“Beginning troop classification. Assault type, melee type, bombardment type.”
Gaia categorized the combat troops by their specialized roles.
For example, the original venom-pot ants, gladiator ants, and decapitating ants were all mutants that ran rampant across medium-sized battlefields.
Their true value lay in charging into the collapsing enemy ranks, literally running wild, causing chaos, and slaughtering every foe in sight.
But was it really necessary to split troops playing this exact role into so many different varieties?
Therefore, Gaia suggested to Elise that they should create a new type of mutant capable of executing the abilities and roles of various mutants—such as the venom-pot ant, gladiator ant, and decapitating ant—all at once, making the production system much faster and more efficient.
“Approved.”
Unlike a certain someone who only thought about fighting, Elise smiled as she looked at her capable youngest sister, approving the plan and personally offering her assistance.
With this, the nutrients and energy required for each individual would naturally increase.
While the combat strength and production efficiency of each individual would be vastly enhanced, a simple calculation showed that the overall production volume would still be lower than it currently was.
Naturally, the quantity produced was bound to decrease.
Regardless, the Great Devourer was currently expanding its nests at a frantic pace, entering an unprecedented growth period in its racial history.
Of course, this history was barely two years long at the moment, but that did not matter.
Elise, along with those who understood the situation, firmly believed that this colossal colony would only continue to grow in the future.
Furthermore, even though the Great Devourer would thoroughly recycle the corpses of its fallen kin, some nutrient loss during the recycling process was inevitable.
If they could prevent troop losses by increasing combat power, there was no reason to refuse.
Exactly. We have no way back anyway. If we want to catch up to the achievements others have accumulated over thousands, tens of thousands, or even more years, we must bear the corresponding risks.
Even Lin Miao thought the same.
There was always a price to pay.
The Great Devourer walked on thin ice every single day, treading on the edge of a blade as it constantly evolved and reproduced.
Overturning their existing system completely whenever an opportunity arose, just as they were doing now, would become a common occurrence.
As long as this race had a single breath left, this endless, total war would never stop.
A single defeat could spell their ultimate doom.
Yet, the rewards for paying such a price were equally immense.
Their development from a rootless insectoid colony into a force capable of threatening a top-tier civilization ruled by high-tier deities in such a short time was the ultimate proof.
Who else could possibly achieve this?
They did not fear evolution or war.
They took accepting change for granted, viewing stagnation in the old era as a sin.
This was the unique capability in this universe shared by the Great Devourer, which had accidentally discovered the rift to the otherworld, and Lin Miao, who had awakened as a deity in an unconventional manner because of them.
“Hybrid production of heavy-armored ant, saw-bladed ant, and Spore Beast: Gladiator Bug.”
Gaia designed an ultra-large unit to serve as assault troops.
This massive mutant fused the rhinoceros beetle horn of the heavy-armored ant, the stag beetle jaws of the saw-bladed ant, and the carapace and size of the Spore Beast. Moving on six thick, heavy legs, it brandished a massive horn and serrated jaws.
Their colossal bodies could reach dozens of meters in length, unsustainable without a magic heart, making them essentially Tyrant-grade individuals.
“Hybrid production of heavy-armored ant, scorpion ant, and spider ant: Tank Bug.”
Tyrant-grade individuals were too valuable to be used as mere expendables.
Therefore, they also required mass-produced mutants that did not need magic hearts and could sustain their bodies solely through magical and spell treatments, serving as the largest possible non-Tyrant variants.
With bodies comparable in size to large dump trucks, these individuals possessed eight legs, a pair of massive pincers on their giant frames, and a heavy exoskeleton covering their upper bodies, which they could raise high into the air.
This design was clearly inspired by the appearance of the holy golems used by the Goddess of Light Association.
“Hybrid production of bombardier ant, heavy-armored ant, and predatory ant: Venom-Burst Bug.”
Others were designed to charge at the enemy and trigger a massive explosion, tearing a gap in the enemy's formation.
Similar in size to a small bus, their abdomens were swollen and bloated, resembling a cross between a Great Devourer and a spider.
Protecting their bodies with hard exoskeletons, they would charge and detonate themselves along with the enemy in a violent explosion, spraying vast amounts of acidic venom in all directions.
“Hybrid production of soldier ant, gladiator ant, decapitating ant, and scorpion ant: Razorclaw Ravager.”
The melee-type forces also underwent a massive redesign.
On bodies the size of mid-sized cars, these Great Devourers possessed lower jaws as sharp as honed blades.
They also sprouted a highly mobile tail tipped with a sharp, venomous stinger, allowing them to attack enemies in all directions.
One pair of their legs had transformed into swinging talons, capable of slicing through anything in their vicinity once chaos broke out.
Of course, who knows when these newly created ones will change again? And new individuals will surely keep being added.
Lin Miao stopped taking notes; he had been closely following their work.
