Chapter 149
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Types of the Heart (2)
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What the hell is happening to my body?
Berggren could only feel bewildered and terrified by the events unfolding beyond his control.
His body had undergone a process of dismantling and reconstructing his ruined flesh—something entirely different from what Seira and Arie had experienced. It could no longer be called human.
"This is...!"
When he finally opened his eyes, he realized he was trapped inside something enormous.
A massive lump of flesh, with countless neural networks extending from it.
The grotesque sight instinctively triggered his fear, nearly causing him to black out from dizziness. But needles burrowing into him from all directions fused his old body completely with the new one, as if refusing to let him escape.
"...!"
Finally, reborn in a way that wouldn't sound strange at all, he opened his eyes in his true body.
He saw the world through new eyes and felt his form through novel sensory organs.
The precisely connected nerves made it feel as if this had always been his body since birth, allowing him to move it with utter naturalness.
A massive hand, like one clad in heavy plate armor, tore through the cocoon that had cradled him.
He raised his hefty body, dripping with viscous fluid, planted a gigantic foot on the ground with a resounding thud, straightened his waist, and sensed his eye level now far higher than before.
'The Queen...!'
Through eyes still clouded in confusion, he spotted Bellona standing on the ground, looking up at him. Bellona, who had once been similar in size to him, now appeared much smaller.
Berggren finally examined his body fully.
Countless cells clustered around his core form had divided, fueled by vast nutrients and resources. The result was a giant in medium armor, several meters tall and immensely heavy.
Berggren's multiple red eyes gleamed from within his headplate, and he understood his role.
From a knight guarding his homeland and kin, he had become a knight protecting the ants.
"Are you satisfied with this?"
At his will, part of his thick exoskeleton released, revealing his true face to the world.
It wasn't from the headplate on his shoulders.
The exoskeleton on his chest split open with a crack, unveiling the face of his human self from long ago.
Only his head, spine, and part of his upper body remained of his original form, now fully integrated into the new body via countless neural bundles and blood vessels.
"A new body, and with it, greater strength."
Bellona gazed at his transformed state with satisfaction, as if questioning what the problem could be.
This differed slightly from Asmora, who viewed Seira and Arie merely as useful tools or subordinates, harboring feelings solely for Jin-hyuk.
He existed purely from Bellona's desire, born by her hand—the new legion commander she had envisioned.
"Haa..."
Sensing Bellona's intense affection for him through the hive mind, he let out a deep sigh.
Unlike Bellona, who saw it as purely cool and magnificent, by his standards, he had become an unspeakably horrific monster.
But he too had paid a price and obtained what he desired. It was a path he'd already resolved himself to, irreversible anyway.
Above all, having faintly felt Jin-hyuk's will within the hive consciousness, he found it nearly impossible to refuse.
"Our allies' evolutionary potential is limitless. If it's a combat body, the Queen might craft you a new one in the future."
"Is that so? I'm not holding my breath."
"I am certain."
Seira, who could now see him as a new comrade, intervened out of concern that his mind might collapse, offering reassurance.
Fortunately, contrary to Seira's fears, Berggren remained remarkably composed.
At her mention of his new body, he gave a wry smile toward Bellona.
A queen with a temperament utterly unlike her sister Asmora.
Her aesthetic sense treated beauty without restriction to lovely women alone, unlike Asmora.
"I don't really know anymore. A fate already twisted once— this time, it'll probably just flow as it will."
Berggren retracted his face into the exoskeleton and moved his massive frame.
Dropping to one knee, he extended a hand toward Bellona.
Bellona, donning her helmet once more, naturally settled onto one of her precious toy's arms, perching there.
With Bellona aboard, he stepped out of the nest.
He turned his back on the refugees who had once sought to protect, now safely evacuated—facing the swarming ants everywhere, the fierce wingbeats, and the flying swarms blotting out the sky.
Instead, he looked elsewhere.
To the north. A faint glimpse of part of the Great Mountain Range.
Seira and Arie flew to their side and landed, folding their wings.
The full forces, scattered to sweep the Orc Kingdom, now converged once more on a single goal.
Asmora watched it all from her seat in the breeding ground, while Jin-hyuk observed his subordinates through the screens.
'Just one left now?'
Jin-hyuk, now commanding millions moving as one, vast lands, and perhaps even more—a colossal force—confirmed the last remaining enemy deity's power on this continent.
