Chapter 65
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: The God Has Commanded (3)
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“Hurry... hurry and rescue the main force! Break through the passage!”
The communication orb connected not only to the inside of the passage but also to the outside.
Count Merlin, who had been overseeing the construction of the camp outside alongside Gilbert, was horrified and dispatched the remaining troops to save the main force.
He had been greatly worried, but surprisingly, the ants offered no interference.
It was the perfect chance to pick off the Holy Kingdom's isolated main force piece by piece after trapping them in pitfalls.
[The plan to pin down the main force has succeeded.]
Jin-hyuk knew exactly why the ants were acting this way.
Their real objective was something else entirely. The Holy Kingdom's main force was just an annoying obstacle for now.
With that obstacle out of the way, it was time to focus on the true goal.
In fact, most of As mora's deployed forces were heading not toward the Holy Kingdom's main force trapped in the pitfalls, but elsewhere.
“What are you talking about?”
“I-it's true. Most of the main force is currently isolated inside their nest.”
Marquis Lumiern replied in a trembling voice to Arianne, who was urgently demanding answers after receiving the communication.
“...Let's hurry!”
A strange glint flashed in Arianne's eyes as she insisted on rushing to support the main force.
And right now, she wasn't wrong.
The main force, which had gathered much of the Holy Kingdom's strength, absolutely had to be rescued.
“W-we could run into their ambush if we rush too much!”
“Shut up! Their main forces are obviously all over there to begin with. We didn't spot any others with detection magic or scouts!”
Arianne bared her scarlet eyes and snarled at those cautioning against haste.
If Seira had been by her side, she would have naturally urged caution, and Arianne would have grudgingly listened. But Seira wasn't there now.
Arianne was far too aggressive for mere staff officers to rein in.
“Hurry up!”
In the end, they picked up the pace to rescue the main force.
The northern lands that the main force had already cleared stretched on as open plains and dense forests without any visible enemies.
With clean scout reports, they had no reason to hesitate and pressed forward boldly.
[Subordinates seize the opportunity]
'Soon. At this rate, probably around lunchtime today.'
But unbeknownst to them, a large number of ants were already lying in ambush, waiting.
The narrow forest path they had no choice but to pass through to quickly link up with the main force. A battle there would leave them unable to fight properly.
On the other hand, it was perfect terrain for the ants, who specialized in rough ground and chaotic melee.
Jin-hyuk watched tensely without even eating properly, marking time for this moment.
This was the pinnacle of the grand strategy As mora had designed from the start.
And so, Arianne and the follow-up forces plunged unsuspectingly into the forest path where the ants lay in wait.
“See? There's nothing here. What were you—”
“Hmph. Let's not dwell on what's already passed. Not all opinions can align every time.”
In the dim forest path shrouded by the shadows of towering ancient trees, Arianne rode on horseback, grumbling that even this pace was too slow.
Her father, Marquis Lumiern, was shooting her warning glances.
“...!”
But Arianne's instincts, sharper than any detection magic, sent a sharp jolt through her.
And almost simultaneously, her wide eyes caught the ground—which had seemed perfectly fine—bursting open with a boom as a massive monster erupted forth.
“E-enemies! Ambush!”
“From underground... ugh!”
Here and there, the entrances to camouflaged burrows yawned open, and ants began pouring out.
Having dug the burrows in advance and lain in wait with lids covering them, entering an extreme hibernation that evaded detection magic, the ants timed their emergence perfectly as the enemies passed overhead.
“Fight!”
Gritting her teeth, Arianne tumbled from her horse as its throat was severed by a charging blade-wing ant, then swung her mace to smash the head of a scorpion ant lunging at her in one blow.
“Damn...”
At that moment, something enormous pinned her down with its massive, thorn-studded foreleg.
Blocking it from her unsteady stance buckled one knee, and Arianne glared up at it with a twisted face, barely holding it off with her raised mace.
'A new variant!'
This monster, the size of a large carriage, was a new breed As mora had created by devouring Riok.
As it lunged to bite her with jaws strong enough to crush rebar, Arianne hastily flung herself aside to dodge.
'We've been completely had...'
Catching her breath, she surveyed her surroundings and broke out in cold sweat.
The main force had swept through here first and insisted no ants remained.
Yet the ants ambushing them numbered at least several thousand out of tens of thousands.
Thanks to the perfect surprise attack, the unit was already in ruins.
They had been strung out along the narrow forest path, unable to even form ranks.
Forget proper combat—they were now just praying to survive in numbers.
“You devilish bastards...”
Arianne ground her teeth as she saw the ants surrounding her after tearing into those around her.
