The three remaining units moved back while I focus all my eyes and senses into that seemingly innocent rock. "Hmm… It actually is some sort of camouflage, there is something under it."

That would explain how many of the bird’s remains disappeared without me noticing.

As I try to think about how to proceed, I saw several more rocks and pieces of concrete moving slowly to the disappeared mite position. A bunch of those creatures started to assemble and devour what was left of it.

I moved again, making a little bit of noise. That low noise was enough for the creatures to stop moving all at once like they were real, lifeless rocks.

"Too bad, I already saw your little trick."

I positioned myself next to the nearest one, and stabbed it with my tail; I managed to break some parts of it, but it wasn't enough to kill it.

And that sound has alerted the pack. Now I see half a dozen armored bugs getting closer.

"NO! You fight badly. Command!"

"What do you mean? That I should use the units like bait?"

Well, they are worth just a few energy points after all, but I still don't like the idea of having them thrown into the action.

I retreated with my little units to think about a plan.

The 3 little mites ended up drying up while waiting. Their life expectancy is short as heck.

"Norn, any advances with the DNA modification?"

-Little maw!

"Huh, what do you…. Ohhh! I get it! A fighting bug! Can you do that?"

Yes, of course! The spores…. I checked my biomass, and I have 30 or so points, after some time spent growing my own body, and I decided to upgrade the biomorph spores to level 2.

It took less than a minute to upgrade it. A painful one.

As an answer, now Norn started to gather energy and a little bit of biomass, and I feel a new unit gaining life.

Unit unlocked, Fighter - 10 energy and 1 point of biomass.

As I released it, the newly formed unit unfolds, and I can see a slightly bigger and heavier bug.

It had a slightly slimmer body shape than me, but I can see a pair of powerful front limbs, like scythes. That, together with a powerful and menacing maw, was a biomorph Norn called claws and teeth.

It's the simplest biomorph in the Tyranid race, also one that grows with the user and strengthens itself to frightening levels, given time.

I released 4 fighters, and as I got drained, a little squad of newly created fighters appears before me. Despite being small, their strength is not to be underestimated.

Now I just need a strategy. I don’t want to engage our enemies head-on.

"Any ideas, guys?"

“Learning through fights is part of the Tyranid path. We need tests to optimize the strategy.” "Kill!"

"That was not helpful at all, Norn. Okay, hmm. You, unit n° 1, go to the left and start to make noise, you 3, follow me.

We let the first unit go around the group of rock while we started to surround the furthest rock-bug to ambush it. The rest didn't seem too smart, or I wouldn't try to pull this off.

The fighter started screaming and shouting, making a pretty good battle-cry.

As the strange group drifted its direction towards the sound, we proceed with our attack.

The hard rock-like shell proved quite hard to break, so I tried using my teeth instead.

I got next to it and launched my horrifying secondary mouth. This time, the attack broke its shell easily.

My 3 little helpers began biting and attacking to the best of their capabilities.

Despite the protection and low intelligence, I underestimated its speed and strength; this damned bug managed to catch one of my units!

"Not gonna happen! Again!"

I used my strength to gain some advantage against the body of this bug while it was attacking a fighter; With some difficulty, I managed to turn it upside down. Not without getting myself a few scratches.

"I can see it now!" It looked like a trilobite. We then jumped at it and started devouring it since its defenses were much weaker on the inside.

I tasted its flesh and blood, satiating some of the hunger I have been building at such a slow pace. "Let’s keep the fight!"

Some of these mutated trilobites surrounded us with all the noise, and I feel it’s time to back off from this battle. They’re too much for me to handle single-handedly. The fighters are just a distraction right now.

I called back my units and went near the group of enemies. Just as I reached their position, I started releasing some black and green smoke through my spore biomorph that surrounds me. A few seconds later, the creatures that touch it began to shriek and move back frantically as their shells are being corroded.

That will entertain them and make them cautious for a couple of hours until they decide to move again. Painful lessons tend to stick with us more than anything else.

I ordered the bait fighter to escape while we transported the trilobite's carcass far from this position into a secluded place.

While tired and slightly hurt, I could gather a few key points to battle this prey way more easily.

We will keep damaging them with this hit and run guerrilla tactics to drain them and make them move to our rhythm, not the other way around. That will help us decide the flow of the battle.

"Can you show me my status?"

Primal Larvae - Ripper

Stats:

Level - 3 (40 biomass to level up)

Health - 13/15

Energy - 17/60

Biomass Reserves - 28 biomass / 4 corrupted (processing)

Str - 14

Res - 11

Vit - 10

Agi - 8

Int - 4

Biomorph list:

Support level 2

Enhanced senses level 2

Maw and claws level 3

Chitin level 1

Poison sting level 1

Spores level 1 --> 2

The trilobites gave me a few more biomass points, and Norn shut herself to study its DNA and make some tests to try to enhance my Chitin and defense.

As a Tyranid, food is as important as DNA material. One may provide enough units and resources, but it’s the DNA that matters at the end of the day. It is critical towards unlocking better genetic paths, biomorphs, units, etc.

All in all, the best path seems to be killing and devouring our enemies.

I finished eating the carcass and started to munch on the hard surface of the shell. Love the crunchiness of this thing. Besides, it has given me a few ideas to use some camouflage myself in the future.

I summoned 4 new units and proceeded with the same strategy.

This time we took down 2 trilobites before having to back from the bug pack. It took a few more travels to finish off this group of cowards.

I took vengeance for my little unit. And got me quite a bunch of food in the process.