Through eliminations and voluntary withdrawals in the competition,
the moment to determine the true master of the world had arrived.
"Check the status of the main engine. Even if every design functions perfectly, if the engine fails, it's over!"
"Hurry and inspect the conduits. We're almost out of time!"
The moment the Orc Kingdom crumbled without much resistance.
Even then, the Dwarf Federation forces, united around the dwarves of the Great Mountain Range, focused on one thing alone.
For that, nearly everyone had been mobilized for labor.
Those with skills were assigned where needed and worked relentlessly, while the unskilled lent their strength until exhaustion claimed them.
"We can do this. We can turn it all around."
In the midst of that chaotic frenzy, Dwarf King Dungram gazed at the massive mechanical device being built in the deepest sanctuary of the mountains—their holy site.
Even accounting for their dwarven pride, its roaring size, belching mana and steam, was staggeringly immense.
They had demolished their proud royal palace, ancient capital, and sacred ruins alike to rebuild it into this.
The Dimensional Gate, Arkno r.
Their deity had set everything else aside, imparting only what was needed to open it and urging them frantically to hurry.
"Your Majesty... We've confirmed the Orc Kingdom's fall. Refugees just arrived reporting the Orc King's death."
"I know. The Earth God has already informed us that the deity they served abandoned them."
Dungram nodded at his subordinate's urgent report.
"Abandoning their subordinates at the last moment... Utterly irresponsible."
"Unthinkable."
Unaware of the details, the dwarves sighed, imagining the forsaken orcs brutally devoured by ants.
With the final bulwark gone, they now faced direct confrontation with the ants.
'If we hold out and defend this place until the very end.'
Dungram stomped impatiently, eyeing the Dimensional Gate Arkno r he desperately wanted activated sooner.
"Hurry it up! The later we go, the worse the outpost we'll get!"
"Don't push too hard. The remaining spots are all much the same. Wasting energy now could spell bigger trouble."
Evacuations weren't limited to the Orc Kingdom.
Forces under the Dwarf Federation had begun a mass exodus toward the Great Mountain Range, now fortifying its defenses.
A knight from his home duchy, watching his people, pleaded urgently, but his dwarven warrior superior, Torban, let out a hollow chuckle.
"Heh, never thought I'd live to see humans venturing deep into the Great Mountain Range."
Torban marveled at the endless evacuation lines under soldiers' watch.
Regardless of status, all who lived at the mountain's base were relocating to bases and fortresses within.
Origin, rank, even race—none were excluded.
Considering the dwarves' centuries of strict control over outsiders, it was astonishing.
Of course, it wasn't every dwarf's view.
The Earth God they served accepted not just dwarves, but surrounding human forces—and even surrendered orcs—as subordinates.
Worshipping the same deity made them allies. The dwarves had no choice but to abandon their former isolationism.
"The Great Mountain Range has been a natural fortress since ancient times, but I'm not sure how it'll fare against those demons."
"Against other foes, I'd say we'd handle them easily. But Belzahad is something else."
Ladan murmured, eyeing the soaring peaks and distant eternal snows.
Torban didn't deny it.
Proud as he was of the mountains, the ants were erratic and terrifying foes. Repeated wars had proven rugged terrain posed no obstacle to them.
"Still, one thing's certain. It's worth a shot."
Yet they clung to hope.
This range was their last sanctuary in the world, destined to be chronicled as the site of a great holy war.
"Method, needed."
In truth, their hope wasn't in vain.
Asmora's calculations from scouting showed breaching the dwarves' tightly controlled and defended Great Mountain Range would demand enormous sacrifices.
If that was truly the only way, they would fight and win, sacrificing millions if necessary.
But as the hive queen, minimizing the hive's losses was also her duty.
To pierce defenses covering the surface, skies, waterways, and even underground aquifers, Asmora sensed the need for a new approach.
"What method will you use?"
Jin-hyuk glanced between the breeding ground and the screens, puzzled.
No ideas came to his mind.
Even knowing Asmora combined devoured genes and absorbed technologies to spawn new variants and improved troops each time.
Yet he secretly anticipated.
Asmora, born a queen and evolved into the primordial one at the hive's core, wielded abilities beyond even his grasp.
He had grounded faith that she could achieve something transcending limits and common sense.
"Sky."
'Sky?'
Asmora's chosen method: the sky.
Jin-hyuk's eyes widened at her words.
But learning of the limit-breaking 'true monster' she designed after days more of preparation left him even more astonished.