A Village Appeared on My Desktop

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Chapter 170 – System (10)

‘What the hell are these crazy bastards doing right now?’

Thanks to the enemies launching their terror attack, my attention had been diverted from Riena, causing me to notice the Elves a bit late. On the screen, brightly illuminated by the favor of our ally Eve, I could clearly see the enemies engaging in atrocious fratricide amongst themselves.

Contrary to what the Elves might think, I was also puzzled, unable to comprehend why those guys were behaving like that—my thoughts had come to a halt.

The Elves surprisingly fought well, which was a problem because I hadn’t allocated any power for that eventuality. If the Elves found themselves in danger now, I wouldn’t be able to assist them.

“—, —!”

I could see clearly that the Elves were flustered. They were definitely fighting amongst themselves, but they were hesitating to act, stuck in place, indecisive.

“What are they doing?”

At this point, I began to focus on the Bug’s actions. Knowing that their antics weren’t just a single instance prevented me from lowering my guard.

Initially, the Bugs did compete with one another, but as they grew stronger, the competition diminished, and they began to move as one. Moreover, those two colonies were clearly cooperating with each other. There shouldn’t be any reason for them to fight now.

‘No, wait, is this actually a fight? It feels too one-sided.’

As I continued to observe them, a specific pattern began to emerge.

It appeared that they were fighting fiercely, but upon closer inspection, it was different. One side was indiscriminately ripping apart and devouring the other—a massacre in progress. The side that was getting attacked was showing some resistance, but the disparity in power was significant.

The ants, which had evolved earlier, were now overwhelming the newly appeared spiders, who were lagging behind.

“They have a scheme.”

Recalling my past experiences, I furrowed my brow.

Even when they behaved irrationally, the Bugs wouldn’t engage in pointless, inefficient actions without a reason.

Though I had consistently used points to prevent Gates from appearing across a broad area since discovering the method of using hacking tools, the Bugs that could still open Gates and move through parts out of my reach had now ‘fled.’

The toxin terror attacking our side was merely a distraction.

‘Then what is their reason for attacking their own kind after fleeing?’

In that moment, I felt a chill run down my spine. No matter what, I couldn’t let them act as they wished.

“—!”

The problem was there was no immediate solution.

The allies heading towards the empty former stronghold were too far away, and the enemies had already sacrificed one of their own colonies to make a comeback.

‘What annoying bastards.’

The obsession and madness of those creatures felt like something that couldn’t be explained by mere emotions or instincts. I bit my lip as I watched the enemies rushing towards the flustered Elves.

The Elves, who had been fighting well, would surely take significant damage. The colony that was just starting to establish itself and the residents had been harshly fighting and evolving at different rates.

‘This is bad, just as I thought.’

The Elves were beginning to falter against the Bugs, unlike the Arin Tribe. The way the Bugs fought was completely different, causing adaptation issues, and there was also a significant difference in evolution and growth levels.

Every time I saw an Elven warrior trying to defend only to be cut down by the enemies replicating our skills, I narrowed my eyes.

While most Elves weren’t directly connected to me to the point of becoming neutral, they were still potential comrades with a common enemy.

The more they took losses, the more we would incur losses as well.

*

“Those bastards…”

“Those guys! The ones who were fighting the humans!”

While all the Elves were flustered, Eve recognized the enemies.

The Bugs, who had managed to extend their tenacious lifeline through cannibalism, were actually the same ones that had flown through the sky attacking the Arin Tribe not long ago.

“They are strong. We should step back slowly without being greedy.”

“What do you mean? We’ve been winning steadily, and now we have a chance to uproot them right in front of us?”

Eve, spotting the mixed variants, urged caution, but the Elf King Legion and the others were negative towards her suggestion.

Since they had come this far without incident, retreating would only breed despair and trample their pride.

“Prepare for battle. We will block them and push that nest back as planned.”

Ultimately, the Elves prepared for battle once more. Having gathered experience, they felt confident. They believed that if they fought as they had until now, they would win again.

“Erect a barrier!”

First, they used Shamans to create a barricade.

The Bugs they had fought before had charged in mindlessly, slamming into the barrier.

“Uh?”

However, this time it was different. Unlike the previous mindless charging foes, this time the enemies used proper tactics.

The arrows they shot were blocked by the defense barrier and the sturdy carapace, showing an entirely different sight compared to the disorganized collapse of Elven attacks.

“What—the hell is this?”

“Uaaaaah!”

And there they were. The Arin Tribe warriors, the mages, were continuing to engage in battle and had learned from their opponents.

