Ch.22. Erosion

After checking my completed status window, I noticed that about an hour had passed since I’d taken a rest.

[Telekinesis (E) has been activated.]

So, thinking it was about time to start moving around, I used telekinesis to float up from where I was lying down. I positioned myself in the center of the large cavity that had been the self-firing creature’s nest, and following what was inscribed in my instincts, I attempted to take root.

[Baby Hive (Rank 10) is settling into the ground.]

Suddenly, all my tentacles burrowed into the floor and began absorbing energy from the ground. This energy was absorbed into my body—the Baby Hive—causing rapid transformation.

[Baby Hive (Rank 10) is evolving.]

My milky white, pudding-like body turned red, and in an instant, I grew from roughly the size of a human head to an oval shape resembling a cocoa pod, nearly 4 meters in height.

The lower part where the tentacles had been growing became covered with bark-like skin, and once sufficient energy was supplied, my body began to glow orange.

[Baby Hive (Rank 10) has evolved into Hive Core (Rank 7).]

As a Hive Mind type monster, I had completed the evolution necessary to produce lower-ranked species.

‘From now on, it’ll be difficult to move directly. I guess I’ll have to possess one of my produced creatures to move around.’

While I was recalling the settings I had read in the setting collection (By TreeWiki), a notification message appeared informing me that my abilities, characteristics, and skills had been enhanced and added. Among them, one thing particularly caught my eye.

[Would you like to designate the surrounding area as Hive territory?] (Y/N)

‘Ah, right. First I need to erode the surroundings to absorb energy?’

In the game, Hive Mind type monsters were almost like dungeon mechanics, so I only remembered this fact after seeing the message.

‘Yes, I’ll do that.’

Anyway, to secure resources—energy—which forms the foundation of everything, I accepted the offer. Immediately, my tentacles that had burrowed into the floor began to erode the surroundings—the interior of the cavity.

The cave was spacious, roughly the size of two high school gymnasiums put together, but the erosion happened in an instant.

Flesh sprouted from beneath the rocky surface, and in places where a lot of flesh had emerged, something round and glowing orange, just like my main body, appeared on the surface.

Thanks to this, the previously dark cave interior became bright enough to be comfortable, if not exactly well-lit. Meanwhile, I concentrated energy on a part of the eroded cave to form external organs.

To use an analogy, I was constructing what would be buildings in an RTS game.

Among the external organs—which I’ll refer to as biological facilities from now on—I planned to form two types.

One is the so-called Gene Pool. It’s a pond filled with what could be called a meat slurry that breaks down life forms killed by monsters, converting them into nutrients and energy for monster production, while storing the remaining genes for use in producing other monsters.

The other is the Production Farm, a facility whose purpose is self-explanatory—directly producing monsters. This facility can only produce lower-ranked monsters (Ranks 7-9), but in exchange, it has excellent production capacity, specializing in mass production.

Well, with the energy obtained in the early stages of erosion, these are the only facilities I can build.

Anyway, after forming all the necessary facilities to create an environment for monster production, my instincts strongly demanded that I expand aggressively.

They insisted that it was my duty to frantically extend tentacles to absorb nutrients and energy, and use that energy to continuously produce monsters and widen my area of activity.

And my answer to these instinctual demands is very simple.

‘Screw that!’

From the beginning, humans don’t just sit back and watch monsters increase their power.

Obviously, the moment human eyes detect a Hive Mind expanding its influence in an uninhabited area, they’ll launch cruise missiles first and ask questions later. At that stage, a Hive Mind doesn’t possess psychic abilities strong enough to block cruise missiles.

Furthermore, if a Hive Mind grows to the point where its psychic powers can block cruise missiles, from that moment on, that Hive Mind is truly authorized to be exterminated by any means necessary.

Deploying massive numbers of drones to bomb with thermobaric weapons is just the most basic measure; in severe cases, they’ll bring in nuclear weapons or psychic annihilation weapons that use the monsters’ psychic energy production organs.

