'Damn it, you just tell me there's something there but won't say what it is... How is this so unhelpful?'
Kim Jin-hyuk grumbled to himself as he stepped out of the bathroom.
In the first place, all his problems stemmed from awakening to divinity in an utterly abnormal way.
Even if the Divine Net kindly explained everything, someone who had been an ordinary human until moments ago probably wouldn't fully grasp it anyway.
But the snowball effect was already rolling.
Even if the method and intent were irregular, he had already become a deity with a rank.
The changes that even he himself hadn't noticed yet began not from him, but from a nearby gate observatory.
"Wh-what the hell is this?"
Gate observatories, now established in strategic locations across every nation in the world, functioned like watchtowers that detected gates—portals emitting strong magical energy—before they fully manifested.
The staff member on duty there stared at the monitor in confusion.
"Team leader! The scheduled gate has vanished!"
"That doesn't make any sense. Let me see... Uh...?"
Both the staff member and their superior gawked at the monitor in shock.
The energy signature of a gate that had been forecasted to appear nearby had completely disappeared.
It was as if someone had vacuumed up the entire area—no traces remained at all.
"It's not just this one. This one's gone too."
"What the hell is going on...?"
Gates predicted to open near their observatory had all vanished simultaneously.
This was an unprecedented event that even these experts couldn't begin to guess at.
Gates and the magical beasts that poured out of them were among the most critical elements of national security in this era.
Naturally, this sudden occurrence reached the ears of the top brass—the president himself.
"No one knows the reason? This has never happened before! What about Professor Oh Jin-woong?"
"The professor says this is a first for him too."
"We've already issued alerts for the area..."
Even the foremost authority in the country had no clue.
The president furrowed his brow.
He wanted to keep it under wraps until a clear reason emerged, but civilian evacuations, hunter deployments, and military units were already in place around the scheduled gate zones.
"Let's have a meeting. Figure out what to do."
He couldn't hide the reason forever—not when it might come to light at any moment.
💬 Comments— AnonymousNo way, what the hell? Who's messing with Earth right now? This violates the treaty.— AnonymousDon't play dumb. It's obvious who's using their rank to interfere.
And even those who might know the cause had no detailed explanation.
In the Divine Net community where deities gathered, the ones meddling with Earth were venting their frustrations about the power unconsciously emanating from a newly appeared deity.
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'Finally, I get to see it.'
Having no idea what was unfolding outside because of him, Kim Jin-hyuk sat on the sofa with a slight thrill in his chest and calmly opened the screen.
What he wanted to check was none other than the private messages that had arrived for him.
He'd been receiving them since the early days when his ants first started their activities, but his limited functions had prevented him from viewing them until now.
Sender: Verdant Calamity "I don't know who you are, but I've already claimed this place." "What the hell is this?!" "How dare you! Don't ignore me—respond!" "Don't you want to talk it out?" "You little sh*#!@#!@"
The first ones he checked were from Stragus, the goblin deity whose forces had clashed with Jin-hyuk's subordinates first.
"He's pissed..."
Jin-hyuk blinked at the messages, which devolved into pure profanity at the end.
He could practically feel the rage exploding from the barrage of messages that wouldn't even reach him properly.
'Those goblins really were something special.'
It was somewhat expected, but seeing it confirmed in reality was another thing.
Jin-hyuk stared awkwardly at the messages he couldn't reply to.
Sender: Glory of the Golden Oath "Whatever else, just answer me. Ignore this, and I'll deem you an Outer God." "Hey, don't ghost me—reply!" "You rude little..."
The messages from Goddess Henes weren't much different in tone.
She too wanted to know who was behind the ants and had proposed talks and negotiations.
"Outer God?"
Through this, Jin-hyuk finally realized they were calling him an Outer God.
That term he'd occasionally glimpsed in the screens he'd been watching.
He hadn't paid it much mind until now, but learning what "Outer God" meant in the Divine Net made him let out an incredulous chuckle.
Those who rejected the system and its established order, pursuing only destruction and raw tyranny for the sake of chaos.
Honestly, given what he and his ants had been up to, it wasn't surprising they'd misunderstand him that way.
'Even if I could explain myself to them... it wouldn't change anything anyway.'
Staring at the read-only messages, he gave a wry smile.
The misunderstandings were piling up, he had no way to clear them, and even if he did, the situation wouldn't improve.
His ants, oblivious to any notions of deities or otherwise, still craved more war and growth.
Ironically, for his intentions to fully reach them, the ants needed to devour more prey and grow even stronger.
