Chapter 62 | Swarm: I Became a Cataclysmic Disaster

...

The First Generation Queen Ant, who had now been freed from her reproductive duties to focus entirely on the evolution of the colony and its individuals, fell into deep thought. It was about creating an individual to lead the new colony in her stead.

For the migratory colony designed by the main colony to operate as a sub-colony as planned, it had to have a new core.

An existence that, like the First Generation Queen Ant, would oversee and manage the entire colony.

Of course, the new queen would not be able to escape her reproductive duties like the First Generation Queen Ant had.

But what weighed heavily on the First Generation Queen Ant's mind was the very act of granting the new queen intelligence that went beyond being a mere reproductive tool.

'It is my... possession.'

She understood the essence of intelligence and was well aware of its destructive power.

Having experienced it herself, the First Generation Queen Ant naturally wanted to monopolize this power.

A strong greed and obsession quietly began to fester.

This was an emotion that other individual ants, who only followed the colony's instincts, would never possess.

If she indulged it even slightly, and the new queen constantly enhanced her intelligence and abilities just as she had, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But for now, she had no other choice.

Ultimately, the Queen Ant could only command the reproductive ants in the nest to produce an individual that would serve as the queen of the new colony.

Thus, a new queen with unhindered intellectual growth and complete capabilities was born.

Unlike the other queens created as mere reproductive tools, this was, in the truest sense, a “younger sister” who inherited the First Generation Queen Ant's will.

It did not take long for the members of the new colony to be born and grow.

'Is it because there are more nests now? They're growing so fast.'

Over the past few days, Lin Miao had completely settled into his new home. He chuckled as he watched the ants hatch one by one from their pupae.

Their appearance was almost identical to ordinary ants.

Yet, they all left their nests and gathered at the same location.

The northern lands, which the ant colony had seized after driving out the original forces, were now dotted with countless nests.

The army that poured out of the various nests simultaneously started with tens of thousands of ants, forming a massive colony.

【The servants begin a great migration. Their target is the beastkin of the western plains, deeply engraved in the colony's memory】

From the very beginning, the ant colony had created this new colony specifically to hunt the beastkin.

After all, the hostile beastkin they currently knew of were few and far between.

To combat the powerful warrior race of the beastkin, the ant colony expanded the number of mutated soldier ants, which were comparable to heavily armored tanks. At the same time, they mixed in a large number of individuals that had absorbed the tiger beetle's abilities, ensuring their mobility was second to none.

“It's them!”

“Monsters! The monsters from the east are coming!”

After the annihilation of the Northern Alliance, the beastkin tribes on the plains, who had enjoyed a brief period of tense peace, watched in sheer terror as a massive army flooded across the vast plains without warning.

Wherever this black torrent passed, not a single living thing remained, save for some plants the ants had no interest in and tiny animals too small to be worth preying upon.

No animal above a certain size survived.

To sustain such a massive colony without practicing agriculture, the migratory colony had to become the incarnation of destruction.

“We must retreat. There are only a hundred of us, we can't possibly stop them!”

“But if we all retreat together, we'll only end up wiped out.”

The beastkin tribe that was unfortunate enough to be detected first by the migratory colony instantly fell into chaos.

A tribe of a mere few hundred people stood absolutely no chance against such an army.

The shaman hurriedly prepared for retreat, leading the clansmen to gather their belongings and livestock to board their fleeing floating landmasses.

But the ant colony rushing toward them now was a far cry from what it used to be.

They possessed a large number of mutated individuals whose instantaneous speed surpassed both human horses and the giant plains wolves ridden by the beastkin.

“We will hold the rear. Even if we buy just another moment, one more person might survive.”

Several warriors volunteered to sacrifice themselves. Among the constantly feuding beastkin, this was a common occurrence.

Sacrificing oneself in such a situation was instead a warrior's honor.

“Salute the great warriors!”

As the shaman's voice fell, the silent clansmen bowed their heads one after another.

This was an almost certainly fatal mission. Even though the situation was dire, the atmosphere remained solemn.

“Move out. Even if we buy just one more minute, our compatriots and families can escape safely.”

The beastkin warrior Dur, along with his comrades who had volunteered to cover the retreat, picked up their weapons and charged forward.