I must always remember this: in this world’s setting, the reason humans can’t exterminate monsters is only due to environmental destruction and cost issues. If necessary, humans can become extremely radical at any time.

But even if I try to live quietly for these reasons, without sufficient military power, I’ll just be living a life where I’m unilaterally dragged around.

I don’t want to experience such a life again, even in this form. Therefore, my strategy is to endure.

I’ll gather energy, endure and endure more. Expansion will occur underground, and meanwhile, I’ll only dispatch small hunting parties to the surface to secure genetic material.

My strategy is to endure underground as long as possible, and then later, when I evolve into a Rank 1 Hive Mind type monster, a Hive Queen, and become mobile, I’ll begin full-scale external activities.

Before implementing this strategy, I decided to first check my changed abilities.

Name :: ???

Age :: 0 years (0 months 0 days)

Species :: Hive Core

Rank :: 7

Level :: 1

Abilities

Strength :: 0

Agility :: 0

Vitality :: 50

Intelligence :: 50

Resistance :: 50

Energy :: 100

Command :: 100

Characteristics (8/???)

Monster Gene (EX), Predator (E), Imperturbability (A), Hive Mind (D), Versatile Psychic User (D), Subjugated Species Control (D), Fixed Position (D), Fixed Artillery (D)

Skills (6/???)

Comprehensive Interface (S), Subjugated Species Production (D), Mental Domination (D), Telekinesis (D), Split Thinking (D), Energy Absorption (D)

‘Wow, my main body is incredibly strong!’

Energy levels rivaling those of a lower Rank 6 psychic user, high command and intelligence stats for controlling troops, and generally improved ability ranks plus the Hive Core’s characteristics.

Except for the inability to move, this status is practically on par with a specialized Rank 6 psychic user.

…Of course, I have no intention of fighting directly.

※ ※ ※

After completing my self-assessment, I decided to use all remaining nutrients and energy to produce a reasonable number of monsters.

The genetic information for the monsters to be produced, stored in my main body, along with stored energy, flowed from my main body to the Production Farm through underground biological pipes.

Stimulated by the energy, the farm writhed and formed four large lumps of flesh. Soon after, they split open, and my first produced monsters were born.

They were Hive Spiders, Rank 9 monsters reconstructed based on Cave Spiders, the weakest creatures in the data possessed by all Hive Minds, and part of the collective.

In appearance, they look like a mix between a spider and a crustacean. They resemble typical low-level minions from an SF collective life form, and their size is roughly one class larger than a large dog.

They have a total of eight legs; six are used for walking, while the two legs beside the head are used for work or equipped with biological weapons for combat.

…Although at my current level, biological weapons are limited to primitive blades.

And this is the status window of a Hive Spider:

Hive Spider

Rank :: 9

Level :: 1

Abilities

Strength :: 15

Agility :: 15

Vitality :: 15

Intelligence :: 8

Resistance :: 15

Energy :: 5

Command :: 0

Characteristics

Monster Gene (E), Predator (E), Hive Mind (E), Subjugation (EX), Group Behavior (D), Adaptability (E), Psychic Resistance (E)

Skills

Rapid Regeneration (E), Environmental Adaptation (E)

Biological Armament

Hunter Claw (E)

As you might guess, the Hive Spider’s greatest characteristic is its wide versatility.

Its close combat stats are all exactly 15, 15, 15, with no weak points. Though its intelligence is low, it’s not so low that it can’t understand combat or directions, and thanks to its Group Behavior characteristic, it can demonstrate decent combat power.

Additionally, it has excellent psychic resistance, so there’s no worry about being swept away by low-rank psychics’ attacks. It recovers quickly from injuries thanks to its skills and can even adapt to different environments.

Thanks to these combined characteristics, the Hive Spider was known as a surprisingly resilient minion monster at low levels, and at high levels, it became an extremely annoying minion that would equip ranged biological weapons on its arms and fire away.

But knowing that such annoying creatures are now my subordinates gives me a good feeling.

It’s like summoning and controlling enemy monsters that used to frustrate me in games.