003. Legion’s Hive Mind (2)
The living room of the mansion was full of blood. The luxurious carpet was dyed red, and the pottery, once a symbol of wealth, had long since been carved like its owner.
The man with no expression was smoking a chain-smoker while burying himself in an overstuffed chair in the living room. Next to him, a real sword covered in blood and flesh was stuck into the ground like a sacred relic of a kingdom waiting for a hero.
“Damn it, I got vampire blood on my clothes. Jinhyeok, I want a cigarette too.”
A woman who appeared from behind the man wearing a bright red-stained dress, received a cigarette and buried herself in a chair as well.
The woman set aside the bloody steel glove that appeared to be her weapon, and began to light a cigarette in succession with a very pleased expression.
In an instant, the living room mansion turned into a raccoon den.
“You bastards. Stop smoking.”
“… … Hey, when the Demon World invasion starts, all the cigarette factories will be ruined. You should smoke a lot now.”
“… … .”
Another man covered in blood appeared. In the man’s hand, instead of a cigarette, the owner of the mansion held a high-quality liquor, half gone.
The man who was smoking a cigarette looked at the bottle and opened his mouth with a slight frown.
“Every time I return to the subject of the archmage, I don’t think the screwed-up bastard who gets drunk and develops alcoholism is something to say to a smoker.”
“… … Shut up this hero play addict. What if I can’t concentrate without alcohol?”
“The excuse for alcohol dependence is rather poor.”
“… … Won’t you please fix that stupid way of talking? Where the hell did you learn such a cheesy tone like that of a novel hero? what? You thought you were the real protagonist of a novel? You are funny.”
“… … .”
After a brief exchange of encouragement, including bitter sarcastic remarks at each other, the three of them sat side by side in chairs, smoking and drinking in silence.
“Guys, but you guys have nicknames.”
The woman was the first to break the silence.
“Did Ji-woo build all of those?”
There was a heavy silence for a moment in the living room filled with fishy smell.
Two months have passed since they returned from the destroyed world, and the team member they thought they would find soon was still missing.
The man who had emptied all of his high-quality liquor sighed deeply.
“Garam, I talked to the manager in my dream last night.”
“… … What did the nobleman say?”
“… … Even the manager doesn’t know where that bastard is now. It is certain that it is alive, but the moment it returns, it bounces off the system and disappears.”
“… … Is that the end?”
“No, even the manager said he would look for it himself. I persuaded him to find me, saying that it would be difficult to fight a war without [Defense Master]. But the manager sounded a bit uneasy. Did I have to search all over the universe to find it?”
“… … space? Hey, what kind of novel bullshit is this?”
The man took out a new bottle of wine from his pocket and opened the lid.
“… … There is a 99% chance that this bastard will return as a real alien.”
“No, the manager jokes a bit. Hey boss, manager? Ji-woo is an alien, our Ji-woo is an alien?”
The woman did not hide her absurd expression, while the man maintained a serious expression.
“Garam.”
“yes.”
“The manager said he wasn’t kidding. It’s a very bold cursive script.”
“… … .”
The woman covered her face with her hands and murmured.
“… … Fucked. His position is irreplaceable, so there is no way to save him.”
Certainly, if there was no player with the fraudulent authority to ‘realize a tower defense game’ called [Defense Master], there was a strong possibility that the upcoming large-scale war against the demon world would be very difficult.
Han Ji-woo was a player who did not get [Infinite Return] due to his particularly low achievement, but after all, his authority was the core of all base defense strategies.
It was safe to say that virtually no player had the authority to replace him.
However, how can a player find a team member who may have returned somewhere in that dark universe?
“We have to do something together… … .”
… … No wait, aliens?
The woman suddenly jumped up, grabbed the drinking man by the shoulder, and started pouring out questions in a slightly excited tone.
“Hey, the strongest. So you’re saying that our Ji-woo just became something like a Predator? A muscular alien who just hides and breaks the head of a demon with one kick? Or what? Oh right. Protoss? Appearing with a flashing ship just dropping from the sky? Aren’t they officially certified aliens by NASA? Did Ji-woo become that kind of alien?”
“… … .”
“… … .”
The two men looked at each other for a moment and had a moment of silence.
Apparently, this woman nicknamed ‘the leader who hides power’ seems to have the wrong concept that aliens are ‘powerful and cool beings’.
“I bet you, bastard.”
The blunt man muttered as he stretched out his hand to retrieve his sword.
“It would be very ugly.”
* * *
It seems that the humans who live beyond the abyss of the universe use me as a snack whenever they have a chance to talk. Perhaps the ‘leader who hid his power’ or ‘the crazy guy with the screw missing’ was the culprit, but thanks to that, I’ve been feeling itchy in my ears ever since.
Well, this is because of the real mood.
The body of the ‘hive mind’, which has only a brain inside its shell, did not even have any body organs other than its large eyes in the first place. Can’t it tickle your ears that you don’t even have?
