Chapter 88 | Swarm: I Became a Cataclysmic Disaster

Lin Miao's ant colony had to keep eating.

This was their strongest instinct after awakening as servants, as well as the very purpose of their existence.

And this drive was far more intense for the migratory colony than for the main nest colony, which relied on cutting down countless massive trees in the primeval forest to cultivate fungi on a large scale for food.

This was because the migratory colony's only way to obtain nutrients was to roam and hunt across the land.

Furthermore, they could not obtain any of the prey that Lin Miao dropped into the terrarium.

【The Queen Ant believed that her environment and circumstances were completely different from those of the main nest colony, making it impossible to directly apply the experience accumulated by the main nest colony.】

In this situation, the Queen Ant of the migratory colony clearly recognized the differences between herself and the main nest colony led by Elise, and she was doing everything in her power to evolve in the direction best suited for her.

The vast amount of data Elise had accumulated during her battles with the Lucadia Empire army and the Holy Kingdom army building the high wall provided her with immense assistance.

【The Queen Ant decided to modify her offspring to reduce their weight and enhance their mobility and endurance.】

‘Pretty smart. Since their main battlefield is the plains and they must continue to operate as a migratory colony, mobility and endurance are indeed the most important factors.’

Lin Miao nodded in satisfaction.

Based on the instances where Elise's soldiers failed to pursue the Holy Kingdom army, the Queen Ant of the migratory colony modified her own soldiers. Even if it meant sacrificing some defensive power, she wanted to make them faster and give them greater stamina.

The resulting mutants, even if evolved by devouring the exact same materials, differed greatly in appearance from the mutants of the main nest.

For instance, among mutants that evolved by devouring arachnids, the spider ants of the main nest had slender legs and relied primarily on spider silk for combat;

on the other hand, the mutants of the migratory colony grew to have the bodies of giant tarantulas with venomous fangs and the heads of ants.

【The Queen Ant of the migratory colony began her attack on the beastkin she had long targeted.】

Leading the forces she had fashioned in this manner, she launched a full-scale offensive against the beastkin with whom they had been at a standoff and waging psychological warfare.

A black torrent of monsters blanketed the entire plains, densely packed together like a single, massive living organism slowly writhing forward.

“They're coming... Those things are coming out in full force!”

“Quick! Send this news back!”

On the screen, Lin Miao saw the beastkin who had set up monitoring outposts panicking and fleeing the moment they spotted the ant colony.

To survive, the beastkin in this region had to band together.

Because of this, almost all of them had now submitted to the deities and become their servants.

After all, servants influenced by a deity possessed unpredictable growth potential, leaving them with no other choice.

This battle had to be won. Of course, even if Lin Miao did not issue any orders, the ant colony would still devour everything in sight.

“Hold out until reinforcements arrive!”

A hastily assembled beastkin force occupied the high ground, preparing to defend it to the death.

This high ground already featured terrain that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and with the extensive modifications made by the beastkin, it had been completely transformed into a fortress.

‘To think the beastkin in this region could actually build something of this scale.’

This was the first time Lin Miao had seen a structure of this scale in beastkin territory.

Prior to this, the beastkin had always chosen to fight the ant colony in open field battles on the plains. This was the first time they had holed up inside a structure to defend.

If this wasn't an idea they had come up with on their own, they had likely received help from a deity or support from some other external force.

“Just as I thought.”

Sure enough, Lin Miao could not help but sigh as he watched massive golems slowly rise to their feet among the beastkin.

【The Queen Ant confirmed that the enemies had colluded with one another.】

Through the hive mind, the Queen Ant of the migratory colony was fully aware of what kind of enemies the main nest colony had fought and how those battles had played out.

Therefore, she did not panic in the slightest.

Even though the beastkin had received assistance from the Empire, the ant colony did not slow its pace, charging forward in perfect unison.

【To slay the enemies with her own hands, the Second Queen Ant charged at the very front.】

“Honestly...”

The greatest difference between the Queen Ant of the migratory colony and the First Generation Queen Ant, Elise, was that she herself thoroughly enjoyed combat.

To be precise, she seemed to thoroughly enjoy slaughter.

At that moment, when she had nearly lost her life to a beastkin wielding a divine spear bestowed by a deity but ultimately blocked the attack herself to secure victory, the Queen Ant seemed to have realized something profound.

And the result was the scene playing out before his eyes now.

Leaving her egg-laying duties to the egg-laying machines, she charged alongside the rest of her forces toward the front lines, where thrown weapons and spells from the beastkin intertwined.

“W-What kind of monster is this!?”

In the process of constantly devouring resources to evolve, the Queen Ant of the migratory colony—who was solely focused on strengthening her own body—had become a monster with a unique appearance and power, completely different from ordinary mutants.

Grabbing fully armed beastkin warriors with her forelegs, she tossed them aside like scrap paper. The massive scythe-like legs extending from her back swung repeatedly, slaughtering all the enemies who rushed forward.

“Kill that monster!”

The beastkin naturally recognized her uniqueness.

Magic bullets fired by shamans and javelins thrown by warriors all flew toward the Queen Ant, who was as large as a small house.

Even golems controlled by human mages charged toward her.

【As the Queen Ant of the migratory colony crushed her enemies, she felt an intense wave of pleasure.】

But unless an artifact blessed by a deity appeared once more, nothing could stand against this Queen Ant.

Although she was smaller than a heavy-armored ant, the power concentrated within her body represented a massive amount of resources, more than enough for Elise to construct several heavy-armored ants.

Seeing her clamp down hard on a golem with her scythe-like legs, while a thick, sharp venomous stinger extending from her rear—where an ovipositor should have been—pierced straight through its hard body along with the magic stone in its chest, Lin Miao could not help but marvel.

