The creature roared, and I could see lines and lines of twisted and sharp fangs and sharp teeth.

Corruption had taken its toll on the beast. Its skin, body, and mind had changed, from an oversized octopus to a monster beyond recognition.

A reinforced bone-shell recovered its head and thorax, the damaged and giant tentacles had sharp claws at its ends, and blood worms festered its body; it looked more dead than alive.

Yet it jumped forward, with utmost hate and maddened resolve.

I launched the eggs of the Gaunts right into its maw, and it swallowed them, yet once the creatures awoke, they started to cut and chop its insides, turning it even more ferocious.

* ROAGHH!!!

The creature moved back and began to chop itself in a frenzy, cracking its shell but failed to kill the Gaunts that were eviscerating its stomach.

I kept shooting at it, and one of the living ammunition managed to hit one of its many eyes, and began to burrow deeper into the beast's skull and brain.

With an absolute desperate roar, the beast fell backward to the acid waters and attracted the attention of even more parasites. Together with the huge snake parasite, the creature's wounds were a mix of roots and tendrils attacking from outside and flesh worms festering inside it.

But pain and madness proved stronger than the mind control from the wicked parasites, at least for now. The creature used its remaining tentacles to attack at the creatures nearby, even jumping on one of its own beasts that were hiding and half devouring it to gain some energy.

I crawled back towards the metal wall, passing next to the piece of the tentacle. I threw seeds to it and devoured some of the tainted flesh, hoping the corrupted biomass would not affect my injured body.

My health was in the single digits, and I knew I could not suffer another hit, else I would collapse and die shortly afterward.

The Gaunts were trying to keep chopping the wall, but weren’t strong enough on their own.

“Darwin, activate our psychic powers!”

I could sense the hesitation on him, as it was a tactic that would weaken me and attract the warp entity.

* “Psychic Catalyst!!”

The Gaunts stopped and started to move in an unnatural and coordinated effort, chopping one strike after another in perfect synchrony, like a team of perfectly trained metal workers hitting a piece of metal to give it form. The opening was slowly growing at each hit.

The talons from the Gaunts were slowly being damaged, yet they attacked as one unique being.

A terrible crack was heard through the biome, together with a low growl. It was both carrying warp and psychic energy, and I heard the sound of wood breaking apart, twisting and cracking. I turned to see the willow tree slowly unfolding to present a creature lurking under its leaves.

That being was hidden under the shadows, and all I could make sense was a weird and thin presence, like a sword ready to strike.

The more I looked at the tree, the more anxiety it gave me, and I turned to activate the rain again as the waterfall was now completely ruined.

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Red and acid water began to fall over the biome again, yet I didn't hear more screams or roars. As the tree had awakened, massive amounts of roots started to grow in seconds.

All creatures on the biome were captured and enslaved, turned into a matrix of living beings serving the tree-like creature. They were a net of living slaves, ready to serve it, prepared to die for it.

The acid rain only managed to damage that roots and tendrils slowly, but the tree started to shake its branches, sending a swarm of vines towards us.

They tendrils crawled over the fallen octopus, that was still fighting desperately next to our cave.

I frowned and saw the biome's enslaved creatures and parasites turning to our direction and approaching the broken waterfall.

“We need more time!”

I had an idea and moved towards the pulsating mass of worms that used to be called a transporter and attached an organic tube towards my right claw, using a seed and biomass to craft a poorly designed weapon.

As I activated it, I pointed towards the swarm of vines and poured blood worms and acid at them, halting the creatures' advance and making death rain at them.

I grit my maws, as the acid was painful to endure, and the worms were trying to devour my right claw, yet I kept the attack.

My eyes shone as the situation kept escalating, and the tree roots began to move in our direction.

From under the tree, immense spider-like limbs surged, as the Spider queen had been assimilated into the willow tree and started to take slow steps forward, ignoring the acid rain.

I noticed a group of corrupted spiders fighting far from us, near their nest, and prayed for them not to get closer to us, as I could not defend against two sides at once.

My eyes began to lose focus as I was overextended. My right claw's shell cracked, and the pain from the worms broke my concentration.

I stopped the attack and fell to the ground, gasping for air. "Fuck..."

As I ran out of energy, the psychic effects of my power began to fade, and the Gaunts lost most of their coordination.

They then began to fall too, their bodies completely exhausted and drained from energy. My psychic energy had drained them to attack in a frenzy, ignoring all wounds for several minutes to open the hole, but they too hit their limits when I couldn't supply more energy.

The hole was almost ready for me to pass, but when I raised my head, I saw the parasites advancing, and I knew I needed to do something quickly.

"Darwin, activate the adrenal glands, burn biomass to gain energy, do whatever it takes to keep us pushing forward!"

I cracked my neck and activated my core, enhancing my psychic powers, and managing to stand up again. At the same time, the willow tree's legs began to move faster towards me, sensing the core energy.

I turned and poured acid and sent bombs at the wall, trying to make the whole increase in size, but the acid merely damaged the metal a little bit, not enough to weaken it significantly.

“Fuck, we will use the old ways then! Darwin! Help me summon some tanks and coordinate them!”

I summoned several tank units that grew faster than the Gaunts and sent them to punch and bend the metal. It was way much slower than before, but the tanks managed to keep advancing.

* "Host, I will try to awaken Norn, hold the enemies a few minutes."

"Easier said than done!! Bring that fucking Queen ASAP, and tell her to help somehow!!"

I roared as my right claw was completely morphed into a pulsating mass of chitin, flesh, and acid. It barely held together, and I could do nothing but keep attacking to stop our enemies' advances.

It turned into a marathon of resistance, where I had to keep the enemies at bay with the acid while withstanding the pain myself. Yet the huge tree creature was slowly getting closer.

My mind was gradually turning towards the most primitive and savage impulses, and all I could think of was on kill and escape. Survive. Consume.

Suddenly, an obnoxious voice was heard. Norn was as prideful as always, but I felt a ray of hope.

* “You’re quite desperate, aren’t you, Kai? Lend me give you a ‘hand.’”

“Wait, Norn? What do you mean?” Yet her voice died slowly afterward, falling again into slumber. And as her voice died out, my right claw's pain began to increase steadily.

"Grrraaaghhh!!!"

I shook my head and noticed my right claw pulsating with energy, as it was morphing into something different, deadlier. I had to grit my teeth and withstand the pain and burning sensation that hit my whole limb.

I had morphed seeds and chitin to shoot acid and worms, but Norn did something. The claw began turning into a weapon.

After a few seconds, it had reforged, and most of the chitin and pulsating flesh cracked and closed into a sort of rotten and living projectile weapon.

I looked at it with interest and activated it. It then began throwing living bullets each time I activated it. Each time I trigger it, a bio-electric jolt sput a living worm that hit an enemy and began to burrow and fester in my enemies' flesh.

I began to enjoy the feeling of each shot, as psychic energy rose. My six eyes cracked with purple light, and I smiled, witnessing the massacre my weapon was causing.

The dying octopus kept trying to rise again, and I was tired of it. I turned my weapon at the beast, and shot at it.

The living projectiles hit it in the broken thorax, maw, and eyes. Some worms began to burrow and somehow reached the brain, causing immense pain to the creature, that roared and started slashing at everything without caring for its life anymore.

The creature attracted the attention of every nearby parasite, and I moved back to rest for a few seconds.

* “Host, you have unlocked a Tyranid bio-weapon, a Devourer.”

I heard Darwin's words and looked at my grotesque right arm and felt like it was a sick joke.

Turning to the half-devoured tentacle and threw several Gaunt eggs and waited for them to be born.