Global Evolution: I Became A Zombie!

"I'm fine."

Blaze's voice echoed through the dust and debris. As everything turned calm, a horrific sight emerged.

Blaze wasn't fine. Although the tendrils had formed a barrier to protect him from Chimera's attack, they failed.

All six of the tendrils were charred and had a huge chunk missing. It was the same with Blaze's shoulder, as a visible burn scar had formed there.

Marrow saw all that and rushed to heal him.

However, by the time she got there, the wounds had disappeared entirely.

"Ultra regen," he said, smiling. "It's more useful than I thought."

"I should check you regardless—"

"Don't waste your energy," he said, grabbing her hand. "Heal him first."

Blaze nodded towards Chimera, who was yet to get up following their fight. Even from a distance, one could see a dent in his body where Blaze had hit him.

Marrow nodded and walked toward Chimera. Unlike when she hurried to heal Blaze, her steps were deliberately slow now.

It was almost as if she wanted Chimera to feel hurt. Unfortunately, much like herself, he was a zombie incapable of such sensations.

Meanwhile, Chimera tried to get up on his own. His body trembled and gave way as he tried. Not from pain, but because he had lost a few bones in the fight.

Marrow finally reached him, but instead of squatting to heal the undead as usual, she just placed her hand above the wound.

She looked over her shoulder and saw that Blaze was distracted by something else. He didn't notice when the golden wisp flowed from her hand and struck Chimera.

The golden wisp, which was like poison for the undead.

The reaction was immediate as Chimera's entire body jerked as if struck by lightning. He was about to roar in pain, but Marrow kicked his mouth shut.

She then pressed harder, forcing more energy into Chimera as it began to convulse. The more he was in pain, the happier she got.

Yes, she was loyal to the horde, but she was more loyal to Blaze.

How could she let go of the one who hurt her master without punishing them?

"Marrow," Blaze called her softly.

"Yes, my lord?" she replied, cutting off the wisps.

She turned around, acting like nothing had happened. But she overlooked one thing. The horde was connected to his mind. He could sense everything they felt.

"Heal him properly," Blaze said. "You were using the wrong flow."

"Oh, my!"

She acted surprised, staring at her hands as if she didn't intend to harm Chimera.

"My lord, it wasn't my intention," she said. "I've been healing humans not long ago and must have forgotten to switch. It wasn't intentional."

While it was a valid explanation, Blaze didn't believe a single word that came out of her mouth.

Instead, he noticed how Chimera's flesh had turned charred like his had following the attack. It was clear she had done it to punish Chimera for hurting him.

You're not this careless. We both know that.

Blaze switched to mental communication as he didn't want to scold her in front of the rest. However, it was important to correct her before things got out of hand.

Marrow's head hung low as it was the first time Blaze had used such a tone with her.

I admire your capabilities, but do not take me for a fool. You're my second-in-command, it's a position of responsibility. I thought you were responsible, but what you did now shows otherwise.

"Apologies, my lord. It would not happen again…"

Blaze nodded before leaving.

As he did, he caught Chimera smirking.

Want me to change my mind?

Blaze asked with a glare, and the beastman's expression turned much like Marrow's.

***

While Marrow healed Chimera, Blaze returned to check on Blightspore. It had scanned most grade-3 corpses, but had yet to find a single Necroseed.

Since it had found nothing, there was no point in staying there. Instead, Blaze went to see Myrme. After all, she would play an important role in what he had in mind.

As usual, the undead ant queen was surrounded by the eggs she once laid.

At first, Blaze had planned to hatch a new queen and tame her to lay more eggs. Unfortunately, that plan didn't come to fruition since, for some reason, the eggs refused to hatch.

He thought they had died, but the system had informed him otherwise.

The eggs were alive, they were just stubbornly refusing to hatch.

In the time following his victory over the Headless, Blaze tried a plethora of things.

He simulated the environment to resemble the underground and even forced an egg into submission in the same way he had done to Voss and his father.

