At this moment, the young cicadas and larvae are flooding the villages, from just a few hundred meters to several kilometers away, starting to strip the crops bare. The villagers from surrounding areas have no time to prepare; they panic and fight back fiercely. Some hastily grab nets to catch the giant cicadas, while others try to save the fields that are being devoured.
Aldo decides not to hesitate. He quickly grabs hold of the giant cicada, not letting it escape. He draws the sword at his side and spins, striking hard at the joints of its legs, hoping to immobilize it. But when he sees the cicada, he realizes something terrifying—it is healing far too quickly, as though it has the ability to regenerate its wounds.
"It's healing too fast!" Aldo shouts as the cicada begins to flap its wings powerfully, rising off the ground, preparing to strike back.
At the same time, Joon-soo also sees the giant cicada soaring into the sky. He quickly signals to Aldo. "It's going to fly high. We need to stop it right now!"
With the young cicadas and larvae continuing to ravage everything, Aldo and Joon-soo decide to act swiftly. They help the remaining villagers evacuate immediately, moving to safer areas. At the same time, Maina takes out her communication Gem from her body and quickly contacts the command headquarters to report the situation.
"We need immediate support!" Maina shouts through the Gem, worried. "This giant cicada is stronger than I thought. Biological-ecological hazard level 3, emergency support required!"
Meanwhile, the giant cicada has flown high into the sky, casting a dark shape overhead. Other swarms of cicadas continue to gather around it, as if honoring a leader. These cicadas begin to descend, stripping everything in their path, creating an uncontrollable flood of destruction.
Aldo and Joon-soo no longer have time to think. They turn back to face the giant cicada descending toward them, determined to stop it immediately, no matter the cost.
After the giant cicada is temporarily restrained by the efforts of Aldo, Joon-soo, and Maina, the situation gradually becomes hopeless. The surroundings are covered in a heavy darkness from the swarms of young cicadas, larvae, and older cicadas that continue to devour everything. The entire forest, wheat fields, and surrounding villages are submerged in a sea of insects, with scenes of devastation and catastrophe. The villagers, panicked, try to fight back, but they are too weak to contend with the sheer number and strength of the enemy.
At that moment, from the teleportation gate of the city of Tarif, dozens of Cazador knights appear, dressed in full silver-gray armor, riding swift griffins flying through the sky. These knights, carrying enchanted crossbows and magical firearms that shoot multiple bullets at once, unleash a fierce wave of attacks on the cicada swarm. The mages accompanying them immediately begin chanting, creating large fireballs and launching them down, burning the swarming cicadas that are flooding through the fields and forests. The sky and the ground seem to burn away under the destructive magical power.
At the same time, the Cazador archers, equipped with enchanted crossbows and firearms, focus on accurately shooting the giant cicada. The magical bullets rain down like a storm, creating flashing lights, piercing through the air, and forming an unending barrage, surrounding and weakening the monster. The sound of explosions from the continuous gunfire echoes, each bullet hitting the cicada's body, causing it even more pain.
Soon after, the knights wielding fire swords ride griffins down from the sky, fast as lightning, and focus their attacks on the giant cicada. They charge like arrows. Each of their fiery sword strikes creates a fierce wave of flames, slashing hard into various parts of the cicada's body. Fire and magic work in unison, cornering the cicada with no escape. The monster writhes, launching weak counterattacks, but cannot resist the combined strength of the Cazador warriors.
Before long, under the assault of the knights and mages, the giant cicada is destroyed, crashing down with a final scream. The surrounding swarms of cicadas are also burned to ashes, leaving only patches of bare earth, with no trace of the giant creature. The area gradually returns to silence, with only the soft wind blowing through the charred pillars and empty fields.
The Cazador knights land, halting before Aldo, Joon-soo, Maina, and the remaining villagers. The knight commander dismounts from his griffin, his gaze stern but with a hint of admiration.
"Thank you, those who discovered the heresy and helped stabilize the situation," the knight commander says, his voice calm but full of respect.
Maina glances at the knight commander and responds coldly, "It's nothing. Thank you for your help. But your mission is to protect and eliminate threats. You did your job well."
Aldo says nothing, only looking at the villagers around him. They are injured, their faces full of pain but also gratitude. The villages, the wheat fields, and the forests that once stood are now destroyed. For them, these losses may not be recoverable in a day.
Joon-soo, with a detached expression, steps forward and says, "I'll buy food for this winter. You won't have to worry about shortages. I'll provide it for you free of charge." His words surprise the villagers. An elderly woman with light wounds on her body can no longer hold back her emotions. She cries, and soon, others join her in tears.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" The cries and words of gratitude ring out amidst the devastation, warming everyone's hearts. Aldo turns his face away, not wanting to show his emotions, but inside, a sense of emptiness and regret lingers, impossible to quell.
From above, Maina watches Aldo, showing no sympathy. Though severely injured on her right shoulder and leg, she remains standing. She approaches Aldo, her eyes locked onto his, cold and sharp.
"You will always regret your choice," Maina says, her voice soft yet filled with resolve. "But between a costly sacrifice to solve the problem or enduring endless suffering, you know what you've chosen, don't you?"
Maina's words slip out like an invisible dagger, sharp and heavy, causing Aldo to falter in his steps. For a moment, he stands still, his usually cold eyes now clouded, as if enveloped by a thick fog. He lowers his head, his gaze falling to the ground, where red dust coats his worn shoes. A feeling of guilt swells inside him, like waves crashing against his will. He blames himself, his hands clenching, trembling because he cannot do more.
