The sun bled out over the horizon, casting long, distorted shadows across the bottom of the pond. As the light died, the dissolved oxygen levels in the water began to drop.
"Form up," Cell projected.
The Legion assembled in the gloom. The silt cloud settling around them was thick, but Cell's Lateral Line Overclock painted a wireframe map of the surroundings.
"The Cavalry will take point," Cell ordered.
Units Seven and Eight, the silver Minnows, twitched nervously. They were blind in the dark, their eyes useless, but their sensitivity to vibration was superior even to Cell's.
"Scan for movement. Anything smaller than us is food. Anything larger is... raw material."
They moved out.
The first hour was a systematic purge of the shallows. The target was a cluster of Backswimmers, aquatic bugs that hung upside down near the surface. They had a nasty bite, poisonous enough to kill a fry, but against a coordinated hive, they were helpless.
"Unit Three. Taunt."
The Meat Shield vassal swam forward, undulating his body in a slow, rhythmic pattern that released a chemical pheromone. The Backswimmers, driven by aggression, detached from the surface and swarmed him.
"Hold," Cell commanded as Unit Three took the hits. The bugs latched onto his toughened skin, their beaks scraping against the mucus layer. Unit Three's HP dropped slowly.
[Unit Three HP: 85%].
"Now. Brawler, clear them."
Unit Two launched from the mud. He tore into the bugs, his small, newly-formed teeth ripping legs from thoraxes.
The Minnows darted in for strafing runs, snapping up the injured bugs. Cell and Unit One held back, letting the lower levels soak up the kill credit.
[Unit Four Level Up: 3 -> 4]
[Unit Five Level Up: 3 -> 4]
[Unit Six Level Up: 3 -> 4]
"Not enough," Cell judged. "Deeper."
They moved into the reeds. Here, the prey was larger. A Dragonfly Nymph, a hideous, ambush predator with an extendable jaw lunged at Unit Seven. The Minnow dodged by a millimeter, the hydraulic jaw of the Nymph snapping on empty water.
"Infantry, pin it!"
Units Four, Five, and Six swarmed the Nymph. It was strong, throwing them off, but the distraction bought time for the heavy hitters.
Cell descended. He didn't use tactics. He used mass. He slammed into the Nymph, pinning it to the riverbed.
CRUNCH.
He crushed the chitinous head with his teeth.
[Biomass Consumed.]
[Energy +300]
[Mutation Points +1]
[MP: 5/10]
The feeding frenzy that followed was efficient. The Legion consumed everything, leaving only the hardest shell fragments.
[Unit Four Level Up: 4 -> 5]
[Unit Five Level Up: 4 -> 5]
[Unit Six Level Up: 4 -> 5]
[Evolution Triggered: Amphibious State.]
The three standard tadpoles began to convulse. It was a violent, biological rapid-fire mutation. Their tails shortened slightly, and from the base of their torsos, limbs erupted. Not the nubs they had before, but functional, webbed hind legs.
"Mobility increased," Cell noted. "We are no longer just swimmers. We are jumpers."
He checked his own status. Level 7 (60%). He was close to Level 8. Unit One was halfway to Level 7.
"We need a prize," Cell thought. "Something that pushes the threshold."
He sensed it before he saw it. A massive disturbance in the water pressure. It was a Giant Water Snail. A slow, armored fortress of protein.
"Brawler, pry it open. Assassin, strike the vitals."
It took ten minutes of grinding work. Unit Two cracked the shell edge, taking damage from the snail's rasping tongue. Unit One slipped inside the shell, severing the muscle attachment.
Cell consumed the bulk of the soft body.
[Energy +600]
[Mutation Points +2]
[MP: 7/10]
[Main Body Level Up: 7 -> 8]
[Unit One Level Up: 6 -> 7]
"Three points remaining," Cell calculated. "And the night is young."
But the commotion of breaking the snail shell had sent vibrations echoing through the entire pond. The water around them grew still. The small fry, the plankton, the beetles , all vanished into the mud.
The Minnows began to panic, swimming in tight, erratic circles.
"Hold," Cell commanded, his mental voice sharp.
"Formation Alpha. Defensive ring."
The darkness seemed to thicken. From the deep trench in the center of the pond, a shape detached itself from the gloom.
It was Him.
The Dytiscus Larva. The Reaper.
It had grown since their last encounter, or perhaps Cell had simply forgotten the scale of it. It was easily the size of a human hand, armored in chitin that looked like black steel. Its mandibles were curved scythes, dripping with digestive enzymes.
[Threat Detected: Dytiscus Larva (Boss Type)]
[Level: 12]
[Class: Juggernaut]
"It found us," Cell realized. "It knows we are the competition."
The Reaper didn't hesitate. It didn't hunt for food; it hunted for dominance. It surged forward with a speed that belied its bulk, targeting the weakest link.
Unit Six, the newly legged infantry, was slow to react.
SNICK.
The mandibles closed around Unit Six's torso. There was no struggle. The larva injected its enzymes, and Unit Six instantly went limp, his internal organs liquefying.
[Unit Six: Deceased]
[Hive Connection Severed.]