Her grip tightened on the mace slick with ant fluids.
Rage boiled up, but charging blindly into this meticulously prepared trap would end like that knight over there—torn apart miserably by enemies swarming from all sides.
'I can't let that happen. I can't die. I don't want to die!'
Arianne flinched for a moment before raising her mace high and slamming it into the ground with all her might.
A brilliant flash exploded with a thunderous roar, shaking the entire area with its power.
[As mora rages at the sight of the fleeing enemy]
And without hesitation, she turned tail and fled.
For her, survival trumped rage.
“A-Arianne!”
“Retreat now! It's too late. Forget the main force—we need to save ourselves first!”
Arianne fled the scene in a panic and yelled at her father, Supreme Commander Marquis Lumiern, that they had to pull back.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
Lumiern, equally gripped by panic, had no better ideas.
Though they called it a retreat, it was hardly preserving strength—it was just desperately fleeing from the ants that had shifted to the hunt.
They abandoned massive supplies and soldiers' lives, with only a handful managing to escape the battlefield before pulling back.
“No! Take me with you!”
“Run, hurry!”
The agonized screams of those being slaughtered and hunted, mingled with desperate shouts, echoed without end.
[As mora believes humans are sacrificing themselves to protect the queen]
“No. They're just abandoning them and running.”
As mora judged those fighting to the death, unable to escape, as sacrifices for their collective like her own kind.
But Jin-hyuk, who could hear all their conversations, just shook his head.
The screams of people lost in terror and panic were far from pleasant to his ears.
'One by one, things are falling into place just as As mora planned.'
He turned the screen away from the fleeing group led by the hasty Arianne.
Seira, who had been researching worker ants moments ago, had just dashed out like the wind upon urgent news.
Now As mora would tenaciously pursue the desperately fleeing Arianne to buy time.
Until Seira arrived with reinforcements.
“We have to head south to the barrier!”
“No. Shaking the pursuers on our tail comes first! We don't even know how many there are. Another ambush like that, and we're done for—total annihilation!”
Marquis Lumiern shook his head at Arianne's supportive words.
The Holy Kingdom's forces, reduced to less than half of half, barely escaped the battlefield.
But in their desperate flight, they veered off course.
Unable to head south to the barrier, they fled northeast instead.
“Communications— what about communications?!”
“Communications went through. To the main force and the homeland both. The main force might be tough, but reinforcements will surely come from home.”
Lumiern's first act had been to send desperate support requests everywhere before the communication orb's energy ran out.
Arianne showed a flicker of relief at his words.
'I can't die here. After coming this far... with so much power and achievement right in front of me...'
Her obsession with her skyrocketing life lately was fierce.
She prayed to the goddess that she'd do anything if she could just survive.
Of course, Goddess Henes was currently clutching her neck in shock at her subordinates getting thoroughly trounced by the ants.
“The enemy keeps pursuing!”
“C-cross the river. Use freeze magic! And what did Seira do before...”
But the ants' pursuit squad dogged only them relentlessly, unlike the scattered smaller fleeing groups.
With no respite, Arianne desperately racked her brain, dragging the straggling remnants onward in a grueling escape as they began falling behind one by one.
“Reinforcements have departed from the barrier!”
“Who's leading them?!”
“Apostle Brandt and Special Officer Seira! They said to hold a designated high ground, and they'll get there as fast as possible!”
Thus, the grueling chase dragged on for a full two days.
Just as the crystal orb's energy was about to run out, a ray of hope arrived for the exhausted group.
“Do you really have to go yourself...?”
“Our Holy Kingdom's soldiers are on the brink of annihilation. And Arianne's in danger. We have to save her.”
Right before departure. Seira, preparations complete, nodded calmly at Robert's words.
Robert couldn't bring himself to stop her fully after hearing that.
He knew Seira had recently seemed much more at ease, having fully opened her heart to Arianne and become lovers in body and soul.
It was unseemly, but these were chaotic times anyway.
Who would dare criticize the two top women in the Holy Kingdom right now, especially not behind their backs?
“Please be careful.”
“The emergence of new variants is concerning, but based on the intel we have, it seems we can counter them without too much trouble. Excluding that, they don't have overwhelming numbers either.”
Seira saw through the ants' overextension.
They had trapped the main force in pitfalls but failed to wipe it out, precisely to concentrate on ambushing the follow-ups.
The result was devastating damage to the follow-ups, but still salvageable for now.
'Not perfect yet, but let's test it in the moment just in case.'
Above all, she now held a finally completed magic scroll.
It contained the fruits of all her efforts researching captured worker ants.
Though she had to deploy before the final test, she tucked it carefully into her bosom anyway.