Chapter 86
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Ruler of the Age (4)
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"...Is that true? Those monsters came from the sea?"
"Yes, sir. Reports say a massive sea monster spat out countless beasts from its mouth, and they're turning Bellun into a wasteland right now."
"This can't be happening."
Chancellor Schuber of the Lukadia Empire stared sharply at his agitated aide. Upon hearing the news, his eyes widened in shock.
The footage playing in the crystal orb his aide had brought clearly showed a rear coastal city being torn apart.
It was beyond imagination, but the black-exoskeletal monsters rampaging through the city were unmistakably their old nemeses, always lurking beyond the barrier.
"C-call a meeting at once. Summon every official!"
Schuber jumped up, berating the stunned people around him.
This was a dire crisis that could lead to catastrophic losses if mishandled.
"Sh-should we report to His Majesty as well?"
"...Do it. This is too big for the cabinet to handle alone."
As others rushed out in a panic, the aide hesitated at the mention of the emperor. Schuber sighed and nodded.
In the past, when the deity Astregon first took interest in this land and sparked the power struggle, the chosen one was the mage Schuber.
But Schuber was a mage and, at the same time, merely a servant.
To transform the entire empire into the heart of a great magical civilization as per Astregon's command, he needed the emperor's authority from the imperial family.
'Damn it, even this unnecessary, inefficient nonsense will end soon.'
Left alone, he bit his lip.
The previous emperor had been old and frail, but in his youth, he was a dignified sovereign feared by all—a major obstacle for Schuber.
The late emperor's eldest son, talented and beloved, had been the same.
For Astregon, Schuber had to turn the empire's citizens into subordinates, ultimately eliminating both the previous emperor and the crown prince.
Yet even after removing the emperor and heir, Schuber couldn't ascend the throne himself.
At that time, Astregon's followers were still a minority, and Schuber's own power was weak.
To avoid being branded a traitor and executed, the best option had been to install a new puppet emperor and seize power as regent.
"It's been a while."
"Your Majesty, forgive us for the lack of proper etiquette amid this urgent crisis."
Heading to the council chamber, Schuber bowed to someone who arrived at the same time.
The boy wore the crown denoting the emperor, but he was so young that even the robust Schuber towered over him. His name was Karian.
Naturally, Karian's gaze toward Schuber, despite his stiff greeting, was far from friendly. Young as he was, he knew what Schuber was and what he wanted.
From Karian's perspective, Schuber—who sought to offer the entire empire as a tool to Astregon—could strike him down and topple the imperial family at any moment, leaving him in constant fear.
"I never imagined demons crossing the sea. They must have come from the fallen old Karmion Kingdom."
Of course, there was no time for subtle power plays between emperor and chancellor right now.
Everyone gathered had seen the footage Schuber showed and was horrified.
The ants' combat prowess, rampaging without the barrier's protection, was beyond imagination.
They had firmly believed the sea's natural barrier would hold, but that faith had been betrayed.
"Wh-what should we do? If we pull the soldiers from the barrier right now..."
"Even then, it would take time. Some sacrifices are inevitable at this point."
Schuber spoke in a heavy voice, eyes fixed on the holographic map, as the wary interior minister voiced his concern.
Complacency. That had been the biggest mistake. No one had expected the ants to cross the sea.
Moreover, the empire's magical civilization was distorted and lopsided.
War magic, golem engineering, and magic stone processing—fields Astregon had heavily invested in against the ants—were generations ahead. Other areas had stagnated unchanged.
"There are places we must protect at all costs, for the future of our great magitech empire."
Schuber pointed to several spots near the invaded Bellun.
Magic stone mines, ruins yielding ancient magic and artifacts, and magic research labs—vital even if not on par with Arcanium Zero.
He insisted on deploying all available forces to defend them first.
"W-wait a minute. You're saying we'll abandon the nearby cities and villages to protect those first?"
Karian stared at him in disbelief.
"We need to evacuate and save as many as possible! You said the Belzahard monsters slaughter without regard for age or gender. You're just going to leave them to die?"
"Your Majesty, sometimes sacrifices are necessary. As you say, to confront these horrific demons, we need even more advanced magic. Fail to protect them now, and tenfold more will die later."
Their opinions clashed.
Though a mere puppet, Karian had vowed to be a just emperor like his father and brother. He couldn't accept Schuber's willingness to sacrifice masses for mines and ruins.
