The sight of the spores, the confirmation of an alien will embedded within his own substance, solidified the fury that surged through him. This was not a game, not a mere strategic problem. Parts of him were being manipulated, turned, used. Unacceptable. The core imperative to consume and grow was momentarily overshadowed by a more primal, more absolute command: Eliminate Hostile Control Source.

  His awareness snapped back to the strategic view, though the image of the spores remained burned into his perception. He located the pulsing interference signal on his internal map – the cluster of fungal markers deeper within the pale soil area. That was the enemy's heart. Between him and it lay the affected units, their jerky, unnatural movements clear on the map, and, he now perceived, a dense web of energy or substance radiating from the cluster – the mycelial network responsible for the control and ensnarement.

  The plan formed instantly, guided by instinct and the echoes of countless digital campaigns. Direct assault. Overwhelm the obstacle. Utilize the appropriate units. He marshaled the nearest segments of his swarm, focusing the command towards the hostile cluster.

  Units Selected: 78 Juvenile Colony Units, 22 Armored Juvenile Units.

  Objective: Assault [Dominator Fungal Cluster].

  He directed the Armored variants to the front. Their tougher forms, gained from consuming the beetle's carapace, were designed for resilience. If anything could push through that web, it would be them. The slower, more numerous Juveniles were directed to follow, a second wave, ready to capitalize on any path the vanguard could clear or simply add mass to the push.

  Movement was slow, a deliberate crawl across the forest floor towards the infected zone. As the leading units crossed the invisible boundary into the area of strongest interference, the physical sensation changed. A clinging. A subtle, yet incredibly strong, resistance against their bodies. On the internal map, unit icons slowed dramatically, their movement speeds plummeting.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  They were entering the web.

  The mycelial network, invisible in the lower-resolution overview but palpable now both strategically and physically through his units, ensnared them. Threads of fungal energy, or perhaps actual physical filaments, grabbed at their forms, attempting to halt their progress, to pull them down, towards the dominant fungal will.

  Standard Juvenile units struggled immediately. Their icons stuttered on the map, stopping completely as the ensnaring force overwhelmed their slow, persistent movement. Distress signals, now familiar and sharp, pulsed from them before their status feeds went blank as they were overcome, consumed by the fungal mass. Each lost unit sent that familiar, unwanted pang of disconnection through him, a small piece of himself severed and absorbed by the enemy.

  But the Armored units fared better. He felt the clinging resistance against their tougher forms, the drag on their movements. They were slowed significantly, their icons crawling at a fraction of their normal pace, but they kept moving. The added resilience of their exoskeletons allowed them to break through or resist the ensnaring threads where the basic Juveniles were instantly captured. They were the battering ram, the vanguard pushing through the living obstacle.

  He fed more units into the grinder. It was a costly push, a horrifying march over the static markers of his own lost forms and other ensnared creatures visible on the map. The fury remained, a cold, sharp focus, driving the relentless advance. The pain of loss was a price paid, regrettable but secondary to the absolute necessity of eradicating the source of this violation. Every inch gained through the clinging web was a victory.

  Slowly, arduously, the Armored units, followed by a thinning wave of surviving Juveniles, approached the heart of the zone. The cluster of fungal markers on his internal map grew larger, resolving into the perceived forms of the main Dominator Fungi themselves – bulbous, pale growths pulsing with malevolent energy.

  They had reached the source.

  He directed the surviving units to converge, to attack. The command to Consume surged, now laced with the imperative to destroy. Units swarmed onto the fungal bodies, biting and tearing at the alien tissue, the physical act of consumption driven by furious purpose. The struggle was now direct, the swarm's fundamental nature thrown against the core of the usurper. The cost had been high, but the battle for control of his own being had begun.