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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Endless Expansion (3)
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"Even if we do get out, wouldn't things be better if they just learned photosynthesis?"
[Setting aside whether they can even learn plant abilities, what makes you think you know what lies at the end of this labyrinth?]
"Just trying to be hopeful."
After sending a picture of a tree from the back mountain as always, I assessed the situation.
The animals on the 5th floor, which had seemed quite strong, ultimately couldn't withstand the group assault and were devoured one by one.
It was inevitable, as they were nothing more than solitary beasts that didn't form packs.
The ants from the 4th floor, which formed a colony and attacked swarm against swarm, seemed stronger in comparison.
[The abundant food on the 5th floor provided ample energy and, at the same time, greatly aided our species' evolution. This, too, will be recorded in history. This is the moment we evolve into a higher existence.]
"...They do need to get bigger. They can't stay as ants forever."
Having consumed the relatively advanced animals of the 5th floor, the Legion began to increase in size.
Until now, they lacked data on larger animals, but that was no longer the case.
In fact, as more of this data accumulated, the modifications and optimizations that had been underutilized would become faster and more diverse.
[Soldiers based on toads, covered in carapaces with corrected body structures, are now harvesting and crushing the mushrooms.]
As a first step, the newly created soldiers were large.
With their powerful jaws, they went around crushing the massive mushrooms into small pieces.
The pulverized mushrooms were broken down by the nest's spreading roots and the smaller decomposers it produced, then converted into nutrients.
In reality, the nutrients in those thick, large mushrooms seemed several times greater than the wood I was providing.
[New soldiers have also seized control of the air, hunting those that lived on the walls and ceilings.]
Dividing and classifying soldier types was something we had been doing since we were at the cellular level.
Though based on a toad's body, the only real similarity was that it was a four-legged vertebrate.
The new Legion soldier, better described as an 'amalgamation' with its slender body, bat-like wings, carapace, jaws, and a venomous stinger on its tail, flapped its wings and set off to scout the next floor.
I left my spot as well.
It was time to eat.
"What on earth is that game you're playing so intensely?"
"Huh?"
I was eating quietly when the sudden question startled me.
My sister, Kang Do-yeon, had stopped eating and was looking at me with a frown.
I glanced at the phone I'd placed on the table.
"It's nothing."
"You were just whining about your exams, and now all you do is play phone games."
"Why the sudden interest?"
I smirked. She usually didn't care what I was doing.
"Forget it. Anyway, your exams are over next week, right?"
"Yeah."
As we talked, I realized why she had brought this up.
There was no way I'd forget.
"I remember Dad's anniversary is coming up, so don't worry."
"...Okay."
She seemed to be testing the waters, then quietly resumed eating.
The atmosphere turned awkward for a moment, but it would pass quickly.
I finished my food and got up from the table first.
"A game, you say... When does the tutorial even end? And why isn't my account level going up?"
[The tutorial will be cleared the moment you pass the 9th floor, that is, when you reach the 10th floor.]
"How arbitrary."
Now, the 6th floor was also being overrun by us.
At this rate of growth, it didn't seem like it would be too difficult.
[Behold. This is evidence of the Legion's evolution into a higher life form.]
A scene appeared on the screen.
This was the lowest floor, our place of origin.
Here, where the entire cavern was now covered by our nest, a grotesque wall of flesh was writhing.
"Ugh..."
[Do you find it grotesque? That pulsating wall of flesh is a mimicry of a higher organism's internal reproductive organs.]
"Why, though?"
[This too is for the sake of efficiency.]
Frowning, I examined the fleshy wall.
So, according to the explanation, this wall of flesh was a massively enlarged version of just the reproductive organs, separated from everything else.
A nest, in the truest sense.
The Legion as a whole was beginning to specialize.
Production would focus on production, and thought would focus on thought.
[The newly refined production system is beginning to operate.]
The writhing of the fleshy wall intensified, and something began to tear through the meat and emerge.
It was a large egg.
[By moving beyond simple self-replication, like a tumor, and introducing the concept of 'growth,' the Legion was able to dramatically increase the energy efficiency of raising its forces.]
The eggs produced from the fleshy wall, though not as fast as before, grew quickly and hatched.
