every last one!"
Belpein was throwing every pre-prepared unit into the fray without mercy.
From the start, the ants' best counter to Elder Spire's deployment had been to send interceptors, so it would have been stranger if they hadn't prepared.
Thus, Seira and the ants with her didn't have much time.
They had to destroy Elder Spire as quickly as possible amid the endless waves of enemies and then retreat.
"Not so fast!"
Seira's biggest obstacle was Arie.
After crashing to the ground together, Arie—who had been moving at blinding speed—grimaced and swung her sword, now gleaming with golden light, slicing Seira's incoming spell in half with a single stroke. Seira's eyes widened.
'Orc Great Warrior Chief... similar to Scrumm.'
The experience shared through the hive mind rang alarm bells.
The elf holy knight charging at her now possessed power on par with the orc hero Scrumm, who had defeated Bellona and triggered her awakening.
Of course, Arie hadn't been a master like Scrumm from the beginning.
This power was merely the cruel price of a torturous modification technique that burned her very life force as fuel, turning her into a disposable tool.
"So the rumors were true...!"
Arie widened her eyes upon seeing part of Seira's mask crack and shatter from the shockwave of her swing, even through the barrier.
Seira let out a sigh and tossed aside her broken mask.
"What on earth have those demons given you that you'd sell your body and soul for it?"
Arie couldn't help but ask.
She herself had been betrayed by those she trusted, forcibly modified, and thrown into the battlefield.
Seira, on the other hand, had willingly become part of the monsters, which Arie simply couldn't comprehend.
"Sell my body and soul of my own accord?"
But Seira bristled at the words.
Now, she trusted the deity Jin-hyuk and had assimilated with the ants to achieve her goals—that was all.
Seira could never forget what Asmora, who had hated her at first, had done to her body out of fear when she joined the hive.
"In the end, the war engulfing this land was inevitable, and that inevitability will have no true end. The inhabitants of this land will never be free. That is, if you elves win."
Seira pointed coldly at Arie, summoning a massive magic circle behind her back at the same time.
Arie gasped at the scale of the casting magic.
The sheer power being consumed was beyond what any single individual could unleash.
It was grand magic that required multiple mages pooling their strength and computational power to complete.
Normally, such grand spells had slow casting times and countless ways to counter them, but Seira was activating it alone, eliminating most weaknesses.
It was magic on a level only possible for Seira, who had an additional mana heart and could borrow the hive mind's computational power.
"Evade now!"
The startled Arie warned her allies.
And almost simultaneously, a massive wave of circular flames erupted from Seira, sweeping the area.
Arie barely endured the heat by drawing golden mana from her body at full power, but those nearby couldn't withstand it.
'Protect Elder Spire.'
At that moment, a compulsory command activated in Arie's body.
It ordered her to protect Elder Spire by any means necessary.
"Urgh... Aaaah!!"
Arie forcibly dropped her defense and redirected that power to shield Elder Spire.
Thanks to her, Elder Spire—now enveloped in her power—barely survived the flames' heat, but with her own defenses weakened, Arie screamed in agony as her body burned.
"You're the one who's sold your body and soul."
Seira pierced through the flames and appeared before Arie.
Untouched by her own magic, Seira looked at Arie writhing in hellfire with pity in her eyes.
"No..."
Arie's burned skin rapidly regenerated around the embedded incantation formula as she muttered weakly. Holy knights didn't even have the freedom to die. They fought on, repeating recovery and injury until their strength ran out.
"I... don't want to fight."
"You..."
Seira's eyes widened at Arie's staggering words.
But Seira couldn't stay any longer.
She herself had expended too much power on that overwhelming spell and couldn't sustain the fight.
Recovering strength in the heart of enemy territory was impossible, so she spread her wings and flew into the sky, leaving the scene.
In the end, of the forces that had penetrated to destroy Elder Spire, only a tiny fraction—including Seira—returned alive.
And Arie's sacrificial defense had foiled the goal of destroying Elder Spire.
[Asmora expresses dissatisfaction with the operation's failure]
"...I'm sorry."
Though she had survived, Seira couldn't escape responsibility.
In the end, Elder Spire continued spewing fire, and the nests controlled by the encroaching hive began crumbling one by one.
Asmora knew Jin-hyuk was watching and wasn't outright threatening her, but Seira still felt deep self-reproach.
'The longer the war drags on, the more lives are lost. Even now, so many are falling under the deities' sway.'
Arie's voice saying she didn't want to fight still echoed in Seira's ears.
In truth, Seira didn't want to fight either. But she had already realized one thing.
