005. reunion (1)
Since olden days, I have really liked pan-fried foods such as kimchi jeon, seafood jeon, and leek jeon.
After successfully completing a joint operation with foreign players, I was very happy when I ate well-baked pancakes with crispy edges along with makgeolli.
At the beginning of the war, there was still civilization, there were people to drink with after the operation, and it was fun to see the reaction of foreigners who were surprised by the amazing taste of pancakes.
Now, I recalled the memories of the previous episode.
If I can miraculously locate my home in the wide universe, and succeed in returning home in time.
On the day I go home, I will really eat chicken and pancakes until my stomach bursts. If I can’t make a human body by then, I’ll beat chicken and pancakes in the hatchery, melt them, and eat them in the form of mucous membranes.
‘… … .’
Oh, the feeling of bewilderment came over me.
The remaining team members in their hometown will still be eating chicken and pancakes as snacks after the operation is over. Because I was the one who had a great influence on the taste of their snacks, who drank soju on an empty stomach without snacks.
I don’t even have a mouth to chew on. Like envious children.
【I want to eat pancakes.】
―My ruler, what is pancake?
【It’s really delicious food. It looks just like that one.]
―Just looking at it makes my mouth water. It seems to taste really good. Will you allow me to eat the essence of Jarus and become stronger?
【While eating, look for useful genes.】
【If there is a gene of an extinct native creature, not a gene of our corps, bring it to me unconditionally.】
Zarus, who was struck head-on by Leviathan’s massive tail-swatter, was now reborn in the form of a perfect scumbag rather than a ruler of the Legion.
* * *
―Nothing else unusual has been found in Jarus’ essence.
【… … Too bad. We have to wait and see what Khan is holding.]
Jarus was also a powerful ruler of his own old enough age, so he wasn’t quite as big as Lydis, but he was much bigger than me with a body the size of a mall building.
As large as this Hive Mind is, the chitinous outer shell that protects the brain is also very thick and strong. That’s why it has crazy defensive power that can’t be penetrated by not only physical attacks from normal insects, but also bombardment with acidic digestive juices.
So in order to deliver a decent blow, I had to dig inside with a unit like a spider, not an external blow.
well, let’s see
The mighty defensive power that the Hive Mind boasted was useless thanks to the bamboo spear that exceeded Leviathan’s standards.
―Wooong~
The Leviathan, which had successfully completed its mission and returned over my head, was emitting a soft and magnificent sound mixed with charm.
The huge waves that shook the air caused waves in the mucous membrane of the colony, and the worker bug, which was heading for the hatchery carrying a piece of dismembered meat in its large claws, flipped over the mucous membrane and flapped for help.
good night.
This is the peaceful daily life of a legion ruler.
【Arachne, how is Jarus’ legion going?】
―The newly born queen instances are absorbing the remaining corps.
―It takes time. Jarus’s Queen’s staff refuses to acknowledge your dominion. She leads her legion on the run to Lord Khan’s realm. We’re mobilizing jellyfish to track them down.
【As expected. As expected, when the ruler dies, the queen takes power.]
―I salute the ruler’s insight.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t immediately swallow the billions of legions Jarus had left behind.
This sounds really funny, but in the case of humans, it is said that a large head is not good for aesthetics, but in this world, a guy with a big head is the greatest.
This is because the psychic power of ‘hive consciousness’ used by the corps itself is based on the ‘mental power’ caused by strong will, so the larger the capacity of the brain, the greater the usable range of the collective consciousness.
I was a player from Earth, whose identity was worn out in the 3rd round of regression, but my control power was still poor because my body was so young.
In order to monitor and order everything that happens on this planet, you had to be at least as big as Lydis.
Of course, the Hive Mind’s body cannot be grown in a day or two.
【… … Awesome. Overeating is a bad law.]
Anyway, in the case of Lydis, the first legion ruler I killed, I was able to absorb the remaining legions very easily. That’s because his legion suffered too much from my checks, and instead of resisting, they were starving to the brink of starvation.
However, Jarus’ legion is still on the brisk side compared to him, so they are rebelling like this.
Actually, I didn’t have to put all of that under me.
It was because he was producing a lot of subordinates who would work hard for the corps instead of me.
【Arachne, stop chasing like that.】
—… … Lord, it is dangerous for them to enter Khan’s Legion.
―It is the knowledge that the ruler taught me directly that the enemy must be destroyed before they join forces. But why do you want to let your enemies join forces?
Arachne received a very intensive education from me.
If there was anything useful, he was forcibly growing his intelligence by hammering out all the concepts through the hive consciousness.
Thanks to this, the legion queens born under me have now reached a level where they can think for themselves and find answers.
With a smart adjutant, I can do less work.
The effect of education is gradually appearing.
Anyway, I was now teaching the queens about ‘style’.
【Don’t bother killing Jarus’ staff. Use the individual the queen creates as your food. Don’t catch them all, just adjust them enough to maintain your power and eat them in moderation.]
【Come on, accept the Hive consciousness.】
I have to leave those who rebel against our legion to maintain their power in moderation, so that the queens of my legion can prey on them.
I taught the queens a system for managing their prey by plundering continuously so that the hostile forces would not become too united and strong.
—… … restaurant? What does this mean?
I mean, what is a restaurant?
