Two days later
Alexander hadn’t done much over the past few days. His routine mostly consisted of resting beneath a tree while his body digested the food he had eaten, then getting up again to consume what remained of the deer, and occasionally wrestling with his new sibling. They were peaceful days, but a problem had begun to surface.
“I’m getting hungry again, and the Queen seems busy creating new Drones. I wonder when we’ll go out to hunt next.”
Normally, Nuxali hunters would only feel the urge to hunt again about three days after eating until they were completely full, but this rule did not apply to Queens.
Queens required far more sustenance due to the extreme energy demands of constant DNA analysis, template creation, swarm coordination, and most importantly the production of new Drones.
To take his mind off the hunger, Alexander decided to focus on something else and opened the analysis progress page in his mind.
[PROGRESS] – 4.6 / 100
What he saw did not please him. The progress was painfully slow. He knew the reason, his stats were low, but at the moment there was nothing he could do to increase them quickly.
He also knew there was only one real option: consuming more animals of the same species. That would provide his body with additional samples and speed up the analysis. If he consumed a creature of a different species, it would only be converted into energy, since his body could only conduct one analysis at a time.
However, if he wished, he could cancel the analysis altogether.
He had completely finished the last remaining pieces of the deer carcass the previous evening. The hunters, after eating until they were full on the first day, hadn’t eaten again since. Which meant that, most likely, tomorrow would be hunting day.
Alexander glanced at the main Queen. She was still lying beneath a tree, occasionally biting into the deer carcass in front of her, replenishing the energy her body had spent creating new offspring.
The Queen had set aside extra food for herself, and because of that, she didn’t seem to be struggling. Even though Alexander’s mouth watered at the sight of the deer, he didn’t go beyond watching from a distance. In the end, he lay down beneath a tree and waited impatiently for the next day.
Finally, as midday approached on the following day, the swarm stirred.
The sub-queen stood before the main Queen, and it was clear that a mental connection was active between them. This connection lasted for approximately thirteen minutes. When it ended, the sub-queen began moving toward the edge of the camp. Five hunters rose to their feet and followed her.
“So… you trust her.”
The Queen had allowed the sub-queen to go hunting with her own team.
Alexander etched into his memory which hunters followed her, because they were directly bound to the sub-queen. The main Queen’s influence over their minds was only symbolic. The reason was simple: rather than spending her mental strength controlling those hunters directly, the Queen found it more efficient to rule them through her control over the sub-queen.
In doing so, she could reserve her mental power for new offspring, or even new Queens, and expand the swarm as she wished.
But there was always a risk to this arrangement.
If the Queen controlled too many Drones at once, her influence over the sub-queen could weaken over time, and that weakness could eventually turn into rebellion. The key factor was how strong the sub-queen’s own mind was.
“She can control five Drones. She’s not a threat yet, but in a few years, she could become one.”
After filing away that small mental note, Alexander focused on the bond between himself and the Queen.
He sent his desire to join the hunt through the connection.
Now, he waited for her response.
The Queen’s mental waves seemed uncertain at first, but when she sensed the intensity of Alexander’s desire, she sent back a mental pulse that signified permission.
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Alexander immediately ran toward the hunting group. It took him five minutes to catch up, but he managed it. The Queen had already informed the sub-queen that he would be joining them.
As Alexander merged into the group, he released a greeting roar, and then they continued on their way.
At first, Alexander was worried about the length of the journey, but after a three-hour walk, they reached another open area with a small stream, scattered with tall bushes and trees.
After scanning the surroundings and confirming that no one else was nearby, they all drank from the stream together. Then the sub-queen and three hunters hid in a dense, tall thicket about two hundred meters east of the stream, with the small hatchling staying beside them.
One of the remaining hunters hid in another small bush to the north. The last one concealed itself high in the branches of a large tree to the west, aligned parallel with the stream.
They waited in these positions, but for hours, nothing appeared. As the light began to fade, movement finally stirred in the area. From afar, they saw a pack of dozens of animals approaching, and all of them shifted into hunting mode.
“Deer…”
Alexander silently thanked the gods. They were the same species as the deer he had eaten before.
