Chapter 97
Episode 97 - Evolution, Not Corruption (5)
"Ugh, Aaaargh!"
"Mayor!!"
A deafening roar, followed by an impact. The ground literally erupted, and the magnificent marble building that stood at the city center, City Hall, began to collapse with a bang as if it were exploding.
The mayor's massive body, with his belly protruding, was flung into the air along with the debris of the destroyed building.
"This... this can't be happening."
Even as the mayor was flying through the air, he muttered in shock, staring blankly at what he saw.
The culprit that destroyed City Hall, its entire body faintly glowing under the moonlight, was covered in thick black carapace.
Its entire body couldn't even fit within his field of vision. As the mayor's vision began to fade, all he could see was its thick body, resembling a massive wall.
"Aaaargh!"
Before he could properly see the writhing face above, the mayor plummeted toward the shattered debris of City Hall.
The mayor's final memory was of the creature, its massive body writhing as it descended upon the city, silhouetted against the moonlight.
A gigantic body, tens of meters thick and hundreds of meters long, fell and completely split apart a portion of the city.
"What's happening?!"
"What on earth is this...?"
The Deathworm, which had laid its body on the ground, slithered back into the soil it had burrowed through before the dust clouds had even settled.
People who had been sleeping stumbled out of their homes in a daze, only to be horrified by the destroyed City Hall. Meanwhile, troops on emergency standby sounded alarms with all their might and summoned reserves.
"What about the mayor?! What happened to the mayor?!"
A City Hall executive, who had escaped harm by being outside, rushed frantically to the ruins. The corpses crushed beneath the debris were so mangled into chunks of flesh that it was difficult to identify them.
"Baren?!"
"This can't be..."
He, along with a few others who had reached the center of the ruins, was stunned into silence by the sight before him.
The spot where City Hall should have been. In its place now stood a massive sinkhole, dozens of meters in diameter.
A dark, deep sinkhole whose depth was impossible to gauge, as if it absorbed all light.
The executive, moving his Adam's apple nervously, took a luminous stone lamp from an employee nearby and shone it into the hole.
"Red... eyes?"
And he gasped in disbelief.
In the darkness, glowing red eyes began to flicker on and off, one, two, three... and then countless more began to appear endlessly.
"Baren!"
Before he could retreat after realizing what kind of beings were lurking in the tunnel, something shot out at incredible speed and leapt into the air.
At the moment Baren, standing in front of the hole, was split in half and collapsed, spraying blood, the creature that had emerged shook its blood-dripping hand and spread its black feathered wings wide in the air.
"Ah..."
The people at the scene instinctively realized their doom as they looked at Kang Do-Yeon.
This was the moment she was engraved into the memories of the people here as 'The Wings that Bring Despair,' and it marked the beginning of the Battle of Herem, the great invasion of the southwestern metropolis.
At the same time, countless monsters began to pour out of the tunnel like water flowing in reverse.
'How about it? That power is only a fraction. Right now, the other side is launching an attack as well.'
The metropolis of Herem, built on a strategic point, was transformed into a hellscape in an instant.
Although it was called a battle, the reality so far was a one-sided slaughter.
Utilizing the vast experiences and data accumulated up to this point, the Legion Soldiers, modified solely for combat by adopting only the strengths of various species, were unleashed.
Humans, unable to even assume defensive postures, were completely overwhelmed by the mid-sized Legion Soldiers' poison stingers, pincers, and claws that were unleashed without restraint.
'A total of 3,580 battlefields.'
Eve focused more on other locations than on Herem, where the Command Entity, Kang Do-Yeon, was present. The billions of troops, led by the Higher Species, spread out across thousands of kilometers of battlefronts.
They simultaneously attacked thousands of towns and cities, both large and small.
Small villages required only a few dozen large or mid-sized Legion Soldiers.
In larger villages, a single charge from an over-sized species broke through defenses, and in major cities with magic defensive lines and castle walls, the Higher Species unleashed formative power to shatter barriers and gates before overwhelming them with sheer numbers.
'I can feel the blood of humans. How many have died already? I don't waste my computing power on such things, but it must be a lot. And by the time the sun rises, there will be no living beings left on the current battlefields.'
Meanwhile, millions of additional troops were being produced and awaiting deployment in the Nest. This production activity would not stop until all competitors on this world were devoured.
"For the proud victory of the Legion, Legion Commander Reina. Your role is needed."
Eve, her eyes flashing, tore the Special Nest in half.
From within, a nude female body fell, accompanied by secretion.
Her eyes slowly opened. The once clear and transparent blue eyes were now tinged with blood-red, radiating her inner rage and hatred without restraint.
