Chapter 249

A blue 'rain' began to fall above the black spots. The source of the rain was countless tiny cracks, each less than a millimeter in diameter, spreading across the nearby ground. Within each crack was a dense array of raindrops.

These are not traditional energy weapons, but directional annihilation devices based on the principle of space folding. Each cannon can create a miniature black hole at the target point, swallowing it before releasing the remaining energy.

Each strike was enough to destroy an A-rank Awakened who wasn't a specialist in defense; each drop landed precisely on the black spot.

But just like 'rain', they only formed a dense cluster of small craters, and they tended to get smaller and smaller.

Correspondingly, the spread of the dark spots accelerated.

From the initial ten meters, it has expanded to hundreds of meters and thousands of meters, like a drop of ink spreading on a white sheet of paper, to the point that people on the nearest planet can see it with the naked eye without any observation instruments.

The next moment, under an even stronger downpour, the first sharp insect limb emerged from the black spot.

It bore an eight-tenths resemblance to Wen Jing's Wilderness Body, and a two-meter-long, jet-black alien insect emerged from the edge of the black spot.

Wen Jing absorbed the essence of biotechnology from the Alaya Civilization and created a brand-new insect life form. Using its six limbs to grip the ground, it braved a rain of cannonballs and stepped onto the silvery-white surface for the first time.

The surrounding rift turrets now have new, three-dimensional targets, and they immediately unleash concentrated fire.

The newly hatched alien insects made no attempt to hide.

The moment the attack landed, golden patterns lit up its body—[Myriad Transformation Furnace]!

"Click click click..."

The sounds of impact rang out one after another. It withstood hundreds of space-folding bullets, its armor shattering and healing repeatedly.

Each rupture is less severe, and each recovery is faster.

Ten seconds later, the alien insect was able to move steadily forward amidst the artillery fire.

After thirty seconds, it began to ignore the artillery fire, using its enormous jaws to devour everything in sight. Once it reached a certain point, it unfolded itself at the location connecting to the original black spot, transforming into a new black spot.

Then new alien insects detached from the black spots.

The second, the third, the tenth... the hundredth, it's all spread like a virus.

The Mastermind changed its attack strategy the moment it detected the impending emergence of the swarm.

The original space-folding weapon has been replaced with a mass weapon based on gravitational resonance, with a bombardment speed approaching the speed of light.

"Boom!"

A mountain-sized amount of kinetic energy struck a strange insect.

The Zerg released Gravitational Field, which greatly reduced its power.

But combining Level 3 technology with extraordinary materials is not that simple. Even with the power reduced, the bodies of the alien insects that were hit were still instantly torn apart, and body fragments flew everywhere.

Without the existence of Gravitational Field, there would truly be nothing left, not even ashes.

After the first effective hit, a series of attacks of the same level came one after another. Even if the Zerg used its spatial abilities to jump and move, after one attack, another shell would immediately follow and bombard it.

The energy extraction technology and material foundation mastered by the Mastermind are beyond the imagination of a Level 2 civilization, and it has no fear of consumption.

"Click click..."

However, at that very moment, the network nodes that were performing battlefield calculations for the Mastermind issued an urgent alarm.

The shattered remains of the alien insects did not lose their vitality; instead, they fell to the ground and began to erode and devour matter, Extreme Speed rebuilding flesh and exoskeleton in the process.

"Boom!"

The network node, now authorized, immediately bombarded the regenerated wreckage, shattering it into even smaller fragments.

But the next moment, another fragment of the body began to grow.

"Boom boom boom!"

The endless bombardment rained down, and through a series of maneuvers, the planet itself was riddled with holes, appearing to cause even greater damage than the swarm had inflicted.

During these repeated tests, the Mastermind also Analysis the basis for the Zerg's regeneration.

[Body molecules can regenerate...]

[Analysis of Talents... Extraordinary Abilities? Creation of Wilderness Beast?]

It was Wen Jing's original [Cellular-Level Regeneration] that, through continuously devouring the Ancient Wilderness, has now been upgraded to [Molecular-Level Regeneration].

This is why she has been trying to create biological swarms to replace mechanical swarms. Only biological swarms can perfectly inherit her powerful physical characteristics, make up for the biggest weakness of swarm warfare, and become an army that can regenerate infinitely.

In particular, the raid's Mastermind, the War Personality, had been waiting at the empire's border for a long time and had never attempted spatial travel.

Devouring and Digestion, Molecular-Level Regeneration, the four basic forces, Extreme Cold and Extreme Heat... Unlike when they were at war with the Boundary-Breaking Empire, they did not have to go through the initial nurturing and devouring process, and needed time to grow. They were born as complete beings, utilizing the characteristics of infection, and possessing infinite energy.

The only weakness he might have is his physical strength.

However, this can be compensated for by devouring the Mastermind.

