After meeting Lin Miao outside the terrarium, Elise returned to her nest.
Light streamed through the hole in the ceiling, illuminating a single spot.
This was the spot Elise had chosen for herself.
“Oh, my...”
Beside her, Celia gasped softly as she watched countless worker ants busily bustling about.
First, the remnants of the cocoon—nothing but a hollow shell and sticky fluids—were cleared away completely.
In its place, a rapidly growing, giant brain now occupied that very spot.
This brain was far closer to a human's than before, and it was massive enough to fill half of the spacious chamber.
Dozens of times larger than Celia's entire body, this giant brain connected to tentacles sprouting from Elise's cervical spine, serving as an extension of her own mind.
Several worker ants scurried over, weaving their bodies together beneath Elise to form a throne-like structure. Paying them no mind, Elise sat down with a soft thud and looked down at Celia with an arrogant gaze.
Her expressionless, icy face made her look like an entirely different person from the one who had just been clinging to Lin Miao's finger.
“Your Majesty, are you imitating a human monarch?”
Celia asked, her voice trembling slightly.
“Correction: a ruler.”
Elise rested her arm on the armrest formed by the worker ants' front legs, the answer slipping smoothly from her lips.
Throughout her battles with the enemy, Elise had witnessed various displays of rulers.
They exuded pressure, wore extravagant attire, and flaunted their superiority over their subordinates.
This was not unique to humans.
Whether they were beastkin or elves, almost all intelligent lifeforms that lived in structured societies exhibited these shared traits as their status and position elevated.
Although the Queen of the colony loathed inefficient behavior, now that she understood her true standing, adopting such a posture was almost inevitable.
‘What is her true core?’
Celia swallowed hard, glancing between Elise's physical body and the giant brain connected to her by tentacles.
The brain was the most vital organ, essentially representing the person itself.
If everything originated from the brain, then for Elise, who had now placed this giant brain outside her body, was her true self the human-mimicking shell, or was it the brain?
In truth, the giant brain Elise was cultivating functioned more like an auxiliary brain, acting as a processing unit.
Most of the knowledge Elise had acquired still resided within the brain inside her own skull.
Operating both brains simultaneously was no longer a difficult task for her.
【A new class of unit has been born】
Having successfully evolved, Elise did not hesitate to use her newly acquired power to strengthen the colony.
The most significant change was the ability to truly mass-produce magical combat units.
The magitech civilization of the Lucadia Empire, which Elise had plundered and analyzed, designed its technology entirely around the human body.
Because Elise had lacked a human body, she could only produce expendable magical units indirectly by infecting them with Cordyceps.
Even though Elise had only obtained an incomplete human form and a matching magic system, she intended to use them to create a brand-new force unique to herself and the Great Devourer colony.
“What should we call these?”
Equipped with magic hearts, these new soldiers surpassed the limits of the chimeras that were considered the pinnacle of biological engineering, serving as superior replacements for the Tyrants.
As Lin Miao pondered a name, Celia, who had named the Great Devourer's units many times before, spoke up first.
“This is the very proof of the colony devouring both physical flesh and civilized knowledge. Let us call them Lictors.”
Celia observed the experimental units, created according to Elise's design, beginning to undergo rapid cell division in various corners of the nests. She was certain they would reshape the landscape of the war.
【Elise is satisfied with this name】
“Not bad.”
Lin Miao, spared the trouble of thinking, and Elise, who now had a deeper understanding of the meaning behind names, were both satisfied. Thus, the name was decided.
...
Meanwhile, another entity was watching this scene, her consciousness shifting slightly.
It was the consciousness of Kerrigan, who still lay asleep inside her cocoon alongside her severed head.
‘Why?’
Why did I lose?
This was the question Kerrigan had been pondering ever since the moment her head was severed in her defeat against the beastkin hero, Grimgor.
In terms of raw physical power, Kerrigan—who had constantly modified her own body—was overwhelmingly superior.
Her body was like a vicious weapon of war, constructed by haphazardly extracting and splicing together the best traits of the various organisms Elise had devoured and accumulated in the hive mind.
Just as an ordinary human could never match an elephant in strength, the disparity in their raw physical capabilities was even wider.
Even the difference in internal energy, which was the only thing that could bridge such a gap, was not that vast.
Though Grimgor was a warrior who had refined his magic power for nearly a century and had regained his youth through divine protection, the magic heart Kerrigan had transplanted into herself was of the highest quality and largest capacity.
In a contest of pure output, it should have been impossible for Grimgor to overwhelm her.
‘Efficiency of power, maximization, technique.’
The element that shattered this simple, logical equation was none other than the Realm of Martial Zenith that Grimgor had attained.
The moment strength and technique fused, the resulting synergy transcended simple calculations.
Grimgor's greatsword had deflected Kerrigan's strength—or rather, shattered it in an instant—knocking down the larger, more powerful Kerrigan in a brief, explosive burst.
‘That... is what I want.’
By the time she realized the true meaning of those words, Kerrigan's head had already been severed by Grimgor's blade, falling through the air.
Although the concept of death was vague to the Great Devourer, a profound sense of regret burned within Kerrigan's heart.
