Bloody Battle of Mar Sara

"They are Zergling, Hydralisk, Ultralisk, and swarms of Defiler; their 'limited brain capacity' can only support the most primal killing instincts and bloodlust."

Sarah Kerrigan planted the bright red Revolutionary Army flag in the red sandy soil of Mar- Sara, grabbed the butt of the C-10 "canister" shotgun from behind her shoulder and pulled it out like a greatsword from her back, her manner truly resembling the wielding of a greatsword.

With a crisp click as the bolt was pulled back, Kerrigan raised her wild eyebrows. "Stand behind me, darling."

"I don't like you saying that." Augustus frowned when he heard about Defiler. In his mind, these giant scorpions were often associated with poisonous fog and viral plagues.

Defiler are few in number within their colony, and their large-scale appearance signifies that the Swarm is focusing its attention on this area. Humans who fight these monsters are arguably among the most unfortunate people in the world.

As Augustus was speaking, Faraday had already led a dozen or so members of the Marshal's Elite Guard toward him.

"Go to the front." Augustus took a C-14 Electromagnetic Rifle from Faraday and walked toward the Revolutionary Army soldiers who were forming a defensive line behind the refugees. The Revolutionary Army soldiers, dressed in crimson Power Armor, along with the Arclite Siege Tank and Goliath Combat Robot behind them, had now formed an unbreakable battle line.

Ahead of the battle line rose a swirling crimson dust, which from a distance looked like an approaching sandstorm, several miles long and tens of miles wide. In the swirling dust, the sharp teeth and claws of the alien creatures and their mottled skin were faintly visible. They howled, making a cracking sound as their spikes rubbed against their carapaces.

The rustling sound of the Zerg moving about was just like the sound Augustus heard in the summer fields—the low chirping of swarms of insects.

The Revolutionary Army's Arclite Siege Tank continued to fire at the advancing Zerg, the cannons booming, the impact of shells kicking up clouds of dust, blood, and flesh and carapace covered in chitinous hard shells.

The Swarm was not without order when it charged; they resembled a well-organized army. Zergling and massive Ultralisk led the charge, followed closely by Hydralisk and Defiler.

Because the Swarm was so large, even if the Arclite Siege Tank driver didn't aim, every shot would hit the Zerg on the head.

Even so, such casualties are negligible for the massive Swarm. The eggs hidden in their underground nests and hatcheries can hatch into more Zerg to make up for the loss at any time. As long as the nests are not destroyed, the Cerebrate Yack, the leader of the Jormungand Brood, can continuously summon its clan members.

"There are at least tens of thousands of these Zerg. Jimmy, where are your men?" Augustus said into the commander's communication channel.

"The Raynor's Raiders and I were just complaining about how horrible the bugs are," Raynor replied immediately over the comms, his voice whistling through the wind, clearly indicating that the Mar- Sara cowboy was enjoying a ride on his Vulture.

"In short, I and over two thousand Raynor's Raiders are on the left and right flanks of your current Zerg forces Zerg are emerging from those collapsed openings, and their underground network spans the entire Mar- Sara," Raynor said. "We're trying to use fragmentation grenades to kill as many Zerg as possible, then use explosives to seal off the caves."

"Although they will soon sprout again, this should at least buy them some time."

"Faster, cowboy, time waits for no one." Augustus ran as fast as he could, helping up refugees who had fallen along the way. Fortunately, the people of Mar- Sara were much stronger than those of the Core World, and even after traveling a considerable distance, they were still able to accelerate and run faster despite the threat of death.

If the Omega Squadron hadn't seized all of the Mar- Sara's weapons, they would have already been locked in a life-or-death struggle with the invading Jormungand Brood.

Among this group of people, hundreds and thousands of the Revolutionary Army soldiers ran against the flow of the crowd toward the direction from which the Zerg were attacking, leaving behind their broad backs.

"I'm as swift as the wind," Raynor said. "Haha. No need to rush me, Augustus, I'll take care of those bugs in no time."

Raynor's forces possessed the largest number of vehicles in the entire Revolutionary Army, including numerous Vulture, command vehicles, reconnaissance vehicles, and Kel-Morian light tanks equipped with 12mm machine guns.

It was Raynor's Raynor's Raiders who carried out reconnaissance, harassment, and raids in the perilous Mar- Sara. They always appeared when a group of settlers was in the most danger, successfully repelled the Zerg, and then disappeared like a whirlwind, making a triumphant return.

