Became the Queen of the Legion

The giant centipede Gartia is a representative medium-sized demonic beast living in the demon realm’s forest areas.

Its size is by no means small, and its characteristic venom is an excellent means of attack and defense, effective even against larger natural predators.

With their decent reproductive ability, they actually reign as fearsome beasts to lower-tier demon races.

How much more so for Black Death Worms? To these creatures, one of the representative insect-type demonic beasts of the forest areas, Black Death Worms with combat power close to the lowest per individual are just a tasty snack.

Even a nest of Black Death Worms is merely a restaurant full of prey for them, who are covered in hard exoskeletons and emit strong venom.

“—.”

They were the same.

Recently, demonic beasts suitable as prey had decreased, and instead, Black Death Worms were expanding their range of activity.

They couldn’t just watch this. Originally, they act independently, separated from each other, but three of them with the same thoughts gathered as one group.

And tracking the characteristic smell of Black Death Worms, they found their nest in an instant. Naturally, the Black Death Worms gathered from all directions to protect their nest.

Although the Black Death Worms they were trying to hunt were slightly larger and harder than other individuals, and their movements were visibly different somehow, they weren’t cautious enough to consider such things.

“These crazy centipede bastards!”

At the sight of enemies barging in without question, she gritted her teeth and first commanded her soldiers.

With those who hadn’t undergone modification yet, they could never defeat the centipedes if they fought as usual.

To face an enemy with overwhelming physical specs, they must target their weaknesses.

‘Where was the weakness? The belly? But does the game’s weakness have any meaning?’

Gartias are one of the demonic beasts that appeared in the game, like Black Death Worms. As a player who had fought them to the point of boredom, she knew their weaknesses.

However, knowing the weakness and realizing it in reality were completely different stories.

[Battle begins]

As if there was no need to hesitate against the likes of you, the Gartias trusted their size and strength comparable to a large bus, and their hard exoskeletons, and charged straight in headfirst.

“Surround them and attack at once! Aim for the legs first!”

Simultaneously, the Black Death Worms directly commanded by the queen rushed in from all directions.

They mainly bit at the centipedes’ legs with their jaws, and the centipedes, flustered, twisted their whole bodies trying to shake them off.

‘This is crazy, they’re so strong.’

The centipedes’ strength was too great. Even with five or six attaching at once, they were thrown off with just one writhe.

Instead, the centipedes’ venomous fangs reliably broke through the workers’ exoskeletons and instantly injected venom, dissolving their insides.

Moreover, the venom emitted from their mouths poisoned the bodies of those without venom resistance and made their movements sluggish.

‘This is a disaster.’

She panted with trembling legs.

Every second, one connected individual disappeared.

As corpses piled up on the ground, the centipedes were fine except for a few of their countless legs being severed or cut off, just unable to penetrate into the nest interior.

There was a ‘difference in birth’ that could never be bridged by simply increasing size.

[New soldiers have completed their growth]

“Finally!”

That’s why a new weapon was needed. A completely new weapon that could overcome the difference in birth and crack the established hierarchy.

And those who would become that new weapon for the Black Death Worm colony successfully hatched, miraculously not too late.

She, who had been trembling imagining being torn apart by the centipedes, brightened up and shuddered at their existence connecting to her mind one by one.

“The combat troops are only half the number, but still…!”

Among the 50 new Black Death Worms born at once, those modified solely for combat were about half.

But they were that much stronger.

Without even time to dry the body fluids covering them, they all rushed to protect the nest and queen, charging towards the centipedes.

“—!?”

The centipedes were flustered when Black Death Worms with forms they had never seen before rushed at them.

They were so different even from the individuals they had just killed.

First, they were larger. And they were very agile with very hard yet somewhat thin bodies and thin legs.

Their sharp venomous fangs seemed to have venom despite being mere Black Death Worms, and their front legs facing opposite to the other legs looked like sharp awls or scythes standing up.

“—!”

However, the Gartias charged at them as usual, as if saying “So what?”

