Became the Queen of the Legion

The total points gained from annihilating the kin’s nest and having it recognized as an achievement were 3 points.

I opened the trait page and started pondering how to distribute these.

‘Is it physical again?’

The condition that allowed us to win overwhelmingly in the battle with our kin this time was actually the basic spec difference.

Our troops, who had already molted three times, were much stronger than our kin. If there wasn’t such a difference in physical abilities, we wouldn’t have won so easily even if I commanded on site.

「Physical Enhancement 2」

So I invested 1 point in physical enhancement.

Thanks to investing a total of 4 points, physical enhancement advanced to the second stage.

“Ugh…”

Another molting in progress, I should be used to it by now, but I shuddered at the skin fragments falling off my body and the sense of discomfort throughout my body.

[Physical Enhancement 2-1-1 unlocked]

“What’s this?”

That’s when a new trait was unlocked. Sometimes there are cases where special traits are included like this, and now was one of those times.

「Physical Modification」

[When this trait is acquired, you can freely modify your body using the data you’ve secured from now on]

“Isn’t this overpowered?”

Whether you understand the explanation or not, it was overpowered.

This was a trait that could fully modify not only my body but also my subordinates’ bodies in conjunction with my passive skill, omnipotent cells.

“Of course I’ll learn it.”

I learned the 「Physical Modification」 trait by consuming 1 point.

This feeling of massive information forcibly flowing into my head like a computer downloading a program.

With just that, I now gained modification abilities beyond simply transforming parts of the body.

“Next is… consciousness enhancement.”

「Consciousness Enhancement 1-3」

I used the remaining 1 point to raise consciousness enhancement once.

I felt it while commanding numerous troops just before, and I feel it now after gaining the physical modification trait, but consciousness enhancement is also important.

If consciousness enhancement doesn’t support it, no matter how many troops I produce, I can’t fully command them.

Moreover, the omnipotent cells that make up our bodies are all beings belonging to that consciousness. In some ways, it might be even more important than physical enhancement.

[And the eggs in the artificial uterus have finished growing]

“Is it time to increase our numbers a bit?”

Mature eggs that finished growing in the artificial uterus I created fell to the floor with sticky mucus.

I watched as the workers carefully carried those eggs, each about the size of a basketball, in their mouths.

We’ve secured massive food and increased the number of troops we can command through consciousness enhancement.

There are also lost troops, so troop production was an important business that needed constant investment of resources without a moment’s rest.

“Haah…”

It seemed like it was time to rest a bit now.

My subordinates don’t even have the concept of mental fatigue, but I’m not like that.

With a sigh, I sat on the cold stone floor and leaned my back against the wall.

‘What is this.’

But even if I rest here, I’m just spending time with monsters I can’t even talk to in a barren cave with nothing.

There’s no joy in eating either. My food is just nutrients digested in the artificial digestive system injected into my body through tentacles.

There’s nothing to enjoy. To begin with, the concept of enjoying something here was known only to me.

I can’t even sleep properly. The consciousness that governs the entire colony had to remain awake even during sleep.

Other queens would lay even one more egg at times like this, but I had already entrusted even that to the artificial uterus.

‘Is this the worker that’s out the farthest?’

In the end, I closed my eyes and immersed myself in the world of consciousness, exploring the mental connections with my subordinates.

The most interesting among them was the scout that had gone out the farthest.

Following my orders, several workers were being used as scouts.

It’s common sense how important it is to get information first.

‘Strange feeling.’

Although I’ve done this several times already, it’s still awkward and alien to move my consciousness into an insect’s body and act.

In a completely different view from mine, one of my front legs that I was waving swung back and forth.

I led that body and roamed the area directly.

I could just leave it to my subordinates, but I moved directly because it was to alleviate my ‘boredom’ now.

“Huh?”

But that’s when I got caught by a natural predator.

What burst out of the ground, detecting my movement and revealing itself, was a centipede with a huge body.

I blankly looked up at it.

How enormous must that centipede be, looking down at my worker that had grown 1.5 times larger than a normal Black Death Worm worker about the size of a bicycle, able to grab it in an instant with its huge jaws?

