Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Deception (3)
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"Good heavens, the dwarves of the Great Mountain Range."
Radan couldn't help but exclaim in awe.
To the people of this land, the dwarves who dwelled in the Great Mountain Range were a race as mysterious as the orcs of the plains—creatures straight out of ancient legends.
A diminutive but sturdy folk, possessed of unyielding strength.
They were notoriously insular and conservative, keeping to their own kind and refusing any involvement in the outside world, let alone diplomacy.
Yet here they were now, approaching in full gleaming plate armor, armed to the teeth.
"Order the artillery to keep firing. Just as the Earth God foretold, it seems a single hit won't be enough."
The dwarves bombarded the ants from afar with cannons of various calibers.
The barrage included everything from pure iron shot devoid of any special power to enchanted shells infused with shamanic might.
The ants, who had seized the advantage by attacking both the warring orcs and humans indiscriminately, could not withstand the onslaught.
Their thick exoskeletons—continuously upgraded through devouring crustacean shells, vertebrate bones, and more—shattered helplessly, along with their fragile legs, when struck.
Bellona is astonished by the enemies' new weapons.
"Cannons?!"
Queen Bellona, watching the scene, was stunned—as was Jin-hyuk.
It was the kind of thing one rarely saw even back in his world.
"That should suffice. Send out the guardians!"
At the command of the dwarven general leading the unit, the artillery ceased fire, and the dwarves' heavily armored infantry leveled their spears in unison, advancing on the ants.
"What about the humans... and those orcs?"
"If they try anything foolish, kill them on the spot. Otherwise, leave the humans be for now and capture the orcs."
The dumbfounded soldiers of the Skalen Duchy and the surviving orcs could only stand frozen, watching the spectacle unfold.
But even appearing as saviors didn't make the dwarves their allies.
The duchy soldiers, still unclaimed by any deity, might be spared for the moment—but the orcs under Urmark's banner were ultimately subordinates of a rival god.
Bellona orders her forces to retreat.
A new hostile force composed of an unfamiliar race, dragging along unprecedented weapons.
Bellona felt intrigue but boldly withdrew her frontline troops regardless.
Unlike Asmora, she preferred not drawn-out wars of attrition but decisive clashes of raw power—and she always tried to preserve her valuable soldiers whenever possible.
It was the instinct of a nomadic swarm, unlike vast hive collectives that expanded through countless nests.
'The dwarves have defeated the demons with their wondrous weapons.'
Radan stared blankly at the retreating ants.
To a local unaware of the full story, no scene could be more dramatically timed.
Bellona is flustered by the arrival of enemies wielding new weapons. Conquering them would require immense sacrifices, but she deems such losses inefficient.
Asmora shows interest in the new enemies.
The dwarven force descending from the Great Mountain Range was a true wildcard.
Bellona's nomadic swarm, which had profited handsomely by preying on orcs and humans alike, couldn't easily engage these novel foes.
The collective had zero data on them.
"...To unleash such power without relying on magic."
Naturally, all this intelligence was shared in real-time through the hive mind linking every ant.
Seira Redenverk, still lurking in Arconia Zero and siphoning data, caught it amid the tangled thoughts of Queens Bellona and Asmora.
The dwarves' cannons were a fresh shock even to her mage's eyes.
Asmora judges that the swarm cannot match that firepower with its current capabilities.
It felt similar to facing the Lukadia Empire's advanced magitech civilization.
Asmora, who had evolved the swarm around her unique strengths, judged coldly: they couldn't win with their present power.
'The limits... of being living creatures.'
Jin-hyuk sighed softly upon seeing it.
No matter how many new materials he supplied or how many abilities Asmora devoured and hybridized into variants.
There were ultimate limits to size and structural endurance.
This was the inherent drawback of a force composed almost entirely of living beings, unlike their enemies' civilizations.
They had pushed beyond those bounds somewhat by absorbing mana, Demonic Power, and other special energies—but now they had reached the end.
It meant the entire species needed a major event to elevate its tier, something he'd sensed for some time.
"...I'll handle it. I've finally grasped the key."
To that end, Seira—who had infiltrated enemy territory from the start—had confirmed everything she could and finished her preparations.
