Chapter 63
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The God Has Commanded (1)
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I'm the victim here. I'm still just an ordinary person, dragged into this mess against my will.
I'm merely an observer, and the ants are beings I can't control no matter how much I try.
That's what I'd been telling myself to hold on.
I could watch the ants tear apart and devour countless people without batting an eye, even supplying them with evolution materials to make them better at it, all because I had those excuses.
It was escapism.
But that kind of avoidance was bound to reach its end eventually.
The ants and I are bound by fate. Even if it started by chance, the destiny we've become entangled in is no accident.
The stronger the ants grow, the higher my own stature rises, and the various powers that were restricted are starting to unlock one by one.
Now that I've even made plans to drive out the outer gods and deities invading Earth based on that, there's no room for excuses anymore.
"An evil god, huh."
Misunderstood as an outer god, but the classification I'd earned through accumulated evil deeds didn't feel wrong, drawing a hollow laugh from me.
And the deeds I'd commit alongside the ants from here on out were sure to be even worse.
[Subordinates are preparing traps]
A quick glance at the screen showed the ants diligently digging traps right now.
It was true that the bulk of their forces had been dispatched westward.
They knew that to reliably hunt their target with far fewer troops, thorough preparation and traps were essential.
[Asmora wishes to bring the recovered item to the Great Being]
And another thing: after considerable sacrifices, they'd successfully seized a divine sword from the orc hero, and it had arrived at the breeding ground.
Asmora immediately handed it over to the worker ants with orders to take it outside the nest and offer it to me.
I stood up to retrieve it.
In one hand, I held a drawing depicting Seira's appearance.
No matter what I said or felt, it all seemed like hypocrisy and conscienceless behavior, so my mind had settled into complete calm.
[Subordinates marvel at the hand of the Great Being]
The ants, just like before, dropped the divine sword on the ground and stepped back, standing still while gazing up at the sky.
When I reached in as expected and retrieved it, they reacted with intense fervor.
One time might raise doubts, but twice, three times was enough to solidify their faith.
They seemed convinced that I was pleased with this 'tribute' they'd offered.
[Asmora shows interest in something falling from the sky]
After retrieving the divine sword, I dropped Seira's drawing into the breeding ground in its place.
I'd made it as small as possible, but it was still large. To the ants, it must have felt like gazing at a massive mural painted on a wall.
[Asmora recognizes this as paper and a drawing, but is confused about why the Great Being sent it down]
Does it need some time?
Asmora, viewing the drawing through a worker ant's eyes, didn't hide its bewilderment.
It had reached the stage of understanding what a drawing was, but hadn't yet fully grasped its meaning or why I'd sent it.
[Asmora retrieves the face of that human female from the hive's memories]
But it didn't take Asmora long to recognize Seira's face.
After all, even at this very moment, Seira was continuing her research right in front of a worker ant.
I hadn't doubted it would figure out her identity.
"The one who's been constantly thwarting you isn't Erianne. It's that woman."
It couldn't hear me, but I muttered as I watched Asmora seemingly racking its brains.
Then I reached in once more and jabbed the drawing with my finger, hard enough to tear and crumple it.
[Asmora grasps the will of the Great Being]
With that much guidance, the result came quickly.
One worker ant walked over the torn drawing on the ground and bit viciously into that face with its jaws.
It was the moment my intervention shifted the hive's archenemy from Erianne to Seira.
"Belzahad's main forces are all focused beyond the plains toward the Empire and the orcs. There's no better chance than now to incinerate their nests in the northeast and drive them out."
Gilbert, one of the apostles moving with the vanguard, declared this with a stern face to the vast army gathered before him.
The ants' main forces were indeed locked in fierce war with the orcs at this very moment.
Once they clashed properly, both sides suffered thousands of casualties in brutal fighting.
But as the orcs, fueled by the deity Urmark's rage at seeing its subordinates fall one by one, held out desperately with ever-growing support from the Empire, the ants scrapped their original plan to push the orcs aside and attack the Empire. Instead, they shifted to methodically hunting their prey.
Like using the Holy Kingdom's barriers as a tong to procure needed food, they maintained a precarious front line and began a war of attrition.
The ants' true goal in striking first wasn't this anyway.
In fact, the fiercer and messier the war became, the easier it was to achieve that goal.
"This is a holy war! Reclaim the stolen lands and purify them!"
Unaware of the facts, the church's forces saw this as their opportunity and finally marched out beyond the barriers.
The church troops pouring from the barriers were so numerous it seemed they'd stripped even the defenders, armed with unwavering faith—the elite forces worthy of being called the main army.
