Elves (Three-in-One)

Non-Zerg unit detected!

The Overmind on the throne suddenly jolted and immediately began rallying the Arrow Gulls that were constantly patrolling the skies.

But in the end, it was the reconnaissance pulse from the Overlord's appendages that locked onto a hooded humanoid figure speeding forward.

He had actually appeared directly within the core area.

While the outer Creep was not guarded as densely as the core area, with a sentry every few steps, the patrolling infected creatures and the rudimentary sensory organs of the Creep still left no blind spots—one had to trust Agatha's years of experience as the Queen.

At that moment, Agatha, who was responsible for sorting valuable intelligence from the information gathered by the Overlords and the Hatchery's central hub, spoke up on her own initiative. "Level ten psionic energy detected..."

The Overmind whipped its head around. "How much?"

"Level ten. Please evacuate immediately."

Without another word, the Overmind had the Drone supporting its throne rise into the air and fly toward the tunnels.

Its consciousness, meanwhile, entered the Overlord's body. Using its flesh as a relay, it locked onto the intruder with psionic energy.

This guy seemed... not hostile toward the Swarm?

Psionic energy was a power inclined toward the mind. Ever since the Overmind's psionic level had surpassed level five, the emotions and consciousness of living beings had become observable to it, just like expressions and behavior.

Thus, the Overmind could confirm one thing—this was a white neutral unit.

The Overmind knew its own situation best. With the Zerg's twisted, grotesque, nauseating appearance, along with abilities inseparable from infection, deformity, and mutation, nine out of ten normal people would feel physically sick upon seeing them. The remaining one would faint from fright on the spot.

Even animals were the same. Back then, the Dragon Lion had been frightened by the Creep and the various infected creatures. Since its transmigration, aside from mentally unstable, soul-twisted beings like Goblins and Root Vine Monsters, only several wild boars led by Fourfang had shown no fear toward the Creep.

What sort of thought process did a creature have to possess to enter Zerg territory alone without any hostility—or even disgust—toward the Zerg?

The intruder ultimately stopped by the forest of monster trees, where he also noticed the Overlord in the sky.

Fortunately, his position, the forest of monster trees, and the Hatchery happened to form a straight line. He probably had not discovered the Hatchery's existence.

The Overlord had already captured the activity in his outer brain layer. "This should be an arthropod highly symbiotic with fungi. It possesses vigorous vitality, yet looks similar to a monster. So it really is an epic species from the Great Labyrinth... What is that?"

Seeing that the other party seemed to have noticed something, the Overmind simply connected to him through telepathy in the Overlord's identity. "Powerful lifeform, why have you invaded my territory?"

Though it was only a short sentence, it was already the pinnacle of the Overmind's acting skills. It perfectly conveyed both hostility and deep wariness.

The intruder frowned. "The Voice of Nature? No, it's more like an ability of a mind flayer. It can actually read minds. Could I scare it away without killing it? Or... seriously injure it?"

"What exactly do you want..." The Overmind controlled the Overlord to transmit another message, even deliberately letting a hint of panic show through.

"Too close to the Heart Tree. There is no need to fight; negotiation is better." The intruder immediately reined in his stray thoughts, though he did not completely seal off his mind. On one hand, the power of nature pursued the connection of all things and was inherently poor at protecting the mind.

On the other hand, just as suddenly drawing in one's limbs and hiding one's belly before a beast could be interpreted as hostile intent, rashly blocking the senses of a mind reader might likewise cause misunderstanding.

A peaceful, natural aura identical to that of the uninfected monster trees began radiating from around the intruder. He even took off his hood, revealing green hair and pointed ears.

The Overmind sighed inwardly. An elf, of course. Forests, treants, Green Archers, appearing and disappearing like ghosts—combined with the Goblins that were clearly fantasy creatures it had encountered not long ago, it had already vaguely suspected as much.

