Chapter 97
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: The Price of Choice (1)
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'Why a barrier of all things?'
The Tyrants unfurled their barriers in unison, shifting the flow of the battlefield.
The moment the artillery and knights' personal weapons proved useless against them, cracks formed in the enemy lines. Seizing the opening amid the Imperial Army's panic, the ants burrowed in deep. Fierce combat erupted along the barricade at last, felling countless imperial soldiers who had held firm until now.
Jin-hyuk watched the ants' latest breakthrough through the screen, a natural question arising in his mind.
Why had Asmora chosen a barrier as the first technique to imitate?
"...I see. Protective barrier spells have an extremely simple and intuitive structure."
Seira, harboring the same doubt, grasped the reason.
The biggest factor was that they were the easiest spells to mimic.
In a situation still requiring more experiments and preparation, the simplest structure was the priority for a demonstration.
Barrier spells—merely emitting energy and sustaining it as a wall to block enemy attacks—were that straightforward to replicate.
"Plus, it neutralizes the enemy's most powerful weapons."
Moreover, the barriers enveloping the Tyrants were calibrated precisely to withstand the firepower of the Imperial Army's main arsenal.
Magic cannons fired by mages, mana pulse rifles wielded by regular troops, knights' personal spellcasters—
All had been shattering the ants' exoskeletons, which were growing numb to ordinary cold steel, and inflicting massive damage.
Asmora had crafted barriers strong enough to endure them, deploying the Tyrants as vanguards to shatter the enemy formation.
"Abandon Sector 3, Sector 2, and Sector 4's first barricade! Everyone, fall back to the second barricade and hold the line!"
As the sun fully set and darkness enveloped the field—
The ants that had finally breached the barricade poured in, chasing the panicked Imperial Army.
Each time the Tyrants rampaged, their barriers glowing deep blue in the gloom, screams and shouts echoed.
Friendly fire claimed numerous victims as well.
At Supreme Commander Duke Alserion's frantic order, his ashen face a mask of terror, the routed imperials scrambled to the second barricade, barely saving their skins.
"How could this happen..."
Soon after, Alserion collapsed to his knees.
The instant the ants began mimicking their magic, their technological edge—one of their strongest weapons—had turned into a fatal weakness.
Worse still, morale had plummeted. That was the gravest issue.
It was the cost of Astregon's propaganda, rallying and controlling the masses with tales of advanced magitech civilization.
[Asmora confirms that the enemies' morale has broken]
Though they hadn't breached the second barricade, Asmora took satisfaction from destroying the first and its facilities, confirming the imperials' broken spirits through frontline reports.
The Tyrants' barriers, still gleaming from all directions in the murky dark, were more than enough to instill terror in the imperial troops.
'No way she calculated this far ahead.'
Barriers had a strong visual impact too.
Jin-hyuk shuddered, wondering if Asmora had deliberately showcased them to crush enemy morale.
Her advanced learning wasn't limited to magic.
Asmora's comprehension of her foes—humans—had also soared beyond compare.
"Impossible! Those monsters used magic?!"
"We don't even know if it's magic—it's some freakish power!"
The imperial capital erupted in chaos.
The trusted northern front had fallen. Not entirely, but part of the first barricade was lost.
Without the barely completed second barricade, the line would have collapsed entirely, unleashing hordes of ants into the heartland.
Shuver, the Foreign Minister, trembled violently at the report.
The north—precisely, the barricade—could not afford defeat.
It was where the empire had poured every resource at Astregon's behest.
In mere months, expenditures had dwarfed a full year's treasury—shattering the wealth accumulated over years.
Manpower included rotation shifts of low-level laborers building roads and facilities for gear and troops—tens of millions across the empire.
Arka in Zero, the massive research hub consolidating the empire's talents and knowledge to study Astregon's teachings, and the barricade concentrating all forces.
Those two embodied the current Lukadia Empire and Deity Astregon.
"His Divinity..."
"No word yet."
He had hoped, but Astregon remained silent.
In truth, Astregon was frozen mid-thought, grasping at straws.