Augustus continued running while talking to Raynor; his well-trained physique was no less than that of the strongest warriors in the Revolutionary Army. By the time Augustus reached the vicinity of the defensive line, the massive Jormungand Brood was already very close to them.

Before Augustus, rows of the Revolutionary Army soldiers raised their Gauss Rifle, aiming at the approaching Zerg vanguard. The scene before him reminded Augustus of his first time on the battlefield, except that his enemy was no longer the Kel-Morian, but an endless Swarm.

Every Revolutionary Army had a badge with a whip ring on their right shoulder armor, while the Pan-Terran Revolutionary Party political commissar in charge of ideological work would also have the revolutionary party's symbol—a panda with sharp eyes—painted on his armor.

Augustus could almost hear the pounding of the warriors' hearts and see the cold sweat beading on their foreheads.

Fighting humans and battling Zerg are completely different things. These alien creatures fit every human imagination of the bizarre and terrifying creatures. Once Zerg pounces on you, the hideous monsters will immediately tear you to pieces or eat you alive. If that's already a rather tragic way to die, infection is the most terrifying outcome.

In preparation for the upcoming battle against the Zerg, recruits in the Revolutionary Army's basic training camp must come into contact with Zerg corpses or live samples before graduation. They can only leave the camp once they have overcome their fear of the Zerg. This, to some extent, prolongs the period from recruit enlistment to actual combat.

The Terran Confederacy, however, does not need to consider this, as they can simultaneously add combat skills targeting Zerg and Protoss when implanting combat skills into the minds of Resocialized Soldier.

"Damn it. This rotten pest." Kerrigan cursed under her breath, raising her C-10 shotgun and opening the scope.

The first to fire were the Goliath Combat Robot. Their cockpits, located above the ground, gave them a comprehensive view of the situation. Their weapon systems automatically locked onto the running Zerg and used 25mm cannons and missiles to blast the Zergling into a jumble of bullets, shells, and blood.

Everywhere there were flying carapaces and the screams of alien monsters; all sorts of roars sounded like millions of creatures from hell roaring at the same time.

"Fire!" The commander of this unit was a lieutenant colonel from the Second Platoon of the Heaven's Devils, who had now become a highly accomplished senior commander.

At the lieutenant colonel's command, the Revolutionary Army soldiers eagerly unleashed a torrent of bullets from their rifles. The concentrated firepower immediately wiped out a large swarm of running Zergling, the magnetic bullets piercing their relatively fragile Zergling and turning them into bloody, mangled sieves.

Even after being shot dozens of times and having its brain pierced, the Zergling can still run more than ten yards before collapsing to the ground.

Between the Zergling are enormous Ultralisk, their size far exceeding that of human tanks and all mechs. At first glance, the Ultralisk's thick walking legs and the pair of pointed, curved bony blades on its jaws resemble those of a mammoth from Earth's time, but its multiple pairs of scarlet eyes, drooping tentacles, and dripping saliva make it impossible to associate it with any mammals on Earth.

The Zerg that appeared on Mar- Sara far surpassed Zerg on Cha- Sara in both variety and quantity, with over 100 million Zerg on the planet's surface alone.

Ultralisk, these monsters that stand tens of feet tall, are almost immune to human Gauss Rifle bullets thanks to their thick armor on their backs. Even the machine guns of Goliath Combat Robot and aerial Wraith are just tickles to them.

Every moment, Zerg fell to human fire and bullets, but more Zerg would pounce afterward. When the foremost Zerg came within fifty yards, the Revolutionary Army soldiers began throwing the Electromagnetic Grenade they carried. With the aid of the Power Armor's servo system, they threw them even further.

After Moria and his group, the Revolutionary Army had no shortage of bullets and grenades, even to the point that they could throw out boxes and boxes of grenades at once. The blue electric pulse released by the Electromagnetic Grenade immediately engulfed the Zerg at the forefront and blasted them into a pile of mangled flesh.

But at the same time, more Zergling leaped from the charred corpses, and the Hydralisk entered its attack range, their arched backs immediately launching deadly spines coated in green acid. These sharp spines pierced the armor of the front-line Revolutionary Army in an instant, piercing their flesh.