Nests like this were filling the entire occupied floor, and hundreds, thousands of such eggs were pouring out.
[And behold. An organ that can properly be called a brain tissue is also being created. This even incorporates a concept of investment. It has already recognized the need for a more advanced and specialized neural network. This will be recorded in history. I do not know when it will be, but our species' sufficiently developed brain will surely gain a self.]
It wasn't just reproductive organs that were situated on the lowest floor.
In the deepest, safest place.
There, a single brain connected to the Legion was situated.
For now, it was just a pilot organization that wasn't of much help. But as more data accumulated, that brain would surely grow larger.
*
"What is this?"
[A new type of enemy.]
The moment I woke up, I groggily reached for my phone.
I didn't need to check the time. A glance at the color of the sky outside told me it was still the dim light of dawn.
"What is it?"
I rubbed my eyes and examined the screen.
On the 7th floor, a place our initial scouting had deemed unremarkable, our newly produced large reconnaissance units had been wiped out.
[It is the same as before. Things that smaller units could not scout have now reacted.]
"What in the world are those..."
A new scout was dispatched.
This time, it was a small unit based on a bee.
This unit found the enemies that the previous one had failed to detect.
[They are the two-winged bats, an enemy we have hunted on the 5th and 6th floors.]
"...Why are there so many of them."
The ceiling of the cavern came into view.
And packed tightly there were undeniably bats.
There looked to be at least several hundred.
Knowing that these alien bats were the size of a small child sent a shiver down my spine.
[To be clear, they are not quite what one would call a 'Legion.' They merely live together, and they hunt individually, spreading out to each floor.]
"Even so, if that many of them attack at once, we can't win. Look at the physical difference."
I muttered with a hollow laugh.
As I was starting to get a feel for things, my judgment was that it was impossible.
The Legion's current strength was insufficient to engage in a direct power struggle with that swarm of bats.
They could produce superior combat soldiers of a similar weight class, but then they couldn't match the numbers.
[That is not for us to consider.]
"What?"
[Did I not say? The Legion does not stop. In fact, we are rejoicing right now. If we can turn that vast amount of meat into nutrients, we can, in turn, create a large-scale force like those bats.]
"How exactly do you plan to fight?"
[...Trust in us.]
The Legion had already begun to move.
I didn't know their intentions yet, but it didn't seem like they were planning a head-on clash.
They were even killing off existing troops to convert them back into nutrients, rather than reinforcing their numbers.
"Now this, I'm genuinely curious about."
I got up and started getting dressed.
I had an exam today and was thinking of cramming, but this happened.
[The Legion has devised its first tactic.]
Before long, the Legion began to release its accumulated energy.
I looked closely at the nest.
Something else was starting to crawl out of the small eggs.
[The first tactic the Legion decided on was also a vile one. But I do not know if it will work.]
There were small creatures crawling up the walls.
They possessed a single weapon.
A poison stinger. And that stinger was laced with the most potent poison the Legion had created: an acidic toxin.
The moment it judged a direct confrontation to be difficult, it opted for this kind of clandestine warfare.
[The poison stingers and acid toxin are certainly effective against the bats. However, the execution rate was not very good. A few careless bats fell to the floor, but these bats' primary diet consisted of such small organisms to begin with.]
The exchange rate was poor.
The bats easily detected their approach and ate the poison bugs.
The acid toxin was said to be meaningless unless injected into the bloodstream.
Besides, the bats and other life in this cave were naturally resistant to ingested poisons, thanks to the mushrooms.
"Now what? It feels like they've tried every method they have."
[The Legion has chosen its second tactic.]
I watched the progress as I got ready to leave.
There were no additional movements.
But on the lowest floor, the fleshy walls covering the 2nd floor suddenly hardened.
"This is..."
[The Legion has temporarily put the nests of two floors into hibernation, as it requires an explosive amount of energy.]
For what purpose?
I turned the screen to the entrance of the 6th floor.
There, I understood the intention and let out a hollow laugh.
[Mimicking the tactics of the white cave ants that resisted from their fortress, the Legion has decided to engage in siege warfare.]
"I don't think that's the kind of siege warfare I know."
Since when did siege warfare mean attacking *with* the fortress?