Peeking into the world crafted by Chief, Helzar looked around in amazement. Just from a glance, he could see an area with massive rocks and a barren rocky field. He saw many areas filled with small and medium sized plants separated by small streams of water. He even saw a bonsai tree at the right corner of the vivarium.
The “land” in the vivarium was an island, an “ocean” separating the glass from the land mass. Helzar saw various shadows and a few plants inside the waters, but only for a few moments before the test tube was placed inside.
‘It doesn't look man-made,’ Helzar couldn't help but praise Chief's creativity. He saw many artists create such “gardens” before, but they all looked obviously man-made.
‘On the other hand, this all looks natural, as though it was carved out of a miniature planet. That human created this?’ Helzar glanced at Chief. Seeing his glowing blue eyes, Helzar felt that something was off.
‘Whatever, I'll bid my time and secretly grow the Swarm.’
Helzar was aware that Chief was observing his every move. He even knows that Chief is trying to control him. He obviously knew that hiding his swarm would be hard, but not impossible.
‘I created the Eaters before, and they're far from useless. Sadly, I couldn't use it before,’ Helzar ordered his Spawns to dig an underground chamber for the swarm.
‘If I used it, I'd be revealing yet another one of my cards to that human.’
The Eaters can eat insects and other critters. However, immediately after feeding, it’d eat its own body before bursting, revealing several worms for the swarm to eat.
‘Although I cannot produce infinite food through the Eaters, they have the potential to become storage units. I just have to modify their behaviors,’ Helzar, looking forward to the future, accidentally bit a Spawn's body. The spawn didn't resist, immediately dying as its body was cut in half.
‘...shit,’ Helzar sighed, eating the Spawn's body to recycle it. Thankfully, good news reached his ears afterward.
‘Come to think of it, how can I hear? I don't think I have ears,’ Helzar shook his head, focusing on the report he got from his Spawn.
He can communicate with the Swarm through their telepathic link. However, he can also hear Chief's ramblings, despite not being able to understand them.
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‘The underground chamber is finished. The Spawns are working on making it safer and bigger, but I can move in now,’ Helzar didn't wait to crawl out of the test tube and enter the vivarium. When he touched the moist soil, he nearly jumped for joy!
‘Damn, I never thought I'd be happy to touch soil,’ Helzar thought absentmindedly as he entered the underground tunnel. A few minutes later, the entire Swarm moved in, leaving behind an empty test tube.
When Helzar sent out his Spawns to hunt, he found that the test tube was gone. He knew that Chief took it away.
+++-+++-+++
Forming a group of fifty, Helzar's Spawns ventured into a nearby rocky terrain. There was moss carpeting the rocks wherever they looked, and they also found many springtails bouncing about.
A few Spawns hunted the springtails, splitting it evenly and eating them to increase their lifespans. This was one of Helzar's orders, as he didn't want to replace the Spawns very often.
Although the Nest had strong vitality, it would get overwhelmed if he tried hatching hundreds of Spawns at once.
Not only that, Helzar wanted to see if the Spawns could evolve on their own through eating.
After foraging for a few minutes, the Spawns finally saw a worthwhile prey. It was a beetle, and a fat one at that. Its exoskeleton was shimmering a faint blue light, and it was slowly trying to leave the rocky terrain.
The Spawns knew from Helzar that a few minutes to their left, a lush area awaits, full of foliage and hiding spots. Upon entering the maze-like amalgamation of plants, it would be easy to lose the prey they found.
CLACK!
The Spawns clacked their mandibles together, staring at their soon-to-be offering to Helzar. They swiftly surrounded the beetle, trying their best to conceal their presence. The beetle was nearly 10 centimeters, and it wasn't paying attention to its surroundings either. It was merely limping toward the promised haven.
CLACK! CLACK!
When the Spawns were in position, they swarmed the beetle, biting at all corners of its body!
SZZZ!
The beetle trashed about, feeling the painful bites of dozens of Spawns! Yet, the Spawns hadn't drawn blood from the beetle, and the beetle realized this too.
Seizing the opportunity, the beetle opened its elytra, unfolding its wings!
CLACK! CLACK!
BZZZ…
However, the Spawns saw its actions as a threat and readily mauled its wings, chomping down on its last hope of survival.
+++-+++-+++
The beetle's exoskeleton was tough, and the Spawns had to spend extra effort to cut it. However, the underside of the beetle was much softer.
One bite from a Spawn, and the guts of the beetle spilled out. Not long after that, the beetle was divided into four pieces before ten Spawns marched back home, bringing their spoils toward home.
The remaining forty Spawns kept foraging, and this time, they headed toward a lush area of the vivarium. There was bound to be more prey hiding in there, but the Spawns would have to exercise their stealth.
The critters there would be alert, ready to run away at any time.
As they predicted, the Spawns spotted a small snail measuring about 4 centimeters. The Spawns easily trapped the snail, but killing it was another problem. The snail's shell was ridiculously hard, and the Spawns couldn't crack it open.
The snail itself was hiding inside its shell, secreting an acidic mucus. Two Spawns tried entering the shell, but they were both killed.
Clack. Clack!
Deciding that the snail wasn't worth the effort, the Spawns let it be. There were more prey elsewhere, they didn't need to waste time on the stubborn snail.
The next prey they encountered was a caterpillar with a violet body with red stripes. The caterpillar had spiky appendages, but its body was soft and strangely elastic, almost like rubber.
Such troubles barely fazed the Spawns as they carried it back home in three pieces.
Now, only thirty Spawns were foraging for food.
+++-+++-+++
Meanwhile, a trail of ants were marching back and forth, carrying various insect parts back to their nest.
The trail was steady, uninterrupted, and organized, until an ant returned from its patrol and communicated using its pheromones.
With the news of a new prey insect, an army of hundreds of ants marched toward east, where a scout discovered a group of snails. Coincidentally, they were heading toward the remaining thirty of Helzar's Spawn!