A little earlier.
Not long before, in the Great Being's Courtyard.
At the time, Maeve had guarded the passage alone, holding all the enemies on the other side single-handedly.
The Communion's believers had also done everything they could to help her, constantly stuffing ore into her mouth. Only with that, along with the Red Moon flashing wildly overhead, had they barely managed to hold the Courtyard.
With the enormous nightmare atop the tower helping them, the believers had mined quite efficiently before, stockpiling a great deal of ore in the Courtyard.
Although the believers had stuffed Maeve so full she had nearly burst, she had not exhausted the Courtyard's entire reserve of ore.
By the time the stuck Maeve was freed and the believers returned to the Sea of the Moon, the seabed had already come alive, so naturally they could no longer go down to mine.
Fortunately, plenty of ore remained in the Courtyard, so Maeve ate that for the time being. Feeding the entire Courtyard was still no problem.
Dorothea had set aside a building specifically for her and named it the Maeve Canteen.
Maeve was also happy to spend her days eating and drinking there.
But after the abnormal changes began, something had gone wrong with Maeve.
When the Blood Vampires in the Sea of the Moon began slaughtering one another, Maeve became especially agitated, even somewhat crazed-crazily devouring ore.
Since there had been no serious consequences, and eating more made her grow flesh faster, the believers had not paid much attention.
Dorothea tried channeling spirituality to treat her. It did work, calming her somewhat for a while.
But the instant the [primordial blood] appeared in the sea, Maeve's eyes suddenly turned blood-red. As though she had lost all reason, she abandoned the mountain of ore before