Though they were called the “latest” designs, they would eventually become obsolete as time passed.
Even if they did not exist in the initial blueprints, countless new mutants would be added based on situational needs, and they would gladly embrace the new changes.
When that time came, they would simply reorganize and adapt once more.
Refusing to improve when they had the ability to do so would be foolish.
For the Great Devourer, it was the most natural and justified course of action.
...
“Captain, the Stargate has opened!”
“According to the reports, the enemy forces there exceed one hundred million. Each cluster of combat troops numbers over several hundred thousand, so we must be fully prepared.”
The first to clash with these rapidly growing and evolving Great Devourers was not the Goddess of Light Association.
Instead, it was the mercenaries summoned by Hestia in an effort to save her territory.
Among them, the mercenary group recruited by Hestia at the cost of selling her Goddess Holy Water set foot on the soil of Planet Noxus.
“The great God of Mercenaries and that rising blood moon once said that every victory we secure will earn immense rewards for our homeland. We must succeed.”
One of the mercenary captains, a beastkin named Warwick, muttered to himself as he stroked his beard.
The fierce power struggles, political maneuvers, and transactions among deities were nothing but distant stories to a mere servant like him.
In comparison, Warwick cared far more about the massive rewards his god had promised him, his subordinates, and their homeland.
A total force of five hundred thousand. Not only did we bring large siege engines to breach the enemy's nests, but also a vast array of mid-range firepower.
Warwick looked at his fully armed subordinates.
Although this force was only one of the mercenary groups under the God of Mercenaries, he firmly believed that his Warwick Mercenary Group was the finest among them.
All the soldiers were equipped with heavy power suits and wielded weapons made of specially reinforced metal.
They had also brought giant artillery pieces and tanks, with several large weapons named the Hammer of Thunder floating in the sky.
He believed that no matter how numerous the enemies were, they could slaughter them like helpless bugs and burn down all the nests eroding this world, thereby liberating it.
“Artillery strike confirmed! Massive enemy casualties!”
“That's it!”
Everything seemed to be going exactly as he had envisioned.
They ambushed a newly built nest and a squad of troops gathering nearby to replenish nutrients, their bombs and artillery fire obliterating the enemies and incinerating the nest.
His confidence soaring, Warwick ordered his troops to charge, intent on wiping out the remaining enemy forces and the rest of the nests.
“Ha! Turns out we worried for nothing!”
“I've killed twenty-four so far. I'm in first place!”
Warwick's mercenaries swung their giant axes and greatswords to hack down the Great Devourers, unleashing jets of flame to burn the nests.
Though they were just a single mercenary group, having the open support of their deity allowed them to deploy everywhere to rake in money with virtually zero casualties.
Tasting victory after victory, their self-confidence swelled to the point where they even had the leisure to joke around.
Even though they had only reduced the known enemy count by a mere fraction of a percent, and tens of thousands of Great Devourers were still emerging from their cocoons at this very moment, their morale was at an all-time high.
“It seems destroying a few small nests doesn't do much. As expected, do we have to target 'that place' directly?”
Warwick did not share his soldiers' complacency. On the contrary, looking at the tenacious vitality of the nests that rapidly expanded and recovered, he fell into deep thought.
Despite indiscriminately killing every single one they saw—supposedly slaying over a million of them—reports of enemy sightings still poured in from all directions.
It was impossible for him not to sense that something was amiss.
They were endless. No matter how many they killed, more kept popping up from all directions, and there even seemed to be more of them than before.
“C-Captain! This is bad!”
Then, that day finally arrived.
The Great Devourer began mass-producing its redesigned new weapons.
The drawback of these new monsters rushing out of the nests was that there was absolutely no combat data on them. But conversely, it also meant their opponents knew nothing about them.
“What on earth are those things?”
Warwick's eyes widened as he stared at the screen, which displayed an endless sea of monsters shaking the very ground.
Ferocious monsters, the likes of which they had never seen before, surged forward like a tidal wave.
Yet, that was not the most shocking part.
“Second wave detected! An enemy force of the same scale is right behind them!”
“T-This looks like a third wave.”
The waves crashed relentlessly, as if they would never stop, eroding the coastline.
After the first, second, and third waves, the monsters still poured out in an endless stream, attacking from all directions, seeking to devour them completely.
“P-Prepare the defense.”
Shivers ran down Warwick's spine as he issued his first order to construct defensive fortifications since arriving.
Those who had previously treated killing the Great Devourer like a sport froze in sheer terror at the sight of the oncoming horde.
“The estimated enemy count right now... is-is over ten million! And this might not even be all of them... Q-Quick, contact the home planet!”
Not stopping there, Warwick immediately requested reinforcements from their home planet.
The reason they were fighting now was no longer for greater achievements or higher pay.
“At this rate, we're all going to die!”
It was a desperate struggle just to survive.
Rate on N.U.
