A Legion Grows From My Smartphone

Chapter 5

I barely managed to accept it.

That’s right. Over there is another world, an alien world.

Nothing is strange, no matter what happens.

Even on Earth, ants spray poison and acid.

“No, but how does it make sense to spray hydrochloric acid?!”

Giving up on finding the termites, I returned home, bitten by the acid mosquitoes.

Bloodsucking is something even we humans can do, so mosquitoes—or rather, useless pests—were truly good for nothing.

[Remember this well. That cave is no ordinary labyrinth; do not underestimate it.]

“I know that.”

A King Crab-Sized Giant Spider, a Six-Tailed Giant Scorpion, and so on.

I already knew that the place, home to monsters that could rival Earth’s Paleozoic era, was an extraordinary place where no creature popping out would be surprising.

[Today’s events will be recorded in the species’ history. This is the day our species first encountered a worthy opponent.]

“…Can we win?”

[No one knows that. But one thing is certain: our swarm does not stop. If there is an obstacle, we break it. If there is an enemy, we devour it. That is the only choice.]

“Growing and growing endlessly… What happens afterward? What if you consume the entire world?”

[Then we will consume another world.]

There was a glint of madness in the words.

I didn’t say much in response to it.

I simply searched online for websites selling termites for breeding.

What was most important in this game, I thought to myself.

And the conclusion I reached was that it all came down to luck in the gacha system and the player’s financial resources—or rather, their abilities.

“…”

That was why, after quitting my part-time job, I spent my precious weekend on a train heading to the shop.

It was faster for me to go there myself than to rely on delivery services.

[I don’t understand. You could just take it. Didn’t you say you were short on money?]

“That’s theft.”

[For just a single ant?]

“…Honestly, I’m tempted.”

Wouldn’t it be fine to just sneak away with one ant?

Worst case, I could grab a recently deceased specimen and take it.

But as I neared my destination, I decided not to do anything suspicious.

What if I got caught trying to save a few bucks and ended up being interrogated?

In my current state, I couldn’t explain the phenomenon where taking a photo would make something vanish.

“This is about stockpiling power in preparation for war.”

I photographed the termites I had purchased and teleported them to the nest.

The swarm, which broke down the termites at the microbial level, had now acquired the ability to digest wood.

I returned to the back hill.

Technically, stealing wood was also illegal.

I wasn’t sure about other things, but I had no choice in this matter.

In the depths of the forest, where there were no CCTV cameras, I discreetly found a fallen log on the ground and took a photo of it.

Due to the 20kg limit, only a portion of it was teleported, leaving the rest behind.

“What’s the harm in some wood?”

[We will combine the newly acquired ability with our existing capabilities to maximize efficiency.]

Threadlike strands began to stretch out toward the log that had fallen in the center of the nest.

The supplies had safely arrived in preparation for the war.

Now, all that was left was to wage war using the supplies we had obtained.

[The swarm, having replenished its nutrients, began preparing for war. Even the dormant nest reawakened, producing soldiers once again.]

The swarm was intelligent.

The various genes it absorbed were not limited to just physical traits.

By mimicking and combining the combat methods embedded in the genes of each species, it created its own strategies and tactics.

In particular, the art of collective tactics had already been acquired from the genes of ants and bees.

[The swarm dispatched its reconnaissance unit. They planned to continue engaging in skirmishes with them, drawing out everything about them. Winged soldiers were deployed. Once again, they placed their units that sprayed saliva at the frontlines.]

Compared to Earth’s ants, they were incredibly strong.

But we had prepared thoroughly as well.

And in a war between swarms, we had another weapon.

[The swarm does not fall for the same attack twice.]

The scouts dodged the anti-air attacks they spewed with precise maneuvers.

If forces of similar size clashed, could we really lose?

We were one. We moved as a single body.

There was no fear, no inefficiency.

The scouts dove down, gripping the enemies with their strong jaws and feet.

Then they curled their tails and stabbed them with their poison stingers.

The full-scale war had begun.

[The swarm has made its decision. Victory is achievable.]

Switching the screen, I saw the main force, which had been on standby, beginning to advance in unison.

Massive heads, powerful jaws, and sturdy exoskeletons.

