Chapter 222
“A disruption strategy.”
—Disruption? Of what?
“Just like we’re having a conversation, those bugs will have signals they can exchange among themselves. If we can use that, we might be able to make them self-destruct.”
—Could you explain in detail?
“Forming a colony means there are leaders or scouts. For bugs, their signals are absolute.”
I drew a straight line in the air with my finger, then drew a curve.
“If the scouts go like this and then suddenly change direction, the few right behind them will follow well, but the bugs mixed in the middle can’t help but misinterpret the signal. The rear guard that knows nothing will keep following behind them.”
—It’s hard to understand. Why do they get tangled up like that?
“It would be difficult with straight lines or other curves, but if you make them draw a circle, the signals can’t help but repeat. They’ll keep going in circles, tail to tail.”
—Draw a circle?
“Yes. They’ll go round and round until they die.”
—Until they die? Why would they do such a stupid thing?
“Because they don’t have the ability to determine whether it’s wrong or not.”
It’s a phenomenon called ‘ant mill.’ Army ants with degenerated vision misinterpret the scouts’ signals and keep drawing spiral shapes as they go around.
The vortex continues until they’re exhausted and die. That’s why it’s also called the death spiral.
“This way, most of the individuals will self-destruct, so we only need to eliminate some of the scout individuals.”
—What makes you so confident?
“I never said I was confident.”
—What?
“That’s why I said we might reach the worst-case scenario I can assume. It’s just speculation after all.”
—So everything we’ve heard so far was all nonsense? There’s nothing more to hear. Drive those humans out……!
—It seems fine to me.
—Are you in your right mind?
—Wouldn’t it be good to try something? It might be fine to ask the Guardian for his opinion first.
—You’re going to tell the Guardian about this?
—The situation is already at its worst. You should be able to hear it too. The screams of Brother Pinus’s spirit.
—That’s…….
—We can’t hold out long anyway. And there’s no other way. Wouldn’t it be better to tell The Guardian and let him decide?
At Vita’s words, Natura’s reaction also subsided. Following the more moderate response than before, Natura nodded his head as if giving up.
—Alright. As you say. I’ll go to The Guardian myself.
—Don’t get excited.
—I won’t!
Natura quickly distanced himself. At Natura’s speed, he would probably return from the village soon.
“Um, but what do you mean by the spirit’s screams?”
—Exactly what it means. The spirit keeps sending signals under the Nex’s attacks. It probably won’t last long. At most…….
“Until tomorrow morning, right?”
Reno interjected. Come to think of it, if it’s the spirit’s sound, Reno would know too.
—That’s about right. I’m thinking sometime today though.
The protective barrier will break today?
“Why so fast……. Didn’t you say it’s held out for over twenty years?”
—Initially, the Nex numbers weren’t this many. Besides, the Nex also had things to protect, so they couldn’t give it their all. Now there’s no reason for that.
“Ah…….”
Vita’s gaze turned toward Meliana. While it was a gentler look compared to Natura’s, it seemed she couldn’t help but blame her.
—Anyway, human, your plan seems quite plausible but has many unstable aspects.
Vita looked at me again and said.
—Supposing we follow your plan, how will you lure the scout Nex? And how will you kill the Nex?
I couldn’t readily respond. Vita was right. My plan had many sloppy parts. It only had possibility—it was definitely not a perfect plan.
“We can think about and find that from now on. We still have time.”
Reno chimed in.
“There are so many people here. And there are many smart people too, so if we put our heads together, we’ll figure it out, right? Isn’t that so, Duke Yelpen? Isaac, you too.”
“As Lord Reno says. Your Highness doesn’t need to work through this alone. That’s what we’re here for.”
“I agree.”
—It would be better to prepare more before Natura returns. I sent that guy off because he’s simple, but he’ll realize when he talks with the Guardian.
Vita added. Belatedly, I could tell that Vita had deliberately sent Natura to the Guardian.
“Thank you.”
—It’s not something you should say. The one who caused this is someone else.
I gave an awkward smile. I wasn’t unaware that Vita was referring to Meliana.
“Meliana.”
“What?”
“You come here too.”
“I-I, why?”
“Because the more people to help, the better.”
“You think I’ll help you?”
“If you’re planning to slip away like this, I won’t bother stopping you.”
“…….”
“But I thought you knew to take responsibility for what you did…… I guess I was wrong.”
When I spoke with disappointment, Meliana visibly flinched her shoulders. She who had been just chewing her lower lip moved her lips when she saw signs of me turning around.
“……fine.”
“Hm?”
“It’s fine if I do it. I know that much too. That I did wrong.”
“…….”
“I’m not thinking of avoiding it either.”
Unlike her words, Meliana couldn’t meet my gaze directly.
‘Well, at least she’s showing signs of remorse.’
The elves wouldn’t be able to let this slide so easily, but blaming Meliana wouldn’t make things better.
“Good thinking. Let’s all gather and think about it.”
After that, an awkward strategy meeting followed.
“So what we need to think about now is how to lure the scouts, and how to make all those Nex draw a circle, right?”
“That’s not all. Beyond the protective barrier, there are also unextinguished flames and continuously rising smoke. They’ll surely cover the entire area.”
“There are many things to consider.”
Killis pointed out parts we hadn’t thought of. Like someone’s murmur, there really were many things to think about and consider.
“Still, we need to finish our discussion before that elf named Natura returns. As you all saw, he’s…….”
—He gets excited easily. It’ll definitely be tiring.
Vita spoke freely what Killis couldn’t bring himself to say. Though no one could agree with it, they just exchanged awkward glances.
“The smoke and flames seem like the Second Princess and I can handle somehow. Your Highness, would that be alright?”
“That much, I can naturally do. What do you take me for, Duke?”
Meliana nodded and shrugged her shoulders.
“And the problem is the bugs underneath, right? And the poison the bugs have.”
“If we stay out of range of the poison, we won’t get hit, so it should be fine.”
“Then what about the luring? How will you lure the scouts?”
“…….”
“Besides, those bugs like the World Tree, right? This whole place is the World Tree, so how will you lure them? What did you say earlier? That the bugs will draw a circle? Then we need enough space for that too.”
—There is such a space. If only we can lure them.
“The conclusion is, we need tempting bait that the Nex would covet. Something more attractive than the World Tree.”
—Let me correct one thing. The Nex don’t unconditionally like Arbor. They like the water veins where Arbor’s essence flows. And all the tree branches in this vicinity are dead. The water veins have dried up too.
“Then even if they come out right now, they’ll go looking for other water veins?”
“By any chance, does that place overlap with the space that can accommodate the Nex?”
—No. The space I mentioned is further underground than here. It’s a place the Nex already destroyed before coming up to here.
“…….”
—Besides, the Nex will head to our village as soon as that protective barrier breaks.
“Why?”
—Because the Guardian is there.
“Why the Guardian?”
—Human, you don’t understand.
Vita responded matter-of-factly to Meliana’s question.
—High elves are avatars of Arbor. And Nex like Arbor’s essence. What do you think this means?
“They’ll covet the high elf first……?”
—Correct. After that, they’ll covet the other elves, then cover this entire World Tree.
“If that’s the case, it could be resolved simply?”
“Resolved simply? How?”
Everyone’s attention, including mine, focused on Meliana. Receiving those gazes, Meliana opened her mouth with a triumphant expression.
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