Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Two Saintesses (1)
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'Is it too small? No, that's why I need to feed it even faster.'
The name of the tiny creature in the test tube I'd urgently sourced through my contacts was a planarian.
It's famous for its unique ability, but these days it's hard to find—creatures that live only in clean water.
But no matter how much it grows, this little thing can barely exceed the length of a finger joint. Even if I put it in the breeding enclosure, it'd only be a bit larger than the smallest small-type worker ants.
Considering Asmora's steadily growing size, I needed to feed it as quickly as possible.
Since I was putting it in myself, she'd recognize it as food, but if the size difference was too extreme, who knew what might happen.
[Subordinates react to the grace of the great being]
As always, the moment I opened the lid of the breeding enclosure and moved to put something in, the ants reacted immediately.
Asmora in particular had now fully adapted to this, hurrying more than anyone and urging the worker ants on.
Compared to how they used to treat me like some natural phenomenon at first, it felt like a world apart.
"Um, let me see it too, please."
But this time, there was one difference from before.
Seira, standing beside Asmora, was asking to be allowed up to the surface as well.
Thanks to the ant thorn implanted in her body, Seira was partially linked to the ants' hive core.
She must have realized it through that.
A living relay capable of receiving my will through oracles while connected to the hive core via the parasitic ant thorn, allowing communication with Asmora.
That was Seira's current role.
[Asmora accepts Seira's request]
Whether it was due to another level of growth or not, Asmora paused to look at Seira, twitching her antennae, before eventually having her ride on the back of a single worker ant toward the surface passage.
"This can't be..."
Seira muttered blankly as she mounted the worker ant and headed upward.
The emotion plain on her face was obvious even without a connection like Asmora's.
'Her first time seeing it with her own eyes, huh.'
And she wasn't the only one whose heart started pounding with tension.
I, seeing Seira directly with my own two eyes for the first time, couldn't help but feel something similar.
Setting everything else aside, this was the first moment a being from that other world appeared alive before me.
I had briefly considered taking her out of the enclosure.
Whether she'd return to real-world size like the tributes the ants offered, or stay as tiny as a fingernail—I couldn't be sure.
'No choice.'
But I quickly gave up on that thought.
Now that things had come to this, the role I expected from Seira, who had joined the ant collective, was far too great.
She was a bundle of variables who could not only enable indirect communication with the ants but also directly propose new directions for their stalled growth and evolution.
I knew what abilities Seira possessed.
The merit of uniting the Holy Kingdom and rapidly elevating the Goddess's forces to stand against the ants had clearly come from Seira's mind.
Now, I would make her use that for the ants. That was the condition—and plan—I had set for her.
[Subordinates yearn for the grace of the great being]
I thrust my arm into the enclosure and dropped the planarian from the test tube into the water dish inside.
The ants stared at it blankly.
To them, who'd been witnessing this since awakening, it was utterly routine—something that had happened countless times before.
But how would it look to Seira, who was human?
"..."
Right now, Seira was huddled next to the ants on the ground, trembling violently.
Adjusting the camera angle, I could see her face—eyes squeezed shut—had gone deathly pale.
'Wasn't trying to scare her.'
Scratching my head, I closed the lid again.
No point in doing more here; it'd just shock her further, and there was no real need anyway.
[Asmora is bewildered by the appearance of this unfamiliar creature]
Instead, the ants sprang into action right away. Spotting the planarian wriggling in the water dish, they all just twitched their antennae.
The planarian was very different from the creatures they'd eaten before. The closest match might be the water striders.
"If we offer this to the queen, its frail body makes it hard to transport in our jaws."
Seira cautiously approached the water dish and swallowed dryly at the sight of the planarian, roughly her own size.
"It might be better to make a container."
[Asmora orders a container to be made]
'Their communication has gotten this natural?'
Surprisingly, Asmora seemed to roughly understand Seira's suggestion and directed the worker ants to quickly fashion a simple container from soil and secretions.
They placed the planarian in the container with some water, and the worker ants carried the whole thing to Asmora.
"...Heavens."
And before the stunned Seira, Asmora swallowed the planarian in one gulp.
