Chapter 229 | Swarm: I Became a Cataclysmic Disaster

Yuno’s consciousness flickered. The Holy Light Winged Armor and God of War Armor finally reached their durability limit, breaking and falling away piece by piece.

Begrun was astonished by the slender, fragile body of the pale young girl revealed from within the heavy, two-meter-tall armor.

“?”

Kerrigan, who was still gripping the back of Yuno’s head, was equally stunned.

Yuno’s body had been pulled from the armor like a moth emerging from a cocoon; she was tiny—unnervingly so.

But in that instant, Yuno’s eyes burned with golden light, as if she had been forcibly awakened.

Yuno twisted her body and delivered a kick with her bare, white foot to Kerrigan’s arm, which was still clutching her hair.

The kick, infused with concentrated holy power, struck Kerrigan. One of Kerrigan’s arms exploded and was severed.

While Kerrigan hesitated for a moment, Yuno’s hair fluttered as she landed. She kicked up the spear lying on the ground and caught it in her hand.

Her arms were so thin that muscle was barely visible, and her shoulders were as small as a child’s.

However, beneath her skin, glowing circuits flowed in place of blood vessels.

“What on earth is that?”

“Radiant Refinement... It is a surgery that only a few qualified children can undergo, sacrificing everything to serve that Great One.”

Celia asked about Yuno’s true identity while showing Chief Tech Kane the screen.

During their qualified childhood, a portion of the heart is removed, a holy core created by the Goddess herself is implanted, and artificial blood vessels are installed throughout the body, centered on the spine.

With innate cruelty combined with the modifications of a man-made weapon, Yuno had lived as the Goddess’s blade for decades following the surgery, taking pleasure in slaughtering countless enemies who resisted the Church of the Goddess of Light.

“How could they...”

Lisette, who had experienced being forcibly modified by her own kind, felt instinctive repulsion and anger.

But there was one decisive difference between Lisette and Yuno.

Yuno had desired this and enjoyed the battle of her own free will.

Whether it was the excruciatingly painful modification surgery or a body that had stopped growing and remained fixed, to Yuno, they were nothing more than tools for combat.

“Die, monster queen!”

Yuno grinned, shrouded in an explosion of holy power as she lunged at Kerrigan.

This wild, surging power now seemed even greater than when she had been wearing the full-body armor that integrated the latest technology.

Kerrigan was overwhelmed by the pressure. She crossed her twin swords to barely block the strike, but the exoskeleton blades shattered instantly. Kerrigan’s body was sent flying, slamming into the opposite wall.

“She can’t win.”

Elise made a cold judgment after seeing that the exoskeleton on Kerrigan’s chest had been almost completely destroyed by the violent impact.

With every fierce thrust of Yuno’s spear, Kerrigan drew new swords to block, only for each blade to snap, leaving her stumbling.

When Kerrigan’s mask finally shattered completely, revealing her panicked face...

Yuno’s light frame took flight like a feather. She spun in mid-air and delivered a heavy flying kick directly to Kerrigan’s face.

The explosive shockwave even twisted Kerrigan’s neck, sending fragments flying everywhere.

Unable to sit by any longer, Elise, in her capacity as the Queen of the main nest colony, issued an order to Begrun and all members of the migratory colony who were merely spectating.

She commanded them to help Kerrigan immediately and kill Yuno.

“Shut... up!”

However, Kerrigan rejected Elise’s command with all her might.

Even as blood streamed from her shattered face, Kerrigan’s eyes burned as she stared at Yuno.

“Kerrigan, you cannot win.”

Naturally, Elise didn’t even blink. Although Kerrigan was a Queen like her, she was Elise’s younger sister, and Elise held a higher Divine Status.

When Elise issued an order, the soldiers under her command had no choice but to obey.

Elise did not want to watch this inefficient battle any longer.

However, even Elise had an existence she dared not defy.

“Let them fight.”

The god’s powerful will permeated the hive mind. Elise was startled and looked up at the hole in the nest’s ceiling.

Through that hole, she saw light and the ceiling of the room where Lin Miao was located.

...

‘The growth of the Queens is also important. In fact, the growth of the colony is almost entirely driven by these children.’

Lin Miao observed his servants closely, understanding their strengths and abilities.

Just as Elise had achieved victory in the battle for the Sky Island through her unique, rigorous command and design, Kerrigan was following a different path of evolution—she had her own unique way.

For Kerrigan, fighting strong enemies was like Elise absorbing technology and genes through wars with higher civilizations to develop appropriate variants and tactics.

Greater strength and a stronger will to fight.

This was precisely Kerrigan’s forte, and it was why the migratory colony could serve as the vanguard, charging into battle against the enemy.

“I’ve heard that being overprotective like this can cause problems these days.”

Lin Miao was certain that this was an ordeal his daughter had to endure.

A child must eventually overcome trials personally to grow.

If they are always sheltered under one’s wings, how can they accomplish anything alone when a true crisis arrives?

If Kerrigan overcame the battle with Yuno and grew because of it, the combat power and level of the Lictor knights within the colony influenced by her would surely improve as well.

The breathtaking spear techniques Yuno displayed were undoubtedly something to be coveted.

【 Elise indicates she will comply with the Great One’s will 】

Ultimately, Elise accepted Lin Miao’s intent and changed her mind.

