The Early Worm

The lizard lay unconscious in front of me, but I didn't think much about it.

Hiding traces of the dead larvae, I proceeded to tear open more wounds on its skin, by biting the hidden lower half of its body.

I didn't want it to regain consciousness while I was away and to hopefully avoid any nasty surprises, I had to disable it enough that it did not recover the strength to fight.

If I was lucky, it would bleed just enough to remain comatose without dying. I'd rather do this differently, but without possessing any paralysis skills, there wasn't much else I could do.

Its scars should heal slowly, and it would look no different from before if observed from above, like it was still hosting a larvae.

I couldn't afford to take any chances.

I thought back to the ape who had leapt down the opening of the hive's centre – what if it actually left the hive to live on the outside?

My nervous heart quickened at the idea.

If host bodies became something like training wheels for the juvenile wasps, the ape would get progressively stronger with each battle, and so would the larva inside it that siphoned its power.

If while under its control, the ape was made to return to its own area of the Labyrinth to hunt. As soon as the wound the larvae crawled into was healed, it would look no different from a normal ape.

But what stopped it from infiltrating its own group to cause chaos? Or better yet, assist the wasps to lure out and catch even more susceptible apes?

Once outside it could do anything depending on how long the larvae delayed the absorption.

I shivered at the thought. What scary insects!

In that time it could be used for anything, from assassination to recon, and nothing would stop it. But as I thought to myself I came to realise, all of this hinged on whether the larvae could successfully infiltrate without raising any alarms.

Was I overestimating them?

The ape could only return to its own group if there was no way of telling it apart. But was it really possible for the larvae to emulate the ape in everything?

The locust had been able to fight well but its attacks at best were only a shade of the locust's. The brute like tactics it employed were entirely of the larvae's making. Its behaviour was one major tell that couldn't be concealed and it would immediately be singled out and killed once it was revealed to be a fraud.

«You want to know if the larvae can survive indefinitely inside the host?» Sensei asked, reading my thoughts.

"Yes, is it possible?"

I could only put forward my questions to him to see what he knew. The only problem was if he would actually respond with answers I could use.

There was also another question lingering at the back of my mind, one that had to do with authority. Once a wasp was strong enough, why didn't it go off to start its own colony? What need would it have to submit to a queen?

"What would tempt a wasp to return to the hive where its only role is to become a worker, when it already obtained its freedom outside?"

And to my surprise Sensei answered.

«I can tell you right now that it's impossible. The larvae can't maintain itself independent of the hive indefinitely. It has to absorb its host at some point, or else what would be the point.»

«From the moment it is inside its host, the two are tied together in a race to outdo the other. [Mind Chain] is what allows it to exert its will over the host creature, but as a skill it is not passive and to use it, the larvae has to expend quite a lot of its MP.»

"Surely that increases as it grows?"

«Yes, but when the larvae is newly hatched, it barely has any.» Sensei continued explaining. «When its MP runs out it can no longer keep the host under control and has to use paralysis to prevent the host from ripping out its own neck. [Paralysis Poison] gives it a chance to survive by freezing its host, but at LV1 it barely gives it enough time.

The larvae must remain alert while it waits for its MP to refill all while hiding from the natural predators of its host. It is very difficult for another creature to live inside a foreign body, which is why the host staying dormant is so necessary at the beginning.

Some larvae will resort to debilitating their own hosts by attacking any creature they come across so that their host is weakened and cannot challenge them over the control reins. Their paths are fraught with risk and most don't survive long.»

"What's the rate of survival?"

«Of all the hosts that make it outside, only 1 in 5 make it back, so this method isn't exactly failproof. As soon as they hatch they take hosts only for protection, until they mature enough to absorb them and shed. And they would rather do this as quickly as possible.»

"How long on average do they live inside hosts?"

«The longer they remain, the more they grow in strength. The average wasp could take a day, but any that don't last up to a week will remain weaker than those that cross this threshold. Once shed, they can only become workers that live exclusively in the hive.

These cells were built specially for the larvae to practice subduing their hosts. Any that lasts up to three days would have developed sufficient control over their hosts with their paralysis increasing. And those that can withstand it longer get better adapted for life on the outside, and become strong enough to qualify as soldiers.»

"What's the longest a wasp has ever lasted?"

Sensei paused to consider before saying. «The longest record is held by the very first Hesperia to evolve. It came across the dying body of a bird while being pursued by one of its predators.

With no other way to escape, it hid by crawling inside the creature's wound. From then on it realised the true nature of itself, and the potential held by its trifling ability that could only be utilised inside the body of another. It didn't hesitate to take control of the dying bird to kill the creature pursuing it.

The strong eat the weak, that has always been the law, but the weak worm had adapted to survive. By consuming that which was stronger than it, it grew exponentially.

The Labyrinth has always thrived on strength, the more creative the method, the more the reward. The first Hesperia wasn't even aware it had the ability until it's desperate actions to save itself, yet the more ruthless its conquest became, the more its descendants thrived.

Every creature at one point of their life is prey to another. It only bypassed this fate by giving itself the best chance. The creature you are so fearful of is nothing more than a parasite. Its true form is that of a bottom feeder that would never have been a threat to you, yet it has been so successful where others have not.»

I stared down at the larvae I'd killed.

It was indeed nothing without its host, yet it sounded like Sensei was telling me I could learn a thing or two from it? Surely, he didn't mean I had to eat it. I shuddered.

It might be nothing without its host but that didn't mean I was going to emulate it by putting myself ahead of everything just to save myself. The wasps were dangerous and with more soldiers born, they could easily increase to uncontrollable amounts, yet they hadn't taken over the Labyrinth.

What stopped them from expanding infinitely was in the end, a weakness of their own ability. Everything had order and nothing was so powerful as to not have a weakness.

My [Devour] gave me the attributes of others but the strength of those attributes and how I used them were my own responsibility. It wasn't perfect and [Obsidian Horn] had its own weaknesses. They weren't going to get stronger simply because I willed them to be.

But when I thought about it, a single ability had taken the original Hesperia so far. What made it so different from myself?

Rather than collecting many weak abilities, I will be better served by figuring out how to improve the ones I already have. Maybe what Sensei was trying to say in his roundabout way was that everything needed the right environment to grow – or for the Hesperia 'the right food'.

To improve, I just had to find mine.

With that thought, I climbed out of the hole.

Looking back at the lizard, there was nothing that stood out of place. It still lay in the centre of the hexagon, showing no signs of consciousness and I left it to explore the rest of the chamber.

I counted thirty holes, each covered with by a membrane with various creatures inside, in similar states of paralysis.

I tore open a gap in each membrane and peered inside to see each egg. Including the one that infected the lizard, all but nine were still unhatched. It would make these nine eggs the very best of the batch, fortunately one had already been cut short. But I had to do more, the wasps were simply too dangerous an existence to leave unchecked.

I slipped into one of the chambers containing a paralysed slug-like creature. Landing on top of its back where an unhatched egg lay attached on top of its skin, my fangs sunk into the leather like material of the egg and my venom coursed through it, killing the larvae inside.

〚You have killed LV1 Novus Hesperia〛

〚You have earned 2XP〛

Seeing it die instantly, I couldn't resist one last jab at Sensei.

"I just realised something."

«What?»

"You share so much in common with the larvae, you might as well be their brethren."