Chapter 1009 - Lesser Grunts
Ever since then, the evolution path was more or less identical but there were differences within the ranks of the different units and as time went on, more and more specialized creatures began to appear with their own intelligence.
By the end all final evolutions of the corruption mimicked the physiology of the universe's most common race, the insectoid species of the deep void since it considered them to be the most dominant, suitable, and easily created for all the varied environments.
Both the lowest and the highest forms of corruption that Jin Wang had seen took the shape of various void crustaceans with thick outer shells and more often than not, multiple limbs that ended in serrated or extremely sharp bioengineered weapons of different kinds.
The one's Jin Wang was looking at right now looked 'unfinished' with clearly missing patches of skin and flesh all over their bodies but they were still able to do their most basic functions.
Even these lowest and incomplete corrupted grunts that were appearing here were far stronger than an average person. After going through the smallest evolution increments they were at least 4-5 stronger than a well-built human male in his prime.
If their evolution came to completion, just through the strength of their flesh alone they could contend against 10-15 prime humans.
Jin Wang had never allowed the central hive creature to ever fully awaken but despite that even with minimal resources, the central hive mind was able to churn out hundreds of these creatures every single day.
This perfectly matched their usual battle strategy which included overwhelming their opponents with sheer numbers and engaging in close-quarters combat. They usually never attacked without at least outnumbering any would-be preys with a 50 to 1 ratio.
The fact these stragglers were attacking first and with such fewer numbers was a clear indication of the hive mind's current condition.
Once he had finished examining them, Jin Wang slowly extended his right hand into the air and murmured something under his breath before swiping from right to left.
The space distorted as an invisible hand many hundreds of times larger than his own materialized for a moment and crushed all the creatures into meat paste.
Cracks formed alongside the bottom of his hand forcing him to take several deep breaths to alleviate the pain.
"At least with this they won't be outflanked."
After making sure that none of the creatures were left alive he took flight and went in the direction the swarm was coming from.
He stayed at least 300 meters above ground which was just out of the detection range of a swarm of this size but once he got close to the patch of black mass over the forest his expression worsened.
The swarm coming their way was indeed disorganized as he had expected but their numbers far exceeded anything he could have predicted. There were tens of thousands of them in the back, burrowing into the ground or simply just spreading their influence within the ecosystem to support their own wretched forms.
Entire plots of land compromising of dozens of square kilometers of the old forest were being turned upside down. As he neared the tear in the sky their numbers continued to hike up while the forest looked more and more like a bog.
All the trees were already uprooted, torn to shreds before being placed into the ground. The incomplete grunts were being forcefully dragged over to the bog by the more powerful completed versions.
Their skulls were being crushed one by one and all the foul blood and internal organs were being drained into the bog.
Their blood was acidic in nature to begin with but that was only for other lifeforms. To each other they were like power packs that could be consumed in moments of desperation.
Jin Wang's face fell when he realized what they were trying to do. The tear was located right above then and even though it was a fraction of its size before, it still remained open to a degree.
Dozens of large heavy bodies were falling from the sky.
Normally after falling from such a distance they would be severely injured but now because of the bog which not only created a much softer surface for them to land in but also filled it with the nourishing blood and entrails of the lesser grunts, they were able to become mobile within minutes and recover completely.
Many of them remained within the bog even after that and continued to absorb the nutrients from it to further strengthen themselves. The bodies of all the lesser grunts that were thrown in there were being pulled towards the middle where a much larger creature than any of the ones nearby was consuming them one by one.
Most of its body was submerged within the bog so Jin Wang couldn't see exactly how big it was or what shape it was taking but it wasn't anything he had seen before.
Just what was visible above the bog was close to 20 meters in height, squirming and thrashing left and right as the grunts threw carcasses in its direction without getting closer.