I Am The Swarm

The native creature closely matched the color of the cliff rock, camouflaging itself within a crevice. It had remained utterly motionless, blending seamlessly with the surroundings, and Luo Wen, focused on the greenery below, failed to notice the seemingly lifeless form was, in fact, alive.

Luckily, Luo Wen’s evolving eyes, with their now thirty-meter range and heightened refresh rate, caught the creature’s movement the instant it struck.

The figure leaping toward him became vividly clear—a spider-like creature, gargantuan in size, several times larger than Luo Wen himself.

Its body resembled a fortress, divided into two segments: the cephalothorax and a rounded, hair-covered abdomen. Its head bore eight black, spherical eyes arranged in three rows—four small ones in front, two larger ones in the middle, and two more small ones at the back.

At its mouth, a pair of chelicerae arched forward, exposing sharp, venomous fangs.

It had eight sturdy striding limbs, each jointed for exceptional mobility. Covered in hair and tipped with small claws and barbs, the legs spread wide, forming a deadly net as it leaped to envelop Luo Wen with its massive frame.

Luo Wen had thought his own size made him a giant among insects, dominating worker ants in the desert. But this new environment wasted no time humbling him; the first creature he encountered dwarfed him completely.

He had no interest in discovering what would happen if he was caught under the massive web-like trap. Nor was he keen on testing his carapace against those venomous fangs. To make matters worse, his current position on the cliff left him no room for agile maneuvers.

Realizing the ground was close, Luo Wen decided to release his hooks and drop, hoping to both evade the attack and reach safety below.

But the spider was faster. As Luo Wen detached from the cliff, one of its hairy limbs lashed out like lightning, snagging him mid-fall.

Luo Wen reacted instantly, raising a sturdy burrower limb to shield himself.

The spider’s barbed limb bristled with backward-facing hooks, clinging tightly to Luo Wen’s digging limb the moment they made contact. The spider, clearly experienced in handling prey attempting to escape via freefall, began reeling him back in.

With horrifying efficiency, its venomous fangs advanced.

“Damn it!” Luo Wen cursed, fear mingling with fury. He had underestimated the creature, whose unique adaptations made it a master predator. His attempted escape had played right into its strengths.

The hooked hairs, though seemingly delicate, were incredibly strong. Despite his frantic struggles, Luo Wen couldn’t break free from their grip.

The spider’s fangs clamped down on his burrower limb. Though his carapace held for a brief moment, cracks soon formed under the pressure. Finally, the fangs punctured through to the soft muscle beneath, and a numbing sensation spread through Luo Wen’s body.

“Damn it!” Luo Wen cursed again, furious and alarmed. The creature’s venom was potent, and the situation was quickly deteriorating. If this stalemate continued, his life would be forfeit.

Desperation ignited his survival instincts. Luo Wen brought his powerful jaws to bear, biting through the joint of his trapped limb with all his strength.

The moment he severed his digging limb, the spider reared back, and Luo Wen seized the chance to break free. With a coordinated push from his six remaining legs, he launched himself away using his newly evolved burst speed.

In an instant, he was a blur of motion, a dark shadow leaping from the cliff crevice and tumbling to the ground below.

The spider extended itself in pursuit, but despite its eight eyes, it was clearly near-sighted. Luo Wen, now on the forest floor, was beyond its visual range. Frustrated, the spider retreated, retreating back into its crevice with the severed limb still clutched in its fangs. Moments later, the crevice was as silent and still as before.

Luo Wen landed in a patch of undergrowth, hastily shoving aside grass to dig into the soil. With one limb missing, his digging speed had slowed, but he pressed on, seeking the safety of the earth.

His wound continued to throb and numb, the venom melting away his muscle tissue. The severity of the toxin left Luo Wen both horrified and enraged.

“Damn it! That thing plays dirty—venomous and extremely venomous at that!”

Gritting his mandibles, he bit off the base of his severed limb to prevent the venom from spreading further. Scraping his jaws clean on the dirt, he muttered to himself. If the venom reached his mouth, he couldn’t very well bite off his own head.

After digging for what felt like hours, Luo Wen detected no other life nearby. Exhausted, he resorted to eating soil—a necessity he had never expected to face so soon. Although the taste was dreadful, it sustained him. He ate his fill before succumbing to sleep, his body beginning the long process of self-repair.

Time passed. When Luo Wen finally awoke, he examined his body. He hadn’t cocooned this time, but a new digging limb had grown in place of the old one.

The new limb was significantly smaller than its counterpart, making Luo Wen look oddly mismatched with his uneven appendages.

“This is going to drive my OCD insane,” he muttered, feeling a pang of frustration.

Still, he was confident his genes would correct the disparity as long as his nutrition intake was sufficient.

His stomach growled, spurring Luo Wen to crawl upward. He resolved to minimize his dirt consumption—its energy conversion rate was dismal. It had also given him his first experience with insect digestion issues, a situation he hoped to avoid in the future.

Near the surface, Luo Wen encountered a tangle of roots. Biting through a few, he drank the sap to replenish his fluids.

As he carefully poked his head out of the ground, a nearby grasshopper-like insect leapt away with astonishing speed. Despite its quickness, Luo Wen clearly captured its appearance.

“That looks like a grasshopper,” he observed. The insect was an oily green, resembling a locust. Its powerful hind legs marked it as a champion jumper, though it lacked wings. Its back was covered in a hard shell that split open during jumps, helping it maintain balance mid-air.

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