Chapter 85
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Ruler of the Era (3)
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"This is that thing they poured their hearts into at Arcania Zero..."
"The latest model of automatic golem equipped with magic-engineered gloves. Our empire's golem engineering has already reached this level. Those monster bastards don't stand a chance against this golem."
The imperial troops gathered at the barrier let out gasps of admiration as they spotted the massive figure lumbering toward them from afar with resounding thuds.
A mage who hadn't even landed a job at the central research facility but was stuck as a lowly barrier mage puffed up with pride, excitedly explaining the golem to the soldiers and knights around him.
"Word is the barrier near Rudin Fortress got overrun by even bigger monsters. But that won't happen here, right? Because we've got that bad boy."
As the mage boasted proudly, the massive golem was indeed a product of cutting-edge technology, a generation ahead of any that had appeared before.
Its body was mostly constructed from metal, with intricate spell circuits engraved into the metal plates, giving it the appearance of a gigantic living armor.
On top of that, it could autonomously cast certain spells through the engraved incantations.
'A third-generation all-weather combat golem. It doesn't belong in that primitive land! Damn it, how many resources and man-hours went into just making one of these? And we've got so much other work piling up.'
To counter the ants' new variant, the Tyrant, Astragon had opted for even more advanced golem engineering. He stared at the screen with an anxious expression.
He had heavily depleted his interference power just to impart more knowledge to his subordinates.
If even this choice missed the mark, he'd bear the disgrace of failing despite subjugating the strongest force east of Edellion.
For him, who had been strutting around the community forums while pushing his conquest, that was utterly unacceptable.
"...But where are the Belzahads?"
However, the bolstered imperial forces stared blankly beyond the desolate barrier, murmuring to themselves.
The ants, who had been marching grandly with their new variants as if ready to overrun the barrier at any moment, were nowhere to be seen near it now—not even a hint.
"Are those the new variants?"
I let out a small sigh of admiration at the variants appearing on the screen.
Asmodah's mana heart-processed entity, the Heart Alchemy Worm, Bellona's mana heart-processed hive-type Reforging Worm, and so on—the ants were already evolving beyond mere chimeric syntheses, transcending forms and limits.
The new variants were no different.
A colossal creature that didn't even resemble an ant, covered in scales like a massive fish or eel.
The tentacles sprouting from its midsection were probably borrowed from squid.
Asmodah had aptly blended abilities and forms from various devoured lifeforms to recreate this being, and its size dwarfed even the Heavy Armored Ant Tyrant, the largest until now.
Aquatic lifeforms could grow far larger than land ones to begin with.
Plus, using mana hearts, it had actualized combinations that seemed impossible. Could even the blue whale, the largest of whales, compare to these?
"Heavens! How could such a monster..."
"A beast from myth...! The wrath of the sea!"
And I wasn't the only one watching them.
The survivors of the old Holy Kingdom, huddled along the coastline, gasped and buzzed in awe at the enormous creatures crossing the ocean.
'Have they adapted quite a bit by now?'
I couldn't quite bring myself to smile as I watched them.
Having begun their strange coexistence with the ants, they seemed accustomed enough now, swiftly adapting to the new order.
Of course, some still burned with vengeance against the ants, while others continued to fear them as evil demons.
But in the end, refusal to adapt meant death.
The ants ignored the survivors solely due to Asmodah's orders, honoring my will.
To the ants, humans remained mere prey.
I didn't expect the fundamentally alien ants to truly understand or pity them anyway.
As long as they obeyed my word, that was enough.
"I was wondering how they'd cross the sea, but this..."
"As time passes, we realize more and more—there are no limits to what we can do."
And the biggest other factor: Seira.
I turned my gaze to Seira, who was speaking with Count Merlen, the de facto leader of the survivor group.
The Holy Kingdom's remnants could maintain their civilization on the peninsula's south without further destruction because Seira had stepped in to persuade them and mediate with the ants.
'She's gained quite a few genuine supporters too.'
Those who saw no path to resist the ants desperately needed justification, so the goddess and Holy Kingdom that had clashed with them became the ultimate villains in their eyes.
Now, conversely, they believed the ants were purifying the world and revered Seira—who appeared to command them—as a saint.
It was a truly bizarre sight to behold.
"So there's no need to worry even if Belzahad's soldiers pass through this land. They've only come here to quietly cross the sea."
Standing before the people without her mask, Seira pointed to the countless ants pouring down in perfect formation and ranks, reassuring them.
In truth, the ants neatly ignored the survivors gawking at them, their fields, livestock pens, and all, marching straight to the beach and clambering one by one into the gaping maws of the transport beasts that had surfaced along the shore.
