I Became a Hive Mind in the Game

After the subjugation of the ant nest, I obtained a truly abundant amount of spoils.

First, there’s the ant nest itself. It’s quite large in scale, and the connected passages allow access to most of the eastern part of the forest.

In addition, by infiltrating the entire ant nest, the amount of energy absorbed from the ground has greatly increased, and we’re also using the cultivation room where they were growing mushroom monsters.

Especially since the cultivation room can quickly produce mushroom monsters with high nutrient content using things with little nutrients like leaves, I had the monsters below quickly learn this technique.

There’s also a large amount of energy obtained during the process of subjugating the ant nest.

Unlike a week ago when I could barely produce just 4 grade 9 monsters, the number of monsters I currently command has greatly increased through this large amount of energy, reaching just under 4,000.

Although about half are grade 9, considering that more than 1/4 are grade 7, it’s a force with sufficient quality as well.

And what I personally consider the most excellent spoil is the variety of genes obtained.

From simple genes obtained from the queen ant and regular ants, to genes obtained from body fragments of strong monsters that they hunted or collected, there were many.

To put it extremely, it was at a level where I could be considered to have all the genes of grade 7 and below monsters in this vicinity.

Well, that doesn’t mean anything particularly changes. The energy I’ve gathered doesn’t even reach a quarter of what’s needed to evolve into a grade 4 Hive Mind, and I’m being cautious because fighting with strong monsters on the surface or humans is essential to actively move forward.

As I’ve said repeatedly, for a Hive Mind of my level, no joke, one cruise missile by human standards would be enough.

The danger of Hive Minds and humans’ extreme responses to that danger are repeatedly emphasized in the story, so there’s no harm in being careful as there are no conditions saying they won’t do so.

Anyway, these days when there’s nothing particular to do, I was observing one thing I brought with psychokinesis, looking at it from various angles.

It was the molted skin of Autochthon, which was still emitting a strong smell and psychic resonance, preventing external invasion of the cave.

As much as I’d like to absorb it right now and obtain the top-grade genes contained in the molted skin, after much consideration, I decided to leave it for now.

The reason is simply that I’m afraid of grade 6 or higher monsters that might invade if this molted skin wasn’t here.

To put it extremely, even if a grade 6 monster, considered the weakest of the medium grade, were to invade, the chance of losing even if I give it my all is over 50%, and even if I win, I have to be prepared for the annihilation of my corps and the destruction of internal facilities.

And if another invader appears in this situation, it’s 100% death, so I had no choice but to value this molted skin preciously.

Huh? You say I’m exaggerating too much for just a 1 grade difference with a grade 6 monster?

No, there’s no exaggeration at all. To use a military analogy, if low-grade monsters are infantry, medium-grade monsters are close to armored weapons like tanks or armored vehicles.

Most of them are surrounded by a barrier created from an internal barrier generator, easily cutting through even the thick front armor of a tank, and the body surrounded by the barrier is so sturdy that infantry weapons barely scratch it.

It’s to the point where they separately use Giant Armor, a bipedal war machine for anti-monster use, to compensate for the close combat vulnerability of these armored vehicles, so there’s no need to explain their difficulty (according to the setting).

※ ※ ※

After finishing my deliberation, I transferred my consciousness into the body of one of my monsters that I had designated in advance among those active outside.

This is a grade 8 Hive Scout, a monster created as a kind of reconnaissance unit, specialized in search and escape rather than combat.

Hive Scout
Grade :: 8
Level :: 32
Abilities
Strength :: 10
Agility :: 20
Vitality :: 15
Intelligence :: 12
Resistance :: 12
Energy :: 12
Leadership :: 0
Traits
Monster Gene (E), Predator (E), Hive Mind (E), Subjugation (EX), Detection Master (D), Keen Senses (E), Escape Expert (E)
Skills
Escape (E), Stealth (E), Heat Detection (E), Psychic Tracking (E)
Biological Weapons
Bio Wire (E), Hunter Claw (E)

The base monster is, of course, the Hive Hunter. To this, I added a bio wire with hooks that can be shot to latch onto things for movement, and attached various detection organs.