The most despair-inducing aspect of swarm warfare for technological civilizations was already demonstrated when Wen Jing first tested it out against the Boundary-Breaking Empire with a mechanical swarm of insects.

The higher the quality of the materials, the more powerful the swarm of insects it creates.

With an unlimited energy base at the start, and a material base that weakens the enemy and strengthens itself, once this is unleashed, it becomes a perpetual war machine.

From the moment the War Personality descended to the Mastermind launched two waves of resistance tests, only five minutes had passed.

Even after such a series of blows, the rate at which the swarms were generated far exceeded the rate at which they were suppressed.

New Zerg are born every moment, spreading like a virus, from point to area, and the black, moving waves begin to cover the white planet.

[Evacuation plan activated...]

[Evacuation plans 1, 2...133 all failed to execute; spacetime jumps across the entire region are locked; origin... Alaya Civilization.]

[Analysis... There's a 99% probability that the Alaya Civilization has been usurped.]

[The target appears to possess the ability to Clone. Currently confirmed Clone: 1+n units on Initial Star, 1 First Star 1, and an unknown number in the Alaya Star Domain.]

[Threat Level Assessment: Highest]

[Analysis of countermeasures...]

The original Boundary-Breaking Empire tested the swarm dozens of times before realizing its insurmountable weakness, while the Mastermind only needed two tests to determine that the swarm's expansion was exponential, becoming more difficult to contain every second than the last.

Therefore, it Analysis and determined the optimal solution in the shortest possible time.

[Option 1: Seal it.]

[Option Two: Use humans for coercion.]

[Execute synchronously.]

The surface attacks to contain the swarms are still ongoing, but there has been no more unnecessary increase in intensity; they are merely used to mask the deployment of more advanced weapons.

The inner layer of the Tenth Star cracked open, revealing a huge chamber hidden deep within.

The chamber was filled with densely packed cultivation chambers, each containing a dormant clone— the Superpower Core Awakened collected by the Mastermind over more than twenty eras of independent human cultivation were all contained within these clones.

An encrypted command was issued, and the hatch opened.

The forty-three clones inside, who had already undergone brainwashing, simultaneously opened their eyes.

They are all S-rank Awakened.

The Mastermind will not make the same mistake again. Since the A-level clones that attacked Mystic Radiance Academy were ineffective, it will not send out any more S-level or lower clones, especially not all at once.

As these forty-three black-robed figures flew out from the core of the Tenth Star, the gravity of the planets throughout the Federation star system began to fluctuate violently.

The core technologies of the mainframe on these four habitable planets —Mystic Radiance Star, Azure Jade Star, Red Earth Star, and School District Planet— Mastermind been taken back into control by the emperor's Clone.

Therefore, the Mastermind is also unable to use the secret weapons deployed on the planet to launch a cataclysmic attack on humanity like it did in the past.

As for initiating a large-scale Genetic Collapse? Not to mention that the Mastermind cannot do it under Wen Jing's control right now, even if it could, it wouldn't.

It's important to understand that when the genes of Awakened Genetic Collapse, Out-of-Control Zone will be created.

Within the Out-of-Control Zone, all technology is rendered ineffective, yet humans and Awakened are able to move about inside.

In this way, the Mastermind cannot create continuous Genetic Collapse. Once the first Genetic Collapse occurs, it is equivalent to creating a 'safe zone' for those around it that is absolutely unobservable and unaffected by it. Wouldn't that be like crippling itself?

Therefore, in past eras, the Mastermind launched world-ending attacks on humanity using technological means.

The power of Level 3 technology is no less than that of an S-level Awakened.

At this moment, the five uninhabited planets within the Federation, apart from the four habitable planets, are still under the control of the Mastermind.

After all, Wen Jing's Strongest Clone right now is the War Personality. The Emperor Clone has already reached its limit in protecting four habitable planets, so naturally it won't waste its power on ordinary planets.

Thus, while the S-class clone army was deployed to attack the Zerg swarm.

Five previously uninhabited planets, which were moving normally, suddenly changed their orbits and headed towards the nearest habitable planet!

Chapter 249

Before the people of the Federation could fully recover from this shocking turn of events, they saw the planets in the sky, which should have been moving along their orbits, growing larger at a visible rate.

The 'stars' turned into the 'moon', and the moon kept getting bigger.

From the size of a fist to the size of a bowl, from the size of a bowl to a millstone, from the millstone to a mountain range suspended in the sky.

The string of alarming data transmitted from the observatory sent chills down the spines of the observers.

"Something terrible has happened!!"

Meanwhile, above the Tenth Star, forty-three S-class clones have also begun their operations.

"Splash splash splash..."

The black spot, along with the surrounding material within a hundred meters, was peeled off in one piece. The peeling was done by a ' Time Barrier ' ability, which separated the time in that area from the 'next second'.

Immediately afterwards, forty-two other forces surrounded the War Personality and the swarm.