Chapter 235 | Swarm: I Became a Cataclysmic Disaster

“They're here! The monsters are here!”

The migratory colony began to trample the Goddess's Pioneering Zone.

The natives, as well as the residents belonging to the Goddess of Light Association who had come to this new land with passion and hope, eager to start a new life, all screamed in terror.

The gale ants ran across the ground at an incredible speed, sweeping through. Those small hamlets and villages without any proper defense preparations were wiped out just like that.

In the process, as long as anyone was judged to have even the slightest connection to the Goddess of Light Association, the Great Devourer would slaughter them mechanically and without mercy, regardless of age or gender.

“Gaia, begin growing.”

Meanwhile, fortified nests were established in areas deemed suitable. Gaia's seeds were planted and infused with nutrients collected from the other side of the Stargate and from all directions.

As a result, another body of Gaia rapidly divided, beginning to take root in the new planet and preying on the planet's energy.

“We need more support! Those monsters are insane!”

“W-we are doing our best to mobilize troops.”

“What about the Stargate?! Opening the Stargate will get us more reinforcements.”

“We can't use the Stargate! The Goddess said those monsters know our coordinates, so we must never open it!”

Belard, the governor of Cradion who had been on standby last time to counter the Great Devourer coming out of the Stargate, had barely survived by temporarily retreating to the rear after being struck by the Heavenly Wrath Bio-Thunder that had flown in instantly. At this moment, his face was pale as he urged the Chief Techs.

But no matter how anxious he was, reality could not be changed by sheer willpower alone.

Unlike the rapidly multiplying Great Devourer, they could only watch helplessly as their territory was taken away bit by bit, doing their best to gather their strength with anxious hearts.

‘Opening the Stargate takes time, and even if we do, it will close again in an instant. Gathering enough troops and supplies requires time!’

No matter how much they racked their brains, it felt as though more than half of the planet was about to be seized by the Great Devourer.

Moreover, as time passed, Gaia would completely take root. If that happened, the initiative of world observation would be lost, and they would no longer be able to receive support.

The problem was that even if both sides held half of the world, the Great Devourer could mobilize forces from its other nests through the Stargate, even linking Stargates if necessary.

Even without doing so, the Great Devourer possessed the rapid reproduction and erosion capabilities to claim this vast land as its own in a short period of time.

“There is no other way... In the end, we can only pray for the Goddess's help.”

Belard sent reinforcements to the fortress that Kerrigan was reported to be directly attacking, and then let out a sigh.

Their fate seemed to have slipped out of their hands.

It was impossible to fight an even battle against the Great Devourer in this Pioneering Zone through normal means, so the best they could do was trust and follow whatever their deity could do.

“Let us all pray together. May the Goddess's divine protection be with us.”

For them, having at least one place they could trust became their final lifeline.

And that holy power born from their earnest hearts filled the air, shining brighter than ever before.

...

“Gaia, how much time is left for the world tuning?”

“Estimated time is twelve days and twenty-one hours.”

“Calculation corrected. The time required for our victory has been shortened by twenty-five days.”

Elise grinned, adjusting her calculations after hearing the report from her younger sister, Gaia.

The moment the world observation ended, the enemy's support would be cut off, and their own strength would grow even greater.

Even advancing the time required for world tuning by just a single day could shorten the time needed to win the war and conquer the planet by more than ten days.

【Elise is satisfied with the massive holy energy.】

Furthermore, the colony was now harvesting new fruits.

Celia's initiative to spread doctrines and missionary work on Planet Cadia to produce holy power had yielded results that were far better than expected.

These loyal believers worshiped and praised the Great Devourer. They regularly came to Gaia's roots growing deep within the earth. Through devout rituals, they connected the writhing roots to a part of their bodies, infusing the holy power they generated into Gaia.

Though weak individually, it was a different story when gathered from a massive crowd.

Harnessing this massive holy power, Gaia condensed it into a psionic core unique to the Great Devourer, operating it alongside the magic heart to create another power source.

“If we spread this to Terra as well, our efficiency will increase by more than seventy percent.”

Elise intended to spread this new system created by Celia to their other occupied territory, Terra, to acquire more nutrients and energy.

She was confident that by modifying existing mutants and creating new ones based on the colony's growing new technology, they would be able to win future wars.

Naturally, a broader world and even more soldiers appeared in Elise's mind's eye.

At this rate, could they devour another world, grow stronger, and actually win the war against the higher civilization, the Goddess of Light Association? Such hopes grew stronger and stronger.

This was by no means baseless arrogance.

For they had experienced countless wars and continuously grown during this time, and they had already experienced firsthand how much they could benefit from absorbing a single technology of a higher civilization.

“Warp successful!”

“Damn it, this old ship doesn't even have an automatic adjustment device.”

Just then, a spaceship successfully warped into the satellite orbit of the tranquil Planet Cadia.

Adian, the captain of the Rum, sat in his chair and dry-heaved. He calmed his breathing and stared at the blue planet unfolding before him.

“Defense systems against warp and orbital airstrikes... As expected, there are none.”

“In that case, this mission will be a breeze. Captain, let's begin immediately!”

The subordinate crew members immediately set to work.

They quickly scanned Planet Cadia, confirming that there were no defensive measures against orbital attacks, and bright smiles appeared on their faces.

