Many-Legged Monster

Facing the fleeing spider swarm, the Overmind did not rashly send the Zerglings in pursuit.

According to Elar, only epic species possessed the ability to rapidly reproduce magical beasts.

Just like the infected rock trolls under the Overmind's command, ordinary magical beasts were usually apex predators. They had long growth cycles, long gestation periods, and long mating cycles, producing only a small number of offspring at a time.

Only epic species, after their souls broke through the shackles of their bloodlines, gained abilities that transcended the laws of nature.

In other words, the spider mother within that nest had to be an eighth-, ninth-, or even tenth-level epic spider species.

This was not something a mere few thousand Zerglings could handle. The Overmind planned to wait two days, stockpile more than ten thousand Zerglings, then launch a probing attack.

The Overmind then ordered a Drone to come over and mutate into a Venom Devourer, serving as the temporary information-processing center for the creep here.

In that battle within the cave, the swarm had lost nearly two hundred Zerglings and more than four hundred Arrow Gulls to eliminate a level-seven lesser spider mother, eighteen level-five long-legged giant spiders, and several thousand level-two and level-three small spiders, harvesting tons of "essence."

Both the White-Striped Spider's "Shadow Walk" and the long-legged giant spider's "Earth Element Spider Silk" were worthy of in-depth study by the swarm.

After issuing the Overlord in charge of command an order to "protect the creep," the Overmind prepared to return his consciousness to his main body.

And then, at that moment.

An alarm suddenly sounded within the hive mind—damage to the creep!

Hadn't they all fled?

Before the Overlord could consolidate the battlefield information, the Overmind, through the Dragon Dog's vision, saw the pile of spider corpses covered by a thin layer of creep suddenly begin to tremble.

Through the Dragon Dog's senses, the Overmind felt distinct psionic fluctuations coming from within the corpse pile.

Level two... level three... level four... still rising...

For some reason, the Overmind suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu—when he had first dealt with the tree spirit, the Root Vine Monster, hadn't it been like this too?

In Dragon Lion Territory, the Overmind upon the throne looked up at the sky. A crescent moon hung amid the stars.

"Awooo—" A sound utterly unlike that of a spider came from the corpse pile.

As the creep was forced apart, a grotesque creature of flesh, formed from countless severed spider limbs piled together, rose from the ground.

The Zerglings had yet to come down from their battle frenzy. Seeing their own creep damaged, they needed no order from the Overlord. With a howl, they charged.

Their sharp appendages tore apart the carapaces of the many spiders on the creature's body in a few swipes, sending blue-green blood splattering everywhere.

But this caused no real damage to the creature. Tender white flesh rapidly grew from its wounds, and before long, the injuries closed and stopped bleeding. The spiders' exoskeletons, however, did not regenerate. Worse still, strands of flesh rapidly proliferated and soon swelled beyond the carapaces.

Under the Zerglings' tearing bites and the creep's erosion, the monster made from countless spider corpses soon transformed, amid its rapid self-healing, into a massive mound of flesh made entirely of white spider meat tinged with faint blue-green.

The flesh mound was covered in strips of meat that could barely still be recognized as spider legs and fangs, continuously launching counterattacks against the surrounding Zerglings...

Naturally, they had no real effect. Like the Root Vine Monster, though its soul-strength level was high, it seemed to have devoted all of that strength to proliferation and self-healing, leaving its attacks weak.

The only way it could kill the Zerglings was by stuffing them until they burst.

Silently observing the chaotic scene, the Overmind contacted Elar once more. "Is this why you monitor the exits of the Great Labyrinth?"

"Yes." Elar nodded. "They are called Many-Legged Monsters, or Blood-Limbed Demons. They are among the most common monsters in the Great Labyrinth."

"They don't seem very dangerous." The Overmind watched the monster grow smaller and smaller beneath the creep and the voracious feasting of countless Zerglings.

Most unbelievable of all, both the creep and the Zerglings' digestive systems returned the same result for the creature's flesh: "normal spider meat." Clearly, this was yet another case of the soul driving the flesh and ignoring the conservation of energy.

The Overmind also understood why an underground ecosystem without sunlight to supply energy could sustain such a vast number of magical beasts—the endlessly growing flesh on those monsters was pure, high-quality protein.

"They are monsters with twisted souls, corrupt creations that do not belong to nature. Their appearance could completely destroy nature's cycle of life, corrupting all living things into twisted forms..."

"Even monsters like this?" The Overmind nodded thoughtfully. Seen this way, wood elves and high elves did not differ in essence. Both emphasized active intervention in nature; only the wood elves' standards were broader, targeting monsters alone.

The high elves' standards were stricter, targeting all species that transcended the normal ecosystem, including humans and epic species...

But speaking of that, the Overmind suddenly thought of a question. Land covered in creep was judged an environment brimming with extreme vitality because of the swarm's powerful biological activity.

Then how active would the vitality of an ecosystem be if it no longer used immobile plants as the starting point for energy input, and if its producers, consumers, and decomposers were all predators? And elves seemed to seek out such active environments...

"Are there elves who cultivate within the Great Labyrinth?"

Elar paused briefly before answering, "Yes, but only cave elves can survive in the Great Labyrinth for extended periods."

Elves relied on photosynthesis through their hair for nourishment and could not remain long in dark environments.

"Cave elves?" The Overmind was taken aback. "Tell me about them."

"They originated from a debate within the Tree Mother Tribe around four thousand years ago..."

Cave elves were a branch of the wood elves.

As mentioned before, elves were essentially a school of thought disguised as a race.

The cave elves had likewise emerged because of an "academic" dispute:

Most wood elves believed that all monsters were not part of nature and should be eliminated before they completely lost control.

A minority of wood elves, however, believed that monsters could coexist in balance with normal lifeforms in nature, with the Great Labyrinth being the finest example.

Of course, wood elves were not high elves. Even those who believed monsters were part of nature would not interfere with the "normal life activities" of other wood elves hunting monsters.

It was simply that wood elf sages who held such beliefs carried branches of the Tree of Life into the Great Labyrinth. Then, somewhere within the labyrinth, they planted the Tree of Life, giving rise to the cave elves...

After pondering for a while, the Overmind suddenly asked, "I remember you once said that an elven tribe needed at least two thousand years before it could truly be established, didn't you?"

"Yes."

The Tree of Life had a long growth cycle. On top of that, only Trees of Life that had received a complete education and begun cultivating the Way of Nature would start breeding elves. The elves' rate of expansion was astonishingly slow.

"In other words, the cave-dwelling elves have only bred two or three tribes at most by now?"

"One tribe is more likely," Elar volunteered.

The Great Labyrinth was an extremely dangerous environment. Before they could ensure the absolute safety of their mother tree, no elf would be willing to travel far to establish a new tribe.

Only one tribe, deep within the labyrinth, and with a short history... What a soft target!

The Overlord's eyes lit up.

I wouldn't dare touch those hundreds of elven tribes on the surface, but I've got the nerve to bully you!

"Tell me their information..." The Overlord had intended to have Elar recount the intelligence orally, but then shook his head. He had only just found the entrance to the Great Labyrinth, so the relevant information was not particularly urgent.

Elar's memories were far more extensive than he had expected, and contained more useful information than he had imagined. Still, verbal narration was simply too inefficient.

Better hatch a hundred or so royal insects later and pair them with the hatchery's main brain. Parsing his mind as soon as possible would save a lot of trouble...