Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: The God Has Commanded (2)
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‘Asmodra’s first plan is to lure the enemy’s main force as deep as possible. And to do that, she needs bait.’
Jin-hyuk already knew the ants’ plan to a certain extent.
Part of that plan involved evacuating the reproductive individuals, the larvae and pupae that would evolve into variants, and all the special resources through secret tunnels dug deep underground.
“Charge!”
In the meantime, on the surface, the Holy Kingdom’s forces swarmed in, clashing with the defensive troops guarding the nest.
Naturally, the ants that came out to defend threw themselves into the fray with everything they had, sacrificing their bodies and lives in a desperate struggle.
From the combat variants to the worker ants mobilized only in emergencies, they lunged ferociously, clinging to the enemies’ ankles and refusing to let go.
“The Goddess is watching.”
Yet Gilbert led the Holy Kingdom’s forces and broke through the defense in the end.
Holy power and magic exploded everywhere as knights clad in armor forged from ant exoskeletons charged through the venomous haze, thrusting swords and spears into the ants’ bodies.
[Subordinates are defeated]
In the end, the strongest individual on site—the hornet ant newly armored in thick chitin—was cleaved in half by Gilbert’s greatsword and died.
“Push in! We have to kill their queen!”
Buoyed by their morale, the Holy Kingdom’s forces set foot inside the ant nest. The interior was so deep and labyrinthine that, without investing massive time in excavation from outside, there was no way to collapse or burn it.
This was the first time the ant nest’s interior had been revealed.
“We had some idea from the projection magic, but it’s still ridiculously complex.”
“Don’t move recklessly. There could be traps anywhere.”
The ant nest interior was a tangled maze so convoluted that only the ants, linked by their hive mind, could navigate it freely without getting lost.
From massive tunnels wide enough for golems to huge, pitch-black voids without a single light source, to narrow holes where humans had to crawl on their bellies—hundreds, thousands of passages crisscrossed above and below ground.
Anticipating this, Count Merlen and the Holy Kingdom forces deployed numerous mages, familiars, and detection spells to illuminate the interior and find their way.
Progress was slow, but for them, it was the best way to scout without sacrifices.
Of course, battles with the ants continued inside as well. Fights in the dark, cramped tunnels took on a whole different character from open combat.
Fortunately, many of the troops had prior adventurer experience, which helped minimize casualties.
“Found them! Larvae!”
“We’ve located a pupa chamber too!”
Still, they finally began uncovering the ants’ vulnerabilities one by one.
“These disgusting things...”
“Destroying even these will deal a huge blow. Burn them now!”
Gilbert recoiled at the wriggling larvae, and Count Merlen ordered his men to set them ablaze.
They didn’t know these were larvae destined to become ordinary worker ants.
The invested larvae and pupae had long since been evacuated with their resources.
Of course, that didn’t change the fact that this was their first victory storming an ant nest, burning and clearing its interior—after countless hunts where the ants had always been the hunters, forcing them to merely endure.
“Why the grim face? This is a historic triumph...”
“Because we’ve observed over twenty such nests.”
Amid cheers, shouts of joy, and prayers of thanks to the Goddess, Count Merlen shook his head firmly at his adjutant’s words.
Ordinary soldiers could revel in the moment. But someone who had to look beyond the overall commander to the distant future couldn’t afford to bask in it blindly.
‘Necessary sacrifices.’
Jin-hyuk watched as the Holy Kingdom forces, having destroyed one nest, pressed onward without pause.
In war, someone’s sacrifice was always necessary.
Some had to take on harder missions for their allies or face stronger foes.
Sometimes, they had to give their lives for victory.
And Jin-hyuk’s ants understood that sacrifice better than anyone.
The momentary hesitation or anguish that even the faith-hardened church troops might feel was utterly irrelevant to the ants.
Countless individuals threw themselves into the fray without a second thought for the hive.
If it was a sacrifice needed for victory, they offered their bodies—and lives—without the slightest qualm.
Even if miscalculations led to excess losses, it was the same.
They didn’t question or rage.
They didn’t resent it.
They existed solely for the whole.
That was their essence—the Belzahad.
[Asmodra issues a plan to divide the enemy army]
Confirmed by their victory that the ants’ main force was tied up on the western front, the Holy Kingdom troops hurried their efforts.
They had to destroy as many nests as possible before the ants could recall their western detachment.
“Let’s catch up quick. We need to rack up merits too.”
“I said I got it—stop nagging.”
And so, the second detachment led by Marquis Lumiern set off in haste.
This unit, including Erianne, carried massive supplies to link up with the main force, replace the wounded, and sustain the ongoing battle.
[Asmodra monitors the target]
Asmodra, spotting this via hidden scout ants, twitched her antennae as she watched Erianne rapidly advancing north along the path the main force had cleared.
The target wasn’t anything else—it was the crucial bait for capturing Seira, the true objective Jin-hyuk had designated himself.
