Deep within the forest, the serene environment was finally shattered, as countless terrifying roars of beasts echoed incessantly.
Monsters with eyes gleaming green surged toward the Zerg nest in unison, intent on destroying the Heart of the Overlord and annihilating all life within!
Coincidentally, a certain Zerg Overlord had a similar thought.
[Pylorus Beasts]
[Combat Power: Unranked]
[Skill: Bite]
Since arriving here, Charles had never seen such a rudimentary monster template. Clearly, these creatures were designed for beginner levels.
Standing beside him, Catherine's eyes, once filled with lust, now brimmed with naked killing intent. "Master, should you need me to clean up the battlefield?"
Gazing at the grotesque black sludge monsters, Charles shook his head disdainfully. "Foolish slave, these creatures aren't worth your effort. Leave them to the worker bees."
Twenty unranked Pylorus Beasts would be a stroke of bad luck for an ordinary lord, but Charles was no longer that minor lord with a few small naga. He was now the Zerg Overlord.
A single worker bee could decimate them all!
Catherine nodded slightly, though she was a bit disappointed that she wouldn't get to unleash her full destructive potential. Nevertheless, she found greater satisfaction in staying by her master's side. Hence, she commanded the worker bees to commence their slaughter.
At that moment, the Pylorus Beasts, still unaware of the daunting force they were up against, edged closer and closer to the encircling worker bees.
Crack!
One of the Pylorus Beasts stepped on a tree branch, producing a crisp snap, a sound that sealed their fate with no chance of escape.
Suddenly, ten grotesque insects, each over a meter long, emerged from various angles, closing in on the Pylorus Beasts and brandishing their chilling, razor-sharp blades.
The Pylorus Beasts were utterly bewildered, they stood there trembling, too frightened to put up any resistance. All twenty of them were mercilessly slaughtered by the worker bees!
Charles wasn't surprised at all.
The Pylorus Beasts had been nicknamed "Timid Beasts" in his previous life. Even the least combative worms in the Zerg database exuded a formidable killing aura. The worker bees, who spent years mining outside, were even more intimidating. The fact that the Pylorus Beasts weren't scared to death was probably due to some dark enhancement.
However, what puzzled Charles was that the Eye of Data showed no changes, and neither did the Heart of the Overlord.
This shouldn't be happening.
Could there be something else yet to emerge?
As if in response to his unspoken suspicions, a tremendous rumbling shook the ground, revealing a colossal gorilla.
This was the true final boss of the assault—the Dark Gorilla.
[Dark Gorilla]
[Combat Power: Tier 1, Intermediate]
[Skill: Earthshaking Fist]
A Tier 1 intermediate dark monster? His choice of location seemed ridiculously dangerous.
Charles felt a twitch at the corner of his mouth. The first night was typically supposed to be relatively manageable, with no more than five timid Pylorus Beasts at most.
Yet here he was, facing not just twenty of those skittish creatures, but also a tiered-up Dark Gorilla.
Was this some kind of targeted vendetta against him?
If an ordinary lord were in his place, they wouldn't stand a chance against the Pylorus Beasts alone, let alone contend with a Dark Gorilla!
Despite his grumbling, Charles was actually quite pleased.
The first night's monster attack served as a wake-up call for lords in this world. It was designed to remind them not to grow complacent but to strive for strength.
Defeating these creatures would not only yield treasure chests dropped by the monsters themselves but also earn rewards from the Lord's Continent, tailored to the challenge's difficulty.
As a lord, his focus was solely on killing as many dark creatures as possible. And when it came to killing dark creatures, Charles had nothing to worry about.
It's just a mere Dark Gorilla, there wasn't even any need for both him and Catherine, the hero units, to intervene. The swarm of worker bees alone could encircle it and bring it down.
Indeed, that was exactly what happened. The Dark Gorilla made a grand entrance, but under the flawless coordination of ten worker bees, its body began to sustain continuous damage.
The Dark Gorilla pounded its chest a few times, its eyes glowing red with fury, and finally let out a deafening roar as it swung a powerful fist toward one of the worker bees.
