Chapter 221 | Swarm: I Became a Cataclysmic Disaster

“Just what are these monsters...”

Kane stared blankly at everything, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at Celia.

He knew Celia was female, but he couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of face lay behind that mask.

The actions of the Great Devourer were simply too destructive.

“An inefficient method.”

However, what Kane saw was ultimately only a tiny fraction of the Great Devourer race.

The vast majority of their activities occurred solely within their shared hive mind.

Gaia watched from the side, concluding that the Goddess of Light Association’s method of tuning planets—the Celestial Pillars—was subpar.

Gaia’s roots had already delved deep into the crustal layers. She was drawing energy from the planet, constantly proliferating her massive body and observing this new world in her own way.

“Sharing information.”

Gaia shared all the information she had gathered through tuning via the hive mind.

This included the current status of Planet Cadia, the movements and scale of the people living on it, and whether there were any external parties eyeing the location.

“Large-scale external interference detected.”

“Those are the Stargates the Great One warned us about.”

In particular, Elise’s eyes lit up when Gaia discovered the Stargates opening toward Cadia from the outside and the reinforcements from the Goddess of Light Association pouring through them.

“What should we do?”

“Block them.”

Faced with Gaia’s questioning query, Elise issued her command decisively, as if the answer were obvious.

The reinforcements from the Goddess of Light Association’s home planet possessed a higher level of civilization than the Great Devourer. They had to be blocked as quickly as possible to minimize losses and win the war.

“Blocking enemy Stargates.”

Following her sister Elise’s order, Gaia cut off the external intervention into Planet Cadia.

Using the planetary energy flows already under her control, she interfered with the coordinates required to open the Stargates and obstructed the condensation of energy sent remotely by the enemy.

“What’s going on?! Chief Tech! What is the meaning of this?!”

The soldiers of the Goddess of Light Association, who had been rushing to transport supplies before the Stargate closed, were shocked to see it forcibly shut down ahead of schedule. They were stunned by the sudden turn of events.

Some found a Chief Tech and demanded to know what was happening in harsh tones.

“T-this isn't an issue on our end!”

The Chief Techs felt wronged and shook their heads desperately.

“Everyone, quiet! This is an oracle from the Goddess!”

Just then, a High Priest hurriedly received a command from Hestia.

With a look of shock on his face, he relayed the staggering news.

It turned out that the monsters invading this place had already seized control over this previously unattended planet.

The reason the Stargate had closed and new ones could not be opened was precisely because of an existence that had already eroded and tuned this world, forcibly controlling its operations.

“How is this possible?”

Delta’s stunned murmur mirrored the feelings of everyone else who was too shocked to speak.

They had arrived in this world years ago, but the one thing they had failed to complete was the tuning of the world.

Of course, they had assumed they had no competitors, so they had taken their time, conquering and managing the local Yordles while performing the tuning.

However, the Great Devourer had only been invading for a few days, yet its tentacles had already reached the center of the world. This capability clearly exceeded common sense.

“Governor, this is not something we can take lightly. As things stand, support from the home planet is nearly impossible.”

Yuno issued a warning in response to Delta’s words.

Even though Delta was the Governor of the Pioneering Zone, Yuno was the Vice Commander of the Empyrean Star Guard—a special knight order directly under the Goddess that stood above ordinary Paladin orders.

Yuno was also the commander-in-chief of the reinforcements, so Delta could only click his tongue.

“Then what should we do?”

“We must destroy the enemy’s tuning method. Only then can we obtain support through the Stargate again.”

Of course, no matter how formidable Yuno was, she couldn't stop the situation from deteriorating.

The forces and armaments in the Pioneering Zone were already struggling to escape or protect themselves from the rampaging migratory colony. Now, they faced an even more grueling task: destroying the Great Devourer’s tuning apparatus—Gaia’s body.

“In that case, let’s get to it.”

A blue light flickered within the narrow slit of the visor on her full-face helmet.

Yuno showed no fear.

Instead, she seemed to be suppressing the joy of being able to fight the enemy.

...

“What is the status of Iron Raven’s activities?”

“It is as you said, Proxy. Their activities have recently become passive compared to before.”

Bai Zhantang nodded with an excited voice as he took Lin Miao’s call.

