Yggdrasill Leviathan

"Fire!"

After Augustus gave the order, a Revolutionary Army captain immediately shouted for his company to open fire. They used almost every weapon they could to destroy the pupa, including Mark railguns, electromagnetic pulse grenades, and explosives.

This triggered a chain reaction. The four Fenris Brood Hydralisk had been guarding the pupae immediately went from a state of calm rest to extreme frenzy. Their huge, sickle-shaped forelimbs pried open the fiberglass door and crawled out of the warehouse, their heads topped with bright red crests roaring as they pounced on the Revolutionary Army soldiers who were firing at the pupae, like pharaoh's guards emerging from an ancient tomb.

These enormous Fenris Hydralisk were not only far larger than any Hydralisk Augustus their carapaces were also indestructible. Their chitinous carapaces seemed to be infused with some special material or rare metal, making them incredibly hard. Ordinary 8mm Electromagnetic Rifle bullets would bounce off the carapace immediately upon contact, just like hitting the armor of a tank.

Four Fenris Hydralisk stood between Augustus's Revolutionary Army's bullets and shells and the dark green pupa, each of them standing fifteen feet tall (about 4.5 meters), truly enormous creatures.

Moreover, they can even ignore the scorching plasma flames released by the Revolutionary Army Firebats.

Augustus saw a brave revolutionary firebat trying to burn the Fenris Hydralisk in front of him with its hellfire flamethrower, but the flames, which would normally be enough to burn leaping bugs and hydralisks to ashes, only left black marks on the Fenris Hydralisk's patina carapace.

"Back off! Pascal, you're no match for him!" Augustus ordered the Firebat to retreat while calling for support from the Single Rocket Team.

Augustus recognized the Firebat; he was a decorated soldier in Harnack Hark's Red Devils Firebat Brigade. Augustus had mentioned the Firebat's name when inspecting the unit, and he remembered him because of the conspicuous, densely packed Kel-Morian Ripper insignia and eighteen family crests from the Kel-Morian Combine guild on his CMC-250F Power Armor —it was practically like a tattoo etched into the armor.

Pascal was a Confederacy veteran of the Alpha Squadron during the Guild Wars, and the graffiti-like badges on his armor represent how many people he has killed. If you look closely, you can also see the insignia representing the planetary defense forces of Zha Sara, Ma Sara, and Antiga Prime, and even two Tal'darim heads.

But the Firebat didn't hear Augustus's words. This eccentric corporal liked to secretly wire his Power Armor to listen to blazing heavy metal music to liven up the high-energy gas fuel as it turned into a raging inferno. Considering this brave soldier never retreated, even if he had heard Augustus's words, he wouldn't have obeyed orders.

Even as the giant Hydralisk in front of him remained unmoved before the raging flames, Pascal continued to pour scorching plasma onto its abdomen with undiminished concentration—he was thoroughly enjoying it. Pascal had burned many people alive, but such a massive Hydralisk had never been on his barbecue list.

This time, however, Pascal did not burn away all the enemies in front of him as he usually did. The Hydralisk in front of him raised its forelimb with a huge bone scythe at the end and slashed it down directly at the Firebat, severing off an arm that was still spewing plasma flames.

Then, the Fenris Hydralisk swung its massive bone scythe once more, severing Pascal's remaining arm at the root to ensure the human posed no further threat. In their war against humanity, the Zerg had gradually learned that killing a human only eliminated enemy manpower, while severely wounding him forced several, or even more, to care for him.

As for the Zerg, there is no such concern. If a human kills a Zerg, the hatchery in the main nest will produce hundreds or thousands of more eggs waiting to hatch.

The Fenris Brood Hydralisk's monstrous maw, with its gaping maw near its ears, emitted a low, intimidating roar as it attacked, and Augustus had no doubt that it could bite off half a person's body in one bite.

"Kill it! Kill this bastard!" In addition to Pascal's heart-wrenching screams, several officers shouted attack orders over the communications channel. More Gauss Rifle were aimed at the Fenris Hydralisk, but its small-caliber bullets were completely ineffective against it.