Attacking a defenseless, lower world with a space-faring ship gave them a far greater advantage than the Goddess of Light Association's paladins fighting hundreds of Yordle warriors with high-tech armor and gear.

This meant it was an easy and pleasant mission where they wouldn't die or get hurt no matter what they did, allowing them to conduct a completely one-sided assault.

“Good! Let's begin the operation immediately!”

Adian nodded and gave instructions to his subordinates, officially declaring the start of the operation.

The Rum's engines roared to life, and the massive ship rapidly entered Planet Cadia's atmosphere, closing in on the ground occupied by the Great Devourer.

“?”

The first to notice the anomaly was Gaia, who could perceive the flow of Planet Cadia's atmosphere and energy—something the eyes and senses of scouts could not detect.

Gia successfully detected the anomaly using her massive antennae stretching into the sky and the leaf-like sensory clusters at their tips, immediately sharing it with the hive mind.

“What is that...”

“The sky?”

Elise, Lisette, and Celia saw it too.

From the distant sky, a black dot-like object slowly descended, growing larger as it approached.

‘Ah, could it be...’

At that moment, only Lin Miao, who was watching this scene through the screen, realized something was wrong.

To everyone else besides Lin Miao—including all of the Great Devourer—the cosmos beyond the sky was merely a distant, mysterious, and unknown space.

“Altitude stabilized. Drop the bombs!”

“Wow, I never thought these old-fashioned weapons, which we thought we'd never use, would be so effective at wiping out these bugs.”

At that exact moment, the Rum began dropping its onboard bombs according to Adian's command.

The crew watched as the massive bombs fell, hurtling toward the densely packed Great Devourers and their nests on the ground.

Then, the bombs plummeted at an incredible speed, exploding instantly.

A massive explosion roared, and the ground was instantly engulfed in flames.

The impact easily shattered the psionic barriers of Tyrant individuals, and the terrifying heat instantly melted their hard, modified exoskeletons.

‘I only feel a trace of magic power, yet it has such immense power... What on earth is this?’

Celia furrowed her brows, deeply bewildered as she watched the massive explosion that sent up a mushroom cloud.

To her, as a mage, this incredibly powerful bombardment created purely by physical force was truly shocking.

“Catch them and kill them! Immediately!”

Seeing a nest completely destroyed before it could even resist, an enraged Elise issued a command to the entire Great Devourer colony.

However, before the flying species from all directions could spread their wings and swarm them.

The Rum had already flown in rapidly, bringing the body of Gaia—the massive fleshy form of the colony's mind—into its sights.

“What on earth is that?”

“Is that thing... alive? How disgusting!”

The crew of the Rum cried out in disgust upon seeing Gaia's body.

Indeed, with its writhing blood vessels, its magic heart swelling like a tumor, the exoskeleton covering its body, and the antennae and sensory organs reaching toward the sky, it presented a sickeningly horrific form.

“Prepare to fire the main cannon! Most likely, that monster is how they tune the world.”

Adian stared at the screen and swallowed hard.

On the magnified screen, Gaia emerged from her massive stalk, her upper body standing upright, gazing at the ship approaching from the distant horizon.

Adian even had the illusion that he was making eye contact with Gaia.

Those clear eyes and beautiful face were completely mismatched with her horrific body, appearing extremely out of place and bizarre.

“Charging complete, fire!”

The ship's main cannon filled with immense energy and fired in the form of a light cannon.

Incomparable to the Great Devourer's Disintegration Cannon, a battleship-grade ether beam sliced through the void and struck Gaia's body.

Instantly, the entire hive mind suffered a powerful shock.

Celia's eyes widened as she stumbled, and Lisette gritted her teeth, leaning against the wall.

It was the aftershock caused by Gaia's agonizing scream.

‘How can it have that kind of power?’

Celia groaned, trembling at the power of the ether cannon that had severed Gaia's massive body in an instant.

Most of her massive branches had dissolved, and the severed body fell to the ground, spilling blood and organs. Gaia's body tuning Planet Cadia had practically ceased all life activity.

It wasn't just physical defense.

The various defensive spells and resistance formulas applied to Gaia were things even the Great Devourer's concentrated fire would find hard to break.

Yet, a single shot from the Rum had pierced right through them.

“How dare you!”

Elise was furious as she listened to her younger sister's painful screams.

At the same time, a powerful wave of greed surged in her heart, making her desperate to know the origin of that ship.

“Normally, it's hard to bombard so easily. The target was large too, making it easy to hit.”

“Radar detects at least hundreds of thousands of enemies! Retreat quickly!”

A massive number of flying species began swarming near the Rum.

Among them were Behemoths, which possessed Disintegration Cannons and could engage in aerial combat, serving as the strongest weapons on Planet Cadia until just moments ago.

The crew of the Rum, including Adian, quickly assessed the situation, immediately gaining altitude and beginning their retreat into orbit.

As their altitude rapidly increased, the environment became extremely harsh.

The Rum remained unharmed thanks to its ether shield and excellently crafted hull, but starting from the weakest individuals, the Great Devourer could not rise above a certain altitude and had to halt the pursuit.

The thin atmosphere...

Ultimately, even the Behemoths, who had chased them to the end while clad in psionic barriers, felt abnormalities in their life activities and chose to retreat.