Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: How to Survive (2)
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"Hurry up and get to your positions!"
"Every single one of these recruits shows up acting like this."
The moment the nomadic horde triumphed over the orcs and seized more than half of the great plains.
The massive spoils obtained there ultimately strengthened the entire ant horde, and that newfound power became the driving force allowing the ants, who had arrived at the 'repeating barrier' once more, to hunt even more prey.
Now, the colossal wall stretching across the land stood fully complete, without a single gap.
There, fierce battles raged between the kingdom's people desperately trying to hold back the swarming ants and the ants themselves.
Though the ants had never committed their full might to topple the wall, each clash left behind shattered facilities and countless bodies dragged off somewhere.
"Activate the turrets!"
Yet the defenders fought with desperate resolve as well.
At the urgent command of the sector commander, the mages activated something in unison.
It was a bizarre device that looked like several mages' staves fused into one.
Despite its crude appearance, this automated turret was a cutting-edge weapon of war, combining mana-infused magic stones with spells to automatically track and fire flame orb magic at enemies.
"These turrets let us maximize our firepower."
"The mage who developed them was named Clint, right? He's earned quite the merit."
Those witnessing the turrets in action, unleashing flame orb spells against the oncoming foes, couldn't help but marvel.
This turret, too, was the invention of a single mage who had utilized numerous secret tomes recently revealed by various magical academies.
[The subordinates are prioritizing the elimination of enemies that automatically fire magic.]
Naturally, the ants recognized the turrets' existence and targeted them first, as they could endlessly chant and fire spells simply by swapping out the magic stones.
"Hornet wings incoming!"
Fewer in number but serving as decisive weapons with their powerful magic resistance and strength, the hornet ants sortied a bit earlier today.
Arriving with their signature roar, they swooped down on the wall in an instant, destroying the turrets firing magic.
The 2-circle flame orb spells from the turrets could barely scratch their bodies.
"Th-they're coming!"
As the hornet ants dismantled the turrets one by one, the other ants, previously held back by the firepower, began scaling the towering wall en masse.
The defenders tried spraying water and using freeze magic to make it slippery, but the ants linked their bodies like ropes, pulling their kin up, and eventually surmounted the wall.
Once atop, the bomb ants' bodies erupted with venom, instantly neutralizing the wall's defenses in a burst.
Close-range approach, barrage of bomb ant venom to create a momentary gap in defenses, then follow up with other ants.
This was the siege warfare the ants had honed and continuously refined, even now.
"No good. At this rate, it'll happen again...!"
Baron Veron, the sector overseer and garrison commander, despaired as he watched soldiers bisected by the scythe legs of executioner ants that had crested the wall, hurling his baton aside.
Even if they held the wall, many more would sacrifice themselves.
He had only received the finest adventurers among the hastily conscripted ones a few days prior, due to time constraints.
Losing them all might mean they couldn't defend against the ants' next invasion.
"Overseer! Reinforcements!"
"What?!"
But then, welcome news came from behind.
"Hurry and hold them off!"
"Charge in without worry! Their venom won't work on us anymore!"
The arriving reinforcements wore slightly special armor.
Crafted by artisans who had banded together for mass production, this armor was woven from the black exoskeletons of collected ants—especially the hardest parts from variants.
Astonishingly, it granted immunity to ant venom.
Moreover, its high affinity with mana allowed for easier and stronger enchantments.
[The subordinates are flustered.]
Sensing the aura of their own kind from armor immune even to venom potent enough to corrode steel, the ants panicked greatly.
They had never imagined humans would counterattack this way.
Thanks to that, the ants rampaging on the wall, poised to claim countless lives as spoils, were pushed back down.
[Asmodra is enraged.]
But Asmodra, whose ego had advanced a step beyond the horde's collective, went past fluster to outright rage upon seeing them.
The ants, especially the variants, were masterpieces Asmodra had crafted stitch by stitch.
For humans to turn those masterpieces against her as weapons threatening her very self was an affront.
After her instinctive greed to devour everything and monopolize growth alone, the next emotion Asmodra awakened was this blazing fury.
Especially as one of the few in the horde with an individual ego—and directly linked to Jin-hyuk—Asmodra learned and assimilated emotions at an astonishing speed.
"Good thing the new armor is doing its job."
"To think we're meeting such a famous and remarkable figure in person. Special Officer Seira Redenverk."
The one leading the reinforcements armed with this new weapon was none other than Seira.
Baron Veron instinctively gauged her mood upon seeing her.
Though young enough to be his daughter, Seira was currently the most renowned figure in the kingdom's upper echelons.
