Chief stood before the glass tank atop a metallic table. Inside, the mechanical arm carefully lifted the lid open, and Chief raised his worn-out pistol.

  "Retrieve the living creatures in the soil," he whispered to the gun, pointing it at the floating sphere behind him. Pulling the trigger, a gunshot filled the room, but no bullet was shot.

  Instead, a blue light, like a slithering electric eel, streaked through the air and penetrated the soil in the sphere. Afterwards, the soil flattened, and countless creatures floated in the air.

  Earthworms wriggled desperately, and those who were next to each other chose to coil into tiny balls. Springtails and mites simply waved their legs around, and other organisms were the same. However, one group of bugs stood out like a sore thumb.

  Chief squinted his dimly glowing blue, mechanical eyes. He wasn't wearing a cloak today. Instead, he was adorned in a white coat, his hands protected by gloves.

  “Open the sphere,” he said, and the pale blue sphere holding the soil mid-air disappeared. At the same time, his tensed muscled relaxed ever so slightly, and he started breathing a lot easier.

  “Oh?”

  Before he could even feel relief, the soil inside the sphere fell to the laboratory floor. Chief blinked in surprise, but he ignored the mess for now.

  "Put the bugs inside the tank," he pointed the gun at the glass tank on the metallic table. Firing the gun, his ears rang as blue light enveloped each bug, making them look like blue fireflies.

  Gently, the light carried them in the air, guiding them inside the glass container.

  "Release." Chief pulled the trigger again, and the bugs were freed of their bindings. In an instant, they bolted all over the place, trying to escape.

  On the other hand, the peculiar colony of three-legged bugs gathered together, forming a small pile. In the middle of it was the odd one out amongst the group.

  "Is it their queen? Or maybe something else?" Chief mused, watching as the pile of spawns slowly spread out.

  A few seconds later, Helzar spread his mandibles out. And then as if on queue, the spawns shot toward their nearest targets. The worms and mites stood no chance, all of them dying near instantly. The springtails, however, proved to be a hindrance.

  Using their spring-like furcula, they hopped around the tank. But alas, they could run, but not escape.

  Chief rubbed his lips seeing the spawns slaughtering the last of the springtails. "Amazing speed for bugs with only three legs. Their mandibles are powerful, too. I can hear it snapping shut from afar," he muttered, grabbing a notebook on top of a nearby desk and jotting down his discoveries.

  "Their mandibles reminds me of the trap-jaw ants. However, these anomalies can bite much faster, just like a man snapping his fingers repeatedly."

  After writing down a few more words, he lifted his gaze, seeing that the entire tank was now lifeless. Apart from the spawns.

  "In less than a minute. Impressive," he nodded, writing a word on the book before closing it.

  "But now that they've hunted their prey, why do they not eat them?" He wondered, watching the spawns gather all the dead insects in a small pile.

  BLIP!

  But just as he was watching, a noise caught his attention. Looking down, Chief realized that the data on the digital tablet had changed.

  [Count: >50]

  [Contamination: 0.09]

  [Threat Level: 0.1]

  [Growth Level: 10]

  [Potential Intelligence (Estimating): 0… 0…]

  [Potential Intelligence: 0.001]

  "Intelligent-type anomaly? Not surprising," he frowned, rubbing his chin in thought.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Among all the anomalies he encountered, the intelligent types were the most dangerous. They weren't rare either, quite the opposite.

  "Former agent Rex owned a non-intelligent anomaly before. It's quite good, but it's unfortunate that it burned into ashes years ago," he sighed, lamenting over the fact.

  After killing Rex, he cremated him and Dexter on the spot. He didn't forget to loot their bodies, sparing not even their underwears. He knew more than enough anomalies that took the shape of underwears.

  "No use in reminiscing the past. I have a choice before me," he crossed his arms, watching Helzar crawling toward the pile of insects. Squinting, Chief watched him devouring the pile with a bottomless stomach.

  "...this swarm must be eliminated... or controlled. I won't have it any other way," he turned around, just as Helzar finished devouring the insects. Then, his spawns guided him next to the mechanical arm, which was shut down.

  "The anomalies are becoming too much for the organization to endure. We must have more control... or the others will learn of all of this," Chief opened the door to the room, letting cold air flow inside. Glancing back, his eyes flickered for a moment.

  "Hm. Nearly all the intelligent type anomalies can read English. I wonder if these ones are the same."

  +++-+++-+++

  Helzar gloomed, laying underneath the mechanical arm in anxiety.

  'They're using magic,' Helzar watched the door close behind Chief. 'Worse, they're using spiritual magic!'

  After seeing the blue glow surrounding him earlier, he nearly froze into a statue. His mind blanked for a moment, thinking he died.

  'Spiritual Magic targets the spirit, or soul. It's the best counter measure for monsters, who possess ridiculously powerful bodies.'

  In his life, he came across many wonders. Spirit magic was far from being the strongest branch of magic, but it had its uses. Every time someone wanted to clear a dungeon, having a spirit mage was essential. Not bringing one was like forgetting your weapon during a war!

  ‘He didn't kill me. That at least proves that he has plans for me. Is he a human scientist?' His gut churned at the thought. 'I never knew I'd one day lay on the operating table.'

