A Legion Grows From My Smartphone

“He’s scared.”

“Yeah, I can sense it too.”

“And I can feel a deep-seated resentment.”

“Ever since that day, oppa has harbored a deep hatred for monsters. They tore our family apart.”

“How dare they...”

Anger surged from within.

It wasn’t an emotion projected from the outside. It was a raw, intense anger that the legion felt independently.

The entire legion was rattled.

“Settle down. Oppa has crossed the gate now, and we have our own duties to fulfill.”

Kang Do Yeon stepped forward to pacify the legion.

The legion soon regained its equilibrium.

Kang Do Yeon knew that this was what the legion expected of her.

“That’s right. To see him... we need to escape from here as quickly as possible.”

“See him? What will you do when you see him?”

“...I don’t know.”

The legion frowned.

There were still many instances like this.

Even though they knew the answer, their logic and emotions struggled to comprehend the phenomenon.

Having gathered some knowledge, the legion understood the cause of this phenomenon.

It was because their experience was limited and their ego was frail compared to the knowledge they had amassed and the computational power they could harness.

“This isn’t very efficient.”

From the legion’s viewpoint, it was inefficient because an unnecessary ego had surfaced.

To mitigate this, they attempted to use sub-minds like Kang Do Yeon.

However, Kang Do Yeon, who was more ‘advanced’ than the legion, was still only a mentally immature 17-year-old girl.

[Our scouts are being ambushed repeatedly. It seems they’ve developed intelligence and communication networks.]

“What’s the situation? Go handle them.”

“...Understood.”

The legion, shifting its focus, directed its consciousness elsewhere.

They had thrown themselves into the chaos for the legion’s sake.

Results were expected.

“Grrrr...”

A mournful yet eerie howl reverberated through the dark corridor.

The legion’s scouts, dispersed in all directions, observed everything and shared their findings.

[These infected are unlike the typical destructive bacteria. Their appearance and behavior patterns don’t match the data.]

The infected creatures, encountered sporadically above the 40th floor, were different.

Their appearances were all bizarre.

Though they had infected the Moonlight Elves and other cave dwellers, they only exhibited excessive tumors or partial body transformations.

“What is this...”

But these creatures were different.

Based on the Moonlight Elves, they had something resembling a head on their chest, or their limbs had morphed into grotesque hooks.

The extent of their mutation was so severe that it distorted their original form.

[It was said that the ancestors warned them to avoid the infected on the upper floors because they were too grotesque and dangerous.]

They were more aggressive than other infected. They sensed the scouts’ movements and tried to ensnare them with various methods, such as extending tentacles or swinging their arms.

[They can tell. These peculiar mutated destructive bacteria are trying to manipulate the legion’s genetic information through the scouts they’ve just consumed. It’s the first time the legion has encountered an opponent capable of manipulating genetic information.]

‘'How dare they.’

The legion was, of course, livid. If it were anything else, it wouldn’t matter. But genetic manipulation and analysis were the legion’s pride. They devoured, analyzed, and

combined primitive and incomplete beings to evolve. Now, these mutated destructive bacteria were essentially challenging the legion.

“Die.”

Kang Do Yeon gritted her teeth. The mask did not appear. She had grown to some extent, and she knew it well. She drew her sword. The ‘power engine’ embedded in her heart

spewed energy. Her heart, both arms, and both legs. She had a total of five legion power engines in her body. With a strength incomparable to other legion soldiers who had only

one in their hearts, she shattered the ground and leaped up.

“Grrr...Ahhhh!”

[The infected, who noticed her approach, screamed horribly from the organ that looked like a mouth and rushed at her, swinging their large hook-like limbs.]

Kang Do Yeon’s face was half-covered with a mask as she was disturbed by the grotesque and bizarre sight.

At the same time, the energy from her crimson sword burst out in the form of a slash.

“Ugh...”

Kang Do Yeon staggered in place.

Although it was her own attack, she didn’t know it would be this powerful.

This was her first battle using the power engines, so there was no data for the legion either.

The slash erupted, cleaving the over-two-meter-tall infected in half and deeply gouging the ground. It only faded after extending more than ten meters.

“Disgusting.”

However, the infected didn’t die immediately.

Despite their bodies being bisected, they attempted to rise or crawl towards her, ready to attack.

