Chapter 217 | Swarm: I Became a Cataclysmic Disaster

A world known as Cadia.

Delta, the human Paladin Commander of the Goddess of Light Association who served as the governor here, clicked his tongue in disdain as he looked at the purple-skinned people being dragged in one by one.

“Who are those guys?”

“They are the ones who dared to reject the Goddess's grace and were arrested for continuing to worship an Outer God.”

“Is it because only ten years have passed? These kinds of people really keep popping up endlessly.”

These people, known as Yordles, were the natives of this region of Cadia, classified under the beastkin race.

At the same time, they were also the ones who had been forced to believe in and worship the Goddess Hestia ever since the Goddess of Light Association arrived here ten years ago.

“You people have been bathing in the Goddess's grace all this time, yet you still stubbornly believe in wild gods who don't even exist?”

Delta could have ignored them and gone about his business, but since he saw them, he walked over in person and reprimanded them in a stern voice.

From Delta's perspective, he truly could not understand.

The Yordles were a people who lived in tribes and led a primitive existence in this low-tier world where a decent civilization could barely be found.

It was the Goddess of Light Association that bestowed upon them the Goddess's grace, allowing them to live like actual intelligent lifeforms and elevating their backward civilization.

Rejecting all of this, in Delta's eyes, was no different from seeking their own death.

“Why would you make such a foolish choice? How precious of a blessing is that grace to people like you? Why do you still not understand?”

As soon as Delta finished speaking, a Yordle man with a rope tied around his neck trembled with rage and roared in a shaking voice, “...Grace. You outsiders make it sound so easy! You erased our names from our language, forced unwanted things upon us, denied our past, and turned us into your slaves!”

The angry voice echoed across the square.

Delta, the members of the Goddess of Light Association, and the spectating Yordle citizens all heard these words and began whispering among themselves.

“If this is grace, then your Goddess's grace is one that brings blood. The salvation you speak of is nothing but a silent death to us. I did not reject your Goddess; I simply know that she is no god.”

“How audacious. Audacious only because of your ignorance. A frog in a well, wanting to die as a frog in a well in the end, even when given an opportunity.”

However, their conversation would never find common ground.

As a governor sent from the higher world to which Hestia belonged, Delta could not understand the Yordle resistance.

And the Yordles, who had lived on the planet of Cadia for generations, could not understand the Goddess of Light Association, which came from a world they knew nothing about to forcibly interfere with their lives.

“Hurry up and execute these rebels!”

Delta seemed to feel there was nothing more worth listening to and directly ordered the executions.

Several people were hanged at the same time, and after their bodies were carried away, more were pushed onto the gallows.

Executing dozens of people did not take much time.

Delta said to his companion, the High Priest, “High Priest, as you know, the universe is vast. There is no need to waste our breath on worthless people.”

The High Priest nodded slightly. “You are right.”

The Goddess of Light Association had conquered multiple worlds and was highly experienced.

They had long understood that there was no need to use dry doctrines to convince stubborn barbarians.

After all, there was no shortage of people.

If they judged that someone truly could not be reformed, they would simply kill them and replace them with a new batch.

“Why make such a foolish choice... sigh.”

“It's precisely because of their stubbornness that things turned out this way.”

“No, you can't say that. Isn't it too much for you to talk about people who fought for our traditions like that?”

Divisions also arose among the Yordles themselves.

Those deeply influenced by the ideology and culture spread by the Goddess of Light Association had become even more fanatical than the priests or paladins of the association, hurling insults and mockery at their own kin.

Some powerlessly submitted to the new order while their hearts burned with rage. Others, though unable to step forward and take action, criticized the Goddess of Light Association and despised both the association and the compatriots who collaborated with them.

‘It's obvious.’

Delta burst into laughter after receiving all this feedback.

Everything was unfolding exactly as described in the 'Governor's Guide,' a manual that recorded and compiled the countless past experiences of the Goddess of Light Association.

If they continued pioneering like this for a few more decades, only Yordles loyal to the Goddess of Light Association would remain on this land.

They would offer this world, extremely rich in resources and manpower, in its entirety to the Goddess.

“Your Excellency, the Stargate is reacting.”

“Hmm? Didn't they say it wouldn't be activated for the time being?”

Just then, Delta received a report.

According to the report, the Stargate set up in the capital of the Pioneering Zone had unexpectedly activated.

◆◆◆

“What is going on?”

The technician in charge of the Stargate was yawning when he suddenly jumped in fright, his eyes widening in shock.

The Stargate, which clearly had no transit schedule for the time being, began to operate and emit a bright glow.

They were not the ones who activated it. Instead, an external force had connected to their coordinates and was attempting to cross over.

“Chief Tech! These are coordinates we've never seen before. I don't know where they lead!”

A technician quickly located and calculated the opponent's coordinates, but the displayed coordinates were completely new, absent from their thick list of coordinates.

The Chief Tech panicked even more, scratching his head.

This was a situation he had never encountered in his thirty years of serving as Chief Tech.

[!@%$※▣◇¤^ψ≠◆∆?!!!]

At the same time, an urgent voice he had never heard in his life rang in his mind.

He knew it was an oracle from the Goddess Hestia, which only high priests or paladins were supposed to hear, but the Chief Tech felt far more panic than awe.

