Chapter 210 | Swarm: I Became a Cataclysmic Disaster

“They're rushing us!”

“Has it finally come to this?! Everyone, prepare for the holy war!”

The Dwarven Alliance had gathered all its forces in the Great Mountains.

Since ancient times, this place had been both the domain of the dwarves and a natural fortress that no one could covet.

During the construction of the Stargate, the dwarves did everything in their power to transform the Great Mountains into a fortress.

They carved away mountains and excavated the earth to build countless forts and bases, installing all kinds of weapons and spells to prepare their defenses.

This place was built solely to buy time, abandoning any plans for a long-term war of attrition or self-sufficiency.

If the Great Devourer truly intended to starve them out, those who entered the Great Mountains would have starved to death, but they had never planned to hold out here for too long.

In any case, they believed in only one thing.

“Once the Stargate is complete, the great Earth God will send troops to save us! This is the final sanctuary for all intelligent life in this world!”

The dwarven king declared this a holy war concerning the very fate of Terra, proclaiming that with just a little resistance, powerful reinforcements capable of overwhelming the Great Devourer would arrive to support them.

Dwarves, humans, beastkin, and more.

In truth, the last remaining resistance forces were no longer bound by nation or race, but had instead become a coalition representing the entire world.

Ready to die, they raised their battle cries from within the fortresses of the Great Mountains.

This cry served as a true signal flare.

The Great Devourer firmly believed that now was the best time to crush the dwarves, wanting to intercept them before they could complete the Stargate technology.

“...How foolish.”

Celia sighed as she watched the aggressively marching Great Devourer and the sight of the dwarves.

There were far too many who could have survived if they had simply given up, yet they were manipulated by the gods, fighting to the death without knowing the truth. Especially those who were late to accept reality; their losses were far greater than those who had submitted early.

Compared to the former Holy Kingdom, which had been preserved almost entirely intact after the destruction of its core faction, the Church of the Goddess of Light, the Dwarven Alliance under the full-scale assault of the Great Devourer would likely leave almost no survivors.

“Kill them all.”

Kerrigan led the migratory colony at the very front, looking down on them mockingly.

She wanted nothing more than to trample these people who had trapped themselves in the rugged mountains, vowing to resist to the death.

“Fire!”

【Elise has issued the order for the general offensive】

Finally, the last war surrounding this world began.

The dwarven king's battle cry and Elise's command fell almost simultaneously.

Occupying almost all the land except for the Great Mountains, the Great Devourer swarmed from all directions. The joint coalition army hiding in the Great Mountains resisted desperately, continuously firing the dwarven cannons.

“We thought our artillery batteries would wipe those things out in droves!”

The dwarven king received real-time reports. Seeing that long-range light cannons had struck the dwarven batteries that were blindly firing large-caliber cannons, completely wiping them out, he slammed his hand on the table.

The dwarves were highly confident in their firepower. They believed that as long as they hid in their batteries and kept firing their cannons, they could eliminate the Great Devourer in droves.

But while they were busy building bunkers and constructing batteries, the Great Devourer had already destroyed the Elven Empire and absorbed their technology.

The Disintegration Cannons fired from the spines of the Spore Beasts flew farther and hit harder than the dwarven cannons, directly destroying the batteries.

Fortunately, the Disintegration Cannons were fewer in number than the dwarven cannons.

“Please do not worry too much. Even so, we still hold the advantage in overall firepower.”

A minister pointed to the screen showing the fortresses where the joint coalition army was fighting desperately.

Troops of various origins and races—dwarves, humans, and beastkin—were mixed together, firing cannons and guns to fend off the countless Great Devourers scaling the walls.

Whenever the Great Devourer attempted to break through using soldiers of Tyrant or Lictor status, the mages and warriors on standby would step forward to stop them with all their might.

'There is clearly still hope, but...'

The dwarven king could not hide his inner unease.