It just didn't know how deep the waters of this world ran, whether gods existed, or what level of psionic energy those gods possessed...

The elf spoke at that moment. "I hope to cultivate beneath the Heart Tree here for a period of time."

The Overmind had the Overlord record every pronunciation in the elven language, intending to compare them one by one with the content obtained through mind reading and decipher the language later. But it merely asked, "How long?"

"It will not be long. At most, a dozen or so years."

The Overmind on the throne could not help but look up at the sky. Not long.

"I need to consider it." While responding through the Overlord's body, the Overmind contacted its adjutant. "Agatha, can the current Swarm kill a level ten psionic unit?"

Perhaps because she needed to assess the situation, Agatha did not answer immediately.

Instead, the elf spoke first in a very friendly tone. "But you need to understand that the Heart Tree here is very important to me. If you refuse, we will have no choice but to fight."

"Are you threatening me?"

The elf froze. Green light surged over his body, and his aura became even more peaceful as he replied in an even gentler voice, "That is not what I meant."

At the same time, the Overmind caught his thoughts. "I clearly didn't bare my teeth, release any scent, raise my fur, or make any sharp noises... Why did it interpret threatening signals from me?"

This guy had definitely interacted with animals more than people!

Agreeing to this elf was impossible. The Hatchery lay on the other side of the forest. Though it did not know why the elf bore no hostility toward the Swarm, if the Hatchery's secrets were uncovered, even if this elf were an utter fool, he would never remain indifferent.

In fact, from the instant it realized an intruder was present, the Overmind had already mentally prepared for all-out war.

Agatha's reply arrived quickly. "If he does not possess Void Walk or Warp abilities, then yes."

Spatial teleportation abilities...

The Overlord gave its reply. "I can agree. However, as a condition, you must tell me some information."

"Fine. I will answer as much as I can." The elf agreed readily.

The Mutated Combat Forms had already begun awakening. Arrow Gulls throughout the entire Creep-covered region started gathering in this direction, while the three Venom Devourers guarding the Hatchery tensed their muscles.

At the same time, at the border of Dragon Lion Territory, where another Heart Tree stood, an array composed of several Venom Devourers was also poised to strike. Should the encirclement fail, they would scatter pathogenic spores into the atmosphere.

Even the Arrow Gulls that had traveled far away and fallen dormant thousands of miles away were awakened once more. If the Overmind failed to keep this elf behind, they would activate the Creep tissue on their bodies and begin expanding.

"Within your people, how many individuals as powerful as you are there?" The Overlord's transmitted message had become mechanical and even.

That was because the Overmind had devoted most of its attention to the psychic realm, disrupting the elf's perception and delaying the moment he noticed that something was amiss around him.

"Seven, perhaps more... I'm not entirely sure. I haven't been back in a long time."

Seven or eight level-ten units! One had to know that, across all humanity in the Tepru Sector, there were only two psionic users of that caliber!

Suppressing his surprise, the Overmind had the Overlord ask evenly, "What is the green light coming from the forest?"

"That is the power of nature and life." As the elf answered, his thoughts were once again caught by the Overlord. Why would it ask that? Is there a lack of natural power in the Great Labyrinth?

But... the Great Labyrinth. This was already the second time the elf had mentioned it.

Though the Overmind had no idea what kind of place that was, it did not stop him from putting on an act and asking, "Then do you know how someone could suddenly appear in another place from one place?"

"The most likely possibility is a naturally occurring teleportation," the elf replied. "It is related to the stars."

The elf's thoughts were once again caught by the Overlord. So it came down to the ground when the stars and moon aligned.

"Your people can't do that?" The Overmind appropriately revealed a hint of doubt.

"No. My treefolk are not skilled in astral magic. Most of us are rangers and nature priests; we are not good at teleportation or blinking."

The Overmind relaxed slightly. "Then you are a ranger?"

"Yes."

"You did not report your discovery here to your people?" Though the Overlord's tone remained as calm as ever, the intent behind this question was already extremely obvious.

