Chapter 95
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: Great Leap (2)
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‘I want to learn more about the elves...’
Kim Jin-hyuk sank into deep thought.
Thanks to the deities in the Divine Community who had mistaken him and his ants for system outsiders and blabbed nonstop about it, he had gathered plenty of information without much trouble.
But the elven deities rarely showed up in the community.
Edelion was a place where free competition was guaranteed from the start, so there was no real need for them to share info through a community anyway.
ㄴShow yourselves right now! They're not just capturing the subordinates of outer gods—they're brazenly snatching mine too!?
Even when Astragon openly vented his rage after witnessing elves enslaving citizens of the Lucadia Empire, nothing changed.
"We need more information on the elves."
The silver lining was that now, within the ant collective, there was an existence that not only understood Jin-hyuk's will but shared similar thought processes.
Seira also wanted to know more about the elves, so she had mobilized the ants to capture prisoners for intel.
"Through the scouts' eyes, we've confirmed that the elves are exploiting southern immigrant races as their underlings."
Seira selected her targets based on the intel shared through the hive mind.
Among the massive force that had crossed the border, the ones who could pass for elves were actually a tiny minority.
Most were humans from tribes and nations in the southern continent.
There were even southern orcs with green skin, and some that looked like goblins.
Those were the ones Seira aimed for.
Unlike the elves, who were heavily armed and stationed safely in the rear, these frontline grunts were the ones breaking trails, scouting, handling construction—taking on all the dangerous, grueling work.
Asmora directs the assault.
Upon hearing Seira's words, Asmora's soldiers surged forward, crossing treacherous forest paths in a flash.
There, a group of humans was digging up the earth, paving a road wide enough for a grand army.
"A-ambush!"
The ants, having already pinpointed their position via scouts, struck without hesitation.
Leaping ants bounded in before they could react, shattering their formation. Blade-wing ants and predator ants followed, clamping down with jaws and smashing with forelimbs.
The humans tried to fight back with their weapons, but sturdy, unyielding mandibles tore into them, crumpling armor and spraying blood.
"Arghhh!"
In the chaos, spider ants fired tentacles from their abdomens at designated targets.
The tentacles split and coiled on contact, binding their victim: the burly-eyed leader who had been barking orders and overseeing the rest.
He thrashed wildly, but as his comrades were butchered and bled out around him, he was dragged kicking and screaming before the vicious-looking ants.
"Guhk."
Unlike when he was urging his subordinates from his command post, he now cut a pathetic figure, tossed alone onto the ground at the nearest ant nest.
"Ugh..."
Coughing in the thick, choking poison gas that even a sturdy knight would struggle to breathe in, he huddled in terror, utterly immobilized by his bindings.
He couldn't even guess why the ants weren't killing him outright.
All he knew of ants came from elven rumors: demons that devoured people alive and sought to destroy the world.
And the recent assault had gruesomely confirmed it by slaughtering his comrades.
"...Huh?"
Then, through the poison mist, someone approached with heavy footsteps.
Red-glowing eyes amid a swarm of countless ants, her body clad in similar black exoskeleton—but her form was distinctly different.
The curvaceous figure and long silver hair made it clear she was female, even to him.
He hadn't heard of Seira, so his eyes shook wildly in confusion.
"P-please... spare me."
Despite his bound, awkward body, he crawled instinctively toward Seira, begging.
Unlike the ants, who seemed incapable of speech or reason, she looked somewhat human—maybe she'd show mercy.
Asmora decides to use ant thorns for rapid information extraction.
"..."
But contrary to his hopes, Seira didn't interrogate him with words.
She simply gazed down at him through her mask, then opened her palm to produce an approved variant from the queen.
"N-no! Nooooo!!!!"
A massive, wriggling parasitic worm emerged from her hand, and he screamed in instinctive horror at its repulsive form.
‘While we grew in our own roles, the elves did the same with their deity's aid, rapidly expanding from the heart of the Great Primeval Forest. They call that deity, which they believe resides in the World Tree, the Great Ancient Spirit.’
"The new techniques they learned from that spirit represent an evolution of spirits and magic into mechanical constructs—they call it Myriad Machine Arts."
Seira shared the knowledge she had gleaned through prayer for Jin-hyuk.
"Urk... guuuuhh..."
The captured scout captain, Ardin, writhed now, blood pouring from every orifice.
