Chapter 94
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 94
Chapter Title: Great Leap (1)
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Asmora identifies the flaws in the ability, concluding that a new structure and body are needed to accommodate it.
The trait that Jin-hyuk had extracted for her was already a severely weakened, incomplete power burdened with massive risks, refined once before.
That was why, just as he had hoped, Asmora intended to layer her own abilities atop it—eliminating the drawbacks while maximizing the strengths.
She was confident that if it succeeded, the result would surpass the original by far.
Flawed structure, poor efficiency, and severe side effects.
Asmora first pinpointed what needed fixing.
Even for the ants, those were the very factors that had tormented William—they couldn't escape them unscathed.
'A new specimen is needed.'
Asmora decided to resolve the issue by creating a new special breed.
It was something she was already familiar with.
Instead of laying fully formed eggs like the old spawning bodies and raising them into larvae, she would rapidly produce cell masses condensed with nutrients from devoured prey: production bodies.
Heart synthesis worms, which Seira had pioneered, specialized in crafting mana hearts of varying outputs and forms.
Decomposition predator worms that generated nutrient solutions infused with internal energy—like mana, demonic power, and more—using their powerful digestive acids that dissolved anything.
All these were mutant breeds born after acquiring the new mana heart technology.
Asmora had experience elevating the entire hive's level by creating these special breeds with unique roles, distinct from the typical chimeras that simply blended and fused abilities from devoured creatures.
She could do the same this time.
'What the hell is that thing?'
Jin-hyuk let out a quiet gasp of admiration as he watched Asmora craft her latest mutant breed.
Outside the nest, just as she intended, it formed from rapidly dividing cells into a colossal body.
Swollen to its limits via mana hearts, it resembled a squid or octopus yanked from the sea.
Covered head to toe in mucus, riddled with unidentified orifices, tentacles extended and burrowed firmly into the ground.
It evoked Leviathan, which could balloon to whale size in water.
But Asmora had designed this breed to be anchored to the earth, stripping away all unnecessary organs, allowing it to grow to the size of a massive mansion.
"If this new breed fulfills its role, I believe we can generate vast amounts of nutrients from minimal magic stones."
Seira, attuned to Asmora's will through the hive mind, stuck out her tongue in awe upon learning the giant mutant's purpose.
After all, this breed existed solely to excise every flaw in the trait Asmora had received, amplifying its strengths to the utmost.
'Feed it magic stones?'
Jin-hyuk watched the worker ants haul the massive magic stones he'd supplied via the breeding pens toward the mutant.
Once the workers clambered atop its body with the stones, a muscular orifice lined with hard, beak-like teeth—reminiscent of a squid's maw—gaped wide, clamping down and pulverizing them.
Inside, the shattered stones were digested outright.
Through Asmora's newfound energy conversion ability, the immense mana within the stones blended with the vast water absorbed by the buried tentacles, transforming into nutrient solution.
This deluge poured from discharge ports, pooling into massive nutrient puddles across the area.
'If it produced this much nutrient solution in such a short time, how many troops will spawn from it?'
Jin-hyuk could easily calculate it.
The explosive potential when ants, long shackled by resource limits, began breaking free bit by bit.
'We can have even more.'
But as always, Asmora wasn't satisfied.
She instinctively knew the limits of her new power depended on how she wielded it.
Having succeeded in converting magic stone energy into nutrients, Asmora wonders if other things could be converted as well.
The ants, Asmora included, still knew little of the world. They didn't understand why the sun blazed hotter at midday than at night, or how plants sustained their massive forms without devouring prey.
Yet Asmora's greed outpaced such ignorance.
If even those unknown things could become hers, the hive would grow ever greater.
"Your Majesty, we can't produce the new fusion metamorphosis worms in the precarious Empire heartland right now."
Asmora planned to erect them across the nest to skyrocket production, but Seira spotted it and spoke up first.
The infiltration hive she led had seized most of the Empire's southern expanse, nests and numbers exploding unchecked—but interlopers from the south had arrived.
"Elves. They're not the elves we knew anymore."
Seira explained based on observations and battles with the encroaching elves.
Even she had been shocked at first; these elves wielded bizarre technology blending mana and machinery, long since rising as a powerhouse in the continent's south—far from the tales.
'Those bastards... Of all the deities, they had to get one with a tight lip. No wonder I didn't know.'
Jin-hyuk sighed as he listened to Seira.
