Venom Devourer

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

The Creep had already spread across eighty square kilometers, roughly the size of a small town.

The Overmind still sat on the Creep sofa beneath the Monster Tree.

But the sofa had undergone a drastic transformation.

Several chitinous bone plates had appeared as supports, making it look considerably more menacing.

Many cable-like structures had grown from behind the backrest, hanging deep into the ground and connecting to the Creep.

This was a neural-cord-like structure that had evolved because the Overmind often leaned here to use Psionic Energy. It could improve the efficiency of his Psionic Energy usage. However, without an Evolution Chamber to activate the crucial gene fragments, the enhancement was negligible.

Not far away, the Creep encasing Agatha had differentiated to a much greater extent. Tumor-like organs of various sizes clustered around her, pulsing faintly.

These were various organs differentiated to assist Agatha in managing the Creep across different areas. They contained a great deal of neural tissue—the "Creep Tumors," as Agatha called them. Even so, Agatha was still somewhat overwhelmed—after all, she wasn't a building unit.

But she would soon be freed from the burden. Not far from the Overmind, a cocoon as tall as a three-story building slowly expanded and contracted.

Crack—

The cocoon split open. A large amount of fluid spilled out, only to be swiftly absorbed by the Creep. An organic structure covered entirely in bone spines emerged from within.

It resembled a Creep spore sac magnified countless times. At its upper end was a launcher resembling half a pod, formed from coiled, ring-shaped muscles. The immense pressure it generated could spray slurry filled with Creep spores several kilometers away.

The sac at its lower end, supported by a carapace, looked like nothing more than a balloon-like reservoir. In truth, its interior was divided by countless membranes into small chambers. The abundant glands within those membranes could rapidly produce spore slurry.

This was the Venom Devourer. With only minor modifications, the sacs beneath it could instead produce concentrated bile. The resulting Bile Spitter had once served the Swarm as an anti-orbital weapon.

Of course, for the same reason—without an Evolution Chamber, the key genes couldn't be activated. Even with the Overmind personally modifying it, its power remained limited.

But weaponry wasn't the Venom Devourer's most important function.

It could also swallow living creatures and send them into the chambers within its sacs, where viruses could be modified for specific purposes or Mutated Combat Forms could be created.

Beyond that, its core contained an immensely complex neural structure used to coordinate and control the surrounding Creep. This was its greatest value to the Overmind—serving as a temporary command center for the Swarm.

The Overmind also planned to link the Water Bird and Little Bird nest-adapted females under his command to the Venom Devourer, making it easier to further shape these two troop types...

Although establishing a Hatchery was still a distant prospect, the Swarm had at least moved beyond the stage where the Overmind had to personally handle everything.

Yet the Overmind had no intention of relaxing.

Over the course of a week, the first Water Bird Infected he had released had flown nearly thirty thousand kilometers.

By all logic, that distance should have been enough to circle most of the globe. But through the Hive Mind's perception, the Overmind could tell it was still moving farther away.

Moreover, the environment along the Water Bird's route hadn't changed in the slightest.

Forget different climate zones—even the temperature, humidity, and terrain were exactly the same as in the Overmind's region. There were no deserts, no grasslands, no oceans, not even mountains.

There was only endless rainforest.

It made the Overmind wonder whether the world he inhabited was even spherical.

At the same time, Agatha's observations of the stars hinted at the same conclusion.

The sky was filled with stars, yet over an entire week, nothing about them changed apart from their brightness. They didn't even rise in the east or set in the west. Their positions seemed nailed in place, as though they were merely a backdrop.

As for the only good news, despite flying for so long, they had still found no traces of civilization.

It wasn't only the distant Water Bird. The flocks produced by the Bird Nest also flew sporadically back and forth across an area dozens of times larger than the Creep-covered zone.

The Overmind had released more than one Water Bird in every direction. These Water Birds had tasks beyond exploration. Once they flew far enough, they would find safe areas and enter dormancy.

Once the Overmind determined that this world was safe, or if the current base was exposed, the Creep within them would spread at his command, becoming outposts or reserve territory for the Swarm.

The Overmind turned his gaze toward the Venom Devourer.

One more week.

If they still found no trace of civilization after another week, he would order the Venom Devourer to spread pathogenic spores into the atmosphere...

The moment the thought arose, Agatha's voice suddenly came through. "Overmind, the Creep has found something."

"Where?" the Overmind replied immediately.

A few minutes later.

A Water Bird carried the Overmind's consciousness to the edge of the Creep.

After several rounds of modification by the Overmind, this Water Bird no longer resembled its original form.

Its wings had become somewhat shorter, but its muscle definition was much clearer. The feathers on its neck had been replaced by large patches of lightweight carapace. The webbing on its feet had vanished, replaced by massive scythe-like claws.

Its already short beak had become even shorter, and two rows of sharp teeth had grown within it. However, long sharp horns now extended forward from both sides of the Arrow Gull's face. This was a structure similar to the facial ramming horns of a Zergling. Only after browsing the Zerg gene archive had the Overmind realized that Zerg weren't particularly fond of beaks. Rather than simply replacing a bird's beak with a Zerg chitin structure, it was better to give it ramming horns.

Since its primary attack method was suicidal impact, the Overmind gave it a new name—Arrow Gull.

A huge eyeball grew on the Arrow Gull's abdomen, allowing it to look down from high in the sky.

Through that eye, the Overmind saw the anomaly Agatha had mentioned.

It was a thick tree roughly the same size as the Monster Tree, with lush leaves and sturdy roots, brimming with life.

Of course, the tree itself wasn't the point, nor did it carry any Psionic Energy fluctuations. The key was a spot on its trunk near the roots.

There was a huge wound there, with fibers spraying outward.

Deep within the wound were five extremely deep gouges.

They were unmistakable claw marks, and their power was astonishing. Judging by the damage, the trunk had been no different from tofu to whoever had made them.

"Those genetically inferior individuals couldn't have caused marks like this," Agatha said seriously.

That was true. Forget ordinary beasts—even the impact of a boar-shaped Mutated Combat Form would have struggled to leave such marks.

The Overmind controlled the Arrow Gull to hop forward twice, carefully examining the marks.

Unfortunately, they weren't the result of a Psionic Energy attack, so there was no way to determine the other party's Psionic Energy level from them.

"Why do you think that individual left these marks?"

"Perhaps it was simply a means of displaying its strength," Agatha analyzed. "Lower life forms always tend to leave marks in areas they frequently inhabit."

"Then there must be other marks nearby." The Overmind gave the order. "Find them!"

I changed "Zerg" in the title of the work to "Zerg Race."

Hopefully, it'll attract more Zerg fans.

I still haven't received a contract offer message. It's making me a little nervous.