Assault on the Midrin Peaks

Wasteland in the northwest of the Sain Province, two days later.

Surrounded by rolling mountains and clouds, sunlight filters through the peaks, and a wide river meanders across the ravine-filled black earth. The once flower-filled fields and vibrant green forests have long since withered and decayed under the erosion of the Zerg Creep. The scattered lakes have become ugly, broken walls and ravines, filled with clumps of fluffy Creep and spiky cavities covered with exoskeletons.

The ruins of the once magnificent Protoss city still stand on the scorched earth, but the Protoss who built these ancient stone buildings and their descendants who lived here for generations have been erased. Only the rows of pillars and megaliths still guard the city and canals of the tribal era.

The towering circular spires and the Psionics matrix circuits covering the entire Sain Province have collapsed. Once, majestic Protoss Templar Knights stood atop the high walls, bearing the banners of the Protoss Empire and its tribes. The banners, inlaid with blue psionic crystals and gems on the finest silk, weather-resistant and imperishable, are now torn to shreds, thrown to the ground along with the glory of the Protoss Empire.

Everything has withered; flowers and insects have died together, leaving only the stone statues still standing beneath the majestic ruins. In the Sain Province of Aiur Sen, the Zerg from distant star sectors brought endless war, slaughter, and destruction the moment they set foot here.

"Hiss--"

Before Augustus stood a massive Hydralisk, its size comparable to a heavy Armored Vehicle, writhing its terrifying serpentine tail and shrieking in the blue plasma flames before collapsing to the ground after a few gunshots. Even then, the Hydralisk continued to roar, attempting to attack the surrounding human soldiers, until the flames scorched its charred skeleton.

Several other hydralisks lay dead around the Hydralisk, their chitinous carapaces riddled with holes, their blood long since dried, indicating they had been dead for some time.

"What a monster." As he watched his Firebat surround the Hydralisk, showering it with scorching flames, Harnack Hank maneuvered his larger-than-average red Firebat armor to Augustus's side.

"Even our instruments can't detect that it's playing dead."

"With my men here, boss, even if you have the leisure to take a dump here, someone will hand you toilet paper." He said as he opened his helmet visor and lit a cigarette with a piece of burnt grass root ember from the charred turf.

"Thank you for your kindness, Hank, but I don't think I need to." Augustus felt a wave of heat and burning sensation as Harnack approached, which made him turn his gaze to Augustus, who was surveying the wilderness and observing the terrain.

Two more scars appeared on Harnack's face, only his signature fiery red rooster-like comb remained unchanged. A beautiful teardrop-shaped pendant adorned his right ear, said to be a gift from a female Protoss.

"Aha, I think so too." Harnack laughed heartily.

"You're so kind, Hank," Kerrigan said through her nose.

As she spoke, Kerrigan walked up to the Hydralisk, which had gradually stopped struggling, and simply snapped her fingers to dispel the flames on its body. Her Psionics power was now unmatched among her human kind.

It is evident that humanity is evolving. Although gifted human Psionics remain few in number, the best among them have already brought unimaginable shock to the Protoss.

"This Hydralisk is very intelligent; the part of its brain responsible for thinking is more complex than that of other Zerg." Kerrigan walked up to the massive, crested head of the charred Hydralisk. "It's very likely that the Zerg adopted genes from the Aiur biome that caused this change."

"That came from some kind of snake that plays dead." Augustus watched as the Hydralisk gradually fell silent amidst its wailing. "Fortunately, your telepathy has always been very reliable. If you hadn't reacted quickly enough, the Ireland lieutenant would have at least lost a leg."

"Over the past few years, you have saved many people and many families. That's why I say that even though you were once seen as a slave, a tool, or a whip of punishment and discipline by the Terran Confederacy, you are still needed by others."

"That's why you value me." Kerrigan felt a sense of redemption.

While serving as Ghost operative for the Terran Confederacy and working for Ghost Program, Kerrigan killed many people, including politicians and civilians. As for those who gave orders to Kerrigan, they may have truly deserved to die, but Kerrigan, who could read minds, knew that some of them were innocent, and she did not want to kill any young Heir of any family.

