I Became a Hive Mind in the Game

In the backyard of the Dolphinman Emperor’s palace in the capital, the 1st city of the Dolphinmen.
“Ppuu, ppuu, ppuuu… ppuhit (Haa, haa, haaa… hup)!”
Clang!
“Ppibibik, ppu ppibi (You’re slow, you rascal)!”
In this beautifully decorated palace backyard, the Dolphinman Emperor with his huge body was in the middle of training his son, his successor.
“Kkigippibibi (It’s a big problem)!”
But then. Suddenly, Turtu, a Dolphinman who was his close aide and acted as a messenger, came in shouting loudly.
*From here on, for convenience, it will be automatically translated into human language.
“What’s the matter, Turtu?”
As the Emperor, who momentarily paused the training, asked about the matter, Turtu, who was taking deep breaths, said gravely:
“The 4th city has been destroyed by an attack from unidentified monsters! Confirmed survivors: seven!”
“…What?!”
The moment he heard those words, the Emperor doubted their truthfulness, but… soon remembering they were Turtu’s words, he withdrew his doubt.
And as he withdrew his doubt and believed his words, the Emperor finally understood the terrible situation of the 4th city being destroyed.
The 4th city. A production city where various seaweeds grow abundantly, livestock is raised, and daily necessities are produced to some extent, with most of the produced goods being sent to the 1st city, which only consumes but doesn’t produce.
But now, that 4th city has been destroyed. The city that was supposed to send food, livestock, various seaweeds for construction, and even daily necessities like baskets and tableware to the capital.
“Is, is that really true?”
“…Without a doubt. There are also testimonies from the shamans. And—”
“And?”
But unfortunately for the Emperor, Turtu still had more to convey.
“It has been confirmed that the group of monsters that destroyed the 4th city is now approaching the capital. Your Majesty, I request your decision.”
“…Damn it.”
Inwardly, no. The Emperor who outwardly expressed his complaint about this damn situation, but only for a moment.
“Gather the warriors right now! Request support towards other cities! There’s no time!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Immediately after giving orders to his subordinate, the Emperor hurriedly began to move to gather his equipment.
Showing well-founded confidence that the monsters capable of destroying the 4th city would undoubtedly need the military power of the Emperor, the strongest Dolphinman.

※ ※ ※

‘Advance!’
Even after sweeping away the seaweed city with exciting bombardment, the march of the monsters in the sea continued.
They swept away everything blocking their path and smashed the Dolphinmen’s outposts along the way.
The monsters forming the corps solved their meals with slaughtered Dolphinmen or monsters, so the advance was very fast, and reinforcements produced endlessly in the rear kept joining.

