4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution - Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve War

The first enormous group that Lin faced was a unique one that Lin named “Crystal Microbes . ” They flashed with a crystal-like light, and there seemed to be spikes around their bodies that were made from ice . When Lin first saw them, Lin had thought that these were not cells because they seemed like balls of ice .

But they really were not ice, but cells . They would move like cells . Lin was very curious how they had grown such an appearance .

There were tens of thousands of these crystal microbes . They possessed many of the food cracks in the middle area of the rock . They actually were very strong to be able to accomplish this . Lin had to defeat them in order to expand its own territory .

Lin first gathered large numbers of cells around the territory of the crystal microbes . Most of them were diggers and cone-shaped cells . Lin did not plan on having the acid ejectors fight so early .

This was because Lin found, in the process of taking over the food cracks, other cells could also obtain resistance against the dissolving fluid of the acid ejectors .

Lin had initially obtained resistance to the dissolving fluid in the process of fighting the strange cell but Lin was not the only one with this end of evolving ability .

If Lin fought against the crystal microbes, then it might be a very long fight . Then the enemy would have time to evolve the ability to resist the dissolving fluid .

So it was best for the acid ejectors to be a secret weapon to destroy the enemy at the last moment .

Lin’s observer looked down at the nearest group of crystal microbes from higher up . The crystal microbes did not know that they would soon be attacked and were still feeing on the food that popped out occasionally .

Attack!

The cone-shaped cells were the foreguard and charged directly at the group of crystal microbes . When they neared, they quickly used their cone to penetrate the bodies of the crystal microbes . While the crystal microbes were hard, they were not as hard as ice and were immediately run through . Then the cone-shaped cells would quickly turn their bodies and the denticles on the cone would tear the crystal microbes into pieces . Large amounts of dead matter floated in the water … …

The crystal microbes immediately started to fight back after being attacked . Their method was very normal . They tried to stab the cone-shaped cells with their own spikes . The cone part of the cone-shaped cells was very hard and could not be penetrated . As a result, large numbers of crystal microbes were tore apart by the cone-shaped cells again . Not long after, Lin’s cone-shaped cells killed off the crystal microbes around the food crack .

When Lin attacked the crystal microbes at another crack, it discovered that the crystal microbes had changed its course of action . It started to move with organization, surrounding the cone-shaped cells and attacking at once . They would not stupidly attack the hard part of the cone-shaped cells but tried to go behind the cell and stab the soft parts of the cone-shaped cell .

They did not have eyes nor sight … … how did they know when to attack? Lin was very curious about this .

The spikes of the crystal microbes did not carry denticles so when they were stabbed in, they did not create much damage . The cone-shaped cells only had to turn to kill the crystal microbes with the cone . This time, the crystal microbes changed their strategy again . They fought in groups . As long as a large number of spikes were stabbed in, regardless of whether there were denticles or not, they could easily damage the interior of the cone-shaped cells .

There were five hundred cone-shaped cells that Lin had used as the vanguard . At this time, they were being surrounded and attacked by thousands of crystal microbes . Most of the crystal microbes had come from the other food cracks .

So this was how it was . The crystal microbes here were all one group, so they could call reinforcements from far away .

Lin pondered this as he watched the battle . It wasn’t the only one doing this . Those crystal microbesl were also searching constantly for their own advantages in the battle . The cone-shaped cells which did not receive any more orders from Lin slowly started to lose .

Suddenly, numerous crystal microbes appeared in Lin’s field of view . The crystal membrane around their bodies flashed with light as they charged towards the site of battle .

This was … … they were all participating? Lin found that all of the crystal microbes had stopped feeding . They started to move and charged in hundreds of thousands into this battle . Under the squeeze of the large number of crystal microbes, the cone-shaped cells were almost unable to move and stabbed by numerous spikes .

