Lair

Chapter 014 - False Mercy

By Skalsar

I.. had a.. I don't know.

What was that just now?

Images and thoughts went through my mind, but I wasn't in the hive.

Well, yes I was in the hive, but my mind seemed to be somewhere else.

After converting most magic power and creating many cores, I was exhausted.

My magic power was low and "Hiveminds" magic power was low.

Possibly even nearly depleted.

Repairing the damage was costly, yet needed.

Since I needed to rest and didn't want to waste power, I slept.

On my own accord that is.

My whole body was going to sleep. Not just my consciousness.

It was weird.

Colors I never saw before. Plants and animals I never thought existed. Structures I couldn't fathom.

Everything was weird. And the memory of it gone within seconds.

But it was familiar.

Familiar in a way, that happened every now and then.

Memories and thoughts entering the hive if prey dies.

Just that the thoughts and memories weren't a puzzle this time.

Normally, we have to go through these puzzles for weeks.

Trying to sort them.

Maybe find parallels to other thoughts and memories.

'That's called a dream, child.', "Hivemind" enters my mind.

Seems like living things sometimes dream.

I don't know if I like it.

With a small portion of magic power that my minions brought, I get up.

The hive is nearly back to normal. But the forest suffered a bit.

We had to extract more magic power from our surroundings than usual.

It looks a bit weird. The dirt turned black, the nearest plants withered.

A tree died and fell on the wall the humans had built, destroying a small part of it.

I had to snicker a bit about that.

You have to keep them busy. Humans love building walls.

They even built a wooden wall around their village.

Another breeder informs me that humans have entered the hive.

Humans have different classes.

That is something they get skills from.

It's something the deitys of this world designed for them to have.

Because they can't change through evolution.

I wonder if I could get something like a class too, one day.

Sure, I can just change the features of the shape surrounding my core, but that isn't the same.

Traveling around, getting levels, aquiring new skills for my class. Sounds pretty fun.

Maybe I can understand humans entering the hive just a bit there after all.

But risking your life is still quite stupid.

Like this group of humans right now.

Normally I wouldn't care, but they seem to be the clever kind of stupid.

Attacking single creatures or groups that are low in numbers.

Picking on the weak ones or getting them in a bad position.

It should be the other way around!

Just before, the most the humans could reach was the sixth layer.

Not so this group. They already reached the ninth.

"Hivemind" deems them dangerous.

Even through they aren't strong prey.

Seems like we will have to wipe out the group.

What could we do?

I travel to the forest for a bit in order to think.

Using my [Black Gate] the humans outside don't even notice that I bypassed them.

There are quite some magics we could use.

A ball infused elemental power maybe?

Making the room hard to breath in?

We could even lower the temperature.

No, that's not it.

But that gives me some ideas to change some of the rooms.

Most of them are just like stone.

It's boring.

Every now and then there is a room with gooey slime emitting from the walls.

That is because it's helpful to [Slimes].

A [Slime] is a creature with a fluid covering the core instead of flesh.

It can change form easily and is hard to detect in midst the slimy rooms.

Tentacles whip out if it wants to and harden in order to deal damage.

Or it can cover a body and dissolve it with an acid.

Quite dangerous for a lower layer.

Some time ago an adventurer duo came to the hive and fought them.

They were covered in acid quite fast but still killed the slime.

It was lovely seeing them despair with all that acid.

They ran back tried to leave the room, but "Hivemind" had mixed minerals to that room aswell as the room before and behind. So the duo ran back, because the [Explorer] couldn't open a [Portal].

It didn't work. They started to panic.

Believing there must be a monster nearby, they ran back to the slimy room.

Since nothing was there, they ran to the next, exhausted already.

Nothing was there either.

They started to cry because of the pain. Annoying I tell you.

But it was still fun to watch them run back and forth in agony.

I believe the stronger one was called a boy and the agile one a girl.

When they finally fell down due to the acid, I came by to see if they would survive.

To my surprise, they did.

I watched them for a while and the girl watched me.

She did look afraid, but also.. I don't really now.

There was something I did not understand yet.

Getting curious about it, I watched the boy for a while.

But he seemed more angry than afraid.

When I grabbed the girl, he somehow got up and tried to grab my arm.

"Gram..", the girl whispers in a low voice.

I opened a [Black Gate] and kicked him out of the hive.

His weird behaviour was annoying.

'What are you doing now, child?'

Seems like "Hivemind" wanted to eat them.

But I was still wondering if we should.

'You know, they were quite good till this point.

And they don't seem to give up after all.

I wonder if after all this, they would still come back.'

'Hrm..', "Hivemind" wasn't completly happy with that.

'Well, do as you wish this time.', he still agreed.

A [Hiveworker] told me the boy was raging outside, crying.

Shouting. All while laying in the dirt.

He even wanted to crawl back in but was stopped by other humans.

Not that he would be able to enter right now. I took all his magic power.

The girls magic power too.

It was tasty.

I wonder why they can survive with all magic power drained from them.

The humans outisde looked shocked when the girl appeared before them.

Exhausted and mentally depleted, but still alive.

But well, that gets me to the current mess.

No they aren't the same. The human group this time is different.

They have four humans. One of them can use minor magic.

A woman is in front, holding the creatures at bay.

One man stands at the back and uses a tool called a bow.

The last one seems to stand guard in case something goes wrong.

"Hivemind" wants me to devour them this time.

They killed quite a high number of creatures.

We can't just have them get away.

I found something I like in the forest.

"Hivemind" asked me to find a way to improve the [Woodler] before, but I didn't know what to do with it yet. I couldn't just add an element or something. But when watching the plants I noticed.

I could add something first and implement the element there.

Therefore I will fiddle with a [Woodler] and its core.

'Will it hurt..?'

Huh?

What the hell?

The [Woodler] is asking me about pain?

'You are a creature of the hive! Do you even know what pain is?'

'Well, not quite. But humans often talk about it and seem to fear it.

So I was wondering..'

Stupid [Woodler]. Stupid humans giving creatures weird thoughts.

I shake my head and start messing with the [Woodler].

Hm. Vines are wrapped around its core. Maybe I could add poison to them.

Should be helpful if a human attacks with bare hands.

Also I add small buds.

With the feature of preserving magic power in it, growing it bigger, it should do the trick.

In it, I add the element fire.

That should work. Maybe.

After fiddling with the core, the [Woodler] breaks down and evolves.

'You will be the boss for the tenth layer. Guard it well.'