Chapter 53
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Contradiction (3)
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“That place is the first target we must recapture. Advance!”
Count Luon, who led the imperial army across the sea, rejoined the main force after the conference and issued orders from horseback.
Their goal was to retake the city of Lupelin, which they planned to use as a base.
Once the most developed city in the area due to its proximity to the coastal harbor, it had been abandoned by its lord and residents like everywhere else around it. Now, it was a forsaken ruin that even the ants showed no interest in.
When the ants had seized it, they had no concern for anything they couldn't eat.
Thanks to that, the infrastructure and buildings were still largely intact, making it perfect for swift conversion into a fortress—a fact they had already confirmed through scouting.
“Commander, we can see the monsters with the naked eye! There must be at least ten thousand of them!”
“So those are the bastards...”
Asmodra seeks to assess the new enemies' forces.
Through his telescope, Count Luon spotted massive ants swarming from the distance.
With such a large mass of delicious prey charging in, the ants had no reason to stay idle.
Moreover, the ants had already learned much about humans.
That knowledge included how humans were far stronger when fighting from fortified positions than out in the open wilderness.
The ants intended to engage them in the wild before they could enter the city and fortify it.
The ants charging toward the imperial army now—varied in appearance and size—were combat units roused from dormancy in the nearest hive.
They were far from the full force. The ants weren't foolish enough to throw everything at an unfamiliar foe.
“It's a battle of morale. Deploy the golems. And don't get complacent!”
Count Luon, who had heard endless details about the ants from Seira and the church delegates at the conference, refused to let his guard down despite this being his first clash with them.
Just as they had trained repeatedly, he led with the golems reborn as combat weapons at the forefront.
The subordinates clash with the enemy horde.
At last, the fierce battle began between two armies fighting to claim or defend the abandoned city.
It opened with a preemptive strike from the Leaping Ants charging at the front.
Before spells or arrows could fly, they launched into the air with their extraordinarily developed hind legs, propelling themselves with tremendous force straight at the golems.
They clung to the golems' bodies, biting with their jaws and gripping with sturdy legs to try to topple them.
“Blast them off!”
But the upgraded golems didn't topple easily, nor did their jaws—which could shatter thick logs—dent them.
Instead, the golems punched out or swung logs like baseball bats, smashing the Leaping Ants off their bodies.
The subordinates deploy every means at their disposal to tackle this formidable foe.
The ants gave it their all.
Realizing no variant could win one-on-one against the golems, they swiftly shifted to their specialty: swarm tactics.
Yet the golems' bodies were too tough, their strength overwhelming.
The Blade Ants' jaws—which could slice orc flesh—snapped, and the Venom Needle Ants' stings—which pierced armor—left no mark.
Even Bomb Ants and Venom Ants spewing hyper-acidic venom had little effect on the inanimate golems.
“Behold! Even these wicked demons crumble before the greatness of our magitech civilization!”
And that wasn't all.
With golems at the front, the imperial army brought up mages and heavy ballistae, unleashing a barrage of firepower.
As long as the ants couldn't breach the golems, they had no way to strike the safely positioned imperials behind them.
The subordinates detect that conventional methods won't repel the enemy and opt for retreat.
In the end, the ants quickly decided and withdrew their forces.
Watching the ants recover their dead and retreat, the imperial army cheered, morale soaring.
“A shame. I heard the flying ones are especially tough.”
“We prepared thoroughly for those too, but didn't get to use it. We knew they were cunning, but I didn't expect them to pull back so fast.”
“Secure the city as planned. And gather the bodies they left behind. As the Holy Kingdom said, we need to collect what we can from them.”
Count Luon chuckled, unscathed, at his own body.
In this probing skirmish—where the ants tested the golems' capabilities—it was a one-sided victory for the imperial army with their vastly improved golems.
The Wandering Horde's queen asks if she should assist.
Asmodra replies that it's unnecessary and to focus on her own tasks.
'Even in a time like this, these guys...'
The defeat in the skirmish was shared across the entire horde consciousness. Even the independently operating Wandering Horde felt it.
Currently restoring power in the great plains, patrolling, and keeping the orcs in check, the Wandering Horde wouldn't join this battle.
Still, Jin-hyuk sighed at the two queens bickering.
Asmodra plans to lure the enemy army out and clash once more on open ground. She is confident her newly created variants will triumph over the foe.
The ants didn't consider the previous battle a true loss anyway.
Instead, they were plotting a proper fight based on the intel gathered.
Ants that had been stockpiling strength and growing wouldn't be unilaterally pushed back if they unleashed their 'real' forces.
“Commander, shouldn't we wait for the Holy Kingdom's forces as promised? At least link up with the trailing reserves.”
“I thought so too, but I've changed my mind. Haven't you seen the golems' combat prowess? Against monsters that can't use magic or dou qi, golems are natural counters.”
