Chapter 15—Units

The Hive pulsed.

It wasn’t my imagination anymore; I saw it.

Spirit Sight opened like a second set of eyes, not in my head, but in my soul. The Hive Core was no longer just fused bone and flesh—it was a black sun, its light a storm of tendrils pouring through the cavern like rivers of shadow-fire. Every wall, every stone, every particle of marrow in the bone floor carried my threads.

And Luna…

Luna was a walking contradiction. A direwolf’s body stitched with hunger, animated by threads of black ichor. But inside her, I saw it—the ember. A faint shard of soul, flickering against the void, not quite gone. The Wraiths had tried to strip it away, and for a moment, I had nearly let her vanish.

Her soul was weaker than a living beast’s, thin and tattered. But it was hers.

And it was tethered to me.

—Mine.

My thoughts surprised me. I never was possessive or jealous, not even on Earth.

She was mine. And yet, she belonged to no one—not even me. She was free. But in the depths of my subconscious, a part of me whispered that perhaps someday I might find someone else willing to share such intimacy as what we shared now...

Was it because I lacked human relationships during my youth? Had I really been starved of love so deeply?

No, that would be absurd; I'm not even a human being anymore.

—I don't have a right to pretend to be human anymore...that doesn’t mean I can’t wish.

Adjusting to the idea that I wasn’t human anymore was difficult. It wasn't because I yearned for humanity in particular, but rather because my old values persisted. Humans should treat their kin well; humans should work together.

Humans should love.

Humans shouldn't abandon their families or neglect their wives or their children. That is what humanity meant to me.

I knew why I felt so lonely and adrift ever since my death. Death? Resurrection? Rebirth? Whatever it was, it tore me away from everything I valued in my past life.

My family.

Even now, the guilt weighed on my nonexistent shoulders. Perhaps they didn't notice, and it was better that way.

That I vanished.

Gone in a single instant.

Without explanation.

Did anyone care?

Is anyone currently trying to reach me? Was there anyone who mourned me? Was my absence noticed and grieved?

These questions tormented me incessantly.

I realized that nobody had truly cared about whether I lived or died, except for myself; in fact, even fewer people would have given any thought to my existence if I simply disappeared one day without explanation.

After all, who am I?

Just some man who struggled his entire life to scrape by financially just so he could afford basic necessities like food and shelter...who never achieved anything remarkable or noteworthy other than barely managing to survive until this point…

Who was I but another faceless victim lost among countless similar tragedies?

And here I am now—an alien horror, an abomination born out of pain and grief...a parasite feeding off its host...feeding on his despair to sustain itself…

And I couldn't deny the irony of my situation: only by being reduced to such a state had I finally come close enough to finding peace.

Peace in the heartache.

I had always known loneliness before; I knew loneliness intimately.

Loneliness was familiar and comforting. It felt like an old friend who visited often, always bringing gifts of solitude and sorrow.

—Enough melancholy, Nemesis...we have things to do. Things that would be beneficial for everyone, especially Luna.

That was enough.

I looked out at the dungeon. Not really stone walls anymore. Half solid, half woven with spectral fluid veins, Spirit Sight showed them. Faces out of the rock, silent screams, soulless eyes. Each restless corpse was a scaffold for what crawled behind the walls of the dungeon.

They watched me. They all watched me.

And then they retreated, slithering back into the stone. Only the echo of their gaze remained.

[Spirit Sight has detected latent presence: Spectral Domain. This dungeon is partially alive.]

Alive.

The dungeon had the life and breath of flesh. Was that what I’d been thrown into? A prison—or an organ?

My hunger growled at the thought.

Could I eat a living dungeon? Or would it consume me first?

Time for answers.

In the Den of Wraiths and Ghosts, Wave 2 was approaching. Soon, I needed to get Luna ready to fight again.

—13 hours remaining before wave 2.

There was enough time to start planning and training.

[Luna's Stability 62% → 73%]

Good. Excellent.

I pulled her to myself once more, touching her forehead with my tendril, enjoying the soft feeling of her fur.

She stared at me, her yellow eyes locking onto my featureless face.

—Luna, how did it feel to devour that Wraith? Did you like it?

Her tail swayed slightly back and forth; she licked her muzzle thoughtfully.

“It tastes delicious.”

A low chuckle emanated from within me—an odd sound coming out of my maggot body. My mandibles clicked rhythmically as they ground together with amusement, creating an unnerving symphony of scraping chitin plates and rattling bones.

“Delicious...” I repeated slowly while studying her reactions closely. “...how exactly does it taste delicious to you? Can you please describe this flavor for me?”

“I'm hungry. Everything tastes delicious." She shrugged indifferently, as though uninterested by anything more complex than base desires like hunger or curiosity.

“...I see.” Intriguing response indeed; perhaps there were deeper layers beneath her simple exterior after all... Perhaps...perhaps....

“Well, no matter. Thanks for the resources you've put together; I can now go ahead and try something.

“Something, master?”

“Yes. I can experiment with one of my skills that requires resources to use...namely, Flesh Assimilation and Hive Management—I should be able to create units using my resources.” And thus, I mentally summoned the screen for ‘Hive Management.’

[Hive Management Activated.]

[Available Resources: 104 Bone Fragments | 35 Skulls | 1 Ectoplasm]

—Let's see. Flesh Assimilation, activate!