Cell felt the snap in his mind, a sudden silence where a voice used to be. Rage, cold and calculating, flooded his system.
"You took my resource," Cell projected, though the beast couldn't understand. "Now you become my fuel."
"Legion! COMBAT MANEUVERS!"
The Reaper dropped the empty husk of Unit Six and turned toward the main group.
"Meat Shield! TAUNT!"
Unit Three swam directly into the Reaper's face, releasing a cloud of pheromones so thick it tasted like copper in the water. The Reaper roared—a soundless vibration—and lunged. Unit Three turned his side, taking the blow on his thickened flank.
CRACK.
[Unit Three HP: 100% -> 40%]
The hit was devastating. One more would kill him.
"Cavalry! HARASS!"
The Minnows, Units Seven and Eight, utilized their superior speed. They darted in, nipping at the Reaper's exposed gills and leg joints, then vanished before the beast could counter-attack. The Reaper thrashed, confused by the multi-directional assault.
"Brawler! GO!"
Unit Two, seeing Unit Three's blood in the water, triggered his passive. His eyes went red. He latched onto the Reaper's back leg, biting and tearing. The damage was negligible against the armor, but it restricted the Reaper's movement.
"Assassin. Wait for the opening.".
Cell held Unit One back. He held himself back. They needed the Reaper to overextend.
The Dytiscus Larva, annoyed by the Brawler attached to its leg, curled in on itself to bite Unit Two. This exposed the soft, white tissue between its head and thorax(the neck).
"NOW!"
Unit One, the Part-Time Assassin, activated his Burst Sprint. He became a streak of motion.
Stealth Strike. Critical Hit.
Unit One's serrated jaws slammed into the neck tissue. He didn't bite; he sawed.
The Reaper convulsed violently, throwing Unit Two off into the weeds. It whipped its head back, dislodging Unit One, but the wound was opened. Green hemolymph leaked into the water.
"My turn."
Cell engaged his Hyper-Myofibrils. He launched his massive Tank body like a battering ram.
He didn't aim for the wound. He aimed for the mandibles.
Cell collided with the Reaper head-on. The impact stunned them both, but Cell had the mass advantage now. He clamped his teeth over the Reaper's right mandible.
Cell twisted his body with all his strength. There was a sickening pop, and the chitin cracked. The Reaper's primary weapon was compromised.
The beast panicked. It tried to retreat, to dive back into the deep.
"No escape," Cell commanded. "Pile on!"
The entire Hive, Unit One, Unit Two, Unit Three (trailing blood), Unit Four, Unit Five, and the Minnows, swarmed the boss. They were small individually, but together they were a heavy, dragging weight. They clamped onto legs, tail, and antennae.
The Reaper slowed. It was drowning under the weight of the Legion.
Cell released the broken mandible and drove his teeth into the neck wound opened by Unit One.
"Die."
He injected every ounce of digestive fluid he could produce.
The Reaper shuddered. Its legs twitched once, twice, and then curled inward.
[Target Neutralized: Dytiscus Larva]
Cell released his grip, floating amidst the cloud of green blood and debris. Unit Three was sinking, critical but alive. Unit Two was missing an eye. The Minnows were exhausted, gills flaring.
"Feed," Cell ordered.
They descended on the carcass. It was a feast of kings. The meat was dense, packed with the energy of a thousand smaller kills the Reaper had made in its life.
[Biomass Consumed: Legendary.]
[Energy +4,500]
[Mutation Points +5]
[MP: 12/10]
The notifications scrolled by faster than Cell could read them.
[Main Body Level Up: 8 -> 9]
[Main Body Level Up: 9 -> 10]
[Unit One Level Up: 7 -> 8]
[Unit Two Level Up: 5 -> 6]
[Unit Three Level Up: 5 -> 6]
Cell felt a fire ignite in his chest. It wasn't the warm glow of energy; it was a burning pressure. His gills felt tight. The water suddenly felt suffocating. He gasped, his throat working to pump water, but it wasn't enough.
[Evolution Threshold Reached: Metamorphosis]
[Condition Met: Level 10]
His body began to spasm. His tail, the powerful engine that had driven him through the pond, began to itch intensely as the cells signaled for apoptosis,programmed death. His legs, thick and muscular, kicked involuntarily.
"Air," Cell thought. "I need air."
He looked at his Legion. They were changing too.
"Unit One, Unit Two, Unit Three... carry the wounded. Minnows, guard the rear."
Cell kicked off the bottom, swimming upward. The surface of the water, usually a barrier of safety, was now the destination.
He broke the surface tension.
For the first time since his reincarnation, Cell's head emerged into the cool night air. He opened his mouth and gulped. His primitive lungs expanded, absorbing oxygen directly from the atmosphere. The dizziness faded.
He dragged his heavy body onto a lily pad. It sank slightly under his weight.
Cell looked at the moon hanging in the sky. He let out a croak, a sound that was half-frog, half-challenge.
"The puddle is conquered," Cell thought, as his new eyelids blinked, clearing the water from his vision. "Now, I want the world."
[Status Final]
Main Body (Cell): Level 10 (Evolution Pending). MP: 12/10.
Hive: 7 Units Active.