Reincarnated as a Broodmother

Chapter 3 - Gathering intel and essence

Zyra POV:

I am currently on my way towards the cave and while approaching more and more howls and growls can be heard from inside. I am beginning to doubt my abilities to kill everything inside that hellhole but hunger drives me forward. Stopping infront of the cave i just now realise that i can actually see in the dark so that gets rid of some of my worries at least but the sounds coming from inside are quite unsettling. You see, i am not entirely sure just how strong i am in this new world or even what kinds of creatures await me here so i have to be extra careful with my initial approach on unknown enemies. Putting that thought aside i muster up some courage and slowly head inside.

After walking for a minute or two through a one way path littered with skulls and bones of all kinds i arrive at my destination, a dome shaped cave opening with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. In the middle of said cave was a pack of what seemed like regular wolves but i am not some fool to underestimate my foes especially if i don't know their capabilities. After all this is a entirely different world so these creatures could have all kinds of abilities or even magic which would put me in quite a pinch.

Close to the path i arrived from sat 2 wolves in some kind of guard position facing the opposite side from my entrance point. I guess whatever the pack is feasting on right now is much more interesting for the two than to worry about incoming threats. Huh, this makes things easier for me especially if their senses are occupied with all the noise in here and the sweet aroma of fresh meat in the air.

So i approached the guard dogs slowly from behind and when i was roughly between them i spread my talons out and sliced their heads off like 2 scythes swinging in from the sides. "Damn are these sharp!" I whispered in a surprised tone. What i didn't expect however was that the little noise i created from chopping their heads off and splashing them on the ground was enough to get the attention of the whole pack. After witnessing the death of their packmates all the wolves started growling and got ready to sprint in my direction for an all out assault. Running a quick observation i concluded that there are around 10 of them and only one of me so i did the most logical thing and retreated back into the entrance hall of the cave and that was enough for the wolves to begin their chase after me. "Thank god they are not intelligent. They are just straight up running after me. What a bunch of idiots." i said to myself. You see, i retreated so i could allow myself to fight in a chokepoint of some sorts. The entrance path wasn't really narrow but better than fighting multiple opponents in an open cavespace.

Arriving near the entrance of the cave i quickly turned around and prepared my blades. They were running at me mostly one at a time, sometimes two at once but that was nothing that i couldn't handle. After all, i have 2 talons with some good melee range on me so i ended up slicing them apart in a matter of seconds.

Being finally done with my little massacre i started consuming their corpses and to my surprise i was able to devour hole body parts at once including their bones allowing me to quickly amass some nutrients and much needed biomass. Since i killed all of them i chose to head back into the cave to also consume my first 2 victims and when i arrived i decided to stay inside for a bit longer since it started raining outside. While waiting i was thinking about how to effectively gather essence from my new surroundings in order to finally create creatures other than just workers. Now don't get me wrong, workers are essential and i am happy to be able create them but i need something more on the offensive side, like zerglings for example. They would be the perfect scouting and hunting option in such a dense forest but i am not sure if i am even able to create them yet alone what kinds of essences i would need.

"I knew it wasn't going to be that easy... i just want some warriors that is all. How hard can it be? I guess it's time to focus on essence collection!" i called out with determination and to my surprise i heard some kind of happy gurgle sound in my head. "What was that? It sounds kinda cute. Did my drones finally hatch?" I asked amused by the cute sounds in my head. It was the only logical conclusion i could come up with at the moment and i guess i somehow used my psionic connection subconsciously.