Ch.66. Indigenous Species

While the monsters were busy expanding the cave, the hunting party sent outside was actively coming and going, hunting monsters.

After hunting a pack consisting of an Elite Hound, a 7th-grade monster, and several 9th-grade Beast Hounds that it led as their leader, they engaged in fierce battles with various monsters they encountered.

Giant Ants, 9th-grade monsters that travel in groups searching for food, a representative hive-type monster apart from the Hive Mind.

Minerva, an 8th-grade owl-like monster, a rare psychic user among animal-type monsters.

Pyro Hawk, a massive bird of prey-type 8th-grade monster with organs that store lightweight gas to aid flight, which it expels while igniting to breathe fire.

And Tortlium, a 7th-grade monster, a horrifying large turtle with three heads and more than seven legs.

Having essentially defeated all the lower-grade monsters in this area, I was able to obtain a corresponding massive amount of nutrients and various genes.

And now, half of my divided consciousness was controlling the Chief Brain, targeting the prey before us alongside the hunting party.

A massive monster with dozens of animal and creature body parts attached to it—a special monster also known as a Unique Species.

※ ※ ※

The Unique Species was actually the first playable monster to be revealed.

This monster, unveiled at an event where one enters a simulation to control monsters—I’ve forgotten the reason—was actually an excuse setting that the developers commonly used when creating new single-species monsters that didn’t exist before.

According to what I saw previously on TreeWiki, Unique Species are close to being the progenitors of all monsters. While most monsters evolved into specific forms adapted to their environments, Unique Species are the opposite.

They typically have only one or two basic traits, but continuously change their appearance and abilities by consuming other monsters and acquiring their traits—a monster with abilities that, from a developer’s perspective, could be useful in any situation.

Of course, from an in-game perspective, it wasn’t particularly strong.

Naturally, in the game, Unique Species monsters are controlled by AI, but this AI isn’t some super-precise, high-computation AI—it’s just a modified version of the general-purpose monster AI.

Therefore, this AI operates by recklessly charging at enemies and taking traits or skills with high values from the corpses of killed enemies. The problem is that randomly acquiring traits this way makes it difficult to defeat properly designed monsters.

A Unique Species filled with traits that conflict with each other or have nothing to do with its own tech tree, rather than complementing each other, gets hunted down every time it respawns by monsters designed with complementary skills and traits, and that’s generally the same here too.

‘That thing is really useless.’

The monster right before my eyes is a failure that follows these exact characteristics of a Unique Species.

Despite being almost as large as my main body, it drags its heavy body along with dozens of spider-like legs.

The upper part of its body has arms equipped with all sorts of biological weapons, but they’re so short that it can only attack when right next to its target. The head part is even more ridiculous.

It resembles the upper body of a human, but instead of facial features, it has a single eye, a mouth on its belly, and blades attached to both arms—this absurdity is what it calls a head.

It’s truly a spectacle. The bizarre appearance can only be described as absurd.

But well, the fact that our prey is foolish is actually advantageous, so let’s send our thanks and begin the hunt.

※ ※ ※

In battle, the first to move were, of course, the two Chief Brains.

The one I was controlling and the other monster concentrated their minds while drawing up psychic energy, and activated telekinesis while resonating with each other.

[Telekinesis (D) has been activated.]

Wooooong!

With a sound similar to a motor running, I used telekinesis to restrain the Unique Species monster by forming a massive iron ball above it and pressing down.

■■■■■■■■■───!!!

Tremendous pressure crushed the monster. Its thin, weak limbs burst apart, and its body, which seemed to lack any proper skin, was directly affected by the telekinesis, its shape distorting.

The Unique Species’ exceptional regenerative ability and vitality were helping it stay alive, but in that state, it seemed like its body would explode with a “pop” at any moment.

‘Target!’

And rather than relying on that possibility, I decided to directly end its life.

Following my command, the Hive Hunters aimed their exoskeleton crossbows—biological weapons integrated with the exoskeleton on their backs—at the Unique Species.