If you don't fight when you must, you lose something even greater.
"It's true that we don't have a reliable unit in the hive to counter an elf holy knight right now, so we need a strategy for that."
"Got one?"
That's why Seira spoke up.
To persuade Asmora and, more importantly, convey her intentions to Jin-hyuk, who was surely watching them now.
Unlike the nomadic hive where Queen Bellona could step in directly, the grand hive's strongest forces—aside from Seira—were the Askalon-class soldiers.
Just as Elder Spire had the greatest firepower but was helpless against close-range foes, the variant ants couldn't win with mere brute size and heavy infantry.
The problem was that Asmora's current abilities couldn't produce a unit strong enough to match an elf holy knight on the spot.
In the end, it was a matter of insufficient technology—and that was only natural.
After all, their opponent was a deity whose age was unknown, while Asmora and the ants had only just taken their first steps.
"It's not impossible if we incorporate people like me into the hive."
Seira cautiously asserted her idea there.
The basis was herself.
Asmora couldn't outright dismiss it, given Seira's devoted contributions to the hive so far.
"And I've found someone who shows that potential."
Seira explained what she had seen of Arie.
Though Asmora shared everything Seira saw and heard through the hive mind, Seira's explanation included human perspectives that Asmora hadn't detected.
"Not bad. A clever move."
Asmora took time to grasp Seira's words, but Jin-hyuk understood immediately.
To him, Arie clearly stood out from the other holy knights.
Unlike those who proudly boasted of becoming expendable tools, Arie always carried conflict and hesitation in her demeanor and eyes.
Moreover, incorporating Arie into the hive would yield more than just a powerful unit.
It would grant access to the enemies' new technologies embedded in her body.
Asmora reacted to that. Her legs twitched like antennae as she rapidly calculated.
'I want it.'
The elves' Man Ki Gong was a new civilization born from fusing mana, machinery, spirits, and more.
It was natural for Queen Asmora to covet powers and realms beyond the magic she knew.
What if the ants gained weaponry rivaling Elder Spire's firepower?
"Heh..."
Asmora naturally let out a pleased chuckle at the mere thought and made her decision.
They would kidnap Arie into the hive as Seira suggested. If she resisted, they would force her submission and use her as material to extract the enemies' technology.
"They're destroying our nests while praising their god. We'll devise a plan to approach and capture her, even if it means sacrificing nests as offerings."
Seira made the bold judgment.
While the elves were riding high on victory, they would go after just Arie.
She hated losing wars horribly, but for a greater purpose, Asmora was bold about sacrificing what was necessary—just as she had schemed to capture Seira.
Seira was essentially declaring she would do the same to Arie.
"Destroy them all."
"Burn every last one! Leave none alive!"
Belpein excitedly urged the destruction of every ant nest in sight.
Elder Spire fired relentlessly, and nests that had lost defenses—along with the infested cities and villages—collapsed entirely.
The troops, especially those from the Vanest Kingdom who called this home, were deeply dissatisfied, but they couldn't deny the need to eradicate the ants and kept fighting.
Meanwhile, the ants resisted the advancing enemies while steadily retreating.
They hid in pre-dug deep tunnels, entering dormancy to conceal themselves, or fell back all the way to the sea to minimize losses and lure the foes deeper.
"..."
Arie stood guard beside Elder Spire, staring blankly at the scene.
'This fight with those monsters isn't the end.'
Though everyone around her was surging with momentum, she couldn't revel in the victory.
The war wouldn't end here, and she would be mobilized again, forced to fight.
When they had forcibly injected her bones and body with the world tree's sap, amid the agony that shattered her consciousness, she had faintly glimpsed something.
What dwelled in the world tree was undoubtedly a deity's power. Through it, a fragment of that stature now resided in her body.
Having tasted that immense will's fragment, Arie intuited that it gazed toward something far beyond.
"The witch has appeared! With a small force, in our rear supply zone!"
"You want me to stop her?"
"The Guardian commands it."
An elf knight rushed to Arie, relaying Belpein's orders.
Seira had begun raiding a rear supply base with a small unit, so Arie—who could face her alone—was to intercept.
With the ants abandoning defense, there was no further need to shatter lines with Elder Spire anyway.
"Hoo."
She sighed and spread her wings, taking flight.
And that sight was observed by scouts positioned at a distance beforehand and shared through the hive mind.
'She's coming.'
Seira confirmed it and checked her pre-set traps.
This time, the roles were reversed. Arie was flying alone into the ants' prepared trap—straight into enemy territory.