I feel like a new person, like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. My mind is still a little cloudy, memories of the first life are clashing with the second. But for the first time, I have clarity.
I know my personality is different now, I feel more intuned with myself due to the time I spent on Zaraka, I mean this planet, at least in my first life, it used to be called Zaraka. My people were called the Swarm. we were a fast-breeding, but peaceful people. we talked telepathically and had language and culture like any other civilization, at least that's what my mother told me.
You see…we were never free. Many generations ago, humans came to our planet. First, they loved us, played with us, and even took our children as pets. We thought it was fine; it was just a thing for adoption. Our orphans would find a home with them.
But slowly, they were fortifying their ships, controlling land near the landing areas. Then the mining began, they mined mindlessly without caring about our homes under he ground, when the Queen of that time protested…they killed her. Wars began, but it was like throwing rocks at a god. We were defeated and enslaved.
Unfortunately, our misery had not ended; they would make us mine, day and night, destroying our own homes in the process. After some of us began getting old, they would kill us for 'population control', grinding our bodies in big machines. After hundreds of years, the minerals began drying up, and then they switched to a new level of cruelty, the men were meat, and the women became meat makers. Our population increased artificially, but the cruelty only kept increasing.
I was a princess born to the Queen of that time, Anasta. I had a big sister, and we both shared the vision of freedom. I wanted a revolution, while she believed in co-operating, that they would give us some form of autonomy. She was the smarter of us two; she knew their power, their mighty spaceships, and Great land beasts.
I did not care for it. If we were born to die, let us die fighting. After she failed to delay her butcher date, I knew these 'humans' were beasts; they did not think us sentient, if a princess cannot survive, what hope do the subjects have?
I do know that I took control of the Swarm and led the revolution successfully…but my memory is distorted. I remember saying I'm the last one, I can never forget those words. But I also know the Swarm survived. After all, I gave them my second spark; nothing can harm them…Second…Spark? What was it…I-I can't remember…?
Pain shot up through my skull as I crashed into the ground, my carapace scraping the rocky floor. The pain slowly subsided as I got up on my six feet. I have all the memories of my past lives…but some of them feel blocked.
"Ok, let's see what we can do here." I looked around the rocky cavern, my 6 eyes coupled with my illuminating thorax allowed me to see in the dark. There isn't really much to see. The egg I came out of is a good source of nutrients for now, but I will need food and water to survive.
Moving closer to the egg, I ate it all quickly, subsiding my hunger. This should last me till I find something to eat. I remember there being Moles inside these mountains before I infested it…maybe some of them are back? Let's go check it out!
Brrrrr...…vvvvvvrrr….
Looking around, I feel vibrations inside the walls, something's coming!. The spines on my back stand straight as I hiss at the source.
I need more information on these movements. Let's use the system, I remember Alan getting me an offline cracked version, they shouldn't be able to track it, Status!
[Name]: Veqty Quantzhui
[Race]: Swarm Mother
[Title]: The Last Primal
[Age]: 100000000(100 million Years)
[Spark]: Mother Of All
[Spark Slot 2]: ———
[Strength]: 17
[Aether]: 20
[Defense]: 39
[Agility]: 23
[Stamina]: 13
[Luck]: 15
Active Skills:
[Ferocious Bite] | [Claws] | [Overdrive] | [Dig] | [Spines]
Passive Skills:
[Regenerate] | [Burrow] | [Queen's Knowledge]
Racial Traits:
[Queen's Legacy]{Unlocks Mother Series Skills and Second Spark}
[Mother's Power]
[Mother's Love] — Locked
[Mother's Wrath] — Locked
[Mother's Despair] — Locked
[Mother's Curse] — Locked
Let's use [Dig]. As soon as I thought of the skill, my senses expanded, and every layer of rocks felt like sand for me to read through. I know where they are coming from; they should be here in a few minutes. If they are hostile, I need to be in an ambush position
The location they will arrive at is on the other side of a thick wall; there must be a bigger cavern there if they are landing. I will use [Burrow] to make a pathway on both sides and ambush them from the front and then from the back. Classic strategy, never failed me during the revolution.
I don't have unlimited projectiles either; I only have 8 spines before they need a few minutes to regenerate, and without food, that wouldn't be possible. I will need to pressure them enough to make them leave their dead behind before feasting on the bodies.
Aether depends upon your internal energy unlike Mana, Aether users have always been defeated by their Mana counterparts, due to the simple fact that in the space era, a single person's internal energy can never match up to the Mana found all around the galaxy, but I still defeated them using the fact that Zaraka didn't have much Mana in it. The extraordinary regeneration of my spines depends on my Aether input, which needs to be powered by increasing my internal energy through digestion.