But no one cares about Kerrigan's thoughts; she lives only as a killing machine, as if that's the meaning of her existence. But Augustus tells her: I need you. Those who survive because of you will be grateful to you, because you are no longer the Reaper who brings death, but a righteous Revolutionary Army fighter.

"That's not why I value you. I value you because you are Sarah Kerrigan," Augustus corrected Kerrigan.

"I know." Kerrigan's exceptional telepathic abilities allowed her to perceive Augustus's sincere thoughts more clearly. It was like if someone were to express their love to a telepath, the other person might be overwhelmed by the intense affection.

"Oh—why am I standing here? Damn it, I'm like a bright light bulb," Harnack muttered. "Is this appropriate? This is inappropriate."

"I was just conveying the soldiers' gratitude to Kerrigan. Many of them are grateful to her, but they still don't dare to approach a Psionics." Augustus shook his head. "Many people see you as a hero, don't they?"

"You injured your face trying to protect a child, didn't you?"

"Yeah, not when I accidentally burned her." Harnack closed his mask, overcome with a rare emotion that others would call shyness.

But Harnack forgot the cigarette in his mouth, and not everyone has Tychus's iron lungs.

Harnack was originally a street thug in Shiloh, a grumpy rogue, who had a thousand chances to become a criminal or a pure villain, but now he is indeed regarded as a savior and hero by those who have met him.

This man aspired to be a Confederacy Marshal, and Augustus promised to help him achieve that dream. Many people's lives were permanently altered by Augustus, and they would often feel genuinely grateful to him when they thought of Augustus their lives.

Augustus was standing on a dilapidated hexagonal altar, surrounded by stone tablets and a staff-shaped torch. The torch was dark blue, but it was neither bronze nor rock; rather, it was some kind of organic material with a fluorescent green glow.

In all directions, the landscape stretched as far as the eye could see, a vast expanse of black wasteland and desolate wilderness. Less than two months ago, this place was a garden world even more beautiful and prosperous than Agria, but now it was utterly barren.

Trees and weeds were devoured by fire or by Zerg Creep, and even tree roots and grass roots were uprooted until nothing was left.

Under the erosion of the Zerg Creep covering the entire continent, not even weeds would remain, but a few small patches of primeval rainforest still struggled to survive, their withered branches and sickly yellow leaves resembling the exposed bones and wrinkled skin of a terminally ill old man.

Under the increasingly scorching sun of Aiur, these sparse forests all turned a heavy orange-gray, and it was only a matter of time before they were swallowed up by the blazing sun and the Creep.

A colossal, domed tower stands atop a stone base several dozen yards away, its body and top shrouded in moss, strange inscriptions and symbols radiating a vibrant, life-giving green glow. When it was first completed, this beautiful tower rose high in the heart of the mountainous Sain Province, its light guiding lost travelers in the mountains and boats on the lake. Even now, it is considered a manifestation of a "miracle."

In the distant past, when the Protoss were still in the tribal era and in a state of ignorance, the distant drifters, the "mentors" of Ihan, and the creators Xel'Naga, who sailed on the Worldship, visited Aiur. They performed many miracles, enabling the Protoss's technology to reach the space age in a very short time, thus gaining the fervent worship of the Protoss.

These Xel'Naga temples, magnificent towers, and mysterious underground ruins that still stand in Aiur today are part of the miracles; the great creations of the Xel'Naga can be seen in almost every part of Aiur.

This is a historic Xel'Naga watchtower, which, according to Protoss survivors, stood to benefit the lost, but Augustus ' engineers believed it was designed for war.

But when Augustus arrived, the Xel'Naga watchtower was already in a terrible state, with a third of its structure lost long before the Zerg invasion. Whether it was destroyed by civil war or by the erosion of time is impossible to verify.

However, despite its dilapidated condition, the Xel'Naga watchtower was still functional. At that time, many Revolutionary Army engineers were climbing the Xel'Naga watchtower to set up communication equipment, while Viktor Kaczynski, the second-in-command of the engineering corps, was at the top of the tower figuring out how to connect human equipment to the Xel'Naga observation post.