Yet none of it worked.

In the end, he gave up and forgot all about the eggs.

However, Myrme didn't.

While others were evolving, she only left her nest to fulfill Blaze's commands and then came right back.

Blaze knew her eggs were important to her, even in death. That's why he decided to do an experiment with her. A last attempt to make the eggs hatch.

[Proceed with spawner construction?]

Yes.

The mutant nucleus and other materials disappeared, and in their place a wide hollow structure appeared under Myrme.

It wasn't too big, just a small hole that would fit a grown adult, and looked like a corpse pit in appearance.

[Please insert the required materials to start production.]

The stated materials were flesh chunks, bone fragments, and rotten blood, among other things. However, instead of those, Blaze grabbed one of the eggs and tossed it inside.

Myrme noticed the missing egg and clacked her mandibles, but Blaze just pressed a finger on his lips, gesturing for her to be quiet and look.

The egg disappeared inside the pit, becoming one with its darkness.

Then, nothing happened.

Myrme tilted her head, her antennae twitching as if she were trying to establish contact with the egg.

Blaze crossed his arms, waiting for something, anything to happen.

Another failure…

He shook his head and was about to leave when the spawner shot something out.

"Is that… the egg?"

Instead of its milky-white appearance, the egg had turned completely black. Curious, Blaze smelled it, and it smelled like any undead ant. It would seem the spawner had turned it into rot.

However, instead of being happy, he frowned.

A rotten egg was as good as dead.

He reached to pick it up, thinking the experiment had failed. But before his fingers touched it, Myrme rushed forward. Her antennae kept twitching while her mandibles clanked to show her excitement.

"This isn't dead?" Blaze asked, reading Myrme's thoughts.

Myrme gave a sharp clank, almost like a nod, before gently lifting the egg between her mandibles. Her motherly instincts kicked in, and she didn't want Blaze anywhere close.

So, he stepped back.

He didn't know what was happening, but as long as he achieved his goal, he had no objections.

Instead, he turned towards the spawner. It had done something to the egg, and Myrme knew what. Blaze wanted to know that too.

While he tried solving the mysteries of the spawner, Myrme went berserk. She threw all of her eggs inside one after another. Even the spawner went into overdrive, throwing eggs back left and right.

"What is going on here?" Blaze asked as undead worker ants rushed in to help the queen.

However, the ants were too preoccupied to even register his presence.

Soon, it was like a festival there.

The eggs were being dropped into the pit, then collected and rearranged on some parameter that Blaze didn't know about.

It was like the ants had forgotten they were undead and were suddenly indulging in their natural roles.

A second later, Blaze's confusion disappeared when the first egg hatched.

[Entry #30: Undead Ant Larva has been added to the encyclopedia.]

It wasn't surprising that the egg hatched so quickly. After all, they had been long overdue.

Blaze was surprised because it was an undead larva.

The ants rushed towards the larva and began cleaning it. Blaze only got a good look after another egg hatched, and the ants turned towards it.

The creature was quite big, coming to Blaze's knees in height. Like other zombies, black veins were spread all across its translucent skin.

As for the second larva, it was much smaller than the first. Even the ants didn't pay much attention to it after cleaning.

"That should be a male," Blaze mumbled. "Which means the first larva has to be the next queen."

Unlike humans, who indulged in social constructs such as fairness, the ants prioritized one's importance.

The males, whose purpose was to mate, didn't receive much attention or importance from the colony. Then came the workers and soldier ant larvae, as they would contribute more to the colony and hence received some care.

Finally, the most care and resources were reserved for the queen ant larva. Since they would carry their lineage forward, they'd receive the most care and would have the first claim over the colony's resources.

At least that would be the case in a regular colony.

However, it wasn't the same for the undead ants.

With a nod, Blaze left the ants to their duties. He was more interested in seeing how things worked out for them, rather than interfering in their business.

Besides, the sporeforms had called for him.

A necroseed had been found.