‘She seems to be having quite a bit of fun.’

Not only her basic attributes, but her actual combat skills in utilizing these abilities were also growing at an astonishing rate.

The Queen Ants, who were gradually awakening to self-awareness, were using their own methods to convert the accumulated experience and knowledge of the colony into their own growth.

This Queen Ant of the migratory colony, who was intoxicated by the pleasure of overwhelming violence, would likely continue down this path in the future.

Just as Elise had always walked her own path.

【The achievements of the servants have increased the deity's Notoriety.】

【Low-Tier Deity, Grade IV → Low-Tier Deity, Grade V】

【Unlocked some restricted functions】

As the Queen Ant personally charged and tore through the beastkin formation, the fortress fell, and the ants of the migratory colony swept through like a tidal wave.

Not a single survivor was left behind; everything edible went straight into the mouths of the ants.

The ants of the migratory colony were particularly fond of eating their prey alive, and they could often be seen tearing into and devouring enemies even while actively fighting.

Right at that moment, a new notification popped up in front of Lin Miao's eyes.

This meant that his deity rank had risen once again.

【A True Name can be bestowed】

Just like when he had named Elise, with his deity rank increasing, he could now bestow a true name upon another entity.

“Kerrigan.”

【The deity has bestowed a True Name upon a servant.】

The entity he had only ever referred to as the Queen Ant of the migratory colony finally had her own True Name.

Even if she could not yet comprehend the name herself, she would certainly feel that a new connection had been established between them through it.

【Kerrigan has sensed the existence of the Great One.】

Just like Elise had, Kerrigan suddenly raised her head in the middle of the messy, corpse-strewn battlefield and looked up at the sky.

It was as if she knew that Lin Miao was watching her through the screen.

What exactly was she feeling at this moment?

Lin Miao could not yet decipher it based solely on the light flickering within her fierce-looking head carapace, which was completely different from Elise's.

【Elise is extremely displeased by the emergence of Kerrigan.】

For the entire colony, this meant the addition of an important combat asset who had caught the deity's attention, but Elise's mood was terrible.

In the end, just as she had previously anticipated, the new Queen Ant was gradually taking away what had originally belonged only to her.

‘I guess there's no helping it. Why is this little girl so possessive?’

Watching this play out, Lin Miao sighed helplessly and shook his head.

In his view, there would be many situations in the future that would require new Queen Ants.

In fact, judging by the results achieved by the migratory colony led by Kerrigan, having other Queen Ants established under her command yielded far higher returns than having Elise manage all the colonies by herself.

【The servants have discovered enemies traveling upstream from the ocean.】

Perhaps not wanting to be outdone by Kerrigan, Elise immediately mobilized her forces and launched her long-planned offensive.

Her target this time was the remnants of the Empire's army who had arrived by boat and occupied the cities near the coast and rivers.

To thoroughly purge these invaders who dared to cross the sea and take root in her territory, Elise deployed a brand-new mutant.

“Monsters are rushing over!”

“Calm down! We fight on the river! Shoot them all down before they can build a bridge with their bodies!”

The Empire army defended by relying on the waterways, with soldiers spread across several ships that had sailed in from the sea, frantically pouring down magic and projectiles.

They knew very well that even if the ant colony could build rafts, they were not suited for water combat, and they wanted to exploit this weakness.

As long as they defended the sky, they could launch a one-sided assault.

Had it not been for those brand-new mutants, things might have actually gone exactly as they planned.

‘Since she dared to attack, she must have a plan.’

Elise never fought battles she wasn't sure of winning.

Even now, as she gradually began to understand what emotions were, this aspect of her had never changed.

From within the densely packed ant colony, a large number of mutants jumped into the river in unison.

They possessed long, slender legs. Despite having bodies the size of large beasts, they could glide swiftly across the water's surface, instantly reaching the ships of the panicked Empire army to launch a surprise attack.

“Those things are running on top of the water!”

Just how they managed to perfectly replicate the abilities of a water strider with such massive bodies was something probably only their designer, Elise, knew.

And these brand-new mutants, the water strider ants, executed their mission flawlessly.

“Where is the magic artillery? Quick, attack those things!”

“There's no time to adjust the coordinates... Aaaah!”

The mages on the ships who had constructed magic artillery using combined magic had originally targeted the dense swarm of ants along the riverbanks.

They had assumed that the ant colony would build rafts to cross the river.

But the sudden surge of numerous water strider ants instantly swarmed the ships. They had no time to adjust the coordinates of the magic artillery, and their attempt to intercept them failed completely.

‘They're going to collapse.’

As a result, with the ants leaping onto the ships one after another to launch their assault, the soldiers met with a massacre in the middle of the river.

The mages, who needed to maintain distance to be effective, could not cast their spells properly in the confined space of the ships before they were pierced through their bodies and skulls by the needle-like mouthparts of the water strider ants.

Once the defensive line along the river collapsed, the fortresses and cities they occupied stood absolutely no chance of holding out.

The scouting ants flying in the sky had already spotted them hurriedly boarding the remaining ships in an attempt to escape across the sea.

【Elise looked out at the vast ocean, contemplating the enemy populations on the other side.】

In this manner, the ant colony completely wiped out the invaders who had dared to strike first. Standing on the coastline, they watched the enemies escaping across the blue sea on a mere handful of ships.

【A wider world, richer prey.】

Resonating with their instinct to devour was an intense curiosity and interest.

Strictly speaking, both Elise and Kerrigan were currently just children who had only recently awakened to self-awareness.

Just as humans used greed and curiosity to overcome their fear of the unknown, they, too, were watching and waiting for their opportunity like predators.