The deer carefully scanned their surroundings. Then, to confirm the area’s safety, four deer advanced from north to south toward the stream and drank until they were completely satisfied.
Afterward, the four spread out across a wide area and signaled the pack to come drink.
“One, two, three, four, five!”
Alexander smiled in his mind. He had counted five juveniles, good news, because that meant easy prey.
Even though he himself was still too small to actively participate in the hunt, he believed they wouldn’t return empty-handed.
One by one, all the deer approached the stream and began drinking.
The Queen continued to wait until she saw that all the deer were drinking at the same time.
Then, in sequence, a single command echoed in the hunters’ minds:
Attack.
The first to charge were the eastern group, two hundred meters from the stream. Three hunters and the Queen burst from the large thicket, sprinting with all their strength. Immediately after they launched, the lookout deer screamed wildly and warned the pack.
The pack fell into chaos. They were scattered along the stream, drinking, and it was impossible for them to reform instantly.
All the deer began fleeing in panic toward the direction they had come from.
Four Nuxali hunters sprinted at full speed to catch them. They were faster than the deer, but they could only maintain that speed for at most a minute, while the deer could sustain theirs for much longer.
The deer continued running away from the stream, still in disarray and unable to form any kind of order. They drew dangerously close to the small northern thicket, only fifty meters remained, when the Queen sent a signal.
The hidden predator burst from the bush and charged straight toward the pack.
The pack instantly screamed and changed direction, now fleeing westward along the stream’s line.
The juveniles were much slower than the adults. In the chaos, they instinctively followed the direction most of the pack was running, but during this maneuver, one juvenile was accidentally pushed out from among the adults and ended up on the outer edge of the fleeing group.
The hunter that had leapt from the nearby thicket spotted it instantly and focused on the juvenile. It was clear the opportunity would not be wasted.
While four hunters continued the chase from behind, at the thirty-fourth second of the pursuit, the nearby hunter caught up to the rearmost juvenile and immediately pounced.
The hunter’s claws sank into the juvenile’s hip, sending it tumbling to the ground. The pack didn’t even notice what had happened and continued fleeing.
The hunter rolled twice along with the juvenile, but instantly sprang back to its feet and lunged at the juvenile’s leg as it tried to stand. The juvenile was about to run, but the hunter was faster and bit down on its right hind leg.
Crack.
A sharp cracking sound rang out. One of the juvenile’s thin, fragile legs had broken.
The juvenile screamed in pain and kicked wildly at the hunter’s head, trying to force it to release, but it was useless.
Its fate was sealed.
The distance between the four pursuing hunters and the pack had shrunk to fifty meters. Even so, the hunters were beginning to tire and would soon be forced to abandon the chase.
The pack had formed a triangular formation, placing the weak and the young in the center, running at a steady pace.
As the pursuit continued, the pack reached a massive tree and kept running past it.
The Queen waited.
Not yet…
When half of the pack had passed the tree, she gave the command.
“Jump.”
The predator hidden in the treetops targeted a juvenile at the rear of the formation and leapt.
A perfect hit.
The panther-like hunter landed squarely on the juvenile, slamming it to the ground. But three adult deer were charging right behind it, and one of them trampled over both the panther and the juvenile, kicking and crashing through them.
However, the two deer following behind didn’t even understand what had happened. They collided with the fallen obstacle and tumbled to the ground.
The injured panther, driven by the Queen’s mental command, immediately released the wounded juvenile it had caught and lunged at the nearest of the fallen adult deer, sinking its teeth into the animal’s throat.
The deer leapt up in agony and tried to flee, but the panther was locked onto its throat and refused to let go no matter what.
It slowed the deer and prevented it from running.
Finally, the four hunters caught up. Three of them attacked the adult deer at once, while the last one finished off the other fleeing juvenile.
Alexander couldn’t take his eyes off the hunters.
“They’re incredibly coordinated. Everything was planned!”
“Nuxali Queens really are far more than ordinary predators, they’re intelligent.”
Alexander knew that without a Queen, male Drones could never have executed such a tactic or moved with this level of coordination. Internally, he gave all the credit to the sub-queen.
At last, he stepped out from his hiding place.
It was time to feed.
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