“Lord Guardian, we will be able to see the coastline very soon.”
“Finally... are we about to completely purge those abominable nests occupying our land?”
While the Great Devourer was focusing on dealing with Lisette, the Elven Empire forces commanded by Virgil had already pushed forward with the Prism Cannons, clearing most of the nests infesting the former Kingdom of Bartonia.
Although a few small-scale nests were still scattered here and there, only one coastal city remained where a nest had merged with the entire city to become a fortress.
If they could destroy that one as well, the Elven Empire would finally succeed in cutting out those irritating cancer cells from their rear.
“This will be a great victory! Fire the Prism Cannon!”
Thinking of this as the final hurdle before their imminent victory, Virgil and the commanders under his command were filled with excitement.
The Prism Cannon immediately began its startup sequence, aiming to bypass any trouble and completely shatter and destroy the fortress in a single strike.
The soldiers of the foreign race units from the Kingdom of Bartonia had no other thoughts at this moment.
Their homeland had long been destroyed, and even decades of recovery would not suffice to restore it; besides, they would eventually be dragged to the northern battlefield sooner or later anyway.
“What is that?”
However, just as they were confidently preparing to fire the Prism Cannon, something appeared in the sky.
It was a small black figure rapidly soaring into the sky.
“E-Enemy attack!”
The entity dove toward the ground at an incredible speed, folding its pair of black wings and drawing two swords that extended from the backs of its hands.
Unlike ordinary Great Devourers, its entire body was covered in a black exoskeleton engraved with eerie tattoos.
As the magic heart embedded in the center of its chest, where the tattoos converged, began to glow, it channeled an immense power and instantly swung its swords.
“What on earth is that thing?! C-Could it be??”
Virgil stared with wide eyes as the defense squad was cut down in a single strike, his soul nearly departing his body in sheer terror.
Her face was concealed by a mask shaped like a Great Devourer, but the golden strands of hair spilling out from beneath it gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.
【Elven God: Kill the traitor!】
Elise: “Kill them. Prove yourself.”
Along with the angry deity's command, Queen Elise's order also echoed in the mind of Lisette, who had been reborn as a member of the colony.
She saw the panicked elven knight order, and Virgil standing visible behind them.
At the sight of them, Lisette's red gaze flickered beneath her mask, and she charged forward, brandishing her twin swords.
“Protect the Lord Guardian!”
To stop the solitary charging Lisette, the elven royal guards gathered, aiming their bows and cannon barrels at her in resistance.
“Fire the cannons! That will stop her!”
Projectiles and arrows imbued with the power of the Elven God would achieve their maximum potential.
They believed that no matter how strong their opponent was, they could simply suppress her with overwhelming firepower.
This was not a groundless assumption; shells and arrows were launched immediately, raining down upon Lisette.
“No, how can this be...”
However, the projectiles and arrows containing the power of the Elven God failed to exert their proper might against Lisette.
Because the power of the Elven God, which was closely bound to the elven race, instinctively refused to harm her, as she still retained elven power within her body.
The elves, completely unaware that the charging entity before them was a kin they had abandoned, could only stare in shock as Lisette's swinging blades severed their necks, sending them to their deaths.
The same applied to the Elven God barrier composed of the Elven God's power.
Although the Great Devourer would normally have to invest a considerable amount of power to breach this barrier, Lisette, who still retained her elven essence, could penetrate the Elven God barrier far more easily, appearing directly before Virgil inside.
“Y-You traitor!”
Virgil watched Lisette, whose mask had shattered after being grazed by his arrow, and boiled with rage.
“You are the traitors, not me.”
Lisette effortlessly deflected his second arrow with her sword. Responding in a frigid voice, she lunged forward. In an instant, her crossed twin swords sliced Virgil's body into four pieces.
...
So that was the true objective.
Although Celia had hoped to find a companion she could resonate with to prevent her own mind from collapsing, the reason Queen Elise agreed and cooperated with the plan to corrupt Lisette was not merely to obtain a stronger individual.
With Celia as the vanguard, having overthrown and absorbed the magical civilization, Elise wanted to use the elven Lisette as a starting point. Drawing from her experience, she intended to dig deep into the weaknesses of the enemy's technology and civilization, further imitating and learning from them to ultimately claim them as her own.
Lin Miao clearly saw through Elise's intentions.
There was absolutely no need for complex speculation.
Unlike before, when they had spared no effort to destroy the Prism Cannons, this time the Great Devourer adopted an attitude of preserving the Prism Cannons in their entirety as much as possible to claim them.
“T-The Lord Guardian has been defeated!”
Virgil's unexpected death plunged the Second Legion into massive chaos.