'Ultra-giant transport vessels: Leviathans.'
The locals, Seira included, called these new variants—named after legendary sea monsters—the Wrath of the Sea.
The Leviathans began submerging once more, each carrying anywhere from dozens to hundreds of troops inside.
The ants inside would enter full hibernation, severing even their hive consciousness to conserve energy until reaching the other side.
The moment they reactivated, they'd burst from the bellies and turn the empire's coastline into a wasteland.
"You heading out too?"
"Her Majesty commanded it personally. Said that if I go to the empire, I might steal some new magic tech."
"...She thinks that far ahead?"
Seira's silver hair fluttered as she bid Count Merlen farewell and walked toward the Leviathan's maw of her own accord.
The final Leviathan swallowed her aboard its tongue and submerged. Soon after, I switched screens.
It probably wouldn't even take a full day to cross the sea.
Then, Seira and the ants—who had received tearful send-offs from their followers on the beach—would become harbingers of terror on foreign soil, unleashing merciless destruction and slaughter.
[Asmodah detects the empire's ships]
In case of any mishap, Asmodah hadn't even deployed scout troops.
To begin with, winged scouts couldn't fly over the open ocean.
Instead, she had created small variants resembling water beetles, specialized for sea operations, and scattered them as scouts.
'No fighting. We're here for a sneak attack.'
Just three warships, by the look of them. She could smash them in an instant if she wanted, but if word got back to the mainland, the surprise operation would fail.
[Asmodah chooses to bypass]
Thankfully, without needing my warning, Asmodah naturally veered the Leviathans' course.
At the same time, abilities from chameleons and cuttlefish activated.
The colossal bodies stealthily shifted, perfectly blending into the dim underwater environment.
The empire's warships floating on the surface failed to detect the herd of behemoths passing beneath.
Thus, the Lukadia Empire squandered its final chance.
"...What the?"
Fishermen on fishing boats, leisurely operating under the delusion that this vast sea belonged to them, panicked at the sudden disappearance of all fish.
The fish hadn't evaporated.
They had simply fled, sensing an instinctive peril.
The Leviathans approaching the empire's coastal city of Bellun—with its large harbor—dropped their stealth and accelerated.
[Asmodah orders the flying types to launch]
The Leviathans surfaced, their backs—armored like turtle shells—splitting wide open.
Through the resulting passages, hornet ants and dragon ants awakened from hibernation clambered up, unfurled their folded wings in unison, and soared into the sky.
"E-emergency...! Emergency! Monsters from the sea!!!"
Only then did realization dawn, sending people into panic as they desperately rang alarm bells and sounded warnings.
But the empire's rear guard, having sent most of its elite forces to the barrier, stood no chance against this unprecedented ant assault.
Knight and soldiers alike were pierced by hornet ants' venom stings, or seized by the long, sturdy legs of dragon ants—five or six at a time—and hurled from the skies to the ground below.
Feeble barriers were breached by Tyrants' aerial venom barrages mid-flight, and venom pot ants, lobbed into the fray, self-detonated, their poison blooming like smoke.
[Asmodah sneers at the enemies' pathetic combat prowess]
'Of course. They can't share experiences and information like you do.'
Even those fighting at the barrier were learning how to combat the ants' various types.
Like Seira had done, countless scholars at Arcania Zero were endlessly researching and investigating the ants.
The problem was that disseminating and teaching that accumulated knowledge across the vast land and populace took far too much time.
Of course, it was just that the ants were too fast.
Right now, they were sharing information and experiences among themselves, moving as one unified body.
"O Queen, please spare the weak and cowardly who offer no resistance this time as well. This is the will of the Great Existence!"
[Asmodah snaps that she no longer needs such trivial fodder]
The battle's outcome along the coast was all but decided the moment the ambush succeeded.
Knowing this, Seira had once again requested Asmodah to halt the indiscriminate slaughter—and received approval.
It wasn't out of Asmodah's mercy.
It aligned with my will, but more importantly, she now craved far more than mere human bodies.
"...To minimize harm to innocents, we have no choice but to swiftly neutralize the enemy forces."
"I'll fight too."
Receiving my will, Seira donned her mask and waited at the beach for a Leviathan to open its maw.
As the Leviathans gaped in unison, Seira and the ground forces poured out onto the beach, launching assaults on the city already ravaged by the aerial onslaught.
Bellun's defenses were so woefully inadequate that even the chaotic strikes from a mere few dozen flying types had crippled them.
Now, with thousands of ants swarming forth, the city was already falling in my eyes—lightning bursting from the staff Seira raised skyward amid the collapse.