Starting with the defeated female knight

"...Tentacle Factory?"

"It is a factory that researches specialized equipment and produces equipment that allows tentacles to participate in various tasks."

Dawn City's technology sector is growing longer and longer, and its operations are expanding more and more.

What was initially thought to be an overpopulation has become a strain due to rapid development.

In addition, with the recent rapid advancements in technology, Green came up with the idea of ​​designing a factory specifically for his tentacles so that he could also participate in and produce things.

As for the current results...

Clapper, clapper.

The 'knight' walked up to the crowd with an eerie gait, and after removing his full-coverage helmet, it was found to be empty.

But if you look further inside, you can see tentacles wriggling within, manipulating certain parts to control the armor.

[He's also piloting a Gundam, which is...]

Of course, the current structure still needs to be optimized, and various tools do not necessarily have to be humanoid.

This armor is less of a product and more of a symbol, at least demonstrating the feasibility of the idea.

However, despite the existence of the animated humanoid form, the residents of Dawn City were not particularly enthusiastic about the animated armor.

After all, they were already used to tentacles. Some children even bought hats or scarves for their parents in winter to put on the tentacles by the roadside.

In a sense, in their hearts, tentacles have long been people, or even more reassuring beings than humans.

But it was a certain green worm that was floating around that was very interested in it.

After floating over, I naturally sat on its shoulder, swinging my little feet, and exclaimed that they were just like a fairy and a knight from a fairy tale.

The armored creature paused, then turned to look at it, a tentacle emerging from beneath its visor and swaying slightly.

Why don't you invest in it?

Dolores: "...?"

The tentacle shook its head.

Regardless of our relationship, the money is innocent.

Although I've never been exposed to elven civilization, I think you must have some of your own unique aspects.

How about we consider a trade? We can discuss the specific exchange value.

It took Dolores a while to come to her senses; she seemed about to speak but then stopped, and then seemed about to speak again.

In the end, it turned out that this thing actually seemed to be feasible.

"It's possible, but we live too far apart, and it might take a while..."

The green worm pondered for a while.

Is there anything you want?

[Little girl]

"...Change it."

I don't know, so tell me specifically what you have.

Then, the two insects began to discuss what they needed.

Let alone others, even the great elves who have undergone mind suppression modifications feel uneasy after seeing this, as if something is wrong, yet nothing seems wrong at the same time.

In any case, this marked the beginning of the first formal exchange between Dawn City and the elves.

While the insect and the caravan were exchanging words, the members of the caravan were also strolling around Dawn City, marveling at the sights.

On the distant land of Dawn City, a half-insect, half-human girl, draped in a black robe, wanders through the wilderness.

She seemed to be strolling around, or perhaps searching for something.

She held a thousand-legged spear in her hand (a name she gave herself), and the segmented limbs beneath her kept crawling with a dripping sound.

for a long time.

creak-

A sound like tempered glass twisting rang out.

That was the prelude to the eruption of the demonic tide after the first death of the Thousand-Legged God, who was buried under cheers.

But the next second, before the space could shatter, gray mist flowed out.

The girl's figure vanished from the spot, leaping high into the air, the tip of her spear piercing directly into the invisible thing that resembled a wound in the world.

The domain erupted instantly, and the power of corrosion and poison was injected through the tip of the spear.

Crunch, crunch, crunch——

With a sound like tearing steel, something invisible was 'killed' by the girl before it was even born.

Although he has forgotten a lot, he has even forgotten his own name.

But as a weapon against the undercurrents, no matter what she has forgotten, she could never forget what is engraved in her instincts.

"...It's resolved."

She said, then lowered her head and looked expectantly at the tentacles in her arms.

Then, under her gaze, the tentacle slowly emerged and rubbed her head.

【Yes, that's great, super awesome】

"hey-hey......"

She wore an expression of enjoyment, but after she finished, she gradually realized something was wrong.

"I... am the adult..."

"I...want to touch you too..."

As she spoke, she reached out her little hand and, imitating Green, gently stroked the tentacle in her arms.

The tentacles remained motionless, neither struggling nor protesting.

It's not because I don't want to, it's because I know it's pointless.

The more Tentacles dealt with the Ancient Gods, the more he discovered that stubbornness was truly the underlying logic of the Ancient Gods.

Whether it's Vanessa's "I want revenge" or the woman in front of them's "I am an adult" (which seems to be evolving into "I am a mother" recently), they are like steel imprints of thought engraved deep in their souls.

It's better not to say anything, because the more you talk about it, the more obvious it becomes. If you try to forcefully confront it, it's even easier to trigger a stress response and cause something even worse.