They had long abandoned any hope of survival, fighting only to buy a fraction of time.

'The great god must be watching us!'

Dur's tribe was also composed of believers inspired by the god Uria.

One of the powers Uria bestowed upon them was the Heart of Combat, which amplified a beastkin's magic power and could only be obtained by warriors who had proven themselves.

Even if he sacrificed himself, as long as the great deity witnessed this and bestowed his blessings upon his family and tribe, Dur would be content.

“Kill!”

He roared with all his might to boost his morale, urging his wolf forward as he charged toward an enemy that outnumbered him thousands and tens of thousands of times over.

The plan was to somehow turn around before the collision to shake off the enemy's pursuit and lure them away.

No matter how difficult, it had to be done.

'These guys can be cut down with a single slash!'

A large number of gale ants, renowned for their speed, were the first to meet them, pouncing forward.

Dur originally intended to cut them down and turn around.

“...Huh?”

But just a moment before the collision, Dur noticed something strange about the enemies attacking head-on.

A pair of giant raptorial claws extending from the gale ants' backs spread open like wings, instantly lunging at the panicked warrior.

...

“Lady Celia, please look. This is the weapon used by the new mutated species that appeared at the high wall.”

In the capital, Celia shuddered violently as she looked at the weapon of the new mutated species brought by a knight she knew well.

“It looks just like a scythe.”

Inside the chest was a pair of massive, razor-sharp raptorial legs, sharp enough to cleave a person in half instantly.

With mutated ants equipped with these organs—evolved after the Queen Ant devoured the forelimbs of a mantis—acting as the vanguard, the ant colony shook the human high wall once again.

This occurred just on the eve of the migratory colony's formation, right as they were about to sweep through the western plains.

'Too fast. How on earth are they doing this...'

Everyone researching the ant colony, including Celia, was horrified by their rate of evolution.

Simply being able to continuously learn and grow stronger based on that was terrifying enough, but evolution was a concept a whole level above that.

A mage spoke up, “Lord Merlin once said that those things are constantly evolving just to hunt us down more easily. Having experienced it firsthand, I know those words are entirely true. We are still using our old methods to cope, but in the blink of an eye, they evolve completely new mutations and tear us to shreds.”

Celia nodded. “Indeed. First, heavily armored ones with hard shells appeared, followed by types with venomous stingers, and then mutated species that contain magic power instead of holy power, making holy spells ineffective against them. They are clearly targeting us, growing and evolving specifically to counter us.”

“How is that possible? At the very least, they couldn't possibly achieve such targeted evolution on their own, right?” the knight muttered in disbelief.

'He's right. It's impossible for these monsters to naturally evolve to this extent. There must be someone behind them, helping them.'

She did not deny this suspicion either.

The evolution displayed by the ant colony was too precise in its direction, too stable in its efficiency, and absurdly powerful.

It was as if they skipped trial and error entirely. Unless someone was watching over them from behind, setting the direction of their evolution and carefully guiding them, there was simply no other explanation.

“An Outer God. It must be that Outer God who personally bred these monsters, these Great Devourers!”

By now, anyone qualified to access core intelligence knew of the existence of the Outer God.

“Great Devourer” was the name the locals had given to these servants of the Outer God, the mutated ant colony, out of absolute terror.

Since ancient times, this name had been a title representing an all-consuming demon.

And with the terrifying destructive power and indiscriminate slaughter displayed by the ant colony, they had proven worthy of this heavy title in a very short time.

'We must also change faster, fast enough to keep pace with their evolution.'

The surge of unease that washed over her once again caused Celia to suddenly stand up from her seat.

In her understanding, the Outer God was chaos itself, rejecting all order—an absolute evil whose sole desire was the destruction of the world.

And its servants, through their reckless slaughter, were proving that title of absolute evil to be true.

Recently, rather than studying the ant colony, Celia had been focusing more of her energy on another matter.

That was to build a brand-new system and structure for the former Kingdom of Karmi, which had been unified under the Church of the Goddess of Light, in order to combat the ant colony.

“Lord Merlin, you should be well aware that those monsters are by no means ordinary magical beasts. They are fundamentally different even from the beastkin. Coping with them using our past methods is absolutely impossible.”