Naturally, the elves' rapid advancement stemmed from a deity's aid.
But he knew little about them.
Their deity, unlike loquacious ones like Astragon, stayed mum in the community, content to watch like Jin-hyuk.
"With their small elf contingents backed by hordes of foreign troops pushing unknown tech beyond even magic, we should install fusion metamorphosis worms only in safe territories until we can gauge their full strength."
Asmora accepts Seira's opinion. Above all, she believes there's no need to expose the new breed's power to enemies yet.
The elves' civilization was novel beyond their borders, but to foes, the ants' heart synthesis worms and fusion metamorphosis worms were equally absurd bio-weapons.
Knowing the value of intel denial, Asmora withheld new breeds from the vulnerable infiltration hive.
The subordinates prepare for mass transport.
Instead, Asmora aimed to ship massive forces—explosively multiplied via stockpiled nutrients—deep into Empire territory.
"My god."
Those witnessing the colossal swarms surging from the ants' nests could only gape in horror.
Count Merlen, leading survivors in the old Holy Kingdom's southern lands, was no exception.
"Th-that's several times more than last time."
"If that many head in at once..."
Abandoning their tasks, the survivors gathered, shuddering at the ants marching en masse through the passages.
No one could face that endless black tide blanketing earth and sky without terror—not even those burning for revenge.
The ants funneled into Leviathan's maws, crossing the sea straight to Empire soil.
"D-detected! It's them!"
Of course, the Empire forces scoured the seas with every frontline unit, hunting transport Leviathans.
An Empire fleet, spotting disguised Leviathans gliding below via detection spells, hastily formed mana cannon batteries and opened fire.
Asmora orders an attack on the gathered foes.
If the Leviathans sped up or dove deeper, they could evade unscathed.
But Asmora refused.
Evasion only slowed transport and invited losses.
Time to smash the pesky Empire fleet outright.
"Argh!"
"The bastards are surfacing...!"
Leviathans breached en masse, armor plates parting to open passages.
From backs tougher than turtle shells—impervious to mana cannon fire—countless hornet ants rocketed skyward, wings buzzing.
Anticipating this, Asmora had packed transports with combat-ready flying mutants.
'They look so weak. At the barrier, they threw golems and weird magitech at us.'
Jin-hyuk watched Empire soldiers scream and plunge into the sea under hornet ants' slashing mandibles and claws, battleships holed by Tyrant stinger barrages. He questioned their feeble prowess.
The barrier still saw tense standoffs between ants probing gaps and Empire troops.
Compared to the rapid growth there, the Empire navy seemed unchanged from the past.
'Should've paid more attention to the seas...!!!'
Astragon, the root cause, clutched his head viewing the same feed as Jin-hyuk.
Astragon and the Lukadia Empire paid the price for lopsided tech growth.
Funded fields surged ahead; neglected ones stagnated, the discord their Achilles' heel.
The subordinates confirm total enemy annihilation.
Ants devoured even those in the sea via diving mutants like water beetles, pressing the operation.
Nothing remained but ownerless, half-sunk hulks adrift or sinking.
"Guardian, the human Empire says monsters massacred their fleet off the eastern coast and are landing, pushing inland."
"I never trusted those stupid humans anyway."
Right after Asmora smashed the Empire's coastal guard fleet.
The news spread across the Empire.
The elves purging ant nests and cleansing tainted soil in the south heard it too.
"It just means more prey to hunt."
Elf Belpein, clad in pristine white robes, didn't bat an eye at the report.
"The Great Spirit has provided all answers. We exterminate those monsters and claim dominion over this land."
His pureblood green eyes gleamed.
Before him, a colossal wooden giant—studded with intricate mana circuits and gears—hoisted a dead gale ant corpse, stuffing it into its gaping chest.
The war-beast-sized ant shredded inside, spilling out as transparent crystals.
Having realized combat ant variants held hefty internal energy, elves now extracted and repurposed it.
'Stable mana attuned to nature, volatile destructive demonic power, even some unknown force mixed in... Still, useful enough.'
The ants' power fused mana, demonic power, holy power—all absorbed energies—but the elves didn't care.
"Still... is it truly fine? Enslaving human Empire refugees—if word gets out."
"What's wrong with battlefield spoils? Without us, those incompetents would've lost everything to the monsters. They should be grateful we let them live."
Belpein's lips curled.
Beneath the wooden giant, ragged humans—not elves—scooped the spilled crystals.