“How will they end this war?”
Now that the full-scale war with the Goddess Hestia was entering its most intense phase, it was only natural for Lin Miao to be curious about such things.
A god—and not some nameless lower-tier god, but a high-tier deity at the higher civilization level who was somewhat famous on the Divine Net forum—would certainly cause a significant impact once war broke out.
It was a matter involving at least dozens of worlds.
War was war, but the post-war handling could never be overlooked easily.
【Lord of Red Sands: I heard a ceasefire was announced over at the Eternal Corridor. The Covenant of Ten Thousand Gods, as the defeated party, demoted several fallen gods to lower-tier gods, and that was the end of it.】
【Goddess of Mist: Those guys spam war posts and flood the feed all day; it’s annoying. It’s better that they’ve stopped.】
【God of Knowledge: The Destiny Society doesn’t seem satisfied with just demoting them to lower-tier gods. They’re even advocating for God-Slaying, though it probably won’t go that far. They are gods, after all.】
Information like this wasn't difficult to obtain as long as one searched carefully on the Divine Net forum.
It was common for the gods of the Divine Net to fight one another, and forming factions or powers to launch wars happened from time to time.
There were countless conflict zones and wars, each with winners and losers.
“The winners get the spoils, and the losers pay the price. It’s quite obvious.”
Lin Miao had gained a general grasp of their customs and habits.
Even if one lost a war, a being who had attained the status of a god in their own world was not so easily eliminated.
Having one's original home planet demoted and being ruled under the interference of a high-tier deity—essentially falling into a fate of slavery—was already the most painful price for failure.
The reason was clear. After all, they were precious resources used to combat the primary enemy: the Outer Gods.
In reality, those high-tier deities who led lower-tier gods would deploy them into wars against Outer Gods. If they achieved great merit, there were cases where they were released from their vassalage.
Of course, more often than not, they lost everything and vanished completely in the process.
“Ultimately, the root of all evil is the Outer Gods.”
Lin Miao gave a bitter smile.
To him, the system he called the Divine Net was, in the end, an order that existed to maintain a balance against beings like the Outer Gods.
The Outer Gods had no order and no system.
Whether it was gods or anything else, the Outer Gods would not compromise or negotiate; they would only destroy everything completely.
The balance of the universe, the preservation of the law of causality... such concepts simply did not apply to the Outer Gods, who were considered absolute evil.
They were chaos itself, seeking to return everything to the void. Naturally, those Divine Net gods who had reached the peak would do everything in their power to stop them, acting as if they were driven mad.
“Considering this, I can't let things get too out of hand. First, it’s good to bring down the Goddess of Light Association. But the next goal cannot be decided lightly.”
Lin Miao synthesized all the information and used an oracle to issue instructions to his servants.
“Your Majesty, the instructions just issued by the Great One are commands we must execute.”
Celia immediately grasped the meaning behind those words and suggested it to Elise.
The strategy of being misunderstood had worked well so far, but when the time was right, there would be no harm in discarding that persona.
After all, it was just the other side’s one-sided assumption; there was no need to live that way forever.
It was clear that Lin Miao’s servants had been growing at an explosive rate recently. In the blink of an eye, the Great Devourer could conquer several planets at once, absorbing their energy to assemble a massive legion.
But even so, it wasn't enough.
The universe was still vast, and there were many powerful enemies.
Lin Miao had not forgotten that he was the brake for the colony.
“Currently, there are a total of 23 territories that have survived without being invaded by the Goddess of Light Association. These are all stable upper territories, much like Tatooine.”
Yuno, who had previously been a Legion Commander for the Goddess of Light Association, reported the latest situation through the Hive Mind.
Including the lowest-tier Pioneering Zones, over twenty worlds had already been invaded by them.
Among them, more than sixteen planets had been completely nested, continuously gushing out resources and troops.
“The enemy is left with only one choice: full-scale war. But the result shouldn't be much different from now.”
“If they still had the strength to resist, why didn't they do so from the beginning...?”
Hearing Yuno say the enemy would resist through full-scale war, Lisette tilted her head in confusion.