At that moment, a ground-attack missile from a Revolutionary Army armed robot whistled past Augustus's head, striking the Fenris Hydralisk's massive crown and tearing it apart, ripping off a portion of the entire bony crown.

Augustus, Faraday, and two other soldiers from the Marshal Guard rushed toward Pascal, who was lying face up on the ground unconscious, grabbed him, and dragged him away.

As Augustus and the others handed Pascal over to the medics, a Goliath Combat Robot was charging at top speed toward the Fenris Hydralisk. Using the momentum, it used the alloy shield welded to the shoulder of its omnidirectional robotic arm to strike the hydra's injured head. Meanwhile, the Gatling gun on the other robotic arm continued to fire at the Hydralisk's belly, which was covered Hydralisk hard scales, causing the monster to let out even more painful screams.

This gold and red Revolutionary Army Goliath armed robot has undergone some modifications, with its two 30mm cannons replaced by Gatling guns and its robotic arm capable of being equipped with mechanical claws and buckets.

Such modifications are commonplace among the Kel-Morian people, as Goliath Combat Robot can undergo considerable modifications; moreover, they can even be equipped with the laser pulse cannons of Wraith.

After the Guild Wars ended, Goliath Combat Robot, modified primarily to adapt to various changing battlefield environments, could also be seen in the Terran Confederacy's army. The most common modification was replacing the machine guns on both sides of the cockpit with flexible, multi-functional mechanical arms, making the Goliath Combat Robot resemble a larger T-280 SCV rather than a walking Giant.

The pilot of the Goliath Combat Robot fought the Fenris Hydralisk with incredible bravery, as if a steel Giant were wrestling with a monster. Hundreds of yards away, two other Fenris Hydralisk were wreaking havoc on Tychus and the Guard Division combat company, with fourteen or fifteen Revolutionary Army soldiers already lying on the ground.

Zeratul, the Dark Templar, faced a Fenris Hydra alone, causing the Revolutionary soldiers behind him to hesitate and unable to aim decisively. He had somehow leaped onto the hydra's massive crown, clinging to its spiky edge like a matador on a bull's back to avoid being thrown off.

As Augustus looked at Zeratul, the Dark Templar master had already plunged the Psionics blade on his right arm into the Fenris Hydralisk's hard, thick skull, carving a huge, bloody hole in it.

"Guards, take out that pupa!" After noticing that all the Fenris Hydralisk had left the warehouse, Augustus realized this was an opportunity.

A squad of Marshal Guard's guards rushed forward without hesitation, but at that moment, a deep red Defiler suddenly emerged from the pulsating fleshy pads beneath the pupa. Its segmented body was a full twenty feet long, making it look like a giant millipede or a scaled snake.

This Defiler was a monster in itself; it raised its upper body like a cobra and hissed. It wasn't the hissing of its vocal organs, but rather the sound of its exoskeleton contracting as it inhaled.

A powerful elite Defiler, the Unclean One one.

The Unclean One opened its hideous maw and spat out a cloud of scarlet neurotoxin at the marshal's Marshal Guard who were approaching the pupa. The viscous red liquid that landed on the soldiers' gold-red Power Armor instantly seeped under the armor. Almost without warning or cries of agony, everyone fell.

Augustus fired a burst of bullets at the giant red Defiler, but it only produced a shower of sparks.

"Follow me!" He waved his hand, and Faraday and the remaining Marshal Guard's guards followed their marshal as they charged toward the giant Defiler.

But suddenly the ground began to tremble violently, the thick, dark purple Creep collapsed downwards, and the walls of the entire warehouse covered with Zerg organisms collapsed with a roar in the tremors.

A pair of enormous eyes emerged from the ground and slowly rose, with countless curled tentacles bursting forth from the earth.

"My God—" exclaimed Corporal Faraday, who was standing next to Augustus.

It was a giant Overlord that had buried itself entirely underground. Now it had awakened and broken free from the concrete blocks, lifting the pupa and the entire warehouse up from the ground.

