[Goddess of Light: How on earth did that Outer God find out the Stargate coordinates? It makes no sense to say someone leaked them. Can Outer Gods communicate with each other?]
Although Goddess Hestia's request for support was ignored, the incident sparked a massive discussion on the Divine Net forum.
Even though it was just a remote Pioneering Zone, an Outer God had attempted to invade in an unprecedented manner.
They had forcibly intercepted Stargate coordinates—information typically used by deities through mutual agreement—to force the Stargate to remain open, and then continuously channeled their armies from the other side.
This method was quite shocking, which was why it triggered widespread discussion among the deities.
This was because, historically, Stargate coordinates were exclusive information shared only within the forum where they communicated.
For an Outer God who did not belong to the Divine Net, this should have been impossible to know, and information they absolutely must not obtain.
However, no matter how much they racked their brains, they could not arrive at an accurate answer beyond mere speculation.
After all, they could not possibly imagine that an existence pretending to be an Outer God was openly wandering the Divine Net and browsing their information.
[Goddess of Wisdom: Since it has already happened, we should assume there is a method we do not know of. That is the correct approach.]
[Goddess of Harvest: I feel uneasy, so I am physically closing the Stargate to my Pioneering Zone.]
[Goddess of Mist: Damn it, making us waste resources on useless things...]
To be safe, some deities had no choice but to close the Stargates of their Pioneering Zones where world tuning was not yet complete, and connect to those worlds through other means.
Of course, these alternative methods required far more resources than keeping a Stargate continuously open.
Irritated, the deities began to denounce this unidentified Outer God.
[Pale King: I do not really want to help that Goddess, but we cannot just leave this be, can we?]
[Lord of the Forge: But their home nest happens to be within the Divine Net's protection period...]
[Lord of Shadows: As for the Goddess's Pioneering Zone, that is already someone else's territory. We cannot invest more troops and resources there. Once the protection period of those guys' home nest expires, we will clean them up immediately.]
The deities clamored, saying that as soon as Terra's protection period ended, they would send their armies to burn the entire planet to the ground.
Of course, throughout their chaotic discussion, not a single one of them mentioned helping Cadia, Hestia's fallen Pioneering Zone.
Their thought process was to simply abandon such unprofitable land and focus solely on destroying the enemy's home nest.
'Aren't they a bit too complacent?'
Lin Miao, who had been observing all of this, furrowed his brows.
He had anticipated being targeted by the deities of the higher civilizations, which had kept him tense and anxious. But looking at it now, the deities' response seemed somewhat passive and cold.
"Well, I suppose that makes sense."
Lin Miao muttered softly, trying to think from their perspective.
He and the Great Devourer were currently just a rising force that had barely crossed into another world and was just starting to make a name for themselves.
If Terra had no protection period, the deities who had been defeated on Terra would have surely brought the military might of their home planets to punish them.
But the larger the faction, the more vassals they governed, and the more things they had to worry about.
To most deities who had not personally experienced it like the Goddess of Light, Lin Miao and the Great Devourer were merely annoying bugs. They only viewed them as such.
'This feeling is both pleasing and a bit annoying.'
It was a good thing that the enemy's vigilance was not high, but being looked down upon hurt Lin Miao's pride. This subtle feeling tickled his heart.
"Anyway, looking at this, it seems there won't be any problem if we continue to attack Hestia's Pioneering Zones."
【Elise confirms the Great One's will.】
Lin Miao told the Great Devourer that they could proceed with their planned operations.
Elise seemed to have been waiting for these words, her mouth curling into a wide, happy grin.
"Abundant resources mean more evolution."
Elise then emphasized that their growth and evolution did not occur in a step-by-step, linear fashion.
Synergy did not always increase in fixed proportions.
Sometimes, two seemingly insignificant elements could create a synergy that broke through limits, generating far more.
Lin Miao's Great Devourer colony was the ultimate exemplar of this.
They did not discriminate against technology or power; as long as they could prey on it, they could recreate or modify it in their own way.
In other words, devouring a planet did not necessarily mean obtaining only the power of a single planet.
"Stargate, open."
Elise rapidly studied the technology extracted from the captives of the Goddess of Light Association.
For Elise, who possessed a hive mind and a giant brain that could expand freely, learning anything was incredibly easy.
This advantage was maximized especially when there was technology available to reference and imitate. No matter how abstruse or complex the theories and techniques were, Elise could memorize and analyze them within seconds.
