I Am The Swarm

Bad news arrived one after another, leaving Prince Diallo’s dark red, magma-like face looking as though it had cooled to a dark green. But reality was indifferent to his growing despair.

The second mature Space Octopus, though damaged, was far less injured than its predecessor. Even after unloading all its “passengers,” it retained considerable mobility.

The destructive potential of a 300 meter mature form in close combat far exceeded that of its smaller counterparts, including the 70 to 80 meter bodies and the larval bodies under 20 meters.

Its nearly 200 meter long tentacles, crackling with blue electric arcs, swept across the ship’s surface with devastating efficiency. A single strike could clear away clusters of defensive weapons protruding from the hull without needing to resort to techniques like “Pulling the Radish.”

This maneuver was instead the Luo-style Combat Technique: Sweeping Heaven and Earth—a grandiose name for a simple yet effective move. The only requirement? A body large enough and tentacles long enough to execute it.

The rampage of the Space Octopus as it coiled and thrashed about the ship evoked imagery of deep-sea leviathans attacking cruise ships in old movies.

“Full engines! Get us out of here at maximum speed!” Diallo roared.

“Your Highness, with the repulsion field, main and secondary cannons, laser defense array, and close-in defense systems all active, we don’t have enough energy for full engine power,” Aslit reminded him quietly.

“Damn it!” Diallo cursed, the harshness of his words automatically censored by the translation systems. “Deactivate the repulsion field! Shut down the laser defense array!”

These systems were among the largest energy drains, and the laser defense array had already proven ineffective against the swarm’s bio-armor. Disabling it was a logical choice.

However, deactivating the repulsion field posed significant risks. In the complex environment of a star system, even traveling at a fraction of light speed was perilous. At one-twentieth the speed of light, let alone half that, a single obstacle could lead to catastrophic destruction.

“But that would still leave us vulnerable,” Aslit protested cautiously.

“It doesn’t matter! We need to get moving. The reactive armor can handle low-intensity collisions. Once we’ve gained some distance, we’ll have more time to react. At that point, whether we fight or retreat, we’ll have the advantage. Now redirect any main cannons without a firing angle to clear the path ahead!”

With sufficient energy redirected to the engines, they roared to life at full capacity. The propulsion systems emitted increasingly powerful streams of energy.

Warships, unlike missiles, required a brief acceleration phase to reach their maximum speeds. At full thrust, the interstellar engines could bring the ship to 1% of the speed of light within moments and, over billions of kilometers, push it past the halfway mark to 50% of light speed.

Diallo, however, needed only the initial burst of velocity. Even that brief window of acceleration, taking just thirty seconds, would allow the ship to put tens of thousands of kilometers between itself and its attackers, giving him the breathing room to regain control of the situation.

The swarm, well aware of the consequences of letting their prey escape, quickly reacted. If the Daqi fleet managed to pull away here, the swarm—lacking a speed advantage in the vastness of space—would likely lose its chance to destroy them. The prospect of dealing with guerilla tactics from a dispersed enemy was an infuriating one.

Suddenly, the 300 meter mature form froze in place. Its tentacles retracted quickly, pressing against the ship it clung to as its body compacted. Blue electric arcs erupted across its entire form, and the air seemed to grow heavy with the scent of burning ozone.

In a flash, the Space Octopus pushed off the warship with tremendous force, springing forward like a coiled spring released. The recoil was so intense that the stricken warship was jolted out of position.

Simultaneously, its plasma propulsion organ fired up, creating a double acceleration effect as it hurtled toward the Doria.

The swarm had not missed the earlier transfer of personnel after the flagship’s destruction. All the small craft had been relocated to the Doria. Though the swarm’s creatures couldn’t distinguish between flagships and escorts, they could infer from the ship’s size and the activity around it that it was a high-value target.

At such a critical moment, where the swarm could only drag one warship into the fray, the Doria naturally became the target.

“Stop it!” Diallo’s voice cracked under the strain. The blood vessels in his three eyes swelled to bursting, radiating a mixture of malice, frustration, disbelief, and fear.

Realistically, they were already struggling to fend off mature bodies under 100 meters in size at this range—let alone a 300 meter behemoth.

In mid-air, the mature Space Octopus poised itself, extending two massive, 200 meter long tentacles crackling with electricity. The limbs slammed down heavily onto the Doria, unleashing a tremendous impact that sent Diallo and the other Daqi crew flying. Even the control consoles erupted with sparks from the force of the blow.

The recoil, however, wasn’t kind to the mature form. Despite the electromagnetic fields protecting its tentacles, the force tore through flesh and muscle, leaving both limbs mangled and temporarily out of commission. But with over a dozen remaining tentacles, losing two hardly mattered. After some recuperation—perhaps basking in sunlight—it could regrow them without issue.

This brutal strike was a foundational move in the Luo-style Combat Techniques: Face-smashing hammer strike—albeit adapted for tentacles instead of claws. The technique’s essence remained intact, amplified here by the sheer scale and power of the Space Octopus.

While the move didn’t land directly on Diallo’s face, its reverberations stunned him as though it had. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he opened his mouth to speak, only for the ship to lurch violently again.

“Damn it! What now?!” Diallo bellowed.

Aslit, thrown to the floor by the repeated impacts, hurriedly checked the systems and reported, “Your Highness, it’s the third octopus—it destroyed our right main thruster.”

The Daqi, unfamiliar with the swarm’s internal nomenclature, referred to these creatures by the Riken name, “Octopus Freaks.”

“Damn it all!” Diallo cursed again. “Forget them! Just keep moving! Go as far as we can!”

Despite the relentless assaults, Diallo retained his composure. He knew that lingering here would only invite more of these abominable creatures.

The swarm’s strategy was blatantly unfair: turning melee-capable “tanks” into assassins that closed in on fragile targets. The only viable strategy was to retreat, widen the distance, and cut off reinforcements before addressing the situation later.

But Diallo’s plan was overly optimistic.

The Doria was already pinned down by two 300 meter mature bodies, each clinging to opposite sides of the ship. The third mature form had unleashed a torrent of smaller bodies and larvae, while the fourth was almost upon them, and the fifth was already en route.

In this scenario, Diallo’s confidence seemed misplaced. Other warships might escape, but the Doria was doomed.

The two massive mature bodies prioritized destroying the ship’s propulsion systems. One by one, they targeted the left main thruster and central main thruster at the stern, inflicting catastrophic damage. Though the ensuing explosions severely wounded the attacking creatures, they succeeded in their mission.

The Doria was crippled.

The chain reaction from the explosions of the three main thrusters ignited a raging inferno in the ship’s rear sections. Although the onboard AI immediately sealed off the affected compartments, the fire continued to spread, damaging critical systems and wreaking havoc on electrical circuits.

The Doria’s fate was sealed; its complete destruction was only a matter of time.

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