Anyway, I felt that the guys on my team didn’t forget me and thought of me, so I was repeating that I felt really good and then depressed.
… … Let’s do something.
【Queen, report progress.】
―Master, the metamorphosis of the hatchery you commanded has been completed.
―At all hatcheries, the egg nests of the ‘Spider’ and ‘Jellyfish’ named by the ruler are being modified. Troops will be ready soon.
【soon? Exactly how long will it take to be ready?]
―After about three nights, it will grow into an adult.
【… … Hey, let’s say it’s 3 days. I’ll give you the concept with the Hive consciousness, so stick it in your head.]
-Thank you, lord.
This is obvious, but there is no way that a product of civilization such as the concept of a date or a calendar exists in an army that does not need to take care of its own birthday or anniversary.
The reason I found out that the memories contained in the Legion’s Essence had been aged for about 1.5 billion years was that the sun rises and falls in those memories roughly 540,000,000,000 times, so I guessed it roughly based on the Earth calendar.
Now that I’ve taught you the concept, the queen will use it when she reports.
Well, talking about the calendar, I focused my attention on preparing the first card for the complete conquest of this planet, the ‘Home Bomb Drop’.
【Is the jellyfish all grown up?】
-Please wait a moment. I summoned the adult jellyfish created by the ruler himself.
Dropping friendly units secretly into the opponent’s base is a strategy that has never been used in this world, because the concept of strategy and tactics doesn’t exist in the brains of rulers.
No, they don’t know how to do anything properly other than stealing each other’s units and using them as food for the hatchery.
Large-scale battles put a lot of pressure on each other, so wars rarely happen.
The problem is that they keep stealing my legion and using it as food for their hatchery.
They are ugly and ugly because they only have brains, but they are like bastards who don’t even have the habit of using their hands. I have to grow up quickly and throw it away quickly.
-Im here.
【… … Oh, big and beautiful.]
The well-fed and big jellyfish that came into my sight was really huge.
Originally, the existing jellyfish were roughly the size of a hot air balloon, but the jellyfish that appeared in front of me now has transformed into an entity the size of a large whale.
―Kwaaang!
The new jellyfish that floated and arrived in front of me screamed out through ‘hive consciousness’, probably feeling the confidence in its much larger size than the existing ones.
is that a male baby?
Legion is born in the form of an egg nest in a ‘hatchery’, so there is no concept of gender, but seeing that the tentacles in the middle are bigger than other jellyfish and holding it high in the sky, it must be a boy.
―Kwaaang!
Dude, you have too much confidence.
How dare you raise your tentacles upright in front of me and scream?
【noisy.】
—… … lord, sorry. regret.
【… … .]
… … First of all, the jellyfish can speak, but it can’t be helped that its intelligence is much lower than that of the legion queen. They’re full of hydrogen gas even where their brains should be.
The fact that they are able to share the collective consciousness with such low intelligence is rather a strange species.
Anyway, for the operation, I touched the jellyfish’s genes and raised it to the maximum size it could withstand. The reason for the increase in size was to increase buoyancy by making the air sacs that contain hydrogen gas as large as possible.
Although it doesn’t have pockets inside to mount units like in games, there are still ways to use it as a transporter.
【Queen, train the spiders to board.】
-All right. My children, use spider webs to cling to the body of that jellyfish!
Why don’t you just hang it on the outside of your body?
As for this, there was no way for me to do anything right now, unless I caught a creature with a large pouch and collected and studied the gene. It would be nice if a pocket could be created by pressing the research button like a game, but it was realistically impossible to create a new organ without genetic information.
Anyway, as the spiders that came in droves wrapped a strong spider web around the body and tentacles of the jellyfish and hung on to it, I was convinced that it could be used as a full-fledged transporter.
– Kwaaang!
Of course, the jellyfish screamed early that it was dying through the colony consciousness.
-ruler! Queen! Burger! fall! danger!
The jellyfish, screaming and staggering in the air like a balloon caught in a strong wind, eventually failed to overcome the weight of the spider army and crashed.
No matter how much the buoyancy increased due to the increase in size, it was certainly a serious overload as one giant spider easily weighing more than a ton was clinging to it.
Well, then it’s a matter of burning a little less, so pass.
【Then let’s start the strategy soon. queen Prepare an army of wasps.]
―I see, my lord.
I sent a small group of wasps and jellies for command to the nearest hive mind, Lydis’ hive, first son of the Legion’s Will.
【Should I relax a bit before the bomb drops?】
There’s always a resource-damaging meme before a bomb drop.
* * *
Lydis, a powerful hive mind that controls one-third of the planet, has discovered a small group of wasps approaching her colony through the sight of a jellyfish.
The number of wasps was only about 30, and they managed to dodge and approach their legion hunters by avoiding here and there.
【… … These are the youngest flying children. Block access.]
―I see, my lord.
