The swarm units tore into the core fungal growths. It was a desperate, furious consumption, not just for biomass, but driven by the absolute imperative to destroy the source of the violation. The fungal bodies resisted, their substance alien and difficult to process, but the concentrated assault of his many forms, biting and consuming, began to break them down.

  Slowly, the pulsing interference signal on his internal map weakened. The vibrant, malevolent energy radiating from the fungal cluster flickered. Under the relentless, consuming tide of the swarm, the perceived forms of the main Dominator Fungi withered and collapsed. The markers on his map faded, then vanished entirely.

  Hostile Control Source Eliminated.

  The moment of victory was marked by an immediate, palpable shift in the environment. The unnatural clinging sensation of the mycelial web abruptly vanished. The threads that had ensnared and consumed his units withered, dissolving back into inert earth. The few units caught but not yet fully consumed by the network went still for a moment, their internal alarms ceasing, the alien control severed. He reached out his awareness to them, reasserting his connection, pulling them back into the operational collective. Many were too damaged to recover, their icons remaining grey, but a few rejoined the living swarm.

  Left behind was the ravaged area where the fungal cluster had pulsed with stolen life. It wasn't just a battleground; it was a resource node, rich with the strange, potent substance of the defeated enemy. His units turned their focus, now with a renewed, less furious intent, to consuming the remnants of the fungal forms and the biomass of the creatures the web had claimed.

  This was a bounty unlike the generic resources. The substance of the fungus, the compressed biomass of multiple ensnared creatures – it flowed into him, fueling a rapid regeneration of his collective being. The rate of biomass gain surged. He directed the flow, instinctively prioritizing replication.

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  New units budded and formed rapidly across the cleared area, fueled by the wealth of consumed substance. His numbers, depleted by the costly push through the web, swelled quickly, replenishing the losses with exhilarating speed. The familiar calm of exponential growth returned, deeper and more satisfying after the intense struggle.

  Swarm Count: Increasing Rapidly.

  Biomass Level: High.

  As he consumed the last remnants of the fungal core, something more profound than simple substance flowed into his being. It was the knowledge, the fundamental principle of the fungus's power. He didn't receive a system message or a skill tree pop-up. Instead, a complex understanding bloomed within him, a new set of capabilities intrinsically woven into his biological potential.

  He now understood Attachment – the biological means to adhere his units to the forms of other creatures, like the spores had adhered to him. He understood Parasitic Sustenance – the ability for an attached unit to draw vital substance from a host, not for immediate destruction, but for slow, continuous gain. He understood Cumulative Control – the principle that pervasive presence, enough of his substance attached to another form, could influence and eventually direct its actions. And he understood On-Host Replication – the capacity for an attached part of himself to multiply directly on the host, accelerating the process of gaining control.

  It was the very mechanism that had been used against him, the source of his fury and violation, now assimilated, a new branch grafted onto his being. The power that had sought to control him was now a tool he could wield.

  A new path… To influence… To control… Not just consume…

  The fury had subsided, replaced by a focused, almost eager anticipation. He had faced an existential threat and emerged not just intact, but transformed. He possessed the knowledge and the potential for a new kind of expansion, a new level of interaction with the world. The battlefield, littered with the remains of the fungus and his lost units, was not just a monument to a hard-won victory, but the fertile ground for a new, more complex phase of his growth. The world, still vast and unknown beyond the Fog of War, now contained possibilities he hadn't even conceived moments before. He was ready to explore them. He was ready to master them.