Chapter 138
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: Fusion Entity (3)
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'Who would've thought there's even an ostrich farm in Korea.'
While the ants waged an endless war in Edellion, devouring not just magic and swordsmanship but even more diverse and advanced civilizations.
Jin-hyuk steadily opened the breeding grounds, steadily inputting all sorts of things he'd procured from the outside world.
Among them, the biggest haul was the magic stones he'd siphoned off through Hunter Company Hankyeol.
To the ants, these massive magic stones—which they could process without any special mining skills—were shattered into fragments to equip the hearts of higher-tier specimens like the Tyrants and Ascalons with mana cores.
And next came the genetic data from all sorts of creatures.
If he could get his hands on them alive, he'd toss them in whole. If not, chunks of flesh or blood would do as substitutes.
Led by As Mora, the ants ceaselessly refined and modified themselves with Jin-hyuk's help.
Combining special abilities from various creatures, then maximizing or altering them using acquired civilizations and knowledge like magic or full-body arts—this uniquely ant-like bioengineering was something only they possessed in this universe.
"Impossible... Luen is falling...!"
The power they built and evolved in their own ant way was now poised to stab right into the heart of the vast Elf Empire.
Following the aerial assault from the flying types, ground forces that had infiltrated the Great Forest depths surged from all directions, attacking the elves.
The lush, treacherous Great Forest had been a natural fortress shielding the elves all this time.
Any outside force wanting to wage war here needed immense resolve to even enter—but for most ants, the dense woods posed no issue.
Though the mutants' bulkier frames and tougher bodies made agile maneuvers a bit harder, they still retained their ability to breach rough terrain.
The rougher the terrain, the stronger the ants fought.
"When the hell are reinforcements arriving? You just watched those hordes of monsters pass through the Great Forest!?"
"R-Reinforcements have arrived, but they're struggling to enter the Great Forest depths right now."
In contrast, the reinforcements—mostly composed of subjugated battalions under elven command—faced heavy interference from the Great Forest in battle.
Especially troops from distant lands unfamiliar with forest terrain struggled to maintain formation and couldn't properly fight the ants amid the obstacle-filled woods.
"Wh-What the hell is this thing?"
A brave orc warrior from the vanguard battalion encountered a mutant with a bizarre appearance.
Its flat body, armored in rigid plating up to the head, resembled a trapjaw spider—but the real threat hid inside, half-raised from its waist.
"Gahk..."
The organ resembling massive snapping claws hidden within the carapace exploded, firing stored Kyre and compressed air at tremendous pressure.
The blast shredded the sturdy orc warrior's armored body like a balloon.
These Snapper Ants, synthesized from mantis shrimp and trapjaw traits, boasted both defense and offense. They held key positions, slaughtering reinforcement battalions one after another.
"Is... Is this hell...?"
Mull, the human knight commanding the battalion, dazedly scanned the screams and explosions ringing from all sides as he rallied his men.
The ants blocked the Great Forest passes while attacking elves, then exploited the terrain in reverse to annihilate incoming reinforcements.
The ground collapsed, revealing Ghost Ants in ambush that chomped soldiers in pit traps with massive jaws. Centipede Ants—big enough to call earth dragons—emerged, spraying venom and piercing with razor fangs.
Moth Ants flapped huge wings, dispersing flesh-melting venom powder that turned the air thick purple. Victims piled up, dead without even screaming.
A massive killing jar where lives meant nothing.
The ants invading the Great Forest—once called the cradle of life since ancient times—turned it into a hell of mortal making.
"..."
Sar'el ground her teeth atop the World Tree, witnessing the carnage.
Above all, the Empire's holy site and elven homeland was being brutally ravaged by monsters.
This vast forest offered no escape. Fail to defend it, and they'd die and burn in place.
"This was all your choice."
"Arie, look at this. See what happens when those demons overrun the world!"
Arie flew up to Sar'el, who ripped off her mask in fury and pointed at the violated Great Forest.
Already dying from the ants' acidic venom mists and fluids.
"Tragic. But the world you wanted to overrun wouldn't be any different. You'd have turned even vaster lands than Belzahad into this."
Arie didn't flinch. She'd long grown sick of their hypocrisy and lies.
"You're really going to destroy the World Tree...? Our race's origin and root!?"