As I focused, pulling my attention inward towards the wellspring of energy flowing within me, images began flashing across my mind's eye.

Images filled with violence and bloodshed and savagery—all part of my predatory nature as a monster seeking sustenance through consumption and assimilation.

I saw fangs ripping flesh from bone, claws shredding organs into ribbons, jaws snapping shut upon limbs torn free, and tentacles coiling around throats crushed underfoot...

—It’s overwhelming… There’s so much information!

Instinctively, my awareness turned towards Luna.

I studied her closely, searching her insides—her skeletal structure, musculature, cardiovascular system…everything.

Every detail mattered; nothing could escape my scrutiny lest I miss something crucial.

It's fun?

Yes. It was fascinating watching how parts interlocked together perfectly.

Anyhow, time for our experiment!

—Create unit?

System Notification:

As per rule #23-12b, any non-standard lifeform is designated as 'Aberrant.'

To simplify the process, a 'Create Unit' action has been added to your Hive Management options. You can access it mentally via the 'Hive Management' menu option.

Please select the desired species type (multiple options available):

─ Insectoid

─ Mammalian

─ Reptilian

─ Avian

─ Aquatic

─ Unclassified/Other

After careful consideration, I chose—

[No selection detected. Default selection chosen: Insectoid]

—Of course.

A list of templates for 'insect' classes appeared before me; however, most appeared greyed out due to insufficient resources or skills required for creation. There were two entries at the bottom marked "???," meaning unidentified entities unavailable until certain criteria were met, whatever those may have been...

So far, the situation seemed promising enough. For now, I had five viable options listed. Starting from the top, the options are listed as follows:

—Common Worker Beetle (20 Bones): Basic construction unit capable of producing structures within designated zones. Lacks offensive capabilities and has limited mobility.

—Spineclaw Skitterer (30 Bones + 10 Skulls): Swift predator capable of climbing vertical surfaces and attacking opponents with venomous barbs. Low durability and vulnerable to fire-based attacks.

—Hound-Mantis (50 Bones + 5 Skulls): Agile hunter equipped with powerful forelimbs tipped with razor-edged claws. Relatively resistant to elemental effects but weak against bludgeoning damage.

—??? [Locked]: Requires ectoplasm.

More choices will become available upon either consuming additional specimens, leveling certain skills, or fulfilling unique requirements.

[New Hybrid Option Available!]

—Wraith-Tick (Insectoid–Spectral Hybrid) - (30 Bone + 1 Ectoplasm): A soul-parasite bound into an insect husk. It remains in the body until it feeds. It clings to its hosts and consumes both flesh and spirit.

I wish I could've whistled.

Maybe it’s not a favorable pick for this dungeon, but a Wraith-Tick might be able to sneak out of it, and if she does...I could infest something—someone—in this world with ease.

And the benefits for me would be huge. The knowledge it could grant me...

With the dungeon's inhabitants pushing for the upper hand, such information could turn the tables and help me win.

What was that saying again? If you can't beat them, join them.

[Unit Creation Confirmed.]

—Wraith-Tick (Insectoid–Spectral Hybrid) Created.

—Hound-Mantis (Hive Guardian Variant) Created.

The first to crawl free of bone and ichor was the Tick.

It was small. Pale. Six legs that skittered without sound. Its shell was not a carapace but half-translucent glass, and inside it burned a blue ember, guttering like a soul in a jar. Its mandibles clicked once, twice, then the creature vanished—not invisibility, but slipping sideways into the cracks of the dungeon’s reality.

Through the connection it had to Hive, I saw it still, a dim spark threading upward. The dungeon didn’t notice. Or perhaps it couldn’t.

[Warning! You have seeded an aberrant organism beyond dungeon boundaries. Monitoring protocols have been notified.]

Good. Let them monitor. Let them watch. I wanted them to see.

The second one tore itself together on the Hive floor. Chitin folded from ribs, mantis claws sheared from shinbones, and a wolf’s spine bent into an insect’s thorax. The Hound-Mantis flexed, blades shrieking against stone. It dropped to one knee before the Core, head bowed.

A guardian. My first soldier was not borrowed from death but born from my will.

And Luna… she watched it all. Her ears were flat, her tail was stiff, and there was hunger in her eyes. She felt jealousy as well, although she would never admit it. I stroked her fur with one tendril, letting her feel the pulse of my threads.

—“You are my first, Luna. You will never be replaced. But soon… we will not be alone again. Brothers, sisters, children—all of them ours. All of them Hive.”

She lifted her muzzle and sniffed me.

“You smell different.”

There was one final thing to attend to.

I reached my thoughts toward the Mantis, probing gently at his mind. Immediately I felt something push back; his presence was sharp and precise—like a steel blade forged from pure willpower. And he fought fiercely to keep control over himself, refusing to yield ground easily despite being overwhelmed by sheer force alone.

—Beautiful. Just like a commander should act. However, right now...you need a name.

—I’ll call you... Zenos, Zenos, the Blade of the Hive. The Commander of the First Legion. Welcome home.

Zenos, the hound-mantis, clicked its mandibles together rapidly in acknowledgement before standing tall and proud once more.

As for the Wraith-Tick… What should I name her? Just to make it easier to track her down… Hmm… Ah! Got it!

—I'll call you Lilith, The First Haunting of The Hive.

[Available Resources: 24 Bone Fragments | 30 Skulls]