I Am The Swarm

At first, the impact of the nanobot losses wasn’t severe—but like a snowball, it rolled and grew. More and more Ji warships withdrew from combat, and the frontline defensive firepower began to thin noticeably.

Fortunately, things hadn’t yet reached a critical tipping point. With the help of Battle Stars, the Swarm was still unable to break through the Ji’s interceptive firepower—for the time being.

But this situation changed dramatically with the activation of the Swarm’s new wave of Star Gates.

If the Swarm’s previous charges had been like a moderate-to-heavy downpour, then with this new wave of reinforcements doubling the pace, the charges were now like a torrential flood.

The Primordial bodies no longer needed to form chain-linked defensive webs. Their sheer density was now interfering with the Puffer Cannonfish’s lines of fire.

Given this, all the new reinforcements were primarily composed of Primordial bodies. They surged forward in dense masses, like an enormous meat patty, smashing into the Ji defense line.

At this point, Ji warships didn’t even need to lock on precisely—so long as their general aim was correct, their projectiles couldn’t miss. The Swarm’s vanguard was blasting apart in chunks of flesh and viscous fluids, but these didn’t travel more than five meters before splatting against their own units—an indication of just how absurdly dense the Swarm’s formation was.

This environment was ideal for the chain-reaction beam cannons mounted on the Battle Stars. But the Swarm had long since found countermeasures.

Dedicated Observer Bugs had already locked onto the massive cannons of the Ji’s Battle Stars. As soon as one began to charge, millions of Intelligent Entities were dispatched, analyzing energy levels and trajectories to estimate the beam’s attack direction.

And even though the Swarm’s charge formations were incredibly tight, soft-bodied organisms always find a way to squish through—a crack could always be made.

A 10-kilometer-wide hollow ring formed in space. In the vast void of space, this might seem negligible, but it was just enough to disrupt the chain reaction of the beam’s energy.

Units within the blast zone were still disintegrated into ash, but no additional Swarm forces entered. The transparent “wall” of space had been reestablished, clean and unbroken.

Given that each chain-reaction beam required days of charging, the Swarm now had a predictable “safe window” to charge freely, as long as they avoided this forbidden circle.

And they did not waste that chance.

The meat patty, now with a “bite” taken out of it, continued to slam against the Ji line. Even when the defense network was at full capacity, it would’ve struggled against such an overwhelming offensive. But now, with so many warships overloaded and temporarily retired, resisting the Swarm’s charge had become even more impossible.

The main cannons of the Ji ships had already begun to overload. Even ships waiting in line for repairs—so long as they could still move and fire—were dragged back into battle.

But it was all just a desperate measure—drinking poison to quench thirst. It would only buy a little more time.

For the first time in this engagement, close-quarters contact occurred.

The frontline units, which made up the crystalline barrier defense system, became the first targets of direct attack.

This crystalline barrier was excellent at deflecting long-range energy weapons, and had decent resistance to physical strikes. But under the whipping, electrically-charged tendrils of the roaring Primordial bodies, its energy reserves were rapidly depleted.

Moreover, the crystalline barrier was a two-way defense—as long as it was active, the unit behind it couldn’t receive covering fire. This gave the Primordials free rein to attack.

Given their limited energy storage, the unmanned drones soon exhausted their reserves. After a few flickers, the crystalline walls vanished completely.

The Ji forces, lying in wait, immediately launched a countervolley, even fiercer than before. The barrage lit up the void, slamming into the Swarm’s charging formation.

But the enemy had already reached this point—even a massive burst of firepower was no longer enough to force them back.

The Ji had nowhere left to run.

They’d never expected the Swarm to open with such an insane offensive. As a result, they’d missed their window for retreat, and now that they were bogged down, it was too late to escape.

Even if they could retreat—where would they go?

Repeat the cycle of fallback and defense? But if they retreated another hundred light-years, the Ji would barely have any territory left. Not to mention, few star systems remained to be dismantled for resources.

This battlefield held too many Battle Stars. Last time, they’d lost hundreds of thousands during the retreat. If they abandoned more now, even if a new defense line were built, it wouldn’t be as strong as this one.

This was their last stand. The Ji had no choice but to fight to the death.

Still, some tactical adjustments were made.

The miniature starport ships were considered precious assets, and were ordered to retreat to the rear to resume repairs on damaged warships. Meanwhile, the second defensive line, composed of warships, began a fighting withdrawal.

They aimed to fall back to the Ji Battle Stars and rely on their immense firepower and durability for a final line of defense.

It was only now that the Battle Stars’ power was fully demonstrated. Their massive size gave them unmatched defense. Even naturally formed terrestrial planets were hard to destroy with a Primordial main cannon. These were specially forged alloy battle planets.

Previously, even a half-intact Battle Stars had dealt significant casualties to the Swarm. Had the Ji not retreated so hastily and left a fatal weak point, it would’ve cost the Swarm a great deal more to seize it.

This time, the Ji had learned. They chose not to retreat.

Massive numbers of warships were arrayed around the Battle Stars, filling in blind spots, making the Battle Stars even more impregnable.

With the second defense line pulling back, the Swarm soon closed to within ten million kilometers of the Battle Stars—a very short distance in the context of space warfare.

Until now, the Battle Stars had only fired their mysterious green chain-beams, photon cannons, and dark energy artillery.

But as the Swarm closed in, their vast array of secondary guns finally roared to life.

The combination of firepower, defense, and coordinated warship support formed a ferocious intercept line.

Any Swarm unit that crossed that line was instantly and ruthlessly shredded.