The expansion into Sector 5 was going smoothly.
Red stood before the obsidian slab, watching the Structural Weaver ants reinforce the resin bridge spanning the toxic river. The colony was a machine of perfect efficiency. They had stripped the Twisted Grove bare and were now hungry for the biomass of the Fungal Deep.
[ BIOMASS: 60,000 / 60,000 ]
"Advance," Red commanded.
The vanguard, a carpet of fifty thousand Serrated Mandibles, poured across the bridge. They stepped onto the spongy, yellow moss of the new sector. The air here was filled with spores, and the ground squelched under their chitinous legs.
But they didn't find prey, instead, they found puddles.
Scattered across the landscape were hundreds of pools of translucent, amber-colored liquid. They looked like sap deposits from the giant mushrooms.
The ants, driven by the imperative to Harvest, marched straight to the nearest pool. The first worker dipped its mandibles into the amber fluid to drink.
The fluid grabbed back.
The amber surface rippled and lashed out like a whip. It was more like a membrane. The liquid adhered to the ant's head, bubbling violently. The worker thrashed, sending a panic signal through the Hive Link, but it was already dissolving.
[ THREAT DETECTED: AMBER OOZE ]
→ Type: Amorphous Predator.
→ Diet: Organic Matter / Chitin.
→ Passive Ability: Acidic Contact (Dissolves biological material on touch).
→ Weakness: Fire, Freezing.
"Back," Red ordered. "Do not touch them."
But the ants were simple creatures. The Hive Mind interpreted the pain of the dying worker as an attack. The combat protocol was engaged.
DEFEND. SWARM. KILL.
Red tried to use [ DIVINE PRESENCE ] (Cost: 1,000 DP), but the ants were already blinded by panic pheromones.
"No!" Red slammed his hand against the screen. "Don't bite it, you idiots!"
It was too late. The pheromones were released, and the vanguard charged the puddles.
It was a massacre of incompatibility. The ants were designed to cut, slice, and pierce. But you cannot cut a liquid. Every time an ant bit into an Ooze, its mandibles dissolved. The Oozes didn't just sit there; they reacted to the influx of biomass.
They began to merge.
Hundreds of small puddles slid across the moss, joining together to form a massive, gelatinous wave. It rose up, a wall of burning amber, and crashed down on the army.
[ CASUALTIES: 10,000... 20,000... 40,000 ]
The ants still didn't retreat. They climbed into the slime, trying to fight it from the inside, only to be digested instantly. The Ooze absorbed their mass, growing larger, faster. It surged forward, rolling onto the resin bridge.
The bridge began to smoke. The resin was organic and the Ooze ate that, too.
"Cut the bridge!" Red shouted. "Sacrifice the vanguard!"
But the ants on the colony side didn't understand. They saw their kin dying and rushed onto the melting bridge to help. They created a chain of bodies that the Ooze used as a highway.
The amber tide flowed across the river. It poured into the main tunnel entrance of the colony.
Red looked at his ability counter and and saw 'Minor Poltergeist Activity.' It costed DP to use, but he had no other choice.
He used his ability and focused on the Ooze. It was a liquid so he couldn't just carry it and throw it away. It would spill and return regardless, but that would at least decrease the amount of casualties.
[ ALERT: COLONY IN DANGER] [ COLONY STRUCTURE DAMAGED - 50% ] [ REMAINING POPULATION: 10,000 ]
Red stood in the silence of the void.
He didn't scream or rage since that wouldn't change anything.
"Matchups," Red whispered. "It was a bad matchup."
He looked at his spectral hands. "Ants are strong. But they are stupid. They only have one tool... their teeth. If they meet something they can't bite, they die."
"Sure I can make them stronger but I don't think they should be my main focus. I will keep them on the side and let them live on their own."
Red pressed the automate button.
[ ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO SET THE AUTO MODE?]
->Note - It will reduce the faith generation and your traits and talent no longer work on them. You can't change this setting for 90 days.
"I can progress faster with another race in the meantime. It's not like I am abandoning them." Red pressed yes.
[ AUTOMODE ON. THE COLONY IS LOCKED FOR 90 DAYS. ]
He swiped the notifications away. He had gained a massive amount of Faith from the "Death Throes" of the colony.
[ FAITH: 150,000 ]
Faith was useless to a God without followers. He needed liquid assets.
[ CONVERT TO DP ]
[ TRAIT ACTIVATED: 100x GROWTH ]
[ TOTAL DP GAINED: 150,000 ]
"I don't need more teeth," Red analyzed, his voice flat, ignoring the massive jump in his resource counter. "I need adaptability. I need something that can see a wall of acid and think, 'Maybe I should use fire,' instead of jumping into it."
He pulled up the [ SECTOR SCAN ].
He filtered out "Insect." He filtered out "Beast."
[ SEARCH QUERY: SAPIENT / HUMANOID ]
The map zoomed out. Far to the south of the Ooze-infested lands, near the edge of a brackish swamp where the black mud met grey rock, a cluster of yellow lights pulsed.
[ SPECIES DETECTED: BLACK-MUD KOBOLDS ]
→ Type: Humanoid (Reptilian).
→ Intelligence: Tribal (Capable of learning).
→ Communication: Language (Rudimentary).
→ Tools: Yes.
Red zoomed in.
The live feed showed a miserable collection of huts built on rotting stilts above the mud. The creatures were small, hunched, with scales the color of wet slate and snouts like dogs. They looked starving.
But they weren't acting like animals.
In the center of the village, a group of them stood around a fire pit. One Kobold, slightly larger than the rest, was holding a jagged spear. He wasn't biting his rival; he was shouting at him. He was gesturing to the empty drying racks, then pointing his spear toward the dangerous fog of the Fungal Deep.
Red leaned in closer. The chieftain didn't just have claws; he had wrapped a scrap of leather around the handle of his spear to improve the grip.
"There," Red said, the tension leaving his shoulders. "That is what I need."
He looked at his DP counter. He had enough to make an entrance. He had enough to make them listen.
"System," Red commanded. "Abandon the Insect Path. Secure the coordinates for the Kobold settlement."
He reached out, his finger hovering over the campfire on the screen.
"Let's see if you little lizards know how to kneel."