They had to capture Erianne, no matter the means.
“We’ve destroyed three nests already, but no word on capturing the egg-laying ‘queen.’ We need to move faster to kill them before they escape!”
“I said we can’t rush! Everyone’s wearing down. The rear guard is coming—prioritize linking up with them!”
The core of the ants’ strategy was choice.
The ants relentlessly forced choices on their attackers.
For ants who acted on calculations and followed decisions instantly, choice wasn’t difficult.
But for human groups where even top commanders consulted subordinates before acting, it always was.
“Enough. Look here. If we clear up to this point and regroup, we can link up safely with the rear guard.”
In that moment, Gilbert proposed an option. The spot he indicated was indeed a key position.
An ant nest occupied it now, but destroying it would make an ideal base.
“Good idea.”
Count Merlen agreed. Arguing endlessly wouldn’t help anyway.
Besides, they were still at a disadvantage.
The ants’ main force was still rampaging in the west against the orcs, and plenty of nests remained.
[Asmodra prepares traps for the humans’ predicted movements]
But this was all part of a plan Asmodra had meticulously prepared since the war’s outset.
By inevitably yielding nests one by one to their superior force, planting the hope of destroying more in their choices—and at this critical moment when the target Erianne left the barrier—luring them to attack yet another nest.
If they’d chosen more conservatively, she’d planned to scatter even more bait.
‘She designed the choices themselves from the start.’
Watching it all unfold, Jin-hyuk clicked his tongue in admiration.
It wasn’t a fierce strategic battle in the end.
Asmodra and the ants had crafted the board itself, forcing the Holy Kingdom forces—starting from a disadvantaged position—onto it.
This was the ability of the grand hive queen, who’d invested all absorbed energy into her brain, and the instinct of a species born for hive prosperity and war.
“While the Supreme Commander sets up camp outside, we clean this nest. Another chance to earn the Goddess’s favor.”
Leading the troops into the nest was Crave, one of the five apostles like Erianne and Gilbert—and the staunchest advocate for hitting more nests.
‘The Supreme Commander and that coward Gilbert are too timid. Time is on their side, after all.’
He believed they had to hurry and kill as many ants as possible.
Time favoring the ants wasn’t baseless, but the root reason was his desire to outshine the other apostles with merits.
“Attack!”
Finally, the Holy Kingdom soldiers burrowed toward the ant nest.
At least initially, it proceeded much like prior nest assaults.
Using fire magic and holy power aggressively, they penetrated the interior, pushing ants back in the now-familiar narrow tunnels, splitting into dozens of paths toward the heart.
“No anomalies here.”
“Same on this side!”
Still, they moved with thorough precautions.
Units scattered through countless tunnels carried multiple communication orbs for constant contact and deployed mages to ward off ambushes.
Having won this way repeatedly, they trusted the system as much as its rigor.
“...Huh?”
But then, a mage in the outermost tunnel unit flinched, staring at the activated detection magic circle in his hand.
A red dot signaling enemies suddenly appeared.
Despite the silence—no sights or sounds.
“E-Enemies!”
But the red dots multiplied, closing in at tremendous speed.
“Vibrations...!”
“The tunnel’s collapsing!”
Even without the mage’s cry, the intensifying tremors panicked everyone.
The ants’ sturdy tunnels had passed the Holy Kingdom troops’ own tests as exceptionally safe—even without demolition magic, nothing could collapse them outright.
Yet now, without any such spells, they crumbled rapidly.
“Th-That’s...”
Amid the panic, a fallen mage paled in horror.
Bursting from the wall in a spray of dirt and stone was a variant ant optimized for digging, with reinforced forelegs.
From the freshly breached tunnel, ants poured out, attacking them.
“F-Find a retreat route, now!”
Everyone invading the nest panicked alike at the ambush led by tunneling ants—variants born from preying on mole crickets.
In the complex underground web of hundreds of interlaced tunnels, Crave and the Holy Kingdom forces floundered.
“Eric’s unit reports at least a hundred enemies...”
“Simon’s unit ambushed too!”
“Aaaagh! Thousands at lea—!”
The simultaneous comm orb chatter only amplified the chaos.
Overloaded with info and misinformation, no one could grasp or command clearly.
Unlike the ants, they lacked the ability to link and share consciousnesses.
This chaotic melee was the ants’ specialty.
[Asmodra is satisfied with the exchange rate]
In truth, the ants attacking so precisely and swiftly numbered merely a few hundred.
Those hundreds focused less on combat and more on scurrying through tunnels to sow confusion.
“No way—retreat’s blocked...?!”
Meanwhile, tunneling ants collapsed and sealed the main external passages.
The ants couldn’t perform major excavations now either, so with time, the Holy Kingdom troops could reopen them—but plunged into extreme chaos, they were utterly pinned in the vast nest.
The entire nest had become one massive trap.