The longer this dragged on, the more deprived they would become. Supplies were limited, and reinforcing their troops was impossible.

The Great Devourer would surely continue to draw forces from its countless nests scattered across the world; the battle shouldn't have been this intense right from the start.

“We must boost morale. It might be a bit early, but deploy the airship fleet!”

And so, the dwarves brought out their second weapon.

Out of place among the mountains, from shipyards and hangars where vessels of all sizes were moored, the airship fleet soared into the sky in unison.

The fleet of large, magic stone-powered floating airships, carrying a massive number of troops, sailed across the sky.

'The sky is not yours alone!'

The dwarven king clenched his fists as he watched the dense fleet of airships fly overhead.

They believed this was their entire, unreserved combat strength.

The airship fleet carried out their assigned tasks in an orderly formation.

Countless airships moved swiftly and precisely, as if they had long been prepared, firing all their onboard cannons and dropping bombs simultaneously.

“Squad 1, cover Squad 2! Squad 2, quickly shell the ground to support our allies!”

That was Squad 2, responsible for bombardment and ground support missions.

“That's it!”

“It's support from our allies!”

Shells and bombs falling from the sky rained down upon the heads of the Great Devourers swarming the ground.

Even for the mutants, it was impossible to be entirely covered in exoskeletons.

Doing so would not only drastically increase the resources required but also hinder their movement.

Even for the heavy-armored ants, which served as typical shock troops, their joints and abdomens were relatively soft, while most medium combat units had their defenses concentrated on their heads and other frontal areas.

The shells and bombs falling from the sky precisely struck these weaknesses of the Great Devourer.

Whenever a bomb went off with a loud bang, dozens of Great Devourers would be immobilized by the shock and shrapnel, falling dead to the ground.

The joint coalition army in the fortresses and bases, who had been struggling to hold on, cheered upon seeing the support appearing in the sky.

“Save the cheering for later and regroup immediately! The bombardment support won't last forever!”

The commanders urged their soldiers, telling them to prepare for the next battle.

If the aerial bombardment support could continue indefinitely, the defenders would have an easy time holding out.

“It's... it's the flying species!”

Of course, the Great Devourer would not sit idly by.

Soon, countless dense black dots appeared in the sky, heading toward the airship fleet.

They looked like common swarms of flying insects, but at close range, there was simply no comparison.

Even the smallest individuals surpassed large birds of prey in size, and countless such monsters spread their various wings, maneuvering chaotically as they rushed in from all directions.

Having accumulated experience through countless wars, the Great Devourer had invested not only in ground assaults but also in aerial combat itself. Their air combat capabilities were undoubtedly formidable.

The aerial combat experience accumulated within the hive mind was also far greater than that of the airship fleet, which had only recently appeared in this world.

“But... even so, we must fight. To protect our final home, to protect the last hope of this land!”

The dwarf Badin, who was in charge of commanding the airship fleet, issued orders to everyone in a resolute voice through his communication device.

The First Legion's mission was to protect the Second Legion, which was responsible for ground bombardment support.

Those airships advancing in unison carried no bombs; instead, they were packed with troops and weapons meant to combat the Great Devourer colony's aerial forces.

“There are so many of them.”

“Most of this world must have been taken over by those bugs, right?”

As the tempestuous sound of flapping wings drew near, those who stood on the decks of the airships, preparing to face the Great Devourer, broke out in a cold sweat regardless of their race or origin.

Even among the countless monsters filling the sky, a woman with flowing, brilliant silver hair, wearing a mask and holding a massive staff, appeared.

“Either way, we die! Choose your own path! Take up your swords and fight!”

With a roar from the grit-toothed commander, the cannons spat fire as bullets and magic tore through the void.

The flying species struck by the incoming bullets were shattered or fell wounded, but this number was a mere drop in the bucket compared to the whole.

“Deploying forces, no issues.”

Elise calmly assessed the situation as she gazed at the chaotic sky where friend and foe were entangled.