  He was by no means a saint in his past life. Before, cutting up people to study them was a common activity for him. If one was to study an alien species, he was certain they'd dissect his spawns first, and then him nest.

  ‘Damn, how do I survive? How do I even escape?’

  As he was thinking about it, the door opened, and a pair of scientists walked in. They were wearing protective, full body suits like bee keepers. After reaching the tank that he was in, they activated the mechanical arm and picked Helzar up.

  'They're going for me, already?!' Startled, he hurriedly had his spawns swarm the mechanical arm. He didn't even expect it to move, it was just a piece of metal with no magic value!

  However, Helzar's efforts were in vain. The scientists shoved him and his spawns inside a test tube, before moving him to another room. The new room was nearly empty, aside from the wide, white table in the middle. After placing the test tube down and connecting it to a small "outworld," a crude replication of the outside world within a glass tank, the scientists left.

  '...what are they thinking?' He sent his spawns out to explore the small space outside the test tube.

  Needless to say, it was empty.

  'Do they plan to starve me in here?' He couldn't help but wonder. 'They'll have to wait for a while before that happens. If they lock me up, that'll be great. I can secretly break through this glass,' he sat, when the pair of scientists returned.

  To his bewilderment, they placed a huge tarantula inside the outworld.

  +++-+++-+++

  Weeks passed.

  After the tarantula incident, the scientists did more strange things. The most notable being the pieces of notes they'd place inside the outworld.

  'They're attempting communication. Unfortunately, I never learned human language,' he sighed inwardly.

  The scientists didn't neglect him, often bringing in an insect or two once a day. It was nowhere near enough to satisfy him.

  But just as he was about to brew up a new plan, a scientist entered the room.

  ‘What’s he doing?’

  Without saying a word, the scientist opened the lid of the outworld. After placing a piece of paper inside abd putting the lid back on, the scientist silently left.

  ‘What’s on the paper this time?’

  Helzar, curious, had his spawns read what was written on the paper. To his surprise, there weren't any words on the paper.

  ‘It’s a picture?’

  Instead, there were two pictures, one of which were a photo of the spawns eating a cockroach. Next to it, there was a picture of a human, with a big, red “X” over it.

  ‘He doesn't want me to eat humans?’ Helzar scoffed. ‘When I get out, the first thing I'd do is… get to safety. The second thing I'd do is eat these scientists!’

  Helzar madly clacked his mandibles together, prompting his spawns to do the same. Before long, it sounded like it was raining inside the test tube.

  ‘However… for the sake of survival, I'll consider working with them for now.’

  After that, the scientist returned with two pictures, and two pieces of meat. The scientist placed a chopped up mealworm on one of the pictures, and a human thumb on the other picture.

  After the spawns saw the pictures, Helzar wanted to laugh. The picture under the mealworm was a picture of mealworms. The other picture was that of a man. Probably the owner of the thumb.

  ‘Ha! They don't want me to eat the thumb, I assume. Fine,’ he sneered, ordering his spawns to bring back the mealworm, and act as if the thumb was invisible.

  If he still couldn't guess that the scientists were trying to train him, he wouldn't be Helzar.

  ‘He wants to use me for himself. I don't know if he's crazy or if he's brave for even trying.’

  Nevertheless, he enjoyed fools drinking poison to quench their thirst.

  +++-+++-+++

  Time flew by quickly. Very quickly.

  Chief walked into the Helzar's room, his hands behind his back.

  "Project Swarm, it's time for your last test," Chief said, mostly to himself. He already received the reports that the Swarm couldn't understand any human language.

  ‘The queen of the swarm showed decent intelligence, and she can command all her minions. Furthermore, the Swarm's growth is unparalleled, although we have yet to see an egg,’ Chief hummed in thought.

  After walking in front of the Swarm's outworld and test tube set-up, he took out a small, red flag. Waving it around the outworld, he watched as the spawns retreated into the test tube.

  "Good," Chief praised. Afterward, he sealed up the test tube and disconnected it from the outworld. Then, he left the room, the test tube in hand.

  Upon leaving the room, the didn't walk very far and entered another similar room. Only this time, there was a massive glass tank in the middle of the room.

  It was a vivarium housing various creatures, and it could easily hold two newborns, acting like a cradle.

  The soil in the vivarium was bioactive, packed with organisms to help decompose decaying matter. They were at the bottom of the food chain, the foundation of the cycle of life. After them were other prey and predators, including snakes, frogs, centipedes, and even fish.

  However, they weren't the "apex predators" inside the vivarium.

  Chief paused for a bit as he walked up to the vivarium. Seeing the bright red insects patrolling the various areas of the tank, he couldn't help but spare a glance at the test tube he was holding.

  “Project Swarm, it's time for you to meet another anomaly,” Chief whispered, gently placing the test tube inside the vivarium. Then, he unclogged the test tube entrance.

  "The next time we meet, I hope you are still alive," he said, turning around and leaving.

  Unbeknownst to him, a few red insects were eyeing his every move. Not just them, but Helzar and his spawns were doing the same. Unfortunately, Helzar was unaware of the danger that was right behind his back.

  In the vivarium, the apex predator was the colony of Solenopsis Invicta, otherwise known as Fire Ants. But these were an anomaly, and they were infused with magic.