Fortuitously for the ants, the imperials were venturing out of the city on their own—no bait needed.
Uncontent with an uncontested victory and city occupation, Count Luon emphasized the golems' might to chase greater glory.
“Claiming this fortress would make the entire waterway from the sea ours.”
Pointing to the next target on the map, he urged his men to strike before morale waned.
With minimal casualties, continuing the fight was feasible—but some harbored unease even before the golems' dominance.
'The Holy Kingdom said Belzahad numbers at least hundreds of thousands... Where the hell are the rest?'
Yet in the fervent atmosphere, none dared voice doubts and spoil it.
“As the vanguard, we're forging great achievements. His Majesty will recognize it, so we must pave a stable path for the reserves behind us!”
Count Luon drew his sword and shouted confidently.
Nothing boosts morale like pride and honor.
“And above all, we need to rack up as many merits as possible, right?”
His joking final words drew cheers. Rewards matched deeds reliably—especially for subordinates under deities.
It was one of the most classic, fundamental ways deities tamed their followers.
“If golems just starting major upgrades perform this well, they'll be the stars of future wars.”
“Good call picking this path. Ten years ago, they mocked golem majors as ditch-diggers. Now I'm the winner...”
Marching to the thudding steps of the golems, the mages alternating control and maintenance chatted idly.
Mick, perched on a golem's shoulder in a swaying chair with a comrade, did the same.
The elevated view let him scan the open terrain, occasionally sending familiars aloft for aerial recon, as he gazed at the endless empty ruins.
'Terrifying. Belzahad, Heralds of Doom.'
A typical frontier scene, but the abandonment by ants gave it an alien chill.
He could almost grasp what apocalypse meant.
If those horrors overran the frontier, the Empire—no, beyond—what then?
Shivering at the needless thought, Mick rubbed his arms.
“Huh?”
But through his crow familiar idly surveying the landscape, something caught his eye.
A dense wave blanketing the ground surged straight toward them—a massive army.
“Wh-what the hell is that...!”
“What's wrong? What happened?!”
His comrade on the neighboring golem shouted at his frozen shock.
But Mick just gaped, unable to believe his eyes, mouth working silently.
“Monsters!!!! A gigantic one is coming!”
His outburst was pure instinct.
Asmodra is confident that eliminating the massive enemies will allow her to overwhelm the rest in one fell swoop.
By current standards, the super-colossal Heavy Armor Ants and Sawblade Ants—beyond mere large class—were Asmodra's latest weapons, born from devouring colossal armored beasts with massive resource investment.
Deploying them meant victory was calculated.
Asmodra's counter to golems wasn't refined trickery as humans imagined.
Just brute force. That sufficed.
“What the actual fuck...”
Count Luon swore involuntarily upon seeing them with the naked eye.
They were too big. Way too big.
Considering insect proportions, they outscaled the golems.
It felt like entire houses—complete with warehouses—charging in.
Their hefty armored exoskeletons gleamed; unlike golems, six legs promised no mobility weakness.
“D-deploy the golems! Hurry!”
No one could pin hopes elsewhere but golems.
The golems hastened into formation, ready like matadors facing charging bulls.
'If we hadn't spotted them early...?'
Count Luon felt deep relief at his persistent scouting orders.
Ambushed without warning, they'd have been swept away unprepared.
“Hold them off at all costs. We spotted them early and prepared—we can win.”
Not just twiddling thumbs trusting golems; mages prepped joint spells.
Intense arcing fireballs sliced the sky, slamming into the oncoming ants.
“The sky!”
The ants retaliated without pause.
Dragon Ants in the air dropped Poison Pot Ants for aerial bombardment.
The imperials countered with prepped magic scrolls for wind spells, redirecting joint magic to fiery lances piercing the heavens, minimizing damage.
But the ants were content diverting attention just that much.
“Th-they're colliding! Gaaah!”
Finally, a massive Heavy Armor Ant's sharp horn rammed a golem in its mad charge.
The impact—unshakable before by swarm assaults—sent Mick staggering inside the barrier. Through his thick helmet, he glimpsed glowing red eyes and froze.
He sensed instinctively: those eyes weren't a beast's feral rage.
Colder, drier—no killing intent even.
“Huh?”
And then.
As the golem struggled with the ant's horn under its armpit, the stone-and-earth colossus began tilting.
“N-no! Nooo...”
Mick plummeted from the golem, crashing hard. His last sight: the toppling golem crashing toward him.
'If strength and size fall short, just get more strength and bigger bodies. But how long can that last?'
Not just Mick's golem crumbled; like dominoes, the sturdy wall of golems toppled and buckled en masse.
Jin-hyuk watched silently as the ants overpowered the battlefield kings with raw might, shattering lines and slamming panicked foes with endless kin.