Heart of the Swarm

After seeing Setum off, Saine could not wait to begin his experiments on the Azure Blue Flame.

He even turned down the upcoming war assignments and directly handed command over to the Level-6 knight Beipeng and the Level-4 sorcerer Mel.

Doing this during a war carried enormous risks.

But Saine truly could not restrain himself!

Few Alien Creatures could understand the Wizard World mages' obsessive pursuit of Truth Arcana.

Fortunately, the war in the Divine Descendant World was a comprehensive, crushing advance. Even without Saine personally appearing, there would be no problem. Beipeng and Mel were enough to command the God of Black Mist and the others below them.

As Saine's most attentive experimental assistant, Construct Master Yuli naturally remained in the Planetary Fortress laboratory to assist Saine with his magical experiments.

Eight-Winged Angel Fumila could no longer go out to battle either. As the strongest combat force at Saine's side, she had to protect his immediate surroundings and guard against any external impact that might interfere with his experiments.

The Planetary Fortress also activated its Energy Shield for the entire cycle, seeking to provide Saine with an ideal experimental environment.

After Saine plunged headlong into his all-consuming experimental state, Gongsun Wudi, positioned on the flank of Saine's battlefield, later heard of the matter as well.

"Your subordinate learned that a Level-6 demon visited Saine Master earlier," one of Gongsun Wudi's Level-4 maidservants stepped forward and reported.

"Mm." Gongsun Wudi merely nodded lightly and said nothing more.

East Continent battlefield.

James was a Federation lieutenant, as well as the captain of an automated assault squad.

According to the Federation's military rank system, a lieutenant was roughly equivalent to a Level-2 Creature of the Star Realm.

During his relatively long service, Lieutenant James had indeed led his squad to kill more than one Level-2 Creature.

However, most of those incidents had occurred when James was stationed on the Witt Star System battlefield.

At that time, large numbers of Undead Creatures and Corpse Refinement Synthetic Beasts had appeared behind Federation lines. Lieutenant James's mission had been to cooperate with the fleet in clearing out those "monsters."

It was also during that period of war that Lieutenant James had rapidly risen from an ordinary corporal with no backing to the ranks of commissioned officers.

Based on Lieutenant James's merits in the Divine Descendant Star Region, promoting him to captain would not have been excessive!

But now, it was all over.

There were not enough supplies, not enough reinforcements, and even contact with the distant Galente Federation headquarters had been cut off.

Forget being promoted to captain—Lieutenant James and the more than one hundred men under his command were about to lose their lives as well.

James still remembered his last conversation with the major inside the base. That major, who looked even younger than James, had already suffered a mental breakdown.

Not every Federation soldier was an iron-blooded hardman. They feared death too.

But death was their only destination, because no one was willing to surrender.

The highly agitated major had shaken James by the shoulders and said, "If we can leave this damned world alive, forget captain—even major will be within your reach!"

"And me? I could become a lieutenant colonel, even a colonel!"

"But it's all over. We'll die here." After his hysterical outburst, the young major seemed to lose all strength and slumped into his chair.

James, who looked middle-aged and had always given others an impression of steadiness, said nothing in response.

Looking at the young major, who had lost all strength, he took a military blanket and spread it over him.

James then left the major's base office and headed for the war zone under his responsibility.

When the two sergeants under his command could not help approaching to ask about the situation, James said decisively, "Our reinforcements will be here soon!"

"Hold on for another 1,320 Quantum Hours!" Lieutenant James said, sweeping his gaze around the area.

1,320 Quantum Hours. Upon hearing Lieutenant James's answer, the two sergeants could not help exchanging glances, while the surrounding soldiers lowered their heads.

According to the reconnaissance data provided by the frontline robots, the swarm would arrive in 360 Quantum Hours!

Judging by the speed at which these swarms had destroyed other fortress bases, how long could their base, whose strongest defense was only a B307 Plasma Turret—its power comparable to the mid-Level 3—possibly hold out?