The Xel'Naga don't need observatories to observe the stars, because they themselves come from the cosmos. The Protoss still cannot comprehend the technology used in this magnificent tower they themselves built. The Xel'Naga Watchtower can monitor half the land area of Sain Province, and with far greater clarity than any human orbiting satellite.

Directly opposite Augustus, heading west, lies the junction of the Sain Province, Velari Province, and Kor-shakal, the Heart of the Conclave the Conclave Council, where a vast, deep swamp lies.

To the north lies the Midrin Peaks region of the Sain Province, where the fiercest fighting currently takes place (a place name in Aiur mentioned in the short story "All Is Silent"). The Midling Peaks serve as a boundary; beyond them lies the spot where the Overmind fell when he descended upon Aiur.

That region was once a rich and enchanting Protoss Empire, renowned for its highest peak in Aiur and its breathtaking karst landscape, where underground caves filled with Kydarin Crystal clusters were as beautiful as crystal palaces.

At this time, the Protoss had already called it the Death Wasteland in memory of the Protoss who had almost all perished in the Zerg invasion, while the humans called it the Overmind Land, or more directly, the Land of the Overmind.

The Overmind Land also features a magnificent Xel'Naga Temple, towering high as if supporting the sky of Aiur. It shares similarities with the temple that Augustus saw in Shakuras, the homeland of the Dark Templar, but both are absolutely unique.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the day the Overmind descended upon Aiur, it had already become one with the Xel'Naga Temple.

Centered on the former Xel'Naga Temple, the Zerg swarms of Tiamat, Gorander, and Jormungand Brood established massive Zerg hives flanking it. The Fenris, Baelrog, and Behemoth swarms, named Overmind the Zerg Overlord, spread across Aiur like plagues and locusts. The Zerg Swarm occupied large areas of the northern hemisphere, with only the heavily guarded Antioch - Sain Province -capital region of the Protoss Empire managing to hold off Swarm advance.

When Augustus looked in the direction of Kerrigan, the Midrin Peaks, which had once separated the two great provinces like the spine of Giant, were now a barren expanse. Where once lush green rainforests and cascading waterfalls had been, they were now ugly and repulsive.

Its ridges and passes are covered with a large number of Zerg organic structures and honeycomb-like exoskeletons, which have turned the entire mountain into an insurmountable barrier and shield.

In the past week, this place has become one of the main battlefields where the Protoss -Human alliance and the Zerg main force clashed in a very short time. After more alliance reinforcements arrived, Derin gradually became the center of this war and a region that both sides fought for repeatedly with all their might and at all costs.

The Midrin Peaks themselves symbolize perseverance and the will to climb in the Protoss Empire culture, as one of the greatest Protoss explorers in the Empire's history is buried there. In recent days, the name has been constantly mentioned in the Revolutionary Army's communications network, but it has also become a terrible word that soldiers wounded there and forced to leave the battlefield are unwilling to mention or recall.

As Augustus looked towards the Midrin Peaks, a barrage of blue flashes and projectiles crisscrossed the sky above them, as countless Zerg flying creatures and Protoss warplanes clashed under Aiur's clear blue sky.

More than a dozen Colossus, moving across the land like mobile towers, resembled a row of high walls. Plasma beams thousands of feet long swept across the Zerg that kept surging from the burrows. The Protoss Templar Knights and Revolutionary Army combat divisions scattered across thousands of square miles of land at the source of the Midland River looked like black ants when viewed from above.

The air was filled with the sounds of gunfire, and everything was ablaze.

The deafening roar in Augustus's ears never subsided. He could distinguish which weapon the Revolutionary Army was using and estimated when the shells would land. But as the soul of the Revolutionary Army, he no longer needed to face the hail of bullets as a frontline soldier.

Not far away, an Arclite Siege Tank rumbled into view under the command of the Marshal's headquarters, followed by two squads of the Revolutionary Army soldiers clad in gold and red Power Armor. They had just arrived from the Antioch Temple area and were preparing to join the assault on the Midrin Peaks. Augustus waved to them in salute, and in the eyes of these soldiers who returned the salute solemnly, he saw a sincerity and fervor as strong as gold and stone.

"Take Derin, warriors!" Augustus. "Victory is with me."

Thank you for your support.