Yet the elf still failed to notice, continuing to explain, "Anything discovered during a long-range patrol is handled by the ranger personally."

"Could your people possibly discover us?"

"No." Still utterly unaware, the elf shook his head. "I am the only ranger in my clan who has attained transcendence. Only I can detect the anomaly here."

He even thoughtfully added, "Priests usually do not commune with nature beyond where the Mother Tree stands."

The Overmind now had a clear picture, and the troop deployment was nearly complete. Still, he controlled the Overlord and asked one final question. "Then, if you were to die unexpectedly far from home, would your people know?"

Such a blunt question was enough for even an innocent elf to realize something was wrong. He gripped his bow, pulled his hood back on, and replied sternly, "I refuse to answer that question."

What an honest fellow... the Overmind could not help but sigh. At a time like this, even with half a mind, he should have shouted, "If I die, my people will avenge me!"

The Overlord began to rise into the air. Taking the opportunity, the Overmind pushed his psionic output to its limit, attempting to force his way directly into the other's brain, scorch his nerves, and destroy the structure of his soul.

Red sparks appeared from nowhere around the ranger's head, but with a flash of his waist, he slipped out of the Overmind's lock.

The psychic assault had failed.

The interference with the elf's senses had also become ineffective. A killing intent immediately filled the area around the Heart Tree grove.

In the distance, the infected organisms that had previously wandered about in scattered groups had formed into a continuous line, surging toward the elf like a rolling tide.

The elf suddenly flicked his arm.

A thorn still dripping and hissing with acid was lodged in the obsidian dagger he held.

At the other end of the forest, amid the clamor of gull-like cries, a massive beast nearly nine meters long stood surrounded by countless even more twisted Mutated Combat Forms—this was the first time Agatha's thorn had failed.

The Overmind did not look overly shocked. The dagger was indeed made of obsidian; the Overlord's vibration-wave perception could confirm that. But just as a Dragon Lion could make a frail body unleash strength far beyond the limits of its muscle fibers, the weapon's sharpness and toughness clearly came from the elf rather than its material.

In contrast, the elf's expression darkened. Too many things had exceeded his expectations.

The number of infected organisms here far surpassed his imagination—the ones patrolling around were mostly large infected organisms, while smaller creatures such as squirrels and tree frogs lay half-buried beneath the Creep, sleeping.

The flock of birds blanketing the sky was even larger than the migratory birds that still retained their migration habits in the rainforest.

Thousands of deeply infected organisms covered in arthropod limbs and proliferating tissue—the Mutated Combat Forms—possessed speed and agility no less than magical beasts.

Most troublesome of all was that male lion, which had apparently been stimulated by something and undergone a high degree of draconic transformation.

Although he could sense that it had only just reached the level of an epic species, soul strength was never the sole measure of combat power. Leaving aside anything else, its enormous size alone meant it had an obviously massive health pool.

Even under normal circumstances, killing a Dragon Lion would take the elf some effort, let alone when it was guarded by thousands of magical beasts.

Then... deal with the leader first!

Green light like fireflies began to swirl around the elf. He nocked an arrow and drew his bow. With a sharp twang—

One large and two small sonic-boom clouds appeared before the wooden bow.

The emerald arrow trailed green light as it shot straight toward the Overlord in the air.

The Overlord had been watching the elf closely. The instant the elf raised his shoulder, it knew what he intended to do. Its entire body tensed, compressing the helium within its sacs as it shifted sideways to evade—but it was no use. The Overlord's speed was, well, enough said.

Still, the Overlord was a creature hardened by countless space battles. Predicting a projectile's trajectory was practically ingrained in its instincts.

Without needing the Overmind's control, it yanked its two forelimbs, each larger than its head, into the arrow's unavoidable path.

The arrow carried not only force and speed, but also a crazed rotation.

