Protoss Tough Guy

Augustus was positioned between a tall alloy steel retaining wall and a two-story modular logistics supply station. A T-280 SCV was parked nearby. The lights from the supply station and searchlights illuminated the area in front of the fortification wall.

He, along with Raynor, Zeratul, and Faraday Faraday's elite guard, climbed the fortification wall, watching the Tiamat Brood draw ever closer to the base.

This is the night in Char, dangerous yet strangely beautiful. The night in Char is not excessively cold, because the lava released by geothermal volcanic eruptions provides additional heat besides starlight.

The fiery glow of lava lakes and rivers illuminated the distant land in a vibrant red, while two purple moons and a gigantic red planet in the sky constantly reminded Augustus this was a world entirely different from Earth.

Augustus stood behind the electroplated shield of the 330mm electromagnetic railgun on the fortification wall, while the Revolutionary Army artillerymen beside him were confirming the location of the Zerg Nydus Worm based on satellite images.

This long-range artillery can strike the Revolutionary Army's enemies beyond visual range, and its power is astonishing, but it requires a long charging time.

More soldiers were transporting weapons such as rocket launchers, grenade launchers, and heavy machinery to the fortifications. As one of the most elite units in the Confederacy Navy, the Alpha Squadron was also equipped with top-notch equipment.

"These humans... how pathetic." Zeratul murmured a wave of sympathy as he walked past the resocialized Alpha Squadron soldiers.

"Their brains have been modified, turning them into completely different people—a group of pathetic prisoners trapped in their own minds."

Even without using telepathy to probe human thoughts, Zeratul could detect the differences in the surface-level thought patterns between these Resocialized Soldier and ordinary humans.

Deep within Resocialized Soldier lies a brutal soul, and their past memories, after brain tissue modifications, have been overwritten by altered recollections. However, that violent and cruel past is merely hidden, not disappeared.

These memories were easy for a powerful Dark Templar like Zeratul to probe. When he saw a butcher who once enjoyed searching for victims in the squalid streets of Tarsonis's slums, killing and disemboweling them, transformed into a soldier with a dreamlike childhood and lofty ideals, Zeratul was truly astonished by the cruelty of humanity and its ruthlessness towards its own people.

"They are part of the Terran Confederacy's resocialization program, which focuses on reforming criminals who are considered incorrigible and getting them back to serve the Confederacy," Augustus explained to Zeratul.

"This is unthinkable among my people," Zeratul said. "We would never harm our own kind."

As Augustus observed what lay ahead, the thermal imaging of his headset showed the surging Tiamat Brood in the distance as nothing more than a cluster of red dots on the display panel.

Between 150,000 and 200,000 Tiamat Worms with deep red skin and hardened carapaces were running across the grayish-white ash layer scattered across the giant rocks of Char. The number may not seem so astonishing, but when they spread out on the flat ground, it looked like a red flood.

The Tiamat Brood's attack was by no means a chaotic charge; their formation was well-organized, with a mountain of Ultralisk at the forefront, and a large number of Hydralisk and Zergling appearing beneath them.

Among the alien creatures roaring in the Tiamat Brood, the number of larger and deadlier elite Hydralisk Hunter Killer far exceeds that of any main hive clan ever seen by humankind.

Thousands of Overlord hovered in the sky, along with even more Mutalisk, Brood Guardian, and Scourge that protected them, resembling black smoke and clouds. These terrifying flying Zerg creatures clearly came from another species; their yellowish carapaces stood out vividly in the Char's moonlight and the glow of the volcanoes.

Given the Overlord's flight altitude, it's absolutely impossible for a human rifle to hit them. Unless they deliberately fly very low, only anti-aircraft guns and fighter jets can deal with them.

"The Garm Brood and another hive have appeared to our Sath, and they are numerous," Raynor reported to Augustus. "But the good news is that Protoss reinforcements are on their way."

"Elder." Upon confirming that he was at the very center of the endless swarm of insects, Augustus looked at Zeratul, the Dark Templar, who was also gazing ahead.

"The Overmind has dispatched some of its most powerful hives, leaving their rear defenses vulnerable. I believe this presents an opportunity for the Dark Templar, skilled in assassination."