[Asmora is satisfied with successfully devouring a new ability]
As expected, Asmora succeeded in devouring the planarian's ability.
How she used it from here was up to her.
[Asmora seeks to create a new propagation system]
And the effects began manifesting immediately.
Her eyes gleamed brighter than ever, as if she'd grasped some revelation.
[Asmora produces a new laying individual]
'What on earth is she planning? Did eating just one planarian grant her some groundbreaking ability to overhaul the system?'
With Second Queen Bellona modifying herself into a battle queen, Asmora was unrivaled in creating and evolving new individuals within the collective.
I watched tensely.
Until now, the system had been: Asmora designs genetic info, passes it via the hive core to laying individuals, who lay eggs, feed the larvae appropriately, and grow variants.
But true to her intent to change that, this time was different from past variant production.
Asmora writhed wildly, then gaping her mouth wide, vomited something out.
[The new laying individual begins self-growth. Asmora is reasonably satisfied with the power of this new individual, created with massive resources]
The black lump was grotesquely wriggling, slowly but surely increasing in size.
I was speechless at this impossible sight.
The mass began taking shape, resembling a massive larva—an unknown lifeform—twitching its body.
From the cell mass Asmora vomited to growing into a creature as huge as her took not a day—not even hours.
Utterly impossible under normal circumstances.
Massive amounts of special power—mana, demonic power, etc.—must have been invested.
Omnipotent Cell-1
The power of the hive core can now extend to the cellular level
This newly born entity wasn't a mere variant.
Like ability absorption through predation, it was a fruition of their racial trait: starting as ordinary ants and gradually evolving into new species.
[Subordinates feed massive amounts of food to the new laying individual. Asmora judges this ability too resource-intensive for anything but propagation, making it inefficient otherwise]
"Hah..."
The laying individual's body seemed mostly digestive organs.
Sucking in vast quantities of food, it soon began excreting black lumps from its rear—similar to when it was born from Asmora.
The worker ants hurriedly moved them to another chamber.
Those cell masses swelled rapidly, instantly forming massive pupae.
Having seen plenty before, I could guess what variants they'd become from their pupa shapes.
From small regular workers to massive heavy-armor ants—every type was there. Probably a test run, one of each kind.
Upon hatching, they'd be combat-ready adults, skipping the egg and larva stages entirely.
"With this, Belzahad will grow in numbers and strength. Under the great being's blessing..."
Seira, deeply shocked, collapsed to the ground with a dazed sigh.
"But now, this is the only path."
It didn't take long, though. She squeezed her eyes shut, then stood again.
Now, even Seira hoped the ants would grow faster.
Only then could she save even one more life.
[Asmora demands Seira hand over the power she possesses]
"Ri-right now, it's impossible. I've never even imagined such a thing, so I need more time to research, my queen."
Asmora appeared behind the panicked Seira, tapping her with an antenna to demand something.
Seira desperately shook her head.
'Asmora must be in a hurry too.'
I could guess what she was demanding and why Seira was flustered.
Asmora was coveting magic.
More precisely, 'new techniques' including magic—handling special inner energies like mana, demonic power, holy power, etc.
Those had tormented the ants most: orcs' fighting spirit, humans' magic, the church's holy power, and so on.
Moreover, the ants were hitting practical limits now.
Hunting and farming yielded finite resources, and efficiency improvements had maxed out.
The only breakthrough was new technology.
Just as Earth's humanity created artificial fertilizers and new energy sources to explosively grow their population.
"I'll... try to make one."
As Asmora demanded, Seira placed a hand on her chest and vowed to find a way.
That was exactly what I'd hoped from her.
If Seira truly succeeded, I'd support her just as generously as I did the ants with food.
[Divine Community Access]
'Maybe I can find some ideas too.'
While Asmora and Seira toiled at their research in their respective places...
I decided not to waste time idly but do something myself.
Fortunately, even for me with scant knowledge, there was an ocean of info.
Logging into the Divine Community—where deities across the universe chatted ceaselessly—I began studying info and data that were hard even to comprehend.
Hey, it's been ages since I last saw an evil god around here.
That was when someone sent me a private message.
It had been ages since my lower deity days, when I couldn't even reply to curses or pleas.