Although they had suffered higher-than-expected losses due to the enemy's desperate and stubborn resistance, Elise judged that this gap in strength was irreversible.

Once the flying species successfully suppressed the enemy's airship fleet, Elise was prepared to immediately deploy "that thing."

It was a secret weapon capable of instantly dismantling the enemy's solid defenses and completely turning the tide of battle.

To deliver it intact and safely to the heart of the enemy's territory, the enemy's airships had to be cleared. The dwarves launching an active offensive saved them the trouble.

“Argh, get this thing off me!”

A tiger hornet ant flew onto the deck, clamping its massive jaws onto a suit of armor and attempting to sting with its venomous needle, causing the dwarven warrior to panic and struggle desperately.

A nearby human archer shot an arrow imbued with magic, knocking the tiger hornet ant away, but a venomous needle fired by another incoming tiger hornet ant immediately pierced the archer's body, exploding with a loud bang.

“We're going down!”

Nearby, an airship swarmed by dozens of Great Devourer eagles ultimately failed to repair its damaged engines and plunged toward the ground in a trail of smoke.

On the other hand, while some airships avoided crashing, the combat forces on their decks were attacked by Dragon Ants with thick, sharp legs, carried into the sky, and thrown to the distant ground below. Wiped out entirely, the airships were left completely empty.

Right then, someone broke through the defense barrier and landed on the commander's flagship, which was about twice the size of the other airships.

“Do you truly believe there is hope? Do you think that through meaningless resistance and sacrifice, as long as you bring in some reinforcements from who-knows-where, everything will end?”

Celia folded her massive wings, revealing the half of her mouth beneath her fading mask as she tried to persuade them.

As always, her words were to urge them to stop their meaningless fighting and sacrifice, abandon the gods, surrender to preserve their lives, and start anew.

“Shut up... Witch of the Great Devourer! What meaning is there in surrendering to monsters, being exploited by monsters, and living at the mercy of monsters?”

However, Commander Badin grit his teeth, rejecting her persuasion.

“We are the masters of this land!”

Faced with his roar of refusal to surrender or live at the mercy of the Great Devourer, Celia fell silent.

This was an undeniable fact.

Surely, there would be those who only sought to save their lives, content to scrape by.

They would be grateful to live quietly as they had before, as long as they did not provoke the Great Devourer.

But if there were those who were not satisfied with merely surviving, who still wished to protect or possess more, then there was only so much Celia could do.

If they refused to give up and chose to keep fighting, then Celia could only do one thing.

“In this era, differing orders cannot coexist. I am sorry.”

She raised her staff, her power surging as massive magic circles began to manifest around her.

The soldiers on board attacked her in a panic, rushing forward, but Celia's magic was faster, and she had already raised a defense barrier to block the assault.

The captain exclaimed, “How can such power exist...”

The guards on the flagship were among the strongest in the Dwarven Alliance, equipped with the most advanced weapons and carefully selected for the vessel.

There were knight commanders, high-ranking mages, and specially crafted defense turrets.

Even so, Celia demonstrated firepower and strength far exceeding their expectations all on her own.

The deck was swept by her magic, and the knights who charged forward were suppressed, rolling on the ground.

The weapons, including the turrets, malfunctioned or were destroyed simultaneously. Celia, still shrouded in her deep blue defense barrier, stood at the bow and stared down at them.

“Wh... What is that?!”

However, Badin was even more shocked. His eyes widened like someone who had seen something impossible, and his body instinctively recoiled.

Piercing through the hazy mist drifting nearby, something was revealing its colossal silhouette, drawing closer to the flagship.

The shape, which had been blurry just moments ago, gradually revealed a deep black exoskeleton, becoming clearer and clearer.

Utilizing to the fullest the mimicry and stealth capabilities of organisms like squids and octopuses, it had silently approached the active combat zone, finally revealing its form and emitting a distinctive vibration.