Captured Alive

The nearly forty-kilometer distance vanished in an instant.

Bursting out of the dense forest and into a flat, eerie expanse of dark-colored Creep, the Dragon Lion found itself facing an endless army of Infected that had arrived one after another. It couldn't help slowing to a stop—after running for so long, the cold wind had calmed it down.

Thinking back to the flock of birds filling the sky and its own inexplicable mutation, the Dragon Lion... felt a little intimidated.

But just because it had backed down didn't mean the countless Infected roaming the Creep were afraid. The moment they saw the Dragon Lion, they swarmed it.

Looking at the Infected—covered in tumors from the virus, their features displaced, long tentacles spilling from their mouths or even fused to their upper and lower jaws—the Dragon Lion felt its throat convulse. Bleurgh—

The Dragon Lion cleverly opened the newly formed passage in its throat, and a torrent of flames howled forth.

The nearest Infected were instantly reduced to charred husks.

Yet some of the larger individuals survived. Though burned black and skeletal in appearance, they still launched their final charge under the control of Zerg tissue embedded deep in their bones.

The Dragon Lion clearly hadn't expected this. Seeing several Infected charging through the flames, it showed obvious shock.

The Overmind seized the opportunity. Using those Infected's brains as conduits, it unleashed Psionic Energy and lashed the Dragon Lion with a surprise attack.

The final charge of those Infected was interrupted by their own boss. Their brains scorched by Psionic Energy, they dropped to the ground with a thud.

The Psionic Energy the Overmind could currently mobilize was just shy of level six. If it faced the Dragon Lion directly, it truly could knock it unconscious for several seconds.

But using Infected as conduits, even though the Hive Mind naturally had the authority to channel Psionic Energy into Zerg units, the damage it could inflict remained limited.

Other than giving it a headache, the Overmind's psionic lash accomplished little.

Yet that familiar sensation reignited the Dragon Lion's fury after it had run dozens of kilometers and calmed down somewhat.

With a sharp smack, the Dragon Lion crushed several fallen Infected into fragments of charred carbon beneath one paw.

The frailty of those monsters made the Dragon Lion bolder as well.

The Dragon Lion stood nearly three meters at the shoulder and was enormous. Even the sturdier Infected looked like Chihuahuas to it. Overcome by ferocity, it charged forward with its legs spread wide, tearing through them as though no one were there. Only a rare few Infected that had been infected for longer could make the Dragon Lion feel a little pain, but that only further provoked its savagery.

Mycelium tried to impede the Dragon Lion's advance, but its astonishing strength tore every strand to pieces.

And so, the Dragon Lion broke through kilometers of Infected of every size and spotted a speck of bright green in the distant sea of blackish purple.

Then, in the next instant.

A boar-type Mutated Combat Form hidden among the many Infected suddenly broke into a charge.

The Dragon Lion was also running at high speed. Even though it twisted its body aside, an auxiliary limb on the boar's back still slashed a long gash across its flank.

Blocked by the Infected packed together like a wall of flesh, the boar barely managed to stop. It turned around and faced the Dragon Lion once more.

One of the auxiliary limbs on the boar's back had already broken off, but that did nothing to diminish its ferocity. Its eyes gleamed viciously as it stared at the Dragon Lion.

At the same time, the Dragon Lion sharply noticed that among the countless Infected were several huge, savage individuals with two limbs growing from their backs, their bodies covered in thick overgrown hide and shells. They were faintly encircling it.

Before it could think any further.

The many Infected suddenly retreated to either side.

A boar-type Mutated Combat Form with four fangs, taller than the other boars, and part of its brain exposed beyond its skull stepped forward slowly. Its eyes glowed red, making the Dragon Lion bare its teeth.

No mistake. This is the one controlling them. Who would've thought it was a boar? Kill it, and I'll leave this damned place immediately!

Just as the Dragon Lion was about to strike, it suddenly noticed the sky darken.

It instinctively looked up.

Dark brown liquid poured down over its head. Two drops even splashed into its eyes. Its corrosiveness didn't injure the Dragon Lion's flesh, but the Mycelium began proliferating explosively.

The Mycelium intertwined into bundles, which twisted together into fleshy tentacles. The smaller tentacles fused into larger ones...

Before long, centered on the Dragon Lion, a massive "flower" over forty meters across, made of dozens of fleshy tentacles, blossomed upon the Creep.

The Venom Devourer's Creep Spore Slurry contained Creep spores and vast amounts of nutrients, allowing Creep tissue to multiply to dozens or even hundreds of times its volume in an instant.

