A Legion Grows From My Smartphone

Chapter 39

[With the current firepower of the swarm, dealing with the massive enemy would take too long. The swarm decided to immediately use the new weapon they had acquired.]

The new weapon was none other than infection.

The artillery-type soldiers began launching poisonous thorns, bombarding the massive giant cow.

Dozens of thorns pierced the skin of the creature, which had been crushing and smashing swarm soldiers with its overwhelming mass.

[The thorns weren’t coated with acidic poison this time, but rather a modified version of another swarm soldier: the bacteria-type swarm soldier.]

It took no time to produce soldiers on a cellular level.

The giant cow staggered and let out a sorrowful wail.

Kang Do-Yeon and the swarm soldiers slowly stepped back.

[A large number of bacteria were introduced at once, and the spread was rapid.]

“…It’s effective.”

The giant cow’s body, writhing in agony, began to burst open, tumors and chunks of flesh swelling grotesquely before falling off with a sickening thud.

Even destruction fungus, which had been transformed into a swarm soldier, was now displaying black pigments.

As a result, the mutated cow, now covered in what looked like black veins resembling the roots of a tree, let out a deafening roar.

“Grooooar!”

It turned its massive head in the opposite direction.

The enemies had no way to handle the enormous body that had been crushing the swarm soldiers.

“Let’s go!”

Using the cow to clear the way, Kang Do-Yeon led the swarm soldiers into another charge.

Scouts could be seen cutting through the air, swiftly advancing toward the next stratum.

[Indeed, one could understand why they had blocked the entrance and made the decision to end themselves with their own hands.]

“…Does that thing even have an end?”

[Whether it ends or not doesn’t matter. Destruction fungus would have thrived, with its tireless body, overwhelming numbers, and unrelenting ferocity.]

The endless sight of infected entities on the screen left me horrified, but the swarm showed no sign of hesitation.

[But what are we inferior to them in? Tirelessness? Fearlessness? Numbers? In all these aspects, we surpass them.]

The swarm unleashed the energy it had accumulated by devouring the lower strata vegetation.

Before my eyes, tens of thousands of swarm army units were being produced in real-time throughout the nest.

[Their corpses are our food. The vegetation reappearing before us is our food. While they only consumed living animals, we consume everything alive, including them.]

The swarm soldiers, pushing their way up from the 37th layer, began engaging the entities flooding in from the 38th stratum.

Monsters of various kinds charged forward with shrieks.

In response, the eerie silence of the black wave engulfed them.

The battlefield, illuminated by the glow of luminous stones, turned into a war involving thousands within the expansive cavern.

I lost track of time, watching the ceaseless battle unfold.

This was not a fight that would end easily.

It was an exhausting war of attrition, one that would last days or even weeks until one side was completely overpowered.

“…I’m back.”

Late at night.

Even on the way home, I had kept my eyes glued to the screen.

The house was quiet.

My mother was there, but she was sitting absentmindedly, staring at a picture of my younger sibling.

There was nothing I could do for her now.

If I told her about the app or the game, it would only increase her worry.

In the end, my younger sibling had turned into a monster, leading other monsters, endlessly fighting.

“…”

I silently apologized to her and entered my room.

It wasn’t just about my sibling anymore—now, I had to make a move.

No, I already had.

“Yes, Cha Jiyeon. I succeeded.”

I contacted Cha Jiyeon.

I had decided to join her now.

If I, the player, remained here, my mother would also be in danger.

“Pack your things and come to the safe house.”

Cha Jiyeon instructed me to come to the safe house she often used.

I silently packed my belongings.

I had already told my mother. She thought I was going on a school-related trip.

[The swarm intends to offer you a sacrifice.]

“W-What?”

[The uneasiness you feel right now—the swarm has noticed it.]

But then, out of nowhere, a voice rang out from my mobile phone.

“What the… No, wait, I haven’t even given them a gift yet!”

[There’s no rule that says you have to give something first.]

Soon, accompanied by a cluster of light, something appeared before me.

I stared blankly as I accepted it.

“This… Is this what I think it is?”

[It’s a device that can launch poisonous thorns by triggering an internal gas explosion.]

Once again, the swarm had delivered a useful item to me.

Even to such an incompetent player as myself.

[Incompetent? No, you need to change your mindset. In an ecosystem, survival is the only thing that matters, especially for a player. Compared to those who have already fallen, you’ve done more than enough.]

“But compared to Cha Jiyeon’s player, I’m useless.”