Above all, even those bound by that "order" ultimately aimed to raise their subordinates, expand their territories, and elevate their own ranks.
If they realized Jin-hyuk was just another Divine Net deity—and a weak one who had barely reached the lowest fifth grade—they'd crush him all the more viciously.
Just looking at the messages from those two veteran deities made that clear.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[Subordinates have detected enemies gathering]
'If I keep going like this, I'll learn the unknowns one by one. Just like now...'
The alert that popped up then made him whip his gaze back to the screen, his eyes twitching.
The ants, hunting for bigger prey, had finally spotted targets of worthy value.
Naturally, the ants intended to fight those enemies.
And they would devour them, using that as nourishment to grow even stronger.
'...It's already too late.'
Now, if only out of spite, he wanted to uncover the countless secrets of the world he didn't know.
If he could remain ignorant, fine—but having glimpsed their existence and a glimpse of the truth, ignoring it was impossible.
He had already confirmed the possibility. Learning more bit by bit might reveal other paths.
The lingering stone in his heart remained, but he pushed it aside.
Now, he wanted his ants to win and grow enough to resolve this injustice for him.
"The northern territories can no longer withstand their plundering. And if the north falls, they'll spread out in all directions for more land. There's only one way to stop them: strike back, crush their territory. We must finish what we failed last time—exterminate them."
The satisfactory prey the ants had scouted was a large-scale force from the Eastern Alliance, fully prepared this time.
Led by orcs and humans, this allied army was gearing up for an offensive.
Unable to match the ants' hive-mind activity, their plan was to lure them out with a counterattack before other regions were stripped bare.
"Is that feasible? They only get stronger the more they cluster."
"One thing's certain: those monsters' vitality surpasses ours and yours."
Count Merlen responded coldly to Rakor, the great chieftain leading the orc contingent.
"In war, victory is easier than mere survival."
Pitting survival against ants, whose very purpose was sacrificial devotion to the hive, was a sure loss.
Instead, they had to stake everything on a single battle.
That was Count Merlen's judgment, based on past results, and he made his decision.
But even Count Merlen didn't know one crucial fact.
That the ants had deliberately induced this very situation.
It wasn't their choice. The ants had maneuvered relentlessly to force this path.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[The Queen, sensing the moment has arrived, authorizes the dispatch of the colony's most powerful combat units]
"Finally?"
Jin-hyuk gasped softly as he watched the massive monsters emerge from the nest and take to the skies.
Their heavy bodies cast deep shadows on the ground, as large as oversized bulls.
Their wingbeats shook loose countless leaves, and their speed cleaved the air, shrinking their forms to specks in an instant from the ground.
Even folded in narrow nests, they exuded overwhelming presence.
It wasn't just their physique and size—the special resources like demonic power invested in maintaining and enhancing those bodies set them apart entirely from other units.
Flying in formation, their target was obvious: maximum gain for minimal effort.
And the stage for that was already being set.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[They have detected a target to test their power on while maintaining secrecy]
A scouting soldier, pretending to be a bird while patrolling the skies, had spotted a band of humans.
Whether from mismatched gear signaling unclear allegiance or pillaging refugees in abandoned villages for loot and rape—it meant nothing to the ants.
As long as they could be killed and eaten, that was enough.
"Wh-what's that sound?"
Even before the mutant hornet ants drew near the ground, the air shifted.
The adventurers-turned-bandits, active amid the chaos, panicked at the ferocious buzzing no ordinary bird could produce, scanning their surroundings wildly.
"Gaaah!"
"The sky!"
Despite frantically looking around just in case, their foes descended from the heavens with the gale-force winds.
Sleek, slender bodies encased in tough exoskeletons. Legs and venomous stingers razor-sharp in contrast to their lithe forms.
"A-a wyvern?!"
"Snap out of it—they're Heralds of Doom! Incoming!"
They vaguely resembled high-grade wyverns at a glance, but their forms were fundamentally different.
"Ah..."
A woman, dragged along after losing her family to these men during her flight, collapsed to the ground and watched as the monstrous horde swept them away from the sky.
No matter how she screamed or begged, the monsters mechanically slaughtered without mercy.
Weak spells bounced off harmlessly; ordinary blades barely scratched their exoskeletons.
In exchange, heads were devoured alive, bodies pierced by stingers thicker than spears.
It took just over three minutes to slaughter all the bandits.
"Kill me..."
And she was among the targets.
A stinger flew mercilessly toward her, who now sought death herself.
Why she smiled in her final moments, why she welcomed death—no ant present cared.
"..."
Only the ants' deity witnessed it and grasped its meaning.