Lisette, who had breached the Elven God barrier and assassinated Virgil, had already departed, but the Elven Empire soldiers, their chain of command in disarray, instantly lost their bearings and panicked in utter confusion.
The lieutenant, regarded as the second-in-command of the legion right below the Guardian, scrambled to reorganize the troops, but a vulnerability was bound to open up in the short term.
The Great Devourer did not let this opening go to waste.
The forces that had been buried deep underground in dormancy or had retreated to the seaside were awakened one after another, surging toward them once again.
“Retreat! Hurry!”
“These fools... H-Hurry up and destroy the Prism Cannons!”
Faced with this sudden turn of events, everyone fell into a panic.
In particular, the foreign race units charging at the front could not withstand the chaos and fear, and most of them began to route.
With the orders to destroy the Prism Cannons failing to be effectively executed and the army collapsing, the Great Devourer dispatched elite forces, including Lisette, successfully securing the Prism Cannons.
“I shall offer the Prism Cannons, all the heritage handed down by the elves since ancient times, and the Spirit-Tech civilization obtained from the evil god... I shall offer all of this to the colony.”
Having slain Virgil and captured the Prism Cannons intact to present them, Lisette had already achieved the greatest merit. She bowed her head in the direction of the original nest where Elise resided.
She declared that she would offer everything Elise desired and serve as the vanguard to charge ahead for that purpose.
In truth, if she only wanted to speak to Elise, she could have done so directly, face-to-face within the hive mind.
However, she deliberately removed her mask to reveal her true face and knelt directly among the Great Devourers. This was done upon Celia's advice, to plead with the deity Lin Miao, who was watching over them from the heavens.
“But I beg of you, please show mercy to the remaining elves.”
The reward desired by Lisette, who looked up to the sky in prayer, was essentially no different from Celia's.
It was to spare the innocent elves after the traitors had been executed.
Well, that is not a difficult task either.
Lin Miao, who was watching through the screen, had no intention of refusing Lisette's request from the very beginning.
After all, this was merely a continuation of what he had always been doing.
【Elise, sensing the Great One's reaction, showed an "as expected" smile.】
Sigh.
Lin Miao felt speechless, but he gave up trying to explain himself.
To Lin Miao, the beauty of the elven race was undoubtedly top-tier, and reacting to it unconsciously was an uncontrollable instinct.
“Lisette!”
“What on earth are you doing?! A descendant of the High Priest, actually siding with the Great Devourer!”
Having received Lin Miao's permission, Lisette located several elves who had been captured alive by the Great Devourer.
They were bound tightly in spider webs. Unlike the elves who had been killed, they had not undergone reinforcement formulas or device implantations that could be considered divine protections from the deity. In other words, they were merely coerced or incited by the new elves, meaning there was still room for "reformation."
Of course, Elise had proven that she could sever the connection to an opposing deity and seize their servants if she wished, but this was still quite a "troublesome" task for her.
If they were not valuable existences like Lisette, then rather than painstakingly converting them, it was simply faster to kill them directly.
“I truly believe I have chosen the path best suited for our elven kind.”
They were all astonished to see Lisette appear clad in hardened symbiotic carapace ants, but Lisette, whose entire body had been integrated with parasites and assimilated into the Great Devourer colony, merely shook her head with a lonely expression.
“The so-called Elven God is nothing more than another evil god trying to enslave us and exploit this world. Therefore, I beg of you to help us punish the true traitors and banish this evil god.”
Lisette even shed tears, earnestly pleading with them.
On her own, she could not completely transmit all the internal information and data of the elven forces to the Great Devourer colony.
Only by gaining the active cooperation of her fellow kin could they provide the information Elise required.
“Listening to Lisette is the only way for the elves to continue surviving on this land.”
Behind Lisette, Celia, holding her staff, pressured them expressionlessly.
In reality, if the elves could not prove their worth or usefulness, then Celia, Lisette, and even Lin Miao had no sufficient reason to let them live.
“Damn it...”
The captives split into two factions in despair.
One faction consisted of those who believed Lisette, blamed the new elves, and were willing to cooperate; the other consisted of those who could not bring themselves to join hands with demons under any circumstances.
“I hope to give them one last chance as well. If they see with their own eyes that what we say is true, they might change their minds.”
“The Queen will not refuse, but the Great Devourer will not care for those who hold no value.”
“...I know. As for taking care of them, let them manage it themselves.”
Lisette requested to spare those people, merely keeping them imprisoned to grant them an opportunity.
Ultimately, the Great Devourer gained a few collaborators and some captives. They confined the captives to a corner of the nest and then officially began their study of Spirit-Tech.
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