"To drive out the wicked Deity within, there's no choice. Sar'el, you so-called New Elves—self-proclaimed new elves—are the ones who forced this end and new beginning from the start."
Carve out the World Tree. To expel the 'Deity' that took interest in this world, such a price was inevitable.
Knowing the truth, Arie was prepared to go down as the worst traitor in elven history.
[As Mora has realized the identity of the special power and shows interest]
"Whoa, isn't this way too broken?"
The enraged World Tree's movements startled even As Mora and Jin-hyuk.
Jin-hyuk especially stuck out his tongue at the World Tree wildly thrashing and spewing mana.
Its sheer mana waves alone sent airborne flying types plummeting en masse. Arie was blasted far away, crashing to the ground—even sturdy Arie-types staggered in agony.
"What is this... Aaaagh!!"
"Th-The ground's gone mad! Run, quick!"
Countless roots erupted from the earth, wrapping elves and alike, draining their life force in an instant to wither them into mummies.
Already overwhelmed by ants, they panicked at comrades turning to husks, abandoning the fight to flee.
The World Tree marshaled all that stolen power, instantly transforming Great Forest trees into massive treants to battle the ants. These forest spirit incarnates felt no pain or fear, berserking and pummeling ants.
It had chosen this suboptimal tactic because it couldn't absorb the impure Kyre—the ants' hybridized, absorbed energies—as defiling.
"Protecting this land from invaders and upholding order... That's our duty..."
"Stop it now. You're slaughtering your own kin again!"
Arie yelled in horror at Sar'el—her face protruding crudely from bark-like skin on the massive trunk.
Not even she, an elf, knew the World Tree could do this.
Without the Deity's power—which intimately knew elves and World Trees—it would have been impossible. Arie bore no blame.
"Me, them. We're just fulfilling elven duty. You know it too, Arie. We exist for this. We're mere fertilizer in the end. For this eternal world."
"Shut up."
"You know. That's why you're terrified—abandoning even your bloodline to join those monsters. But remember, Arie. You can never escape [us]."
Sar'el's words shook Arie's eyes.
Witnessing the World Tree's true power firsthand planted unconscious doubt: maybe it really was true.
"Pathetic."
"...What!?"
But As Mora—watching it all—scoffed in genuine contempt. Sar'el's eyes widened, fused as she was with the World Tree.
"G-Guhk?! H-How is this...?"
Her transcendent calm shattered into panicked groans.
The World Tree's rampage slowed simultaneously.
"Ah."
Arie realized in that instant.
Through linked hive mind, something burrowing underground was gnawing the World Tree's roots and trunk ferociously.
[Uwaaaaaah!!!]
The World Tree shrieked in agony through Sar'el's mouth.
Its trunk exploded, revealing wriggling white somethings peering out.
A colossal White Ant, shredding the tree's innards with razor mandibles bigger than skyscrapers.
[How dare you commit such horror!!!]
The furious World Tree surged power, crushing the invading White Ants by rapidly regenerating tissue.
"Better give up. The Queen already prepared how to hunt you."
Arie gazed pityingly at the resisting Sar'el and World Tree.
Behind her, hundreds of massive cicadas swarmed with deafening wingbeats.
Each rivaled a huge wagon in size.
Ant Cicadas—with massive proboscises on ant faces—latched onto the World Tree everywhere, stabbing and slurping sap voraciously.
"...!!"
Sar'el gawked, speechless.
Not ordinary sap. They extracted and absorbed the colossal mana within the World Tree.
Bellies bloated, the Ant Cicadas detached, regurgitating to Worker Ants before stabbing anew, stomachs emptied, to exploit further.
With cicadas swarming ceaselessly, the World Tree's blue leaves withered from edges, branches snapping off.
Treants lost sustaining power and collapsed; the World Tree's influence over the entire Great Forest vanished.
Trembling, Sar'el stammered in horror.
"No way..."
"Right. Every last drop of your remaining power—no telling how long it'll take."
Arie retrieved a red fruit from the World Tree's peak before it withered.
Bigger than her head.
It held the World Tree's seed.
"A true new World Tree—not some fusion monster like you—will grow peacefully elsewhere."
"Arie...!!!!"
As she descended slowly to the ground, the World Tree-Sar'el—last servant of the Deity—screamed amid endless agony of draining fluids and gnawed innards.