The Maze Ecosystem

Three days later.

The hatchery in the spider cavern had been established.

The Spider Mother's nestification had also been mostly completed, leaving only the long-term project of gradually transforming the spider-form aberrant combat organisms.

Between the Spider Mother's nest and the hatchery lay a heap of irregular flesh.

The Spider Mother's nest DNA and mutation-inducing essence would first pass through the flesh before being injected into the larvae within the hatchery.

The Spider Mother's soul changes and the entire birth process when producing magical beast spiders would be recorded by the sensory organs covering the flesh. During the recording process, this mass of flesh could even work with the hatchery to use psionic energy to stimulate developing spider embryos, testing the connection between soul and body by creating deformed spiders.

Yes, this was an evolution chamber—the "soul" specialization evolution chamber the Overmind had long been yearning for.

Because it involved the hatchery and psionic energy, it had extremely high requirements for "authority." The Overmind had modified tens of thousands of genetic loci before ensuring the evolution chamber could operate normally.

After working for a long time, the Overmind leaned back in the throne it had found time to modify, intending to relax as its consciousness followed the will of the hive to watch a duel...

At the edge of the spider hunting grounds.

A Dragon Dog was locked in a mad struggle with a lizard twice its size.

The two kept rolling about, biting at each other's vulnerable spots—the abdomen, neck, and the like.

Logically, the Dragon Dog should have held the advantage. After all, Zerglings had no necks... The Zergling's neck and abdominal carapace had no weak points. And with more attacking limbs, the Dragon Dog also had more chances to strike.

Yet when the two separated, it was the lizard that had the upper hand—this was a magical beast with soul strength at the seventh tier.

Without the Overmind's limitless psionic support, the Dragon Dog's few seconds of phasing were not enough to defeat it.

"Roar—" The lizard rose onto its hind legs and hissed at the Dragon Dog. A ring of membrane spread around its neck, covered in glowing patterns like serpent pupils. It was a terrifying sight.

It was a frilled lizard.

Those glowing patterns seemed to possess some special power. Watching through the Dragon Dog's senses, the Overmind seemed to detect a psychic force within them. Still, the Dragon Dog was an elite unit. Its psionically attuned body allowed it to resist a high level of mental influence.

Driven by its bloodlust, the Dragon Dog also let out a hiss. But green light suddenly began pulsing rhythmically between its scales.

As the pulses grew faster and faster, they eventually merged into one continuous glow. Green light, like flame and smoke alike, began to drift around the Dragon Dog.

The Dragon Dog's wounds healed at a visible rate.

Smack—

Kicking off the ground with its hind legs, the Dragon Dog shot forward.

Its speed and strength had both increased considerably.

The frilled lizard rolled aside to evade, but it was ultimately too slow. The Zergling carved a long bloody gash across its body.

"Roar----" The frilled lizard turned and spread the membrane around its neck again in warning.

But when it saw the Dragon Dog preparing to rise and continue its attack, the frilled lizard immediately folded its membrane, turned, and fled. Relying on the special structures on its toes, it climbed up the rock wall and onto the ceiling.

It was not that it could not win. There was simply no need to—this creature had come out to find food, not risk its life.

The Overmind, watching from behind, could not help but rub its forehead.

Another one had run away. It seemed that every wild beast the Swarm encountered cherished its life. Perhaps it would have to try again during their mating season.

Still, no matter what, the specific effects of the "High-Activity Auxiliary Heart" had now been tested.

It began beating when explosive movement caused the primary heart to operate under a heavy load. It could awaken the life force throughout the body, accelerate self-healing, and temporarily improve all aspects of an organism's physical capabilities.

However, this burst consumed "vitality," something closely tied to biological activity and physical condition.

Although Zerg units usually had adrenaline levels off the charts, and even weakness would not affect their actions, their bodies undeniably became more fragile.

In game terms, activating the heart consumed health to increase attack power and attack speed while removing negative statuses such as "Bleeding," "External Injury," and "Stun."

In short, the Dragon Dog's name had gotten longer again. It was now called "Dragonblood Heart Skin Fangs."

The organ performed very well on the Dragon Dog, but the Overmind did not intend to install it in Zerglings.

After all, this organ involved extraordinary power the Swarm had never mastered before. Without enough accumulated beneficial mutations, it would require a long development time, greatly increasing Zergling production time.

That did not fit the Zergling's role of "rapidly forming combat power."

Put bluntly, why would a group of cannon fodder need such strong battlefield survivability?

Still, during this time, the evolution chamber had unlocked the prerequisite technology for producing Roaches. The Roach nest had already entered the construction process.

They were the Swarm's heavily armored units, often tasked with drawing enemy fire and creating opportunities for Zerglings to charge.

And Roaches already possessed exceptionally vigorous vitality. Combined with the High-Activity Auxiliary Heart, their battlefield survivability would increase dramatically...

The Overmind turned its attention back to the Dragon Dog's battle.

The frilled lizard ultimately failed to escape.

At the next bend, it plunged headfirst into a web-like Creep membrane.

The new Creep, enhanced with semi-crystalline high-fiber proteins, possessed unparalleled stickiness. Especially after coming into contact with the wounds on its body, it began proliferating at a rapid pace.

Then, three Long-Legged Giant Spiders—formally named "Web Weavers"—crawled out from around the corner and pointed their abdomens at the frilled lizard. By now, they had grown Zerg-like carapaces, with a layer of webbing connecting their spider legs. They somewhat resembled Broodmothers with an Overlord's head growing from their upper bodies.

Even thicker Creep tissue sprayed from the spinnerets at their tails.

The umbrella lizard, tearing at the Creep on its body, tried to evade, but the Web Weaver's spray covered an exceptionally wide area. Before it could dodge, even more Creep stuck to it.

The Dragon Dog was also closing in from behind.

Pinned down from several sides, it was beaten by the Dragon Dog until it was barely breathing, all four limbs broken, then dragged by several small spiders toward the core area of the spider cave.

The Dragon Dog and several Long-Legged Giant Spiders continued roaming through the labyrinth.

The Great Labyrinth's ecosystem was extremely complex.

Monsters large and small, magical beasts of every rank, devoured one another. They all ate meat, with little distinction in dietary habits, making it difficult to divide them according to a food chain.

However, setting aside creatures of varying strength such as Many-Legged Monsters, floating mayfly demons, lantern monsters, gap sprites, bloodworms... normal living beings with stable souls could roughly be divided into three tiers.

Ordinary wild beasts and low-rank magical beasts occupied the bottom tier. Their lives were constantly at risk; they could be slaughtered by somewhat stronger monsters or hunted by higher-ranking magical beasts.

Next came the more powerful magical beasts. They were somewhat like herbivores on the grasslands, chasing abundant sources of meat as they roamed everywhere, without fixed homes, drifting from place to place.

At the very top were only epic species and a small number of level-seven magical beasts. They could hold onto fixed hunting grounds and had no need to roam everywhere in search of food.

The spider colony the Overmind had defeated earlier was a typical third-tier group, and an overlord among that tier—a top-tier race in the Great Labyrinth with almost no natural enemies.

It would still take some time to fully take control of the spider colony's hunting grounds, so the Overmind did not intend to provoke any new overlords with territories for the time being.

The Swarm's main targets now were the various high-ranking magical beasts of the Great Labyrinth's second tier.

They wandered everywhere, had long lifespans... and were rich in experience!

The Overmind planned to capture them alive, infect them, and then read their memories to see whether it could find clues about the subterranean elves.

For this reason, the Overmind had specifically summoned Agatha to the underground hatchery to read the memories.

There would be another chapter tonight.