The unit had been modified to suit the enemies that burrowed and lived underground.

[The enemies, focused on the winged scouts, noticed our main force. But it was already too late. Despite suffering from the strong acidic attacks they unleashed, we continued advancing forward.]

I held my breath as I watched the scene unfold.

Their organizational strength was no match for ours.

In this war, our goal was the annihilation of the enemy, while their goal was survival.

History, even human history, had proven time and time again that those prioritizing survival would fall before those who attacked with no regard for death.

The White Cave Ants, struggling for survival in this otherworld, could not stop the swarm, which moved purely with the intent to kill.

The entire cave aperture turned into a battlefield.

Even other creatures that had wandered in became collateral damage, devoured by us.

[We achieved victory on the battlefield. They began desperately blocking the entrance to their burrow with their bodies.]

Victory was ours in the war that engulfed the entire cave aperture.

The enemies retreated to their fortress.

But we had already anticipated this.

Our secret weapon emerged.

A snake, its head covered in thick armor.

It wasn’t large, but it was enough to pierce through their burrow.

Even if they spewed acid, the thick armor provided enough time to push through.

One by one, the rest of the forces began entering the pierced burrow.

Why was I so tense over raiding a single ant nest?

But in truth, the tide had already turned long ago.

The opponent, who had engaged in a direct contest of strength from the start, was shattered, and the defenseless enemy, unable to mount any meaningful resistance, was now being slaughtered.

[You must think of the bigger picture.]

“…To prepare for when this small war grows larger?”

It was an undeniable truth.

The swarm would never settle here.

It would continue to grow and face even bigger enemies.

[The queen of the enemies was dismembered, and the larvae and eggs were consumed as food. We have won the swarm’s war. This will be recorded in history.]

I glanced at the clock.

Just four hours.

In four hours, the White Cave Ant Colony that ruled the Fourth Stratum had been conquered by us.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

The vanquished enemies left us their legacy.

Their weapons could now become ours.

Weapons capable of taking down the Beings of the Upper Floors.

“Never taking a break, are you?”

[Even in the moments we rest, our nutrients are consumed.]

The Swarm does not stop.

*

“…”

The tranquil cave aperture.

This particularly wide area, centered around the lake, was rich in vegetation.

That meant it was abundant in nutrients.

The fungi that grew here had formed colonies of enormous mushrooms, each the size of a small child.

A toad living in this area lazily snatched up something crawling on the ground and swallowed it in one gulp.

This toad, roughly the size of a small dog, relished the popping texture in its mouth.

Unlike the massive colony reigning over the lower stratum, the White Cave Ants, armed with strong acid, only managed to survive in small groups here, making them one of the lowest lifeforms.

The toad yawned broadly and then began to move toward another location.

It reached the periphery of the cavern.

The toad, idly twitching its sensory organs, suddenly looked down at its feet.

[Now is the time to hunt higher forms of life and grow the size of our swarm.]

Countless ants—or rather, monsters that could barely be called ants—swarmed and began clinging to the toad’s body.

The toad leaped and shook its body to fling them off.

However, other monsters hovering in mid-air buzzed toward the toad.

[This is a new venom combined with strong acid. It is a lethal venom that melts the target’s nerves and blood vessels.]

The venom injected by the poison stingers attached to their tails was no longer ordinary bee venom.

Even the toad’s thick skin, immune to acid, could not withstand the direct injection of acid into its body.

Thrashing in desperation against the relentless assault, the toad’s massive body gradually collapsed.

[The predator of predators is also our prey.]

Something that had spotted the toad’s corpse quickly cut through the mid-air and swooped in.

It was a large bat with two pairs of wings covered in a membrane.

But the moment it grabbed the toad with its claws—

The swarm covering the toad’s body swarmed onto the bat as well.

The startled bat took flight.

Although its body was covered in fur, its skin was much thinner than the toad’s leather-like hide.

The swarm’s soldiers clung tenaciously to the bat’s body, biting into the thin membrane of its flapping wings.

[…This is only the beginning.]

The bat, with its wings now in tatters, eventually wobbled and crashed to the ground.

This was the moment when the Black Wave, climbing up from the lowest level of the labyrinth, began to overturn the ecosystem of the labyrinth in earnest.