First of all, the oracle was too difficult to understand.

His Divine Status was too low to comprehend the oracle.

Furthermore, Hestia was speaking excitedly without pause, and her voice was far too loud.

She should have spoken calmly and slowly, but instead, she was shouting in a frantic rush, making it even more impossible for him to understand.

“Chief Tech! The Stargate is activating! Get back!”

“Ah, get back... Call the guard squad!”

Holding his head, the Chief Tech acted according to protocol first.

Not knowing what would emerge, he retreated first and called the guard squad to handle it.

The guard squad consisted entirely of elite paladins dispatched directly from the upper world.

One of these elite paladins had once fought a thousand rebelling Yordles single-handedly and won the war.

Before long, fully armed paladins clad in clanking armor swarmed in, standing guard before the Stargate.

The Chief Tech himself stood behind them, swallowing hard as he stared at the Stargate, wondering what on earth was about to emerge.

“Ah, Your Excellency.”

Just then, Delta called.

The Chief Tech answered immediately, but Delta's furious roar from the other side of the communication orb filled him with despair.

“Stop them... Stop them immediately! This is an oracle from the Goddess. Right now, even if you have to destroy the Stargate, stop them! The Great Devourers are pouring in!”

“...What?”

Delta's shouting threw the Chief Tech into utter confusion.

Yet at that very instant, something finally burst forth from the massive, city-gate-sized Stargate.

“What is that...”

The paladin standing at the very front saw something suddenly thrust out from the shimmering surface, but he couldn't finish his sentence.

Because something flew over without a word, instantly impaling his chest.

A massive exoskeleton sword enveloped in deep blue power gleamed as if forged from obsidian.

“How can this be!”

His comrades were shocked by this unbelievable power. That force had actually pierced straight through the paladin's reinforced plate armor, which was made of holy light alloy and engraved with holy light circuits to maximize its durability.

It had also pierced through the holy light forcefield shield constructed from holy power that the paladin had activated on one hand through his gauntlet, impaling his body in a single blow.

“Quite sturdy.”

Her long black hair fluttering in the wind, Kerrigan emerged fully from the Stargate. The magic heart in her chest glowed brightly, and a faint smile appeared on her lips beneath her mask.

Although the paladins were shocked, Kerrigan had actually intended to directly obliterate them along with the researchers and facilities behind them, which was why she used such a high-output throw.

“Just as he said, they look much stronger.”

Right behind Kerrigan, Begrun's massive body also revealed itself. He looked around and marveled.

The forces of the Goddess of Light Association stationed on the Pioneering Zone planet of Cadia were indeed incomparable to the Holy Kingdom of Terra recorded in the hive mind's memory.

Even an ordinary paladin possessed strength on par with the highly esteemed powerhouses of the Holy Kingdom of Terra.

This was undoubtedly a level of technology and strength created with the full support of their home planet, something only a higher world could possess.

“However...”

At that moment, countless legions of Great Devourers appeared behind Kerrigan and Begrun, pouring out like a tidal wave.

“Monsters are coming out of the Stargate!”

“Quick, stop them!”

The paladins were scared out of their wits. They tried to step forward to meet the enemy, but there were only a few dozen of them.

The Great Devourer legions poured in endlessly, instantly seizing control of the Stargate facility and flooding toward Cadia like a deluge.

“This looks like it will be fun.”

Unable to contain herself, Kerrigan wielded her four swords, moving at high speed as she lunged at the paladins who were already being overwhelmed by the Great Devourers.

Vanguard Queen Kerrigan and the migratory colony, the vanguard force of the hive, were the first to set foot on Cadia.

The sudden attack caused the Stargate facility to collapse instantly.

Faced with an onslaught by such unheard-of monsters, the forces of the Goddess of Light Association had no way to resist and fell back in defeat.

“Stargate secured. Commencing nesting process.”

Elise monitored the entire process in real-time and immediately initiated the next phase of the plan after the successful surprise attack.

They were not doing this for simple plundering or a mere raid.

To completely devour and absorb everything, thereby maximizing their power—this was the goal they had planned from the very beginning.

The moment Kerrigan and the charging migratory colony seized the Stargate facility, they spread out into the surrounding area, launching indiscriminate attacks on everything in sight.

“It's time to begin.”

Celia and Lisette stepped into the ruined Stargate facility together.

Celia immediately began nesting the area surrounding the Stargate facility with a massive swarm of worker ants.

Using broken debris and viscous fluids, the worker ants built new walls, dug into the ground, and spun webs to construct defensive fortifications.

Celia and the Lictors were busy layering countless protective spells, nesting the area and transforming it into a fortified stronghold to serve as their base.

Since the Stargate connection to Terra remained active, this Stargate now belonged entirely to them.

Since both sides knew the coordinates, it was standard practice to sever the connection after business was concluded. However, for those who disregarded the order of the Divine Net from the start and intended to use it as a tool for invasion, such conventions were not even worth considering.

‘However, the Stargate is not a perfect method. The enemy already knows our habits; we cannot rely on it alone.’

Celia took a step forward.

There, a man bound by sticky spider webs trembled uncontrollably, his face filled with terror.

“I heard you are the one in charge here.”

The captured Chief Tech, unable to move, stared in terror at Celia, who knelt on one knee with red and blue light flashing alternately beneath her mask.