The other warship took the opposite approach. The insects released a ball of paste in front of the warship. With the warship's accelerated movement, the paste almost covered the entire ship, even the insects themselves were stuck to it, and no matter how much they struggled, they couldn't get off. When the operator saw this, all the sensors had failed, and there was only one viewing port in the forward porthole. In the holographic combat system, the operator was as if standing inside the warship. Through this last remaining viewing porthole, the operator steered the warship to charge headlong into the densest part of the high-level insect swarm. Soon, dozens of insects were firmly stuck to the warship, and the entire warship became a ball of fire, with only countless insect heads and legs dancing in the starry sky.
More warships rely on the continuous irradiation of reflective beams to inflict irreversible damage on the insects. Unlike antimatter, which annihilates upon contact with matter, releasing a massive energy explosion, reflective beams irradiating the insect's body are more like welding, causing huge flashes of light. These flashes cannot cause fatal damage to the insects in a short time; it generally takes five to ten seconds to burn through the insect's bio-armor. Once the bio-armor is burned through, the insect basically loses its life, and its internal organs, exposed to the low temperatures of space, will cease to function within seconds.
" Zhixiong, do you need any support?" Hu Yu projected a holographic image next to Li Zhixiong through the four-dimensional network, so that both of them would feel as if they were right next to each other.
"General, we don't need to for now. Having too many warships would make it harder to deploy and make us more vulnerable to insect attacks. The current number of warships is just right; the insects will have a hard time catching us, and we can kill them with any attack we make."
"Describe the battlefield situation."
"Yes, General. We've lost over 20,000 Stealth Killer, leaving over 170,000. The swarm has decreased from 5 billion to 1.5 billion, but only 10 million Tier 14 and 15 swarms have been killed, leaving 40 million. Overall, the swarm's combat strength is still at 60%. After we wipe out the Tier 14 and below swarms, I plan to concentrate heavy forces for a group attack on the remaining high-tier swarms."
" Zhixiong, is there any way to capture that Insect King? I think Academician Xiao would really like it."
" The Insect King." Li Zhixiong hesitated for a moment, "No problem, General, just watch, I'll definitely get you a live one. But this guy is not easy to deal with, I'll have to prepare a big gift for it."
"Since you're so agreeable, fine. If you get it, you'll be rewarded. If you don't, you'll have to get rid of the nickname ' Little Zhuge ' yourself. Remember, I want him alive."
"Yes, I guarantee I'll get it."
"Alright, you can continue." With that, Hu Yu turned off the holographic image.
Although swarms of Zerg at levels 11 to 15 rely on sheer numbers to defeat Star System-Level Civilization fleets, if a single Zergling were equivalent to a Star System-Level Civilization's warship, then the entire Milky Way would be rendered useless, and all civilizations could simply consider fleeing. The Insect Race's defining characteristic is its sheer numbers and rapid growth.
The group attack has begun. The warships no longer fight individually. Dozens of ships are grouped together to besiege a high-level insect. Facing more than 30 million high-level insects, the airspace is finally no longer crowded. A small fleet attacking together can kill a high-level insect. The insect swarm is in complete chaos. No matter how much the Insect King summons, it cannot regroup and can only be killed one by one by the fleet.
Two Stealth Killer silently approached the Insect King. These two Stealth Killer were loaded with nuclear bombs, with a total yield exceeding 1 billion tons of TNT. The Insect King was in a state of rage; its once massive swarm had dwindled to a mere tens of millions, and was rapidly declining. Seeing the Stealth Killer approach, it bit one of them, its four branching claws gripping the other. Initially, it had been very cautious, almost never using its mouth to tear apart warships, relying entirely on its more powerful energy spheres and four claws to destroy them. Now, however, it was truly enraged. Just as it was about to crush the Stealth Killer, both Stealth Killer exploded simultaneously.
A nuclear bomb with a yield of 1 billion tons exploded, and the sky seemed to have a second star, its brightness far exceeding that of the stars in this planetary system. The Insect King's mouth was blown in two and could never be closed again. One of its four branches was blown off. The nuclear bomb released enormous energy, but the energy level was not high. The Insect King did not turn to ashes in this explosion, which shows the power of this high-level insect.
The Insect King was not dead yet. With its mangled mouth still intact, it tumbled violently in the air. A level 15 insect was caught by it and torn into pieces. After struggling for a while, the Insect King finally calmed down, its body convulsing in the air, having no strength left. The super-powerful nuclear bomb had caused it serious damage.
With the Insect King defeated, the other insects panicked even more, abandoning their attack and fleeing in all directions. But how could they possibly escape the pursuit of the Stealth Killer? If they had continued their attack, they might have been able to inflict tens of thousands more losses on the Stealth Killer. Now, they could only be caught and killed one by one by the Stealth Killer.
A Stealth Killer approached the dying Insect King, threw out a finger-thick alloy rope, and then flew around the Insect King in circles. After thousands of circles, the Insect King was tightly bound, and all its leverage points were reinforced multiple times. Even if the Insect King was at its peak, it would be impossible for it to break free, let alone now that it only had half a life left. The operator responsible for controlling the warship almost fainted on the command platform. Spinning around thousands of times from the same perspective was really enough to make him suffer.
The Stealth Killer dragged the Insect King towards the bio-ship that had come to pick it up. The Insect King was too large; the Stealth Killer couldn't maintain its warp state while dragging it, so it could only drag it away from the battlefield and wait for the bio-ship to come and take it over. Academician Xiao and several other biologists almost jumped for joy when they heard the news that the Insect King had been captured alive. This was a high-level insect relative to Star System-Level Civilization. With each major stage, the insect undergoes tremendous changes, and its abilities also undergo a qualitative improvement. This insect could not only help with the research on new models of bio-warriors, but it might also provide assistance to the fleet in other aspects, especially in energy utilization.
The dissection process awaiting this Insect King will be a very enjoyable one. With its achievement of destroying more than a thousand Stealth Killer, the academicians will certainly treat it with special favor.
"General, how is it? Not bad, right? The Insect King you and Academician Xiao wanted. Hehe." Inside the bio-ship, Li Zhixiong projected a holographic image to report to Hu Yu.
"What's so good about it? This is the Insect King you created? I said it had to be alive, and now it's barely clinging to life. It might even scare Academician Xiao to death the moment he picks up a knife."
"General, I didn't expect this. This guy was very cautious at first, and his skin was so thick that I couldn't kill him no matter what I did. I tried to attack him from the inside several times, but he just wouldn't open his mouth. Who would have thought that he would open his mouth when I didn't want it to?"
"I didn't expect that you, who called yourself 'Little Zhuge,' are now planning to take that title away."
"Haha, General, that's already very good. Please don't make things difficult for Commander Li anymore," Academician Xiao laughed from the side.
"Sigh, Academician, you don't know, these guys are like gongs, they can't be left unpunished without being banged on regularly."