The ant thorn ravaging his insides had seized his nervous system and organs per Asmora's command, linking part of his consciousness to the hive mind to extract flawless, unlieable truth.
Similar to Seira's first infestation, but while she had preserved her ego through compatibility and Jin-hyuk's blessing, Ardin's mind shattered in real time as his brain was torn apart.
"His homeland is the southern Vanest Kingdom. Originally a knight there, he volunteered as the elves' vanguard after they conquered it, becoming the deputy captain of the 3rd Scout Unit."
‘Of course. They're building power inside the Great Primeval Forest, then methodically conquering neighbors outward.’
The elves reborn as the deity's subordinates had become the polar opposite of their known image.
No longer noble, peace-loving guardians devoted to preserving traditions and their sacred homeland—they were conquerors bent on expansion and dominion, subjugating the world beneath their feet.
"Kch..."
Jin-hyuk smacked his lips unconsciously upon hearing the truth.
Not that anyone would get the slur he knew anyway.
"The elves are currently deploying two legions to intervene in events within the Empire, but they're now redirecting their expansion northward."
Having conquered and absorbed multiple powers, the elves ruled their subjects while plotting further conquests.
All the stronger southern continent forces had already fallen to the elves centered on the Great Primeval Forest.
Next up: the Lucadia Empire to the north.
"What's your name."
"A...rdin.."
"This man Ardin and most colonial subjects are already collaborating with the elves."
Seira sighed, eyeing Ardin's state.
His eyes rolled back, veins bulging as he convulsed— a clear brand marked his shoulder.
Not a slave mark.
Centered on a tiny mana stone embedded in his flesh, it was a bio-fusion technique, one of the elven arts of life modification.
Thanks to it, Ardin wielded greater power than before.
Not a few coveted that strength and pledged loyalty voluntarily. They had all become the deity's subordinates.
Seira let out a small sigh. As long as they served the deity, the ants had to kill them.
Asmora shows interest in the elves' power.
And as everyone pondered in silence...
Greed ignited, Asmora fixated elsewhere: the elves' technology.
‘More... more knowledge.’
Asmora molts.
In the breeding chamber, Asmora pressed mouths to endless rows of worker ants.
The workers pumped endless nutrient fluid into her body.
She no longer needed to hold back for the collective's sake.
With Jin-hyuk's aid perfecting the fusion metamorphosis worm design and securing vast nutrients via mana stones, Asmora invested heavily in herself.
To trigger her evolution.
Absorbing the immense inner power in the nutrient fluid, Asmora achieved explosive growth once more, shattering her limits.
Bloodline Adjustment Lv.7: Can regulate produced individuals and create new castes using retained info from predation.
Universal Cells Lv.3: Hive mind influence now extends to the cellular level.
Energy Conversion Formula Lv.3: Converts absorbed energy into other types.
Her growth meant stronger abilities.
And the first thing the empowered Asmora did was massively expand her brain.
Combining abilities from every lifeform devoured and absorbed thus far, transcending limits with the aid of inner power.
‘The brain's gotten bigger.’
Jin-hyuk marveled softly at the tentacle-linked organ, now over twice its former size.
‘But what's the performance of a brain like that?’
Size wasn't everything.
Processing speed, cellular efficiency, optimized structure—that mattered.
And what this unprecedented brain would accept, learn, and achieve going forward.
That was Jin-hyuk's top concern.
Subordinates are preparing for the decisive battle.
Having grasped the elves' nature, Asmora mobilized her northern legion instead.
Their role was to pin down the Empire's barrier defenders, preventing movement— no need to fight, yet.
‘Now confident they can win, huh.’
Jin-hyuk was certain Asmora's advanced brain had run the calculations.
The Empire had been battered inside and out, after all.
No matter how vast, constant turmoil crippled any proper fight.
"They're coming...! This time it's different!"
"Report this now!"
The Empire's barrier troops recoiled in true shock at the massive ant horde approaching.
With southern reinforcements dwindling and internal chaos rampant, this was a fatal blow.
"...We'll proceed as planned, avoiding clashes with the elves at all costs."
Meanwhile, those in the imperial south embroiled with elves followed Seira's orders, dragging out time without engaging.
Facing the longstanding foe Lucadia Empire and the new elven threat, Asmora chose to crush the Empire first.
‘The sacrifices will mount.’
Seira watched solemnly as ants abandoned the nest, carrying pupae and nutrient fluid on the march.