It only looked like a centipede, honestly I would believe it if someone said it was a dragon.

“Ugh, uwaah! Get lost! Let go! You son of a…”

The centipede, flashing its huge venomous fangs, attacked me in an instant.

I panicked and struggled somehow, trusting my front legs and exoskeleton, but there was nothing I could do about the brute strength coming from its huge body.

‘Kyaaaa!’

The moment the centipede’s venomous fangs broke through my body’s exoskeleton and dug into it, regardless of whether my claws were wounding its belly or not.

Feeling the terrible pain, I was forcibly ejected from that body and returned to the underground cave.

[The tunnel centipede is a representative natural predator of Black Death Worms]

“I know without you telling me…!”

The system message flickered as if taunting me as I dry heaved and panted.

‘Not enough. We need to get stronger, even stronger.’

The fear I just experienced, possessing a worker’s body, was too terrible.

The helplessness and emptiness of my life disappearing in a single moment to a predator’s attack.

Feeling goosebumps at the thought that it could happen to my main body too, I stood up.

There was no time to be leisurely.

Increasing numbers is one thing, but I need to figure out how to get stronger in my spare time.

It’s not like we need many to take care of larvae or eggs anyway.

“Send out more scouts. And report immediately if you find prey. We’ll go hunting right away.”

Originally, Black Death Worms focused more on scavenging roles than hunting.

But we can’t do that anymore.

To properly utilize the newly acquired trait, 「Physical Modification」, there was a condition that we must end their lives directly.

‘It’s enough. We’ve become much stronger.’

Although the worker I was controlling was defeated in one hit by the predator centipede, there are many weaker ones here than that centipede.

Those guys who saw us as mere prey. This time, we’ll go out and hunt them in reverse.

[One scout has discovered prey first]

“Yeah, that looks just right.”

Not long after, one fell into our surveillance net.

What the scout’s eyes saw was a large spider crawling slowly on the ground.

About the same size as a male. It wasn’t that big.

“Kill it.”

My order fell with a raised corner of my mouth.

Immediately, our scattered forces began to gather at one point, starting with those closest.

Clearly, this spider was one of the natural predators of Black Death Worms.

It wasn’t an absolute predator, but it had the strength and venomous fangs to hunt a lone Black Death Worm worker in an instant.

“—…”

One Black Death Worm worker blatantly appeared in front of such a spider.

It was quite large and appeared too openly, which was strange, but the spider naturally entered hunting mode.

It intended to rush in at once, curling its body, and bite that body with its venomous fangs.

However, because it momentarily focused all its senses on the prey that appeared in front, it didn’t notice those who had quietly come around to the sides.

“Isn’t it falling for it too easily?”

Soon, as the spider charged straight ahead, two additional Black Death Worm workers that had been ambushing on both sides rushed in at once and clung to the spider’s body.

The queen, watching this through the workers’ eyes, smirked at the 3:1 fight that suddenly broke out.

“—!”

The spider was bewildered.

It couldn’t believe that mere Black Death Worm workers would use such ambush tactics, nor could it believe that they dared to attack it first.

Isn’t this like the hunter and prey roles have been reversed?

“It’s nothing special. It probably attacked thinking it would win.”

The spider didn’t know that this meticulous and bold movement was designed by the queen in the deepest part of the nest.

Its wildly struggling legs were cut off one by one by sharp jaws, and intestines flowed out of its bitten abdomen.

Surprisingly, the sharp venomous fangs couldn’t pierce the back shell. It was because the exoskeletons of the workers who had repeatedly molted had become so hard.

And so, the spider that naturally thought it was the hunter became finely chopped meat balls in an instant, reduced to food for these special Black Death Worms.

[Prey has been discovered in other places as well]

Moreover, this scene wasn’t occurring only here.

The workers were spread out widely searching the area, and the clumsy predators who had considered them as mere prey until now began to be counterattacked by the Black Death Worm hunting teams that had started moving in groups.

It was a moment when changes were gradually occurring in the ecosystem of the demon realm outskirts, where there had been almost no change for a long time.