“Celia, are you suggesting we implement mandatory conscription for everyone in the kingdom who possesses the aptitude, including adventurers?”

Among the many proposals Celia had made to her backer and direct superior, Count Merlin, one was to implement a mandatory conscription system to combat the ant colony.

Currently, they were facing an enemy unlike any in history.

Relying on the existing system alone made it absolutely impossible to cope.

What's more, the Church of the Goddess of Light had already monopolized power in the kingdom, the feudal lord system had collapsed, and the entire nation was already undergoing a drastic transformation.

This was the perfect opportunity to completely rewrite the social system.

Count Merlin contemplated for a moment and then nodded. “I agree with your thoughts. At the same time, we must further expand the academy to provide systematic training for those who are conscripted.”

Celia continued, “Not only that. Lord Merlin, the secret spells passed down through generations by the various magic schools must all be made public. We need to develop entirely new magic at the fastest possible speed.”

“Ha, those words are truly earth-shattering.”

Even though Count Merlin had already agreed with her proposal to forcibly conscript those with magical talent for training, his eyes still widened in shock upon hearing this.

Each magic school guarded its own secret inheritance more fiercely than life itself.

For those who viewed surpassing other schools as their very foundation, demanding they disclose all their secrets and work together was no different from completely overturning the foundation of the entire magic community.

“My Lord Count, the times have changed. Moreover, we are standing at the final precipice of life and death. No matter what, we must win this war and survive!”

Celia herself was a mage, and she understood the stakes better than anyone. Yet, driven solely by the singular thought of fighting the ant colony, she completely shattered her long-held prejudices.

“...I will consider it.”

Seeing her firm gaze and hearing her speak with such conviction in the name of fighting the ant colony, Count Merlin ultimately did not dare to voice any opposition.

It was only because, at this moment, the impending catastrophe was already suffocating them.

The dread of a potential ant colony attack at any moment now heavily blanketed everyone's hearts.

Had it not been for strict government controls, the residents near the high wall would likely have fled south long ago.

'The enemy is already at our gates. What could possibly be more important than survival?'

Stepping out of Count Merlin's office, Celia gazed dazed at the peaceful scene outside the window.

Under the clear sky, the meticulously tended garden was leisurely and serene, but she knew in her heart that she would never have another moment of peace.

A few days later, two pieces of news arrived in quick succession.

The first was that the ant colony, which had previously fallen silent at the high wall, was actually marching as a massive army toward the western plains instead of the high wall.

The second was that the various magic schools had ultimately carried out this revolutionary reform in accordance with Celia's proposal.

【Although the First Generation Queen Ant is dissatisfied with the Second Queen Ant leading the colony to victory, she is delighted with the acquisition of new prey】

The reason the queen of the migratory colony possessed complete capabilities from birth was purely for the maximum efficiency of colony management.

The migratory colony belonged to the main nest, and was ultimately connected by the same collective consciousness. However, their behavioral patterns were completely different from the main nest, and sticking to the original system would make it impossible to achieve maximum efficiency.

Just as humans were self-innovating and pushing for reforms to combat the ant colony, the ant colony was doing the same.

The personal will of the First Generation Queen Ant alone was not enough to go against the colony's instinct of pursuing maximum efficiency.

“Both being called Queen Ant makes it way too easy to get them mixed up.”

Lin Miao looked at the constantly popping-up notifications and couldn't help but frown.

The Queen Ant in charge of the authority of evolution was the First Generation Queen Ant, while the one leading the migratory colony was the Second Queen Ant.

With the notifications constantly referring to them this way, it was no wonder he was getting confused.

Naturally, a thought occurred to him: he needed to give them “names” to distinguish them.

'It's just for my own convenience anyway.'

At first, he didn't think too much of it. After all, even if he gave them random names, the ants wouldn't be able to understand them.

“Number One and Number Two. Simple and clear, sounds good.”

Thus, Lin Miao casually uttered these incredibly perfunctory and meaningless names.

If the Queen Ants could understand his words and the meaning behind these names, they would probably be so furious they'd lose their composure on the spot.

【True Name Bestowal: A deity personally bestowing a name upon a servant is the highest recognition of their identity and status】

【Are you sure you want to bestow these names upon your servants?】

“Huh?”

But the notification that popped up instantly left Lin Miao speechless.

