“What on earth... is that?”
Inside the newly organized cabin of the Rum, Adian, who had just woken up, stared blankly at the distant hill.
Thousands of worker ants were busily moving about, constructing something.
A massive mass of cells, as large as a house, resembling part of an internal organ, wriggled, divided, and expanded in volume.
This was a prototype built to test a bio-power generation device that could synthesize ether from the planet's primordial forces, but naturally, none of the surrounding crew members could answer his question.
Although they had grown somewhat accustomed to it, the Great Devourers were still nothing short of terrifying monsters to them.
“I don't know what it is, but they must be building something again.”
Just then, a group of people walked toward Adian and the crew.
Kane, walking at the very front, noticed their cowering reactions and spoke up, “My name is Kane. I was once a Chief Tech of the Goddess of Light Association. My situation is pretty much the same as yours now.”
Kane raised his arm slightly, revealing a blood vessel that had turned pitch black and was wriggling beneath his skin.
It was the mark of a parasitic mutated Gene Stealer implanted inside his body.
Adian nodded upon hearing this.
Perhaps because they were both human, or perhaps because they were surrounded by swarms of Great Devourers, he felt a sense of shared misfortune rather than wariness.
“If only we had extra nanobots...”
“Don't look at me like that. Whether I have a parasite inside me or not, we don't have many options left anyway.”
Kane waved his hand dismissively, then gestured for Adian and the crew to follow him.
As someone captured by the Great Devourers earlier than them, he intended to show them how to survive in this place from now on.
“You've been defeated too. The land of Cadia is now completely under their control. We prisoners, along with the native Yordles who originally lived here, have all become their slaves.”
Kane led them to see a nearby Yordle city.
On the surface, the city appeared peaceful and serene. People tilled the vast fields, and livestock grazed freely.
Under the rule of the Great Devourers, the Yordles went about their daily lives just as they always had.
“But they have been burdened with obligations. If they fail to offer a fixed amount of holy power at set intervals, they face execution.”
“H-Holy power... can something like that be treated so cheaply?”
“...It was a first for me as well.”
Kane pointed toward a group of Yordle priests in the distance.
Wearing Great Devourer masks, they led many of their kinsmen deep into the nest.
Deep within the nest, Gaia's roots dug into the ground. The branches growing from them split into numerous tentacles, wrapping around the kneeling, praying Yordles to extract and harvest their holy power.
Those with talent and strength were praised for providing more holy power, while those without talent could still amass a vast amount of holy power as long as there were enough of them.
“As you might know, holy power is generated through an individual's noble faith and conviction...”
Kane stopped mid-sentence.
Extracting and utilizing holy power was a highly limited capability.
It was not something where one could simply cast a Heavenly Thunderbolt at will; rather, it required dozens of priests to gather, form an array, and amplify the holy power.
Yet, the Great Devourers had shattered this common sense.
They had developed a method to extract holy power from individuals for the colony's use.
“This is likely the future of the worlds they occupy.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“I'm not entirely sure. However, ever since they began extracting holy power as a tool, they stopped being indifferent to the survival of the Yordles.”
Since they had begun extracting holy power, the Yordles and the residents of the occupied regions were no longer mere organic matter whose lives or deaths did not matter.
Much like how they used to cultivate mushrooms using trees as raw material, the Great Devourers meticulously cared for them, ensuring they could reproduce and sustain their lives.
Any difficulties the Yordle priests gathered from the residents would be received by Gaia. She would then personally employ her power or direct nearby Great Devourers to bring rain, develop mines, and so on. In this way, an ecosystem began to take shape.
Before the Goddess of Light Association turned this place into a Pioneering Zone, the Yordles fought amongst themselves every day, even resorting to cannibalism. Now, they could no longer kill each other.
This was because anyone who harmed their own kind would be judged by the Great Devourers as an impurity hindering the prosperity of the colony, and the Great Devourers would rush over and tear them to shreds.
Under the almost husbandry-like surveillance and care of the Great Devourers, the Yordle population was slowly growing, and they were amply stockpiling resources.
Even if it is for exploitation, are those things truly servants of an Outer God?
Adian felt a slight wave of emotion as he listened.
These terrifying monsters that had come from outer space to destroy and slaughter everything now seemed to be part of an ecosystem.
“So, rather than them, I am more worried about ourselves.”
Kane looked at Adian and pointed at the Goddess of Light Association prisoners, including himself, as well as Adian's crew members.
“You should know that the only reason we've kept our lives is entirely because they need the knowledge and information we possess.”
“That's the truth.”
“By acquiring knowledge and information from us, they are developing and growing at an astonishing rate.”
Kane couldn't help but shudder as he recalled how the Great Devourers had used the astral formulas, holy cores, and other technologies they extracted from him to ultimately create even space mutants.
“Once they decide they have nothing left to gain from us, I don't know what they will do.”
“C-Could that really be true? That lady clearly assured us that our lives would be spared.”
“Ah, you mean Lady Celia.”
Adian was slightly flustered, while Kane smiled faintly upon hearing Celia's name.
“I also believe Lady Celia's words. She is trustworthy.”
Kane had also been persuaded and threatened by Celia in the past.
Through his frequent conversations with Celia, Kane had also managed to catch a glimpse of her prestige within the colony and some of her thoughts.
However, there was a major difference between Kane and Adian—Kane had personally met the Great Queen, Elise.
“The Great Devourers are a massive empire ruled by a Queen. Even Lady Celia cannot disobey the Queen's commands. Behind the Queen's lethal beauty lies a mind completely beyond our common sense.”
When Kane spoke with Elise, his strongest impression was that, in the end, she was a monster in human skin, with an entirely different way of thinking.
If Elise casually ordered their execution, Celia would have no choice but to obey.
Of course, rather than going to the trouble of killing those who were no longer of use, Elise would focus her attention elsewhere, but Kane had no way of knowing that.
“Then what we can do is...”
“Prove our usefulness no matter what. Even if we have to squeeze out the very last drop of knowledge from our minds, we must prove we are useful to the colony. We must also obtain some sort of status, just like Lady Celia!”
Kane spoke with intense passion, emphasizing that if they wanted to survive, they had to prove their worth.
Even if the technology leaked in the process would become the fuse that destroyed and occupied their homeland.
“Haven't we already seen it? The massacre we worry about will likely not happen.”
Kane pointed at the Yordles, confident that even if the Great Devourers occupied their homeland, there would be no massacre or extermination.
Since Elise had realized that keeping them alive to exploit them was far more efficient, she would never resort to senseless slaughter.
That's true, we never had a choice to begin with. Besides, Zion's main forces shouldn't lose to them. The expeditionary fleet will surely arrive soon, raze this place to the ground, and rescue us.
Adian looked at his companions with wavering eyes. He tried his best to cling to hope, thinking that as long as they cooperated with the colony to survive before they were rescued, an opportunity might present itself at any moment.
“...Good work.”
Just as Kane was watching them, Celia's voice quietly echoed in his mind.
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