Alien Evolution System 4 Goblin Hun

The Collector witnessed with interest as the humanoids roamed below, their stone daggers drawn in alarm. There were only three. One of them knelt by a b.l.o.o.d.y patch of gra.s.s - the only remnant of their companion. The other two circled around, wary for attack. They grunted to each other, and the Collector with its sharp hearing could barely make out their intonations.

It seemed that these humanoids were a little more intelligent than the Collector gave them credit for. They were engaging in a good amount of conversation, their faces animated with fear or concern as they squabbled with each other.

The Collector was curious. It checked its status.

-Bioma.s.s gained

--Bioma.s.s Level 20/100

-Genetic Material Gained

--Black Goblin

10 per humanoid it consumed. Not a bad rate. Far better than even the deer. The three blissfully unaware humanoids beneath became all the more appetizing, but the Collector did not move yet. It instead searched the black goblin it had just killed for knowledge. When creatures became intelligent, it became far harder to extract their knowledge and memories. Basic instincts were programmed with biology, but higher thoughts and memories were more delicate, harder to maintain within a body after death and even harder to absorb.

The great Collective Hivemind with its immense scale and power had the capacity to extract knowledge from entire species, but the Collector itself was limited to absorbing one key memory or fragment of knowledge from an intelligent creature. However, this was enough. It decided to learn the language of these primitive creatures.

The unintelligible squabbling below became understandable, albeit a little faint with how high up the tree the Collector was.

"We get out now," said one of the two goblins guarding their friend still checking the bloodstains.

"No beast here," replied the goblin kneeling in the blood. "Strange. Very strange. Humans close, so no beast. So how Friki die?"

"No important," said the other goblin. It was shaking a little, its hold on the dagger unsteady. "Important is danger near. We leave to den. We tell Draug."

"We tell Draug," said the goblins in unison, nodding in agreement at the idea.

The Collector was pleased. So there was a den of these creatures. Enough of them, and it could evolve straight to the next Metamorphosis Level.

But now, it would feast.

With a swift motion, it scurried downwards.

--

"Up! Up!" one of the goblins screamed, but it was too late.

The Collector had landed on the goblin having launched itself down from ten meters up. The sheer weight of the Collector's dense musculature and carapace was enough to splatter the goblin on the forest floor, shattering its each and every bone.

The other two goblins took a look at the Collector, at its powerfully muscled, clawed and bloodstained hind legs, its six arachnid limbs protruding from the back like prehensile spines, and its insectoid head clicking with mandibles like axe-heads, all eight, beady black eyes poised with hunger at their defenseless forms, and froze.

The sight of the Collector, a repulsive amalgamation of mammal and insect oversized to hideous proportions, overloaded the goblins' fear instincts and kept them still for a second.

That second was easily enough for the Collector to extend two of its arachnid limbs forwards, thrusting them through both goblins' heads simultaneously. With a slick pop, the limbs withdrew, leaving two neat, circular holes in the goblins' skulls.

Over in a few seconds. The goblins were aided by their primal instincts, but they were also slowed down by them. Fear had caught them, seized them by their throats, rendered their minds to mush and their feet to putty for a second, and that spelt the end of their lives. In contrast, the Collector was not fueled by instinct, it used instinct, used it as a tool just as it used its claws or limbs or tails. It felt no fear, no hesitation, no mercy.

The Collector wasted no time in devouring the goblins. Even the fastest butcher in all of Elysia would have marveled at the Collector's speed in dissecting and consuming them. It had an in-depth understanding of the goblins' anatomies now, having both consumed one and cross-referenced its biological structure across its Collective database which accurately predicted where each and every one of its vitals were, where the joints were easiest to pop, the tendons easiest to slice, the flesh easiest to tear.

-Bioma.s.s gained

--Bioma.s.s Level 50/100

A horde of these goblins would face no challenge to the Collector now, not because of strength - ten or so of these would have the manpower to injure the Collector - but because the Collector knew their behaviors, instincts, and vitals now and could systematically execute them.

From the goblins it had just consumed, the Collector absorbed key bits of knowledge: the location of their den, their numbers, and the being they called 'Draug'.

The den wasn't far from here. A little ways further in the jungle in a safer area where no larger predators roamed. It was an underground network of tunnels and burrows that had been previously made by a different creature. There were quite a few of these goblins. Twenty in total led by a much larger, stronger variant of the species called a Hobgoblin whose name was evidently 'Draug'.

The Collector made its way towards by treetop, scurrying up a tree trunk and leaping from branch to branch. The goblins lived underground and did not pay much attention to the trees, so this would grant the Collector the highest amount of stealth in approaching.

As the Collector moved, it calculated its chances. This 'Draug' could definitely challenge it in a test of strength, and when aided by his goblins, would have an upper hand. It was confident that should it face Draug in single combat, it could win provided it had an ambush. At the same time, the twenty goblins by themselves proved no threat either. It was only when Draug and his goblins were together that they became a significant threat.

Then the solution was to eliminate one or the other.

---

The Collector watched from above, keeping absolutely still as it watched the den. It hid itself in a thicket of leaves amidst a tree overlooking the den, and it had watched for an entire day, from last night to this night, moving only to track the den's denizens. It did not have to eat or drink and its bodily processes were absolutely efficient to the point where nothing it consumed was excreted as waste.

The Collector observed there was a large pit in the ground from where the goblins routinely went in an out, carrying food or sticks, rocks and leaves. Every so often, 'Draug' would emerge. He was two meters tall, heavily muscled and more built for combat than the goblins, with dense bones, thick limbs, and elongated tusks that jutted from his mouth. His overall structure, however, was similar to that of his goblin kin, with the same yellow, beady eyes and blackened skin. Presumably, his vitals were the same as well.

The Collector memorized Draug and the goblins' patterns of movement. The goblins made routine trips out to secure food and Draug occasionally came with them to hunt larger prey. The movement of the goblins was relatively random, which was expected considering there were twenty of them so there would always be variables as to where they were.

There were two important details.

Draug had set patterns to his movement. Every so often, he would isolate himself from the goblins to go to his own personal watering hole with clearer water than that the common goblins drank from. Here, he would drink and then expel excretions before returning to the den.

In addition, the goblins were nocturnal, sleeping during the day, but Draug was active both day and night.

The Collector clicked its mandibles as it settled on its ambush plan. It would ambush Draug when he left for water at noon, when daylight was bright and his goblin entourage was sleeping.

---
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Early the next morning, the Collector laid its ambush. It went to Draug's watering hole and extracted as much Striped Centipede and Jungle Spider venom as it could from its jaws, pooling it into the water and mixing it. The toxic liquid, iridescent blue with hints of green, dripped into the clear pond, clouding it just a little. The venom from both insects was not particularly strong, unable to kill even a goblin, but at the ma.s.s quant.i.ties the Collector could produce significantly larger than any little bug, it was enough to kill a goblin or slow down Draug.

Then the Collector laid spots of thick webbing around the watering hole, being careful to avoid the well-worn path that Draug used. In the chaos of battle, Draug would have to move away from this path, and here he would find webbing to tangle his feet.

The Collector laid in wait, high up in a tree above the watering hole. This next victim would prove to be a challenge, but a worthy one. No doubt it would provide enough bioma.s.s to ascend to the next Metamorphosis Level.