It was the largest Overlord Augustus. When it rose from the ground, hundreds of its spiny appendages and tentacles fell from the sky like the roots of a banyan tree, along with a large amount of reinforced concrete debris. This Overlord was so huge that even the Goliath Combat Robot looked tiny in comparison.

Yggdrasill Leviathan (the world tree in Norse mythology, whose central part represents the place where humans live).

The Giant Overlord possesses intelligence unmatched by other members of the Zerg swarm. It looks down at the humans on the ground from its lofty perch, emitting a thunderous gurgling sound. The pair of pincer-like appendages hanging from its lower abdomen sway from side to side, and the thick sacs on its body, filled with large amounts of helium, emit a dangerous red flash, emanating from its terrifying Psionics power.

Augustus immediately understood; it was probably this extraordinary elite Overlord that strengthened the mental link between the Zerg and rendered their Psi Disrupter ineffective.

With a buzzing roar, the massive exoskeleton of the Yggdrasill Leviathan and the membrane beneath it unfurled, and hundreds of Fenris Mutalisk, spreading their bat-like wings, took to the air and circled it, shrieking "Trikri-Trikri-".

At this moment, Augustus received a report from the troops Observer the checkpoint that a large number of Zerg were approaching through the Nydus Worm network.

Before the situation spiraled further out of control, the sky suddenly darkened, and a huge circle absorbing sunlight appeared—a wormhole that was about to take shape.

"Damn it, there are more and more bugs!" Tychus Finley shouted into Augustus's channel as he fired a heavy machine gun at a Fenris Hydralisk.

The enormous Fenris Hydralisk in front of Tychus was being dragged away from the breastplate of a Revolutionary Army Guard Division soldier, whose forelimbs were covered by bone sickle-shaped Hydralisk, while the surrounding soldiers roared and opened fire desperately, trying to kill it.

"Retreat, leave this checkpoint immediately." Augustus that even if they sacrificed everyone here, they might not be able to destroy the pupa. Continuing this pointless attack would only lead to being surrounded by the Swarm.

The Fenris Brood's Cerebrate were quite intelligent; although they hadn't anticipated the arrival of Augustus and Tassadar, they weren't careless. The entire Swarm's specialized elites were deployed around the pupa.

The Cerebrate are not like the corrupt and greedy Confederacy governors or generals who have risen to high positions based solely on their background and seniority in the Terran Confederacy. They are intelligent and cunning, skilled in strategy, and almost never make emotional or sentimental mistakes.

As Augustus ordered his troops to retreat, he led his men to carry the Marshal Guard's guards who had collapsed from the neurotoxin spores of the Defiler. The soldiers were on the verge of death, but the toxins would not kill them immediately.

"Master!" Augustus called out to Zeratul, only to notice that the latter had already dealt with a Fenris Hydralisk and was now standing atop the giant Overlord, battling the red Defiler- like creature as if fighting a giant red serpent.

Hundreds of Fenris Mutalisk were swarming towards Zeratul, and the valiant Dark Templar. Meanwhile, the Yggdrasill Leviathan continued to climb, hurtling towards the forming wormhole in the sky, until it became a black dot in the heavens.

After being slashed by the sharp, dagger-like forelegs of the red Defiler, Zeratul arrived beside Augustus in a billowing cloud of black smoke. "These cunning creatures have evaded my sight; they have been guarding this place, protecting the creature within the pupa."

"We need to take a long-term view."

Large numbers of Fenris Brood of Zerg are still approaching, no longer attacking the human cities of Haj, but instead gathering to await their departure from the planet. The Cerebrate of this swarm clearly believe Haj is no longer safe.

"Jim." Augustus, ignoring the ashamed weeping of a wounded Marshal Guard's guard, carried him on his back while contacting the bridge of the Hyperion: "Damn it, prepare tactical nuclear weapons. Not that little one with a yield of 10,000 tons, give us everything we have. There's also an Apocalypse on the Norad III, that's it."

"Where is the target?" Raynor asked.

Augustus rattled off a series of latitude and longitude coordinates. "There's a wormhole somewhere, forget about everything else, just drop the nuclear bomb in there."

"Wow!" came an exclamation from Raynor's end. "I love that move, a real treat!"