"The north demands urgent reinforcements and supplies. They fear those devilish vermin will overrun the barricade any moment."
"Don't they know the south's already lost control?! The center has to handle millions of refugees pouring in!"
In desperation, Shuver clutched his neck.
Aides rushed with water and massages, but his grimace persisted.
"..."
And amid this, someone watched.
One of Shuver's secretaries, he slipped out amid the chaos and confusion, heading somewhere.
"So that's how it is. For all their bluster, even the Prime Minister's on shaky ground. So much for their vaunted magic."
"They were puppets of some distant sky-will, offering up this glorious empire and countless souls as tribute."
Kallian, hearing the news late at night, hardened his face as the tearful secretary confessed.
Shuver's strongest justification had been that advancing under Deity Astregon's magitech banner was true justice.
But now it wavered.
They'd exploited the empire, ignored the royals—and failed to deliver beyond that, losing to ants and piling up bodies.
"I can't stand by any longer. We must drive out that wicked evil god invading our empire and its minions."
"B-but Your Majesty, they still monopolize this palace and key facilities and personnel."
Alber, the imperial steward silently observing Kallian's resolute words, panicked.
Astregon's cronies, Shuver included, were indeed losing ground.
But their first move had been seizing vital posts and sites; countless citizens lived under their rule.
Kallian lacked the means to reclaim it all.
"...What if we meet her. The Witch of Velzahad."
Aware of that, Kallian hesitated before uttering the name.
Seira's—the one who'd steadily warned of annihilation unless they escaped divine rule.
"Your Majesty...!"
"You tell me. Can we still distinguish good from evil at this point?"
Alber tried to dissuade him in horror, but Kallian's eyes burned with resolve.
"What will you even say to that witch?"
"My terms are set. Help purge the evil within the empire, and as promised, leave the innocent be."
An absurd notion, dismissed by most.
Kallian intended to try.
A grand gamble, a massive risk.
If exposed, Shuver's faction would brand him a traitor colluding with demons and execute him, ending the royals.
Yet that very audacity made it unpredictable.
"I'll go myself."
Adding fuel to the fire, Kallian insisted on meeting Seira personally.
"The emperor leaving the palace...?"
Kallian notified Shuver he was heading south to aid refugees, then departed.
As emperor, he couldn't hole up in crisis; action was demanded.
Shuver, lacking time for power plays amid urgency, let him go.
The news reached Seira's ears too—she'd intercepted a comm orb, eavesdropping on imperial chatter.
'The emperor's just a puppet child, they said. Still, he's trying to do his part.'
Seira, vaguely aware of Kallian, didn't view him poorly.
Lacking talent, perhaps, but a ruler with the right mindset.
Striving to save even one more in desperation mirrored her own drive, fostering kinship.
[Asmora wishes for the infiltration hive's forces to march north simultaneously while attacking the barricade. Asmora predicts that once the center begins nesting too, the empire's massive bulk will collapse entirely]
"If we do that!"
Moreover, Asmora had ceded the south to the elves, ordering Seira's infiltration ants north—to the empire's heart.
The central region teemed with refugees and vast populations.
Attacking meant sacrifices manyfold, gutting Lukadia's lands.
"...Understood."
But Seira had no choice but to obey.
If the empire—its people—persisted as divine minions, the ants would exterminate mechanically, without mercy.
Yet as they gathered and prepared to advance—
Something baffling occurred from the ants' perspective.
Someone fleeing a distant human city was risking death to approach ant-held territory.
[Subordinates detect no hostility from him]
The issue: no divine aura or enmity emanated from him.
"H-heeek..."
Trembling in terror as ants approached, antennae probing him, he didn't flee—instead pulling something from his robes.
"M-my name is Raum. I'm the emperor's envoy. T-take me to the w-witch... Aaaagh!?"
Surrounded and prodded by worker ants circling him, he displayed the emperor's edict with a dubious look, stammering his identity.
Contrary to expectations, the info spread hive-wide via workers instantly.
Emperor's edict. Here to see the witch.
The sole being in the hive grasping its weight—
Seira's eyes widened at the report.