Fighting the Zerg on the vast plains was almost tantamount to suicide, but at this point the Revolutionary Army had become the only barrier between the people and the Zerg.

In the past, Augustus would never have chosen to fight the Zerg here, but he could not allow hundreds of thousands of Mar- Sara people to be slaughtered by the Zerg.

Augustus, fighting alongside these warriors, could feel the same despair. Human weapons were not incapable of piercing the Zerg's carapace; even automated weapons could wound the howling little monsters like the Zergling. The problem was that the Swarm was simply too numerous.

From their appearance to their close combat with the Revolutionary Army, only a few minutes passed. After suffering thousands of casualties, the surging Swarm quickly braved the artillery fire and rushed to the Revolutionary Army soldiers' defensive line. Large numbers of screaming Zergling pounced on the soldiers' armor and tore them to shreds.

When a colossal Ultralisk charged into the middle of the Revolutionary Army's battle line, the Revolutionary Army began to retreat in disarray. Its head swung, and its huge "teeth" swept left and right, each swing knocking over a dozen soldiers in Power Armor and crushing their armor like squashing soda cans.

The wails on the communication channel never ceased; the sounds of bones breaking and flesh being devoured never quieted down.

Augustus could even see the spikes and protruding claws on the backs of the Zergling ahead, and the hissing sound of the Hydralisk's spines piercing through the armor was incessant. As Augustus continued to fire, even helmets riddled with holes rolled to Augustus feet.

Right in front of Augustus, a Hydralisk had pounced on the front line used its forelimbs to extend a bone sickle that sliced a young Korhal Revolutionary Army soldier in half at the waist.

Instantly, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and crimson blood splattered onto Augustus's face.

Kerrigan fired a steady shot at the Hydralisk; the 25mm canister bullet pierced one of the Hydralisk's eyes, instantly taking the monster's life.

The Hydralisk's serpentine body collapsed to the ground, the tip of one of its forelimbs piercing the chest of a Revolutionary Army soldier. The bone sickle pierced through his chest, drawing forth copious amounts of blood. Thus, the soldier, who had just celebrated his twentieth birthday, fell to the ground, "embracing" the Hydralisk.

"Hold the line! This is Marshal Augustus, and I am fighting alongside you!" Augustus shouted over the radio to maintain the morale of his soldiers. His words, to some extent, inspired the warriors facing countless Zerg.

The thought that they were fighting alongside the greatest warriors in the history of the Terrans filled them with boundless courage.

Retreating at this moment would undoubtedly be the most foolish decision, because humans cannot outrun the Zerg. Faced with fear, retreat would immediately turn into a catastrophic defeat.

Just as this was about to turn into a disastrous defeat, the Revolutionary Army's air force arrived in time.

More than a hundred bombers and Hellhound fighters, converted from APOD-33 transport planes, flew low over the ground and dropped a large number of incendiary and pulse bombs, creating a death zone of flames and charred corpses in front of the Revolutionary Army's lines.

Augustus already called for air support, and as the defensive line teetered on the brink of collapse, a squadron of bombers swept away a large number of Zerg on the ground, greatly relieving the pressure on the Revolutionary Army. At the same time, Raynor also brought good news: his Raynor's Raiders had filled in the tunnel entrances of the Jormungand Brood, and the Swarm's advance immediately slowed down.

With subsequent air support, the Revolutionary Army barely managed to withstand the first wave of the Swarm's attack. After losing hundreds of lives and two Goliath Combat Robot, they managed to deal with a few Ultralisk that had broken into their lines.

A dozen minutes after the skirmish began, the Jormungand Brood finally retreated. Before leaving, they killed over a thousand Revolutionary Army soldiers and severed the limbs of many more.

Before Augustus lay a field of corpses, some human, some Zerg, their broken chitinous carapaces and Power Armor crafted from new alloys and shaped ceramics covered in a thick layer of blood.

On the battlefield, only the Revolutionary Army's flag still fluttered in the wind, and the once bright red flag was now stained with blood and acid.

"Have all the refugees left?" The smell of blood made Augustus feel dizzy.

"The officers stationed in Mar- Sara say they have entered the city," Kerrigan said.

"Take all the bodies of the victims back," Augustus ordered over the communication channel. "I will not allow them to be infected by the Swarm, to become monsters and the walking dead. I will take them home."

I'll rest tomorrow. My eyes don't feel very comfortable; it's probably because I've been using them too much.