The vibrations stopped soon after I had dug two small burrows connecting the two portions of the walls. I will attack them from the front and pause for a bit so they think the danger is contained, and then attack from the other side. I've connected both the burrows so they don't know where the attack is coming from. The problem is detection; without tatak, no one can block their motion trackers.
I have plans to deal with that, but I can't do anything immediately.
I can feel the unknowns from the other side, most likely humans.
BOOOOMM!
Explosives!? Those fools, it's deep inside a mountain! They are coming!
I'm hiding behind a rock with my spines itching to pierce them; they are humans, but the armor looks heavier than they had during the revolution. How are they carrying that weight with their fleshy bones? I remember my time as a human; I couldn't even open a jelly jar without Alan. They look strong, I must be careful in dealing with them.
A soldier has seen the egg and Tatak's few remains, and he seems confused, doesn't he recognize the swarm? After eating my people, they pretend not to even know us!?
Thinking of this, a fire rose in my heart, REVENGE, in this moment, they will pay with blood, these bastards don't know when to give up!
Quickly, I released 2 spines, killing the first soldier instantly and the second mortally wounded. "Take that bastards!" As soon as they started to retreat, I fired another spine directly in the opening, killing 1 more soldier. But the other managed to escape, leaving behind 3 meals for me.
I know how their intelligence tech, or at least not to get too near to reveal myself. I have to think of another way to eat them. The only method I can think of is total darkness, so that their cameras are not able to get any light; otherwise, without more Aether, there is little I can do to block surveillance
Quickly making a burrow underneath the corpses, I had them drop down before collapsing the burrow. Without total darkness and odd angles, I had them unclothed and ready to eat, 2 males and 1 female. Eating humans felt a little weird since I lived as a human before, and these people may have a family out there...but they should have thought of that before coming to butcher my people.
My first life is heavier than my second right now, especially since I've been protective in both of those. I would do anything to protect the swarm and my husband.
Cutting apart the genitals with my sharp fingers and cleaning the intestines, I quickly tore the arm of the 1st male, chomping away at him. Then the female, her meat was softer compared to the chewy male flesh, and I enjoyed it more. Lastly, I had to gulp down an older male with shriveled and chewy meat.
With this, I could feel my Aether reserves quickly filling thanks to my quick digestion.
[Notification: Aether Available, please assign usage]
Looking up, the system had notified me of the good news: Aether reserves are important, they help increase stats and evolve skills, while also being necessary to use them, every skill use for overexertion of the body needs Aether to recover from, you also need Aether to simply survive.
Let's ignore the notification for now. I need the Aether to use spines. Quickly making my way through the burrow, I came behind the soldiers. They are shouting at each other, no doubt shocked and confused, aah, thinking of it does bring a smile to my face.
I need to make the most of my skills and spines, so by combining [overdrive] and [Spine] I can launch my spins faster and deadlier, hopefully killing 2 humans with every spine. The key is ambushing them and running back in the burrow, without letting them know what hit them.
As I got ready to strike, my muscles tensed. The tips of my spines began to glow faintly, heat building under the chitin as I funneled raw Aether into the glands. Eight of them. Eight chances. I activated [Overdrive], letting it pulse through me, concentrating it in my hands and spines, for a brief second, time slowed down.
Every noise became sharper: the grind of their boots, the low whine of their heavy armor, the clipped bark of orders.
Closer now. My breath is low, silent. With a swift motion, I emerged from the tunnel like a ghost.
[Spine][Spine][Spine]-[Overdrive]
The three spines hissed through the air, and three helmets snapped back, the spines puncturing through skulls like paper. They were dead before their knees bent. The others turned, alarms flaring, but not before my barrage began.
[Spine][Spine]-[Overdrive].
Another pair dropped—armor breached at the shoulder joints, their bodies collapsing into one another like dolls with cut strings.
I moved. No hesitation.
[Spine][Spine][Spine]—[Overdrive].
Two double shots this time. I had shifted angle, aimed higher, and three spines cut through five bodies. One even screamed, garbled through blood, before silence swallowed him too.
I counted the kills. Ten down.
Then the shouting began in earnest.
"Contact—rear quadrant!"
"I saw movement! There may be multiple boogeys! fuck, we're surrounded!"
"Fall back! Reorient!"
But I was already gone.
[Burrow]
I slipped into the earth. Their scanners should find nothing. Heat trails usually vanish below five meters. They'll sweep around, searching corners and shadows, finding only their dead. That confusion should keep them guessing and afraid.
I will wait before engaging again. I need a minute for my spines to regenerate, and by that time, they will likely discover my burrow method before the next attack. I will have to approach this from a different angle.
I exhaled the exertion through my gills and smiled in the dark beneath. I couldn't help whispering:
"That was fun."