[Whether that’s true or not will be revealed when this game ends.]

Will this game even have an end?

I didn’t bother to say anything more.

The only solace I had was that the swarm didn’t seem to think poorly of me.

“I should give them something too.”

I pulled out the last of the glucose candies I had bought online and piled up.

The food provision function was designed for the very early stages, so for the now-massive swarm, this probably wouldn’t even make a dent.

I just hoped they’d understand my feelings.

While I was at it, I also bought bread for my younger sibling and took a picture of it.

[Don’t rush. He will soon send you something in return.]

In the deepest part of the nest, where bestowed items appeared, the swarm positioned its body and waited.

Before long, accompanied by a cluster of light, something appeared.

The swarm picked it up with trembling hands.

It was nothing more than the simple candy they had been consuming all this time.

But now, its meaning was different.

“It carries his feelings.”

The mask’s lower half slid away, revealing red lips and a small mouth.

The swarm placed the entire candy, wrapper and all, into its mouth and crunched it.

“This… Is tasty, isn’t it?”

[…]

Even though the swarm chewed through the paper wrapper along with the candy, it smiled faintly at the sweet taste it experienced for the first time.

Sitting there, it devoured all the candies.

Of course, lacking a digestive system, it had to expel the contents into the nest, but the swarm willingly endured the inefficiency to eat it directly.

[The bread is meant to be given to Kang Do-Yeon.]

“…I know.”

What remained was the bread wrapper.

But the swarm held it and stared at it blankly.

A strange feeling caused its brow to furrow.

[Do you intend to eat that too?]

“Kang Do-Yeon is also a part of me. If I eat it, she eats it too.”

The Swarm ultimately did not hand the bread over to Kang Do-Yeon.

It wasn’t because of greed.

After all, Kang Do-Yeon could only chew and taste with her mouth but would have to vomit it all out without digesting any of it.

“It’s delicious.”

The bread began to disappear into the mouth.

With its softness and sweetness, the Swarm learned yet another emotion.

“If only it were given just for me.”

The bread wasn’t meant for the Swarm.

Of course, it was clear that he had also provided something for the Swarm.

However, the Swarm wanted to monopolize it all.

Completely, as its own.

In the end, the Swarm crammed the last piece of bread into its mouth.

It wasn’t difficult.

After all, Kang Do-Yeon was just a part of itself.

[Even now, the war against the infected entities is raging. And here you are, diverting your consciousness to eat bread.]

“No problem.”

The Swarm could hear, see, and think all at once.

Moreover, with Kang Do-Yeon, the Submind with a brain, present on the scene, there was no issue with maintaining control.

If any deficiencies arose, the Swarm could simply borrow Kang Do-Yeon’s brain.

A fierce battlefield.

For hours, the endless onslaught of infected entities clashed with the ceaseless reinforcements of the Swarm Soldiers in this place.

[Though they keep flooding in, we’ve already occupied half of this cavern. The energy gained from killing and absorbing them is sufficient to break even.]

The Swarm rapidly transported the killed corpses back to the nest, immediately absorbing them as energy.

In the process, the Swarm even developed a method to restore cells that had mutated and degenerated due to the Destruction Fungus.

[Moonlight Fairy: 1k2232]

[Great Cavern Buffalo: 3j5569]

With that power, it became possible to restore and analyze the genes of the infected entities.

And the genes analyzed in this way became the Swarm’s strength.

“Fairy.”

The Swarm remembered the explanation Kang Do-Yeon had given about fairies and elves.

Of course, she had only explained based on the creative works she had seen, but the Swarm, analyzing the genes, discovered a few intriguing aspects.

[It hasn’t been long since it was infected. Perhaps surviving individuals might still exist somewhere in this labyrinth.]

“The value is sufficient.”

The moment the Swarm saw the possibility, it immediately made a decision.

The situation was somewhat different from the past.

Previously, it was all about devouring and conducting disassembly analysis, but now it had obtained more diverse ways to gather information.

The Swarm’s Scouts began flying over the heads of the rampaging infected entities, dispersing into various passages.

Here and there, everywhere, there were only entities infected by the Destruction Fungus.

All living animals had already fallen victim, but soon a Scout ascending to the upper stratum discovered a trace.

[A scar formed relatively recently… This was undoubtedly evidence of a battle. It served as proof supporting the possibility of survivors.]

Scratches and bloodstains scattered across the walls and floor didn’t appear to be the work of infected entities, which did not attack one another.