The Elven warriors, seeing them for the first time, tried to engage with swords, but powerful foes calling forth dark, murky Mana appeared and began to slice them down with one blow.

“No! Hold the line in front!”

As the warriors fell to the spear-like weapons of the enemy variants, our formation wobbled. If the formation crumbled against the giant-bodied enemies, only a massacre awaited them.

The Elves, fully aware, desperately tried to hold their positions, but the toxins continued to explode in succession, causing the clustered Elves to stagger.

‘No, we still can’t receive the deity’s blessings. At this rate, we can’t win.’

Eve was aghast at the sight. The reason the Arin Tribe could hold out against those Bugs was clearly because the Guardian Deity provided countless blessings to assist them.

But the Elves had yet to worship that deity. It meant they could not receive help.

In fact, the Guardian Deity was watching this scene and would want to help, but couldn’t, unbeknownst to Eve, who lamented her people’s mistakes.

“We should retreat now! Those bastards are not the ones we faced before!”

“Cough, everyone fall back!”

The lines were pushed back, and the enemies even had flying units pressing in on them. With Eve’s cry, now Legion could no longer oppose.

However, pulling back meant that the damage would accumulate. They could see one by one the sight of their comrades falling.

In contrast, the Bugs pressed forward with their characteristic tenacity, determined to kill one Elf no matter how many of their own fell.

“This, this can’t be happening. This is absurd…”

As it became increasingly difficult to evacuate the troops, Legion went into a panic, hesitating.

They had fought as much as they could, but the momentum had clearly shifted to the enemy, and talking about retreating without loss was absurd—it had come to worrying if they could survive at all.

“You have to flee now! If the main force is annihilated here, the city will fall, and the World Tree too…!”

“T-That can’t happen!”

Legion’s eyes widened at the suggestion from his subordinates to hastily escape. After all, like the Arin Tribe, the Elves were facing a similar dilemma.

While defense might be an option, engaging in such a large-scale attrition war would lead to their inevitable defeat. If their main force was wiped out, the Elves would have no one to protect their stronghold from the few remaining enemies, and precious things would be trampled.

“I will hold out somehow. Please hurry and go!”

“Damn it! Those bastards aren’t even that numerous…”

As sacrifices began to emerge, he gritted his teeth. The number of Bugs who had fled from the Arin Tribe and were now squatting in their lair was not that great.

If they had been more thoroughly prepared, the results could have been different. After all, the Bugs were just as desperate, and the Elves had been overwhelmed in a life-and-death struggle.

But now, regretting it wouldn’t turn back time.

To prevent the worst-case scenario, they needed to reduce losses as much as possible.

“Do you understand now? To face those monsters, we need just as much power.”

“Even if what you say is correct, what can we do now?”

Unable to bear the frustration at such a scene, Eve spoke up, only for Legion to growl. Unable to do otherwise, Eve kept her mouth shut. According to him, there was nothing they could hope for right now.

“Ugh, what’s that sound!?”

“It’s the sky. Lightning is striking from the heavens!”

But at that moment, just when it seemed hope was lost, a beam of light flashed from the sky.

‘It’s a relief that the machine gun was used early.’

The entities in the screen, who had been merely watching, began to offer whatever assistance they could.

Revealing their gigantic form in the sky, the machine guns began to thunder as they unleashed a torrent of bullets cascading down towards the incoming Bugs.

In an ordinary battle, changing the tide with machine gun fire, which could only project firepower for a short time, would be impossible.

However, the Bugs were also pressed hard.

That amount of firepower, with the support of the machine guns, was enough to create a gap.

“It’s the deity’s grace! The deity has been watching over us!”

“Your Majesty! The enemies are retreating. We might be able to pull back like this!”

With a bright expression, Eve shouted towards the sky. The other Elves couldn’t contain their excitement as they watched the enemies being pushed back by the firepower of the machine guns.

With this gap, if they could retreat, the Elves would regain safety without needing to incur sacrifices.

“Cough, let’s pull back. Hurry!”

Legion gritted his teeth as he looked at the Bugs, then ordered a retreat.

He was most disappointed that they hadn’t been able to choke off the enemy’s breath, and that in the end, they had depended on the help of the deity, which stung his pride.

‘Extinguished the burning fire, extinguished the burning fire. But there’s more to come. After all, this is a fight where both are looking to sever each other’s lifelines. It won’t end easily. But it’s something that must be done.’

Watching this unfold, he let out a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, his notes, being drafted in real-time, were becoming hints and strategies for those who would face similar situations in the future.