The Underground World

"Overmind, we've uncovered critical information," Agatha reported just in time.

"So quickly?" The Overmind's consciousness returned to its body, and he patted the armrest.

With a "creak~"

Six long legs rapidly grew from beneath the throne. They scuttled swiftly and steadily across the Creep.

The Overmind shot toward the Hatchery in a blur...

Inside the Hatchery.

The Overmind and his wheeled chair with legs entered a room converted from a troop-deployment exit.

Agatha had both hands pressed against the sides of a huge frog's forehead, its body already dissected.

It merely resembled a frog. Its skin was thick and tough, with excellent water retention; it was clearly not an amphibian.

The Overmind's gaze lingered on the snake-eye patterns on the frog's skin. Snake-eye patterns again. The monsters in the labyrinth seemed to commonly possess similar markings.

"Did you find anything?" the Overmind asked.

"The underground structure of this world is more complex than Elar understood," Agatha explained, sharing the information with the Overmind through her psychic abilities.

The intelligence was not particularly complicated.

Put simply.

The Great Labyrinth might have a two-layered, or even three-layered, structure.

The interconnected caverns were merely the portion of the Great Labyrinth close to the surface.

Deeper within the labyrinth lay a vast underground world composed of enormous subterranean voids.

That place might be even more dangerous than the cavern labyrinth.

On one hand, certain monsters that required vast space and feared sunlight could only survive in the underground world.

On the other hand, due to having transcended the limits of bloodlines, epic species were usually enormous. The stronger the epic species, the larger they were. An epic species like the Spider Mother, not yet level nine, already had difficulty moving through underground caverns. Those even larger high-level epic species simply could not squeeze into the caves at all.

"Does it know how to enter the underground world?" the Overmind immediately asked.

Agatha shook her head. "Only the rough direction remains."

Memories in the mind gradually became distorted as well. Not every creature possessed spatial memory like the elves, and the underground caverns were called the "Great Labyrinth" for a reason—their interconnected passages were incomparably complex.

The Overmind nodded. A rough direction was enough.

The Swarm was probably the species least afraid of getting lost in the Great Labyrinth.

Overlords could provide spatial coordinates for every Swarm unit and record the routes of units that became lost. Once sufficient excavation technology was unlocked, all ground units could rapidly dig underground, while certain units adept at secreting acid could move at high speeds beneath the earth. As spacefaring organisms, Swarm units also feared no oxygenless environment underground...

What was there to fear if they could not find the way? At worst, they could simply dig straight through.

Besides, there were Nydus Worms.

Once the Evolution Chamber had researched Hatchery technologies such as "Acidified Lair" and "Moist Chamber," and the entire Swarm's "muscle structure" had been upgraded once, they could begin researching Nydus Worm-related technology...

Come to think of it, that still seemed like it would take a long time. The Overmind could not help looking upward. Should I make a Nydus Worm ahead of time?

Even without the necessary technological prerequisites, he could forcibly construct Swarm units through Overmind authority.

It was just like the Venom Devourer from before. The complete Venom Devourer had the potential to become an orbital attack weapon, while the Venom Devourer prematurely spawned by the Overmind had gone limp and powerless after merely spraying plasma a few kilometers away.

A Nydus Worm lacking key technologies would dig and extend far more slowly than the normal version.

But given that the caverns were already filled with interconnected tunnels, spending resources to create an organism capable of rapidly relocating underground still had its value...

He was thinking too far ahead...

After coming back to his senses, the Overmind contacted Elar. "Elf, I need your opinion on something."

The memories in Elar's brain had already been completely analyzed, but those were merely information. Due to the genetic lock on self-awareness, the Swarm found it difficult to simulate an elf's thought patterns. Elar could still serve as the Overmind's advisor on matters related to elves.

After going through the usual routine of "explaining the issue—falling silent—offering advice—falling silent," Elar was controlled by the Overmind's psionic power. "I will do my best to answer."

"Where do you think the cave elves' tribe would be? The underground world, or the cavern labyrinth?"

"The underground world," Elar answered without hesitation.

"Why?"

"The wider the space, the easier it is for the Mother Tree to spread her branches," Elar said as though it were only natural.

"Even at the cost of a more dangerous environment?"

"The Mother Tree has the ability to establish herself in such an environment. We are the only ones in danger."

The Tree of Life was also an epic species, and an exceptionally powerful individual among epic species.

Although its life form prevented it from moving freely, and its thinking speed had inherent limitations, it could unleash power surpassing that of a tenth-rank soul by establishing a connection with an "Elf Queen." Such power was sufficient to establish a foothold anywhere in this world.

Just as Elar had said, only ordinary elves, whose levels were generally no higher than seven, would face danger.

Elar's way of thinking greatly interested the Overmind: he actually believed that whether the Tree of Life could grow comfortably was more important than his own life.

This sort of "servility" seemed carved into his genes. Just as every member of the Swarm would obey the Overmind's orders unconditionally...

The Overmind suddenly thought of a question. "If the Swarm infected your Mother Tree, would you try to restore it to its original state, or would you continue guarding it?"

Elar immediately fell silent.

The Overmind could sense his will struggling frantically. He refused to answer, even refusing to think about the question.

But as the Overmind's psionic power steadily intensified, Elar finally said, "Guard the Mother Tree..."

The Overmind nodded in satisfaction.

The elves' inherited memories meant that elves from the same tribe might take different paths due to their circumstances and talents, yet their worldviews would remain highly consistent. If Elar held such a view, then most of the elves in his tribe would share the same belief.

"Thank you for your input. We'll speak again next time." The Overmind cleanly severed the connection.

Its fingers lightly tapped the armrest of the throne.

Compared to the broader and more dangerous subterranean world, the cave labyrinth was the region best suited for the Swarm's development at this stage.

Was a group of cave-dwelling elves worth the Swarm investing resources to open up a new map?

Yes!

The Overmind knew very well that no matter how powerful an epic species was, it was still merely a beast. Only elves with the traits of civilization were the Swarm's greatest enemy.

And for the war between the Swarm and the elves, biological samples that shared the same origins as surface elves, possessed identical genes and supernatural power, and would not alert the surface elves when attacked were simply too important.

"Agatha, shift the focus of the memory extraction toward finding passages connecting to the subterranean world."

"Yes, Overmind."

"And," the Overmind recalled the Tree of Life in Elar's memories, capable of unleashing power beyond the tenth tier, "our current psionic measurement system is no longer sufficient..."

Humanity in the Koprulu Sector recognized psionic power only up to level ten, with at most an exceptional level twelve. That was no longer enough to accurately assess the enemies the Swarm would encounter in the future.