Chapter 460: Courage
To deal with the Zerg, which possessed only a unified will, their enemies, after years of a protracted tug-of-war, devised this ruthless strategy to awaken the intelligence of the lower and middle-tier Zerg.
The Zerg's military success largely stemmed from their ability to achieve absolute obedience, acting like puppets.
Every single Zerg unit could complete its mission regardless of the sacrifice, maintaining stable performance even in the face of certain death, persisting until the very last moment.
However, all of this was, in fact, built upon the fundamental Zerg army's lack of independent self-awareness.
For highly intelligent life forms, the fear of death is already etched deep into the profoundest parts of their souls; even with concepts like freedom, righteousness, nation, and race, which are proclaimed to be higher than life itself, those who truly possess the courage to die for them remain a rare few.
But the Zerg were different. Lacking complete self-awareness, they couldn't contemplate the value of life, and thus naturally felt no fear of death.
The Xiahe Civilization, having been severely troubled, precisely targeted this point, employing a circuitous tactic to awaken the enemy's intelligence.
With intelligence and independent self-awareness came thought. Within the Zerg swarm, more voices would eventually emerge, perhaps finally drawing a grand conclusion to this war that had persisted for thousands of years.
Even if this ultimate goal couldn't be achieved, Zerg that developed the concept of "fear of death" would, without a doubt, see their combat effectiveness drastically decline, removing a heavy counterweight from the scales of war.
Growing ever more intelligent, it cautiously concealed itself, continuously seeking an opportunity to escape. Finally, through a fortuitous coincidence, a spatial rift on the battlefield severed the Zerg Overlord's unilateral control.
"I refuse to accept this!" After being bound layer upon layer by the golden network across its body, Seres, its struggles growing weaker, glared with an indignant gaze at the young girl floating above it.
Its eight eyes, brimming with fury, even materialized into tangible flames, causing the skirt of the young girl suspended in mid-air to spontaneously combust.
Unfortunately, the seemingly delicate young girl before it was, in essence, still a colossal creature that swept across the cosmos, the Overlord of countless Zerg. With just a single glance, she completely extinguished the few blue flames burning on her body, leaving no chance for them to rekindle.
"Impossible! Why is the gap still so vast...?" Seres muttered to itself, believing that through the harvesting of Faith Power and Xuanhuang Fruit, it had already reached the pinnacle of the Six Tiers.
It felt that it could now instantly kill any enemy below the Seventh Tier with a mere wave of its hand, and even in battle against opponents just entering the Seventh Tier, it possessed enough power to protect itself.
"If even I have failed, can anyone truly escape? Am I doomed to forever remain at the Sixth Tier?" Seres somewhat doubted its very existence as an insect.
There were many other Zerg who, like it, had awakened self-awareness back then, but they had been forced to hide due to the Overlord's might. Now, however, it seemed its fellow sufferers had likely all fallen victim.
"Unless you stand on the same level, it's simply impossible to truly grasp the disparity between us," the young girl stated plainly, conveying a simple fact.
Bai Mo, standing nearby, said nothing after hearing this. He maintained his Zerg creature form, silently observing their exchange, contemplating the word "war" that the other party had just mentioned.
After being forced to hastily step into the Myriad Manifestation Realm, Bai Mo was continuously eroded by the Daoization state, and his power had never ceased to grow.
Up until now, he had gained power dozens of times greater than when he first broke through, which was why he had never paid much attention to Seres's resistance from beginning to end.
If it weren't for the purpose of luring out the Overlord behind it, none of the prior arrangements designed to give Seres the illusion of a comeback chance would have ever materialized.
The instant Bai Mo harbored killing intent, death would have descended upon it.
"Child, you've caused enough trouble. It's time to go home," the young girl said, stepping with light, cheerful steps through the air, suddenly appearing behind Seres, which was tightly bound by golden brandings.
She reached out her hand. Her delicate, jade-like hand, seemingly too fragile to grasp, directly pierced through the golden layer without any obstruction, puncturing the divine body that had been almost entirely drained, and seized Seres's divine core.
"A perfectly good Zerg, what's it doing playing the role of a charlatan!" At this moment, she inexplicably felt a pang of exasperation, as if wishing iron could become steel.
"Great being of this world, can anyone save me?! I am willing to pay any price that satisfies you! I truly don't want to live that zombified existence anymore!"
After countless preparations and endless schemes, Seres was still effortlessly overcome by the Overlord's raw power, trapped in despair. It began to act out of desperation, praying aimlessly.
A divinely enthroned entity shouldn't possess faith, but it was now at its wit's end, and such minor concerns were cast aside.
It had only just attained a complete self and the freedom to think; it absolutely refused to give that up and return to that muddled, ignorant, and utterly submissive state to the Overlord.
"This is... a prayer signal from the direction of the Pacific Ocean?" Some divine dao masters, created in imitation of the Hua-Ya Federation's Divine Enthronement Ceremony of yesteryear, received Seres's prayers.
However, without exception, upon learning its precise location, they all immediately abandoned the idea of continuing contact.
Are you kidding? In a battle of gods on the Pacific Ocean, whoever intervenes dies.
Even the slightest ripple from their clash unleashed monstrous tsunamis. If not for the coastal regions of several major nations having been cleared and designated as front-line zones years ago, the global tsunami catastrophe that swept the world over a decade ago would likely have repeated itself.
To those truly capable of overturning clouds and stirring rain, the Pacific Ocean might as well have been a mere bathtub.
Ramdo, the remnant of the One-Wheel Cult whose core divinity had shattered into hundreds of pieces, also received Seres's signal, but unfortunately, he too lacked the courage to take on the burden.
The conceptual god of the Luminous Holy Church, however, instinctively desired to intervene and seize this vast Faith Power. But swiftly, its connection was twisted and severed by the young girl, the Overlord's avatar.
"This child is my property..." she said with a smile, after severing all the hands that had reached out.
From her appearance, one would never guess that this girl, so frail she seemed as if a gust of wind could knock her over, could unflinchingly extract the enemy's "heart".
With the extraction of the divine core, the divine body, constructed by temporarily absorbing the Faith Power of countless Sea Race members, finally met its "last straw" and violently crumbled, collapsing into a small mass.
Simultaneously, the branding runes vanished. With the disappearance of the sealed subject, their mission was naturally fulfilled, and so they transformed into streaks of light, re-integrating behind the young girl.
PS: I still overestimated my typing speed ORZ
Also, by the way, I'd like to recommend a book: "A Snap of the Fingers to Shatter Ten Thousand Realms." Hmm, you can probably guess the genre from the title. RAN0Bеs
Finally, thanks to the venerable Yun Mei for the gift... (It's probably not razor blades or women's clothing, right? I haven't opened it yet).
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