Her obsession with battle, her pursuit of martial arts, and the vengeful fury born from her ugly, humiliating defeat burned with an intensity no less than the sheer obsession that had driven Elise to acquire her human form.
‘I can do it too.’
Thus, the moment Elise successfully devoured human genes, Kerrigan made her decision.
She would discard everything she had pursued until now and completely mimic the enemy to obtain what she truly desired.
“Foolish sister.”
Within the massive hive mind, Elise sneered and mocked Kerrigan as she finally made her resolve.
Simultaneously, with the influx of various kinds of knowledge through the hive mind, Kerrigan's body began to reshape itself.
Driven by Kerrigan's intense will to evolve and aided by Elise, the new body of the second-generation queen was reconstructed at this moment.
【Kerrigan awakens with a new body】
“Here too?”
Lin Miao let out a wry chuckle as he watched a hand burst through the tearing cocoon with a sharp rip.
Compared to the massive cocoon that filled the entire pit, this hand was remarkably small.
Kerrigan's original body had never possessed such a hand.
Immediately after, a knight-like hand encased in a rough, hard carapace—as if wearing a gauntlet—emerged, followed by a torso dripping with bodily fluids.
Her overall form was similar to Elise's human-mimicking appearance.
However, while Elise possessed a voluptuous figure clad in a thin exoskeleton that was practically skin, Kerrigan's body was hard and heavy, resembling a fully armored heavy knight.
The mask on her face was also closer to a helmet with a visor.
Her feet, tipped with sharp, raptor-like talons, could hardly be considered human.
If Elise had sought beauty to win Lin Miao's love and thus gained her form,
then Kerrigan had adapted her human-like body solely for the purpose of slaughtering her enemies and waging war.
“Revenge.”
Kerrigan growled the word, her chest's magic heart activating as her body instantly soared into the air.
At the same time, control of the migratory colony, which had been locked in a bitter struggle, returned to Kerrigan's hands.
Currently, the migratory colony was desperately buying time, fighting a delaying action.
The Beastkin Kingdom and the Dwarven Alliance had just finished reorganizing their forces and were preparing to launch another offensive, advancing toward the plains.
“Those are the cocoons of those monsters!”
“We must destroy them!”
Just then, a scouting unit from the Beastkin Kingdom discovered the cocoons hidden by the worker ants, their eyes instantly turning blood-red with fury.
To them, the Great Devourer's cocoons were targets that had to be destroyed at all costs.
Since they had no idea what kind of monsters might hatch from these cocoons to threaten them, they had to eliminate them while they were still defenseless.
‘Beastkin warriors, human warriors.’
Rage burned in Kerrigan's eyes as she spotted several beastkin who appeared to be commanders, along with a squad of human slave soldiers.
Though her mortal enemy, Grimgor, was nowhere to be seen, it did not matter.
As long as she slaughtered everyone before her, she would cross paths with him eventually.
“We are still in enemy territory. Destroy their cocoons as quickly as possible, then retreat. Move it!”
The elite warrior Takar, who was in command of the unit, ordered his troops to quickly smash the cocoons and set them ablaze.
Aside from the nest established in the Sacred Beastkin City on the plains, the migratory colony had not built a proper nest anywhere else.
Therefore, destroying this vast number of hidden cocoons would secure them a legendary achievement.
‘There are at least several hundred of them. The gods will surely recognize this.’
Takar grinned as he watched the slave soldiers hurriedly light the fires.
Great achievements naturally brought rewards.
If his contribution was significant enough, he might receive not just females for breeding, but even divine protection to become a Great Warrior.
“Lord Takar! Something is coming!”
At that moment, a subordinate's panicked shout rang out.
Takar felt an overwhelming wave of killing intent wash over him, throwing himself to the ground in the nick of time.
Something plummeted from the sky at breakneck speed, crashing before them amidst a thick cloud of dust.
“What is that!”
Takar scrambled to his feet, drawing his sword as he stared into the dense dust in shock.
From within the dust, a pure, unadulterated intent to kill emanated, glowing like a wave of light through the slit of a helmet.
“It's an enemy!”
Unlike his confused subordinates, Takar recognized that Kerrigan looked entirely different from the usual insects, making him certain she was a major enemy.
But what happened next was even more shocking.
Unlike the other members of the Great Devourer colony who would immediately pounce to tear and impale them with sharp mandibles and teeth, Kerrigan drew something completely different.
“Could this monster...?”
Takar muttered to himself, unable to believe his eyes.
For Kerrigan had placed her hand against her chest, where her magic heart burned hot, rapidly dividing her cells to form a sharp blade of exoskeleton. She then drew the massive sword and pointed it at them.
Her intention was clear.
His pride as a beastkin warrior deeply stung, Takar's face twisted into a hideous scowl.
“You dare challenge me to a duel?! You monster!”
Brushing off his subordinates' attempts to hold him back, Takar charged forward.
When fighting the Great Devourer, there was usually no need for such formalities.
To them, the Great Devourer was nothing more than a swarm of monsters devoid of honor or dignity.
“Fine! If you want to play at being a warrior, I will slay you like one!”
...
And so, Takar did not closely examine what kind of monster he was actually attacking.
As she watched Takar swing his sword toward her, Kerrigan's own blade swept forward in a flash.
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