“Ah, I’m so happy...”

Meanwhile, Kerrigan lay on the ground, her body in tatters, chuckling to herself.

Lin Miao believed in her. How could she not be happy? After all, for any servant, it was only natural for their heart to race when trusted by the god they worshipped.

“Do you really intend to stay out of it until the end? Even if I kill your Queen?”

Yuno rested her spear on her shoulder and sneered at Begrun as she watched Kerrigan stumble to her feet.

“I have no choice.”

Begrun clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Even the Queen could not defy Lin Miao’s will; how could he?

“Even so... I don’t think she’ll lose.”

Begrun muttered softly as he watched the grinning Kerrigan.

Because he had once fought Kerrigan to the brink of death himself, he knew very well.

Kerrigan was by no means an opponent who could be easily defeated.

“Ugh...”

In fact, Kerrigan’s tenacious obsession and madness never truly flickered out, even as she wavered. That obsession and madness were the very roots that had allowed her to grow from an insignificant creature into a warrior capable of speaking of higher realms.

In contrast, Yuno’s breathing gradually became labored after taking Kerrigan’s blades, and she gasped from the stinging pain in her body.

Radiant Refinement was by no means a power without a price.

Due to the holy power being forcibly drawn from her heart, Yuno’s body was gradually marching toward collapse, just as Begrun’s had when he desperately burned his magic power in the past.

“What a pity. If only this could last longer... if only this moment could last forever. But everything must come to an end eventually.”

With blood streaming from her nose, Yuno sighed as she watched Kerrigan’s sword knock her spear aside.

But it wasn’t over.

Kerrigan transformed her exoskeleton sword into a long spear and thrust it directly at Yuno.

A glimpse of the spear technique “Holy Light Destruction Spear” that Yuno had displayed was now being executed by Kerrigan, who had learned it from her.

Yuno was shocked to see this.

She had intended to gather her final strength for a counterattack when Kerrigan thrust her sword, but she never imagined Kerrigan would shatter her predictions by replicating her own spear technique.

“Cough...”

Kerrigan’s spear shattered Yuno’s final line of defense—the holy forcefield—and pierced straight through her defenseless body, emerging from the other side.

Yuno was instantly held aloft like a skewer. She coughed up a large amount of blood, her feet dangling in the air as she trembled uncontrollably.

Victory.

Kerrigan had ultimately proven herself, repaying Lin Miao’s trust.

She had triumphed in the trial given to her and claimed her trophy.

‘Tch...’

Yuno’s head slumped as her vision blurred.

Though defeated and about to be killed, she felt regret for only one thing: she would never be able to experience a battle of this caliber again.

“Hmm?”

However, Yuno did not die.

When she suddenly forced herself awake from her hazy consciousness, Yuno found herself inside a giant cocoon, enveloped in mucus and flesh. She opened her eyes, feeling utterly bewildered.

“Another toy?”

“My heart.”

When Kerrigan handed Yuno’s unconscious body over to the worker ants, Elise sighed helplessly, as if she found Kerrigan’s insistence on keeping Yuno alive to be absurd.

Kerrigan shrugged her injured shoulders, indicating she didn’t see the problem.

She was the victor, and the victor had the right to keep the loser as a trophy.

Begrun, who could be considered Kerrigan’s first trophy and living proof of her ways, kept his mouth shut.

“She requires more thorough modification and research. Hand her over to me.”

“...”

Elise judged that incorporating Yuno’s ego into the hive mind would not be an issue. She noted that severing the Radiant Refinement technology attached to Yuno’s body, as well as the connection that still existed between her and her god, would be quite difficult. Thus, she ordered Kerrigan to hand her over.

She added that after she had finished dissecting and investigating Yuno, she would return a toy modified exactly to Kerrigan’s specifications.

Kerrigan could not refuse this order.

Someone connected to an opposing god was like a bomb that could explode at any moment; they could never be accepted by the colony as they were.

“Conquest complete.”

Elise’s orders did not end there.

The Great Devourer had been victorious in both the battle for the Sky Island and the battle on the defensive lines.

The forces of the Church of the Goddess of Light had effectively been annihilated, and Gaia was still blocking the Stargate the enemy was trying to open.

On this vast land, the only competitor had been the pioneering group of the Church of the Goddess of Light, so the planet known as Cadia had effectively fallen into their hands.

They had gained a planet with resources rivaling those of Terra, or perhaps even more. By a simple estimate, their influence had more than doubled.

‘But this isn’t the end. We have gained much. We must still continue to fight.’

Lin Miao thought of the various high-civilization technologies displayed by enemies who were merely at the level of a Pioneering Zone.

The Heavenly Thunderbolt, the Sky Island, the holy core, holy spell formulas, and so on.

If they could fully absorb these technologies, the Great Devourer could achieve another massive evolution.

In fact, they had aimed for this from the very beginning when they decided to invade the Pioneering Zone.

“This is impossible! All of this was only possible because of the holy power bestowed by the sacred Goddess. Holy power is not a force that just anyone can harness...”

“Are you talking about this?”

Chief Tech Kane jumped up upon hearing this, claiming it was impossible for the Great Devourer to harness holy power and technology. However, Celia silenced him by demonstrating psionic energy operating in the same form as holy power right before his eyes.