Became the Queen of the Legion

“It’s difficult right now…”

It took more effort than I thought to modify genes as I wanted. And an enormous amount of nutrients was needed.

It was unavoidable, a natural thing.

Even in our current state, we’ve already become a completely different species from the original Black Death Worms.

The queen doesn’t mate directly with males to reproduce, but uses multiple artificial uteruses to automatically produce over 100 eggs.

Those born from those eggs are divided into workers and combat troops, and whether workers or combat troops, they’ve now almost completely lost their original appearance.

But what I want to do is to go even further from here.

It was a change on the level of severing even the last remaining ties with the Black Death Worms and essentially leaping to a new species.

[More trait enhancements are needed to reduce consumed nutrients and shorten the time required]

The system message instructed me to achieve achievements step by step and enhance traits to accomplish what I want.

It was telling me not to try to leap over too many things at once, but to evolve properly by following the stages for now.

“If that’s the limit, there’s no helping it.”

There was no way not to follow.

So for now, I decided to do what I could do right away.

“Catch that one!”

That was, of course, hunting.

I, turning my consciousness, ordered an attack on a strange creature surrounded by combat troops.

That strange creature was a giant caterpillar about the size of a truck, a monster that indiscriminately devoured certain rough, poisonous demon realm grasses and tree leaves.

What I was aiming for was the digestive ability of that caterpillar.

If we could steal that ability, the things we could eat and use as nutrients would increase.

“—!”

The caterpillar desperately writhed to escape our hunt. Moreover, the dense spikes covering its body were good armor protecting it from natural predators.

But my soldiers, armed with sharp front leg awls and venomous fangs, mercilessly attacked the caterpillar’s body, piercing holes and tearing flesh.

As multiple individuals simultaneously clung on, injecting venom and inflicting wounds, the caterpillar finally succumbed and became prey to be carried to our nest in pieces right there.

‘Good… But those aren’t the only edible plants.’

After watching the hunt results satisfactorily, I turned my attention elsewhere.

Such hunts were continuing all around right now.

Our scouts kept going out to explore new places, discovering new terrains and flora and fauna, expanding the world we need to pioneer.

The number of individuals increasing day by day now exceeds 300.

All of them, without a single one idling, were working every day to gather nutrients, expand the nest, and go out hunting.

“If we can hunt most tier 2 demonic beasts without difficulty, how about tier 3 now.”

The purpose of me modifying us to become stronger was ultimately to catch stronger enemies.

If we catch stronger enemies and gain their power, we can strengthen ourselves once again with it.

Currently, we had no problem hunting multiple enemies I classified as tier 2 even without further modification.

If an enemy seemed a bit tough, we could just deploy more soldiers.

There’s nothing that can’t be overcome with sheer numbers. If there was an enemy we couldn’t handle with our current numbers, it was proof that enemy was positioned at a much higher tier.

‘Aryon, Ragadon.’

In my current view, a giant lizard is resting.

This creature, which has claimed a forest basin as its territory, is a demonic beast that appears in the game as well.

This lizard, about the size of a small bus, was a demonic beast characterized by hard scales and an internal poison spray organ.

True to the name spray organ, it sprays powerful poison like a giant sprayer. That acidic poison is strong enough to melt most things.

Even we, who now have some resistance to poison, would have a hard time dealing with it.

[This decision requires sufficient consideration]

“No, it’s worth trying.”

Contrary to the system’s warning, I raised the corner of my mouth.

It was because of the ability extracted from newly hunted prey yesterday.

‘Rtos’s acid resistance.’

Rtos, a tier 1 magical creature, is a giant herbivorous slug that mainly lives in trees.

When my soldiers killed it and brought it to the nest to digest, what they discovered was its very powerful acid resistance ability.

It’s an ability that can perfectly counter Ragadon’s ability, but they probably never met each other because their habitats are different.

Having stolen that ability, I planned to apply that trait to my soldiers and hunt Ragadon, a tier 3 demonic beast.