Furthermore, considering that the child's stubbornness didn't cause any problems and even made it easier for him to persuade and direct him, he stopped struggling.

Whatever, whatever.

【As long as you are happy】

"Ah."

Seeing that the tentacles in his arms no longer resisted, the Thousand-Legged God's eyes smiled into crescent moons, and his movements became even gentler.

"Good boy...I like..."

Besides the reasons mentioned earlier, there was another reason why Green gave up the struggle.

That is, there is something more important and easier right now than correcting her mental imprint.

Yes, it's about stopping the demonic tide.

Through analysis of the core of the gray fog, although we haven't yet figured out the various information inside, we haven't even been able to do basic decryption.

But at least Green managed to get his hands on something similar to the 'frequency' of the fog.

Through his perception of this frequency, Green can now predict the occurrence of the 'Demonic Tide' to a certain extent.

With the addition of the Thousand-Legged God's special attack on the demonic tide, the two gods, working together, arrived directly in the wilderness and nipped the demonic tide that was about to erupt after the spring in the bud.

Although Green achieved his first proactive counterattack against the demonic tide through this method, he was not happy at all.

because......

The quantity is even greater than last year.

Judging from the intensity, it should be even more ferocious than last year.

Although green worms like to lie, they won't lie about this.

According to the information she provided, the elves have also encountered numerous demonic tides.

【and......】

Under the girl's gentle touch, the tentacle slightly raised its head and looked into the distance.

A certain frequency, like a heartbeat, is constantly pulsating.

Powerful, forceful, increasingly clear, and filled with malice and madness.

This world is vast, and for various reasons, neither the empire nor the elves have expanded much, nor have they ventured out much at all.

While we can't say we know nothing about the outside world, we certainly don't know much either.

This also means that in those vast, unknown lands, there may be places where demonic tides may occur, there may be resurrected ancient gods, there may be things that have been invaded and turned into base vehicles, and there may be... even worse things.

The other person's heart is beating.

Moreover, after trying to get closer and to more resolution frequencies, he also sensed a familiar scent.

That's the smell of orcs.

One, two, three... I don't know how many there are.

To be honest, orcs aren't strong. Even if they were invaded by the gray mist and turned into berserk orcs, or even chimeras, Dawn City had encountered them before.

No nobles needed to lift a finger; the muskets could easily handle it.

However, considering some recently gathered information, and the experience gained from the previous overhaul of the Thousand-Legged God by Gray Fog...

Green now seriously suspects that the Gray Fog is not without intelligence, but rather, like him, the more tentacles it has, the stronger its thinking ability becomes.

Small-sized demonic tides have virtually no intelligence, medium-sized demonic tides manipulate monsters to attack, and large-sized ones, like the one he encountered the first time, can make various judgments based on the type of enemy and even use strategies.

The previous wave that eroded the Thousand-Legged God was timed perfectly, not only transforming the Thousand-Legged God into a base vehicle, but also forming some kind of core.

And now, the heartbeat coming from afar is even more deep and terrifying than when the Thousand-Legged God was.

In addition, there is some information about orcs.

Green couldn't help but wonder whether, after some time when the enemy had fully developed, what would arrive would be a group of orcs, or something else entirely, perhaps...

【A Sea of ​​Giant Beasts】

[And it is highly likely to be a sea of ​​giant chimeras.]

[They might even get a few ancient gods along the way.]

Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

The only good news is that, based on the frequency, even according to the earliest predictions, the enemy's arrival will not be earlier than the defense of Dawn City.

Moreover, the larger the base and the more diverse the ethnic groups, the more difficult it is for it to develop.

Green could even imagine what would happen if the other party were truly intelligent and intended to do things properly, instead of just randomly mutating something and rushing around like before.

So right now, they must be cursing at the orcs' racial genes.

It's not that he's some kind of prophet; rather, after he became quite proficient in flesh-and-blood modification technology, he tried to study the orcs' situation.

As for the result, if we exclude the insults, it's practically negligible.

To give an analogy, if the human body is a mountain of code, then the orcs' side is like a mountain of human code wrapped in an even larger and more abstract layer.

If it weren't for the fact that Gray Fog's biochemical modification technology had performed ridiculously well before, he would have even doubted whether the other side could have attacked before Dawn City entered the space age.

Even so, judging from the speed at which the heart expands, it will probably take some time—perhaps longer than expected.

Just now, he suddenly realized that the increased heart rate didn't seem to be due to growth, but rather to anger...

Enjoy the orc code!

After gloating and making sarcastic remarks, he then led the Thousand-Legged God to destroy several more emerging demonic tidal cores.