Threat

The week of hell arrived, ambushes had been set and the necessary preparations made. After a day the first caravan was spotted with several dozen soldiers, kingdom officials, and a strange man meditating on a carriage. Gas mines had been placed along the main road, and combat units waited in ambush.

The gas mines were filled with a sedative mixture as to provide an opportunity to infect the humans with the prepared brain parasites. These brain parasites were 2cm multicellular organisms, so they would have to be manually inserted, as they are too large to move into a brain blood vessel without causing clotting, killing the host. Once the caravan got within a dozen meters of the mines the strange man on the carriage suddenly got up and stopped the leading carriage.

"There are life signatures in the road in front of us, burrowed monsters, be prepared this may be an ambush."

A scout heard this and quickly relayed it to command, who ordered the gas mines explode and combat drones to attack. The gas mines were too far away to hit anyone, but it blocked a frontal path of escape. The Swarm took an interest to the strange mans abilities, as he had no device on him and he emitted no probing signals. Transport rollers carried spitters and infestors, while melee drones rolled alongside them.

These transport rollers were designed to deliver units quickly to battle that couldn't move quickly, similar in shape to melee drones but far larger and more armored. As they were only recently developed there were only 4, 5 meter wide transport rollers grown.

Once the transport rollers got within 20 meters they opened, revealing several dozen modified spitters, these spitters had a non acidic liquid solution that contained modified parasites and a sedative mixture. These spitters engaged the guards around the caravan, causing them to shriek and collapse.

The strange man called for the remaining guards to hide while he dealt with the monsters. A second volley was shot, but stopped midair in front of the man before splashing around him. The man suddenly unsheathed a sword, charging at a spitter and split it in half with a golden flash of his blade.

The Swarm was put on high alert, sending signals for the spitters to retreat while reinforcements arrived. Melee units pulled back while escorting the transport rollers, meanwhile every combat unit in the town was pulled, and half the drones at the second town were ordered to move. Birthing chambers started focusing on combat drones, quickly consuming Swarm reserves.

The Swarm couldn't guess what method the man was using to easily cut through a keratin exoskeleton with such ease, nor how he stopped the spitter volley. Ambush tactics would not work due to his strange surveillance ability, so the Swarm planned on creating a new weapon. Assuming some type of energy shield was being used, the Swarm planned on breaking through with sharp high powered spines.

These spines were made with the limited supply of bio armor, and would be shot with a new drone type. These drones had a long appendage on their back, which would fire the spines through a special chemical that would propel the projectile through highly concentrated bursts of gas. This chemical and the new drone type were being produced as other combat units fought the man.

Airborne pathogens were used against the man, but the man seemed to have an enhanced biology and didn't succumb to them. After several hours of constant combat the new drones were ready, by this time the man had been struck several times, but minimal damage had occurred. Nearly 100 drones had been cut down, but the new drone type had finally finished growing. These drones were moved to the battlefield, and the tired man charged at the new combatants, who was delayed by the sacrifice of several melee drones and the volleys of several spitters.

The 4 transports opened, revealing several dozen spine shooters who immediately opened fire. The energy shield finally shattered, leaving the man covered in spines. These spines contained a large collection of modified pathogens, which overwhelmed the man causing him to collapse. Dozens of combat units swarmed the down man, pinning his limbs as previously burrowed infestors emerged and ran over. These infestors had quietly infected the caravan several hours prior, and now had an opportunity as the man was now sedated.

Thankfully for the Swarm the man underestimated them, as he refused to retreat despite his superior speed. With his brain now infected, he would be forced to reveal any information the Swarm needed. After having the spines removed and any wounds healed he was awakened.

The swarm interrogated him for information, more specifically the source of his power. While being interrogated he revealed the source of his power, "cultivating Qi". The Swarm initially thought he was resisting the parasite and lying, but interrogation from other caravan members backed him up. He called himself a "cultivator", and used special techniques to "cultivate Qi". The Swarm asked for a written copy of his methods of "cultivating Qi", which he regretfully obliged. While writing the copy he started chatting with the infected guard that had been interrogating them.

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"Well what are you creatures? You can communicate through us and your methods seem far more intelligent then mere beasts."

ㅤ

"You do not need to know, we gain nothing telling you."

ㅤ

"Figured, so why do you need these methods, I doubt your race can use them anyways."

ㅤ

"You will do as we say."

ㅤ

"Not very talkative are you."

ㅤ

"..."

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After an hour the cultivator had finished writing, during that time the battlefield had been cleaned up and any corpses brought to the hive to be revived or recycled. After he finished the brain parasites sedated the caravan and started altering their memories, along with altering their minds to ignore any drones that travel with them.

The caravan started moving, along with several drones that joined them to colonize any useful areas and scout. Several construction drones were prepared, which will develop into a relay station for Swarm communications. These drones develop into tall spires on the tops of mountains, hills or trees which relay communications between hive relay centers and drone colonies.

The second caravan at the initial city didn't have any cultivators so they were easily integrated, the Swarm interrogated them, gave them false memories, and sent them on their way with no complications.

The Swarm had been spooked by existence of these cultivators, so preparations were started to increase militarization and improving combat drones. Experiments were started with infected humans stolen from nearby towns with these Qi techniques. From what the cultivator said these techniques only work on a select few individuals, and these individuals cultivation speed depends on "aptitude".

The Swarm planned on occupying more towns one the week of hell was over. In these the infected townspeople would be forced to practice Qi techniques, and any with aptitude would be kept.

The Swarm was unaware of what power other cultivators would exhibit, but it was certain that with the proper preparations they will still be crushed.