[LV-732: SURFACE – ONE DAY AFTER THE WARLORD'S FALL]
The Predator's corpse was mounted on a spire of bone, jutting from what used to be a colonial landing pad. His flayed mask, cracked and still partially lit, was fused into the flesh-tower as a warning.
Around it, the ground had changed.
Gone were the metal walls, the concrete, the glass. In its place stood bone-stitched towers, hunched like beasts sleeping in formation. Chitin veined the soil. Veins. Real ones. Pumping biomass through a network of tunnels, tubes, and digestion fields.
LV-732 wasn't dying.
It was being reborn.
[Hive Expansion Phase: Planetary Integration Level 1 Initiated]
Biome Terraforming: 3%
Tissue Spread Radius: 14.2km
Swarm Count: ∞ (Growth Rate: 72/hr)
Dominant Strains: Hybrid, Xeno-Royal, Swarmling-Gen3, Siege-Class, Psychic Beta
[New Trait Unlocked: Planetary Neural Root]Function: Mo can now begin linking terrain, climate, and living systems into a superhive.
[HIVE HEART – FLESH CITADEL: THRONE CHAMBER]
The interior was silent, warm, and full of movement.
Mo sat on a throne of interwoven claws and fang bones, half-submerged in a pool of nutrient-rich fluid harvested from the Queen's dissolved sac. Bio-illumination pulsed along the walls like slow lightning.
He no longer breathed as humans did.
His lungs were atmospheric filters. His blood was adaptive gel, resistant to radiation, cold, vacuum.
He was becoming… universal.
[System Alert: New Structure Options Unlocked]
[HIVE MALL – BUILDINGS TAB > PLANETARY BIOSCALE]
Spire-Class Organ Towers – 600 BiomassBreathe nutrients and pheromones into the atmosphere. Required for Hive World status.
Subterranean Core Node – 800 BiomassConverts the planet's core into a Swarm-infused generator. (WARNING: Catastrophic tectonic changes.)
Neural Hive Array – 1000 BiomassConnects Mo's mind to planetary functions. Enables orbital communication. Allows Swarm AI expansion.
Womb Cradle Fields – 450 BiomassProduces up to 1,000 Swarmlings per hour. No unit cap. Requires Spire-Class Tower proximity.
Atmospheric Seeding Fungus – 900 BiomassConverts breathable air into a Swarm-compatible compound. Lethal to unassimilated species.
Mo selected two.
[Spire-Class Organ Towers – Construct: 2][Womb Cradle Fields – Construct: 1]
Total Biomass Consumed: 1650
[THE PLANET TREMBLED]
From the Hive's heart, the first Spire broke the earth. A towering, black-red tower of twisted sinew and bone, lined with claw-like vents. It screamed as it rose, exhaling a mist of birth pheromones into the air.
Soon, another joined it.
Then came the Cradle Field—a vast plain of flesh, thousands of meters wide, full of pulsing sacs. Eggs grew like tumors, spawning Swarmlings by the minute, ready to join the ever-marching tide.
[MEANWHILE: THE SURVIVORS]
A human outpost remained—deep in the western jungle zone, beyond the flesh's reach… for now.
Fifteen souls.
Scientists, engineers, mercs.
Watching as the world changed.
Their sky was bleeding.
The atmosphere shimmered with unfamiliar spores. Trees died. Soil pulsed. Everything smelled… sweet and wrong.
They watched with horror as one of their own collapsed, convulsing.
His veins turned black.
He stood up—smiling.
Then walked toward the Hive.
[HIVE CORE – MO'S THRONE]
[New Event: Host Conversion Complete – Type: Signal-Bonded Humanoid][Function: Psy-Link Host. Can be used to infiltrate, sabotage, or convert humanoid society.]
Mo watched through the man's eyes.
Every heartbeat. Every thought.
"Good," Mo hissed. "You will be my voice."
He sent the host walking back to the humans—infected, but unchanged, until the moment mattered.
