Ah, experience points! Aaaaaah—
"Dark Bullet!! Dark Sword!! Abyssal Magic!!!"
Boom—Bang!!!—
[Enough experience has been accumulated. Level increased.]
[...Enough experience has been accumulated. Level increased.]
Once the Elf Village's barrier shattered and Potimas was defeated, the battle instantly turned into a pursuit.
Under the Sophons' scans, countless Angeloids precisely located the Elves hiding throughout the forest.
Those who stubbornly resisted were reduced to ash by corrosive missiles and high-energy weapons, while those who surrendered were immediately restrained and sent away in groups to be reorganized.
Spider wove through the chaotic elven army, feeling as though the entire Elf Village was one enormous bundle of experience points.
Destroying one combat robot earned her 1,000 experience points. Killing one Fairy earned her 500.
A massive profit.
Whoosh—
She skillfully bound a Fairy soldier with spider silk. The Magic Minister constructed a magic circle and sent him on his way with two magical projectiles.
"Monster!!! Kill it!!!"
Turning around, she faced the crowd charging toward her and spat out an enormous web, suspending them in midair. Bang, bang, bang—
A volley of magic struck them, instantly turning the crowd into a pile of experience points.
Ooooooh, is this place a leveling paradise?
As long as I kill a few more enemies, I should be able to evolve directly into a higher rank, right? Come to think of it, what comes after Arachne?
No, no, I'm still fighting. I can worry about evolving later.
She skipped along behind the Trailblaze team, slaughtering her way from the outskirts of the Elf Village to its central district.
The entire elven settlement had already been enclosed within the barrier erected by Jibril. Not a single living creature could escape.
Step, step, step—
"The Demon Lord! Aaaaaah!!—"
When the remnants of the Elf forces saw Ariel approaching one step at a time, they fled in panic.
Unsurprisingly, they crashed into the barrier. They pounded futilely against the energy shield, desperately trying to put more distance between themselves and her.
"Hmph."
Before the Elves, Ariel finally displayed the majesty befitting her status as the Demon Lord.
With a raise of her hand, space distorted. Intricate dark magic shattered their bodies and tore apart their souls.
After entering the core area of the Elf Village, Silver Wolf led the Angeloids in efficiently gathering the data Potimas had left behind, along with the remnants of the previous civilization.
Ariel and Spider entered a small room deep within the settlement.
Most of the Elves had already been taken away. Looking at the babbling infant lying on the bed, Spider sensed something unusual.
[Appraisal]
Huh? Isn't she?!...
"Mm-hmm."
Jibril leaned closer to examine Filimøs.
"She's your teacher. That means we've finally gathered all the reincarnators."
"!!!"
Filimøs was horrified by the strangers who had barged into the room.
She had heard the commotion outside, but there was nothing she could do.
She attempted to read the data of the people before her.
[Origin Taratect Ariel (LV 139)]
Her offensive ability, defensive ability, magical ability, and speed were all nearly maxed out.
The title of Demon Lord was especially eye-catching.
Then she examined Shiro and Jibril.
One was a level-ninety Queen Taratect, while the other was an incomprehensible mass of question marks. Apart from her name and race, no information could be read at all.
The mere presence of a giant spider half the height of a person exerted tremendous pressure.
"Waaah—"
Filimøs burst into tears for the first time.
She had only been born a short while ago, yet her home had already been conquered by the Demon Lord. How tragic.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You really are astonishingly foolish."
Jibril picked Filimøs up.
"Of all the people you could have asked for help, you chose Potimas. Do you even know what he was planning to do?"
They found it difficult to imagine that someone reincarnated into another world, faced with a completely unknown situation, would reveal all her secrets and personal circumstances to a stranger.
Then entrust both her own life and those of her students to an outsider.
"Huh?"
Filimøs remained stunned for some time. Since her ability to speak had not yet fully developed, she could only communicate with them through Telepathy.
'Who are you?...'
"The Starsea Empire. This world will eventually be incorporated into the Empire's territory, so you'll need to learn some new rules."
Jibril studied Filimøs for a long moment.
"What would you say if I told you that Potimas was the greatest villain in this world, that he intended to use you and your students as experimental subjects, and that he was draining the planet's energy to maintain the Elf Village's barrier?"
