FL POV

With my improved stats, hunting stronger species was not a problem. However, that was only limited to the relatively docile beasts within the outer range of this vast jungle. It was currently nightfall, but I was no longer hiding away somewhere underground or in a tree but instead became one of the predators.

Flutter

Dead leaves fell from the branches of the trees I jumped across. Just a few meters ahead of me was a 6 legged panther armored with black scales and a fluffy mane similar to a lion's. Funnily enough, the panther was chasing after prey while I was hunting it. Something that wouldn't be funny is if I was unknowingly being hunted. Glancing behind me I sighed in relief senses that nothing was following me. Returning my attention back to my front, 2 paws were slashing towards my head with the long thick talons threatening to tear my face off.

Tilting my head ever so slightly, the claws clashed with my hard crown creating sparks in the dark night, revealing two black figures glaring at each other aggressively. The two figures were of course the panther and Juno. Juno stabilized herself and returned a strike of her own towards the panther simultaneously, leaving a deep gash across its left eye. The Panther growled lowly then released what I could only describe as a supersonic wave from its mouth.

The panther's mane flared up and shook as it sent the supersonic wave out from its mouth, destroying more than a hundred meters of the forest behind me. If I hadn't dropped my body to the ground in time, who knows what would've happened to me if I took that full force. The panther wasn't even remotely tired as it glared at me from above. The scales on its body shuddered and vibrated which was a sign of it about to send another wave.

I waited patiently for its attack to fire towards me so I could avoid it at a precise moment. Fortunate or not, its attack didn't happen. Instead, it was hesitantly looking back and forth at me and something further behind. I didn't know what it saw or what made it hesitant, but I can thank whatever it was behind me since I struck towards the panther as fast as I could. The panther tried to breathe out another supersonic wave but was too slow. Its head fell from the trees and hit the ground, followed by its body.

There was no time to eat the panther since whatever it was that was behind me, was nearing, and extremely fast at that.

ROOOAARRRR!!!

An ear-piercing roar shook the forests and even the ground was trembling slightly. Chills were crawling all over my body just from the roar of whatever beast that it belonged to. I hid between the roots of a large tree, desperately trying to escape the open. A heavy thud shook the ground and many trees were crushed under something big. When I stretched my senses to get a peak, A giant body standing roughly around 100 meters tall crushed the trees around as it stood on all fours majestically.

『Dragon...』

That was the first thing I thought of. An enormous body covered in scales emitted an equally enormous amount of energy from within its body. Its distinct snout-like head that curved into horns near its forehead was exactly how western dragons looked. Its wings folded behind its back and it lowered its long neck toward the ground.

The large panther that looked to weigh over half a ton was eaten in a single bite by the Dragon. I gulped as I watched it lick its lips satisfyingly and turned around, spreading its wings wide ready to take off. A sigh escaped my mouth despite myself, which caused the Dragon to suddenly look directly at me.

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Thankfully, it only glanced at me before taking flight and leaving the area. I sighed as I crawled out from under the tree roots, staring at the blurry figure high in the skies. I turned away and searched for another prey to hunt. I came across more panthers and devoured them all, eating away at the 4th one as the sun was rising. When I returned back to my temporary base, I saw the human which I had captured bloated several times his usual size.

Hive-resin chained his limbs and connected to the walls and ceilings. walking over closely, I could faintly see worm-like creatures wriggling inside his body.

『Looks like they're almost ready to burst.』

A few days ago when the two arrived, Juno had kept the human alive solely to birth more xenomorphs. Taking a thorough look at her evolution, she obtained a lot of qualities from the species she devoured thus far. The most useful genetic evolution she got was impregnating other species by injecting her saliva and part of her genetic code into the hosts' bloodstream. Obviously, this trait was from the Blood Leaves that she devoured. This was only possible because of the thousands of them she ate. So, her days of eating insects weren't entirely an embarrassment and waste of time.

A few minutes later the human began to groan in pain and struggled within the hive-resin that restrained him. It was time. I hissed as I approached the man's belly. Just like the normal chest-burster, these ones weren't too different but burst from all over his body. Neck, arms, belly, thighs, everywhere. The Humans body exploded into a misty cloud of blood, spilling guts on the floor, and pieces of his flesh hung on the Hive-resin.

Screech!

The little guys were...

『They look a little like crickets』

Just like the blood leaves, they should reach maturity inside the host and burst out fully grown. However, there wasn't enough nutrition for them to fully mature, causing their growth to temporarily pause. This wasn't a problem since both the blood leaves and xenomorphs have a rapid growth rate.

Appearance-wise, they had elongated heads with no eyes, but it wasn't curved and instead almost completely flat with head-crests lined across the sides of their heads, like a miniature crown similar to my own. They also were missing their inner jaws and instead had a sharper row of teeth. The dorsal spines on their backs were replaced by thin insect-like wings which looked no different to tree leaves. They had an extra pair of arms as well, though a little smaller than their dominant arms. And lastly, their tails were similar to normal xenomorphs save for the fact that their bodies were light green in color.

I didn't know what to name them so the system suggested one; Phyllamorph (strange green leaf). There were 8 of them who were doing various things like flying around, playing with each other, or eating the pieces of flesh on the ground. When I looked towards the hanging corpse, I felt a strong telepathic fluctuation emitting from within the dead body.

When I was about 2 meters away from the corpse, the 8 Phyllamorph all stopped what they were doing and jolted their heads towards the corpse as well. This didn't escape my senses but there wasn't anything the little guys could do to me.

Wriggle... thud!

A larger Phyllamorph landed on the floor with its hindlegs. It was exactly the same as the other Phyllamoprhs, just that this one had a larger and more developed crown. We hissed at each other and I could feel a strong connection towards her and knew that she was a Queen.

『Mother?』 (???)

The Queen Phyllamorph approached me cautiously while I sat on my hindlegs watching the little cutie as I waved my tail from side to side. It circled around me and sniffed my body all over, playing with my tail and claws then stopping in front of me, completely lowering its guard. The little cutie looked up at me and fluttered its wings.

『My name is Juno.』 (Juno)

『My name is... I don't have a name, mother.』 (???)

『Then what name would you like?』 (Juno)

『Any name you give me is fine.』 (???)

『Then your name will be Khercia』 (Juno)

『I am Khercia... and you are mommy?』 (Khercia)

『Yes, I am mommy now』 (Juno)

『Mommy!』 (Khercia)

The Phyllamorphs that were stiff and silent resumed their random activities while we talked. I was the one doing most of the talking and she listened to my every word intently, occasionally fluttering her wings which I found really cute.