The prompt told him in no uncertain terms that this seemingly insignificant action of his held extraordinary meaning for his servants.

Lin Miao couldn't help but hesitate, falling into deep thought.

“...Elise. From today onward, the First Generation Queen Ant's name shall be Elise.”

【The deity has bestowed a true name upon a servant for the first time】

【When a Low-Tier Deity reaches Grade I, the next True Name Bestowal permission will be unlocked】

Lin Miao was frowning and scrolling through his phone, feeling conflicted, when the moment he casually spoke the name...

An invisible, powerful force suddenly erupted, tightly wrapping around the souls of the two existences and completely binding them together.

“Ugh?!”

This bizarre sensation, which he had never experienced before, made him stumble, and he fell flat on his butt onto the floor.

And at this moment, he was not the only one who felt this power.

【The First Generation Queen Ant Elise trembles all over from this newly born bond】

Lin Miao stared wide-eyed at the screen, and right at that moment...

On the screen, Elise, who had been quietly eating, was also extending her antennae with all her might, her entire body shaking uncontrollably.

A special servant personally named by a deity would form a direct bond with the deity, like a fruit and its vine.

This was equivalent to having an exclusive connection unique to the two of them, in addition to the shared bond that the entire ant colony possessed as servants.

【Elise perceives the existence watching her more clearly, sharing some of His emotions and knowledge】

“W-What?”

Before Lin Miao could even calm his racing heart and adapt to this unprecedented sensation, he was startled by the newly popped-up notification.

In fact, other deities would also raise multiple such special servants, sharing bonds and power with them.

It was just that Elise's current growth was insufficient to fully exert the power of this bond.

However, Elise possessed a talent: as long as she devoured enough prey, she could continuously break through her limits and achieve evolution.

'No way, is she coming out now?'

Lin Miao stood in a daze, watching Elise ignore the ant colony's attempts to stop her and crawl out of the underground nest herself.

This was the first time Elise had left the underground nest inside the terrarium to crawl onto the surface.

This queen ant, only the size of a hamster, peered up at the sky through the transparent acrylic wall. At this moment, she still couldn't clearly see Lin Miao's appearance.

She could only vaguely make out a colossal silhouette.

'I can feel it.'

Even though they were only quietly staring at each other through the barrier, Lin Miao instinctively understood what the bond mentioned in the prompt actually was.

At the same time, he finally understood why servants would offer their absolute loyalty to a deity.

This special bond was precisely that.

It was a brand of sharing each other's destiny and marching forward together.

【Elise feels extremely satisfied that the other queen ant failed to receive a true name】

'I just haven't had the chance to name her yet, but since she's happy, let's leave it at that for now.'

Watching the notification about Elise crawling back into her nest with great satisfaction, Lin Miao couldn't help but scratch his head.

Elise, who had always been wary of her “younger sister,” finally gained a bit of composure after learning that she was uniquely treated by him.

To be specially treated by the great existence who held the core of the ant colony's evolution was an honor that, even if her younger sister's abilities caught up to her own, would forever remain a chasm of status that could never be crossed.

'This way, the issue of the ant colony splitting that I was worried about earlier should be avoided. I was afraid of what would happen if they split, but now that I can directly intervene, I can always stop it.'

Lin Miao shifted his gaze away from the terrarium and looked at the other densely packed ant colony on the screen.

The migratory colony led by the Second Queen Ant had already annihilated all the beastkin tribes they encountered along the way, and they were still constantly searching for new prey.

In the process, the Second Queen Ant continuously received prey and endlessly laid eggs.

At the same time, she was also constantly shedding her skin, retracing the evolutionary path Elise had once trodden.

Moreover, although the beastkin were not as numerous as the human forces, their bodies contained extremely abundant magic power.

The prey left over after delivering the main nest's share alone was enough to make the Second Queen Ant grow at a breakneck speed.

Furthermore, the migratory colony shared all the combat experience accumulated by the main nest's ant colony.

Since they could fully absorb the experience bought with the blood and lives of the previous generation of ants, it was only natural for the newly born migratory colony to grow rapidly from the very start.

[God of War: We have neither the spare energy nor the time to build some high wall. While we must fight to protect our foundations and forces, do you all plan to just sit and wait for death like this?]