"Ah!"
Filimøs froze.
'Really? But he's clearly the leader of this place...'
'What about you? Did you come to save us? Can you save my students?...'
'Sorry, I'm a little...'
"Sigh—"
Jibril and Spider sighed.
Teacher, surviving after being transported to another world might be a little difficult for you, don't you think?
If a goblin told you there was treasure inside a cave one day, would you really lead a dozen girls into a goblin den?
Silver Wolf felt utterly hopeless about Filimøs' intelligence and emotional awareness.
Her desire to protect her students was not malicious, and neither was her nature, but her naivety and foolishness meant that she might cause no end of trouble.
Jibril summoned several Angeloids and had them carry her away.
"Forget it. Send her off for some education first. Bringing someone like this to the Commander would only cause him trouble."
...
Approximately two hours later.
"Reporting. The cleanup of the Elf Village has been completed."
The entire Elf Village had been completely occupied and cleared out.
The Angeloids escorted batch after batch of captured Elves aboard the ship.
"Tch—"
Even after becoming prisoners, many Elves still wore expressions of defiance.
For a long time, they had regarded every creature other than themselves as an inferior species. From their perspective, it was as though the Elf Village had been conquered by barbarians.
Potimas was restrained inside a force-field cage. Magic isolated him from all contact with the outside world, preventing him from calling upon even the slightest trace of power.
"Who exactly are you? Why did you invade us?"
"Tch—"
Ariel stared at Potimas and clenched her fists, wishing she could tear out his tendons and strip the flesh from his bones right then and there...
"Don't worry. We have a much better way to deal with them. Simply killing them would be far too wasteful."
Jibril patted him.
She ordered the Angeloids to load Potimas and the Elves onto another spacecraft.
"What are you going to do?"
Ariel asked curiously.
"Potimas likes wasting the planet's energy, doesn't he? Using MA energy to develop technology, extracting planetary energy to create barriers, and so on..."
"The elven race enjoyed plenty of good times in the Elf Village under his protection. Since that's the case, why not make them return all the energy they exploited?"
The spacecraft continued onward until it entered the territory of the previously conquered Analeit Kingdom.
After landing in an open area, the Bulins deployed their rigging, unloaded a pile of enormous machines, and began assembling them alongside the Angeloids.
The engineering forces had clearly come prepared. Most of the equipment had already been prefabricated, requiring only assembly.
Click—
Clack—
Before long, a small tower-shaped factory had been assembled.
At its center stood an enormous reactor, connected by pipelines to tens of thousands of life-support pods surrounding it. The pods varied in size, clearly intended for different species.
The structure embodied a simple, brutal form of industrial beauty.
"What is that?"
Spider and Ariel stared at the strange contraption in confusion.
"A biomass power plant. You can also call it a biochemical reactor. It's used to connect disobedient species to the power grid so they can fulfill one final purpose."
"We've occasionally used them in vassal worlds. Since we were expanding into a new world, we brought along several prefabricated units."
Bang—
One after another, the Angeloids stuffed Potimas and the Elves under his command inside.
"???"
Before Potimas could say anything, the pod door slammed shut with a thunderous crash.
Mechanical tubes pierced his body, instantly paralyzing him from head to toe.
Whoosh—
A solution flooded into the pod, and his entire mind entered a hazy state.
Rumble—
The reactor emitted a deep hum and officially activated.
He could feel the enormous machine slowly and steadily extracting energy from his body, while the nutrient solution simultaneously replenished what he had lost.
"Mmph, mmph, mmph..."
Like everyone else, Potimas could not move, speak, or do anything at all.
Countless vicious curses and insults brewed within his mind, yet he could not even open his mouth to voice them.
He had become a "biological battery."
"Mm..."
"Judging by his physical condition, he should be able to keep burning for several hundred years without any problems."
Jibril leaned closer and examined the statistics displayed on the interface.
"Don't be fooled by the reactor's modest size. The energy it provides is enough to supply this planet's daily needs."
"Once this world enters the industrial age, the electrical age, and the space age, it can continue using energy from the elven power grid."
"That's what you call recycling waste."