[NEW FEATURE: HIVE REACH]
Mo may now seed Hive Nodes remotely via infected agents.
Range: GlobalTransmission Rate: 1 Node/Host per hour
[PLANETARY SITUATION UPDATE – 24 HOURS LATER]
Swarm Count: ∞ (Exponential Growth in Womb Fields)
Total Hive Coverage: 22.7% of LV-732
Newborn Per Hour: 1,040 avg.
Swarmling Evolution Chain: Now Includes Anti-Orbital Strain, Bio-Mass Heavy Walkers, Atmospheric Hunters
Predator Ship Fragments Assimilated: 83%
Tech Level: Near-Orbital Capable
Mo stood at the edge of a bio-tower, staring into the reddened sky.
He reached out with a thought.
A Spitter-Class nearby opened its throat—and launched a ball of acid two kilometers away, marking a new expansion point.
He opened the Hive Mall again.
In the Abilities Tab, a new entry appeared:
[Ascension Protocol – Locked]Requirement: Complete planetary conversion, Hive dominance, orbital Hive Spire.
Mo grinned.
A final form.
Not just Swarm King.
Swarm God.
But far above…
A Yautja dreadnought, cloaked in darkness, drifted silently toward orbit.
Inside were ten Blooded Hunters, and one Ancient, silent and still.
They had seen the Hiveworld signal spike.
And they knew.
LV-732 was no longer a hunt.
It was a war zone.
[HIVE STATUS – 26 HOURS AFTER ASCENSION BEGINS]
> [Biome Conversion Progress: 27.8%]> [Total Active Units: 6,983+]> [New Spawns Per Hour: ~1,060 (from 3 Womb Cradle Fields)]> [Active Biomass Reserves: 5,470 units]> [Biomass Gain Rate: +710/hour (from hunts, auto-digesters, recycler pits)]> [Used Biomass This Cycle: -3,820]
Mo stood within the central Spire, hooked into the Hive's neural web by long organic tendrils laced into his spine and arms. He no longer walked unless he wanted to. He existed across the Hive—a god within the walls.
The Spire-Class Towers now pumped spores into the atmosphere—altering not just the air, but the ecosystems. Insects were assimilated. Roots coiled with Hive veins. The sky pulsed faintly red as the first stages of planetary reconditioning took hold.
But now, Mo turned his thoughts to deeper expansion.
The humans wouldn't sit idle forever.
And he felt movement in orbit. Predator tech signatures.
Time to escalate.
[HIVE MALL – STRUCTURES > GLOBAL]
Mo focused on defense, transmission, and Hive spread.
Selected Constructions:
Neural Hive Array (1,000 Biomass)
Womb Cradle Field x2 (900 Biomass)
Atmospheric Seeding Fungus Node (900 Biomass)
Skymouth Tower (Anti-Orbital Acid Cannon) (1,400 Biomass)
Total Cost: 4,200 BiomassRemaining Biomass: 1,270New Gain Rate: +980/hour
The Neural Hive Array was the first to rise. Buried in the mountain core, it connected to every Hive Node on the planet via psychic root systems. Mo's mind expanded instantly—geolocations, swarm routing, and weather control vectors streamed into his thoughts.
[Swarm Response Time: Global Sync Achieved – 0.6s Lag]
The Skymouth Tower emerged from an old comms satellite dish, mutated into a massive gullet ringed with acid canisters. Its purpose: latch onto ships or shoot them down.
Mo's Hive was now prepared to look upward.
[ENEMY ACTIVITY DETECTED – ORBITAL INTRUSION]
[Predator Dreadnought Approaching: 1]
Passenger Count: 13
Energy Signature: Stealth Cloaked
Status: Unaware of Hive Skygrid Range
Mo reached toward the sky with thought.
He pinged his new orbital perception grid.
And saw them.
"Time to feed."
[MO'S STRATEGIC ORDER: TRIGGER SKYMAW SEQUENCE]
The Spire-Class Organ Towers shifted, venting heat and resonance waves. The Skymouth Tower activated.