The surroundings seem to contribute to the weight of his emotions. The withered tree trunks reach up to the sky, their branches stripped bare by the savage cicadas, leaving only rough, dry wood standing alone like dark, haunting shadows against the gloomy sky. The once golden wheat fields are now reduced to stumps, close to their roots, bare and sorrowful, as if the layers of their skin have been peeled away. Each step Aldo takes feels weighted, as if held back by the vacant stares of the villagers scattered everywhere. Some groan weakly, their wounds vivid evidence of the giant cicadas' brutality.
Aldo takes a deep breath, but the air offers no comfort. Instead, it is filled with despair, so heavy it makes his chest ache. His eyes reflect a profound disappointment, not only with the current situation but also with himself. He feels the weight of responsibility pressing down on him like a massive mountain, ready to crush any will that dares to stop. But in those eyes, there is still a flicker of determination – like a rusted sword that remains sharp, waiting to be drawn for battle.
Looking at the destruction and the suffering people, Aldo tells himself that he cannot stop. The dead trees must be replaced with life, the ruined wheat fields must be sown again, and the people calling for help must rise up. He clenches his fist, his gaze becoming more resolute, his determination smoldering like a flame waiting to ignite. Aldo knows that, though the path ahead is dark and fraught with danger, he must move forward – for it is not just a responsibility but a promise to his own conscience.
The sunset slowly descends, casting an orange sky tinged with a bit of gloom, like a painting both warm and heavy. The last rays of daylight shine down on the earth, filtering through the bare trees and the devastated fields, painting them with a pale yellow hue that blurs in the breeze carrying the weight of exhaustion and unease. Aldo stands still, his shoulders slightly hunched as if bearing the weight of the sky on his back.
Ahead, Joon-soo and Maina continue their conversation with the knights, their voices rising and falling in the air like a discordant melody, occasionally interrupted by weary sighs. Aldo, though nearby, feels as though there is an entire world between them. His eyes, usually sharp, now seem distant and filled with sorrow, as if sinking into a deep river of thought. His eyes narrow slightly, a flicker of unease in them as he looks toward the distant sunset – where the horizon seems like an endless path, hiding answers he's not sure he will find.
In this rare moment of silence, he realizes that everything he's just gone through is but a small piece of a much larger picture – a long journey, filled with twists and turns he cannot predict. Is this the right path? Aldo wonders, his gaze blurry as he looks down at the ground, where his feet have trampled dust, blood, and the hope of those who have chosen to trust him.
A gust of wind blows, causing his hair to shift gently, carrying with it the weight of the questions in his heart. Sacrifice to make all the problems disappear forever – is that the right choice? Or would allowing endless suffering, without reaching its ultimate peak, be kinder? His eyes flicker with a brief flash of pain, but it quickly vanishes, replaced by the familiar calm. He's not sure. Perhaps, he will never be sure.
The sky grows darker, the rays of light gradually fading, leaving Aldo enveloped in a dense darkness of emotions. But in his thoughtful eyes, deep within, a faint light still flickers – the light of determination, of the will to not let himself fall despite how murky the road ahead may be. Aldo takes a quiet breath, trying to swallow the uncertainty within him. This journey is not over, and he knows he must keep moving forward, even as the questions remain unanswered.
Meanwhile, Joon-soo approaches the corpse of a male follower of the Cult of Insect and discovers a book of the cult's doctrine. Opening the first few pages, he finds a disturbing similarity to… Sapphic.
Elsewhere, Heinenberg sits in deep thought in the city square, quietly watching his 9-year-old daughter intently reading a history book beside him. A young girl with blonde hair and fair skin, her eyes are particularly unique: "The right is a black eye, and the left is a red eye."
[About 800 years ago, when the pre-Mikhland civilizations on the current Mikhland territory reached their peak, they spread ideologies legalizing LGBT, a popular sentiment at the time.]
[Sexual asexualism and anti-procreation movements spread across those kingdoms, with up to 70% of the population identifying as LGBT. Historical records show that the birth rate was... 0.2 children per woman.]
[At that time, the total population of the pre-Mikhland nations was 120 million.]
[But that wasn't the only ideology. More importantly, nihilism, chaos theory, and material excess led to a decay in sexual morals, with humans becoming weaker and national cultures eroding. After 50 years, LGBT became the new normal, with 84% of the population identifying as LGBT, and their population was reduced to 26 million.]
[Several years later, the Elven kingdoms seized the opportunity to annex and enslave the entire West. Not long after, the Dragon Kingdom of Serpentine attacked, committing genocide against millions of humans and annexing 14 million square kilometers of territory. For the first time since leaving Kalmar Island, the human population dropped from 2 million to 120 million, and then plummeted to 200,000, mostly conservatives or Golk liberals, a faction with no records. They were believed to be Classical Liberals.]
[Half of the remaining population migrated to the eastern part of the continent, establishing the pre-Therasirus nations and thriving.] "Meanwhile, in the southeast of the continent, the remaining humans formed the three nations that constitute Mikhland today. Essentially, about 188 million humans in Mikhland (80 million) and Therasirus (108 million), currently all descend from those 200,000 people. They share the same language and ethnicity. From that point, a culture arose to reject anti-procreation ideologies and LGBT, taking root for 700 years.]
[Additionally, the culture and language of present-day Mikhland and Therasirus… share only 5% of what existed 800 years ago...]