The faction that had been intentionally picking fights suddenly seemed to have lost its command structure, acting aimlessly before shifting to a passive defensive stance.

‘I figured as much.’

Lin Miao chuckled and looked at the screen in front of him.

On several screens displaying the Divine Net forum, the Goddess of Light was being exceptionally active. She was angrily complaining to other gods, insisting that the Great Devourer—Lin Miao’s vassals—must be subjugated immediately.

【Imperial Fist: This woman is at it again. It’s just one Pioneering Zone; how long are you going to cry about it?】

【King of the Forest: Can’t you handle it yourself?】

【Goddess of Agriculture: I’m sorry. Even if I wanted to help, there’s somewhere I absolutely have to be right now...】

The responses varied, but the conclusion was almost always the same.

Whether they were friendly toward Hestia or fed up with her, they all indicated that they could not provide direct assistance.

The primary reason was that Lin Miao’s base, Terra, was currently under a protection period.

The second reason was that the ROI for investing in a remote Pioneering Zone simply didn't add up.

Thanks to this, all of Hestia’s energy was focused there. As Lin Miao had expected, she had abandoned her operations elsewhere.

“We’ll wait for the perfect moment. When that time comes, we’ll pay them back twofold.”

Lin Miao told Bai Zhantang and Ye Yunshang that now was a time for temporary waiting.

In any case, the revenge was being carried out quite thoroughly by their companions, the Great Devourer, in another world.

‘This is convenient. The scouts’ footage was too shaky; it was exhausting to stare at for long.’

After hanging up the phone, Lin Miao sat comfortably on the sofa and switched the screens.

Following Gaia’s birth, the Great Devourer no longer needed to dispatch various scouts into the sky, earth, and sea of the tuned world.

Where Gaia’s gaze reached, the colony’s gaze followed.

At the same time, the colony’s gaze was exactly Lin Miao’s gaze.

Gaia’s tentacles writhed like roots in the deep crust. From them, extremely fine mycelium extended upward through the earth, wrapping around the roots of plants as they grew.

That thing was like an antenna broken off from somewhere on the body.

That antenna was the colony’s monitoring organ.

Lin Miao couldn't help but laugh when he saw a tiny eyeball growing lonely at the end of that disgusting antenna, absorbing all visual and auditory information before transmitting it to Gaia.

Among the information obtained through those antennas were many details about the local Yordles.

“Even so, it’s not right to just leave those terrifying monsters alone, is it?”

“Exactly. Have you seen their nest? That land is no longer a place where living things can survive!”

“Hmph! Either way, those people from the Goddess of Light Association who abused us and kidnapped us were just as bad!”

Lin Miao discovered that the Goddess of Light Association had not yet fully absorbed the Yordles.

‘Come to think of it, they’ve only been developing it for ten years. It would indeed be difficult to completely brainwash them when they’re spread across the entire world.’

Gods were always in a hurry to increase their vassals.

While increasing the population through reproduction was the standard method, those who wanted a more diverse array of vassals had to use any means necessary to absorb external forces.

Forced submission through military power, brainwashing over long periods, mixing bloodlines during reproduction to blur their essence, and religious faith—there were many methods. But the common problem was that they all required time.

Lin Miao was somewhat more free regarding that issue.

The Great Devourer, with its rapid reproduction capabilities, could increase at an incredible speed as long as resources were sufficient. Moreover, there was no need to consider the possibility of betrayal or issues like loyalty.

However, even so, there was no reason to go out of his way to exclude or slaughter other races.

Most importantly, as long as he took them for himself, the opponent’s strength would weaken accordingly.

【Elise judges that without the help of the Yordles, the enemy has no chance of winning.】

Now that external support had been cut off by Gaia, the only way for the Goddess of Light Association forces remaining in the Pioneering Zone to fight was to unite with the Yordles.

“Wait, Your Majesty. Even so, the total annihilation of the Yordles is not what the Great One desires.”

Celia stopped Elise, who wanted to slaughter the Yordles.

She intuitively felt that no matter how necessary it might be, that Great One would prefer another way.

“Is there another way for the sake of the colony?”

Elise, encountered within the hive mind, leaned her face close to Celia’s, thinking that since she opposed the idea, she must have an alternative.

“The only thing they lack is power... That is precisely why they are at the Goddess’s mercy. We only need to bestow power upon them and let them do as they wish.”