'Staying longer would surely yield more knowledge and gains. It's a shame, but...'
Seira glanced around Arconia Zero, where she'd spent mere days.
Under the guidance of the deity Astregon, whose seat was this pinnacle of magitech, it was a place to drive any mage mad with envy.
'But I must return. To where I belong.'
Still, she knew she had to leave.
She alone could weaponize the swarm's acquired knowledge into powers tailored perfectly for ants.
Helping the ants grow while they crushed all other deities and conquered everything.
That was her newly embraced mission—to save as many lives as possible on this land.
'She's planning to blow up Arconia Zero.'
Jin-hyuk watched her subsequent covert actions in admiration.
Having precisely extracted what she wanted, she nonchalantly scouted vulnerabilities throughout the facility, etching explosive spells into them.
The complacency from potent outer high-tier wards, deeming it the empire's most secure secret.
And the fact that the interior facilities were mere mundane stonework and carpentry.
All combined to make her internal sabotage devastatingly effective.
"Wh-what is happening?!"
"Fire! Extinguish it, quickly!"
"The emergency exit has collapsed..."
The simultaneous blasts crippled the vast underground complex in an instant, plunging it into chaos.
Even the stored research data and materials she'd targeted went up in smoke.
A lethal terror attack that would set the empire's technological progress back months at least.
"This absurd... Aaaargh!!!"
The deity Astregon couldn't help but scream.
He hadn't detected Seira's infiltration deep inside, so this inexplicable disaster struck as a fatal blow.
"It's hard to explain in words, but we'll process mana stones using far more efficient and advanced stonecrafting techniques. We'll create artificial organs implantable only in Belzahad's bodies."
"...Is that truly feasible?"
"More than enough. It may be hard to believe, but someday the empire will attempt implanting such organs into human bodies as well. Believing it the path to true evolution."
After leaving the Lukadia Empire in ruins, Seira returned to the old holy kingdom's lands and explained to Count Merlen—her selected assistant—what she'd witnessed.
Among it was the tale of the "new humanity," a fusion of man and magic she aimed to preempt.
"The resulting new humanity would wield several times the strength and evolved mana of current humans."
"Impossible..."
"But their purpose isn't peace or happiness for the new humans. Merely cannon fodder for another of the deities' wars."
Another reason Seira sided with the ants: she'd learned that other deities, too, obsessed over war and rivalry to expand domains and swell subordinate ranks.
Some might genuinely nurture their followers with warm benevolence, but the gods invading Edellion as new frontier were absolutely not that sort.
'Better Belzahad conquers the world. If they expel all deities and depart for another realm... survivors here can start anew.'
Steeling her convictions, Seira took a deep breath and eyed the materials before her.
Magical experiment tools, test mana stones, and even worker ants as guinea pigs to trial implantation.
"Let's begin."
Seeing the worker ants dutifully climb onto the bench, expose their bellies, and lie supine, Seira picked up a sharp engraving tool.
Asmora observes and memorizes Seira's every action.
Her glowing red eye ablaze, channeling the hive mind's full power, Seira could now accomplish the work of dozens of mages single-handedly.
Asmora watched intently.
Should Seira's research succeed, it would benefit the entire swarm—and entrusting such vital work to one individual was inefficient.
Asmora believed she or a new variant could specialize in it, proliferating the role effortlessly across the collective.
'Valid thinking, but that would render Seira obsolete again.'
Jin-hyuk smirked bitterly at Asmora's intercepted thoughts.
To her, service to the swarm was axiomatic—no rewards, no sentiments.
Queens discarded even great contributors the moment they became expendable.
Yet Seira was too valuable a talent to lose, in Jin-hyuk's eyes.
Forcing her into peril after her feats might demoralize or terrify her, harming the swarm too.
Designated Subordinate Appointment: Assign a specific subordinate to exclusively channel the deity's will.
For that, he'd prepared one deity function in advance.
His decision, deeming her essential for the ants' advancement.
"And as expected, we'll need a lot more mana stones."
He then checked a text on his phone from Hunter Company Hankol's president, requesting a meeting with the new 'proxy'.