To Lisette, who had experienced the fierce battles of Icathia alongside Celia, she didn't understand why they wouldn't have immediately dispatched more reinforcements if they still had strength to spare.
“An army, once established, becomes a collective that consumes resources and strength. It cannot be sustained without a population several times its size to support it. It's just like how there are several times more worker ants in the colony.”
Yuno, who had been promoted to Vice Commander of the Empyrean Star Guard, knew very well how much resources the Goddess of Light Association's army consumed to maintain its technology and numbers.
At that time, Yuno felt these were all complex and headache-inducing numerical games played only by administrators, but she had ultimately grown used to hearing various reprimands and nagging demands for her to be more efficient, so these things were etched into her mind.
“Once a full-scale war is declared, it means the order intends to sacrifice the future to save the present. No matter how bad the situation is, they won't easily make that decision until the final moment arrives.”
“That’s right. Generally speaking, that is a common perspective. Anyone would feel lost at the thought of living on a scorched earth where nothing remains. Although they were powerlessly crushed, reinforcements did arrive once, so the order might be pinning their hopes on that.”
Begrun agreed with Yuno’s words.
In fact, the Legion Commanders present could empathize more with the decisions of the Goddess of Light Association and the goddess.
Although they came from different civilizations and races, what they recognized at this moment was a universal concept that transcended those differences.
Why do we fight? What do we hope to gain through war?
War was originally a means of acting for profit. A war without any goal was always seen as nothing more than madness. Even the naturally bellicose gods would never commit such a foolish act.
“Incomprehensible. Victory is the future.”
“I agree. This is merely a failure caused by an inefficient system.”
However, the “madmen” were right here.
But for those beasts who lived by instinct, the insect race that had sought to devour the world since birth, and the queens, their thoughts were entirely contrary. In the eyes of the world, they were already close to insane.
Whether it was Kerrigan or Elise, they felt that such thinking was a very foolish and inefficient mistake.
To them, war was everything.
The peaceful and happy daily life that everyone yearned for was, from the very beginning, a non-existent concept for the Great Devourer.
Every day of theirs was a full-scale war where they staked the colony’s present and future.
Within the colony, no one dared to have doubts or dissatisfaction with this approach.
Even the Legion Commanders, whose status in the colony was second only to the Queens, had to find ways to squeeze out their own leisure time.
Of course, this method was also a “little tip” shared by the first Legion Commander, Celia.
“We will launch our offensive without pause. The enemy declaring a full-scale war means the spoils we obtain after victory will decrease accordingly.”
This difference in values became the deciding factor in this war, at least for this time.
Celia’s cold command was already an operational plan approved by Elise.
Even if their ability to develop planets and obtain energy was strong, there was no reason to give up the chance to acquire more resources and loot.
Celia still wanted to save one more life, while Elise wanted to plunder more resources.
Though their purposes differed, their direction was the same. Therefore, the Goddess of Light Association had to be dismantled with the greatest speed and minimal loss.
“Everyone, board the Chronos. Attack 22 worlds simultaneously, excluding the enemy’s home planet where the goddess resides.”
Even when they were much weaker than they were now, they had once invaded 17 planets simultaneously, expanding their nests bit by bit and ultimately achieving victory.
Now, the power they wielded was several times—no, dozens of times—greater than before, so they could launch an attack even faster and more violently.
“650 Chronos units departing. Each formation has a strength of over 10,000.”
Inside a Chronos ship preparing for warp, Celia checked the shared information and murmured softly to herself.
The 10,000 troops she mentioned referred to 10,000 composed purely of space species that required separate production facilities and resources.
The actual number of troops carried within would be dozens of times greater, and those millions of troops were merely the vanguard acting as a sort of beachhead.
They were currently conducting a landing operation.
Because the enemy would certainly deploy their air defense network to its full capacity on the retreating planets and focus entirely on anti-air defense.
Normally, to conduct a landing operation and break through enemy defenses, troops would have to be concentrated at a single point, but that did not apply to the current colony.
“It’s too many. There are just too many.”
Even Celia was surprised by the numbers she saw.
The already battered Goddess of Light Association was simply not prepared to face an attack of this magnitude.
Rate on N.U.