Thinking they were still just Black Death Worm workers no matter how they changed.

“Where do you think…”

At the same time, she smirked.

As the price for underestimating those who had been modified and evolved, the Gartias were about to pay with their bodies.

* * *

[Our soldiers are biting into the Gartias]

The new soldiers basically didn’t get hit much by the Gartias’ attacks thanks to their agility.

At the same time, they were carrying two weapons. Their sharp venomous fangs and the awls on their front legs were enough to break the Gartias’ exoskeletons.

As they suppressed their strength and frantically stabbed the relatively weak belly area and bit with their venomous fangs, the Gartias’ bodies burst with intestines and body fluids, and they foamed at the mouth.

“Keep clinging on!”

Without letting our guard down, we thoroughly killed the last one remaining.

As the combat troops clung densely and slashed their whole bodies, in less than a few seconds, the giant centipedes with their bodies in pieces collapsed into a pool of profusely spilled body fluids and breathed their last.

“We won.”

I, who had been watching the battle and commanding the soldiers with utmost concentration, murmured blankly.

It wasn’t a hunt we particularly wanted, but it was the moment we hunted tier 2 enemies for the first time.

[Achievement, Hunting (3) completed. 1 trait point awarded as reward]

[Achievement, Spirit of Challenge (1) completed. 1 trait point awarded as reward]

It was recognized as an achievement. It was a reward for fighting and winning against enemies stronger than us.

“Quickly clean up. Carry the food and clear the site.”

Without immediately checking the rewards, I first made the newly born workers collect other spoils.

The spoils I mentioned included the corpses of the Gartias we ‘hunted’ this time. And the corpses of our allied soldiers who were sacrificed were also included.

It’s regrettable, but once dead, they’re just organic matter.

Using them as nutrients and returning them to the colony would be in line with their duty to work for the colony even after death.

“Now we can hunt tier 2 creatures too.”

At the same time, I turned my attention elsewhere.

The modified soldiers proved their worth and abilities faster than I expected by going through actual combat.

Then there’s no need to waste time. More food, more battles!

We continue to evolve and modify with that. Right now, even the giant centipede Gartia we just hunted has become part of us.

「Consciousness Enhancement 2-1」

「Reproduction Enhancement 2-3」

For that, I invested the points gained this time in consciousness and reproduction.

Since physical aspects can be somewhat covered through modification-based enhancement, I invested points to keep increasing the number of individuals for now.

[If this trend continues, food will soon become scarce in the area you’ve claimed as your territory]

“Yeah… Then we’ll expand our territory further and catch more food.”

I have neither reason nor leisure to worry about the ecological imbalance of the demon realm.

If necessary, even if we have to eliminate everything around here, I, no, we will grow.

“We’re omnivores, but there are more plants we can’t eat, right? Plants are everywhere.”

The first greed that arose. It was to increase the types of food we could use as nutrients.

Although most demon realm creatures are close to carnivores, compared to Earth’s lush forests, the demon realm’s plants are tough and bizarre, so there aren’t many.

Anyway, it was the same that plants were the most abundant food.

So if we could eat and digest them, how much more nutrients could we secure?

[To do that, you’d need to completely overhaul the entire set of genes related to the digestive system]

“So I’ve been thinking, do we really need a ‘digestive system’ in our bodies? Why do we have to ‘directly’ eat and digest food in such a cumbersome way?”

I smirked at the system message.

Unlike me who receives nutrients through an artificial digestive system, I had already been thinking this while watching other individuals chew and swallow food directly with their mouths.

Anyway, workers and combat troops don’t even have reproductive organs.

If we remove the digestive system from there too, and modify them into weapons that can purely do physical movements, we could greatly reduce the nutrients needed.

Of course, if we do this, we might have to design the nutrient supply system from scratch.

Like charging a battery, when they run out of energy while active, they would have to go to a designated place and receive nutrients through tentacles.

‘It’s worth trying.’

Although no one gave me a hint, surprisingly ingenious ideas keep coming up.

And now I have the power to turn these absurd biological experiments into reality.