"Ahem, Your Majesty. The chancellor's words seem right."
"We might hold at the walls, but the mines must be protected."
The problem was that the room was filled only with Schuber's loyalists.
As ministers began siding with Schuber one by one, Karian's face paled.
'They're all mad. They serve magic, not the imperial family or the empire.'
Realizing the truth, Karian bowed his head.
He didn't even know of the deity Astregon behind Schuber, but he already sensed that immense presence.
"Homage to the emperor of the Lukadia Empire! Send out this decree bearing His Majesty's command at once!"
In the end, Schuber obtained the decree with Karian's powerless seal.
Deep in the palace, the young emperor never once asserted his own will.
True to his puppet role, he merely stamped predetermined answers.
"Evacuate now!"
"Abandon the fight. Those monsters are demons!"
[Asmodra is pleased with the success of the plan]
As the urgent decree left the palace and spread via communication magic in all directions...
The ants had already neutralized Bellun's defenses and were laying waste to the city interior.
They mercilessly killed anyone resisting or interfering, regardless of age or gender.
Astregon's mage subordinates, in particular, were relentlessly pursued and thoroughly eliminated.
"N-nooo!!!"
In the midst of the city, screams and shouts echoing everywhere, a mage ensnared by a spider ant's web and dragged away shrieked.
Pierced instantly by sharp venomous fangs, the mage died on the spot, wrapped in silk. Beside him, the knight fighting back had his helmeted head crushed by a carnivorous ant's massive jaws.
This chaotic melee was exactly what the ants wanted.
Unlike human soldiers, who struggled without proper command, the ants shared senses and information in real-time, moving as one.
"Ugh..."
In a dark alley.
A slum boy, dropping his weapon after seeing resistors devoured without mercy, collapsed while clutching his younger sister's hand.
The ants pursuing them by scaling walls instead of cluttered ground paused, twitching their antennae toward the pair.
'A-are we saved?'
The ants then turned and left for elsewhere.
They had mechanically torn humans apart until moments ago but spared the now-harmless siblings.
The siblings guessed the monsters deemed them worthless, emaciated slum dwellers with no meat. But that wasn't it.
This was the first directive from their governing entity.
[Asmodra will try using a technique learned from the nomadic horde]
Of course, it wasn't entirely wrong that they had little to offer.
The ants began piling hunted prey from all directions in the ruined central plaza.
Toward that mountain of corpses, several massive variants appeared.
Taiyurants created by the nomadic horde's queen, Bellona: Decomposer-Feeder Bugs.
The decomposer-feeder bugs spewed vast digestive fluids from their bodies, melting the organic pile completely.
Worker ants then stored the resulting nutrient slurry until their abdomens swelled, feeding it to combat units as needed.
"This way, we can keep moving without building a nest."
Seira murmured softly upon seeing it.
Asmodra had no intention of ending this raid as a mere hit-and-run.
The plan was to shatter the empire's rear completely and, if needed, establish a new nest to collapse their barrier defenses from within.
[Asmodra issues a movement order to the troops]
Those who could flee did; those to kill were slain and turned to slurry.
Magic-related facilities were destroyed, armories doused in acidic venom to ruin equipment.
Having thoroughly wrecked the city, the ants moved out again.
"Nearby is the Karuzal Mine, a magic stone quarry. Useless to us under the Great One's blessing, but a lifeline to the enemy."
Their target now wasn't a city teeming with hundreds of thousands, but a massive nearby magic stone mine.
This came from Seira's knowledge. She proposed the mine raid; Asmodra approved.
Now Asmodra knew too.
What mattered most to their current foes.
Thus, they moved to destroy it first.
[Asmodra deploys some troops to raid the city]
But Asmodra didn't stop there, taking it one step further.
Attack the city to pin down imperial forces.
Asmodra already understood humans: unlike ants, who bred and died swiftly as part of the horde, each individual was precious.
Thus, raiding a major city would draw imperial troops to defend it, naturally weakening mine defenses. That's what Asmodra would do if commanding humans.
The ant queen grasped better than anyone that, to humans, nothing was more precious than 'human lives.'
'Will it work like that?'
'If it really does...'
Jin-hyuk and Seira, aware of the plan, weren't so sure.
Humans weren't as ruthlessly efficient or calculating as Asmodra.
Only time would tell.