I focused again after zooming out and drifting on a sea of weird questions and strange thoughts. I stopped and grabbed some snack biomass from the transporter mites.

It took me a couple of minutes to finish eating everything that had been accumulated.

Shortly after, I started summoning units and organizing defenses.

There were 2 main areas in the cave. The first one was a water-filled entrance, and the second one an elevated ground area where I dug up some minor defense positions that could help us stand our place.

I put some bomb units hidden on the ceiling and fighters at the high ground. With the multiple biomorph options, I modified a couple of them to shoot sharp pieces of chitin that work like harpoons.

Not only it can cut and cause piercing injuries, but those chitin projectiles were also filled with venom and spores that burned the blood and damaged organs of the creature attacked.

Lastly, I produced a couple of units that worked as my tanks by reinforcing the chitin biomorph to level 3.

That allowed me to stack several layers of chitin on them and, given enough time, I could even produce detailed pieces to mimic armor.

A scout was patrolling the corridor 20 meters ahead of the entrance and kept giving us information about any strange sights it captured.

I then prepared a secure area where I hid the broken small core and the medium one I had been carrying for quite a while already.

Despite the broken state of the first core and its inherent instability, I might as well use it to produce some damage as a bobby trap.

“Norn, could we-”

"Host, the scout has detected some movement. Several small creatures are advancing to our position."

“What?! Are they plants or arachnids? No, wait! Spiders can’t breathe underwater, so it should be the flowers or that freaking 8 legged bastard with a skull! Get ready!!”

The fighters took positions all around me, some of the more agile ones on the ceiling, and the rest at the rock defenses we created on the cave.

A minute or two went by as the scout came back to the cave and started showing me a weird image; a shrimp mantis.

“That is unexpected!”

"Host, we don't detect any hostility, and they are swimming in a rather slow formation. Do we attack them?"

I give it a thought, looking left and right to my units, and once I am sure we have the upper hand, respond.

"Let them inside the cave, have every fighter ready to jump at them. If those creatures do anything weird or threatening, make the bombs at the ceiling explode!"

I walked to the high area and watched as a parade of colorful shrimp mantises swam into the cave and started to form a semi-circle near the shore area. Then the largest one walked slowly out of the water and rose its claws at me.

It then made a clicking noise that I remember to have heard before, in the tunnels. Maybe it has been following us for some time already.

"Kai, this creature is the matriarch, a queen of sorts."

“I see that, but she’s quite injured. Why is she here?”

The queen-mantis rises her claws again, and then all the other creatures following her do the same, following its leader and click at the same time, with quite a loud sound.

"Host, the Mantis Queen seems to be using some sort of archaic communication based on sound. It wants to have a duel for the right to inhabit this cave."

“It wants to fight then?”

The queen-mantis stopped and raised her body out of the water, looking at me with her multi-colored eyes. I could see a trace of intelligence, a spark of something very human-like.

“Ok, let’s play then.”

I am certainly curious, as this is the first creature to have shown such intelligence and a weird and primitive sense of honor. I will respect that and have the duel. I am certain I can overpower her. And worst-case scenario, I could throw the mites against them.

"Kai, whatever you do, don't kill her. She's royalty!"

I rolled my 6 eyes at Norn's idiotic remark and inspected my rival. She had two bumpy compound eyes that could see in nearly 300 degrees, so I could forget about scoring a sucker punch with my tail, but I saw that she had some injuries.

"Norn, Darwin, any idea what caused those injuries?"

"The injuries seem caused by one or several creatures of its same species."

“A civil war? More like a coup…” Even these seemingly intelligent animals were ruthless as fuck from what I could see.

I walked forward, leaving behind the tanks and fighters and stood in front of it. I weighed over 30 kilograms and was physically more imposing than it was, but not by much.

I raised my front claws, morphed into two sharp scythes. The mantis raised its own claws, and we stood still, waiting.

The cave fell into silence, and a ridiculous battle of wills starts.

We both looked for an opening, and when she starts to recede her left claw, I attacked. She moved her right claw with terrible speed, blocking my attack and pushing me back with a fast and precise impact.

"Has she feigned weakness?" I felt quite some pain in my inner muscles inside the chitin. This queen can hit quite hard.

"Darwin, activate the adrenal glands!" I feel a mixture of healing energy and battle enhancing hormones kick my body as heat spreads through my body. I see her moving slower than before as if she was less fluid.

I moved forward and attacked again, hitting her left claw. I noticed that it was not her moving slower, it was me. A secondary effect of the adrenal glands was an increased metabolism. And I could see that as my energy levels were burning lower by each passing second.

We crashed again, and as we were going to clash the third time, she was a fraction slower than before, not capable of showing that much strength without a brief rest between attacks.

On the other hand, I kept my adrenal glands pumping adrenaline to maintain the rhythm of the battle and my limbs agile. Despite the waste of biomass, I felt that this duel is a strange occurrence.

Even Norn and Darwin are not complaining about my decision, for once.

We clashed again and again. I felt some cracks appearing in my limbs, and my muscles start to burn with accumulated strain, I could even feel my hp falling because of this duel and the obstination we were both having.

After 25 or 30 hits, we both fall back to rest for a second. "AH, Ahh... Hahaha, she is good! Wow, I did not know this could be so fun!"

I then coiled my tail and used it against the ground to gain impulse, preparing for the last blow. The mantis was preparing herself too.

Somehow, she was standing up, despite the accumulated damage; I could even see some blood falling from her mouth.

A few of her brood broke the circle and approached to help her, but she hit the water with the tail a few times.

Its offspring stopped and went back, understanding that the queen’s pride did not allow her to receive help. The mantis then rose her claws one more time.

I noticed she had several eggs on her thorax when it moved the tail.

I stopped and shook my head and stopped the adrenal glands. My fight junkie and hyper-violent state started receding, and I decided to put down my claws. The mantis queen was already defeated. I didn't need to kill nor humiliate it anymore.

"Kai, what are you doing?! I was joking! Kill her, and let's eat them all!"

I stood down and pointed at the side of the cave, part of the lake can be theirs to rest.

The queen looks at me and puts down her claws too, accepting my offer.

She then clicks the claws, and the rest of her child went fast next to her to help her stand and recover.

"How filial, you could learn a bit of family love from them, Norn."

"I have Darwin and you. What else do I need?"

"Huh… It doesn't matter. We will let them stay, for now."

"Host. Don't you want to acquire their biomass?"

"I do, but they could prove to be a potential ally. That queen had quite a good punch, but I'm sure it was holding back to avoid a massacre. I'm interested in that fast attack. Try analyzing it, Norn."

"It could be faster by killing and eating them up! It would save many hours of work!"

"No. Not yet, at least. If you can't then-"

"WHAT?! Of course, I can unlock that! TSSCH!"

I smiled by how easily triggered Norn was sometimes. But then, my eyes shone purple for half a second, and I thought to myself that I was on Norn's body, that was true.

But my real allies were reduced to one person. Me.

I wasn't human anymore, but I wasn't a Tyranid either. "If I ever forget that, I will die sooner or later without realizing it."