"If we can take this opportunity to kill enough Cerebrate, the power of the Overmind, which is mentally connected to the Cerebrate, will inevitably be weakened," Augustus said to Zeratul in an extremely serious tone.

"This may be our only chance to kill the Overmind."

Augustus did not believe that Zeratul was capable of killing the Overmind.

The Overmind may be the most powerful Psionics entity in the universe, but if its power can be weakened, then at least an opportunity to kill the Overmind in the future can be created, and that would be enough.

"With so few warriors, how long can you hold out here? Perhaps courage alone is not enough to bridge the gap between humanity and the Swarm."

Zeratul was indeed surprised by Augustus's audacious idea; he saw more admirable qualities in this human. At a time when the situation had deteriorated to the point of near despair, Augustus was thinking about how to turn the tide.

"The Protoss Expeditionary Force Commander Tassadar's forces are on their way and they will help us," Augustus replied.

"Tassadar, are they your allies?" Zeratul had to admit that this human always gave him all sorts of frights.

"A salute to Adun," Augustus said with a smile.

"Commander, you know more about the Protoss than I thought." Zeratul had already memorized Augustus's name and would never forget it for the rest of his long life.

"I agree with your assessment." He turned to Augustus. "The Dark Templar have been searching for an opportunity to infiltrate the Zerg hive. The more chaotic the situation on this planet, the more advantageous it is for our operations. I will personally lead my Dark Templar."

"May the shadow of twilight protect you, and we will meet again soon."

Zeratul took a few steps back and disappeared into the billowing black smoke.

"Wow. Mysterious Dark Templar, but they look pretty cool, don't they?" Raynor whistled loudly. "When will our Psionics be able to appear and disappear like them?"

"Let our Psionics learn from Zeratul's Dark Templar?" Augustus guessed Raynor's idea. "That's probably unlikely, Jimmy, but having the Dark Templar train our agents might be very effective."

Raynor reminded Augustus that once the Revolutionary Army and the Protoss established a stable relationship or even formal diplomatic relations, he could hire the Protoss to serve him.

The Protoss do not have the concept of trade and money transactions like humans do. Their technology has long since reached a level where the unnatural mortality rate has been reduced to a minimum. But that does not mean that a Protoss is without desires. Augustus always find a way to hire a few Templar Knights to train his Psionics and warriors.

"That's what I think," Raynor said.

"The insects are swarming up! They've started attacking!" At that moment, a nearby Revolutionary Army officer shouted.

After two rounds of artillery fire from the Revolutionary Army's artillery positions, the dense swarms of red Zerg had entered the firing range of machine guns and howitzers, and ground-attack missiles had already been launched.

A thick fog hung over the Tiamat Brood, reflecting a dim yellow light from the searchlights and flares at the Alpha Squadron base.

It wasn't some toxic gas or high-energy methane gushing Char a fissure in the earth's crust, but rather a biological cloud composed of countless microscopic organisms, which greatly confused the human soldiers' vision. The smoke formed by the living microscopic organisms could also block detection equipment such as thermal imaging, making it impossible for them to see the enemy clearly within the smoke.

However, this smoke is of little practical use other than confusing visibility; it offers no real protection against bullets and artillery shells. As long as human firepower is strong enough, the Zerg within the yellow smoke will not be completely safe.

"See those Defiler?" Raynor pointed in a direction.

At this moment, the vanguard of the Tiamat Brood was less than 800 yards away from them, and Augustus could see a slender, snake-like figure flash past among the numerous Hydralisk and Zergling.

"There are many of them, not just a few scattered ones like in Mar- Sara and Antiga," Raynor said with lingering fear. "Back on Antiga Prime, many patrol teams encountered these monsters in the wild. They lurk underground, and as soon as someone steps into their hiding place, they suddenly emerge and spew out deadly poisonous spores."

"Even Power Armor can't defend against it; the disease carried by the spores can kill a platoon or even more people in just a short time."

"We can only send special operations teams and snipers to deal with them from a distance; we can't let those monsters get close to our base." Augustus looked at Raynor.

