Discovery

The Zerg's tactics gave the Epoch Clan a headache, but there were gains and losses. The Epoch Clan had also learned the Zerg Queen's approximate hiding area.

The scattered marines were recalled. This area lay at the very center of the battlefield and had already been searched several times. But it was not a flat plane; factoring in its height, it was actually an enormous area. Even after several searches, there were bound to be places that had been overlooked.

The Zerg could finish preparing at any moment, withdraw the Tunneling Worms below, and let this entire area collapse. The Epoch Clan had to race against time to find the Zerg Queen before that happened.

All the smaller excavation machines, such as K2N9, were also mobilized, and their digging methods became brutal and unrestrained. The Epoch Clan had finally stopped holding back—or perhaps they had simply come to terms with it.

If the Zerg Queen had not been armored, she would have been finished when X-576 exploded. And if she had armored herself, then the physical damage caused by K2N9's excavation could not hurt her at all. In that case, careful digging would only slow them down.

"The Zerg have detected our movements. Tunneling Worms have entered detection range and are consuming the soil layers."

"That was inevitable. Our movements are far too obvious."

"It seems they intend to reduce the layers of soil between us as much as possible, so the Zerg Queen can fall deeper underground."

"I'm worried we don't have enough time. They're moving quickly, but our frontline deployment is simply not suited for underground combat."

"Who would have thought things would turn out like this? A figure like the Zerg Queen is actually playing hide-and-seek."

"Speed it up as much as possible. And accelerate the deployment