I watched as the creature disappeared down the corridor, and with it gone, I trembled with excitement at how smoothly my plans were progressing. If I was essentially the same as them, I could move freely around the hive without having to hide from other hosts. And under the same, doesn't that also apply to the wasps?

The wasps didn't attack hosts, so I would be safe, right? I had to try to be certain, though. To test this I would have to find another wasp in one of these tunnels and pass by it to see how it would react. If I could fool a wasp, that would mean I could simply slither out of the hive and no one would stop me.

I sighed helplessly, the hosts had it so easy.

But what if it didn't work?

If it didn't, this risky action would likely be the last thing I would ever attempt. An encounter with one wasp would likely not kill me if I could escape from it, but if there was more of them, I shivered at the thought.

Furthermore with the way things were, if I left the hive now, the growing number of wasps would become an even bigger problem. The next time I happened to be caught as larvae food, I might not be so lucky to escape. And as if that wasn't enough problems, I still didn't know exactly where the exit was, I only had a hunch that it was somewhere down below.

I'd still have to bypass a large number of wasps to get there! Even in the off chance that my masking was a success, they were still horrible odds. Every action had its own set of problems, but standing out in the open wasn't going to help me decide, so I quickly entered the nearest tunnel.

This one was long and dark with an opening in the centre of its wall. I scanned once more with [Heat Sense], it showed me there were more hosts so I quickly entered. However the cells were all open and there were no eggs inside.

Disappointed I exited the cavern, it seemed the wasps had not made their rounds here yet. The creatures inside were still paralysed but I had no use for them. I continued out of the tunnel to the open space and chose another tunnel to enter.

This one showed heat signatures of more host creatures and I entered its cavern, hopeful. However, instead of fresh eggs, all that was left were their splintered shells. I was too late and all the hosts here were already assimilated.

Looking through the sealed openings of the hexagonal chambers, I watched the sleeping hosts getting assimilated and I grimaced. I could clearly see the larvae wiggling under the skin below their necks.

How creepy!

I resisted the urge to climb down and poison all of them. Even though their states looked dormant, the larvae reacted and fought like normal creatures when threatened. They would likely become active as soon as I tried to enter their cells, so I didn't. However, looking around the cavern I observed one more thing.

Of the thirty chambers, some had damage done to their membrane lids, and it wasn't anything like the precise cuts I would make to crawl in. The lids were ripped apart where the host creatures had crawled out and I counted three of these.

The possibility that the creatures had actually escaped crossed my mind, but the likelihood was low. I realised the hosts that awakened to leave the hive were only a few. Most of the remaining hosts here would likely spend all the time in the sealed chamber until they fully matured.

If all the larvae here were already inside their hosts, then those three must have hatched earlier than the others. There was no extra egg in the cells so there was no way to tell, but they were likely eggs of the weaker queen.

It dawned on me that this must be the cavern the creature earlier had exited out from. If there were three missing, one must be the ape, another was the creature and there was one other unknown.

But as I looked around the cavern at all the unconscious hosts and my eyes fell on something that made me freeze. I'd missed it earlier but there was one more hole with a torn membrane. Unlike the others, this one was deflated, and it looked like something had crawled in!

I activated [Heat Sense] in that direction and immediately revealed the outlines of two host creatures in the same cell. One had a much stronger heat signature while the other was so faded and weak, it was barely noticeable. No wonder I'd missed it.

The last host was still inside! It had just changed cells to eat another.

I slowly inched towards the cell and saw a truly bizarre scene inside. There was a large cocoon with inky black tendrils attached to the wall that covered the entirety of the chamber. And perched on this cocoon, was another creature, feasting on its flesh.

A huge bat-like creature with a flaming red back whose fangs had impaled the cocoon to suck the blood of the creature inside. The vine-like off shoots would occasionally swat at the bat to attack it but its heat source was gradually getting weaker and the bat didn't even bother to deflect them anymore.

I slowly backed away from the membrane opening of the host chamber, taking care not to make any sudden noises.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Silence LV 3』has become『Silence LV 4』〛

What the hell did I just witness? Host cannibalism?

There was a tense moment as the creature raised its wings to slap away a moving tendril, but it didn't detect me as I slipped past. I didn't breathe until I was out in the tunnel and thankfully I remained undetected.

I wondered if it was the larvae's motive or simply that of the creature it inhabited. It could have attacked its rival to strengthen itself. But once the larva was inside, it was impossible to distinguish, so unless it knew beforehand a host wouldn't simply attack another unless they had a way to tell.

So did that mean I wasn't safe from attacks from hosts either?

Any host could belong to either queen so if they were attacking each other even before they left the hive, there wasn't much safety here. Maybe the reason that the host didn't attack me earlier was simply because we were eggs of the same queen.

But since there was no way of telling which host belonged to which queen as I wasn't a host myself, I was better off avoiding any moving ones in general. I recovered quickly and exited the tunnel.

My time was better spent finding a third cavern to increase my host count, and I quickly spotted another. This time I didn't make the mistake of entering the cavern and observed from outside, to make sure the hosts were complete.

There were 30 here and for once the conditions were viable. The eggs in this tunnel had not yet hatched and all the creatures were still immobile from paralysis. Once again there were eggs attached to the wall, but only 8 this time. Destroying the remaining eggs would bring my host count to 43. It wasn't too bad.

I slithered into each chamber and used my venom on each egg I located. It was just as Sensei said, my proficiency had increased, and I only had to use a little each time. It wasn't unlimited but it was enough to destroy every larvae egg I located and by the time I finished I felt empty.

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have earned 44XP〛

My venom had reduced to only a quarter of its original capacity and my MP had fallen to the lowest it had been since my birth. I had to eat again and soon. 

The nest would face upheaval when my actions were revealed and it wasn't worth dying before I could see that. It was better to find a food source before I tried another cavern.

I was about to exit the tunnel, when I felt some familiar vibrations out in the open space. The wasps were coming!

I retreated back to the cavern and observed them to see where they would go. I counted ten wasps and they all flew past the tunnel openings with none of them stopping to go inside.

Moving forward at fast speeds, they all converged to a central tunnel at the end of the open space, with a pathway twice the size of the others. I peeked out of the tunnel watching them depart, the vibrations of their wings still echoing through the pillars.

Something told me there was more than one way to the lower levels of the hive and I immediately followed after the wasps, keeping at a safe distance. They had a knack of appearing out of nowhere, and it served to reason there were more openings to the ground.

If I continued following them, maybe these secret tunnels would be revealed.