‘Thankfully, the worms are ridiculously soft,’ Helzar sighed, chewing on the body of a worm. Its skin was brown and a little translucent, though he only found out now. Its blue blood was viscous and sticky, and when he drank it, he realized that most of the energy was stored in its blood.

‘Although the Eaters ate 50 Spawns worth of energy, I only harvested 40 Spawns worth of energy,’ Helzar contemplated about the energy lost. It was about 20%, which is a lot.

In the end, Helzar knew no more methods to improve the efficiency of the Eater.

‘Now, when the time comes, my Spawns can store a lot of energy through the Eaters, and even without hunting, the Swarm can continuously grow.’

Helzar, looking forward to the growth of the Swarm, ordered half of his Spawns to hunt. He still ordered them to form a single group while hunting, but he allowed them to hunt multiple insects at a time.

Of course, he still allowed them to eat any tiny insects for themselves. Right now, the normal lifespan of a Spawn is three days, but some of his Spawns are more than three days old already, with the oldest being his personal bodyguard.

+++-+++-+++

Once more, a black shadow was moving across the ground. It was a swarm of Spawns. As they marched onwards, they carried a grasshopper’s body cut into four. They also carried several ant bodies with them.

They made contact with the red ants during their hunt, which they instantly surrounded and killed. Numerous as they were, they knew from Helzar that the colony of red ants had an unimaginable number of members.

The swarm of Spawns originally had around 130 members, but after hunting the grasshopper and fighting the red ants, they lost a few Spawns. Now, there were only a little more than 100 Spawns left.

Clack! Clack. Clack…

While clicking their mandibles together, the Spawns used their telepathic link to communicate. They couldn't directly speak in their telepathic link like Helzar, nor speak with the entire Swarm at once, but they can talk telepathically one at a time with each other. As for how they communicate, they'd send vague ideas to one another and communicate that way.

After pausing under the foliage of small greens, the Spawns argued between going back to the nest or continuing their hunt. Helzar made sure they didn't forget how hundreds of red ants annihilated the previous 50 Spawns.

Clack… Clack…

Alas, the Spawns all turned and began marching back to their nest. They were careful, making sure that they weren't being followed by anything. If they were, then it would turn into a life or death struggle in an instant!

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As they crawled, the Spawns crossed a small stream of clear water. The water was mildly hot to humans, but to the Spawns, it felt as though it was hot lava!

Whilst carefully crossing the stream of water, the Spawns kept an eye out for the carnivorous plants nearby. The various carnivorous plants ate a few Spawns before, but their flesh was weak and they easily repelled them. Nowadays, carnivorous plants would only be a threat if they were careless.

Sadly, they couldn't kill the carnivorous plants as nearly all of them were abnormal and could flee in seconds. On the other hand, the ordinary carnivorous plants provided no energy for Helzar.

Clack!

When most of the Spawns were on the other side of the stream, the Spawns ahead warned the Spawns left behind! Behind the remaining few Spawns, a red vine was digging its way up from underground. It was around two feet in length and a good two inches in diameter. Its body was covered in thorns and at several areas of its stem, open “mouths” were drooling with acid and eyeing the Spawns.

The mouth-piece of the vine was likened to that of a venus fly trap, but this one can actively open and close its mouth. Furthermore, its digestive fluids can melt a normal fly in seconds!

Clack! Clack!

Seeing the emerging vine, the Spawns threateningly clacked their mandibles, whilst the Spawns that had crossed to the other side got ready to engage in combat. On the other hand, the remaining Spawns crossed the stream of water without caring about the pain.

They weren't good little saints. Either they all die, or the carnivorous vine dies!

After all, they had orders to leave no witnesses behind when returning to the nest.

Spawn#1: Hey, wanna have vegetables for lunch?

Spawn #2: Sure!

+++-+++-+++

Surrounded by plants with star-shaped and triangle-shaped leaves, the army of a hundred Spawns had their mandibles opened as a red vine circled around them, crawling like a python on the dark, moist soil. The thorns all over its body picked up dirt as it crawled, but its sharpness never dulled or snapped. Furthermore, it seemed as though it had no roots at all…

Clack! CLACK!

Tired of the taunting, one Spawn rushed toward the vine, before the entire army moved as one!

Shhhh…

Startled by the sudden charge, the vine paused, before retaliating in the same! It twisted its stem as it crawled toward its foes, intending to rip apart the Spawns!

Although the carnivorous vine could move freely without any roots, it had its limits. It needs a large amount of nutrients to regrow its roots and ensure its survival, hence why it didn't give up hunting the hundred Spawns. Furthermore, it had experience in hunting such swarms of insects!

The two forces collided, several Spawns bit the vine’s stem and latched onto it, trying to cut open its flesh. However, what happened instead was that one of its mouthpieces bent and bit the Spawns on its body!

CLACK! CLACK!

With the Spawn's small bodies, they were swallowed in one bite!

Seeing the fate of their fellow Spawns, the rest madly rushed and climbed the vine's body, targeting the dozens of mouths all over it!

As if having expected this to happen, the vine rolled around, successfully baiting all the Spawns to try and bite off its mouthpieces. When the Spawns covered the vine's entire body, its mouthpieces had no other fate than to be ripped off!

FSHHH!

The vine twitched violently, rolling around in a frenzy. And then, it stopped. When stopped, all the Spawns on its body were pierced by its newly grown thorns!

Fhhh…

The vine listlessly crawled to a safe spot, before burying the end of its body in the soil. Its flesh was exposed in many areas of its body, and deep cuts plagued it. However, today's hunt satisfied the plant. After eating all the spawns on its body, it was sure to fully recover, as well as grow a few more inches in length!

Several minutes later, buds appeared on its body, and small tendrils coiled around the dead Spawns on its body. The tendriled dragged all the Spawns to the base of its stem, shallowly burying them underneath the soil. From then on, it would grow a pouch underground that would digest all the Spawns.

That is, if it lives through the siege of another hundred Spawns.

+++-+++-+++

Helzar was watching the carnivorous vine all along, and through the senses of the Spawn he was observing through, he realized that the carnivorous vine had a strong scent of spiritual energy.

‘They won't stand a chance,’ Helzar concluded. ‘However, maybe I can seize this opportunity to kill it when it's weakened.’

Afterward, Helzar ordered the army of Spawns to madly attack the carnivorous vine without restraint. At the same time, he ordered all the remaining Spawns in the nest to locate the carnivorous vine and silently surround it.

If Helzar saw it fit, he would have them either attack and kill the vine, or retreat.

‘Come to think of it, the giant cockroach last night had the scent of spiritual energy too,’ Helzar sighed. After watching the Spawns die, he switched to the vision of the incoming Spawns.

‘Good, it's weakened!’

Helzar rejoiced, letting loose the vengeful army of Spawns!