Psychic Parasite

Chapter 294: The Swarm
”Wave?”

”…a Wave?”

”This is a Wave?”

The students murmured with blank expressions, their fear skyrocketing beyond their emotional limits. They stared at the screens in a daze, watching the slaughter-fest that didn’t seem to end any soon.

Madam Mary spread her psychic energy, healing the students while influencing their minds, calming them down to the level they were able to digest the information. She spoke, ”The Frenzy Beast world is divided into two: Terra and Aquatic.”

”The Frenzy Beasts on land are controlled, distinct races that have persisted since the dark ages. New races emerge from time to time, but their sources can be traced back easily. But, the case is different within the waters.” The students heard a sigh.

All the screens on the wall disappeared, replaced by a large video of a horde of Frenzy Beasts coming out from the ocean, and making a foothold on land. Their bodies were a shade of murky green, long and cylindrical like worms.

They possessed fins on their backs that were sharp like blades. Their mouth was placed on the underside of their midsection, taking up one-tenth of their body length. The mouth resembled a shark’s, with teeth that glistened like the sun, emitting tremendous heat that vaporised the water.

Numerous tendrils resembling sea anemones grow on their extremities, numbering in the hundreds. Their numbers increased according to their Tier, multiplying in both length and numbers. They lacked eyes but possessed numerous pores on their body that they exhaled a certain mist with.

This mist created an environment that allowed them to sense everything that moved within, like a collective extension of senses. When they arrived on land, their mouths were positioned to the front while their bodies bent, resembling the letter ’M’ as they ran on the ground.

Their movements were sloppy, unbalanced to the extent they were on the verge of tripping with the slightest breeze. Their bodies were unsuited to move on land, vastly inferior to the Frenzy Beasts that lived on land. But, their speeds were on another level, vastly surpassing most land-based Frenzy Beasts.

Madam Mary spoke with a complex emotion, ”They were the Frenzy Beasts that formed the previous Wave, dated year 294 of the Dawn era. Coined as the Lace Wave, it lasted for 2 years, at the end of which they looked like this.”

The video changed to display a serpentine figure that possessed a pair of limbs resembling a Floating Spider, a pair of wings resembling a Spindle Bee, a body that had the lines and veins of a Ring Worm, the tail of a Life Leech, and the face of a human.

”At the end of the wave, they had evolved into such, in just the span of 2 years.”

The students inhaled sharp breaths, experiencing emotional upheavals. This was the first time they were told about this type of Wave. Seeing their expressions, Madam Mary divulged more information, ”Normal Waves are classified with the same nomenclature as Raids, Stamp for Tier 3 level, with the appearance of some Tier 4 beings, Signature for Tier 4 level, with the appearance of some Tier 5 beings, Crown for Tier 5 level with the chance of an Ancestor’s appearance. And finally, Throne where more than one Ancestor will appear.”

”They will have the prefix as Flying, Water, Hive, etc. for the type of Frenzy Beast, respectively airborne, aquatic, nest type Frenzy Beasts, etc. But those are in the case of established Frenzy Beast races. The Raids and Waves you have learned were all based on such.”

”But,” Madam Mary pointed at the large screen, ”These Frenzy Beasts that arrive from the depths of the ocean have a certain purpose, i.e. to obtain our genetic material to fuel their evolution. When they are on the cusp of an evolution, they raid the land and retreat once their objective is accomplished.”

Her voice boomed all of a sudden, ”There doesn’t exist any Frenzy Beast race that could be defined within the ocean. They are constantly changing. The dominant species thirty years ago in the waters near us don’t even have a trace left. The Frenzy Beasts in the ocean constantly evolve, turning more and more bizarre as the years pass. Even Rhachis Ancestor Parasite cannot control their progression.”

She unleashed two psychic arms; one formed a plane while the other formed a cube. ”We live on the land, following a two-dimensional progression. But, the Frenzy Beasts in the ocean follow a three-dimensional progression, thanks to the depth of the ocean. This means greater competition and faster evolution. Unlike the immobile land, water constantly moves, the Frenzy Beasts living within also follow the same, moving from place to place, devouring foes on a larger, grander scale.”

