BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM-Chapter 1301: The bugs (27)

Chapter 1301: The bugs (27)

Like a wounded titan from ancient myths, the queen staggered back, ichor pouring from a dozen wounds across her massive body.

Despite devastating wounds across her exoskeleton and multiple broken limbs, she refused to yield. She must have had a powerful maternal instinct, which drove her forward as she fought to protect the thousands of eggs and larvae deep within her hive.

Erik hovered above, using the free hydra’s heads to analyze the queen’s weakened state.

“She’s running out of options.”

[Her carapace integrity is below 40%. The thorax wound must be your primary target.]

The queen launched another acid spray like a pressurized fire hose. She didn’t hold back, not that she could.

The problem for her was that the attack lacked its previous precision and strength. Erik easily redirected it with a gust of wind, albeit a powerful one, sending the corrosive liquid splashing against some of the bugs below.

[Bellator thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Dux thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Bellator thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Dux thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

…

…

…

[Bellator thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Dux thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

“It’s time to end this.”

The queen’s seemingly invincible strength had faded into fragile vulnerability—she had wasted enough mana for Erik’s attacks to be much more impactful.

He gathered mana and then used both telekinesis and Verdant Architect to restrict the queen’s movements.

Each time the queen moved, she destroyed Erik’s tendrils like a scythe through wheat, but it didn’t matter, and Erik knew it.

[This is not going to last for long. She’s still strong enough to break free.]

Erik tried doing this earlier, but it didn’t work. The only way for this tactic to work was for Erik to weaken the queen, which he did.

Erik compressed a huge amount of electricity and used the tendrils to drive them toward the queen.

She shrieked in agony like a wounded dragon as the concentrated lightning energy tore through her body, her massive form convulsing violently from the electrical current that coursed through her nervous system, making her limbs dance like a puppet on electric strings.

The energy ripped through her already compromised armor. The smell of something burning started filling the area more than it already did when the clones burned the bugs.

The queen’s shriek shook the entire cavern, loose rocks falling from the ceiling as her pain reverberated through the hive mind. The remaining bugs froze momentarily. Their connection to the queen disrupted them, and Erik’s clones weren’t going to let the opportunity go to waste.

“Kill them!”

[Bellator thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Dux thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

…

…

…

[Bellator thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Dux thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

…

…

…

[Bellator thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[Dux thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

…

…

…

Even after taking such a powerful attack, the queen was an iron fortress with crumbling walls but a solid foundation. Though they were not unbreakable, and they were slowly coming undone, as Erik attacked and attacked.

Ichor dripped from her wounds and formed puddles on the ground below, dark pools spreading like spilled oil. She looked at Erik with eyes full of hatred, or at least that was how Erik saw those eyes looking at him.

“She’s still alive.” Erik couldn’t believe his own eyes.

Though wounded, the queen broke free. She charged at Erik, but she was now crawling and clumsy, compared to before.

Erik floated out of her way using telekinesis and fired a succession of fire-based attacks. The projectiles streaked toward the queen, striking her body from multiple angles. The temperature quickly rose.

Seeing an opening, Erik activated Verdant Architect to create multiple vines beneath the queen. The vines went through gaps in her armor and seeped into her flesh.

The queen thrashed and struggled, but this time, she wasn’t able to break free or escape.

“Just a little more,” Erik said, sweat beading on his forehead.

The vines burrowed through the bug queen’s flesh and internal organs, spreading like a parasite.

Dark crimson fluids flowed with deceptive grace from the wounds while the vines found their way to her heart. They wrapped around the thunderously silent organ and squeezed harder with each pulse of her heart.

The queen shuddered and collapsed, her limbs twitching once before going still. The light in her eyes faded as the centuries-old ruler of the thanatocoleoptera hive died.

[Thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[0%…1%….5%…30%…70%…100%]

[Mana successfully absorbed, starting conversion procedure.]

[3…2…1…0]

[Mana successfully absorbed into experience. 53,615,726.60 experience points and 536,157.27 DNA points awarded to the host.]

The queen gave Erik a lot of mana, but not enough to level up.

[The other bugs are still there.]

“Did it work?” Amber asked through the radio, noticing something weird with the bugs.

Erik flew to the ground, his legs barely supporting him as he touched the floor. He spent a lot of mana and had to mentally keep up with a creature many times faster than him.

It wasn’t easy, and it felt as if he tried to move mountains with his bare hands.

Amber reached him first, but only on the radio since the bugs were still fighting, now in a frenzied state since the queen died.

“You did it,” she said. “You actually killed her.”

“You did it again, Master,” June was ecstatic.

Erik nodded, too exhausted for words. Around them, the underground city grew restless. Without their queen’s guidance, the hive collapsed, reducing the thanatocoleopteras to not-so-smart bugs.

“You need to keep killing the others,” Erik said, wiping sweat from his brow. “Give me five minutes to recover some strength, then I’ll join the fight again. My mana reserves are almost depleted, and my stamina isn’t faring better.”

The cave was still crawling with thousands of thanatocoleoptera.

Though the bugs had lost their queen’s control, there were still too many of them to ignore. Erik knew that defeating each one would give him more power and experience—something he didn’t want to miss out on.

For the next hour, the group hunted down and eliminated the thanatocoleoptera. Without their queen’s guidance, the bugs were easier targets. Every kill added to Erik’s growing pool of experience and DNA points.

However, it wasn’t easy for the group to hunt them without Erik’s help.

[Bellator thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[0%…1%….5%…30%…70%…100%]

[Mana successfully absorbed, starting conversion procedure.]

[3…2…1…0]

[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

[0%…1%….5%…30%…70%…100%]

[Mana successfully absorbed, starting conversion procedure.]

[3…2…1…0]

[Dux thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]

…

…

…

Yet, they kept doing it until he got enough experience points to level up and join the fight.

[LEVEL UP.]

[LEVEL UP.]

Sorry for the late chapter. I had ton of stuff to do this morning. I didn’t even write. This is from my stash.