The Abilities were starting to make sense.

Of course, this belonged to the Trianids who were the weavers of the outer Anid nest. Each Anid had a role in maintaining the nest. If she were to gain all ten Anid archetype Abilities…

… Will I be able to create a nest of my own?

Frost tested this Ability. Thin strands formed between her index finger and thumb like the strands of glue. They were incredibly soft, yet when she pressed it against another finger, she found that they had the same strength as her steel strings.

She suddenly stopped chewing and forced herself to swallow whatever came her way.

Realizing the potential of these Abilities made it worth enduring the taste of the Anids. Before long, another Ability appeared.

< ABILITY: Nest Orchestrator >

< EFFECT: You can directly control all Denizens of your Nest. Enables the creation of Denizens capable of relaying orders and basic cognition >

< TEXTURE: Grainy >

< TASTE: Nil >

And another.

< ABILITY: Capture Recapture >

< EFFECT: Conditional Ability. Only activates when in the possession of a fur-lined limb. The limb will extend to envelop prey in a fluffy cocoon. If target's RESIST is lower than 65, they may not use Skills, Abilities, and may not escape. Targets captured by Denizens who have less than 2% of their total HP may not escape from captivity >

Then, there was one Ability that caused her to shudder. She had not eaten anything different. But the moment this Ability appeared, she knew 'it' was among the mount of meat.

< ABILITY: In Vivo >

< EFFECT: Gestate highly specialized Denizens using a living host. Uses 30% of total MP and HP. Suitable targets must possess less than 80 RESIST and fall under the Humanoid category to contract the brood parasite >

< TEXTURE: Redacted >

< TASTE: Asbestos >

A Hexanid. The impregnators of the Anid nest. On one hand, she was glad that she didn't notice the Hexanid until she had already eaten it. On the other, the twist in her gut was far worse than all the previous Anids combined.

"Humanoids… Brood parasite… Nav… What the hell are these Abilities? I never considered Anids as brood parasites."

"But did you consider that the Abilities may be adapting to what you are? Your version of a nest must be different from the Anids given that you are human."

Nav was correct. She never received an exact copy of an Ability or a Corrupted Skill. They were always altered to a form that best suited her.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

But the mere mention of a brood parasite brought a question she had desperately been suppressing since the day she became the Amalgam.

… You know what brood parasites are. You know what it implies I am.

"Yes. But do not forget that you are a Humanoid, at the very least."

Tch.

Inhumanity. It meant this to Frost. She was still human in heart, body and soul, but only barely if she were to look at herself in an objective manner. Her compulsion to lash out nearly reached a boiling point, and the emotional suppressants were marginally able to contain her.

She felt the urges of the Unfair Tale for a moment, but she quickly buried it by shoveling more Anid flesh into her maw.

For once, I'm glad I have this suppressant.

"Acedia, focus. This is normal." She dismissed Acedia's concern.

The limitations of the Ability meant that she could not use it here.

The Anids were far from humanoid entities.

"You should worry about yourself."

* * *

The Anid swarm did not thin no matter how many Acedia obliterated.

Striking the Pentanids nor the Decanids didn't change the flow of the battle either. There were far too many Decanids to suppress the Anid Nest.

Moreover, it was common knowledge that defeating a Decanid did not spell the end for a Nest. Anids still retained their instinct. Anids were not capable of making individual choices without the hive mind, but that did not change their baseline role. They were no different from wild monsters.

The amount of Anids began to pile up. A mountain of Anid bodies formed in the center of the ship. No matter how fine Acedia reduced them to a paste, Frost could not keep up with the demand.

Then, there was the issue with Acedia.

"Hah… Haaah…"

Acedia sent a clumsy kick towards a group of Anids. The arc cut through their armor like a knife as their upper halves were sent scattering across the board. The shrapnel disabled another group of encroaching Anids.

"Mother… your body is truly spectacular. I can get away with half-hearted attacks… and still achieve the same goal…"

Acedia did not quite understand how to balance her strength. Her swings, kicks, lunges and slams were far too exaggerated. She had been overexerting her body when a measly swipe would have sufficed to eliminate the Anids.

Indeed, Acedia had been channeling all her strength behind each attack. The reason was closer to her zealous belief that it was unbecoming of the Amalgam's body to use anything less than her full might.

But beliefs did not matter in combat.

Acedia should have known this. After all, she was an experienced killer. Removing their legs was enough to keep them down permanently. Another method she could have employed was using the Anids against each other to make up for her smaller size, but Frost had not mentioned this since she wanted to see how Acedia adapted to the situation.

Unfortunately, she was not a fast learner. This was because she had only ever learned from absorbing the memories of assimilated prey. Direct observation was difficult for Acedia when emotions were constantly poisoning her train of thought.

She wanted nothing more than to satisfy Frost and to preserve the dignity of her Mother's body.

"You're overcompensating for your fear of pain by trying to kill the Anids as fast as possible." Frost commented, and her Judge's Prides nodded one by one.

Acedia didn't argue. She couldn't. Never against the one person she desperately wished to become. Though her wish was granted, Acedia had not worn a smile since after the Gateway incident.

"The body doesn't always have to be a weapon. If you were thinking outside of the box, there is enough material to use as a weapon to keep your distance. Enough emotional control would have also let you incinerate unnecessary Anids."

"Was… Was it not your idea to consume the Anids?" Acedia tested the waters, unsure if she would be reprimanded for daring to ask such a question.

Her fears were met with a solemn expression.

It was Frost's idea.

She did not deny this.

It was certainly easier to throw the Anids overboard. They only needed eight unique Anids, after they had identified that it was impossible to gain unique specialization Abilities.

Frost was also strong enough to clean the deck herself.

But there was a reason behind her logic to do nothing but eat.

"I wanted to wait to see if you would change something. I'm used to hearing Cer either throw me a thumbs up or complain. Yeah. I wanted to eat the Anids, but I didn't plan to keep eating them nonstop."

"… You chose to eat from the disgusting pile to teach me a lesson?"

"I figured why not somewhere along the way. Acedia. You can't blindly obey orders even if it's from me. I only need a Decanid now. There is no point throwing other Anids my way anymore. I was wondering when you'd pick up on it."

"Would it not have been easier to tell me?"

"Yes. But you also need to think for yourself outside of obsessing over me. Humans aren't invincible."

"I want to be you."

"But neither am I invincible. You're experiencing that right now. You're exhausted. You won't be standing in the next ten minutes. Do you know why? Because you need to know your own limits, not mine. That's my body, but that is still you inside of it!"

Acedia failed to comprehend this way of thinking.

It was ironic given that she was selfish enough to want to avoid feeling pain, but not enough to where she was willing to bend against Frost's will. She interpreted it as an absolute order and refused to work outside of it.

Furthermore, why couldn't she believe she was Frost? This was the Amalgam's body. Achieving the perfect form also meant that she needed to act like the perfect being.

Yet, Acedia winced as an Octanid slammed its forelegs against the back of her head. The legs snapped clean off, but the pain was enough to rattle her. Her world shook, and between it, she once again saw Frost make a disgusted, pained face as she swallowed another mouthful of Anid flesh.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.