"That Leaves Just One More"

Tychus stared at the battlefield in disbelief.

A dozen or so Carcharodons, fighting alongside just over a hundred Helljumpers, had somehow held off a Tal'darim force more than ten times their size.

Even someone as arrogant as Tychus found it hard to believe. If he had led a few dozen War Pigs against a hundred Protoss warriors, they would have been wiped out.

"What the hell are these guys?"

Tychus muttered to himself as his Six-Barreled Machine Gun spat fire.

He watched a Carcharodon seize a Zealot by the throat with one hand. The hydraulics of his Power Armor whined as he ripped the Protoss warrior's spine from his neck.

Another Carcharodon went even further. He split an Immortal's shield with a stolen Psychic Blade, jammed a Plasma Rifle into its cannon barrel, and pulled the trigger, blowing the entire war machine to scrap.

Whine—whoosh!

A piercing charging sound rang across the battlefield.

In the distance, the Large Laser Drilling Machine finally finished warming up. A dazzling beam twenty meters wide shot toward the ruin's gate three kilometers away.

The instant the high-energy laser struck the ancient metal, blinding sparks erupted. The runes across the ruin's surface went dark one by one.

!!!

It was like kicking a hornet's nest.

The entire desert began to shake, and the Protoss forces that had been standing by poured out in full.

Worse, more than a dozen Tal'darim Motherships emerged from the clouds. Their hangars opened, unleashing thousands of carrier craft like a swarm of bees.

"Damn it!"

Tychus cursed and hurriedly led the War Pigs toward cover.

Dense cannon fire blanketed the sky. Before the Helljumpers' heavy-weapons teams could launch their anti-air missiles, beam cannons pinned them down and forced them to huddle behind a rocky outcrop.

The Carcharodons immediately changed tactics.