The Tide

So much time had passed that Chloe had long since come to understand the Consciousness Entity thoroughly. She could use her mind to conjure clothes for herself and dress herself up beautifully, and she could also create things that matched her imagination in her own mental world.

If her mental power had no limit, she could create an infinite number of things in there.

After figuring all this out for the first time, she had thoroughly enjoyed playing in her mental world until her eyes rolled back and she collapsed from exhaustion. The next day, she had slept until noon.

Expending mental power in the mental world placed a greater burden on the body than expending physical stamina in the real world.

There was just one thing she still could not understand: why had Mr. Functional Consciousness appeared before her in a state that made her blush? Was that sort of thing common among the intelligent race called Blue Star humans? Was it a form of etiquette?

Her delicate brows slightly furrowed, Chloe did not know what form she should take when she next met Mr. Functional Consciousness. Should she wear her magnificent gown, or continue meeting him in her original form? The question really troubled her.

Suddenly, Chloe shook her head, casting aside her wandering thoughts. She opened her eyes and carefully studied the Overmind's enormous cocoon, then slowly stepped forward, resting both hands on it and pressing her body against it to feel its warmth.

Really, as long as the Overmind could return soon, everything troubling her was insignificant. As she touched the enormous cocoon, a reassuring sense that she was no longer alone slowly rose in Chloe's heart.

With her eyes closed, she never noticed that the Primal Zerg around her had all tensed up and were staring fixedly at her. The Overmind's orders remained in effect, and the Swarm had not lowered its guard.

The golden sun rose above the horizon, its golden light forming a long line that illuminated every corner of the Death Forest little by little.

Sunlight drove away the shadows in the forest.

Beneath tree trunks, under the grass, inside caves, and in rivers, tens of thousands of magical beasts had gathered. They concealed themselves silently, waiting for a certain command.

If a human had seen this scene, he would surely have been scared to death by the number and quality of the magical beasts. He would have thought the magical beasts were declaring war on the entire world.

This was no longer an ordinary Beast Tide. It was a calamity of destruction.

When the first ray of sunlight illuminated the blue-purple creep, the previously silent Death Forest erupted. The magical beasts charged from their hiding places in perfect unison.

The earth trembled beneath their running feet. Rocks rolled down distant mountains from the tremors, while calm rivers surged into enormous waves, frightening all manner of fish within them into turning belly-up.

The entire Death Forest seemed to be experiencing an unprecedented earthquake.

The Swarm Network issued its highest-level alarm. Chloe, who had fallen asleep leaning against the Overmind's enormous cocoon, was jolted awake by the increasingly intense alarm in her mind.

"What happened?" She had been having a comfortable, pleasant dream, and being unexpectedly disturbed certainly left her feeling very displeased.

An image reached her mind through the Swarm Network. It was a high-angle view with a strong sense of depth, transmitted by a Swarm patrol that had already been wiped out.

The view shifted from high to low, pulling back and closing in, bringing the impact of the masses of magical beasts charging out of the forest to its fullest. She could not even tell how many magical beasts there were. Tens of thousands? Over a hundred thousand?

The Swarm patrol had not hesitated. After connecting their senses to the Swarm Network, they had charged at the horde of magical beasts. A patrol of a hundred Zerglings and Needle Crawlers had plunged into the Beast Horde like a cavalry lance, with the momentum to break through its ranks.

At the front of the Beast Horde were ordinary beasts, both carnivores and herbivores, swept along by the magical beasts. They made up the majority of the Beast Tide. The Needle Crawlers collectively sprayed steel needles at point-blank range. The explosive burst of needles slammed forward like a wall of steel, instantly knocking down the beasts in front of them.

The Zerglings also brought their agility in close combat to bear, taking advantage of the chaos to slash upward at heads and downward at legs with their paired bone blades. Their aggressive fighting inflicted no fewer casualties than the Needle Crawlers.

For a time, the hundred Zerg stood like a reef amid the waves of the Beast Tide.

But there were too few of them. The Beast Tide surged forward far faster than the Swarm could kill its members. Zerglings unable to dodge in time were trampled beneath the beasts' hooves, and Needle Crawlers were tossed into the air by horns. Many magical beasts capable of using psionics also dealt devastating blows to the Swarm patrol.

As fleeting as a flower's bloom, that tenacious reef was submerged. The hundred Zerg had inflicted at least two hundred casualties among the magical beasts and ordinary beasts.

Shaken by the bloody scene in her mind, Chloe felt a chill along her spine, and her legs could not help trembling.

She had seen Beast Tides before, but they generally consisted of only a few hundred magical beasts, with fewer than ten high-ranking ones among them.

Even a small Beast Tide like that would put the frontier earldom on high alert, requiring tremendous effort to repel. Even with a sturdy castle and powerful defensive weapons, the marquis's troops would suffer many hundreds of casualties after holding off a Beast Tide. If civilian deaths and injuries were included, the toll would be even more devastating.

Yet what was charging toward the Swarm now was a Beast Tide like a true ocean wave. Even if all the human nations united, they might not be able to withstand it. Could the Swarm hold them off?

As she thought of the Swarm, Chloe could still feel the Overmind's warmth against her right hand. Unconsciously, she voiced a question through the Swarm Network: could they protect the Overmind?

Instantly, the Swarm Network erupted like a thunderclap. Countless emotions and messages flooded in. Though clamorous, they all shared one view, which could still be summed up in a single statement.

"The Swarm will not fail the Overmind's expectations. The Swarm will protect the Overmind until the end of the universe and time."

The consciousness transmitted by the Level Two Hive carried a note of reproach. "Executor, before entering slumber, the Overmind appointed you to enact his will. You should not be so weak, so afraid. You must overcome these negative emotions and become brave and strong."

"The Swarm does not fear. The Swarm only brings fear to its enemies."

After being reprimanded, Chloe felt deeply ashamed. Yes, the Overmind had trusted her so much, letting her enact his will. How could she be weak here, and waver at a time like this?

She had to stop the Beast Tide here and keep the Overmind safe.

But the Swarm had always defeated its enemies through superior numbers, and now it was completely outnumbered. What should she do? She recalled the memories Mr. Functional Consciousness had left in her mental domain. Perhaps the answer lay within them.

Though communication on the mental level was swift, time waited for no one. She had to find a way to resolve the crisis amid those tangled memories as quickly as possible.