The Assault

Faced with the oncoming barrage of fire, the Swarm did not turn around and evade as the Riken Race had expected. Instead, the entire swarm contracted inward, using the Ancient Class at the forefront as human shields to withstand the attack.

Because the formation is narrowed and has an irregular cylindrical shape, the actual area vulnerable to attack is extremely limited.

Of the five thousand Ancient Class, only the two or three hundred at the very front were severely damaged in this volley. However, their battered bodies were still engulfed by the entire swarm, continuing to act as meat shields to withstand the second wave of attacks.

This scene came to the attention of the Riken Race.

"What a terrifying civilization!" Imagine if they were in their shoes, facing a barrage of artillery fire, would they have stood so resolutely in front of the fleet?

It's very difficult!

A warship carries not only a commander, but also numerous soldiers and crew. Even if the captain wanted to sacrifice everyone on board, it's hard to say whether his orders could be carried out in the face of life and death.

This was a split second, a fleeting opportunity; the slightest delay would prevent this formation from being achieved.

However, looking at the Swarm, the Primordial -Ancient Class insects at the forefront did not hesitate at all. Hundreds of Ancient Class insects moved in unison and instantly changed formation.

This astonished the Riken Race, who had no idea of Swarm's exact form. Their cohesion and execution were truly terrifying to them.

What are they going to do?

After their initial astonishment, the Riken Race expressed their bewilderment at the Swarm army's actions, unsure of what the Swarm were trying to achieve.

"They're heading straight for Laze Planet! Are they going to make an emergency landing on Laze Planet?"

"Foolish! They're courting death!"

Indeed, for the Riken Race, large ships are difficult to take off and land freely on the planet. The gravitational pull between them means that large warships must have very powerful engines to accomplish this.

However, escaping strong gravity will cause some damage to the ship itself. If a warship is to be able to take off and land freely, then the overall structure of the ship will need to be redesigned.

All of the large warships of the Riken Race were assembled directly in space, and their hull structures were not designed to withstand strong gravity.

If it were a satellite with weak gravity, their warships could consider landing directly on the surface. However, Laze Planet is a planet with extremely strong gravity. Faced with it, the Riken Race warships can only remain in orbit and do not have the ability to take off and land freely on it.

By projecting their own experience onto others, the Riken Race believed that the commander of the Swarm might have lost his mind, and that once the swarm landed, it would be difficult for it to take off again.

"Be careful, they might be using a smokescreen, a feint!"

Agreed.

Many commanders agree with this view: the Swarm forces might make a sharp turn and bypass Laze Planet as they approach Laze Planet. By using Laze Planet as cover, they could avoid being surrounded and then only need to withstand the firepower of the Ground-Based Artillery on the back of Laze Planet to break through the encirclement.

They may suffer heavy losses, but they will not be completely wiped out.

At this moment, the second wave of firepower from Laze Planet had arrived, and the hundreds of Ancient Class at the forefront were already heavily wounded after withstanding this attack.

The most severely affected were even vaporized by the high temperature, their internal Strain completely destroyed, resulting in their utter death. This was the first time in the war against the Riken Race that an Ancient Class Swarm had died from conventional weapons.

When the Riken Race launched their third barrage, they had already adjusted their firing angles and focused all their firepower on the front of the Swarm. If this barrage hit all of them, they might be able to eliminate the Ancient Class that was in front of them.

However, such a good thing is just wishful thinking. Sarah and the Blade aren't stupid. The Swarm suddenly dispersed, giving up the area for concentrated crushing fire, and then scattered and rushed towards Laze Planet.

When the fourth round of artillery fire spread out, the Swarm forces regrouped.

Afterwards, the ground-based artillery groups tried various attack methods. For example, although it was a coverage attack, areas where the Swarm forces were clustered were targeted.

But this still didn't faze the Swarm. After clearing the main attack range, they gathered around it in several more "slender" cylindrical formations.

After a dozen or so rounds of artillery fire, the Swarm forces did not make a sharp turn as the Riken Race had expected. Instead, they charged straight at Laze Planet and had already reached Laze Planet's near-Earth orbit, just a step away from the surface.

The plunging Ancient Class swarm suddenly ejected large numbers of Mature Form and Larval Form from within.

In the recent artillery barrage, the Swarm lost over a thousand Ancient Class Zerg. Originally numbering over five thousand, they now have only three thousand left. In just a few tens of minutes, their losses exceeded a hundred times those of the previous ten days of fierce fighting.

But at this moment, the small Space Octopus transported within their bodies were released, and their numbers increased dozens of times in the blink of an eye.

The sight of hundreds of thousands of Space Octopus swooping down was spectacular, leaving the 30,000 Ground-Based Artillery momentarily overwhelmed with choice, unsure which one to target.

In that brief moment of delay, the Swarm drew even closer, and after a hasty two-round volley from the Ground-Based Artillery, the optimal firing angle had been lost.

The Ground-Based Artillery, brought close by the Space Octopus, appeared extremely clumsy; faced with the agile Space Octopus, their cannons simply couldn't adjust in time.

As for immovable Ground-Based Artillery, a single close-range Electromagnetic Cannon shot from Mature Form- sized or larger Space Octopus is enough to destroy them.

Although some Close-In Weapon System were deployed on the planet's surface, they were insufficient to stop the massive Swarm from wreaking havoc.

The Riken Race had not anticipated this situation; in their minds, escape would have been the priority. Although the Zerg forces had forced a landing on Laze Planet and seemingly destroyed the Ground-Based Artillery, they had also completely lost any hope of escape.

This action left the Riken Race somewhat bewildered.

Even though they had annihilated the vanguard of the Swarm, the Riken Race were still in a bit of a predicament. Although those Ground-Based Artillery were just inanimate objects, mass-produced products from an assembly line, it would still take a long time to deploy so many.

Given the current rate of destruction by the Swarm, it's estimated that only a few of those Ground-Based Artillery will remain before they completely annihilate the Swarm. It's certain that the above-ground deployment won't be restored until subsequent Swarm reinforcements arrive.

After this war, Laze Planet will lose its purpose and will no longer be a thorn in the side of the Swarm's march.

In the short term, it may seem like annihilating an advance force, but in the long term, it may result in a slight loss.

But this is still just wishful thinking on the part of the Riken Race.

Having no understanding of the Swarm's life forms, they naturally found it incomprehensible to exchange lives for inanimate objects. But for the Swarm, this was just routine practice.

Even if such an exchange were to occur, the Swarm would still be at a disadvantage, having managed to remove a thorn in their side.

Not to mention, things are far more complicated than they seem.