[The other infected are congregating, drawn by the noise. But something’s not right.]

The entire vicinity, no, the entire floor, trembled. Kang Do Yeon, her teeth gritted, slashed at the enemy that swung its hook-like claws while crawling on the ground.

Ultimately, it was reduced to minced meat, but it was still hard to confirm that it was entirely lifeless.

[The legion concluded that they needed to learn more about these creatures.]

Soon, the mutant infected began to swarm, shrieking and charging like lunatics. The legion deployed troops to confront them.

War with the infected had become familiar by now.

“Huh?!”

She quickly dodged something that flew towards her.

It was a large, bone-like poisonous thorn.

The enraged legion began to fire poisonous thorns as well.

‘...This might not be easy.’

Kang Do Yeon and the entire legion sensed it.

The enemies rushing in so fiercely might be stronger than any they had faced before.

The legion charged forward, kicking the ground towards the infected.

Without slowing down, Kang Do Yeon fired another volley of thorns at the approaching enemies.

[The elite legionnaires have increased their output.]

Nevertheless, the legion had already completed another leap.

[Resonance and amplification. This is the ability we acquired from the Moonlight Elves’ sacred tree.]

In no time, a crimson energy barrier formed in front of Kang Do Yeon, whose entire face was now covered by a mask, and the leading legionnaires.

[We will suppress them with the last legacy of the Moonlight Elves, the long-standing nemesis of the destructive bacteria.]

“Grr...”

“Screech! ”

With a loud bang, the infected that collided with the energy barrier were repelled, receiving the full force of the impact.

Poisonous thorns, acidic fluids, and more.

The various and terrifying attack methods of the mutated destructive bacteria-infected creatures could not penetrate the energy barrier.

However, the attacks of the legionnaires within the barrier struck the enemies.

The black wave of various sizes and compositions hesitated for a moment before pushing forward again.

[Their aggression and abilities are incomparable to the previous destructive bacteria.]

In the midst of the battle, the legion’s soldiers continued to fight.

The legion used some of its smaller, crawling forces to transport the pieces of the destructive bacteria-infected creatures produced on the battlefield back to the nest.

“How dare these arrogant creatures try to transform and devour the legion.”

At the same time, they were the legion’s nourishment and the subjects to be analyzed.

Moreover, there was a strange anger mixed in.

“Disassemble and digest.”

The legion’s tentacles mercilessly attacked the writhing flesh.

The mucus secreted from the tentacles was the legion’s digestive fluid.

Numerous cells within the mucus began to weaken and disassemble the target at the cellular level.

At this stage, most victims would be disassembled and dismantled without resistance.

“... ?! ”

[However, these enemies were the only creatures we’ve encountered capable of waging war at the cellular level. They began to devour the legion’s cells that attacked them in reverse.]

The legion’s nest, which had been digesting, quickly hardened and twisted.

The mutated destructive bacteria began to push back the legion with their toxins.

They first captured the legion’s nutrient acquisition system using the infected legion cells.

The energy they invested only served to fill their bellies, and thanks to that, the destructive bacteria began to proliferate infinitely within the legion like cancer cells.

[If this continues, the entire legion will be devoured. The predator that devours everything will be devoured in return.]

The legion’s innate nature and essence were gluttony. To deny it was to deny their very existence.

“No.”

Yet, the legion had already made all its calculations. They acknowledged their mistake.

“Merely growing claws and fangs isn’t enough.”

It was true that until now, their focus had been solely on strengthening the legionnaires. They had never faced an adversary capable of challenging their abilities. Seeing this as an opportunity and a learning experience, they prepared for a grand harvest. This was the conclusion the legion had reached.

Within the nest, where a fierce battle was raging, the legion attempted a new form of attack. Thin, root-like structures began to forcibly burrow into the infected tissues. Simultaneously, powerful energy waves erupted in a chain reaction from the roots, obliterating all surrounding cells.

“The potential of Formative Force is limitless.”

This was another power that granted the legionnaires abilities beyond reality. There was no decree that the power of the legion’s sacred tree, already flourishing at the heart of the broadest stem layer, had to be employed solely in tangible battles.

The eyes behind the mask sparkled. The thirst for knowledge that would make them stronger was intensifying.