”As a result of such continuous evolution, there is no Frenzy Beast race within the ocean with distinct identifiable traits or a society. They continuously change their entire beings through evolution.” Her tone turned solemn, ”And, through such evolutions, some beings evolved to become biological nests. They are able to birth massive quantities of Frenzy Beasts in a short period.”

Her voice was suffused with a hint of agitation, ”These beings constantly desire new genetic material to evolve further. When they evolve, the Frenzy Beasts they birth also change.”

”The genetic material of the Frenzy Beasts in the ocean is not consistent. While evolving, they obtain some advantages while losing others. But, the genetic material of the Frenzy Beasts on land is distinct and relatively constant, and present in large quantities for the same consistent type. Therefore, when they are on the cusp of an evolution, they raid the land.”

She addressed in solemness, ”We termed such beings the Skep. The greater the Tier of the Skep, the greater the number it could produce. A Tier 5 Skep can birth 1000 Frenzy Beasts every month. A single Tier 5 Skep is a walking disaster.”

She sighed with a hint of helplessness, the emotion imbued in her tone affecting the students, ”Skeps are beings that have evolved to become independent from the Frenzy Parasites. They have evolved their bodies in such a way that they can become stronger through devouring genetic material. The Frenzy Beasts they birth vary in strength, even without a Frenzy Parasite. Very rare few among them possess a Frenzy Parasite. Rest rely on the toughness of their bodies alone and the traits they were born with.”

”Due to their lifestyle of constantly devouring each other, they are birthed and consumed at such a rate that Rhachis Ancestor Parasite was unable to produce Frenzy Parasites for them. It had long since given up on them, solely focusing on developing the Frenzy Beast races on land.”

Madam Mary dropped a shocking fact, ”Calling them Frenzy Beasts is wrong. After all, hardly any among them possess a Frenzy Parasite. That is why, we have termed them the Swarm, due to their trait of swarming everything in their paths.”

”Swarm…” Jyorta muttered, familiar with the term. It was a term introduced in a movie in his previous life, a concept that had become popular to the extent many books were based on it. Having witnessed the fight on the screen, his mood worsened, ’A Swarm is a Calamity.’

The large screen flashed, displaying a picture. It was a map of the landmass they were on and the water they were surrounded by. This was the first time a map had ever been shown. Jyorta had previously searched for them in the portal but failed to find any, of both Marble City and the surrounding region.

Now, the map displayed was at a larger scale, showing their entire subcontinent. Seeing the familiar layout, Jyorta closed his eyes, his emotions broiling in chaos, ’This is my home country, India.’

In the familiar peninsula, Marble City was displayed as a large gem, magenta in colour. It was a single gem without any designs; it showed Marble City’s unwillingness to divulge its city layout, even to its citizens.

It occupied a large area. Having been a resident during the era where satellite technology existed, he had seen the positions of the places he had visited many times on the internet, being familiar with quite a few places.

The place Marble City existed was a place he had visited many times. It was where his grandparents had lived so he visited every year. Jyorta sighed, ’So, Marble City is based around the Nilgiris.’

To its east, he saw a large habitat in the Bay of Bengal marked—in green—as the Territory of the Spindle Bees. To the west, a large part of the Arabian Seas was marked—in grey—as the territory of the Floating Spiders. The territories of both the Floating Spiders and the Spindle Bees only occupied a small portion of the land. After all, as compared to the land, the ocean was bountiful and could cater to all their food requirements.

A far distance to the north, among the northern plains where the Ganges flowed, was the territory of the Rives Whales, cutting them off from proceeding further north. There were many other habitats marked all over the map. The blue soul extracted the memory, compiling them into a comprehensive memory where every minor detail on the map was inscribed.

Beyond the tip of the peninsular land, occupying the water and the numerous islands strewn across were the Lava Turtles. Moreover, this portion differed a lot from his memories, a cause of intense terraforming by the Lava Turtles.

A large arrow flowed from the Indian Ocean towards the north, covering the territories of the Floating Spiders, Marble City, Spindle Bees, and the Lava Turtles, with the Lava Turtles being the first among the receiving end. This arrow showed the movement of the Swarm.

Madam Mary sighed, ”All the races will be implicated in this Wave. But, having predicted this, the Lava Turtles have already relocated to a different region.”