The mutant Leviathan was a monster born after Elise preyed on the tuna meat Lin Miao had given her along with the genes of various marine organisms, using the magic heart to modify it beyond its limits.
Its colossal body was well-suited for long voyages. Compared to its massive size, it possessed very few biological organs, which allowed it to carry hundreds of troops across the ocean.
After the Leviathan was first created, its military achievements were exceptionally remarkable.
During the conquest of the Lucadia Empire and the Elven Empire, the ocean had always belonged to the Great Devourer. Because of this, Elise had realized the importance of the ocean very early on.
So, it was only natural for Elise to think this way.
What if what they did on the sea could also be done in the vast sky?
The sky was always vaster than the ocean. The distant sky always looked down upon the places that the ocean could never reach.
During her battles with the elves of the Winged Squad, she had also realized the importance of air supremacy, so this line of thinking was only natural.
“Then...”
Sensing Elise's plan, Celia was momentarily left speechless.
Even Celia, who had traveled with the Great Devourer for a long time, could not have imagined such a thing.
To create a giant monster that swam in the sky just like it swam in the sea, and then have countless troops ride inside it to launch a surprise attack on the ground.
This was something that existing flying species could not do; it defied all common sense.
“But if it can be done, the effect will certainly be remarkable...”
Lisette murmured softly.
Celia did not deny the idea either.
This was a method of invasion unheard of on Terra. If it could be achieved, it would inflict massive damage on the unsuspecting enemy.
If only it could be done.
“Can it really be done?”
Celia asked Elise if she could truly create such an absurd monster.
After all, with the current strength of the ever-growing Great Devourer colony, it might actually be possible.
Besides, if Elise believed it was impossible, she wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.
“Do you really want to become a space monster?”
Lin Miao smiled after learning about this.
This was an intuitive feeling—a premonition that their endless predation and growth would soon transcend the colony, serving as a major turning point for the Great Devourer as a unique species.
“Size and power...”
Without hesitating to put her massive brain to work, Elise immediately threw herself into the design process.
There was a reason why Lin Miao considered this a turning point.
The genes Elise had preyed upon during this time were all biological genes that actually existed on Earth.
In other words, relying solely on those would at most allow her to create synthetic monsters.
What allowed them to transcend their limits was their unique power source—the magic heart. This bio-fused power mechanism enabled them to freely harness the power of psionic energy, as well as the technology and civilizations they acquired after defeating and absorbing their enemies one by one.
First, Elise designed the body to be as large as possible.
Although she already had countless biological samples in her mind, the final form gradually took on a fish-like, streamlined shape that could swim freely in the air.
She suddenly wondered if she could also create a scaled-down combat unit equipped with a large number of long-range attack weapons, such as Disintegration Cannons.
But Elise put that idea aside for the time being.
Resources were not inexhaustible. During the testing phase, she could not afford to waste them out of greed.
Unlike other servants who were simply handed the correct answers by their deities after long periods of testing and research, Elise started from scratch. She had to test everything bit by bit herself, gather data, and then make improvements.
‘It is too heavy; it must be lighter.’
She had long abandoned the idea of using wings to support such a massive body.
However, many problems still remained.
After all, making such a colossal body float in the air was fundamentally contrary to common sense, requiring a unique technology that could transcend ordinary laws.
“...An airship?”
To Lin Miao, its structure and form were quite similar to the airships humans had once built.
Elise enlarged the fish-bladder-like biological organs and filled them not with simple air, but with an extremely light biological gas.
She did not stop there. Using a giant magic circle engraved on its abdomen, she continuously cast levitation magic to provide additional buoyancy.
In addition, the ruined elven civilization and the Flosfen, a magical-mechanical artificial skeleton adapted from Spirit-Tech, replaced the spine and ribs, amplifying magic power.
“No way, this can actually work?”
“How is this possible...”
Lin Miao, Celia, and the other Legion Commanders—and even the survivors—were shocked and filled with admiration upon seeing it.
This was the product of mobilizing the Great Devourer's bioengineering capabilities along with all the civilizations and technologies they had absorbed so far.
With the numerous parts required, special heart-fusing worms dedicated to processing the massive magic hearts, and more, the entire giant nest was transformed into a dedicated production base.
In this manner, with the help of rapid cell division, the giant monster finally concluded its growth phase of several days. It broke through its cocoon, which was as massive as a low hill, and soared into the sky.
“It's a dragon... It's a dragon!”
A peasant staring blankly up at the sky slumped to the ground, trembling with fear.
Its elongated body, flying through the air like a sailfish or marlin, indeed closely resembled the ancient dragons that had vanished from this land.
Unlike a dragon, however, it had no massive wings.
Instead, thin, veil-like biological tissues grew along both sides of its body, wriggling like a jellyfish's bell or a squid's fins to help it glide through the air.
To transport large numbers of troops, its interior was hollowed out to the extreme. To minimize weight, the internal flesh was soft and light, like the body of a mollusk.
However, the exoskeleton wrapping its exterior was incredibly hard, designed for defense.
Along its spine, a particularly thick backbone engraved with complex spell formulas supported the massive structure.
The magic circle engraved on its abdomen flashed continuously, providing the levitation magic required to sustain the colossal body.
Calling it a dragon was undoubtedly an illusion, but it was indeed a monster that had never before existed on this land.
“Test flight, successful.”
Inside the terrarium, Elise's eyes gleamed as the corners of her mouth curled upward.
This was not just a secret weapon; it was the crystallization of the colony's true future evolutionary direction.
Predation was not merely about eating prey.
Elise believed that true predation involved not only devouring the opponent's body but also plundering and absorbing all of their knowledge and experience.
Through this kind of predation, the colony would transcend its limits and continuously evolve.
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