Then, she would replicate these technologies exactly, and even reinterpret and modify them in her own way.
"How is this possible..."
Chief Tech Kane, who had half-believingly disclosed all the information to the Great Devourer, watched them absorb it on the spot and muttered in despair.
It was obvious that their accumulated achievements over the years were as massive as a mountain.
Yet, the Great Devourer, which had only just reached the bottom of that mountain, did not start building a tower of its own. Instead, it directly climbed the tower they had already built, catching up at an astonishing speed.
'But... what do they want to do by opening the Stargate like this?'
Kane swallowed hard as he watched the magic-type Lictors gather, opening a massive Stargate in the sky.
Opening the Stargate was one thing, but what mattered was what they would do next.
Even the only thing Kane could think of was to first open the Stargate and then directly deploy their forces through it.
Although worker ants made up a high percentage of their numbers, the population of the Great Devourer, now possessing both Terra and Cadia, was exploding at a frantic rate.
Kane had already seen countless swarms completely covering the vast land and sky.
Even if only a portion passed through the Stargate, an ordinary Pioneering Zone would find it extremely difficult to resist, and victory could not be guaranteed even if they staked everything.
However, the Goddess of Light Association was not stupid. They had been preparing ever since Cadia came under attack.
"S-Stargate! It's an unknown Stargate!!"
In fact, in the Pioneering Zone where the Stargate opened by the Great Devourer began to appear, the local forces turned pale with fright upon detecting it and sounded the emergency mobilization order.
"A Stargate? Those monsters? Where! Where is it opening!"
The Great Devourer had obtained coordinates through the captives, and their next target was a planetary Pioneering Zone named Cradion.
Of course, the home planet of the Goddess of Light Association did not expect the Great Devourer to actually open a Stargate and come out this time.
However, since the Goddess of Light Association had been closely monitoring the Great Devourer's movements, they immediately activated their pre-prepared response systems the moment the emergency report arrived.
Although they could not deploy enough troops and equipment to all Pioneering Zones without knowing when or where the Great Devourer would appear, they had done their best to bolster the defensive forces of each Pioneering Zone. They had made preparations to react as quickly as possible whenever the Great Devourer appeared.
"Oh!"
Belard, the governor of the Pioneering Zone Cradion, nearly jumped with joy when he saw the reinforcements emerging from the pre-prepared Stargate.
Paladins and priests clad in shining silver armor, along with armed soldiers dragging heavy equipment, marched out of the Stargate in groups. The marching column looked incredibly reliable.
"Please rest assured, Governor. The home planet has long been prepared,"
General Parr, who led the forces, laughed heartily as he pointed at the troops and equipment he had brought.
The main force of this army belonged to a race called the Vastaya, who were classified as a branch of the elven race within the Divine Net.
They had long been completely assimilated by the Goddess of Light Association, and with their unwavering faith and excellent armaments, they were fully prepared to battle the Great Devourer.
"With our rapidly bolstered Pioneering Zone strength, combined with the power of these reinforcements, we will win even if tens of millions of unknown monsters surge through."
Parr puffed out his chest and confidently commanded his troops and equipment to gather at the projected location of the Great Devourer's Stargate, which had been locked onto by their detection technology. They aimed their weapons at the target, preparing to concentrate their firepower.
Colossal cannons and spell formulas were aimed at the target area, ready to unleash their destructive power at any moment.
"Come on... go ahead and open your Stargate. I will burn you all to ashes at once!"
Hestia was also watching all of this, letting out a sinister chuckle.
Having suffered consecutive blows from the Great Devourer since Terra, a fanatical light gleamed in Hestia's eyes. She could hardly wait for the Great Devourer to open the Stargate and appear.
Finally, under everyone's tense gaze, the Stargate that tore through space began to slowly open.
"All forces! Prepare to fire!"
Parr naturally assumed that the Great Devourer would flood out like a bursting dam using their overwhelming numbers, so he had prepared the bombardment in advance.
"Fire... wait, what?"
However, even though a massive Stargate large enough for heavy-armored ants to pass through had opened, not a single Great Devourer emerged from the empty void.
"What is that..."
Parr saw it clearly.
A massive, unidentified object shot out of the Stargate like a bolt of lightning, streaking across the sky, and slammed violently directly into the gathering forces.
The object emitted a deep blue energy, triggering a colossal explosion the instant it struck, instantly swallowing the entire gathered army of the Goddess of Light Association.
Rate on N.U.