No one was unaware that, under Count Merlen's patronage, she had essentially spearheaded nearly every change against the ants.
Naturally, immense authority had concentrated in her hands. Her title of special officer proved it.
"We need to expand the workshops and ramp up production as soon as possible. And Clint's magic turrets need further improvements to withstand enemy attacks."
"Heh... well..."
The baron let out a hollow chuckle at her demeanor—unfazed by his flattery, swiftly assessing the frontline.
'Whether asleep or awake, it's all monsters with her—nothing but monsters on her mind.'
Even from the side, Seira's focus was solely on the ants.
Automated turrets born from blending academy secret tomes, rapidly expanding forces unlike before, new armor from ant exoskeletons, and more.
Her contributions—from the start, relentlessly advocating all-out war against the ants—were far from insignificant.
[Asmodra wonders which human is angering her.]
Asmodra, who had viewed humans as just another uniform horde like themselves, realized through her own growth that even human hordes inevitably had leaders directing and evolving the group, much like her.
Especially the changes in the Kingdom of Carmion under the Golden Mandate Society's rule since the wall's erection were too swift and systematic in Asmodra's eyes.
Even with divine aid, they were far stronger and more adaptable than previous human hordes.
Asmodra's plan to stably procure food using the repeating barrier as a funnel was unraveling.
Though she didn't yet know if the core figure—Seira—was male or female, individual or group, Seira had become Asmodra's first true rival, deemed her 'arch-nemesis' as the queen of the ant legions.
"That thing!"
"It's from the sky! Those are definitely the monsters the goddess warned of through her oracle!"
Asmodra couldn't withdraw just yet.
To crush the humans, colossal monsters unfurled their wings from beyond the heavens.
The dragon ants, which had flown west upon birth, finally appeared at the wall.
"This is insane..."
Bombs from venom pot ants dropped from the high sky, impervious to magic or arrows, turned the wall into a wasteland in moments.
Even with venom-immune armor reinforcements, it was problematic.
Unlike bomb ant explosions, falling bombs couldn't be body-blocked.
While their numbers were still few, and surrounding allies providing cover were neutralized by bursting venom, the dragon ants dove alongside hornet ants.
Mages and knights alike were snatched by the massive forelegs of these descending behemoths and dragged into the air.
"We need wind magic to disrupt their flight paths... Ugh."
Seira hurriedly issued emergency countermeasures, but the situation was dire.
They had been on the back foot even before her reinforcements arrived.
It was an even exchange, but continuing like this would let the enraged Asmodra and ants suffer minor losses while harvesting the desired prey from the wall.
"Good thing I'm not too late."
"You...!"
But in that instant, someone caught Seira as she stumbled, appearing from behind.
A beauty with light pink hair, flashing a gentle smile.
Before Seira could speak, the woman in gleaming silver armor wielding a massive mace charged forward, swinging it.
Holy light erupted, smashing the oncoming dragon and hornet ants in a massive flash.
[Asmodra withdraws her forces. However, having reaped far less than planned, she remains in a state of rage.]
'The other deities are struggling too, huh. No way that mace is another divine artifact, is it?'
Jin-hyuk gave a wry smile as he watched the ants retreat from the wall.
He had hunted as desired, but it was true they'd gained less prey than calculated due to the unexpectedly fierce resistance from strengthened foes.
Especially the roles of those who intervened at the last moment were huge.
Just as the spear-wielding orc Drgon had momentarily shattered the nomadic horde's defenses, each of them wielded tremendous power, smashing strong variants including the reaper-like hornet ants that had reigned like grim specters.
[Asmodra thinks she needs another way to overcome that unreasonable power.]
'Asking me for help?'
Asmodra naturally craved more power.
The ant horde was accustomed to facing strong enemies.
They simply grew stronger each time, surpassing their foes.
And since Jin-hyuk's aid was key to that growth, it wasn't strange for Asmodra to desire what was, in a way, the simplest and most obvious solution.
"Of course."
With a smirk, he pulled out something new, as if preparations were complete.
Unlike his usual test tubes, what he drew forth matched the enlarged materials in scale—the plastic containers holding them had grown accordingly.
We blocked it, but the cost was too high. It's like pouring into a bottomless pit.
And Jin-hyuk could afford this slight leisure precisely because of the other deities' reactions glimpsed via the Divine Community.
Materials, power, weapons, tech—all depleted. The belly button's bigger than the belly!
Did you think pioneering would be easy? Whine moderately.
Jin-hyuk could tell from Goddess Henes' whining in the community that they weren't in a leisurely state either.
If divine support wasn't infinite, opportunities would keep coming.
Those resisting at the wall now couldn't show such form without deity aid.