(POV Karina)

When I catch sight of Sylvia's motionless form, I immediately rush to her. Her drones are already taking care of her and removing the blood that sticks to her. I hope that she is not too badly injured and that she will recover soon. Unfortunately, I can't help her and have to rely on the fact that her swarm already knows what it's doing. Before I can think about it any longer, the Sylv are already on the move. Led by their giant Hive Commander, they set off and move away from the scene of the carnage.

I follow them and am glad that we don't linger here any longer. All the blood that has been spilled must have already attracted quite a few hunters of the forest. I prefer to get out of here before they arrive. We are making good progress and the Sylv warriors' formation intimidates the smaller hunters of the forest enough to avoid us. At one point, the Sylv swarm itself changes course to make way for a larger creature.

During the ensuing march through the forest, I stay close to Sylvia, who by now has been completely cleared of the smaller drones. She seems to have some minor burns, but nothing serious that I can see from the outside. I hope she recovers quickly because I don't want to imagine what might happen if the Hive Commander remains in charge of my security. The Sylv warriors don't seem as friendly to me as before, but rather dismissive. I have the feeling that I am no longer protected, I am only tolerated.

In this way, we continue to move forward through the forest, until sometime later Sylvia finally regains consciousness. With a groan, she slowly opens her eyes again and carefully moves her limbs. I hurry to her and speak to her: "It's good that you're back! How are you feeling? Does it still hurt?"

After a moment's hesitation, she answers me, "I don't feel good, but it's getting better. How about you?". I answer that I am fine and then start to inform Sylvia about what happened while she was not conscious. After I finish my report, Sylvia wants to eat some food. The tension eases from me and I am glad that we survived the clash with the Goblins so well. In the conversation with Sylvia, I come to the conclusion that she is doing relatively well, even though she is still being carried by other Sylv instead of moving herself. However, when I realize what Sylvia meant by food intake, I feel a bit nauseous and turn away.

(POV Sylvia)

I am still quite exhausted from the heavy load of combat, so I continue to be carried. I appreciate Karina's report, which gives me a new perspective on the events. I am already back up to date through the swarm consciousness, but I don't show that openly. I listen patiently and then command a worker drone to feed me the new biomass we acquired from the battle. I am already curious what Strains I can extract this time.

All Sylv drones have a social stomach where processed biomass can be stored for later use by the swarm. When the worker drone reaches me, we press our mouth openings over each other, whereupon the drone begins regurgitating the stored biomass to feed me. The process works smoothly and allows me to process it immediately. From another drone's point of view, I notice that Karina feels discomfort and turns away. I'm not clear why this is the case, but I guess it's probably because humans don't have social stomachs. Anyway, from the genetic material of the Goblins I gain a new Strain, which is quite complex. I call it Parasitic Heritage. It allows creating of a copy of the donor's species in the target as if it were fertilized. This allows new Sylv creatures to be created without a Spawning Grounds and instead use a captured creature as a production facility.

Updated Strain Overview:

Strains gathered (New Strains are highlighted): Rapid Regeneration, Improved Strength, Improved Agility, Needle Spines R.A., Acid Slime R.A., Acidic Spines R.A., Reinforced Hide, Improved Hardened Carapace, Ceiling Runner, Feathery Wings, Insectoid Wings, Silk Generation, Poisonous Flesh, Full Body Chitin Armor, Optical Camouflage, Improved Vision, Improved Sense of Smell, Pheromone Glands, Heat Vision, Echolocation, Tunneling Claws, Razor Claws, Parasitic Heritage, Venom Production [Paralyzing Venom, Neurotoxin Venom]*.

*Venator type warriors use paralyzing venom, the other types use the deadly neurotoxin venom

During my meal, my swarm continues to move through the forest with me. After I finish being fed by the drone, I address Karina: "I'll make sure to give you a heads-up next time. I didn't expect this kind of feeding to be unpleasant for you."

Karina gets a little red in the face and sheepishly replies, "Well, so ... It's fine. It was just a little unexpected. It's not a problem!"

With a soft chuckle, I reply, "Of course."

We continue on our way without any more encounters for now and slowly it is already starting to get brighter. We will have to take a break before the sun is blinding my swarm and I, therefore, order the drones of my swarm to look for a suitable place for a temporary Hive Complex. A short time later we have found a suitable spot and the digging begins.