Earthshaking Fist!
This single strike sent a worker bee into the Zerg-exclusive critical state, but it was merely one punch.
After the punch, the Dark Gorilla froze in place, and was soon overwhelmed as the other worker bees bit into its neck, bringing its life to an end.
At that precise moment, the Eye of Data began to register the change.
[Congratulations to the Lord for killing a dark creature, earning three drops of Dark Essence.]
[Dark Essence: An essential elixir for advancing dark-type races to Tier 1, also a valuable material for enchanting dark weapons.]
Good stuff!
However, the Zerg weren't a dark-type race. They were pure biological weapons, so this would have to be auctioned off.
Charles shook his head slightly. He hadn't expected much from this roll of the dice anyway. He was more interested in the Lord's Continent's rewards.
In the next instant, the rewards arrived as anticipated.
[Ding! Congratulations to Lord No. 1 for surviving the first night. You have been awarded a lord-exclusive reward—Zerg Hero Medusa's Synthesis Formula and Bloodthirsty Insect Gene Template.]
Now, this was the jackpot!
Charles's face lit up with excitement. The Lord's Continent's will was surprisingly generous this time. Not only had it provided a new Zerg template to fill his database, but it also included an evolution formula for a Zerg hero?
What did a Zerg hero signify? These were the elites capable of fighting above their tier!
As the Overlord, he couldn't afford to be always on the front lines. And while Catherine had decent combat skills, her primary role was to program Zerg genes.
Overall, Zerg hero units were currently in short supply, and they urgently needed another member!
Suddenly, streams of inherited memories were directly imprinted into Charles's mind, embedding all that knowledge deeply within him.
[Medusa Formula: Royal Abyssal Serpent Woman, one drop of Dark Essence, Blood of the Zerg Overlord]
These were the ingredients needed to create the Zerg Hero Medusa. Conveniently, Charles had an ample supply of both Dark Essence and the Blood of the Overlord!
Unfortunately, the thought of the Abyssal Serpent Woman made Charles's expression sour.
This place was a forest, likely an elf territory, and elves despised the lascivious serpent species from the abyss. So, the most crucial component was probably missing—a royal bloodline!
Noticing her master's unease, Catherine offered her breasts for him to knead at will.
Her master had once said that playing with women was a great stress reliever. As a loyal and foolish slave, she had to be proactive.
Sure enough, with Catherine's ample bosom in his hands, Charles began to relax, his previous concerns dissipating. He looked at Catherine's coquettish face and just smiled.
Who knew how many would perish in this beginner's trial tonight?
He turned to Catherine and said, "Catherine, go collect the genetic data from those creatures. Then we'll start preparing for mass production."
In the world of lords, getting stronger was always the central theme. While screwing Catherine was enjoyable, Charles was more focused on keeping them both alive, so he could screw her every day.
Catherine nodded and started directing the worker bees to haul the dead dark creatures back to the mycelium. The energy from these creatures was enough to produce a large batch of worker bees.
In an era where even Tier 1 beings were considered elites, what would be the outcome of rapidly mass-producing Tier 1 worker bees or other Zerg units?
...
On the soft Zerg Queen's bed, Charles started reviewing some parchment.
The district channel still had over thirty thousand people, meaning that nearly twenty thousand had already perished in this beginner's trial.
This death toll wasn't high. It was actually a very low mortality rate.
It seemed that many had heeded his advice.
In his previous life, because no one had this information, forty thousand out of fifty thousand in the district channel had died!
[User 599: I have to say, that Number One really helped us a lot. If it weren't for his warnings, I might have died at the hands of those damned Pylorus Beasts!]
[User 9270: Indeed, I was one of those who realized things a bit late, but thanks to Number One's information, I survived, even though my Heart of the Overlord sustained some damage.]
Most of the comments were praising Number One, and as the mastermind behind it all, Charles felt gratified.
Whether people read his warnings or not was one thing, but judging by the reduced death rate, it had certainly made a difference.
As for the skeptics, it didn't matter...
After all, there was nothing more painful than dying at the hands of the Pylorus Beasts.