‘It’s my first time eating a plant,’ Helzar stared at the juicy piece of stem served to him. Red juices oozed out of the open flesh of the carnivorous vine, and even though it was already dead, its flesh spasmed from time to time.

‘Oh well,’ Helzar opened his mandibles, revealing his mouth. His mouth was similar to the Eater's, although a lot smaller, despite being much more powerful.

Helzar ate fruits and seeds before, but only the fruits gave him a bit of energy, while the seeds gave no energy at all. At least, the energy he received was so miniscule that it was consumed by him the moment he received it.

‘Feels weird,’ Helzar thought while mincing the vine's flesh with his dozens of teeth. ‘The texture is similar to insect meat, just a bit more elastic and difficult to chew,’ Helzar shrugged. Despite saying it was hard to chew, he ate the entire carnivorous vine in only a few minutes.

After doing so, he let three Eaters devour the red ants as well as the remains of the hundred dead Spawns. As for the grasshopper, he left it for the Spawns to eat.

Helzar noticed that his personal bodyguard ate more of the grasshopper than the others, but he didn't interfere. He was interested in what would happen to that “bodyguard” of his.

‘Now, the Swarm should lay low. There's only less than 150 Spawns in the nest. I need to produce more Spawns if I want to ensure the Swarm's survival. Furthermore, on their way back from killing the carnivorous vine, the Spawns spotted a trail of the red ants,’ Helzar sighed to himself. As though sensing his bad mood, his bodyguard rushed to his side.

‘Huh?’

This time, instead of trying to sacrifice itself, it offered a piece of the grasshopper to Helzar!

‘I'm full, little guy. Better eat it yourself,’ Helzar chuckled, talking to the Spawn through their telepathic link.

Hearing him, the Spawn clacked its mandibles a few times before eating the grasshopper meat. Afterward, it went back to eating more of the grasshopper.

‘Its intelligence is growing, I suppose that is good,’ Helzar thought. ‘However, I need to urgently raise our numbers. Either I somehow upgrade the Nest, or I create another Nest!’

Food was no longer a problem for Helzar. His Spawns could hunt insects very efficiently. So efficient that the Nest can't keep up!

‘At this point, if my Spawns continue their hunting expeditions, I'll be forced to produce more Eaters, further slowing the production of Spawns.’

It should be mentioned that producing Eaters burdened the Nest a lot more than producing Spawns.

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When he learned about the trail of red ants, Helzar suspected that the red ants were trying to expand their territory. After all, they were similar to his Swarm in the sense that the red ants were ridiculously powerful and had intelligence.

If his guess was correct, the area around the colony of red ants should be barren, devoid of any prey. Hence, they are expanding their hunting grounds, and sooner or later, the red ants would find Helzar's nest.

‘I could move out, but that's dangerous too. My enemy isn't just the red ants, there are also modified cockroaches and plants around. Not to mention that there may be more of these strange creatures in the garden.’

He didn't dare carelessly dig underground either, as once, his Spawns dug out a spiked earthworm while trying to expand the nest. A few dozen Spawns died during the battle, and the spiked earthworm was able to escape.

‘The critters here are bizarre,’ Helzar shook his head.

After organizing his thoughts, he detached the Nest from his body, using his telepathic link to start the creation of another type of creature.

Coincidentally, the Spawns had finished eating the grasshopper and noticed what he was doing. With great urgency, they swarmed the nest entrance, guarding it with their lives!

Seeing this, Helzar's bodyguard came over whilst clicking its mandibles. Then, it ordered a few Spawns one by one to blockade the nest entrance with dirt.

CLACK!

Most of the Spawns obeyed, but one refused to answer to Helzar's bodyguard’s commands. Hearing the Spawn's retaliation, Helzar's bodyguard didn't think twice to bite it, cutting its body in half and letting it fall to the floor.

HZZZ!

With its mandibles opened, it hissed using its mouth, daring anyone else to try and challenge its authority!

Looking around, Helzar's bodyguard nodded in satisfaction as the rest of the Spawns didn't try to retaliate.

When the nest entrance was blocked, Helzar's bodyguard stood behind him, watching as he focused on creating another lifeform.

On the other hand, Helzar was completely unaware of what had occured.

+++-+++-+++

The sun set ablaze the sky, and with no clouds to block its rays, the ground below was scorching hot. The wind carried its heat, doing what it could to disperse the melting temperature.

On this sunny day, a feather lighter than a droplet of water gently descends on the mortal ground. While dancing elegantly in the air, a trail of scarlet flames followed its path, burning the feather every time it licked its tip.

Foosh… Fwoosh…

The feather slowly neared the ground, and the flame had already burned most of its mass, the rest had long merged with the dust and the wind.

FWOOSH!

Touching the ground, a burst of flame shot up, swallowing the feather and charring the already charred soil! With the breath of the wind, the flames rapidly died, before completely fading into hot air. Its purpose was fulfilled, and its life was finally set free.

In the lonely village, a man lay silent on the charred soil. His hair started to gray long ago, but now, red strands were invading the battlefield known as the man's scalp.

Opening his eyes, the man revealed his dull brown eyes, but there was something odd about them. It was like looking at a lake, but the lake was upside down, and the sky was below it. Yet, after blinking once, everything returns to normal as if nothing had happened.

The man sat up, massaging his sore legs and throbbing head.

“Ugh… fuck, where am I?”

The man looked around, seeing an empty village, a few trees behind him, and a shallow pond right next to him. Looking at himself, he found that he was bare in front of nature.

“H-Huh?!”

Jumping to his feet, the man watched assets dance wildly!

“Shit, god damn it!”

With a face beet-red, the man covered his body with one hand and knocked on one of the huts. When no one answered, he shamelessly opened the door with force.

“Ah… fuck,” when the door opened, the man was greeted by an abandoned, dusty, empty room.

The man searched the entire village, one hut at a time, before he finally found some clothes in the tiniest hut. He found a small shirt that barely fit him, and a long skirt that was torn at the front. From the back, the skirt looks perfectly fine and reached halfway through the man's legs. However, from the front, the area from above his knee and below was visible.

“I guess… it's better than nothing,” the man sighed. A cold breeze passed by, seeping into the torn skirt, with the man feeling the chill with his entire soul.

He may have found a shirt that clearly belongs to a girl and a long skirt, but he didn't find any underwear.

To be exact, he didn't find any men's underwear.

“I'm not wearing panties, fuck that!”

Now with a little more dignity to his name, the man returned to the place he woke up from. There, he found a red glove that was torn apart and a little burnt.

“I… sigh… thank you for letting me live,” the man bowed to the glove, waiting for a whole minute before leaving.

When the man left, the glove turned into ash, scattering into the air as a gentle breeze passed by.