Mistress Of The Evil Forest-Case 247: Hope for civilization.

The swarm of unidentified creatures pours toward a coordinate in West Zircon.

Like dots of ink falling onto a canvas, they densely color the sky a bleak gray, blocking sunlight altogether. Amidst the intensifying buzz in the air, one figure stands proudly, an air of resoluteness surrounds her.

''This makes me want to puke...'' Neveah suppresses the urge to gag as she massages her temples. ''Can it ever get worse than this...?''

As the creator and supreme administrator of the system, the goddess has decided to shoulder the responsibilities to keep its core operational. Starting with barriers and traps, she has set up countless installations around the area.

Thankfully, the leftover energy from extracting the planet's core is still enough to make those weapons effective, even after subtracting a large portion to distribute to people.

Yet, it never seems enough against the endless streams of monsters surging in.

From pure mana blasters, flamethowers, electrical bolts, to elaborate force fields—all is meaningless before the overwhelming number of enemies. Worse, more 'evolved' species have started to make an appearance among the relatively small individuals.

Soon enough, even creatures similar to those outside the dome should descend. By then, none of the current arrangements can be of help, and it would be natural to assume a breakthrough.

'The barrier can't withstand for much longer... perhaps it's time to strike back.'

The term 'tower defense' randomly occurs in Neveah's head as her divine power swells. Her eyes, as clear as Zircon jewels, emit faint light, while her bleach-white hair gains a coat of crystal-like luminescence.

With a snap of the goddess's finger, a signal travels far across the land. Not long after, faint tremors can be felt in the earth, along with distant, deep growls.

In seconds, those sounds and vibrations rapidly approach Neveah's place, and for the first time, specks of sunlight finally reach down on her again.

The mass of insects is being cleared out rapidly, crushed, devoured, and helplessly swatted away as if a fragile screen of mist. Beyond the newly formed gaps of the swarm, colossal figures push by, their steps causing palpable rumbles.

''...''

A flurry of memories floods Neveah's mind as she takes in this scene. Back then, she had seen similar pictures—an invasion too crushing to stop, rolling tanks, whistling aircraft, pouring firepower. Now... there are no tanks, no battleships, not a single modern weapon to provide humans even an illusion of security.

Civilization survived, but it is being crushed again before it can even get back to its feet.

Still... it's different. Ironically, at this state, Neveah sees more hope. After all, she is not alone this time, and unlike before, she no longer has to scramble with little inventions to retaliate, for she has become a powerful deity.

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Although not the heroine of heaven like that girl, she still has an important role to play. That is, to keep humanity's hope alive and burning.

'...Hasn't that been my duty since the beginning?'

Laughing inwardly, Neveah slowly rises to the sky. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

In a short period, a significant portion of the buzzing insects has been cleared out. The goddess marvels at the dozen or so kaiju-level monsters that Aurora has left here to defend Zircon. Some of them are beast-like, some coated in layers of strange bio-tech anatomy, and some resemble grotesque masses of flesh rolling. Yet, all of them possess the same trait—they are helplessly gargantuan.

'If only we had these guys back then...'

Swallowing a regretful sigh, Neveah slowly prepares herself for the next wave. The entities Aurora provided can indeed hold back the swarm, but even they can't deal with an abundance of elite enemies. Given the system's importance, the other side must at least put as much effort.

Just as she ponders this, several winged figures descend directly from the depths beyond the dome. As if guided by a command, they simultaneously circle the area, dragging ferocious magical bolts around their bodies.

Though similar to dragons in appearance, they appear distinctly monstrous with grey, decaying scales and deformed bodies. Only their blood-red eyes, bright as jewels, stand out.

Following the initial wave, the anomalous entities from the madness of the cosmos make their entrances one after another. In minutes, their number has surpassed a hundred.

''This does take me back...'' Neveah chuckles nervously.

Despite being surrounded, the goddess shows no intentions of moving. After all, her job is to protect the heart of humanity's hope. As Neveah bends her divinity to will, five longswords made of pure energy materialize behind her glossy white hair. With a snap, those blades rapidly inflate in size, and in a brief moment, they give the impression of a pair of wings when spread at an angle.

The battle begins without a word uttered.

Following the movements of Neveah's hands, the swords fly out in all directions, acting as limbs for the goddess while her true body is encased in a sturdy barrier. The edges of divinity, being superior in quality, easily rip through the magic that is aimed at Neveah. Though they cannot cut through the fabric of space like Aurora's blade of Nihility, they still boast an intimidating raw prowess.

The moment those blades touch the monsters' bodies, they instantly sink in as if ravenous, and to compensate for the lack of size, a splash of power is sharply released each time, digging deeper.

As a result, Neveah can clear out one or two enemies in under a minute. Yet, this pace is nowhere fast enough for the number of them still left. The goddess holds on for a while, but ultimately decides to switch up her approach.

As Neveah has observed, the enemies not only remain alive when split, but they also become two entirely different individuals. This effectively neutralizes the strategy of 'targeting the weak points,' as per standard fighting philosophy. She can indeed destroy them in their entirety, though she severely lacks the time to do so.

Fortunately, her allies do seem to possess the appetite for devouring large things.

A little smirk tugs at Neveah's mouth. In an instant, the trajectories of her swords turn sharper. Four additional blades soon materialize, joining the effort.

This time, they only cut at the parts that are vital for movement. Anything resembling legs or wings is mercilessly chopped off, leaving the huge body immobilized. One by one, the massive clusters of madness fall onto the ground, gurgling for recovery. Yet, the beasts of Zircon seem to have understood their assignments. With their equally colossal statues, they pick up the fallen parts and throw them into their mouths, chewing with everything they have.

So, while Neveah's boundaries have been progressively pushed in, she can also feel the attack is becoming thinner.

After a grueling hour of endless fighting, she finally takes down the final elite enemy. Though the swarm shows no sign of stopping, at least she can relax a little—is what she has been thinking until new entities begin to drop from the sky.

''Hahah... I can't catch a damn break...'' The goddess lets out a weary sigh. ''...Fine, then.''

Win or lose, dead or alive, Neveah plans to uphold this scorching hope in her until the very end.