Forget half that time. They probably would not last even 10 Quantum Hours.

Those 10 Quantum Hours included the time it would take the swarm, after breaching their base, to cross over their corpses and ruins.

They swept through everything, unstoppable and unmatched!

That was how the Galente Federation's garrison fleet on the Divine Descendant World battlefield understood the Zerg.

Perhaps the nearby Tianxiao No. 2 Cluster Base could hold back the Zerg tide for a while, since it was guarded by the Wave Magnetic Destroyer giant mech, a Level-4 mech.

But no one could guarantee what would actually happen.

After all, this Federation legion stationed on the Divine Descendant World battlefield had truly never won a battle against the Zerg.

They had not even managed to hold them back for a moment!

As the sun set in the west, Lieutenant James arrived at the line under his command.

The sunsets of the Divine Descendant World always carried a dreamlike, hazy color. Looking at the Scarlet sea of clouds on the horizon, it was easy to think of blood.

"I'm reminded of my home planet, Aida No. 3 Artificial Planet. It has polar day all year round, and half its people live beneath the cities," James suddenly said, turning to the soldiers beside him.

The topic raised by their officer made the surrounding soldiers think of the home planets from which they had come.

They had all once possessed homes of their own, yet today they would die here.

Urgent signals rang out from James's shoulder. "Beep! Beep! Beep!"

The swarm was arriving faster than expected.

They had reached the outside of the base 120 Quantum Hours ahead of schedule.

They were currently breaking through the Self-Propelled Artillery lines, minefields, and other defenses the Galente Federation had arranged at the base's front.

Given the Zerg's fearlessness of death and charging speed, they might enter close-quarters combat in as little as another 2 Quantum Hours.

At that instant, every robot inside the fortress activated emergency combat mode.

Even the few remaining drones shot out of the base with a "Whoosh! Whoosh!" to conduct high-altitude reconnaissance and interception.

"Prepare for battle!" James barked into the communications device, then strode toward the light-magnetic cannon emplacement beside him.

This light-magnetic cannon emplacement could melt the skin of a Level-2 Creature. With danger at hand, James chose to advance and retreat alongside his soldiers.

Time passed, second by second.

The shrill, rampant howls of the Zerg gradually drew closer from afar.

In the sky, a mass of jet-black dots slowly appeared as well.

Federation soldiers familiar with the Zerg Legion knew that those dots were very likely flying dragons capable of launching projectile attacks.

In truth, once the flying dragons appeared, the pressure on every Federation soldier in the base surged sharply.

That was because each flying dragon generally possessed combat power at the Level-2 Creature standard.

Lieutenant James looked calm, but a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face beneath his combat uniform.

He held his breath and fixed his gaze on the designated firing zone ahead, until... a gigantic, razor-sharp horn nearly a hundred meters long suddenly thrust up from beneath their base!

It was a Thunder Beast!

Dense explosions and Energy Beams struck the surface of the Thunder Beast's enormous head just as it rose high.

The Thunder Beast's earth-shaking roar conveyed a message to the Federation beings in this base—the swarm had arrived!

The overwhelming swarm broke through the outer artillery zone one after another, tearing and biting its way into the Federation base's interior.

Many Raptor Zerg still had twisted mechanical arms or metal gun barrels wedged between their teeth.

Above, the whistling forms of flying dragons swept past, delivering one dark-yellow energy sphere after another upon the Federation base.

Dense explosions and yellow mist immediately spread throughout the Federation base, inside and out.

The furious firing of electromagnetic artillery did not last long before falling silent.

These Federation soldiers had a very clear understanding of themselves.

As expected, they had not held out for 10 Quantum Hours.

To be precise, this battle had lasted only 5 Quantum Hours.

The boundless Zerg tide surged past this place.

Even Tianxiao No. 2 Cluster Base, the center of the surrounding bases, was like a lone leaf in a raging storm.