Almost the instant its tip made contact, the Overlord's forelimbs exploded. As the arrow pierced the thick carapace, it shattered into dozens of fragments, smashing into the Overlord's head and body like green meteors and leaving wounds the size of water vats behind—though compared to the Overlord's size, they were merely minor injuries.

It might look like one, but the Overlord was not actually a balloon. It would not start leaking air and flying wildly about just because someone poked a hole in it. Humans could make airtight compartments, and it was not difficult for the Zerg to grow them either. The wound on its head was a little more troublesome, but it only affected its command and coordination abilities. With the Overmind, Agatha, and another Overlord present, the Swarm was not short on commanders.

Even a level-ten unit could not casually unleash such a violent strike. After all, what the elf held was only a wooden bow, not a 25mm C-10 scattergun.

In Agatha's vision, the elf's biological activity had visibly declined throughout his body, and his right hand, the one that had drawn the bow, was even trembling slightly.

Naturally, Agatha would not let this opportunity pass. Another thorn ripped through the air.

The elf had not yet had time to lower his bow. He twisted aside with all his strength, but ultimately failed to evade completely. The thorn grazed past his right arm, leaving a wound three fingers long. Yet not a single drop of blood flowed from it. Instead, the wound began to hiss and corrode outward.

The elf clapped a hand over his wound, and a soft green glow began to shine where his hand touched his arm.

At the same time, his figure flashed as he sprinted in the direction opposite the Dragon Lion. He was trying to escape!

But before he had taken more than a few steps, a mass of shadow descended over him.

It was the Venom Devourer's spore slurry, blanketing nearly several hundred square meters of space before him.

The elf sensed an immense concentration of life force within that dark liquid and immediately stopped in his tracks.

The next moment, countless Creep tentacles rose from the area covered in spore slurry, writhing madly as they formed an incomparably towering wall.

The elf drew his obsidian dagger and, with a few swift slashes, severed several Creep tentacles lunging toward him.

At the same time, the elf abandoned any thought of entering the Heart Tree grove. Though a ranger could only unleash his true strength in the forest, the grove was not especially vast. He had no doubt that the moment he entered it, these bugs would immediately bury both him and the entire grove under fungus.

And besides... they had arrived too.

Two "stone balls" three meters in diameter fell from the sky, slamming viciously into the Creep behind him.

The elf turned his head and saw, high in the distance, a creature identical to the Overlord he had just shot. It had thrown those two boulders with its massive claws.

Another unexpected development: this kind of bug was not the leader of the fungal infected, or at least, not their highest leader!

A dense series of cracking sounds rang out.

The two stone balls unfolded, revealing two ferocious monsters.

Rock Trolls.

The elf frowned. These creatures wore huge boulders like armor, possessed boundless strength, and could stop bleeding and heal at incredible speed. Even among magical beasts, they were exceptionally difficult opponents.

So this thing was called a troll. The elf's thoughts were once again caught by the Overlord.

The Overmind had specially modified the Creep, allowing it to penetrate the rocks attached to the Rock Trolls and toughen them. It was somewhat like embedding steel reinforcement into concrete, and somewhat like tempered glass. That was why the trolls could fall from the sky without the rocks on their bodies shattering.

Naturally, the elf knew none of this. At most, he could sense traces of life within the stones on their bodies, but he was not foolish enough to attack those rocks—their thickness already exceeded the length of the dagger in his hand.

With just two flashes of movement, the elf darted into a troll's embrace. His dagger plunged straight into the troll's eye, the sharpened obsidian blade cleanly piercing deep into its brain.

But the next instant, a giant hand covered in rock seized his waist.

A creature infected by fungus could still move even after its brain had been damaged!

However, the elf's level-ten soul strength had granted him extraordinary physical resilience. Even though the troll squeezed with all its might, it could not make the elf so much as frown. In the end, it could only fling him in a frenzy at the hardest nearby object—the other troll.