However, we are interrupted in our digging work as a larger figure begins to move toward us. I inform Karina and ask her for information. From her, I learn that it is a stone golem. Golems are magical constructs and have a core inside, which you have to destroy in order to deactivate them.

While the stone golem continues to approach, my Hive Commander already takes care of the formation of the swarm warriors. I cloak again and use Ceiling Runner to quickly climb a tree. Now that the golem has come closer, I can see it better. I see before me a behemoth about three-meter tall, which looks like a spider-like construct made of rocks fused in different ways. As this colossus moves toward us, I can hear the crunching and scraping of rock on rock. The stone golem consists of a particularly large conglomeration of rocks in the center, from which three stone legs and four arms extend. I can't make out ahead or anything similar.

While my swarm enjoys the golem's full attention, I prepare to attack the golem from above at the right moment. The Hive Commander steps forward along with the Roach-type warriors and begins firing at the golem from a distance. My swarm first concentrates the acid bombardment on one of the legs to limit the enemy's mobility. The stone golem doesn't take this lying down however and grabs a tree with two of its stone arms, which it then pulls out of the ground with roots and all. My Hive Commander reacts appropriately and loosens the formation of the warriors. Shortly after, the golem already hurls the uprooted tree at one of the warriors. What a display of strength!

The warrior tries to dodge the projectile but is too slow and is hit full on. The sheer force of the tree effortlessly breaks through the warrior's armor and crushes him to a paste beneath. Additionally, a neighboring warrior is grazed by the treetop and flung away. My swarm, however, does not hesitate for a second and mercilessly continues its bombardment. The acid is already eating deeper into the rock from the front leg but doesn't seem to be restricting its functioning so far. This is bad, very bad! The golem has already traveled half the distance to us and is moving toward us faster than we could move away from it.

The Warriors and Hive Commander are already backing away as they continue their bombardment, but the Golem is closing in fast. Instead of stopping to uproot another tree, it charges toward the Hive Commander. In response, the latter orders the Brawler-type warriors forward in a V formation to attack the Golem from the sides. The golem is too large and too strong to be stopped by the warriors.

Shortly after the stone colossus reaches the first warriors, I drop down from above and use Kinetic Blast against the weakened leg. Under the heavy load, the acid-eaten leg-breaks and the golem falls over forward, whereupon its momentum is consumed. I then quickly dodge to the side, while the Brawlers begin to strike from the flanks. The bombardment is switched over to the center of the golem and starts its destructive effect there.

The stone golem begins to strike at the Brawler-type warriors with its arms and legs in its confusion. Whenever it hits one of these, the warrior is either flung away or crushed by the force. The crunching and cracking of the warriors' armor can be heard all around me. The armor does not adequately protect the warriors, but most of those who are thrown away can pick themselves up again.

Slowly, the golem begins to regain control and straightens up again. Due to the many attacks, he has slight damage to most of his limbs and the rock in the center is covered in acid. However, he is far from defeated and brings his attention back to the Hive Commander. The stone golem can no longer be held back by the warriors' attacks and quickly bridges the remaining distance to its target.

The Hive Commander deftly dodges the golem's attacks and throws himself at the core, finding purchase with his claws. He uses his six limbs and tail to hold on tightly and begins to climb to the top. The golem smashes its core against the ground to throw off the Hive Commander but is unsuccessful in doing so. I take the chance to approach cloaked from the other side and disrupt the Golem's balance with another Kinetic Blast. This happens just in time to protect the Hive Commander from being hit with one of the stone arms. Instead, the Golem hits its core and sags to the ground again from the force, while splintering away more pieces of the rocks covering it.

I am hit by stony shrapnel and retreat, as I’m still not in top condition after the last fight. The golem continues to be pelted with acid and harassed from the sides. The Hive Commander dodges another blow from the golem and then starts hacking at a crack where a lot of acid has already flowed in. This seems to disturb the stone golem a lot, whereupon it drops down and tries to hit the Hive Commander with multiple arms at the same time. The latter can't dodge all the attacks and is inevitably hit in the side. I hear the breaking of his armor, but it saves him from the worst and he manages to stay on top of the Golem. The Hive Commander continues his attack fiercely, even as two of his arms hang motionless to the side. Before the Golem can attack again, something critical inside the stone monstrosity seems to shatter. After a sound like shattering glass, the golem slumps down motionless.