Chapter 12 of 100

Chapter 12

14 min read3,390 words

Lín's first massive colony to face was the one she named 'Crystal Fungi.' These cells were very peculiar; they shimmered like ice, and their bodies were surrounded by several ice-spike-like protrusions. When Lín first saw them, she thought they weren't cells at all, as they looked like ice balls.

However, they were indeed not ice but real cells. They moved like cells, but Lín was very curious about how they could grow to look this way.

There were tens of thousands of these Crystal Fungi, dominating most of the food cracks in the middle of this rock. They were quite powerful to achieve this, but Lín had to fight them to expand her territory.

Lín first gathered a large number of cells around the Crystal Fungi's territory, mostly conical cells and diggers. She didn't plan to deploy the acid-secreting cells so quickly.

During the process of occupying food cracks, Lín discovered that other cells could also develop resistance to the acid-secreting cells' dissolving fluid. Lín initially developed resistance to the dissolving fluid while fighting strange cells, but this evolutionary ability was clearly not unique to her.

If she were to fight the Crystal Fungi, it might last a long time, and they would likely have the time and opportunity to evolve resistance to the dissolving fluid. Therefore, using the acid-secreting cells as a secret weapon to break down the opponent at the last moment was the best choice.

Lín's observer hovered above, overlooking the nearest group of Crystal Fungi. The Crystal Fungi were completely unaware of the impending attack and continued to eat the food that occasionally appeared.

Attack!

The conical cells, acting as the vanguard, charged directly at the group of Crystal Fungi. They quickly approached and used their conical tips to pierce the bodies of the Crystal Fungi. Although the Crystal Fungi were crystalline, they were not as hard as real ice and were instantly pierced through. Then, the conical cells rapidly rotated their bodies, and the sawteeth on their conical tips easily tore the Crystal Fungi into countless pieces, with a large amount of debris floating in the water...

After being attacked, the Crystal Fungi immediately counterattacked. Their method was quite ordinary; they simply used their spines to stab the conical cells. The front part of the conical cells, where the conical tips were, was very hard and could not be pierced. Thus, a large number of Crystal Fungi were torn apart by the conical cells. Before long, Lín's conical cells had killed the Crystal Fungi around several food cracks.

When Lín attacked the Crystal Fungi at other cracks, she noticed a change in their behavior. They began to move rhythmically, surrounding the conical cells in a group attack. They no longer just stabbed the hard parts of the conical cells but tried to circle around and stab the softer, unhardened parts behind them.

They had no eyes or vision... how did they know where to attack? Lín was very curious about this situation.

However, the spines of the Crystal Fungi had no sawteeth, and just stabbing in did not cause much damage. The conical cells only needed to turn around to counterattack with their conical tips. The Crystal Fungi then changed their strategy again. They used a group attack, and as long as a large number of spines stabbed in, the effect was the same, whether or not they had sawteeth. They could easily tear apart the insides of the conical cells!

Lín's vanguard of conical cells numbered over 500, and they were now being attacked by over a thousand Crystal Fungi, most of which had come from other food cracks.

So, it was like this. The Crystal Fungi distributed here were all part of one colony, so they could call for reinforcements from a distance.

Lín observed the battle while thinking, but she wasn't the only one doing so. These Crystal Fungi were constantly looking for their own advantages in the battle. On the other hand, Lín's conical cells, without her further command, gradually began to lose.

Suddenly, countless more Crystal Fungi appeared in Lín's field of vision. Their crystalline membranes reflected brilliant light as they rushed to the battlefield.

This... they all came out? Lín noticed that all the Crystal Fungi had stopped feeding and instead swam to the battlefield, with thousands upon thousands rushing in. The conical cells, overwhelmed by the sheer number of Crystal Fungi, were almost immobilized and could only be pierced by countless spines.

Attack! Lín finally launched her second step. Countless diggers rushed in, joining the battle. The diggers lacked conical tips, so their killing power was naturally inferior, but they had a huge number, totaling 7,793. In one-on-one combat, the diggers still had the upper hand over the Crystal Fungi.

The diggers that joined the fray used their sawteeth to break the spines of the Crystal Fungi and tear apart their bodies, while the Crystal Fungi continuously tried to surround and pierce the vulnerable parts of the diggers.

The observer remained at a distance, surveying the entire battlefield for Lín.

Lín initially estimated the number of Crystal Fungi to be over 20,000. They had no reinforcements here, and all the Crystal Fungi were involved in the battle, but the situation was not in their favor. Instead, the Crystal Fungi were continuously retreating.

One digger could exchange for about five Crystal Fungi.

If this continued... hmm?

Lín suddenly felt something strange. From one of the diggers, she sensed that it attacked a Crystal Fungus with its sawteeth as usual, but it failed to tear it apart. The Crystal Fungus was only pushed away a bit.

Then, this digger was surrounded and killed by a large number of Crystal Fungi.

This phenomenon gradually spread through Lín's cell colony. Whether diggers or conical cells, their sharp weapons could no longer harm the Crystal Fungi; they could only push them away.

Was this evolution? Had they evolved so quickly to develop a tough shell that could defend against sawteeth and conical tips?

Lín was very surprised because the evolutionary speed of these Crystal Fungi was much faster than that of her cells.

...Wait, no!

Lín noticed that a Crystal Fungus was stabbed by a conical cell's conical tip but was not injured. It was pushed to another conical cell, and this conical cell's attack easily pierced the Crystal Fungus.

In that case, the Crystal Fungi didn't harden themselves, but...

Lín began to observe carefully. She noticed that the sawteeth and conical tips of the diggers and conical cells that could not harm the Crystal Fungi were covered with a layer of something.

It looked like a black, viscous substance. Once stuck, the conical cells and diggers' attacking power was greatly reduced.

Lín also noticed that, besides the debris of cell corpses, this black, viscous substance was floating everywhere on the battlefield. It wasn't there at the beginning, or Lín would have noticed it.

The viscous substance did not stick to the Crystal Fungi but only to Lín's cells.

In other words, this substance was released by the Crystal Fungi, just as the acid-secreting cells were not harmed by their own acid, the Crystal Fungi were not affected by this viscous substance.

With the help of the viscous substance, the Crystal Fungi regained the upper hand. They could easily surround and kill the defenseless diggers and conical cells, and Lín's colony suffered significant losses.

...This is bad...

Lín tried her best to command them to avoid the viscous substance while observing.

Lín noticed that the Crystal Fungi were not secreting the viscous substance. Where did it come from?

...Got it!

Lín's field of vision stopped behind the Crystal Fungi army. There, she saw several large Crystal Fungi, about ten times the size of the regular ones. They had no spines, but the viscous substance was secreted from their membrane surfaces.

So, it was like this. It seemed that the Crystal Fungi, like her, were a colony composed of different types.

Lín immediately took action. She dispatched a special force to those large Crystal Fungi, planning to kill them instantly.

These forces were also diggers, but they had become very similar to the rock worms she had seen before, carrying a large number of symbiotic stinging cells. Lín also knew how to make these stinging cells attack.

By issuing a danger signal. Lín didn't know the details, but she only needed to prepare the cells for battle, and the stinging cells would become tense and attack any targets within range.

There were not many of these diggers with stinging cells, only about 300, each carrying about 5 stinging cells. The small Crystal Fungi surrounding the large ones numbered about 3,000.

Each stinging cell could only attack once, and it would take a long time to regrow the stinger.

This is not easy...

However, there were only six large Crystal Fungi, so Lín only needed to hit six targets to end the battle.

---