Compared to its offensive capabilities, the Overmind valued the Venom Devourer's ability to coordinate Creep and infection more, so it hadn't transformed it into a turret. But it was, after all, a Zerg structure used to infect buildings and streets. Its high-pressure chamber had no trouble spraying spore slurry several kilometers.

"Roar—" With a muffled roar full of terror, blazing red light burst from the gaps between the tentacles.

Flames stretching nearly a hundred meters turned the entire mass of tentacles into a sea of fire.

Dragon Flame possessed an unbelievably high temperature. Not only did it burn through Creep tissue, even the Dragon Lion's uncovered areas reddened from the heat, and its mane curled.

Its eyes suffered the worst. Though the Dragon Lion had tested at level-eight Psionic Energy, aside from breathing fire and possessing absurd physical strength, it hadn't mastered any extraordinary powers. Naturally, it had no way to effectively protect its vital points.

Its eyes were first "licked" by invasive Mycelium. Though the Creep's corrosive fluid couldn't penetrate the Dragon Lion's corneas, it couldn't escape the foreign-body sensation and burning pain. Then its own flames scorched them at close range. Now its vision was a blur of bright spots, and it couldn't even distinguish light from dark around it.

Worse still, Dragon Flame wasn't very effective either.

Though the high heat set a wide area of Creep ablaze, the Creep reacted at once. As the flames spread, the surrounding Creep thickened, became saturated with water, and formed insulating layers—the Zerg had encountered too many enemies who wielded fire, and their countermeasures had long since been written into their DNA.

The Dragon Lion no longer felt any anger. For a creature that perceived the world through sight, the terror of losing its vision was bone-deep.

On top of that, the many things beyond its understanding had made it completely abandon any thought of revenge. It had only one thought left: run.

But the surrounding Mutated Combat Forms all pounced at once.

The fastest Leopard-type Mutated Combat Form bit down on the Dragon Lion's neck.

But the moment it drew blood, the Dragon Lion smashed it in the head with a paw, sending the entire leopard flying.

The difference between Mutated Combat Forms, whose physical abilities were several times those of ordinary Infected, and the Dragon Lion was as enormous as the gap between a five- or six-year-old child and an adult.

Even flailing around blindly in panic, the Dragon Lion sent them reeling. It even burst two of their heads.

Just as it was about to break through the Mutated Combat Forms' defensive ring, an intense salty stench descended from above. At the same time, an itch suddenly rose from between its scales—the Mycelium that had survived the flames had been activated.

The Venom Devourer's spore slurry sprayed over once more.

And with the previous spray serving as correction, this shot was more accurate. As it flew, surface tension condensed the slurry into streams of varying sizes, all pouring down at the Dragon Lion.

But just as the Dragon Lion was about to be covered by Creep once more, it suddenly whipped its head around and spewed flames, intercepting the incoming spore slurry.

Under the intense heat, the water in the spore slurry evaporated rapidly, and its biological components quickly became inactive.

With a body no bigger than a small truck, the Dragon Lion actually exchanged blasts across the air with the Venom Devourer, which stood as tall as a four-story building!

But taking advantage of that opening, the surrounding Mutated Combat Forms swarmed forward.

The Four-Fang Boar bit the Dragon Lion's forepaw, its auxiliary limbs pinning the Dragon Lion's shoulder; the Giant Python wrapped around its hind legs; the Iguana opened its jaws and bit its tail; two Saber-toothed Tigers bit down on the Dragon Lion's wings from the left and right...

The activated Creep on the ground simultaneously covered the feet of the Mutated Combat Forms, anchoring them in place.

The Dragon Lion tried to struggle.

But at that critical moment, a Spine tore through the air.

It struck the Dragon Lion squarely in the lower jaw.

Its scales and fur failed to stop Agatha's attack. The Spine pierced through its jawbone and drove into its throat before barely stopping.

Its flames faltered.

More terrifyingly, acid carried by the Spine flooded into it.

The acid produced by one of the Zerg's most powerful Queens was nothing like the trace digestive fluid produced by Creep. The strong acid on the Spine directly stripped the Dragon Lion's jaw and half its neck down to red muscle fibers. At the edge of its jaw, where there was little muscle covering it, stark white bone was already visible.

Then, with the flames extinguished, the Venom Devourer's spore slurry met no further obstruction. Swollen Creep encased the Dragon Lion together with the Mutated Combat Forms restraining it.

And this time, the Dragon Lion failed to burn the Creep away completely...