Yet the elf slipped free from the troll's grip as if boneless. With a nimble flip, he landed on the other troll's shoulder.

His obsidian dagger, however, remained lodged in the first troll's eye socket.

With a somersault, the elf easily evaded the troll beneath him as it grabbed for him and flashed to the side.

But now, he had completely lost his chance to leave the battlefield.

A large number of Mutated Combat Forms had already rushed over. The Dragon Lion was not among them. It beat its wings and rose into the sky, circling overhead alongside the Arrow Gulls. Its primary task was to block the elf if he showed any sign of escaping, rather than engage in direct combat.

At such close range, against such overwhelming numbers, a bow had little use. The elf drew another obsidian dagger from his waist with his left hand.

With his right hand, still marked by corrosion wounds, he took out a seed with a hard shell.

Within the green radiance, the seed rapidly grew. Its roots wrapped around the elf's hand, its branches and leaves formed a round handguard, and its trunk turned into a short blade with just the right curve.

In truth, wood was not well suited for making blades. Sharpening it into a spear or a fist spike would have been much more appropriate, and the elf could use both.

But unfortunately, against infected creatures that could not be killed even by brain damage, the elf suspected that piercing attacks might not be able to harm them at all.

A blade was more suitable.

Of course, the elf was still too naive. Elsewhere might have been one thing, but this was the very core of the Creep's core territory, where the Creep contained extensive, highly differentiated neural tissue.

Once a severed limb fused with the Creep, it took only moments to establish a neural connection between that limb and the Hatchery. The enormous central system within the Hatchery was enough to control the severed limbs on the Creep.

With swords and blades alone, unless the elf severed every joint of every Zerg unit, he could not completely strip them of their ability to move.

And yet... even under such harsh conditions, the numerous Mutated Combat Forms still failed to fully suppress the elf.

Blade and dagger danced in the elf's hands like two ribbons of light. Not a single Mutated Combat Form could withstand even one exchange. Even now, the Mutated Combat Forms had yet to create an opening for Agatha to severely wound him with a spine volley, or for the Venom Devourer to spray slurry and trap him within it.

Most terrifyingly, even after killing hundreds of Mutated Combat Forms, the elf showed no sign of exhaustion whatsoever.

The biological activity within his body had not declined. Instead, it had actually recovered considerably...

Only then did the Overmind realize that psionic energy and the soul were ultimately different things.

Psionic energy was a form of energy with special properties—energy that needed to be refined, could be consumed, and continuously dropped in energy level as it was spent. Only the Overmind, sustained by the entire Swarm, could truly be said to possess inexhaustible psionic energy. The soul, however, seemed to be an engine capable of rewriting reality... Goblins, Root Vine Monsters, and Dragon Lions had all shown signs of their souls supplying energy back to their bodies.

Though the Dragon Lion's soul strength had reached level eight, it could still grow tired and still needed to eat. In comparison, the elf, whose soul was even stronger, had practically locked his stamina bar.

This made the Overmind somewhat anxious.

At this rate, the elf would only need a few hours to kill all several thousand Mutated Combat Forms. Infected creatures alone could not hold him back. The Overmind could not help regretting that it had not allocated some of the Hatchery's production capacity to modifying Mutated Combat Forms...

However, before even a few minutes had passed, a turning point quietly arrived.

The elf, whose movements had been fluid as flowing water, suddenly stalled as he slashed at a new target.

His wooden blade had been blocked by a Drone's clawed limb.

Of course, this did not mean he could not split the Drone's claw. It was merely like finding a potato mixed into a pile of tofu—his strength had not been coordinated properly, so the strike naturally caught. As long as he exerted himself again, he could still easily cleave it in two.

But Agatha would not let this opportunity pass.

A spine shot straight toward the elf. Though he dodged with all his might, it still struck his shoulder. Under the effects of the corrosive fluid, bone was exposed almost instantly...

A 6,000-word mega chapter to celebrate successfully signing a contract!