Ch.88. Psychic Flame

When creating a new monster, I would use a total of five genes.

For traits, I would primarily use Fire Resistance (D), Armored Scales (D), and most importantly, Elemental Psychic User (D).

As for skills, just two would suffice: Psychic Flame (D) emitted from the mouth, and Psychic Barrier (D) for defense.

Adding Spiked Tentacles (D) to quickly kill approaching ants and Hunter Claws (E) for personal protection completes the design of the Hive Flamer, engineered specifically as an ant slayer.

Hive Flamer

Rank :: 7

Level :: 19

Stats

Strength :: 25

Agility :: 8

Vitality :: 25

Intelligence :: 10

Resistance :: 20

Energy :: 30

Leadership :: 0

Traits

Monster Gene (E), Predator (E), Hive Mind (E), Subjugation (EX), Elemental Psychic User (D), Fire Resistance (D), Armored Scales (D)

Skills

Psychic Flame (D), Psychic Barrier (D)

Bio-weapons

Spiked Tentacles (D), Hunter Claws (E)

In appearance, it’s a massive, muscular lizard at least 5 meters long. Another distinctive feature is the six flexible tentacles growing from its shoulders, each tipped with sharp spines.

Its combat style is exactly what you’d expect from its appearance and skills. It continuously spews Psychic Flame (D) from its mouth to incinerate ants, while using its Spiked Tentacles (D) to impale smaller enemies that approach while it recovers psychic energy.

With defense provided by both Armored Scales (D) and Psychic Barrier (D), plus solid muscles and Hunter Claws (E) for close combat, it has decent protection that meets the average for a Rank 7 monster.

While it’s a versatile powerhouse within the Rank 7 category, it does have one weakness.

That would be the poor fuel efficiency of the Psychic Flame mentioned earlier. To compensate for this, I created another monster specifically designed to support the Hive Flamer.

Based on genes and appearance from when I was a Baby Hive, this monster resembles a milky-white storage container with tentacles. It’s a lower-tier Rank 7 monster called the Psychic Supplier.

Psychic Supplier

Rank :: 7

Level :: 19

Stats

Strength :: 1

Agility :: 4

Vitality :: 1

Intelligence :: 5

Resistance :: 10

Energy :: 100

Leadership :: 0

Traits

Monster Gene (E), Predator (E), Hive Mind (E), Subjugation (EX), Psychic Repository (D), Psychic Core (D), Permanent Levitation (E)

Skills

Psychic Supply (D), Psychic Absorption (D)

Bio-weapons

None

Its stats, except for Energy, are abysmal. This is by design, as it wasn’t created for combat but strictly for storing and transferring psychic energy.

Naturally, its traits and skills were carefully selected to match this role.

It has Psychic Repository (D) to store more energy than normal specimens, Permanent Levitation (E) from the floating organs I attached so it could move around, and most crucially, Psychic Core (D)—which in the game allowed using stamina instead of psychic energy (equivalent to MP in other games), but in reality enables infinite psychic energy production as long as there’s sufficient energy.

Considering the combination of Psychic Supply (D) and Psychic Absorption (D) skills, it’s an excellent support monster that assists with psychic energy supply, enabling various flexible tactics.

Of course, such a monster couldn’t exist in the game due to balance issues, nor could it survive in a natural ecosystem.

※ ※ ※

After completing the designs in the gene pool, I quickly produced these monsters and deployed them to the battlefield.

Six Hive Flamers and six Psychic Suppliers. Being lower-tier Rank 7 monsters with high-end functions, they were expensive to produce, limiting their numbers. On the battlefield, they would operate in pairs, one of each type.

After deploying these twelve monsters toward the passage where the ant invasion was occurring…

‘…Wow.’

I finally understood why the developers never released external support monsters like the Psychic Supplier, despite it being an obvious concept.

FWOOOOOOSH!

STAB! PIERCE! SLASH! STAB!

The Psychic Flame emitted from the Hive Flamer’s mouth lasted about 10 seconds per burst, incinerating dozens of ants each time, while its tentacles moved swiftly, impaling the ants’ heads.

Twelve monsters, with only half actually participating in combat. Yet those six alone were enough to turn the tide from defense to offense.

In other words, my monsters had now penetrated into the ant nest itself.

After entering the massive ant nest—large enough for a 5-meter lizard to move freely—various special ant units began to appear alongside the acid turret ants.

Red ants that were smaller but faster and tougher, giant ants rivaling the Hive Flamer in size, humanoid ants wielding primitive weapons made from monsters, and even flying psychic user ants in pupa form.

These ant monsters, which I’d occasionally seen in the game, confidently advanced in formation—

FWOOOOOOSH!!

—and the consequence of their foolish decision to engage in close combat against flame-throwers in a linear corridor was the annihilation of hundreds of special units by the synchronized flames of six monsters.

Though valuable nutrient masses containing genes were burned away, it was still worth it.

‘As expected, a big catch.’

While burning ants and exploring the interior, I discovered a corner of the nest where special ant larvae were growing—the so-called larva chamber.

‘Alright, everyone carry them away.’

I ordered the Hive Miners, who had been following behind the Hive Flamers as support units, to devour the larvae and transport the nutrients and genes.

Immediately after, the Hive Miners began tearing into the larvae that were attached to root-like nutrient supply tubes.

Even for ant monster larvae that could mature in a day, they had no combat ability in their underdeveloped state, so naturally there was no resistance.

‘Wow, they’re swarming in disgustingly large numbers…’

Meanwhile, having apparently realized that we had occupied the special unit larva chamber—one of the most important facilities in the ant monster nest—an enormous number of ants were now converging from the entrance.

Despite the six Hive Flamers continuously killing at the front line, the reinforcements were arriving faster than we could kill them.

Therefore, I needed a trump card to turn the situation around.

‘—Now!’

[Activating Hive Mind (D).]

[Activating Psychic Relay (D).]

[Activating Psychic Overload (E).]

[Activating Self-Destruct (E).]

BOOOOOM!!!

And that trump card was using the eight Chief Brains among the monsters that had entered as suicide bombers.

KABOOM!

With a magnificent explosion, the shock wave made the entire cave vibrate. Stone dust fell from the ceiling, creating an extremely dangerous situation, but the power of the explosion was strong enough to justify risking a cave-in.

And after the explosion cleared away the ant swarm blocking the path…

FWOOOOOOSH!!!

STAB! STAB! PIERCE! STAB!

My monsters began rapidly advancing and clearing the way through the ants that had somehow survived the explosion.

They massacred clustered enemies with Psychic Flame and impaled stragglers with spiked tentacles.

The infiltration team pushed forward, killing hundreds or perhaps thousands of ants in their path. I supported them by creating new monsters using the nutrients being delivered to me.

And while I was busy producing monsters from nutrients…

‘…?’

I sensed vibrations through the tentacles extending from my main body—the Hive Core—suggesting something was approaching.

The vibrations were coming from the direction of what I presumed to be the ant nest’s central hub, and they had a regular rhythm, as if something was digging its way toward us.

At this point, it would be foolish not to notice such an obvious approach.

‘So you think you can win by coming to my home base?’

While I had chosen to push forward with newly produced specialized units, the ants appeared to be digging a second passage toward my base, intending to directly attack the command center—the Hive Mind.

Given the high dependency of Hive Mind monsters on their Hive Mind, they probably thought that if they could eliminate the Hive Mind, they could simply wear down the remaining monsters with scorched earth tactics.

…Huh, I didn’t expect to be underestimated this much.

Of course, from my perspective, the ants’ judgment was utterly absurd.