Even precious units like Erianne, placed in the rear guard, were mobilized in large numbers.
All five apostles appointed by the goddess, plus the most seasoned troops the church had painstakingly raised through mass conscription and system changes, were joining the fray.
If they haven't prepared thoroughly, they might actually get counterattacked.
Armor and weapons made from the improved ants' exoskeletons, rapidly advancing magic weaponry, and more.
Even to Jin-hyuk, it looked like no pushover force.
Even if the ants had orchestrated all this, the risk of being overwhelmed in turn couldn't be ignored.
What do they plan to do? Seira still has no intention of leaving her lab.
Originally, the ants had planned to target and kill Erianne in the rear guard.
But Jin-hyuk's recent intervention had altered that.
Erianne had been downgraded to just one of many annoying foes, while the true archenemy plaguing the ants was safely conducting research inside the barrier.
[Asmora knows it's impossible to attempt both defense and flanking attacks with the forces left in the nest]
Assassinating Seira with a strike team had been impossible from the start, so Asmora boldly abandoned it.
[Humans have a habit of cherishing and not abandoning loved ones, so Asmora plans to use the archenemy's mate as bait]
Instead, Asmora devised another plan.
It had already confirmed through a worker ant that Erianne and Seira deeply cared for each other.
Having observed numerous prey make reckless choices or get swept up due to uncontrolled emotions, Asmora now intended to turn that against them.
Erianne gets in danger, and Seira rushes to save her? Ha...
Its interest in humans hadn't been for nothing.
Not only had it come to understand emotions it once couldn't fathom, but now it was even exploiting them. Jin-hyuk let out a small sigh at the sight.
"The first nest is right here."
"What about the scouting report?"
"Nothing particularly conspicuous so far. Just a bunch of what look like workers scattered around and active."
The church's army, advancing swiftly along an old road once used for northern territories, arrived near their first target nest.
This strategic point, once a baron's lordly castle, had been seized by the ants, turning the surface and subsurface into a teeming hive.
"To dare defile this land..."
Gilbert's face twisted upon receiving the report.
The ants devoured anything edible, ruthlessly destroying forests for mushroom farms, leaving their nests as scorched earth.
There was no need to dwell on how loathsome that must look to the original owners of the land.
Thus, they were fated to dismantle the ants' nests and reclaim their lost territory.
"We must proceed with caution. We don't know what traps they might have."
Count Merlen, the nominal supreme commander leading the army, moved carefully.
He'd already led troops against the ants once before.
Though both they and the ants had changed beyond recognition since then, that only made him more cautious.
It was also because Seira had emphasized it to the point his ears blistered.
"We've prepared for nearly all known variants, but you never know. If new ones appear again, they could create breaches and bring us down."
"Surely no more freakish monsters will show up? It was only a few days ago that ones with far tougher shells appeared on the western front."
"...That kind of complacency is the real problem."
Some, eager for glory or excited to show off their strengthened power, thought Count Merlen too timid, but he was resolute.
"Caution is wise. We'll hurry before they notice and prepare, but strike with flawless precision. Fortunately, we have weapons to pierce their defenses."
Gilbert smirked, glancing at the other sword at his waist.
They'd needed a way to penetrate the new exoskeleton variants proven in battles with orcs.
And they'd found it easily enough.
Artisans growing skilled at handling ant exoskeletons had begun distributing weapons made from recovered ones.
These variant exoskeletons had the property of holding mana and other powers more easily and abundantly.
The count's right. We need to be cautious. But it's a race against time too. We have to break through before they grow stronger.
Gilbert drew his sword and gritted his teeth.
The ant nest was now visible to the naked eye.
Mimicking a human castle, piled from earth and stone, it towered like a massive fortress even above ground.
"Attack!"
The church's great army began closing in slowly.
The ants, already aware of their approach, bustled about, sharing the sight in real-time through the hive mind.
[Asmora executes the plan]
The ants monitoring their movements simultaneously acted according to the prearranged strategy.
The Holy Kingdom's army assaulting the nest now was both the vanguard and a force strong enough to call the main army.
However, it wasn't the unit containing Erianne, whom Asmora had marked as prey.
"Kill them all!"
Will it go according to Asmora's plan?
Goddess Henes and Jin-hyuk watched tensely from their respective positions.
Until now, the ants' style of combat had been overwhelming with superior information and numbers.
But at least in this war on the northern lands of the former Carmion Kingdom, it was highly likely to become a fierce game of wits and strategy between two armies pursuing different objectives.