"Haaah..."
Reina struggled to lift her trembling body.
Still unsteady, as if she hadn't fully adapted, she wobbled like a toddler taking its first steps, barely managing to stand.
She was already observing the battlefield situation shared by Eve within the Nest where she had been asleep.
"How does it feel to become a part of me?"
"So... so wonderful. My... my mother. My master. My god."
Her eyes were filled with ecstasy at Eve's words. Reina was truly experiencing an electrifying pleasure.
It was similar to when Kang Do-Yeon had added various sensory organs to her inner self and expanded her perception for the first time.
A connection with a gigantic entity, something unimaginable during her human days. The expanded senses and cognitive abilities it brought produced effects on the human ego more potent than any drug.
"Really? Even if I tell you to kill your precious family back in your hometown?"
"There is no escape from true doom. I can only be grateful to grant my past blood relatives the glory of becoming one with the Legion."
Reina smiled even at Eve's command to kill her family. She was clearly different from Kang Do-Yeon.
Reina's driving force for maintaining her ego was hatred. It was thanks to this hatred that the reborn Reina had already become something different.
"Really? Do you really like it that much?"
Eve asked with a sly smile, and Reina nodded without hesitation.
'Is he watching now?'
[...No. He's sleeping right now.]
Eve took the opportunity to ask a question and received an answer.
Then, she turned to Reina, who was still immersed in pleasure, and asked.
"Then, when he becomes one with me, he'll surely enjoy it too, right?"
"Of course. He... definitely."
Now aware of Shin Woo's identity, Reina immediately responded on the spot.
Eve's lips curled into an even wider smile.
"Move now, new Commander of the Legion. Show me your power."
Eve deployed the reborn Reina to her mission.
Reina's entire body began to twist as she screamed. Just like Kang Do-Yeon, her human body was being transformed and modified into the body of the Legion.
Eve also attached a total of ten core engines to her. Five were fused to form a heart, while four were placed in her limbs.
The last one was attached to the tip of a staff-like rod, which was placed in her hand.
Each core engine resonated, slightly lifting her body into the air.
Unlike Kang Do-Yeon, she didn't cover her entire body with armor-like carapace.
Instead, a living, writhing creature resembling a coat was draped over her body, which looked as if she were wearing a tight black suit. Though the style was different, it was somewhat similar to a magician wearing a robe.
"Haaah..."
Her shoulder-length blonde hair swayed. A mask began to form on her face.
When all her bodily transformations were finally complete.
Eve provided her with a special auxiliary device designed for a magician like her.
"I combined the abilities of a levitation-organ creature and a creature with development capabilities."
The floor of the Nest split open, and two jellyfish-like creatures floated up, revealing themselves.
With multiple tentacles extending downward, their heads were wrapped in extremely thick carapace.
Inside that carapace was a brain, one several times larger than a human brain and configured to match the highly efficient structure of Eve's own brain, which far surpassed human brains.
Tentacles extended from them, burrowing into her spine and merging with her existing nervous system.
"Show me how far you can go without borrowing my brain."
At Eve's command, Reina raised her staff.
Reina instantly combined all the magical knowledge possessed by the Legion to unleash the most powerful magic with the highest efficiency.
The magic, which combined the spells of various guilds that had existed on this land, completed all calculations and predictions in less than a second and was cast.
"10-Layered Magic Curved Cannon?"
Eve smirked as she saw it.
Ten large and small magic circles overlapped in front of her. She used her brainpower, far surpassing that of humans, to perform the multi-bound magic that could never be done alone. Moreover, she forcibly unified the separate spells into one using the resonance method.
From the largest magic circle, which was as massive as the body of a large-sized species comparable to heavy equipment like a dump truck, a gigantic shell was fired at tremendous speed, soaring through the air.
"I can see it."
Eve tracked the shell in real time with the eyes of the scattered Legion Soldiers.
The shell, which crossed hundreds of kilometers in an instant, accurately struck the city that the Legion Soldiers were about to attack.
The Higher Species didn't even need to step forward.
With a single bombardment that caused a massive explosion, the magic circle protecting the city shattered instantly, and the shockwave stirred up dust clouds. Faintly, the screams of people could be heard.
What remained was assault and slaughter. Eve smiled in satisfaction as she commanded the Legion Soldiers to charge.
"Deploy. Lead the new type of Higher Species and take the lead in the fall of Menas. Let your hatred pour out, and judge them as you see fit."
The Higher Species, pre-created by Eve, approached Reina.
Their overall form, resembling her, had bodies that seemed to be draped in coats and staffs gripped in their hands.
They were the Higher Species who would handle the magical combat forces of the Legion moving forward.