“How long do we have to be attacked first by strong ones and just defend against that? Now we’ll be the ones to go hunting first.”

I prepared as many as 100 combat troops for this hunt.

Because Ragadon is a formidable enemy with overwhelming strength and hard scales, aside from just the acidic poison.

It’s more of a loss if we invest half-heartedly and fail. It was right to push in hard from the start.

[The gathered soldiers are all departing]

While it was sleeping, my scout kept watching it.

Meanwhile, the hundred soldiers who finished preparations all started crawling towards that place at once.

This time too, I sat alone in the deepest part of the nest, commanding and watching them through our connected minds.

I would feel more comfortable going to command them directly.

However, preparations were still insufficient. The first time I went out was such a desperate situation, but it’s not to that extent now.

* * *

[Ragadon has detected vibrations]

As many as a hundred troops are moving at once. No matter how light our soldiers’ bodies are, it couldn’t fail to notice that.

“The encirclement is complete.”

But my soldiers that I’m commanding have already surrounded the sleeping Ragadon from all directions.

The giant lizard slowly opened its eyes, flicked its tongue, and looked around.

We didn’t bother hiding. We were revealing ourselves and gradually tightening the encirclement towards it from all directions.

‘Is it surprised?’

Its actions weren’t very agile.

It just stared blankly, watching us approach.

The highest tier enemy I’ve observed so far was a giant bird of prey named Lecus, a tier 4 creature about the size of a small airplane flying in the sky.

In other words, being tier 3 means it’s a relatively strong species in this forest.

Being such a creature, it must find it ridiculous that numerous unknown insects dare to rush at it.

“—.”

“Kill it!”

Finally, when we were close enough, we who had been surrounding it in layers all started rushing in at once.

That’s when Ragadon opened its mouth wide.

[It’s an acid poison shower]

The purple smoke being sprayed was strong enough to emit smoke when it contacted the ground.

No matter how strong a creature is, if it’s not immune to acid poison, it can’t survive being hit by that.

It sprayed that on all of my soldiers rushing in from the front.

‘They endured…!’

But my soldiers, though staggering for a moment after being hit, didn’t melt on the spot.

I saw Ragadon hesitating, looking bewildered.

Then it’s our turn now, instead of the staggering soldiers in front, soldiers rushing in from other directions all started attacking its body at once.

They leapt to the ground in an instant, clung to its body, and tried to attack to somehow scratch its scales.

“Cling on. Don’t fall off.”

As the strong giant lizard thrashed violently, several soldiers were easily flung off like leaves in the wind.

Multiple soldiers were crushed and broken, dying instantly by its swinging tail.

‘Indeed a formidable enemy.’

With our current level of evolution, we’re struggling even against such a lizard.

I gritted my teeth but didn’t give up.

Because we know we’re weak right now, we must bring down stronger enemies by any means necessary.

Only then can we become stronger again.

[Ragadon seems to be getting tired]

Still, we had one definite advantage.

It was the overwhelming numbers we brought deliberately.

Ragadon’s movements, which had been crushing multiple soldiers vigorously, gradually started to slow down.

Although it’s strong, its stamina couldn’t keep up.

I gritted my teeth and moved my consciousness into a soldier’s body.

Now on top of the giant lizard’s back, I moved to its head, desperately moving my legs as it struggled.

For a moment, its vertical pupils flashed, meeting my eyes. I wonder if it realized who I was, clinging to its face now.

“—!”

It wasn’t something I needed to care about.

I raised my hook at once and started persistently stabbing its eyeball.

I could feel its eyeball bursting and flowing on my outstretched front leg.

“Ugh.”

From the increasingly violent thrashing, I felt my body being torn off by its mouth and released my consciousness.

Even if I died, it didn’t matter. I still had dozens of soldiers I could control directly.

[Ragadon has fallen. It will soon breathe its last]

Finally, the continued attacks brought down the sturdy giant body.

The last scene I saw as I released my consciousness was Ragadon’s final moments, buried under dozens of rushing soldiers, barely visible.