【They are the best restaurants.】
* * *
Almost everything was ready.
Now that I’ve acquired the Leviathan, an empowered creature, I’ve been thinking of leaving this lava-infested hot planet and heading out into cold space.
For reference, that whale was originally a small creature the size of an ‘aircraft carrier’, but thanks to my hard work on its genes, it has now become the size of an asteroid.
That means it’s empty inside.
The Leviathan will now be a super transport that carries my legion and advances into space, along with my body.
【Leviathan, you have to go a long way soon, so eat until your stomach explodes.】
―Wooong~
When I gave the order, Leviathan began cramming the remains of the two deceased rulers’ hatchery colony into its belly. A guy with a full stomach can cross the universe without eating for at least several decades.
Looking at the changes in the body when briefly exposed to outer space, this guy has a mysterious ability to swim in space with only mental power after putting most of the body into a state of hibernation.
I watched with great satisfaction as the Leviathan circled the planet’s surface and inhaled the hatchery in an instant. But that guy, the amount he eats is no joke.
―Leviathan asks for more food.
I’m hungry even after eating all the rulers’ hatcheries.
If you grow that one more, it seems that quite a few planets will be left behind. Well, it’s already on the brink of ruin here.
Let’s see, the leftover rice?
【Leviathan, if you want to feel less full, you can eat that big guy named Khan over there.】
―Kuuuwong~?!
The Leviathan flew out of the atmosphere wagging its tail excitedly.
After that guy has finished his meal, the remaining queens will eat this planet into small pieces and rule each other while keeping each other in check.
―Sa, save me!
―I will do anything you ask me to do!!! Please, please, this whale… … !!!
―He’s eating me alive!!!
Khan’s screaming will came through, but I just ignored it lightly.
I have competent corps queens who, due to genetic imprinting, cannot even resist at all, and who have received various trainings very thoroughly.
You can leave the work to the queen, but I have no intention of leaving such a dangerous ruler pup on the Legion’s home planet.
If left alive, they’ll try to eat the planet again.
Let’s see.
Does he have any genes that he can use?
However, something strange started to happen.
―Governor, there was no essence to add a new Legion object, but something like this came out and brought it.
【… … .]
I stared blankly at the strange ‘bead’ that Arachne brought with me.
Something I hadn’t even imagined popped out of Khan’s corpse, and I was distracted for a really long time.
that bead.
【Arachne, come closer to me.】
I don’t know why there is such a thing on this planet.
-Are you the ruler?
【Is this really something that came out of Khan’s belly?】
-That’s right.
【Has there ever been a gene for a “humanoid creature”?】
―Unfortunately, we have not been able to find the essence of other life forms.
Surprisingly, the orb that Khan could not digest and was holding in his stomach was spreading the energy of a very powerful [Divine Attack] in all directions.
Even though my body has changed, I am a human who used to be a player who used [System Authority] like a meal, so I can still feel the scent of [Divine Attack] emanating from that thing.
… … crazy.
Why did something like that pop out of the stomach of the Hive Mind out of nowhere?
The fact that [God] can be felt from the object means that it is an item made by the touch of a dimension manager. Whether it is a reward for the player or a consumable item sold in the system store, it is deeply related to the player.
The fact that the item is on this planet means that a player under the dimension manager has been here before.
【… … You need to find a player.]
The memory data that the Legion’s will passed on to me was enormous, but they didn’t have the astronomical knowledge to estimate Earth’s position.
But if I could find a live player on this planet, I could use their system to ask and ask and find directions to Earth.
There is a huge difference between starting with a rough idea of the direction to go and not knowing it at all.
At the same time as I was analyzing that mysterious item, I had to find traces of the player that might be left somewhere on this planet.
* * *
【… … none.】
Well, I expected.
There are no players alive on this planet.
It seems that Khan caught the player and ate every single gene left.
In the first place, I was the one who found the [Divine Spirit] that emanated from the genes of the Power Lifeforms in the stomach debris of other rulers.
In this case, I have only one choice.
【It would be nice if this was a consumable item that would help the current situation.】
Consumable items can be used even if you are not a player, so I don’t know what they are used for, but I’ll try using them once.
The shape of the beads looks like a divine power core or crystal ball for communication that is usually used in wizards’ wands, but there was no guarantee that the shape we used was the same as that of other dimensional systems.
Above all, I have my feelings.
That was definitely a consumable item.
In fact, the mental abilities that the hive mind uses, including the hive consciousness, are the same as the abilities that humans have been researching how to use while calling them ‘sixth sense’ or ‘ESP’.
The intuition I felt had reached a level of authority that allowed me to guess future events to a level that was close to foreknowledge, far exceeding the level of mere intuition like normal humans.
The use of marbles is probably destruction.
【Arachne, break that marble.】
Witnessing the scene where the deity sprinkled from the broken orb creates the [system message] that I had only dreamed of, I could feel once again that my intuition is as good as the power level.
But, that item.
【… … Oh, what is this?]
… … How nice it would be if this had the opposite effect.
[Hero Summon Orb]
―You can summon the person you want as a ‘Hero’.
―It doesn’t matter which world you are in, but you must have met that person.
―Can only be summoned once.
damn, what can i do
I broke it, so I have to write it.
[Please think of the person you want to summon and call them by name.]
【The person I will summon… … .]