Except for being fast, it’s ambiguous whether it’s strong, but since it’s a reconnaissance monster not meant for combat, it’s meaningless to talk about combat power.

Anyway, I’m moving the Hive Scout a bit far from the main base and looking around the surroundings.

As this is an area I used to frequent when enjoying the 3rd installment, my memories are quite hazy, so I’m thinking of mapping it out while also looking for the next monster colony to target.

‘I wonder if there’s another ant nest somewhere…’

While pondering if there’s a suitable place to raid, during a long period of extensive searching of the surroundings, danger naturally arrived.

I’ve encountered the hunting grounds of a Hunter Raptor, a grade 5 monster I’ve met before, and also discovered an individual with unbelievably powerful psychic energy floating leisurely through the air.

Fortunately, thanks to desperately keeping a low profile, I managed to survive, and I noticed that the remaining energy of this Hive Scout was gradually depleting.

Now, it was time to return.

After checking the shortest route through the mental map built inside the Hive Mind while mapping so far, I moved the Hive Scout towards the main base.

But during the return. While temporarily adjusting the route to go around a pack of Beast Hounds fighting ahead, something familiar caught my eye.

‘…This is.’

Although the surface was covered with soil due to the passage of time and plants had grown on top, I could never forget the appearance of this entity before my eyes.

What’s in front of me is a giant machine that once bore human touch. It was a 7-meter class Giant Armor—the most major bipedal war machine during the 3rd installment.

Although the design was changed due to subsequent models coming out in the 4th and 5th installments, this was an old model that perfectly recreated the appearance from my memories of the 3rd installment.

And this bipedal war machine from my memories was now abandoned as a complete piece of scrap metal before my eyes.

…With all weapons still attached to both arms and auxiliary arms.

※ ※ ※

Giant Armor. It’s a term referring to bipedal war machines appearing in Project Monster, and at the same time, it was a symbol of the series, with the protagonist of the 1st installment being a Giant Armor pilot.

Usually operated by forming a protective shield through the installed barrier generator and grinding large monsters with heavy weapons and close combat weapons attached to the arms, it was so popular that most pilots among the three professions (Modified Human, Pilot, Psychic User) would ride these.

The size ranges from ones no different from simple power suits to Titan Armors that easily exceed 10 meters.

Although it might seem difficult to distinguish between small Giant Armors and power suits since there are separate wearable power suits called Skeleton Suits in this game, there is a decisive difference.

That is, officially, the creation of Giant Armor involves grinding up an entire monster.

To be precise, Giant Armor is a kind of cyborg monster.

It moves with a mechanism where most body parts—except for some organs and the nervous system, including the brain—are replaced with metal, and then the pilot who boards takes on the role of the brain to control the Giant Armor.

Of course, to prevent the monster’s instincts from activating, the monster’s biological organs are only used for hardware. The weapons attached to it are only those that recreate biological weapons with human technology.

Therefore, while the appearance of Giant Armor might easily seem like a useless pile of scrap metal to me… considering the case of this Giant Armor, it could rather be considered good news.

First, the weapons it’s equipped with are different from ordinary Giant Armor. Although they look like just two energy cannons on the outside, inside are reinterpreted and heavily modified monster biological weapons.

Moreover, perhaps because the status of the pilot who rode it was quite high, the Giant Armor itself is overall a high-end model with almost no rusted or damaged parts.

So if I replace the moderately damaged parts with biological parts, and then create a monster to act as the pilot and insert it into the cockpit, I should be able to swallow this Giant Armor whole.

And most importantly, the life support system in the cockpit is still functioning.

The fact that the life support system is functioning means, in other words, that there’s a very high possibility that the internal pilot’s tissues and such are being maintained.

The possibility of survival is… none. As a result of detecting the internal heat, there’s something submerged in liquid to maintain its state inside. But with no heartbeat and no psychic residue, it’s essentially no different from being dead.

So I was thinking of separating this practically dead human from the inside, and then using its genes to create a human body for me to use.

Although it’s a bit too big to call it killing two birds with one stone, I also plan to capture this Giant Armor and use it as an excellent fighting force.

Both in the game and in the setting, Giant Armor is theoretically a weapon against medium-grade monsters made from the corpse of a medium-grade monster.