Attack! Lin finally moved to the second step . Numerous diggers charged to enter the battle . The diggers did not have a cone, and their ability to damage was lower . However, the diggers had an advantage because of their enormous number . There were 7793 digger cells in total . And in terms of one on one, the diggers were better than the crystal microbes .

The diggers that entered the fight used their denticles to break off the spikes of the crystal microbes before cutting the other’s bodies into pieces . The crystal microbes constantly tried to stab through the fragile parts of the diggers .

The observer had always been at a distance and supervising the entire battle for Lin .

Lin’s preliminary estimate of the crystal microbes was more than twenty thousand of them . Here, they did not have any of the reinforcements . All of the crystal microbes were participating in the battle but the balance was not tilted towards them . The crystal microbes were actually losing and retreating .

A digger could probably match about five crystal microbes .

If this continued … … en?

Lin suddenly had a strange feeling and received a message from a certain digger . This digger had been attacking the crystal microbes like normal using its denticles . Originally, this should have torn the enemy to pieces but this digger did not manage to accomplish this . The crystal microbe that was its target was just pushed slightly further away .

Then this digger was surrounding by large numbers of crystal microbes and killed .

This phenomenon slowly spread through Lin’s cell group . No matter if it was the digger sand the cone-shaped cells, their sharp weapons were unable to harm the crystal microbes any longer, and what they could do was just push them away .

Was this evolution? The enemy could evolve hard shells that could defend against denticles and spikes so quickly?

Lin was very surprised because the crystal microbes had a much faster evolution rate than other cells .

… … Wait, no!

Lin found that there was a crystal microbe that was not damaged when it was stabbed by the cone-shaped microbe . However, it was pushed towards another cone-shaped cell and this cone-shaped cell easily stabbed through this crystal microbe .

In other words, the crystal microbes had not become hard themselves, but … …

Lin started to observe carefully . It found that there was a layer of something covering the denticles and spikes of the diggers and cone-shaped cells that could not damage the crystal microbes .

It was something that looked like a sticky black material . If the cone-shaped cells and diggers came into contact with it, then their offensive ability would decrease greatly .

Lin also noticed that this sticky black substance was also floating on the battlefield along with the corpses of cells . Of course, there hadn’t been any at the start of battle or Lin would have noticed it .

The sticky substance would not glue onto the crystal microbes, and only onto Lin’s cells .

In other worse, it was the crystal microbes that had released this substance . Just like how the acid ejectors were not harmed by their own acid, the crystal microbes would not be affected by the sticky liquid .

Under the aid of the sticky substance, the sticky microbes once again had the advantage . They could easily surround and kill the diggers and cone-shaped cells that could not attack . Enormous losses occurred to Lin’s cell group .

… … It was bad … …

Lin tried to direct the cells to avoid the sticky substance as it observed .

Lin noticed that the crystal microbes were not releasing the sticky substance so where did it come from?

… … there it was!

Lin’s gaze stopped on the area behind the crystal microbes arm . There were several large crystal microbes ten times the size of normal crystal microbes there . There were no thorns on their bodies, but the sticky substance was being exuded from their membranes .

So that was how it worked . It seemed like the crystal microbes was like Lin, and had a cell group composed of different cell types .

Lin immediately moved into action . It sent out special troops towards those large-sized crystal microbes and planned on killing them all .

The troops were made out of the diggers but they were now very similar to the rock insects . They had many mutualistic cnidocytes on the surface of their bodies and Lin also knew how to have those cnidocytes attack .

The cell had to give a message of danger . Lin was not sure of the details . But it only had to have the cells prepare to fight for the cnidocytes to become nervous and shoot at anything that came near them .

These diggers that carried the cnidocytes were just about 300 in number . Each digger usually had about five cnidocytes . There were more than 3000 little crystal microbes surrounding those large crystal microbes .

Each cnidocyte could only attack once and it would take a long time for them to grow another stinger .

It would not be easy … …

But there were only six large crystal microbes, so Lin only had to hit the targets six times in order to end this battle .