The target was its head. Since the exoskeleton crossbows couldn’t be described as accurate even as a white lie, I gave detailed instructions to form a firing pattern—and the moment targeting was complete, I ordered them to fire while releasing the telekinetic restraint.

[Telekinesis (D) has been deactivated.]

‘Fire!’

Swoosh!

The sound of the exoskeleton crossbows firing isn’t very loud. They use tendons’ elasticity and biological components as power sources.

And the power of these exoskeleton arrows, produced by these biological components rewinding, is not far behind modern technological crossbows.

Thwack!

Of the 12 crossbow arrows—bolts—9 hit their target, but 7 of them were embedded in the body.

Of the remaining two, one blew off the blade-armed part of the head, and the last one, quite fortunately, penetrated the head of the humanoid upper body.

If it were an ordinary living being, I would have naturally thought it would die here, but this was a Unique Species monster, famous for its tenacity even among monsters with strong vitality.

I knew from past cinematic trailers that monsters with their heads blown off could still move and take down careless soldiers, so I—immediately launched the next attack.

[Psychic Construct (D) has been activated.]

[Telekinesis (D) has been activated.]

Activating the psychic skill obtained from Minerva—Psychic Construct—I formed three translucent, blue-glowing spears, then used the Chief Brain’s telekinesis to launch them at the Unique Species.

Fwooooosh—thwack!

One spear penetrated the body from the front, another from top to bottom, and the final psychic construct spear sliced the body nearly in half as it rose diagonally from the side.

But then.

■■■■■■■■■■■───!!!!

Suddenly, from inside the tattered body, with a thunderous roar, a massive reptilian creature tore through the body like shedding skin and emerged.

At first glance, one might mistake it for a parasite trying to escape its dying host, but… the reality is different.

In that brief moment, the Unique Species had reconstructed its body. Using its remaining nutrients and energy, it fused all its genes into an efficient combination, sacrificing its expandability as a Unique Species to evolve into a completely different type of monster.

In the game, since Unique Species are considered so inadequate, this was added as a kind of desperate pattern where, when HP reaches 0, it transforms into one of the monsters it had eaten—but due to unnecessary reality adjustments, now before my eyes stands an unidentified monster.

‘No, it could just be a monster I don’t know about—whoa!’

[Telekinesis (D) has been activated.]

While I was thinking, the lizard monster that used to be a Unique Species suddenly swung its tail at me, but I leisurely used my divided consciousness to push away the tail with telekinesis… however, during this process, I felt something strange.

It felt as if the creature’s scales were deflecting the telekinetic interference.

‘Psychic resistance? Or some other trait or skill?’

Having identified that the monster’s scales possessed defensive capabilities against psychic powers, I pondered the mechanism while changing my attack method to telekinetically lifting and throwing nearby objects.

But the lizard monster blocked and dodged the flying rocks and trees by striking them with its tail and moving its massive body with surprising agility.

And in the midst of this, the lizard monster suddenly created distance, opened its mouth wide, and aimed in my direction. Simultaneously, psychic energy gathered around its mouth—

‘—Oh shit!’

That psychic energy transformed into a torrent of blue flames that flew toward my monsters.

Psychic Flame, the representative power of elemental psychics.

[Psychic Barrier (D) has been activated.]

Though I and the Chief Brain hastily deployed barriers, the power of the psychic flame was completely different from ordinary fire.

Following the lore (by TreeWiki) that psychic flames can burn psychic energy, the psychic barriers began to burn from the surface upon contact with the psychic flames.

‘At this rate, it will break through!’

The output of the two Chief Brains alone wasn’t enough to overcome those flames. So, as I was supplying additional psychic energy drawn from my main body to strengthen the barrier, something strange appeared in the vision of my divided consciousness with the mining team.

‘What is that?!!’

Suddenly, while digging, they discovered a tunnel, and from that hole, massive monsters with black exoskeletons—Giant Ants—began pouring in.