Augustus's orders were carried out immediately. The elite squad, originally deployed to focus on sniping the Hunter Killer, changed their target and ran along the high points of the long fortified wall, searching for Defiler that might be peeking out.

The hissing, the clattering of shells, and the swallowing of saliva of the Zerg were like part of Swarm, the sound of waves crashing against each other.

Without Augustus issuing orders, officers in the fortification walls and Bunker issued firing orders as soon as the Zerg entered effective firing range. Defending a large base with fewer than five hundred men was not easy, and the firing positions were inevitably scattered.

At that moment, Augustus rushed towards a twin-barreled Gatling gun mounted on a tripod and unleashed a barrage of bullets at the Zerg below. Raynor, wielding the Mark Railgun, focused his attacks on the Ultralisk, Hunter Killer, and Defiler, the bullets eliciting cries and roars of the Zerg in their wake.

In the darkness, the Tiamat Brood surged forward relentlessly. One Zergling fell, and another Hydralisk took its place. A massive Ultralisk, roaring as it ran, crashed into a defensive wall, the immense impact nearly tearing that section of the fortification apart.

The soldiers of Alpha Squadron on the defensive wall were swept by the Ultralisk's massive chitinous scythe, splattering blood everywhere. Despite this, the Resocialized Soldier of Alpha Squadron still held their ground, continuing to fire even as the Ultralisk's roars splattered their masks.

Resocialized Soldier are not emotionless robots; they also experience anger in combat, and the adrenaline and morphine in Stimpack make them extremely aroused. In the Confederacy Resocialized Soldier order of battle, they are even ordered to inject Stimpack continuously until they die.

These soldiers still have obvious flaws; for example, they will stubbornly carry out the previous order even when the only commander is killed in battle.

Take now, for example.

All the firepower was aimed at the Ultralisk, but it did not retreat. Despite being covered in blood, it continued to ram the fortification wall until it was on the verge of collapse.

Fortunately, the Protoss support came in time. A dozen gold and blue shuttles sped over the Alpha Squadron soldiers, dropping hundreds of Templar Knights wielding sharp blades. Without needing to land, the Protoss warriors used Protoss phase technology to teleport directly to the ground.

A gleaming Protoss -shaped Protoss fighter streaked across the sky, dropping several antimatter bombs on the roaring Ultralisk Beast, easily killing it.

Despite the fact that this fighter's performance and power far surpassed those of humans, the Protoss still referred to it as Scout.

Instead of landing at the Revolutionary Army's fortifications, the Templar Knights of Tassadar leaped directly into the heart of the Tiamat Brood, and large numbers of Dragoon and Reaver appeared in the base.

Within minutes, thousands of Protoss reinforcements arrived at the base, and numerous warp rifts appeared in the middle of the base, clearly indicating that the Protoss were warping through their homeworld Aiur's defensive structures.

"This is truly a case of a mighty man descending from the sky," Augustus.

A Protoss Dragon Knight teleported to a spot not far from Augustus. His gleaming mech, with its four walking limbs, seemed to be cast in gold and inlaid with radiant blue crystals and gems.

"I am Praetor, the Grand Archon of Taldarin (to distinguish me from Archon, the Archon of the White Orb, although these are different positions, they are translated the same) and the commander of the Dragoon," said the Dragoon.

As the first Dragoon created by the Protoss Khalai phase engineers, it has been polished to shine like the sun even after thousands of years.

When the Dragoon armor was first introduced, the Protoss were still using Solarite instead of the current Kydarin Crystal to power their warships, buildings, and weapons, so this Dragoon's firepower was quite formidable.

Compared to today, Taldarin's weapon systems are still quite advanced.

"Humans, we've detected a large number of human Psionics signals in this area. What's going on?"

Taldarin walked toward Augustus, his long mechanical limbs clicking against the defensive walls.

"Ah, I feel the power of the void, such a familiar and sorrowful power." After taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

As a high-ranking and respected consul, he was stunned, and his sorrowful voice echoed in Augustus's mind.

This reminds me of my old friend Adun.

"Wow, you have a really good nose." Raynor shrugged.

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