Therefore, it took only about 4 hours to reach the largest city among the Dolphinmen’s cities from that seaweed city, and the number of monsters had multiplied several times.
And immediately after arriving at the city.
‘…As expected, monsters aren’t fools when humans aren’t visible. Hmm, I anticipated this.’
What came into my view as I observed the surroundings through Theo’s shared vision was none other than the Dolphinmen’s army gathered to protect the city.
At the forefront, there are about 500 pairs of heavy cavalry consisting of Dolphinmen who look at least medium-grade, wearing full body armor made of specially treated blue-dyed shells, and the medium-grade marine monsters they’re riding.
And behind such heavy cavalry, about 3,000 light cavalry—consisting of grade 7 Dolphinmen—riding giant seahorses are lined up with short swords and harpoons.
Behind the cavalry, tens of thousands of Dolphinmen infantry are gathered in formation.
The Dolphinmen at the front are well-armed with decent weapons and maintain strict military discipline, but towards the rear, the quality of weapons becomes mediocre and discipline is lacking—literally just conscripts.
Unfortunately, the enemy’s psychic users or high-grade monsters are not visible so they can’t be intercepted, but… for now, it doesn’t matter.
‘Aim.’
Following my instructions, the Hive Tunas and Hive Piranhas, who formed a front line as if aligning, began to gather energy in their horns.
The target is those heavy cavalry made up of medium-grade monsters in front.
Of course, the Dolphinmen on the other side seemed to notice what we were trying to do and started approaching quickly, but—naturally, we who were prepared in advance are faster.
Tudududududududududududududududududududududu——!!!!!
First, energy bullets from the Hive Piranhas pour down to consume the force fields of the medium-grade monsters, and then powerful energy bullets from the Hive Tunas fly towards the thinned force fields and explode.
Clang!
BOOOOOM——BOOOOOOOOOOOM——!!!!!!!!!!!
“Ku, kuaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
“Aaah, aaaaaaaaah!!!!”
It didn’t matter whether they were powerful medium-grade monsters, highly skilled medium-grade Dolphinmen, trained Dolphinman soldiers, or conscripted Dolphinmen.
They were equally powerless in the face of overwhelming firepower, and the Dolphinmen, whose long-range attack means were at best throwing harpoons, were one-sidedly beaten without any decent resistance.
And such a shocking sight inevitably has the effect of lowering the enemy’s morale.
“Ppippikkuru!”
“Kkeuteuppippi!”
“Ppippibaki!”
Strange Dolphinman language that I couldn’t understand was heard from all directions, and then the Dolphinmen standing at the rear of the formation lost their reason and began to flee madly in all directions.
Even with the influence of the monster gene that makes monsters innately insensitive to fear and unafraid of death, it doesn’t seem to have had much effect on the Dolphinmen conscripts who were exceptionally intelligent and untrained.
Anyway, as such confusion swept through the enemy Dolphinmen’s formation, suddenly a group of Dolphinmen wearing fancy clothes appeared, splitting the Dolphinmen’s ranks and floating bodies.
These, presumably psychic users, pointed primitive psychic energy amplifiers—staffs or wands—held in their hands at the monsters and tried to shoot psychics wildly.
‘Theo, attack.’
[Affirmative.]
Wooong—BOOOOOM!!!!
But one step faster than that, I who noticed this instructed Theo, and Theo activated the Combination Blaster that had been floating around and poured firepower towards them.
Thanks to the built-in A-rank core, the Combination Blaster can pour out firepower equivalent to a high-grade monster on its own, so its firepower is beyond imagination.
So naturally, there’s no way those primitive psychic users, who are at best grade 4 level, could withstand this.
The psychic shield deployed by hundreds of people combining their powers to defend against the attack was lightly destroyed, and the Dolphinmen deploying the psychic shield inside became chunks of meat.
《Buooooooooooo——!!!》
And at that exact moment. As a majestic sound resonated, suddenly a giant monster revealed itself from the direction where I had been suspicious due to the unusually small number of troops deployed.
A giant gray-skinned whale with purple glowing tattoos all over its body, it was a Giant Psychic Whale.
‘…Isn’t it a bit different?’
I was a bit taken aback because its appearance was different from the monsters I faced in the game, but it’s still within the range I had anticipated.
Because I had been feeling a sense of discomfort from the beginning, I had prepared to be able to fire a volley towards that empty area at any time when deploying troops, so I could deal with it anytime.
‘Fire! And Theo, standby!’
So I ordered the monsters to concentrate firepower on the Giant Psychic Whale instead of the half-disintegrated Dolphinmen, and at the same time, I’m keeping Theo on standby for now.
[Question. Why?]
Even though it’s a grade 3 monster, the lowest of the high-grade monsters, it’s still a high-grade monster.
So Theo wondered why I had kept him on standby, but now something appeared before his eyes that could solve that question.
“Kkirikkikki!”
“””””””Kkikiriri!!!!”””””””
A huge Dolphinman wearing extremely ornate black full body armor, the Dolphinman Emperor, tried to directly attack the monsters targeting the Giant Psychic Whale, leading medium-grade Dolphinmen presumed to be his royal guard.
The Dolphinman Emperor is a rare humanoid high-grade (grade 3) monster in the game, and the royal guard led by the Emperor are grade 4 Dolphinmen who have mounted tamed grade 4 monsters, equipped with solid gear.
It was clear that nothing positive would come if such beings attacked from the flank in this situation where hundreds of thousands of monsters were concentrating firepower only on the Giant Psychic Whale (estimated grade 3) to somehow deal with it.
‘Intercept, Theo.’
[Confirmed. Proceeding to eliminate hostile entity.]
And only then, as my additional order fell to Theo who understood the meaning of my order, Theo said he would carry out the order, deployed his auxiliary arms—and charged towards the Dolphinman Emperor.