I Am The Swarm

The warship in space stood like a pestle, unmoving. Three minutes later, a burst of fire erupted against its front reactive armor. The powerful impact pierced the thick armor, tore through several compartments, and pushed the warship several kilometers back.

“Seal the damaged compartments! Get us away from River Tank 223 immediately! If it explodes, I don’t want to get dragged down with it!” the captain shouted. The violent tremors from the impact had left every Riken crew member on edge.

Fortunately, after the shaking subsided, the self-diagnostics revealed that apart from the destroyed front reactive armor and a few damaged compartments, the ship’s overall structure remained intact. Its operational capabilities were unaffected. Such damage could only be considered minor.

However, in its current state, the warship was no longer capable of withstanding another electromagnetic railgun round. Worse, River Tank 223, already severely damaged, appeared on the verge of destruction. Should it explode, the uncontrolled wreckage would pose a far greater threat than a railgun projectile.

Unfortunately, their ship was the closest to River Tank 223.

Having narrowly avoided disaster, the captain immediately ordered the ship to distance itself from this looming danger.

Even without the captain’s command, the crew had already begun moving. The forward engines engaged, and the warship began retreating, its stern tilted up as it pulled away from Planet Raze.

This maneuver drew curses from nearby captains and even prompted an inquiry from Hamis, but none of it mattered compared to survival.

While the main cannons on both sides exchanged fire, the smaller units were far from idle.

Most of the Swarm’s Larval bodies had transformed into Fungal Carpet, while the Mature bodies targeted the remaining ground-based cannons.

However, with the arrival of the fighter squadrons, the Mature bodies now had new targets.

Although their electromagnetic railguns were highly destructive—capable of downing a fighter jet with a single hit, or even taking out multiple jets with a lucky shot—their slow firing rate posed a significant drawback.

After all, the Mature bodies could only fire their railguns using the energy reserves within their bodies. This massive energy consumption slowed their engines, reducing their mobility.

Under favorable circumstances, they could leverage their superior numbers and defenses to hold their own against the Riken’s squadrons in a long-range duel. However, in this case, there were only tens of thousands of Mature bodies, facing fighter jets outnumbering them several times over.

Faced with such odds, the Mature bodies quickly found themselves at a disadvantage.

Fortunately, the Mature bodies were incredibly resilient. Their thick armor provided excellent resistance to the smaller-caliber energy weapons used by the fighter jets.

Nevertheless, the chaotic battlefield created awkward situations for both sides. Amid the exchange of main cannon fire, avoiding friendly fire became increasingly challenging. The Primordial bodies had managed to avoid incidents of friendly fire, but the Riken’s warships, stationed far from the core battlefield, had difficulty coordinating their main cannon strikes.

Even though their energy beams traveled quickly, it still took tens of seconds to reach their targets. For the fighter jets attempting to maneuver through this intense warzone, avoiding friendly fire became an increasingly daunting task.

Many Riken fighter jets were inadvertently struck by their own side’s energy beams while pursuing the Mature bodies. For these fragile fighter units, being hit by a warship’s main cannon meant instant destruction—reduced to scattered debris in an instant.

Fortunately for the Riken, the majority of their fighter fleet consisted of unmanned drones. So far, all the losses from friendly fire had been limited to drones, with no casualties among their pilots.

Unintentionally, the battles between the squadrons and the Mature bodies began drifting away from the main combat zone, as both sides pursued their engagements elsewhere.

The Primordial bodies, which had suffered heavy losses during their charge on Planet Raze, were further reduced while resupplying on metallic elements.

In terms of firing rate, projectile quantity, and the speed of their shots, the Swarm’s railguns were now at a disadvantage.

Two hours later, the Riken fleet had lost over 300 warships, but the number of active Swarm railguns had dwindled to fewer than 500.

It was only a matter of minutes before the railguns would fall silent entirely.

Despite the battlefield gains, the Riken commanders felt no joy.

At the start of the battle, the Riken fleet had deliberately avoided targeting the intact ground-based cannons. However, the Primordial Space Octopuses had used the cannons as cover, forcing the fleet into a difficult position. Continuing to spare the cannons only restricted their firepower and limited their effectiveness in eliminating the Swarm.

After deliberations among several Fleet Commanders, it was decided that the fleet would no longer spare the remaining metallic constructs. Friendly fire was no longer a concern.

Now, with most of the large Space Octopuses nearly wiped out, the ground-based cannons had suffered a damage rate exceeding 90%.

But those purple-gray patches, those fleshy structures—despite the relentless bombardment—had not only survived but were thriving amidst the destruction. They continually repaired damaged areas and expanded outward.

Meanwhile, in the aerial battle, the Mature bodies found themselves relentlessly pursued by the Riken squadrons. Leveraging their superior speed, the Riken jets weaved around the Mature bodies, maintaining a safe distance while firing continuously. The Swarm’s numbers dwindled steadily under this strategy.

The Riken’s new tactics effectively neutralized the close-combat advantages of the Space Octopuses. Even the largest Mature bodies, over a hundred meters in size, couldn’t withstand the sustained damage. Their structures eventually gave way, and they plummeted to the ground, losing their ability to fly.

As the battle dragged on, the number of Mature bodies continued to decline, while the Riken squadrons sustained minimal losses. The kill-to-loss ratio was so lopsided that the Swarm couldn’t even manage a one-to-one exchange.

However, during the chase, the terrain began to change, and a range of mountains and valleys appeared ahead. The remaining Mature bodies turned and dove into the complex terrain.

“What do we do? They’ve gone in!” a Riken pilot radioed his superior.

“Pursue them. Send drones ahead to scout. There aren’t many left—finish them off!” the superior officer commanded.

These pilots, who hadn’t participated in the earlier T853 campaign, relied only on recorded footage for reference. Had they experienced the battle firsthand, they would never have made such a decision.

In such rugged terrain, the speed and long-range advantages of the Riken fighters were severely curtailed, while the combat capabilities of the Space Octopuses were exponentially enhanced.

A squadron cautiously navigated the valleys, scanning the surroundings. The Space Octopuses had vanished after only a few twists and turns.

The Space Octopuses’ optical cloaking technology, which had remained unused until now, finally came into play. The Riken’s gravitational detectors struggled to perform due to the high interference in the area, combined with the relatively weak gravitational waves emitted by the Mature bodies compared to the Primordial bodies.

Having lost track of the Mature bodies, the Riken forces could only close in for a risky search.

Suddenly, from the side of a cliff wall, a tentacle lashed out. The air shimmered with electric sparks, and the image of the Space Octopus appeared distorted, like a mosaic of fragmented light.

The alarms of various instruments blared simultaneously, but it was too late. Not even the drones reacted in time, let alone the Riken pilot.

With a deafening explosion, three fighter jets were obliterated midair.

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