Like a serpent uncoiling, it tilted toward the heavens—locked on with sonar-tracked plasma residues left from the fallen Warlord's pod.
PHUUUUM—
A sound like a whale cry, deafening and bone-deep.
Then—
Acid meteors launched upward, coated in plasma-reactive enzymes.
[Target Impact: 2 direct hits][Dreadnought Damage: Hull Breach – Compartment 3 Lost][Ship Status: Evasive Maneuvers Engaged]
Two Predator Warriors were ripped apart inside.
The rest dropped.
Mo grinned.
"Welcome to my sky."
[BIOMASS GAINED FROM DREADNOUGHT IMPACT: +880]
Total Biomass: 2,150
[MEANWHILE – WESTERN HUMAN SURVIVOR CAMP]
They were down to eleven.
Half of them infected.
And they didn't even know it.
Mo had seeded three hosts with Signal-Bonded Spores, now preparing to open localized Hive Nodes.
Inside the command center, the old communications officer screamed into a broken radio.
"Colony command, do you read me?! Anyone?! We are under attack by—by the planet itself! The ground breathes! People are changing—"
The radio died.
In the reflection of the monitor, behind her, her assistant's eyes began glowing faint green.
[Signal-Bonded Host 2: Fully Converted][Local Hive Node Activated – Range: 500m]
A bulbous growth ruptured from the floor.
The Hive had arrived.
[NEW ALERT – PREDATOR LANDING SQUAD]
Total Warriors: 11
Landing Sites: 3 (North Ridge, South Jungle, Inner Crater)
Gear Levels: Apex Class
Threat Level: Critical
Mo pulsed the Hive.
[Command Issued: Global Defense Response – Active Mobilization]
Deployed: 3,000 Units
Composition:
300 Bulwark Tanks
500 Cloaked Stalkers
2,000 Swarmling-class (Ranged, Melee, Burrowers)
20 Royal Hybrids
6 Psychic Beta Units (Deep Link Command Class)
[Biomass Cost: 1,200][Remaining: 950]
[FIRST ENCOUNTER – NORTH RIDGE STRIKE TEAM]
Predators fanned out in formation.
Motion scanners active. Smart-disks armed. Net launchers live.
Then the ground opened.
A Swarmling tide exploded upward—hundreds, climbing their armor, screaming in multi-throat harmony.
The Predator in the middle activated an energy nova.
Swarmlings were vaporized.
But more came.
A Royal Hybrid dropped from above—ten feet tall, two tails, acid breath.
It ripped through the front line.
Blood splattered the snow.
Screams. Roars. Violence.
Then silence.
[Enemy Casualties: 6 Predators Confirmed Dead][Biomass Gained: +720][New Tech Recovered: Adaptive Cloak Matrix]
Mo turned toward the sky.
"Send more."
[HIVE MALL – ABILITIES TAB OPENED]
[Unlocked via Predator DNA & Tech Integration:]
Cloak Gland Implantation (30 Biomass/unit)
Smart-Disk Muscle Memory Package (80 Biomass/unit)
Thermal Tracking Scent Trails (Passive – Global Upgrade: 600 Biomass)
He made his choices.
Upgrade 150 Stalker Units with Cloak Glands (4,500)→ Biomass Too Low.
Mo paused.
Then smiled.
"I need a planet."
[PLANETARY BIOSCALE – SYSTEM OPTIONS UNLOCKED]
[Option: Core Node Terraforming – Convert Planetary Crust]
Cost: 6,000 Biomass
Time: 3 days
Result: Planet becomes a true Hiveworld
Gain: +3,000 Biomass/hr, unlimited organ support, orbital-scale evolution
He locked it in.
[New Goal: Consume. Grow. Defend.]
The Hive would consume LV-732.
The predators were broken.
The humans were infected.
And Mo?
He had just begun.
[CHAPTER 8 – END]
Current Biomass: 950+980/hrTotal Active Units: ~7,100+Biome Control: 29.6% and risingSwarm Cap: ∞