Lydis didn’t like the fact that the youngest fellow’s bare-headed wasps dared to fly over her dominion. But it bothered me a little, but I didn’t think the wasp was a threat at all.
There are more than 300 million wasps in his legion, and there is no way that the youngest 30 wasps could pose a threat to him.
【The youngest seems to have been quickly stained with plunder. Am I boldly targeting my children as prey? However, there is no way the hunt will be successful with only 30 animals.]
―You are right, my lord.
【Catch the intruders and feed them to the hatchery.】
Lydis’s wasp army, which was taking a break in the colony eating mucous membranes, rose into the air as soon as they received the order to attack.
Booong-!!!
As the number of wasps reached 300 million, the supersonic waves generated by their fast-moving wings caused the entire colony’s mucous membranes to boil, and for an instant, the entire colony became dark as if the sun had disappeared.
A swarm of insects from the ruler of the Legion covered the sky.
But the swarm of wasps had to return without even getting a single sting.
―Lord, the children of the enemy have escaped. do you track?
Lidis judged this situation as the youngest, who witnessed her power firsthand, got scared and lowered her tail first. The newborn youngest child was nothing more than a youngster with less power than one of his queens, so it was not worth worrying about.
【Okay. He is not a threat to me.]
next day.
―Master, the children of Jiu invaded again.
【… … The kid is annoying. Stop intruders.]
Booo!!!
Again, I couldn’t blow the poison needle.
―Lord, the intruders have retreated. do you track?
【… … Leave it alone. I don’t have time to deal with the kiddo now.]
Lydis felt a little annoyed at the two days in a row of surprise intrusions that got on her nerves.
However, it was passed because it was more important to check the power of other rulers than to worry about the youngest, who was weaker than a single queen.
Lydis hadn’t noticed yet.
The powerful ultrasound generated by the large-scale take-off of the wasps is rapidly drying up the thin mucous membranes of the hatchery, which is supposed to feed the legion.
again the next day.
―Master, the children of Jiu invaded again.
―Be careful! Invaders have come close to the ruler’s colony.
【What? Hurry up and stop it!]
Booong-!!!
This time too, Han Ji-woo’s small group of wasps drained all the strength of the legion without being caught, and then slowly returned to their colony. Still, a strange situation where there was no proper attack on each other continued.
Lidis now realizes that things are getting weird.
【… … Why are there no mucous membranes?]
The nearby mucous membranes dried up and the nutrients were not delivered to him, so he felt hungry.
To the extent that the ruler of the Legion was not properly fed, it was basically saying that all of the swarms of insects under his command, which require a lot of calories to survive, were starving.
Now, if a few swarms of wasps led by Han Ji-woo fly in again, it has become a question whether they can properly stop them.
―My ruler, the flying children are now powerless and can’t fly properly.
30 animals made 300 million starve.
【… … Jiwoo, the kid made fun of me.]
【I won’t let him go. Assemble all legions.]
The Legion’s staff, the Queen, worked hard to prevent this unreasonable war. Even if you win in this situation, the loss is greater.
―Lord, everyone is hungry. You can’t fight properly like this.
―How about putting some of the children in the hatchery to recreate the mucous membrane?
【Shut up, I will capture all of Jiu’s children and use them as food.】
However, Lidis, already blinded by anger, ignored the staff’s valuable opinion.
* * *
Through the eyes of the jellyfish scattered all over my territory, I watched the movements of the swarms of worms approaching from afar.
Of course, even if those swarms of insects were not in very good condition, the number reached a whopping one billion, and it seemed that all the sky and land in sight were covered in black.
It was really dirty.
Since each of the corps’ individuals are biological monsters that can compete with quite a few demons, when the enemy’s corps approached right in front of me, I felt a chewy feeling in my anus that didn’t even exist.
I also raised my army quite a bit, but the difference in numbers was more than 3 times, so it was an act of losing money even if I won.
Well, the board that started with containment and seized the victory should be finished with containment.
Let’s get this done before they enter my domain.
【Enter.】
After receiving my order, several super-sized jellyfish waited at a height close to the stratosphere with dozens of spiders attached to their bodies, and immediately flew over the empty colony of enemies.
After a while, the sight of the jellyfish arriving at the target point and the sound of shouting anything in the spirit of the colony made me happy.
-start.
-enter.
-The will of the ruler.
-storm. this is a storm.
yes, it’s a storm
This is a powerful storm containment strategy that puts the opponent’s mind at rest.
Even if the containment that drains the opponent’s strength and dries the mucous membrane little by little does not seem like a big deal at first glance, if the small damage gradually accumulates and spreads, it eventually leads to an irreversible situation.
All of my strategies for containment were learned from watching the video of ‘him’ who gave me excitement when I was young, so let’s give ‘him’ the glory of my victory today.
turn to him
turn to him
【Drop it.】
Over 400 Widow Commandos armed with razor-sharp fangs leapt over the heads of the enemy Hive Mind, whose gigantic brain wriggled in fear.
【Dig it out.】
The game is over.