‘The operation was a success.’
The moment the Stargate opened, the Heavenly Wrath Bio-Thunder immediately bombarded the area.
As a result, the enemy forces that had gathered to prepare for battle were completely wiped out.
The colony's forces passed through the Stargate completely unscathed, occupying and spreading throughout the entire region.
Celia was certain of their victory through the status and information shared via the hive mind.
“Everyone is here! Since you forced us to gather, it's about time you explained why!”
Just as Celia stood there, searching for information through the hive mind, two Yordles approached her.
One was an elderly Yordle dressed in the attire of the Goddess of Light Association, looking somewhat anxious, while the other was a young Yordle man completely covered in Cordyceps.
Celia took off her mask and turned to look at them.
Not only the already cautious old man, but even the confident-looking young man shuddered violently when they saw Celia's heterochromatic red and blue eyes.
In fact, they were not the only ones gathered here.
Celia was the fourth-ranking figure in the Great Devourer colony, second only to the three queens who symbolized the hive. She was a Legion Commander, a unit recognized by Lin Miao, who possessed a Divine Status.
Relying on this authority, she mobilized and commanded the colony's forces, forcing the Yordles to surrender, pacifying the Cordyceps parasites, and then gathering almost all the Yordle representatives together.
For those who lived far away, she dispatched flying species to bring them over; as for the rampaging Cordyceps parasites, she suppressed them with force.
Now, nearly hundreds of Yordle representatives stood before Celia, surrounded by the fierce and powerful Lictor knights. None of them dared to breathe heavily, all of them warily watching her every move.
“I did not gather you here today to sign any agreements or treaties. I am here to unilaterally announce one thing: from now on, this land will be ruled by the Great One we serve.”
She announced to the Yordles that the master of this land had changed.
Since the previous masters, the Goddess of Light Association, had been completely wiped out, this was only a natural progression.
“...”
None of the Yordles dared to object to this declaration.
In truth, the original owners of this land should have been the native Yordles, but the Goddess of Light Association had long since stripped them of most of their rights.
Now, these Yordles lacked any ability to reclaim their power from the Great Devourer, who had defeated the Goddess of Light Association.
“Then... what should we do now?”
But questions were bound to arise.
This was because there was a fundamental difference between the Goddess of Light Association and the Great Devourer colony.
The goal of the Goddess of Light Association was to expand their influence, recruit servants, and increase their population, whereas the Great Devourer was entirely self-sufficient.
Need population and workers? They wouldn't enslave the Yordles; they would simply mass-produce faster and superior worker ants.
In fact, by this point, some of the more clever Yordles had already realized that it was a miracle they hadn't been massacred.
“You probably don't have to do anything, if we go by the original plan.”
Thus, Celia said that if they followed the original plan, the Yordles would likely have nothing to do.
Just like the survivors of Terra, they would only need to adapt to this world occupied by the Great Devourer and live peacefully.
That was all.
In any case, the energy flow of this world under Gaia's world tuning had already fallen into their hands. This land would slowly turn into ordinary ground, devoid of any external power.
‘But is this really enough?’
Celia's homeland, Terra—which could be considered the starting point of the Great Devourer—was currently in this exact state.
However, Celia was pondering whether this was the right approach.
If they continued in that state, having been completely weeded out of the competition, they would ultimately lose their drive and direction for growth, gradually withering away toward extinction.
Although their lives were spared for now, if they looked toward the future of their race over the next hundreds or thousands of years, they still could not avoid eventual extinction.
‘In the end, the only way to avoid this is to integrate them all into the colony, either directly or indirectly.’
Celia had long known the answer to this problem.
There was absolutely no need to connect all of their minds to the hive mind.
“Therefore, I have changed the plan. From now on, you will become our believers. You can choose to refuse, and those who refuse will find their freedom in death.”
Celia firmly delivered the notice to the Yordles.
Accept, or die on the spot and face extinction—there were only two choices before them.
“Your Majesty, holy power is a force distinct from the magic power existing in nature and that slightly altered form of magic power.”
Before gathering the Yordle representatives, Celia had already made up her mind and reported to Elise. The most difficult part of this plan was convincing Elise.
“This time, if we go by the principles and theories we have come to understand in more detail, holy power is more like a deity using the power of faith to transform the 'source energy' existing in nature. And this source energy has never been formally mentioned in any of the knowledge the colony has absorbed so far.”
Celia began to logically explain to Elise, who seemed somewhat indifferent.
Celia already understood Elise's personality perfectly.
It was Elise who, out of necessity and a desire for her abilities, wanted to keep Celia by her side to torment her for a long time. That was why she had spared the life of Celia, whom she viewed as an enemy, and made use of her.
Celia believed that as long as she could prove its efficiency and benefits to the colony, the cold and calculating monarch Elise would set aside personal feelings to approve it, so she continued her explanation.
“Source energy is a fundamental force that even the Third Queen cannot interfere with. It seems to be the same even for higher civilizations. Therefore, the key lies in how we can convert and utilize it in other forms.”
“Are you saying we can utilize it?”
“Yes. We are already using magic power, aren't we? Now it is holy power's turn.”
Celia explained that if they did this, the resources available to the colony would increase significantly.
During their battle with the home planet forces of the Goddess of Light Association—who belonged to a higher civilization—they had absorbed some of their knowledge and learned about source energy.
The simplest way to utilize it was through magic power, which converted automatically in nature without being touched.
Most civilizations utilized magic power to develop technology and accumulate knowledge.
Next was mana and holy power, which were converted from magic power.
Which energy a civilization was based on to be superior was an enduring topic of debate even on the Divine Net forum.
Normally, it was standard practice for a civilization to utilize only one specific type of energy unique to them, but there was absolutely no need for the Great Devourer colony to follow such conventions.
Since Celia already knew how to generate magic power and mana, she proposed that they should also generate and use holy power.
“Unfortunately, hundreds of millions of allied soldiers cannot provide holy power.”
Celia emphasized that it was impossible to obtain the power of faith—which is holy power—from ordinary soldiers who lacked self-awareness.
In other words, if the Great Devourer colony wanted to obtain a large amount of holy power, they would inevitably have to utilize the people left behind on the various planets.
“Since they cannot be controlled by the hive mind, is there a possibility of betrayal?”
Within the hive mind, Elise brought her massive face close to Celia and questioned this possibility.
Knowing that Elise wanted to know the specific method, Celia voiced the plan she had already formulated.
“We only need to implant Cordyceps spores into their bodies, using them for surveillance and to gather holy power, and everything will be fine.”
She added that since Gaia was currently tuning this world, it would be impossible for them to form groups and rebel.
“...”
Elise paused the conversation, seemingly calculating, though the calculation was actually already complete.
Those survivors who had been left behind were truly only left because they had no other use.
The reason their bodies weren't ground down into meager nutrients was not only because Lin Miao, who possessed a Divine Status, disliked massacres, but also because the colony's capabilities could now utilize far more than just the nutrients extracted from flesh. The energy consumed in hunting down and killing those desperately fleeing would actually be more wasteful.
‘That seems like a good idea.’
Furthermore, Celia's report would also be conveyed to Lin Miao.
As long as he did not reject it, Elise had no reason to oppose Celia's proposal.
“Carry it out.”
Ultimately, Elise agreed.
With that, the faith that worshiped and praised the colony's powerful and alien strength—which in the past had only spontaneously appeared in parts of Terra—was truly set in motion under Celia's push.
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