This Swarm Was Too Damnable

A brilliant star cast its light outward, bestowing the celestial system it dominated with the driving force of vigorous life.

Countless meteor-sized crystals flickered irregularly at their cores beneath the starlight.

Drawing abundant energy from the star's radiance to produce the nutrients needed to manufacture crystals, Bahadun'er felt incomparably relaxed and pleased.

After a long period of encirclement and pursuit, it had finally shaken off the Galactic Alliance fleet's chase. Now, it had the chance to occupy this bountiful star system and expand the scale of its crystals.

At its current numbers, unless the Galactic Alliance dispatched more than ten fleets at once to besiege it, this star system would be difficult to capture.

Its vast numbers brought a rare sense of security. Bahadun'er had nearly forgotten what that felt like.

For a long time, Bahadun'er's crystals had been pursued and besieged by the annoying Galactic Alliance fleets. Those were days spent constantly in the company of death.

Now, Bahadun'er had finally gained an opportunity to develop once more.

Although it had yet to figure out where the Galactic Alliance had recently redeployed the fleets that had spent so long hunting down its crystals with all their strength, that was not important.

What mattered was that it had keenly sensed this opportunity and firmly seized its chance to grow powerful again.

Remembering how it had once possessed a hundred billion times more crystals than it did now, Bahadun'er's relaxed mood became heavy once more.

Revenge!

It wanted revenge!

Those lowly, short-lived mortals had driven them into such a state, and the great Lord of the Void had even been sealed away. What utter humiliation!

To wash away that disgrace and help its supreme master break free from his prison, Bahadun'er believed it had to do something.

Having gained a firm foothold, it connected to the psionic network, preparing to summon the remaining servant races throughout the galaxy and regroup.

The result was fairly good. The moment it issued the call, Bahadun'er received a response from another servant race.

"Reply. This is the Babel Swarm."

The Babel Swarm?

Their Overmind was already dead, yet they still existed?

Just as tenacious as the great Lord, they truly were a resilient race.

After briefly marveling at this surprise, Bahadun'er followed the original psionic command structure and assigned a task to the Babel Swarm.

"Task assigned... investigate the location of the Void God's seal... complete..."

A direct clash with the Galactic Alliance was unsuitable at present. The enemy was far too powerful, and it was still growing stronger.

The optimal solution under the current circumstances was to find the great Lord and devise a way to break his seal.

Only under the Lord of the Void's leadership would the servant races have a chance to defeat the Galactic Alliance.

Just as Bahadun'er was planning its future campaign against the Galactic Alliance, the Babel Swarm's reply caught it completely off guard and even seemed absurd. They were actually asking about the reward for the task.

A task reward?

Wasn't that something only lowly, short-lived mortals cared about?

Bahadun'er could not understand why the Babel Swarm had suddenly changed its nature and asked it for a task reward, but it still gave a clear answer.

There was no task reward!

As fellow servant races of the Void God, serving their great master was only natural and right. Bahadun'er did not find its answer strange in the slightest.

"Bahadun'er, are you saying I'm supposed to work for you without receiving any reward, searching the galaxy for a Void God sealed in some place nobody even knows?"

What did they mean, a Void God sealed in some place nobody knew?

Such disrespect!

Though displeased and puzzled by the swarm's behavior, Bahadun'er still gave the Babel Swarm a clear response.

"Question verified... yes."

"Then hurry up and get lost. I have no reason to help something with no value whatsoever."

When it received that reply, Bahadun'er's displeasure erupted completely.

Not only did they refuse to do as told, they demanded a task reward?

And they even said they had no reason to help something with no value whatsoever?

They dared refuse such an important task as finding the great Lord?

They were truly damnable!

"Under Protocol 0132, servant races must unconditionally follow the Lord of the Void. Any violation of this clause shall be regarded as treason and immediately punished by death."

Considering that they were both servant races of the Void God, and once comrades who had fought alongside one another, Bahadun'er spared them one final shred of sentiment and issued an ultimatum.

The Babel Swarm's answer was—death penalty it was. If you came too late, we would come find you instead.

Truly damnable!

Since you have chosen betrayal, I will personally wipe you out completely!

"Execute death penalty protocol... attack... target... Babel Swarm."

Although it could not defeat the Galactic Alliance for the time being, it was still more than capable of killing this group of traitors whose Overmind was already dead and who still dared betray the great Lord!

With that thought, Bahadun'er's will linked through the psionic network with the countless crystals within the star system.

Enter faster-than-light travel!

Destination: Bogu Nebula!

Eliminate the traitors! Wipe out every last one of them!

In an instant, the star system underwent a tremendous change.

The enormous number of crystals that had originally orbited the star, forming a massive celestial disk like Saturn's rings under the starlight, abruptly vanished without a trace.

The sight would have left any civilization that had yet to leave its home star system and still relied on optical observation utterly dumbfounded.

Countless crystals entered faster-than-light travel. They had only one objective—destroy the Babel Swarm that had betrayed the Void God!

After ending a highly unpleasant exchange with Bahadun'er, Lu Shang immediately went to the infected administrative planets and obtained records of the Galactic Alliance's past battles with Bahadun'er.

In order to cultivate a large number of military talents, every relatively well-developed administrative planet had a war academy funded by the Galactic Alliance. Those war academies held many backup records of wars between the Galactic Alliance and the Void God's servant races.

"Oh, so this is how they fight."

Lu Shang watched the virtual projections, whose effects far surpassed those of Earth's movies, and nodded repeatedly.

But that alone was not enough. Merely knowing what tactics and strategies the other side might employ in war was not enough to build a massive advantage for his own side.

Tactics and strategies could change. The most obvious example was the Babel Swarm. After changing its previously flawed way of waging war, it had taken off directly from there.

So, after reviewing several backup records of wars between the Galactic Alliance and Bahadun'er, Lu Shang asked every swarm individual through the psionic network.

"Who knows a lot about that servant race called Bahadun'er? Tell me what you know."

Memories were divided into inherited memories and acquired memories. Just because inherited memories did not record something in detail did not mean acquired memories lacked such records.

The Babel Swarm had fought alongside Bahadun'er before. Many of the Cerebral Nodes from the era of the old Overmind had not died, so they should be able to provide more detailed intelligence related to Bahadun'er.

For instance, its civilization's structure...

To defeat an enemy, one first had to understand the enemy. No matter what kind of war it was, that was a prerequisite for victory.

"Why do you suddenly want to learn about it?" Nanali, who had been demoted from Overmind to Cerebral Node after the swarm's internal structural reforms, asked curiously.

"Isn't it obvious? It's useful to me. Why else would I ask about it for no reason?" Lu Shang replied irritably, then continued pressing the swarm network.

"If anyone knows a lot, tell me quickly."

Very soon, Lu Shang compiled a relatively detailed dossier on Bahadun'er, the Void God's servant race.

All that remained was to wait for them to deliver themselves to his door...